Early life and politics.

Zhirinovsky was born in Almaty, the capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, modern-day Kazakhstan. His father, Volf Isaakovich Eidelshtein (or Wolf Andreyevich Eidelshtein), was a Ukrainian Jew from Kostopil in western Ukraine, and his mother, Alexandra Pavlovna (née Makarova), was of Russian background from Mordovia. Zhirinovsky inherited his surname through Andrei Vasilievich Zhirinovsky, Alexandra's first husband. His paternal grandfather was a wealthy industrialist in Kostopil, who owned the largest sawmill in (what is now) Ukraine and was head of the Jewish community. His grandfather's mill today has an income of $32 million a year, and over the years Zhirinovsky has demanded successive Ukrainian governments return it to him.  Four of Zhirinovsky's relatives had been killed during the Holocaust. Zhirinovsky's parents split while he was still an infant. Abandoning the family, Zhirinovsky's father, Wolf Eidelstein, emigrated to Israel in 1949 (together with his new wife Bella and his brother), where he worked as an agronomist in Tel Aviv. Zhirinovsky's father was a member of the right-wing nationalist Herut party in Israel, and died in 1983 when he was run over by a bus near Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. Zhirinovsky did not find out the details of his father's life in Israel until many years later, or even that he had died. Zhirinovsky says that he is an Orthodox Christian.  In July 1964, Zhirinovsky moved from Almaty to Moscow, where he began his studies in the Department of Turkish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University(MSU), from which he graduated in 1969. Zhirinovsky then went into military service in Tbilisi during the early 1970s. He would later get a law degree and work at various posts in state committees and unions. He was awarded a Dr.Sci. in philosophy by MSU in 1998. Although he participated in some reformist groups, Zhirinovsky was mostly inconsequential in Soviet political developments during the 1980s. While he contemplated a role in politics, a nomination attempt for a seat as a People's Deputy in 1989 was quickly abandoned. In 1989, he served as a director of Shalom, a Jewish cultural organization; unknown in Jewish circles before, he is thought to have been invited to join by the Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public, but subsequently forcefully opposed its influence in the group.

Founding of the Liberal Democratic Party.

In April 1991 Zhirinovsky, along with Vladimir Bogachev, took initiatives which led to the founding of the Liberal Democratic Party, the second registered party in the Soviet Union and therefore the first officially sanctioned opposition party. According to the former CPSU Politburo member Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, this party started as a joint project of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) leadership and the KGB. Yakovlev wrote in his memoirs that KGB director Vladimir Kryuchkov presented the project of the puppet LDPR party at a meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev and informed him about the selection of the LDPR leader. According to Yakovlev, the name of the party was chosen by KGB General Philipp Bobkov. However, Bobkov said that he was against the creation of "Zubatov's pseudo-party under KGB control that would direct the interests and sentiments of certain social groups".  Zhirinovsky's first political breakthrough came in June 1991 when he came third in Russia's first presidential election, gathering more than six million votes or 7.81%. Afterwards, the LDPR garnered a reputation as an ineffective vehicle for opposition against the government, and one that lacked either credibility or authenticity, particularly given Zhirinovsky's vocal support for the Soviet coup attempt of 1991. This view was further encouraged by rumors, denied by Zhirinovsky, that he was an agent of the KGB and that the LDPR was a farcical creation meant to either discredit or distract earnest opposition to the government. Such impressions would last even as the Soviet Union was dissolved and the Russian Communist Party itself took an opposition role. In 1992 Zhirinovsky made contact with Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader at that time of France's Front National (FN). Eduard Limonov of the National-Bolshevik Party introduced the men to each other and the FN later "provided logistical support [to the LDPR], including computers and fax machines". Zhirinovsky suggested establishing the International Centre of Right-wing Parties in Moscow and invited Le Pen to Moscow. The Liberal Democratic Party remained a significant force in Russian politics. At the height of its fortunes, the LDPR gathered 23% of the vote in the 1993 Duma elections and achieved a broad representation throughout the country – the LDPR being the top vote-getter in 64 out of 87 regions. This fact encouraged Zhirinovsky to once again vie for the presidential office, this time against incumbent Boris Yeltsin. The fact that Yeltsin's candidacy seemed seriously challenged by Russian nationalist groups and a rejuvenated Communist Party alarmed many outside observers, particularly in the Western world, who expressed concern that such developments pose a serious threat to the survival of Russian democracy, already in a very fragile state. Zhirinovsky became a focal point of harsh criticism and seemed the living embodiment of authoritarianism and militarism in modern Russia. While some observers inclined to consider his controversial statements as stark efforts to drum up nationalist support, not viewable as anything more severe than electoral fodder meant for domestic consumption, there was considerable dismay at the fact that in February 1996, months before a presidential election, Zhirinovsky placed second in opinion polls, behind Communist Gennady Zyuganov and ahead of Boris Yeltsin. In the end, however, Zhirinovsky placed fifth with a 5.7% share in the first round of voting. Since then, the party's fortunes have stabilized somewhat, with the 2003 election seeing an LDPR vote share of 11.7%. In 2004, Zhirinovsky declined even to be nominated by the party, leaving that role to Oleg Malyshkin, who received 2% support from voters.  For his part, Zhirinovsky has done a great deal to foster a reputation as a loud and boisterous populist who speaks on behalf of the Russian nation and people, even when the things he says are precisely what many people, at home or abroad, do not want to hear. Zhirinovsky infamously promised voters in 1991 that if he were elected, free vodka would be distributed to all. Similarly, he once remarked, during a political rally inside a Moscow department store, that if he were made president, underwear would be freely available. Zhirinovsky has on several occasions become involved in altercations with other politicians and debate opponents. As a candidate, he also took part in the 2000 and 2008 presidential elections, promising a "police state", and to institute summary executions. A BBC documentary from 1995 showed Zhirinovsky telling the crowd at a campaign rally: "Help us, and you'll never have to vote again! I'm not saying, "Vote for us and maybe in 20 years' time somebody will do something". No, these will be the last elections! The last ones!". Some commentators call Zhirinovsky a fascist or a neo-fascist.

Views.

Zhirinovsky has expressed admiration for the 1996 United States presidential election contender Pat Buchanan, referring positively to a comment in which Buchanan labelled the United States Congress "Israeli-occupied territory." Zhirinovsky said that both the United States and the Russian Federation were "under occupation" and that "to survive, we could set aside places on U.S. and Russian territories to deport this small but troublesome tribe." Buchanan strongly rejected this endorsement, saying he would provide safe haven to persecuted minorities if Zhirinovsky were ever elected Russia's president, eliciting a harsh response by Zhirinovsky: "You soiled your pants as soon as you got my congratulations. Who are you afraid of, Zionists?" Zhirinovsky repeatedly denied his father's Jewishness until he published "Ivan Close Your Soul" in July 2001, describing how his father, Volf Isaakovich Eidelshtein, changed his surname from Eidelshtein to Zhirinovsky. He rhetorically asked, "Why should I reject Russian blood, Russian culture, Russian land, and fall in love with the Jewish people only because of that single drop of blood that my father left in my mother's body?" Another frequently cited quote from Zhirinovsky is "My mother was Russian and my father was a lawyer". Zhirinovsky later disowned the statement, after researching his father's life in Israel (where, after leaving Zhrinovsky's mother, he had immigrated in 1949 with a new wife, and worked as an agronomist in Tel Aviv). Discussing the statement, Zhirinovsky says: "Journalists mocked me: for saying I was the son of a lawyer. And I am really the son of an agronomist." Discussing his father, Zhirinovsky says with tears in his eyes: "All my life I was looking for him. I believed that he was alive. I believed that someday he would find me... But there is a silver lining. I tried to imitate him... And I was able to achieve a certain position in life, even without the support of my father."Zhirinovsky has Israeli relatives, including his uncle and cousin, who he met and befriended for the first time only after discovering more about his family's story in Israel. Zhirinovsky's Israeli family did not know that he was a celebrity and politician in Russia but responded warmly to his invitation to stay with him in Moscow. Zhirinovsky has led several official Russian delegations to Israel, on behalf of the Russian government. Visiting Israel, he says that he is concerned mainly about the economic situation for the more than one million Russians living in Israel. He also states that "Russia will never allow any violence against Israel."  Besides expressing his concern for Turks and Caucasians displacing the Russian population from their settled territory, Zhirinovsky also advocated for all Chinese and Japanese to be deported from the Russian Far East. During his 1992 visit to the United States, Zhirinovsky called on television "for the preservation of the white race" and warned that the white Americans were in danger of turning their country over to black and Hispanic people.  In 2004, Zhirinovsky spoke at the City Court of Saint Petersburg, in reference to the assassination of Galina Starovoytova. After accusing Starovoytova of having worked for foreign intelligence, he said "I have always said openly that for democrats of pro-Western orientation there are only three roads: prison, the grave, and emigration."  In August 2016, Zhirinovsky prayed for the Republican presidential election nominee, Donald Trump, whose antics were similar to Zhirinovsky's but different in backgrounds, to defeat Hillary Clinton, whom he considered dangerous, in order to take his party's ideology global. He also expressed his desire to test his DNA to determine whether he and Trump were related. In April 2017, Zhirinovsky promised to drink the champagne for Donald Trump's impeachment, saying: "A half of Americans voted for different foreign policies. Trump breaks his promises, and if he continues breaking them, his impeachment is inevitable."

