Helsinki.

In December 2010 the design was included in the winning tender to deliver 40 new trams to the Helsinki City Transport (HKL), the municipal tram operator of Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL), with an option for 90 units more. The winning bid was worth €113 million, which makes the unit cost of the initial agreement €2.8 million per tram.  The first unit was rolled out in the summer of 2013 and taken to line operation for testing purposes in the autumn of 2013. The second unit was delivered in November 2013, and these two units will be thoroughly tested before the manufacturing of the remaining 38 units will begin in late 2015. All the units will be delivered by 2018.  The technical design is based on free-turning bogies, which is rarely seen in low-floor trams until recently. The tram network in Helsinki, which has many sharp turns and switches and steep gradients, poses a challenge for many low-floor tram designs, which made the Variotram design ill-suited for the network. To remedy these problems, Helsinki City Transport itself made preliminary design for a new low-floor model, and this design work was also the foundation of the Artic tram. The design claims to move more smoothly and quietly in sharp turns and switches and wear down the tram wheels less.  All the axles (eight in the first model) in Artic are powered by an independent motor of 65 kW, and the tram is tested for speeds up to. The tram is equipped with a regenerative braking system. In the Helsinki version the energy is used for heating, but the design is also ready to be equipped with supercapacitors.  By June 2018, HKL has used all three of its options for extra units. First option was used in 2016 for 20 additional units (numbers 441–460) for the existing Helsinki network and they are to be delivered by the end of 2018. Second option was also used in 2016 for 29 additional units (numbers 601–629), but this time for the future Raide-Jokeri light rail (construction is due to begin in 2019) connecting the cities of Helsinki and Espoo. The Raide-Jokeri Artic XL trams differ from the rest in many ways: They are long, bi-directional, they have a capacity of 214 passengers (78+4 seated, 136 standing, 4 persons/m), they have their own unique design and they consist of five modules instead of three in the basic model. The Artic XL trams can also be lengthened to be up to long with a capacity of 287 passengers (100+8 seated, 187 standing). The first Artic XL tram will be used in the existing Helsinki network for testing and will be delivered around 2019–2020, while the production of the series will begin sometime in the early 2020s. The last option was used in June 2018 for 10 more units (numbers 461–470) of the basic Artic model for the expanding network in the coming years. These vehicles will be delivered by the end of 2019. That makes a total of 99 Artic trams ordered and/or delivered for Helsinki City Transport (HKL).

Tampere.

Bi-directional Artic trams are also to be delivered for the city of Tampere in Finland for the Tampere light rail system due to open in 2021. A total of 19 units (with an option for an additional 46 units for future expansions) are to be delivered during 2020 and 2021 for the city-owned company Tampere Tramway Ltd (Tampereen Raitiotie Oy), which will own, maintain and develop the network and rolling stock. The Tampere light rail has a standard gauge of, so the Artic trams for Tampere will be wide. The vehicles will be long and can be lengthened to be up to. The Artic light rail vehicles for Tampere will have a capacity of 264 passengers (64+40 seated, 200 standing, 4 persons/m).

Heidelberg, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen.

In June 2018 Škoda won a tender for Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH and will deliver 80 bi-directional Artic trams for use in the large metre-gauge network covering Mannheim/Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg. The contract includes an option for 34 additional vehicles. The contract consists of 31 trams (three modules), thirty-seven trams (four modules) and twelve trams (six modules), the longest trams in the world.

Ostrava.

In September 2018 Škoda Transportation signed a contract with the city transport company of Ostrava for 40 two-section Škoda 39 T (also known as Škoda ForCity Smart Ostrava) trams. The vehicles will be long with a capacity of 200 passengers. The first tram should be delivered in the third quarter of 2020.

Pilsen.

In October 2018 city transport company of Pilsen ordered 2 three-section bi-directional Škoda 40 T (also known as Škoda ForCity Smart Pilsen) trams with an option for 20 additional vehicles. The total capacity of long tram will be 185 passengers. The trams will be 100% low-floor and fully air-conditioned. The first tram should be delivered in October 2020.

Schöneiche.

In October 2018 Škoda Transtech sold the two Artic pre-series trams to the Schöneiche bei Berlin tramway (). Further order of one brand new Škoda Artic tram had been placed in April 2019. Both the first built and last built Helsinki-style Artic trams operate the in Germany on the Schöneiche/Rüdersdorf route.

Artic, styled as ARTIC or ForCity Smart, is an articulated low-floor tram model designed and manufactured by Škoda Transtech Oy in Finland. Trams of the design are in operation in Finland and Germany with further large orders in both countries. The design was subsequently rebranded under the Škoda ForCity brand.