"The Last Break Southward".

"The Last Break Southward" (1995) is the magnum opus of Zhirinovsky in which he expressed his worldview. "Since the 1980s, I have elaborated a geopolitical conception—the last break southward, Russia's reach to the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean." This is "really the solution for the salvation of the Russian nation... It solves all problems and we gain tranquility." Russia will rule the space "from Kabul to Istanbul." The United States would feel safer with the Russian rule in the region, since wars there would cease under the Russian rule. Perhaps, some people in Kabul, Teheran, or Ankara would not like it but many people would feel better. "The Persians and Turks would suffer a bit but all the rest would gain." The "bells of the Orthodox Church must bell from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean." And Jerusalem becomes close. It is necessary that "the Christian world reunifies in Jerusalem." The Palestinian problem can be solved by partial transfer of the Palestinian population to the former territories of Turkey and Iran. The great Russian language and Russian ruble would wield Near Eastern and Central Asian peoples into one Russian citizenship.  Along the Russia southern sphere from India to Bosporus, other spheres of influence will stretch from north to south in the forthcoming world order, Latin America would be in the American sphere, Africa in the European sphere. and Japan and China will rule Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia. Everywhere "the direction is the same—north-south." Geopolitically, it is logical. "Hence, the distribution along such a geopolitical formula would be very beneficent for the whole of humanity, and all over the planet would be established warm and clear political climate."  "On this occasion, we need a man with at least planetary thinking," who would realise "the geopolitical formula, guaranteeing the interests of the majority on the planet... This is the fate of Russia. It is destination, fate... We must do it, for we have no choice... This is geopolitics." We would do it, assured Zhirinovsky alluding to himself, by the efforts of an "honest, perseverant, patriotically inspired President."

Foreign relations and military excursions.

Zhirinovsky is well known for his boasts pertaining to other countries, having expressed a desire to reunite countries of the ex-Soviet "near abroad" with Russia to within the Russia's borders of 1900 (including Finland and Poland). He has advocated forcibly retaking Alaska from the United States (which would then become "a great place to put the Ukrainians"), turning Kazakhstan into "Russia's back yard", and provoking wars between the clans and the nations of the former Soviet Union and occupying what will remain of it when the wars are over. Zhirinovsky, who encourages separatism within the Russian minority in the Baltic countries, endorsed the forcible re-occupation of these countries and said nuclear waste should be dumped there.  Zhirinovsky supports Israel-Russia relations, but says that Israel has to make Russian its official language. He also believes that Israel has to pay more attention to the Russian Orthodox Church. He believes that Russians are endangered in Israel and should come under the protection of the Russian police.  In 1999, at the start of the Second Chechen War, Zhirinovsky, an ardent supporter of the first war in Chechnya in the mid-1990s, advocated hitting some Chechen villages with tactical nuclear weapons. He has also advocated using nuclear weapons and naval blockade-imposed starvation in the event of a Russian war against Japan. In 2008, during the resulting political row between the United Kingdom and Russia, he suggested dropping nuclear bombs over the Atlantic Ocean in an effort to flood Britain.  Zhirinovsky hailed what he described as "the democratic process" in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, whom he supported strongly. The friendship dated from at least the Persian Gulf War in 1991, during which time Zhirinovsky sent several armed volunteers from the "Falcons of Zhirinovsky" group to support the Iraqi president. Allegations have dogged Zhirinovsky closely since the fall of Baghdad that he personally profited from illicit oil sales as part of the Oil-for Food scandal, a charge investigated in 2005 by the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Programme (Volcker Commission) and the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). He is also close to the Serbian nationalist leader and war crimes suspect Vojislav Šešelj.  Zhirinovsky said he is dreaming of the day "when Russian soldiers can wash their boots in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and switch to year-round summer uniforms" following Russia's conquest of Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey and occupation of the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. He also declared that Bulgaria should annex the Republic of Macedonia, and said that Romania is an artificial state supposedly created by Italian Gypsies who seized territory from Russia, Bulgaria and Hungary.  Russia's southern neighbour Georgia has been another frequent target of Zhirinovsky's rhetoric. After Aslan Abashidze was ousted from power in 2004 as leader of Ajara, an autonomous Georgian region, Zhirinovsky worried that similar revolutions would occur in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Highly critical of Georgia's pro-Western line, he is an energetic supporter of the republic of Abkhazia broke away from the Republic of Georgia; in a high-profile incident in August 2004, he departed on a campaign to promote a tourist season in Abkhazia aboard a cruise ship which was briefly intercepted by a Georgian coast guard vessel. After war broke out between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Zhirinovsky argued in favour of Russian recognition of Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence. "We should have taken the whole territory of Georgia under control," he complained, and "arrested all Georgian officers and taken them here, like to Guantanamo, arrested Saakashvili and handed him over for trial by a military tribunal and gone to the border with Turkey." In 2009, he called the decision to hold NATO military exercises in Georgia during Soviet WW2 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow a "total revision of the history of the Great Patriotic War" and suggested that Russia should respond by conducting large-scale joint military drills with Cuba and Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. Zhirinovsky has been expelled from Bulgaria for insulting its president and was barred from entry to Germany. In 2005, Kazakhstan declared Zhirinovsky "persona non grata" on the territory of his historical homeland, due to the politician's controversial speech about the change of the Russia-Kazakhstan border, in which he questioned the Kazakhs' place in history.  In 2006, Zhirinovsky became "persona non grata" in Ukraine as well, following his statements regarding the January 2006 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute. His ban was revoked in 2007. In reaction to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's criticism of Russian foreign policy during the dispute, Zhirinovsky stated, "Condoleezza Rice needs a company of soldiers [and] needs to be taken to barracks where she would be satisfied." At the premiere of the film "Taras Bulba" in 2009 he stated: "Everyone who sees the film will understand that Russians and Ukrainians are one people – and that the enemy is from the West". In February 2010 Zhirinovsky claimed that Eastern Ukraine would become part of Russia "in five years" claiming that "the population is largely Russian" and called President-elect of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych "basically Russian" (Yanukovych's father was an ethnic Polish-Belarusian, and his mother Russian).  On the November 2006 death by poisoning of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko in London, Zhirinovsky said: "Any traitor must be eliminated using any methods. If you have joined the special services to work, then you should work, but to betray, to run away abroad, to give up the secrets you learned while working – all of this looks bad." Sergei Abeltsev, Zhirinovsky's former bodyguard and State Duma member from the LDPR, added: "The deserved punishment reached the traitor. I am sure his terrible death will be a warning to all the traitors that in Russia the treason is not to be forgiven. I would recommend to citizen Berezovsky to avoid any food at the commemoration for his crime accomplice Litvinenko." In the 2007 election, political patronage from Zhirinovsky enabled Litvinenko murder suspect Andrei Lugovoi to win election to the Russian parliament and thus obtain formal parliamentary immunity. He also accused Great Britain (according to him, "the most barbaric country on the planet") of fomenting World War I, the October Revolution, World War II, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  Writing about Marine Le Pen he said that she could outdo her father because "Instead of saying that Islam is terrorism, she simply insists that France is a secular nation that will not stand for hundreds of thousands of Muslims practicing their religious traditions. With this argument, Marine has cleverly defended the French people's right to a secular nation." In that vein he said that she has the "chance to represent the French majority."  In 2013, when asked about former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, he said, "Yulia Tymoshenko, I'm sorry, is a woman. I don't like them, as it's easier to persuade a woman. [...] Women are more compliant, and it's dangerous."

Controversies.

Violent controversies.

Zhirinovsky also has a history of igniting personal violence in political contexts. In his notorious debate with Boris Nemtsov in 1995 a "juice fight" broke out. In 2003, Zhirinovsky engaged in a fistfight after a television debate with Mikhail Delyagin. In 2005, Zhirinovsky ignited a brawl in the parliament by spitting at a Rodina party legislator, Andrei Saveliyev. In 2008, he showed himself shooting a rifle at the targets representing his political rivals. During the 2008 televised presidential debate, he threatened Nikolai Gotsa, the representative of Democratic Party of Russia candidate Andrei Bogdanov with violence, saying he's going to "smash his head" and ordering his bodyguard to "shoot that bastard over there in the corridor". Gotsa sued Zhirinovsky in civil court for 1 million rubles (approximately US$38,000) in damages and eventually received a judgment of 30,000 rubles (approximately US$1,150). In April 2014, Zhirinovsky made strong verbal threats against a pregnant journalist during a press conference in the Duma, including ordering his aide to rape the journalist, who had asked Zhirinovsky about possible sanctions against Ukraine amidst the military tensions between the two countries.

Donkey video for 2012 presidential election.

On 6 February 2012, Zhirinovsky released a 30-second election video on the Internet that featured him on a sleigh which was harnessed with a black donkey, which represents the country. The video was widely discussed on the Internet, and received mostly negative reactions from Russian users. International organizations People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (Now known as World Animal Protection), as well as Russian animal rights activists, have accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals. Zhirinovsky responded to criticism, saying that similar treatment is commonplace in the Arab world and that in fact the animal had been treated "better than many people".

Other controversies.

He proposed setting up large fans on the borders to blow airborne radioactive waste into the Baltic states.  To eradicate bird flu, he proposed arming all of Russia's population and ordering them and the troops to shoot down the migrant birds returning to Russia from wintering.  He also threatened to remove restrictions on arms sales to Iran and proposed to sell the disputed Kuril Islands to Japan for 50 billion USD.  In a 2003 video, a drunken Zhirinovsky threatened George W. Bush in offensive language. He called the United States a "second-hand goods store" filled with "cocksuckers, handjobbers, and faggots", and claimed that Russian scientists are able to change the gravitational field of the Earth and sink the entire country. In the video Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and Condoleezza Rice are also mentioned. Zhirinovsky calls Condoleezza Rice: "a black whore who needs a good cock. Send her here, one of our divisions will make her happy in the barracks one night. She will choke on Russian sperm as it will be leaking out of her ears... until she crawls to the US embassy in Moscow on her knees."  In the wake of the February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, Zhirinovsky was quoted by the Russian International News Agency as claiming "It's not meteors falling, it's the test of a new weapon by the Americans." At the same time, he derided the Russian Academy of Sciences for anarchism, having scientists that are so old that their brains and reproductive organs don't work any longer, and told the "elders" to go home and collect their pensions.  On 4 April 2014, in the wake of the annexation of Crimea, the franchises of the fast-food restaurant McDonald's were unable to continue because they had been cut off by their Ukrainian franchisor. Zhirinovsky suggested that McDonald's "should be evicted from Russia" for the affront.  At a press conference in April, when asked whether Russians should reciprocate the Ukrainian sex strike, he replied that all Ukrainian women were "nymphomaniacs" like the journalist who had asked the question, Stella Dubovitskaya. He then ordered two of his aides to "violently rape" the journalist for Rossiya Segodnya, who had to be briefly hospitalised for shock. He later apologised with "I spoke a bit rudely when I replied to a young woman".  On 25 July 2014, amidst an armed insurgency in Eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry launched criminal proceedings against Zhirinovsky and Communist Party of the Russian Federation leader Gennady Zyuganov for "financing actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory and the state border of Ukraine".  On 10 August 2014, Zhirinovsky threatened Poland and the Baltic states with carpet bombing, dooming and wiping out all of them. What will remain of the Baltics? Nothing will remain of them. NATO airplanes are stationed there. There's an anti-missile defense system. In Poland – the Baltics – they are on the whole doomed. They'll be wiped out. There will be nothing left. Let them re-think this, these leaders of these little dwarf states. How they are leaving themselves vulnerable. Nothing threatens America, it's far away. But Eastern Europe countries will place themselves under the threat of total annihilation. Only they themselves will be to blame. Because we cannot allow missiles and planes to be aimed at Russia from their territories. We have to destroy them half an hour before they launch. And then we have to do carpet bombing so that not a single launch pad remains or even one plane. So – no Baltics, no Poland. Let NATO immediately ask for negotiations with our Foreign Ministry. Then we'll stop. Otherwise well have to teach them the lessons of May 1945.  On 23 August 2014, he voiced the opinion that Russia ought to abolish political parties in favour of an autocratic system in which the leader would be chosen by the "five to six thousand wisest people" in the country. He also proposed returning to the Imperial flag and anthem.  In the same year, he threatened Washington with a Russian attack while giving a speech to listeners.  In February 2015, he suggested to "burn all Paris" and "sturm Berlin" during a speech at the Duma.  In May 2015 he stated that former President of Georgia, and then governor of the Ukrainian city of Odessa, Mikheil Saakashvili, should be killed. "We will shoot all of your governors, starting with Saakashvili, then they'll be afraid. And there will be a different situation in Europe and Ukraine.... Let's aim at Berlin, Brussels, London, and Washington." He then said Ukrainian political prisoner Nadiya Savchenko should be shot and hanged in Belgrade.  In November 2015, after the incident of a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M jet near the Syria–Turkey border, he stated in a speech to the Duma that Russia must detonate a nuclear bomb on the Bosphorus to create a 10 meters high tsunami wave that would wipe out at least 9 million Istanbul residents.  In September 2016, inspired by Donald Trump's signature border wall proposal, Zhirinovsky proposed building a border wall and banning Muslims from entering Russia.  In 12 October 2016, Zhirinovsky warned on Reuters that a vote for Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election is a vote for the eruption of a third World War, leading to Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere. He also noted that, on the contrary, Trump wouldn't care about US interventions in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Ukraine, and thus offering peace.  In March 2018, opposition journalist Renat Davletgildeyev accused Zhirinovsky of sexual harassment.

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky (; "né" Eidelstein (); born 25 April 1946) is a Russian politician and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. He is fiercely nationalist and has been described as "a showman of Russian politics, blending populist and nationalist rhetoric, anti-Western invective and a brash, confrontational style". His views have been described as fascist. He is considered by Russian scholars as a neo-Eurasianist.

Vladimir Volfovič Žirinovskij (rusky "Владимир Вольфович Жириновский"; 25. dubna 1946 Alma-Ata, Sovětský svaz; dnes Almaty, Kazachstán jako Vladimir Volfovič Ejdelštejn) je ruský politik a člen ruské opoziční Liberálně-demokratické strany, který je některými považován za symbol ruského nacionalismu. Je znám svými projevy na veřejnosti, v nichž populisticky slibuje snadné a bezbolestné změny ve společnosti.


First World War.

Leeb entered Army service on 7 July 1901. He attended the War School in Munich, the Bavarian Artillery & Engineer School, and then the Bavarian War Academy. Before and during World War I, Leeb served as an adjutant in artillery units and then was appointed a General Staff officer. Leeb was promoted to captain on 1 June 1915. In June 1917, he was transferred to the General staff in the XVth Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps and an infantry division. Leeb participated in battles around Lorraine, Northern France, Galicia, the Carpathian Mountains, Flanders and the German withdrawal from Northern France. Leeb's older brother, Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, had the knightly rank of "Ritter" and the nobiliary particle of "von", not by birth, but thanks to the conferment of the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph and a patent of nobility. Hence, the older brother had “von” between his names, but the younger brother did not.

Interwar period.

Remaining in the down-sized "Reichswehr" after the end of the war in November 1918, during 1919 Leeb served as a staff officer with the 4th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, the Detachment Hierl (Freikorps), the 24th Reichswehr Brigade, Niederwerfung des Spartacus Aufstandes in Bavaria, before a posting to the German War Ministry (1 October 1919 – 1 October 1921), an artillery regiment (1 October 1921 – 1 October 1924), and the War Academy (7th Division) in Munich (1924 - 1 October 1928). He was promoted to Major on 1 February 1925. Between 1929 and 1933, Leeb served as commander of the Mountain Transport and Observation Squadron in Landsberg. He became a supply officer (Provision Matters) in the War Ministry (1 April 1933 – 1 April 1936), before promotion to "Generalmajor" on 1 July 1935, and later was given command of the 15th Infantry Division (1 April 1936 – 1 April 1939) at Frankfurt-am-Main. After promotion to "Generalleutnant" in early 1937, he became Commanding General of the XI Army Corps (1 April 1939 – 16 April 1940) in Hanover, where he was responsible for recruiting, training, and mobilization. During this period he was promoted to General of the Artillery (1 April 1939) and also became commander of Military District XI (1 April 1939 – 31 August 1939).

Second World War.

Leeb took part in the invasion of Poland, with his XI Corps attacking towards Warsaw. He initially reported to Walther von Reichenau of the 10th Army, before his unit formed the left wing of Reichenau's drive towards Łódź. Later, his unit was transferred to Johannes Blaskowitz's 8th Army in its attack from the east-central region of Germany into west-central Poland, before sweeping on towards Warsaw. On 15 April 1940, Leeb became Chief of the Waffenamt (Army Ordnance Weapons Depot) at the War Ministry in Berlin (15 April 1940 – 1 January 1945). His predecessor, Karl Becker, had committed suicide because he was unable to properly supply the field units with ammunition. During this period, Leeb also served as an advisor to the Works Company for Weapons and Mechanical Engineering, which was directed by Hermann Göring in Berlin (17 January 1941 – 29 December 1942), and he then served as a member of the Armaments Advisory Service (December 1942 - 1 May 1945). In late 1944, Leeb's section became part of Heinrich Himmler's Replacement Army. Leeb retired on 1 May 1945, the day following Adolf Hitler's death.