Škoda Artic (obchodní název ForCity Smart, původně Transtech Artic) je nízkopodlažní kloubová tramvaj vyráběná finskou firmou Škoda Transtech, dceřinou společností firmy Škoda Transportation. Vyvinuta byla pro tramvajovou síť finského hlavního města Helsinky.


Overview and history.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman began work on a series of papers examining "heuristic and biases" used in the judgment under uncertainty. Prior to that, the predominant view in the field of human judgment was that humans are rational actors. Kahneman and Tversky explained that judgment under uncertainty often relies on a limited number of simplifying heuristics rather than extensive algorithmic processing. Soon, this idea spread beyond academic psychology, into law, medicine, and political science. This research questioned the descriptive adequacy of idealized models of judgment, and offered insights into the cognitive processes that explained human error without invoking motivated irrationality. One simplifying strategy people may rely on is the tendency to make a judgment about the frequency of an event based on how many similar instances are brought to mind. In 1973, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman first studied this phenomenon and labeled it the "availability heuristic". An availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. As follows, people tend to use a readily available fact to base their beliefs about a comparably distant concept. There has been much research done with this heuristic, but studies on the issue are still questionable with regard to the underlying process. Studies illustrate that manipulations intended to increase the subjective experience of ease of recall are also likely to affect the amount of recall. Furthermore, this makes it difficult to determine if the obtained estimates of frequency, likelihood, or typicality are based on participants' phenomenal experiences or on a biased sample of recalled information.  However, some textbooks have chosen the latter interpretation introducing the availability heuristic as "one's judgments are always based on what comes to mind". For example, if a person is asked whether there are more words in the English language that begin with a t or k, the person will probably be able to think of more words that begin with the letter t, concluding that t is more frequent than k.

Research.

Chapman (1967) described a bias in the judgment of the frequency with which two events co-occur. This demonstration showed that the co-occurrence of paired stimuli resulted in participants overestimating the frequency of the pairings. To test this idea, participants were given information about several hypothetical mental patients. The data for each patient consisted of a clinical diagnosis and a drawing made by the patient. Later, participants estimated the frequency with which each diagnosis had been accompanied by various features of the drawing. The subjects vastly overestimated the frequency of this co-occurrence (such as suspiciousness and peculiar eyes). This effect was labeled the illusory correlation. Tversky and Kahneman suggested that availability provides a natural account for the illusory-correlation effect. The strength of the association between two events could provide the basis for the judgment of how frequently the two events co-occur. When the association is strong, it becomes more likely to conclude that the events have been paired frequently. Strong associations will be thought of as having occurred together frequently.  In Tversky & Kahneman's first examination of availability heuristics, subjects were asked, "If a random word is taken from an English text, is it more likely that the word starts with a K, or that K is the third letter?" They argue that English-speaking people would immediately think of many words that begin with the letter "K" (kangaroo, kitchen, kale), but that it would take a more concentrated effort to think of any words in which "K" is the third letter (acknowledge, ask). Results indicated that participants overestimated the number of words that began with the letter "K" and underestimated the number of words that had "K" as the third letter. Tversky and Kahneman concluded that people answer questions like these by comparing the availability of the two categories and assessing how easily they can recall these instances. In other words, it is easier to think of words that begin with "K", more than words with "K" as the third letter. Thus, people judge words beginning with a "K" to be a more common occurrence. In reality, however, a typical text contains twice as many words that have "K" as the third letter than "K" as the first letter. There are three times more words with "K" in the third position than words that begin with "K".  In Tversky and Kahneman's seminal paper, they include findings from several other studies, which also show support for the availability heuristic. Apart from their findings in the "K" study, they also found:

Explanations.

Many researchers have attempted to identify the psychological process which create the availability heuristic.  Tversky and Kahneman argue that the number of examples recalled from memory is used to infer the frequency with which such instances occur. In an experiment to test this explanation, participants listened to lists of names containing either 19 famous women and 20 less famous men or 19 famous men and 20 less famous women. Subsequently, some participants were asked to recall as many names as possible whereas others were asked to estimate whether male or female names were more frequent on the list. The names of the famous celebrities were recalled more frequently compared to those of the less famous celebrities. The majority of the participants incorrectly judged that the gender associated with more famous names had been presented more often than the gender associated with less famous names. Tversky and Kahneman argue that although the availability heuristic is an effective strategy in many situations, when judging probability use of this heuristic can lead to predictable patterns of errors.  Schwarz and his colleagues, on the other hand, proposed the ease of retrieval explanation, in which is the ease with which examples come to mind, not the number of examples, is used to infer the frequency of a given class. In a study by Schwarz and colleagues to test their explanation, participants were asked to recall either six or twelve examples of their assertive or very unassertive behavior. Participants were later asked to rate their own assertiveness. Pretesting had indicated that although most participants were capable of generating twelve examples, this was a difficult task. The results indicated that participants rated themselves as more assertive after describing six examples of assertive compared with unassertive behavior condition, but rated themselves as less assertive after describing twelve examples of assertive compared with unassertive behavior condition. The study reflected that the extent to which recalled content impacted judgment was determined by the ease with which the content could be brought to mind (it was easier to recall 6 examples than 12), rather than the amount of content brought to mind.  Research by Vaugh (1999) looked at the effects of uncertainty on the use of the availability heuristic. College students were asked to list either three or eight different study methods they could use in order to get an A on their final exams. The researchers also manipulated the time during the semester they would ask the students to complete the questionnaire. Approximately half of the participants were asked for their study methods during the third week of classes, and the other half were asked on last day of classes. Next, participants were asked to rate how likely they would be to get an A in their easiest and hardest classes. Participants were then asked to rank the difficulty they experienced in recalling the examples they had previously listed. The researchers hypothesized that students would use the availability heuristic, based on the number of study methods they listed, to predict their grade only when asked at the beginning of the semester and about their hardest final. Students were not expected to use the availability heuristic to predict their grade at the end of the semester or about their easiest final. The researchers predicted this use of availability heuristic because participants would be uncertain about their performance throughout the semester. The results indicated that students used the availability heuristic, based on the ease of recall of the study methods they listed, to predict their performance when asked at the beginning of the semester and about their hardest final. If the student listed only three study methods, they predicted a higher grade at the end of the semester only on their hardest final. If students listed eight study methods, they had a harder time recalling the methods and thus predicted a lower final grade on their hardest final. The results were not seen in the easy final condition because the students were certain they would get an A, regardless of study method. The results supported this hypothesis and gave evidence to the fact that levels of uncertainty affect the use of the availability heuristic.

Applications.

Media.

After seeing news stories about child abductions, people may judge that the likelihood of this event is greater. Media coverage can help fuel a person's example bias with widespread and extensive coverage of unusual events, such as homicide or airline accidents, and less coverage of more routine, less sensational events, such as common diseases or car accidents. For example, when asked to rate the probability of a variety of causes of death, people tend to rate "newsworthy" events as more likely because they can more readily recall an example from memory. Moreover, unusual and vivid events like homicides, shark attacks, or lightning are more often reported in mass media than common and un-sensational causes of death like common diseases.  For example, many people think that the likelihood of dying from shark attacks is greater than that of dying from being hit by falling airplane parts, when more people actually die from falling airplane parts. When a shark attack occurs, the deaths are widely reported in the media whereas deaths as a result of being hit by falling airplane parts are rarely reported in the media.  In a 2010 study exploring how vivid television portrayals are used when forming social reality judgments, people watching vivid violent media gave higher estimates of the prevalence of crime and police immorality in the real world than those not exposed to vivid television. These results suggest that television violence does in fact have a direct causal impact on participants' social reality beliefs. Repeated exposure to vivid violence leads to an increase in people's risk estimates about the prevalence of crime and violence in the real world. Counter to these findings, researchers from a similar study argued that these effects may be due to effects of new information. Researchers tested the new information effect by showing movies depicting dramatic risk events and measuring their risk assessment after the film. Contrary to previous research, there were no effects on risk perception due to exposure to dramatic movies.

Health.

Researchers examined the role of cognitive heuristics in the AIDS risk-assessment process. 331 physicians reported worry about on-the-job HIV exposure, and experience with patients who have HIV. By analyzing answers to questionnaires handed out, researchers concluded that availability of AIDS information did not relate strongly to perceived risk.  Participants in a 1992 study read case descriptions of hypothetical patients who varied on their sex and sexual preference. These hypothetical patients showed symptoms of two different diseases. Participants were instructed to indicate which disease they thought the patient had and then they rated patient responsibility and interaction desirability. Consistent with the availability heuristic, either the more common (influenza) or the more publicized (AIDS) disease was chosen.

Business and economy.