Emil Leeb (17 June 1881 – 8 September 1969) was a German general during World War II. A professional soldier, he saw active service during both World Wars. Leeb's older brother was Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.

Emil Leeb (17. června 1881 v Pasově – 8. září 1969 v Mnichově) byl veterán první světové války a německý generál za druhé světové války v hodnosti General der Artillerie ("generál dělostřelectva"). Známý je především díky svému působení jako vedoucí armádního zbrojního úřadu ("Heeres-Waffenamt"). Jeho starším bratrem byl vysoce vyznamenaný polní maršál nacistického Německa, Wilhelm von Leeb.


Written in the Stars (Tinie Tempah song)

Background.

"Written in the Stars" was written by "iSHi", Mughal, Tempah, Turner and Charlie Bernardo and produced by iSHi and James Perolls. Tinie Tempah first revealed the song on 17 June 2010 performing it live on Sony Ericsson's Pocket TV along with "Frisky". Tempah said "Written in the Stars it is a real passionate track about the sort of struggle that I've had to face. You know I just really feel it as something to perform at festivals as well so I thought I might as well get my practice and start warming up now." The song was released on 27 September 2010, followed by "Disc-Overy" on 4 October 2010.

Critical reception.

Robert Copsey of "Digital Spy" gave the song a very positive review: Tempah makes abundantly clear on single number three that success wasn't handed to him on a platinum dinnerware set marked 'Doulton'. Au contraire, it was an exhausting journey of "believing and praying" in a dream that, for a time, "wasn't going nowhere" – and with his ear-snagging rhymes cloaked in a stadium-sized chorus courtesy of US newbie Eric Turner, we're all going to hear about it whether we want to or not. Oh Tinie, we'll never doubt your work hard, play hard mentality again..

Music video.

The official music video was directed by Alex Herron and was released on YouTube by Parlophone on 13 August 2010, along with a 43-second trailer of the video three days before, with cameo appearances by Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, Steve Carell, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Sandra Bullock, The video, shot in New York City, features Tinie Tempah standing and rapping on the roof while Eric Turner is sitting on the piano in a white room playing the chorus. The narrative scenes see a young boy whose life is shaped by the fact he and his mother are subjected to a financially insecure life and he is regularly bullied by his peers and how he is consumed with his book. After an interview with Virgin Media, the rapper claimed the boy 'not to be his younger self in the tennis courts' – he was trying to portray the life of a city boy. It made its US debut on 1 February 2011.

Chart performance.

On 13 September 2010, "Written in the Stars" debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 22, beating "Pass Out", which peaked at number 33 on the chart in March 2010. It later peaked at number 16. The single also managed to chart in Switzerland, where it debuted at number 71 on 26 September 2010, Tempah's first single to make an impact in the country. On 3 October 2010, the track charted at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and UK R&B Chart, beating "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars and "Let the Sun Shine" by Labrinth, making "Written in the Stars" Tinie Tempah's second number 1 in the UK after "Pass Out". "Written in the Stars" sold over 115,000 copies in its first week alone, which at that point of the year was a first week figure surpassed only by "California Gurls" by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg (124,000) and the charity single "Everybody Hurts" by Helping Haiti (over 450,000). In the European Hot 100, the song debuted at number 5, the highest debut of the week. In January 2011, the single reached a peak position of number 34 and was certified Platinum in Australia. The song became Tinie Tempah's first song to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100, debuting at number 91 for the week ending 5 March 2011 and peaking at number 12.

In popular culture.

Parody version.

In 2012, a parody of the video was made by the cast and crew of ITV soap opera "Emmerdale" in honour of the departure of character Aaron Livesy, played by Danny Miller, who is a big fan of the song. The role of Tinie Tempah was played by Adam Thomas, who plays Adam Barton (Aaron's best friend in the soap), and the role of Eric Turner was played by Kelvin Fletcher, who plays Andy Sugden. The video features many well-known "Emmerdale" actors such as Emma Atkins, Jeff Hordley, Lucy Pargeter, Sammy Winward, Nicola Wheeler, Charley Webb, Natalie Anderson, Sian Reese-Williams and veteran actor Freddie Jones.

Sports.

TBS used this song in their commercials for the 2011 American League Division Series and the 2011 National League Division Series. The New York Giants used this song for their entrance for Super Bowl XLVI.

Covers.

The Mend performed a mashup of "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and "Written in the Stars" for their semi-final performance on "Britain's Got Talent" in 2012.  Karmin recorded a cover of "Written in the Stars" on their YouTube channel.

"Written in the Stars" is a song by English rapper Tinie Tempah featuring American singer Eric Turner. Unlike his two prior breakthrough singles which were produced by Labrinth, the track instead features production by iSHi. It was released in September 2010 through Parlophone, digitally on the iTunes Store. It serves as the third official single from his debut album "Disc-Overy". The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Tinie Tempah's second number-one single in the United Kingdom. The song was released as Tempah's debut U.S. single, and has peaked at No. 12 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The track also marks Tinie's first top 10 hit on the "Billboard" Mainstream Top 40.

Pass Out je píseň britského grime zpěváka Tinie Tempaha. Píseň se nachází na jeho debutovém studiovém albu "Disc-Overy". Produkce se ujal producent iSHi. S touto písní mu vypomohl britský zpěvák Eric Turner.


Biography.

Vladimir Tatlin (full name Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin) was born in Moscow, Russian Empire. His father, Yevhraf Nikoforyvych Tatlin was a hereditary nobleman from Oryol, a mechanical engineer graduated from the Technological Institute in St.Petersburg and employed by the Moscow-Brest Railway in Moscow. His mother, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Tatlina (Bart), was a poet symphatizing the Narodnaya Volya revolutionary movement. After she died in 1887, his father married again and resettled to Kharkiv. His father, by whom he lived after having failed to study in Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture died in 1904, so young Vladimir had to interrupt his studies at the Kharkov Arts School and to leave for Odessa to become a merchant sea cadet. According to his own memories, sea and distant lands gave him both means of subsistence and source of inspiration; he sailed all across the Black Sea and also to Egypt.  In 1905 he started and in 1910 successfully completed his studies at N.Selivestrov Penza Art School in Penza. During the summer vacations he traveled to Moscow and St.Petersburg to participate in various art events. In 1911 he resettled to Moscow to live by his uncle and began his art career as an icon painter. He also sang in Ukrainian and was a professional musician-bandurist, and performed as such abroad.  Tatlin became familiar with the work of Pablo Picasso during a trip to Paris in 1913.  Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed the huge Monument to the Third International, also known as Tatlin's Tower. Planned from 1919, the monument was to be a tall tower in iron, glass and steel which would have dwarfed the Eiffel Tower in Paris (the Monument to the Third International was a third taller at 400 meters high). Inside the iron-and-steel structure of twin spirals, the design envisaged three building blocks, covered with glass windows, which would rotate at different speeds (the first one, a cube, once a year; the second one, a pyramid, once a month; the third one, a cylinder, once a day). For financial and practical reasons, however, the tower was never built.  Tatlin was also regarded as a progenitor of Soviet post-Revolutionary Constructivist art with his pre-Revolutionary counter-reliefs, three-dimensional constructions made of wood and metal, some placed in corners (corner counter-reliefs) and others more conventionally. Tatlin conceived these sculptures in order to question the traditional ideas of art, though he did not regard himself as a Constructivist and objected to many of the movement's ideas. Later prominent constructivists included Varvara Stepanova, Alexander Rodchenko, Manuel Rendón Seminario, Joaquín Torres García, László Moholy-Nagy, Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo.  Although colleagues at the beginning of their careers, Tatlin and Malevich quarrelled fiercely and publicly at the time of the 0.10 Exhibition in 1915 (long before the birth of Constructivism), also called "the last futurist exhibition", apparently over the'suprematist' works Malevich exhibited there. This led Malevich to develop his ideas further in the city of Vitebsk, where he found a school called UNOVIS (Champions of the new art).  Tatlin also dedicated himself to the study of clothes, and various objects, and flight, culminating in the construction of Letatlin personal flying apparatus.  In the year of 1930 he taught in Kiev where one of his students was Joseph Karakis.  From the 1930's Tatlin worked for different theatres in Moscow and during the Great Patriotic War, in Gorkiy. In 1948 he was heavily criticized for his allegedly anti-communist stance and lost his job, but was not repressed.  Tatlin died in 1953 in Moscow and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Vladimir Tatlin ( – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, which he began in 1919. With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Soviet avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became an important artist in the Constructivist movement.

Vladimir Jevgrafovič Tatlin (28. prosince 1885, Charkov – 31. května 1953, Moskva) byl ruský sovětský malíř, sochař, architekt, scénograf a průmyslový výtvarník; jeden ze zakladatelů ruského (sovětského) konstruktivismu.