One study sought to analyze the role of the availability heuristic in financial markets. Researchers defined and tested two aspects of the availability heuristic:  On days of substantial stock market moves, abnormal stock price reactions to upgrades are weaker, than those to downgrades. These availability effects are still significant even after controlling for event-specific and company-specific factors.  Similarly, research has pointed out that under the availability heuristic, humans are not reliable because they assess probabilities by giving more weight to current or easily recalled information instead of processing all relevant information. Since information regarding the current state of the economy is readily available, researchers attempted to expose the properties of business cycles to predict the availability bias in analysts' growth forecasts. They showed the availability heuristic to play a role in analysis of forecasts and influence investments because of this.  In effect, investors are using availability heuristic to make decisions and subsequently, may be obstructing their own investment success. An investor's lingering perceptions of a dire market environment may be causing them to view investment opportunities through an overly negative lens, making it less appealing to consider taking on investment risk, no matter how small the returns on perceived "safe" investments. To illustrate, Franklin Templeton's annual Global Investor Sentiment Survey 1 asked individuals how they believed the S&P 500 Index performed in 2009, 2010 and 2011. 66 percent of respondents stated that they believed the market was either flat or down in 2009, 48 percent said the same about 2010 and 53 percent also said the same about 2011. In reality, the S&P 500 saw 26.5 percent annual returns in 2009, 15.1 percent annual returns in 2010 and 2.1 percent annual returns in 2011, meaning lingering perceptions based on dramatic, painful events are impacting decision-making even when those events are over.  Additionally, a study by Hayibor and Wasieleski found that the availability of others who believe that a particular act is morally acceptable is positively related to others' perceptions of the morality of that act. This suggests that availability heuristic also has an effect on ethical decision making and ethical behavior in organizations.

Education.

A study done by Craig R. Fox provides an example of how availability heuristics can work in the classroom. In this study, Fox tests whether difficulty of recall influences judgment, specifically with course evaluations among college students. In his study he had two groups complete a course evaluation form. He asked the first group to write two recommended improvements for the course (a relatively easy task) and then write two positives about the class. The second group was asked to write ten suggestions where the professor could improve (a relatively difficult task) and then write two positive comments about the course. At the end of the evaluation both groups were asked to rate the course on a scale from one to seven. The results showed that students asked to write ten suggestions (difficult task) rated the course less harshly because it was more difficult for them to recall the information. Most of the students in the group that were asked to fill in 10 suggestions didn't fill in more than two being unable to recall more instances where they were unsatisfied with the class. Students asked to do the easier evaluation with only two complaints had less difficulty in terms of availability of information, so they rated the course more harshly.  A study done was testing the memory of children and the ease of recall. They were asked to learn a list of names and then to recall different amounts. Researchers found that when asked to recall lower amounts compared to larger amounts and then asked what was easier to remember. They responded the shorter list going along with the theory of availability heuristic.

Criminal justice.

The media usually focuses on violent or extreme cases, which are more readily available in the public's mind. This may come into play when it is time for the judicial system to evaluate and determine the proper punishment for a crime. In one study, respondents rated how much they agreed with hypothetical laws and policies such as "Would you support a law that required all offenders convicted of unarmed muggings to serve a minimum prison term of two years?" Participants then read cases and rated each case on several questions about punishment. As hypothesized, respondents recalled more easily from long-term memory stories that contain severe harm, which seemed to influence their sentencing choices to make them push for harsher punishments. This can be eliminated by adding high concrete or high contextually distinct details into the crime stories about less severe injuries.  A similar study asked jurors and college students to choose sentences on four severe criminal cases in which prison was a possible but not an inevitable sentencing outcome. Respondents answering questions about court performance on a public opinion formulated a picture of what the courts do and then evaluated the appropriateness of that behavior. Respondents recalled from public information about crime and sentencing. This type of information is incomplete because the news media present a highly selective and non-representative selection of crime, focusing on the violent and extreme, rather than the ordinary. This makes most people think that judges are too lenient. But, when asked to choose the punishments, the sentences given by students were equal to or less severe than those given by judges. In other words, the availability heuristic made people believe that judges and jurors were too lenient in the courtroom, but the participants gave similar sentences when placed in the position of the judge, suggesting that the information they recalled was not correct.  Researchers in 1989 predicted that mock jurors would rate a witness to be more deceptive if the witness testified truthfully "before" lying than when the witness was caught lying first before telling the truth. If the availability heuristic played a role in this, lying second would remain in jurors' minds (since it was more recent) and they would most likely remember the witness lying over the truthfulness. To test the hypothesis, 312 university students played the roles of mock jurors and watched a videotape of a witness presenting testimony during a trial. Results confirmed the hypothesis, as mock jurors were most influenced by the most recent act.

Perceived risk.

Previous studies have indicated that explaining a hypothetical event makes the event seem more likely through the creation of causal connections. However, such effects could arise through the use of the availability heuristic; that is, subjective likelihood is increased by an event becoming easier to imagine.  A study done asked those participating to pick between two illnesses. Those doing the study wanted to know which disease they thought was more likely to cause death. In the study they asked participants to choose between a stroke and asthma as to which one someone was more likely to die from. The researchers concluded that it depended on what experiences were available to them. If they knew someone or heard of someone that died from one of the diseases that is the one they perceived to be a higher risk to pass away from.

Vividness effects.

Two studies with 108 undergraduates investigated vivid information and its impact on social judgment and the availability heuristic and its role in mediating vividness effects.  In study 1, Subjects listened to a tape recording that described a woman who lived with her 7-year-old son. Subjects then heard arguments about the woman's fitness as a parent and were asked to draw their own conclusions regarding her fitness or unfitness. Concrete and colorful language was found to influence judgments about the woman's fitness as a mother.  In study 2, a series of male and female names was presented to subjects; for each name, subjects were told the university affiliation of the individual (Yale or Stanford). When some names were presented, subjects were simultaneously shown a photograph that purportedly portrayed the named individual. Subsequently, to assess what subjects could remember (as a measure of availability), each name was re-presented, as well as the appropriate photograph if one had been originally presented. The study considered whether the display or non-display of photographs biased subjects' estimates as to the percentage of Yale (vs Stanford) students in the sample of men and women whose names appeared on the original list, and whether these estimated percentages were causally related to the respondents' memory for the college affiliations of the individual students on the list. The presence of photographs affected judgments about the proportion of male and female students at the two universities. Such effects have typically been attributed to the ready accessibility of vividly presented information in memory—that is, to the availability heuristic.  In both studies, vividness affected both availability (ability to recall) and judgments. However, causal modeling results indicated that the availability heuristic did not play a role in the judgment process.

Judging frequency and probability.

In general, availability is correlated with ecological frequency, but it is also affected by other factors. Consequently, the reliance on the availability heuristic leads to systematic biases. Such biases are demonstrated in the judged frequency of classes of words, of combinatoric outcomes, and of repeated events. The phenomenon of illusory correlation is explained as an availability bias.  In the original Tversky and Kahneman (1973) research, three major factors that are discussed are the frequency of repetition, frequency of co-occurrence, and illusory correlation. The use of frequency of repetition aids in the retrieval of relevant instances. The idea behind this phenomenon, is that the more an instance is repeated within a category or list, the stronger the link between the two instances becomes. Individuals then use the strong association between the instances to determine the frequency of an instance. Consequently, the association between the category or list and the specific instance, often influences frequency judgement. Frequency of co-occurrence strongly relates to Frequency of repetition, such that the more an item-pair is repeated, the stronger the association between the two items becomes, leading to a bias when estimating frequency of co-occurrence. Due to the phenomena of frequency of co-occurrence, illusory correlations also often play a big role.  Another factor that affects the availability heuristic in frequency and probability is exemplars. Exemplars are the typical examples that stand out during the process of recall. If asked what participants thought different set sizes were (how many men and how many women are in the class), participants would use exemplars to determine the size of each set. Participants would derive their answer on ease of recall of the names that stood out. Participants read a list of names of members of a class for 30 seconds, and then participants were asked the male to female ratio of the class. The participant's answer would depend on the recall of exemplars. If the participant reading the list recalled seeing more common male names, such as Jack, but the only female names in the class were uncommon names, such as Deepika, then the participant will recall that there were more men than women. The opposite would be true if there were more common female names on the list and uncommon male names. Due to the availability heuristic, names that are more easily available are more likely to be recalled, and can thus alter judgments of probability.  Another example of the availability heuristic and exemplars would be seeing a shark in the ocean. Seeing a shark has a greater impact on an individual's memory than seeing a dolphin. If someone sees both sharks and dolphins in the ocean, they will be less aware of seeing the dolphins, because the dolphins had less of an impact on their memory. Due to the greater impact of seeing a shark, the availability heuristic can influence the probability judgement of the ratio of sharks and dolphins in the water. Thus, an individual who saw both a shark and a dolphin would assume a higher ratio of sharks in the water, even if there are more dolphins in reality.

Critiques.

Ease of recall as a critique.

One of the earliest and most powerful critiques of the original Tversky and Kahneman study on the availability heuristic was the Schwarz et al. study which found that the ease of recall was a key component in determining whether a concept became available. Many studies since this criticism of the original availability heuristic model have repeated this initial criticism, that the ease of recall factor became an integral facet of the availability heuristic itself (see Research section).

Alternative explanations.

Much of the criticism against the availability heuristic has claimed that making use of the content that becomes available in our mind is not based on the ease of recall as suggested by Schwarz et al. For example, it could be argued that recalling more words that begin with K than words with the third letter being K could arise from how we categorize and process words into our memory. If we categorize words by first letter, and recall them through the same process, this would show more support for the representatives heuristic than the availability heuristic. Based on the possibility of explanations such as these, some researchers have claimed that the classic studies on the availability heuristic are too vague in that they fail to account for people's underlying mental processes. Indeed, a study conducted by Wanke et al. demonstrated this scenario can occur in situations used to test the availability heuristic. Future studies should be conducted to determine if and when this alternative explanation will occur.  A second line of study has shown that frequency estimation may not be the only strategy we use when making frequency judgments. A recent line of research has shown that our situational working memory can access long term memories, and this memory retrieval process includes the ability to determine more accurate probabilities. This finding suggests that more research should be conducted to determine how much memory activation affects the availability heuristic.