Background.

The ship features the Aegis Combat System (Baseline 7 Phase 1) combined with AN/SPY-1D multi-function radar antennae.  The "Sejong the Great" class is the third phase of the South Korean navy's Korean Destroyer eXperimental (KDX) program, a substantial shipbuilding program, which is geared toward enhancing ROKN's ability to successfully defend the maritime areas around South Korea from various modes of threats as well as becoming a blue-water navy. At 8,500 tons standard displacement and 11,000 tons full load, the KDX-III "Sejong the Great" destroyers are by far the largest destroyers in the South Korean Navy, and indeed are larger than most destroyers in the navies of other countries. and built slightly bulkier and heavier than s or s to accommodate 32 more missiles. As such, some analysts believe that this class of ships is more appropriately termed a class of cruisers rather than destroyers. KDX-III are currently the largest ships to carry the Aegis combat system.

Armaments.

"Sejong the Great"-class destroyers' main gun is the 127 mm/L62 Mk. 45 Mod 4 naval gun, an improved version of the same gun used on other warships from several other nations. Point-defense armaments include one 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS and a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Block 1 21-round launcher, the first Aegis platform to carry RAM. Anti-aircraft armament consists of SM-2 Block IIIA and IIIB in 80-cell VLS. Anti-submarine warfare armaments consists of both K-ASROC "Hong Sang-uh" (Red Shark) anti-submarine rockets and 32 K745 LW "Cheong Sang-uh" (Blue Shark) torpedoes. Anti-ship capability is provided by 16 SSM-700K "Hae Sung" (Sea Star) long-range anti-ship missile, each with performance similar to the U.S. Harpoon. Land-attack capability is provided by the recently developed Hyunmoo-3C (Guardian of the Northern Sky) cruise missile, which is similar to the U.S. Tomahawk.  Missile batteries

Capabilities.

The "Sejong the Great"-class destroyers' are often compared to the "Arleigh Burke" and "Atago" classes because they utilize the AN/SPY-1 multi-function radar, have similar propulsion and capabilities. One notable difference between the "Sejong the Great"-class ships and "Arleigh Burke"s is the number of VLS cells. Destroyers of the "Sejong the Great"-class have a capacity of 128 missiles, as opposed to 96 on the "Arleigh Burke" class and the Japanese "Atago"-class destroyers. The "Sejong the Great" class is thus one of the most heavily armed ships in the world, with even greater missile capacity than the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Type 055 destroyer (112 VLS cells), or the U.S. Navy "Ticonderoga"-class guided missile cruiser (122 VLS cells), and considering only surface ships is surpassed only by the with 352 missiles (entire missile load). The four American Ohio-class submarines converted to guided-missile configuration carry 154 cruise missiles each. Another similarity to "Arleigh Burke" Flight IIA and "Atago"-class destroyers is the presence of full facilities for two helicopters, a feature missing from earlier "Arleigh Burke" and s.  These destroyers have the capability to track and monitor any missile launched from anywhere from North Korea. This capability was demonstrated by the tracking of a North Korean missile in April 2009.

BMD.

In August 2016, press reports revealed that South Korea was considering adding the SM-3 interceptor to its "Sejong the Great"-class ships to enable them to perform ballistic missile defense in response to North Korean efforts to bolster offensive missile capabilities. This comes just months after the U.S. decision to deploy the THAAD missile interceptor system on mainland South Korea. The addition of SM-3s to the ships may require software and computer hardware upgrades. The following month, Aegis manufacturer Lockheed Martin confirmed the next three "Sejong the Great" vessels will be capable of performing "integrated air and missile defense" (IAMD) to supplement U.S. Army ground-based missile interceptors on the peninsula, likely being outfitted with the SM-3. While the first three destroyers are fitted with Aegis Baseline 7 based on older proprietary computers that can't carry out IAMD operations, the following three will be fitted with the Baseline 9 version of the Aegis Combat System that combines modern computing architecture to allow the AN/SPY-1D(v) radar to perform air warfare and BMD missions at the same time.

Hull names.

On April 20, 2007, South Korean Chief of Naval Operations announced that the lead ship of KDX-III class destroyers will be referred as "Sejong the Great". Sejong the Great (Hangul: 세종대왕) is the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He is credited with the creation of the indigenous Korean system of writing.

Ships in the class.

On 10 December 2013 the ROKN confirmed ordering three more vessels on the same class. Oct.10,2019,2nd batch of Gwangaeto class Aegis detroyers placed order to Hyundai heavy industry as first 170M destroyer among 3 new Aegis construction by South Korean navy.

The "Sejong the Great"-class destroyers (Sejongdaewang-Geup Guchukam or Hangul: 세종대왕급 구축함, Hanja: 世宗大王級驅逐艦), also known as KDX-III, are three guided missile destroyers of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). The ROKN has deployed three ships with an option for three more which was taken up in December 2013.

Třída Sejong Veliký či třída KD-III je třída univerzálních raketových torpédoborců jihokorejského námořnictva, postavených v rámci programu "Korean Destroyer eXperimental" (KDX-III). Třídu tvoří celkem šest jednotek. První tři do služby vstoupily v letech 2008–2012, přičemž druhá trojice se k nim připojí do roku 2027. Plavidla jsou vybavena americkým pokročilým zbraňovým systémem Aegis a jsou schopna boje proti hladinovým, pozemním, vzdušným cílům i proti ponorkám. Svou konstrukcí představují největší a nejsilněji vyzbrojenou verzi amerických torpédoborců třídy "Arleigh Burke".


Description.

The holotype of "Sinotyrannus" is KZV-001, a disarticulated partial skeleton including the front portion of the skull, three dorsal vertebrae, the incomplete ilia, three articulated manual phalanges (including an ungual), and other fragmentary bones. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 9 meters (30 ft) and its weight at 2.5 tonnes (2.75 short tons). In 2016 it was given a smaller size of 7.5 meters (24.6 ft) and 1.2 tonnes (1.3 short tons).  The preserved cranial elements include the premaxillae, dentary, and anterior portions of the maxillae and nasals. The dorsal margin of the maxilla is unusually concave unlike the convex condition in tyrannosaurids. The nares are large and elliptical, supporting its relation to proceratosauridae. The dentary gradually curves upwards as it approaches its front edge. Many teeth are preserved attached to the maxillae, with a roughly equal number of denticles on each side, similarly to those of tyrannosaurids. "Sinotyrannus" could perceivably have had a tall nasal crest like other proceratosaurids, although not enough of its nasals are preserved to be certain.  The three preserved vertebrae have very tall neural spines. The proportions of the preserved manual phalanges support the idea that they belong to the second finger, and the ungual has a deep groove on each side. The ilia are mainly present as molds, with the mold of the external side of the left ilium being the most complete. The preacetabular blade is short and wide, with a massive pubic peduncle, while the postacetabular blade is longer and thinner, with a triangular ischial peduncle. These traits of the ilia differentiate it from more advanced tyrannosauroids such as the tyrannosaurids.  "Sinotyrannus" was among the largest basal tyrannosauroids known, repudiating the previously presumed trend that tyrannosauroids gradually increased in size throughout the Cretaceous period from small basal forms like "Dilong" to advanced apex predators such as "Tyrannosaurus".

Classification.

The original description of "Sinotyrannus" proposed that it could have been the earliest tyrannosaurid due to its large size, but subsequent analyses place it as a proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid. It is considered to be part of a clade containing "Juratyrant" and "Stokesosaurus," as they all reputedly share a narrow preacetabular notch. A 2016 analysis instead placed "Juratyrant" and "Stokesosaurus" outside of proceratosauridae and proposed that "Sinotyrannus" is a sister taxon of "Yutyrannus" within proceratosauridae.  Below is a cladogram by Loewen "et al." in 2013.

Sinotyrannus (meaning "Chinese tyrant") is a genus of large basal proceratosaurid dinosaur, a relative of tyrannosaurids which flourished in North America and Asia during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. "Sinotyrannus" is known from a single incomplete fossil specimen including a partial skull, from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. Though it is not much younger than primitive tyrannosauroids such as "Dilong", it is similar in size to later forms such as "Tyrannosaurus". It was much larger than contemporary tyrannosauroids; reaching a total estimated length of, it is the largest known theropod from the Jiufotang Formation. The type species is "S. kazuoensis", described by Ji "et al.", in 2009.

Sinotyrannus ("čínský tyran") byl velký teropod (dravý dinosaurus) z nadčeledi tyranosauroidů, žijící v období spodní křídy (asi před 120 miliony let) na území dnešní severovýchodní Číny (provincie Liao-ning). Dosahoval délky kolem 9 až 10 metrů a hmotnosti asi 2500 kilogramů.


Playing career.

Gonchar began his professional career in 1991 with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Soviet Championship League. He also played two seasons for Dynamo Moscow.  Gonchar was the first round pick, 14th overall, of the Washington Capitals in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He began his North American career in 1994, suiting up in two playoff games for the Capitals' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Portland Pirates. He continued with Portland in 1994–95 before making his NHL debut with the Capitals on 7 February 1995, against the Buffalo Sabres. He appeared in 31 games total during the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season. The following year, in his first full-length campaign in the NHL, Gonchar tallied 41 points, showing his potential as an effective offensive defenceman.  In the 1998–99 season, Gonchar became the first Russian defenceman to score over 20 goals in the regular season. The following season, Gonchar broke the 50-point mark for the first time in his career. He also finished in fifth place in Norris Trophy voting as the NHL's best defenceman.  After 57- and 67-point (tied for a career high) seasons in 2000–01 and 2002–03 respectively, Gonchar was named to the Second All-Star Team both seasons. On 3 March 2004, in his tenth season with the Capitals, Gonchar was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Shaone Morrisonn and two draft picks. Finishing the season with Boston, he amassed 58 points, leading all NHL defencemen. Between 2000 and 2004, Gonchar recorded more points than any other defenceman, with 74 goals and 241 points. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Gonchar returned to Russia to play for Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he played with future Pittsburgh Penguins teammates Petr Sýkora and Evgeni Malkin. After the lockout, Gonchar signed a five-year, $25 million deal with the Penguins on 4 August 2005. In 2006–07, his second season with Pittsburgh, Gonchar tied a career-high with 67 points. In addition to his on-ice duties for the Penguins, Gonchar housed rookie Evgeni Malkin when he first arrived from Russia in October 2006.  The following season, Gonchar helped lead the Penguins, with offensive superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, the franchise's first finals appearance since 1992. After a 65-point regular season (the eighth 50-plus point season of his career), Gonchar added 14 points in 20 playoff games as the Penguins eventually lost in the finals to the Detroit Red Wings. Gonchar placed fourth in Norris Trophy voting, tying his best-ever placing for the league's best defenceman. During the first game of the 2008–09 pre-season, Gonchar was hit into the boards by David Kočí in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, dislocating his shoulder. It was reported that he would miss four to six months after opting for arthroscopic surgery. While both Gonchar and defense partner Brooks Orpik claimed the hit was late, well after Gonchar had completed a pass, it was judged by Penguins' head coach Michel Therrien to be a clean hit and that Kočí had simply "finished his check". With the Penguins struggling to make the playoffs, Gonchar returned to play his first game of the season on 14 February 2009, against the Toronto Maple Leafs after being sidelined for 21 weeks. He played in the final 25 games of the regular season and tallied 19 points, helping the Penguins into the 2009 playoffs as the Eastern Conference's fourth seed. However, playing in game four of the conference semi-finals against the Washington Capitals, Gonchar suffered a serious knee injury with a knee on knee hit by Alexander Ovechkin. Despite being initially expected to be out for several weeks and possibly the remainder of the playoffs, Gonchar returned for game seven of the series. Gonchar and the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup in seven games, facing the Detroit Red Wings for the second consecutive year. After winning, he revealed he had been playing with a partially torn medial collateral ligament (MCL).  Gonchar was sidelined with injuries again for a total of 20 games in the 2009–10 season. Despite missing time, he went on to record his ninth 50-point season in the past 10 seasons, besting Nicklas Lidström's eight. He also had his 11th season with ten goals or more, tying Sergei Zubov for the most 10+ goal seasons among Russian defencemen. Gonchar finished the season third in points-per-game average among defencemen (behind Norris Trophy nominees Mike Green and Duncan Keith). He set an NHL record on 2 March 2010, by scoring his 200th NHL goal, making him the first Russian defenceman to ever do so. From the 2000–01 season to the 2009–10 season, Gonchar tallied exactly 500 points, which was second among NHL defencemen only to Nicklas Lidström's 550. Gonchar was also second among NHL defencemen in assists during that span with 372 assists, behind Lidström's 434. He led the League in goals by a defenceman during that span, with 128. Rob Blake was second with 119 goals, while Lidström had 116. Gonchar led the NHL in points-per-game average among NHL defencemen during that span, scoring at 0.80 points per game to Lidström's 0.76 points per game. He also led the league in goals created per game among NHL defencemen with 0.27 to Al MacInnis's 0.26 and Lidström's 0.25. In fact, since his first NHL season in 1995, only Lidström scored more points among defencemen — Lidström tallied 889 points in that time, while Gonchar had 684.  On 1 July 2010, Gonchar signed a three-year, $16 million contract with the Ottawa Senators. The deal included a no-trade clause. During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Gonchar returned to his native Russia to play with the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)'s Metallurg Magnitogorsk. He was traded on 7 June 2013, to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2013. On 8 June 2013, Gonchar signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Stars. The following year, on 11 November 2014, Gonchar was again traded, this time to the Montreal Canadiens for left winger Travis Moen.  On 15 May 2015, it was announced by Canadiens' GM Marc Bergevin, that Gonchar would not return to the Montreal Canadiens the next season. Gonchar remained un-signed over the summer, and accepted an invitation to return to the Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp on a try-out basis on 14 August 2015. At the conclusion of training camp and during the pre-season, Gonchar was released by the Penguins on 3 October 2015.

Coaching career.

Gonchar signalled the end of his professional playing career in accepting a development coaching position within the Pittsburgh Penguins organization on 27 October 2015. Gonchar aided the Penguins defensive unit in back to back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, resulting in promotion to a full time assistant on July 12, 2017.

International play.

Gonchar is a two-time Olympic medal-winner with Russia. He earned a silver medal at the 1998 Games and a bronze medal at the 2002 Games.  Gonchar met his future wife, Xenia Smetanenko, then a figure skater for Armenia, at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games.  In addition, Gonchar also competed in the 1993 World Junior Championship, two World Cups and three World Championships.

Sergei Viktorovich Gonchar (; born 13 April 1974) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who is currently an assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has previously played for the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins (with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2009), Ottawa Senators, Dallas Stars and the Montreal Canadiens.

Sergej Viktorovič Gončar (* 13. dubna 1974, Čeljabinsk, Sovětský svaz) je ruský hokejový obránce hrající v týmu Dallas Stars v severoamerické lize (NHL). Gončar reprezentoval Rusko na několika významných turnajích a vyhrál stříbrnou a bronzovou medaili na zimních Olympijských hrách.


Writing and recording.

In the spring of 1965, after returning from the tour of England documented in the film "Dont Look Back", Dylan was unhappy with the public's expectations of him, as well as the direction his career was taking, and seriously considered quitting the music business. In a 1966 "Playboy" interview, he described his dissatisfaction: "Last spring, I guess I was going to quit singing. I was very drained, and the way things were going, it was a very draggy situation... But 'Like a Rolling Stone' changed it all. I mean it was something that I myself could dig. It's very tiring having other people tell you how much they dig you if you yourself don't dig you."  The song grew out of an extended piece of verse. In 1966, Dylan described its genesis to journalist Jules Siegel:  During 1965, Dylan composed prose, poems, and songs by typing incessantly. Footage in "Dont Look Back" of Dylan in his suite at London's Savoy Hotel captures this process. However, Dylan told two interviewers that "Like a Rolling Stone" began as a long piece of "vomit" (10 pages long according to one account, 20 according to another) that later acquired musical form. Dylan has never publicly spoken of writing any other major composition in this way. In an interview with CBC radio in Montreal, Dylan called the creation of the song a "breakthrough", explaining that it changed his perception of where he was going in his career. He said that he found himself writing "this long piece of vomit, 20 pages long, and out of it I took 'Like a Rolling Stone' and made it as a single. And I'd never written anything like that before and it suddenly came to me that was what I should do... After writing that I wasn't interested in writing a novel, or a play. I just had too much, I want to write songs."  From the extended version on paper, Dylan crafted four verses and the chorus in Woodstock, New York. In 2014, when the handwritten lyrics were put up for auction, the four-page manuscript revealed that the full refrain of the chorus does not appear until the fourth page. A rejected third line, "like a dog without a bone" gives way to "now you're unknown". Earlier, Dylan had considered working the name Al Capone into the rhyme scheme, and he attempted to construct a rhyme scheme for "how does it feel?", penciling in "it feels real", "does it feel real", "shut up and deal", "get down and kneel" and "raw deal". The song was written on an upright piano in the key of A flat and was changed to C on the guitar in the recording studio.  For the recording session, Dylan invited Mike Bloomfield from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band to play lead guitar. Invited to Dylan's Woodstock home for the weekend to learn new material, Bloomfield recalled, "The first thing I heard was 'Like a Rolling Stone'. I figured he wanted blues, string bending, because that's what I do. He said, 'Hey, man, I don't want any of that B.B. King stuff'. So, OK, I really fell apart. What the heck does he want? We messed around with the song. I played the way that he dug, and he said it was groovy."  The recording sessions were produced by Tom Wilson on June 15–16, 1965, in Studio A of Columbia Records, 799 Seventh Avenue, in New York City. This would be the last song Wilson would produce for Dylan. In addition to Bloomfield, the musicians enlisted were Paul Griffin on piano, Joe Macho, Jr. on bass, Bobby Gregg on drums, and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine, all booked by Wilson. Gregg, Griffin, and Langhorne had previously worked with Dylan and Wilson on "Bringing It All Back Home". In the first session, on June 15, five takes of the song were recorded in a markedly different style ( waltz time, with Dylan on piano) from the eventual release. The lack of sheet music meant the song had to be played by ear. However, its essence was discovered in the course of the chaotic session. The musicians did not reach the first chorus until the fourth take, but after the following harmonica fill Dylan interrupted, saying, "My voice is gone, man. You wanna try it again?" This take was subsequently released on "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991". The session ended shortly afterward.  When the musicians reconvened the following day, June 16, Al Kooper joined the proceedings. Kooper, at that time a 21-year-old session guitarist, was not originally supposed to play but was present in the studio as Wilson's guest. When Wilson stepped out, Kooper sat down with his guitar with the other musicians, hoping to take part in the recording session. By the time Wilson returned, Kooper, who had been intimidated by Bloomfield's guitar playing, was back in the control room. After a couple of rehearsal takes, Wilson moved Griffin from Hammond organ to piano. Kooper approached Wilson and told him he had a good part for the organ. Wilson belittled Kooper's organ skills but did not forbid him to play. As Kooper later put it, "He just sort of scoffed at me... He didn't say 'no'—so I went out there." Wilson was surprised to see Kooper at the organ but allowed him to play on the track. When Dylan heard a playback of the song, he insisted that the organ be turned up in the mix, despite Wilson's protestations that Kooper was "not an organ player."  There were 15 recorded takes on June 16. By now the song had evolved into its familiar form, in time with Dylan on electric guitar. After the fourth take—the master take that was released as a single—Wilson happily commented, "That sounds good to me." Despite this, Dylan and the band recorded the song 11 more times.  The complete recording sessions that produced "Like a Rolling Stone", including all 20 takes and the individual "stems" that comprise the four-track master, were released in November 2015 on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of "".