The availability heuristic, also known as availability bias, is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. The availability heuristic operates on the notion that if something can be recalled, it must be important, or at least more important than alternative solutions which are not as readily recalled. Subsequently, under the availability heuristic, people tend to heavily weigh their judgments toward more recent information, making new opinions biased toward that latest news.

Heuristika dostupnosti (z angl. "availability heuristic") označuje psychologický jev, při kterém máme tendenci upřednostňovat informace, které si při rozhodování snadno vybavíme. Lidé nabývají zalíbení ve věcech, které jsou aktuálním trendem, protože se s nimi často setkávají, v důsledku si k nim vytvoří silné neuronové spojení. Podobnými efekty jsou "cognitive ease" (kognitivní snadnost) a "processing fluency", (procesuální plynulost) které jev popisují především ve vztahu s vnímáním ("cognitive ease") algoritmickým systémem ("processing fluency") mozku.


Early life.

Budanova was born into a peasant family in Konoplanka village in Smolensk Oblast. After leaving elementary school with the highest grades, she had to abandon her studies due to her father's death, and began working as a nanny. At the age of thirteen her mother sent her to join her sister in Moscow, where she began working as a carpenter in an aircraft factory. It was there that she began an interest in aviation, and she joined an aeroclub's parachutist section, obtaining her flying license in 1934 and graduating to flight instructor in 1937. She took part in several air parades, flying the single-seater Yakovlev UT-1.

World War II.

After the German attack on the USSR in June 1941, she enlisted in military aviation and was assigned to the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, formed by Marina Raskova. This unit consisted entirely of female pilots and was equipped with Yak-1. Initially, all women pilots were placed into three all-women units; the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, the 587th Dive Bomber Regiment and the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. The 500 designations were originally meant to signify defense reserves. These units were originally made up women who were flight instructors or members of pre-war flying clubs. The 586th (under Major Tamara Kazarinova) saw combat action in the spring of 1942 in the rear. In May 1942 the 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment redeployed to Anisovka where it was assigned to the 144th Fighter Aviation Division covering the railway installations near Saratov, and it was here Budanova flew her first combat missions. But, as the Battle of Stalingrad raged, the supply of replacement male pilots was drying up and thus, seeing the skill of these women, the Soviet High Command began dispersing selected female pilots to existing male units. On 10 September, Budanova was assigned with Lydia Litvyak, Mariya Kuznetsova and Raisa Belyayeva to the 437th Fighter Aviation Regiment, based in Verkhnania Akhtuba on the east bank of the Volga river engaged in the fighting over Stalingrad. The 437th was a LaGG-3 regiment, under Major Khvostikov, who was initially skeptical of the ability of women pilots. But in a short time Budanova became known for her aggressive attacking and high piloting skill.  According to some historians, she shot down her first opponent — a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter — on 14 September 1942, combining forces with Lydia Litvyak. According to regiment archivist Ekaterina K. Polunina on 2 October 1942 Budanova achieved her two first solo air victories, shooting down a Junkers Ju 88 and a Bf 109. However, Budanova's aircraft mechanic, Inna Pasportnikova wrote that she shot down her first aircraft on 6 October when she attacked 13 Ju 88 bombers, downing one.  From October until January 1943 Budanova and Litvyak served in the Stalingrad area with the elite 9th Guards Fighter Regiment, commanded by Lev Shestakov, a Hero of Soviet Union. This regiment consisted either of aces or people considered potential aces. One of them was Vladimir Lavrinenkov, who ended the war with 46 victories (11 shared). He later recalled that Budanova "was tall, kept her hair cut short... and in her flightsuit hardly stood out from the fellows." He characterized Budanova as a "cheerful, lively character" while Litvyak looked "thoughtful and quiet". Both he said were excellent pilots. Initially the two females they had flown together but then more often flew separately as wingmen to other pilots. While in the Stalingrad area, an order was received citing the return of the women aircrew to the 586th. Pasportnikova later recalled, "Budanova and Litvyak appealed to Lt.Col Shestakov, the commander of the 9th Guards Fighter Regiment, with a request to let them remain in the regiment." They were allowed to stay, remaining with 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment for over three months. On 10 December Budanova shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 110s. In the following months she was credited with several more aircraft.  In January 1943 the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was re-equipped with the US-built P-39 "Airacobra" and Budanova and Litvyak moved to the 296th Fighter Aviation Regiment (later the 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment) of Nikolai Baranov, and continued to fly the Yak. It was with 73rd Fighter Aviation Regiment that Budanova and Litvyak achieved the bulk of their combat claims. Budanova was selected to fly with Baranov, while squadron commander Alexei Solomatin took Litvyak as wingman.  Budanova was soon given permission for "solo hunting", an honor given to aggressive and successful pilots.  On 10 February 1943, near Rostov on Don, she shot down a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 along with Senior Lieutenant Nikolay Demkin and the wingman, Lieutenant Boris Gorkhiver.  On 23 February she was awarded with an Order of the Red Star. On 9 March 1943 between 17.30 and 18.30 she claimed a Bf 109 along with Lieutenant Oleg Filipchenko.  On 20 April 1943 "Ogonek", a political-literary weekly publication intended for young adults, featured a cover photo of Budanova and Litvyak. An article detailed their accomplishments, honoring their collective, rather than individual, achievements. The magazine gave a combined number of combat missions and kills to date for the two pilots. On 30 May under command of Soshnikov, Budanova shared in the destruction of another Bf 109.  By June 1943 Budanova had six victories to her credit, and operating near Rostov on Don during the liberation of Donbas, heavy air combat saw her claims raised to 11.