Release.

According to Shaun Considine, release coordinator for Columbia Records in 1965, "Like a Rolling Stone" was first relegated to the "graveyard of canceled releases" because of concerns from the sales and marketing departments over its unprecedented six-minute length and "raucous" rock sound. In the days following the rejection, Considine took a discarded acetate of the song to the New York club Arthur—a newly opened disco popular with celebrities and the media—and asked a DJ to play it. At the crowd's insistence, the demo was played repeatedly, until finally it wore out. The next morning, a disc jockey and a programming director from the city's leading top 40 stations called Columbia and demanded copies. Shortly afterward, on July 20, 1965, "Like a Rolling Stone" was released as a single with "Gates of Eden" as its B-side.  Despite its length, the song is Dylan's most commercially successful release, remaining in the US charts for 12 weeks, where it reached number 2. The song that held it from the top spot was the Beatles' "Help!". The promotional copies released to disc jockeys on July 15 had the first two verses and two refrains on one side of the disk, and the remainder of the song on the other. DJs wishing to play the entire song would simply flip the vinyl over. While many radio stations were reluctant to play "Like a Rolling Stone" in its entirety, public demand eventually forced them to air it in full. This helped the single reach its number 2 peak, several weeks after its release. It was a Top 10 hit in other countries, including Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Themes.

Unlike conventional chart hits of the time, "Like a Rolling Stone" featured lyrics that were interpreted as expressions of resentment rather than love. Author Oliver Trager characterizes the lyrics as: "Dylan's sneer at a woman who has fallen from grace and is reduced to fending for herself in a hostile, unfamiliar world." The song's subject, "Miss Lonely," previously opted for easy options in life—she attended the finest schools and enjoyed high-placed friends—but now that her situation has become difficult, it appears that she has no meaningful experiences to define her character. The opening lines of the song establish the character's former condition:  And the first verse ends with lines that seemingly deride her current condition:  Despite the obvious vitriol, the song's narrator also seems to show compassion for Miss Lonely, and expresses joy for her in the freedom in losing everything. Jann Wenner commented: "Everything has been stripped away. You're on your own, you're free now... You're so helpless and now you've got nothing left. And you're invisible—you've got no secrets—that's so liberating. You've nothing to fear anymore." The final verse ends with the lines:  The refrain seems to emphasize these themes:  Dylan biographer Robert Shelton gave this interpretation: "A song that seems to hail the dropout life for those who can take it segues into compassion for those who have dropped out of bourgeois surroundings. 'Rolling Stone' is about the loss of innocence and the harshness of experience. Myths, props, and old beliefs fall away to reveal a very taxing reality."  Dylan humorously commented on the song's moral perspective at a press conference at KQED television studio on December 3, 1965. When a reporter, suggesting that the song adopted a harsh perspective on a girl, asked Dylan, "Are you hard on [people in your songs] because you want to torment them? Or to change their lives and make them know themselves?", Dylan replied while laughing, "I want to needle them."  Commentators attempted to tie the characters in the song to specific people in Dylan's personal life in 1965. In his book "", Andy Warhol recalled that some people in his circle believed that "Like a Rolling Stone" contained hostile references to him; he was told, "Listen to 'Like a Rolling Stone'—I think you're the diplomat on the chrome horse, man." The reason behind Dylan's alleged hostility to Warhol was supposedly Warhol's treatment of actress and model Edie Sedgwick. It has been suggested that Sedgwick is the basis of the Miss Lonely character. Sedgwick was briefly involved with Dylan in late 1965 and early 1966, around which time there was some discussion of the two making a movie together. According to Warhol's collaborator Paul Morrissey, Sedgwick may have been in love with Dylan, and was shocked when she found out that Dylan had secretly married Sara Lownds in November 1965. However, in "The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia", Michael Gray argues that Sedgwick had no connection with "Like a Rolling Stone", but states "there's no doubt that the ghost of Edie Sedgwick hangs around "Blonde on Blonde"".  Greil Marcus alluded to a suggestion by art historian Thomas E. Crow that Dylan had written the song as a comment on Warhol's scene: I heard a lecture by Thomas Crow... about "Like a Rolling Stone" being about Edie Sedgwick within Andy Warhol's circle, as something that Dylan saw from the outside, not being personally involved with either of them, but as something he saw and was scared by and saw disaster looming and wrote a song as a warning, and it was compelling.  Joan Baez, Marianne Faithfull and Bob Neuwirth have also been suggested as possible targets of Dylan's scorn. Dylan's biographer Howard Sounes warned against reducing the song to the biography of one person, and suggested "it is more likely that the song was aimed generally at those [Dylan] perceived as being 'phony. Sounes adds, "There is some irony in the fact that one of the most famous songs of the folk-rock era—an era associated primarily with ideals of peace and harmony—is one of vengeance."  Mike Marqusee has written at length on the conflicts in Dylan's life during this time, with its deepening alienation from his old folk-revival audience and clear-cut leftist causes. He suggests that the song is probably self-referential: "The song only attains full poignancy when one realises it is sung, at least in part, to the singer himself: he's the one 'with no direction home. Dylan himself has noted that, after his motorcycle accident in 1966, he realized that "when I used words like 'he' and 'it' and 'they,' and talking about other people, I was really talking about nobody but me."

Music video.

In November 2013, forty-eight years after the release of the song, Dylan's website released an official music video for "Like a Rolling Stone". Created by the digital agency Interlude, the video is interactive, allowing viewers to use their keyboards to flip through 16 channels that imitate TV formats, including game shows, shopping networks and reality series. People on each channel appear to lip-sync the song's lyrics. Video director Vania Heymann stated, "I'm using the medium of television to look back right at us – you're flipping yourself to death with switching channels [in real life]." The video contains an hour and 15 minutes' worth of content in all and features appearances from comedian Marc Maron, rapper Danny Brown, "The Price Is Right" host Drew Carey, "SportsCenter" anchor Steve Levy, Jonathan and Drew Scott of "Property Brothers", and "Pawn Stars" cast members Rick Harrison and Austin "Chumlee" Russell. The video was released to publicize the release of a 35 album box set, "", containing Dylan's 35 official studio albums and 11 live albums. The "Guinness Book of World Records" recorded it as the longest wait for an official music video.

Live performances.

Dylan performed the song live for the first time within days of its release, when he appeared at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965 in Newport, Rhode Island. Many of the audience's folk enthusiasts objected to Dylan's use of electric guitars, looking down on rock 'n roll, as Bloomfield put it, as popular amongst "greasers, heads, dancers, people who got drunk and boogied." According to Dylan's friend, music critic Paul Nelson, "The audience [was] booing and yelling 'Get rid of the electric guitar, while Dylan and his backing musicians gave an uncertain rendition of their new single.  "Highway 61 Revisited" was issued at the end of August 1965. When Dylan went on tour that fall he asked the future members of The Band to accompany him in performing the electric half of the concerts. "Like a Rolling Stone" took the closing slot on his setlist and held it, with rare exceptions, through the end of his 1966 "world tour." On May 17, 1966, during the last leg of the tour, Dylan and his band performed at Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Just before they started to play the track, an audience member yelled "Judas!", apparently referring to Dylan's supposed "betrayal" of folk music. Dylan responded, "I don't believe you... You're a liar!" With that, he turned to the band, ordering them to "play it fucking loud!".  Since then, "Like a Rolling Stone" has remained a staple in Dylan's concerts, often with revised arrangements. It was included in his 1969 Isle of Wight show and in both his reunion tour with The Band in 1974 and the Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975–76. The song continued to be featured in other tours throughout the 1970s and 1980s. According to Dylan's official website, he performed the song live over 2,000 times, as of 2019.  Live performances of the song are included on "Self Portrait" (recorded at the Isle of Wight, August 31, 1969), "Before the Flood" (recorded February 13, 1974), "Bob Dylan at Budokan" (recorded March 1, 1978), "MTV Unplugged" (recorded November 18, 1994), "" (recorded in Manchester, UK, May 17, 1966; same recording also available on ""), The Band's 2001 reissue of "Rock of Ages" (recorded January 1, 1972), and "" (Deluxe Edition) (recorded June 27, 1981). In 2016, all Dylan's recorded live performances of the song from 1966 were released in the boxed set "The 1966 Live Recordings", with the May 26, 1966 Royal Albert Hall performance released separately on the album "The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert".  The July 1965 Newport performance of the song is included in Murray Lerner's film "The Other Side of the Mirror", while a May 21, 1966 performance in Newcastle, England is featured in Martin Scorsese's documentary "No Direction Home," along with footage of the above-mentioned May 17 heckling incident.  Besides appearing on "Highway 61 Revisited", the song's standard release can be found on the compilations "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits", "Biograph", "The Best of Bob Dylan" (1997), "The Essential Bob Dylan", "The Best of Bob Dylan" (2005), and "Dylan". The mono version appears on "The Original Mono Recordings". In addition, the early, incomplete studio recording in time appears on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 2".

Legacy.

The song's sound has been described as revolutionary in its combination of electric guitar licks, organ chords, and Dylan's voice, at once young and jeeringly cynical. Critic Michael Gray described the track as "a chaotic amalgam of blues, impressionism, allegory, and an intense directness in the central chorus: 'How does it feel. The song had an enormous impact on popular culture and rock music. Its success made Dylan a pop icon, as Paul Williams notes:  Paul Rothchild, producer of The Doors' first five albums, recalled the elation that an American musician had made a record that successfully challenged the primacy of the British Invasion groups. He said, "What I realized when I was sitting there is that one of US—one of the so-called Village hipsters—was making music that could compete with THEM—the Beatles, and the Stones, and the Dave Clark Five—without sacrificing any of the integrity of folk music or the power of rock'n'roll."  The song had a huge impact on Bruce Springsteen, who was 15 years old when he first heard it. Springsteen described the moment during his speech inducting Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and also assessed the long-term significance of "Like a Rolling Stone":  Dylan's contemporaries in 1965 were both startled and challenged by the single. Paul McCartney remembered going around to John Lennon's house in Weybridge to hear the song. According to McCartney, "It seemed to go on and on forever. It was just beautiful... He showed all of us that it was possible to go a little further." Frank Zappa had a more extreme reaction: "When I heard 'Like a Rolling Stone', I wanted to quit the music business, because I felt: 'If this wins and it does what it's supposed to do, I don't need to do anything else...' But it didn't do anything. It sold but nobody responded to it in the way that they should have." Nearly forty years later, in 2003, Elvis Costello commented on the innovative quality of the single. "What a shocking thing to live in a world where there was Manfred Mann and the Supremes and Engelbert Humperdinck and here comes 'Like a Rolling Stone'".  Although CBS tried to make the record more "radio friendly" by cutting it in half and spreading it over both sides of the vinyl, both Dylan and fans demanded that the full duration of the recording should be placed on one side and that radio stations play the song in its entirety. The success of "Like a Rolling Stone" was influential in changing the music business convention regarding the length of singles, whereby they were restricted to durations of less than three minutes. In the words of "Rolling Stone" magazine, "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time." Richard Austin, of Sotheby's auction house, said: "Before the release of Like a Rolling Stone, music charts were overrun with short and sweet love songs, many clocking in at three minutes or less. By defying convention with six and a half minutes of dark, brooding poetry, Dylan rewrote the rules for pop music."  In 1966, Dylan told Ralph Gleason: "Rolling Stone's the best song I wrote." In 2004, speaking to Robert Hilburn, Dylan still felt that the song had a special place in his work: "It's like a ghost is writing a song like that, it gives you the song and it goes away. You don't know what it means. Except that the ghost picked me to write the song."  More than 50 years since its release, "Like a Rolling Stone" remains highly regarded, as measured by polls of reviewers and fellow songwriters. A 2002 ranking by "Uncut" and a 2005 poll in "Mojo" both rated it as Dylan's number one song. As for his personal views on such polls, Dylan told Ed Bradley in a 2004 interview on "60 Minutes" that he never pays attention to them, because they change frequently. Dylan's point was illustrated in the "100 Greatest Songs of All Time poll" by "Mojo" in 2000, which included two Dylan singles, but not "Like a Rolling Stone". Five years later, the magazine named it his number one song. "Rolling Stone" picked "Like a Rolling Stone" as the number two single of the past 25 years in 1989, and then in 2004 placed the song at number one on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2010, "Rolling Stone" again placed "Like a Rolling Stone" at the top of their list of "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". In 2006, Pitchfork Media placed it at number 4 on their list of "200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".  On June 24, 2014, Sotheby's sold Dylan's original hand-written lyrics of "Like a Rolling Stone" at a New York auction devoted to rock memorabilia. The lyrics were sold for $2 million, a record price for a popular music manuscript.

Cover versions.

Many artists have covered "Like a Rolling Stone", including David Bowie (with Mick Ronson), the Four Seasons, Sixto Rodriguez, The Young Rascals, Judy Collins, Johnny Winter, Rotary Connection, Cher, Anberlin, Spirit, Michael Bolton, The Creation, David Gilmour, The Surfaris, Al Stewart, John Mellencamp, The Wailers, Green Day, DIIV, Sebastian Cabot, Bachman & Cummings, and the Rolling Stones.  Guitarist Jimi Hendrix, performing with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, recorded a live version at the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix was an avid fan of Bob Dylan, and especially liked "Like a Rolling Stone". "It made me feel that I wasn't the only one who'd ever felt so low..." Hendrix said. Hendrix skipped the third verse. Hendrix played the electric guitar, and music critic Greil Marcus described the atmosphere of the Hendrix recording thus:  The song has also been covered in various languages. Hugues Aufray covered the song in French as "Comme des pierres qui roulent" ("Like Rolling Stones") ("Aufray Trans Dylan", 1995), Austrian Wolfgang Ambros included an Austrian-German dialect version "Allan Wia a Stan" on his 1978 LP "Wie Im Schlaf" which reached position 8 in the Austrian charts for 8 weeks, German band BAP created a dialect of Cologne version "Wie 'ne Stein" on its LP "Vun drinne noh drusse" and Lars Winnerbäck did a performance of the song in Swedish titled "Som en hemlös själ", literally "Like a Homeless Soul". Articolo 31 recorded an Italian version titled "Come una Pietra Scalciata" (literally, "Like a Kicked-off Stone") for their 1998 album "Nessuno". Articolo 31's version is a hip-hop song which contains overdubs of a confused girl's voice, rapped parts and DJing. This version contains only three verses and is four and a half minutes long.

"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album "Highway 61 Revisited".

"Like a Rolling Stone" je rocková píseň od amerického písničkáře a zpěváka Boba Dylana. Její konfrontační text má původ v rozšířené verzi, kterou Dylan napsal v červnu 1965 po návratu z turné po Anglii. Text byl intenzivně editován a o pár týdnů později byla nahrána písnička, aby se stala součástí nadcházejícího alba "Highway 61 Revisited". Během složité dvoudenní preprodukce se Dylan snažil najít správnou podobu písničky. Nejprve byla neúspěšně nahrána jako waltz. Průlom nastal, když ji zkusili zahrát v rockové podobě a nováček Al Kooper improvizoval na varhany, právě díky kterým je písnička známá. Přesto byla společnost Columbia velmi nespokojená s její délkou a velmi elektronickým zvukem a odmítala ji zveřejnit. Po měsíci však kopie unikla, dostala se ke vlivným diskžokejům a byla vydána jako singl. Ačkoli některá rádia odmítala hrát tak dlouhou píseň, "Like a Rolling Stone" dosáhla druhého místa v amerických žebříčcích a stala se celosvětovým hitem.