Last mission.

On 19 July 1943 she flew her last mission, near Novokrasnovka. That morning she took off for an escort mission and near Antratsit in Luhansk Oblast she was involved in a dogfight with Bf 109s. Inna Pasportnikova later recalled: Budanova managed to put out the fire and force landed in no-man's land. By the time local farmers came to pull her from the aircraft, she was already dead. They buried her on the outskirts of the village of Novokrasnovka. The pilot who shot her down was either Georg Schwientek of "JG 52" or Emil Bitsch, of "8./JG 3", the only two pilots that claimed a Yak-1 in the Novokrasnovka area on 19 July 1943.

Controversies about number of victories.

There have been several different versions of Budanova's aerial victory score published, with no official tally. The most common quoted is for 11 kills (6 individual and 5 shared). According to some historians she achieved 11 individual air victories.  Pasportnikova has stated that Budanova had five personal kills at the time of her death. She was twice awarded Order of the Patriotic War. Although she was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, she never received it. On 1 October 1993, she was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation.  Russian aviation historians Andrey Simonov and Svetlana Chudinova dispute Budanova's status as a flying ace, noting that official documents record that she had only three victories.

Yekaterina Vasilyevna Budanova (), nicknamed Katya (Катя), (6 December 1916 – 19 July 1943), was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. With five air victories, along with Lydia Litvyak, she was one of the world's two female fighter aces. She was shot down by either Luftwaffe ace Georg Schwientek of "JG 52" or ace Emil Bitsch, of "JG 3".

Jekatěrina Vasiljevna Budanová (6. prosince 1916 Konopljanka, Smolenská oblast – 19. červenec 1943 Novokrasnovka, Ukrajina) byla ruská stíhací pilotka. Jako sovětská pilotka se účastnila druhé světové války a spolu s Lidijí Litvjakovou patřila mezi nejlepší vojenské pilotky všech dob.


History.

The 601 SFG finds its roots in a paratroop brigade created in 1952. This unit was based in Prešov, Slovakia, but in 1960 it was relocated to Prostějov and the unit joined the 22nd Paratroop Brigade, which was based in Prostějov. Until 1969 the members of the units were trained according to Soviet military doctrine, training mass parachute operations, defending points of military interest until the arrival of main ground forces. From 1970 to 1988, the unit began to focus on the training of small reconnaissance groups, which were to be inserted to the rear of an enemy to carry out diversionary and reconnaissance missions.

Military operations and deployments.

Members of the 601st Special Forces Group participate or participated in many military operations:  6th Special Forces Company was the first Czech military unit which operated in Kosovo in 1999. It laid foundations for activities of other Czech military units in this territory.  So far, the most important operation the 601. SkSS has taken part in was Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2004. This was the first combat operation of the Czech Armed Forces since World War II. More than 100 people participated for six months and, without break, fulfilled their tasks in arduous climatic conditions. Participation in this operation was highly praised by the highest state officials as well as the "AČR" and coalition partners. 601. skupina speciálních sil generála Moravce has taken a firm position within the world Special Forces elite group.  In 1999, this group received the honorary historical name of "General Moravec" after the leader of Czechoslovak intelligence before and during World War 2.

The 601st Special Forces Group of General Moravec or 601 SFG ("" or "601. SkSS") is a special forces unit of the Czech Armed Forces. It was officially created in 2003, the product of reorganizations in the Military of the Czech Republic in that year. However, it has roots that go back as far as 1952 when it was a paratroop brigade.

601. skupina speciálních sil (zkráceně 601. skss) je elitní jednotka, přičemž v Armádě České republiky je jedinou tohoto typu. Dislokována je ve městě Prostějov. Mezi úkoly 601. skss patří přímé akce, strategický průzkum, nekonvenční válčení, boj s terorismem, průzkum a záchrana na bojišti a činnost stanovená vládou. Jednotka se podobá obdobným jednotkám zahraničních armád, jako jsou americké SEALs, Delta Force nebo britské SAS. Oficiální motto této jednotky jsou slova "Dum spiro spero" (Dokud dýchám, doufám).


History.

The airport was founded in 1937. During the Second World War, it was used by German and Italian forces as a base for transport and fighter aircraft. During the war the runway length was 600 m. By the end of April 1949, the length had reached 800 m. A further extension to 1,260 m took place by the end of 1951 to meet the then larger aircraft needs. The next and last extension of the runway began in 1957 and was completed in 1959, with a length of 2,373m. The first commercial flight took place on 19 April 1949 from Athens operated by TAE Greek National Airlines. On 2 September 1950, HELLAS also started flights to Corfu. In 1962, a small passenger terminal was built, which today accommodates the Corfu Aeroclub. In April 1965, the airport became International, with the inaugural overseas flight being operated by Olympic Airlines. The construction of the new passenger terminal began in 1968 and was completed in 1972.  In December 2015, the privatisation of Corfu International Airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised with the signing of the agreement (as a joint venture) between Fraport AG/Copelouzos Group and state privatisation fund Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund. "We signed the deal today," the head of Greece's privatisation agency HRADF, Stergios Pitsiorlas, told Reuters. According to the agreement, the joint venture will operate the 14 airports (including Corfu International Airport) for 40 years as of 11 April 2017.

Fraport Greece’s investment plan.

On 22 March 2017, Fraport Greece presented its master plan for the 14 regional airports including Corfu International Airport.  Immediate actions that were implemented as soon as Fraport-Greece took over operations included a general clean up of the airport, improving lighting and sanitary facilities and the markings of airside areas, as well as offering free WiFi and ensuring fire safety standards are met throughout the airport and surrounding property.  The master plan also included changes which will be implemented under Fraport-Greece's investment plan prior to 2021. They include the remodeling and expansion of the current terminal as well as the construction of a new one. A Hold Baggage inline Screening System (HBS) will improve safety and efficiency, along with the refurbishment of the airport fire service, which will benefit from the reorganization of the airport apron area including the replacement of paving in this area. Also planned is the increase of the number of check-in desks from 22 to 28, and the number of departure gates to 12, as well as reorganisation of the security check lanes in the terminal.

Traffic figures.

The data are from the official website of the airport.

Ground transport.

By car or taxi Corfu Airport is located 2.7 km from the city of Corfu and takes about 10 minutes. Bus services are provided between the airport and the city centre.

Corfu International Airport "Ioannis Kapodistrias" () or Ioannis Kapodistrias (Capodistrias) International Airport is a government-owned airport on the Greek island of Corfu at Kerkyra, serving both scheduled and charter flights from European cities. Air traffic peaks during the summer season, between April and October.

Mezinárodní letiště Korfu, "Ioannis Kapodistrias" (IATA: CFU, ICAO: LGKR, ) je mezinárodní veřejné letiště na řeckém ostrově Korfu ve stejnojmenném městě. Letiště slouží na pravidelné i charterové lety z evropských měst. Letecká doprava je na vrcholu provozu během letní sezóny, mezi dubnem a říjnem.


History and definitions.

The idea that the function of a trait might shift during its evolutionary history originated with Charles Darwin (). For many years the phenomenon was labeled "preadaptation", but since this term suggests teleology in biology, appearing to conflict with natural selection, it has been replaced by the term exaptation.  The idea had been explored by several scholars when in 1982 Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba introduced the term "exaptation". However, this definition had two categories with different implications for the role of adaptation. (1) A character, previously shaped by natural selection for a particular function (an adaptation), is coopted for a new use—cooptation. The definitions are silent as to whether exaptations had been shaped by natural selection after cooption, although Gould and Vrba cite examples (e.g., feathers) of traits shaped after cooption. Note that the selection pressure upon a trait is likely to change if it is (especially, primarily or solely) used for a new purpose, potentially initiating a different evolutionary trajectory.  To avoid these ambiguities, Buss et al. (1998) suggested the term "co-opted adaptation", which is limited to traits that evolved after cooption. However, the commonly used terms of "exaptation" and "cooption" are ambiguous in this regard.

Preadaptation.

In some circumstances, the "pre-" in preadaptation can be interpreted as applying, for non-teleological reasons, prior to the adaptation itself, creating a meaning for the term that is distinct from exaptation. For example, future environments (say, hotter or drier ones), may resemble those already encountered by a population at one of its current spatial or temporal margins. This is not actual foresight, but rather the luck of having adapted to a climate which later becomes more prominent. Cryptic genetic variation may have the most strongly deleterious mutations purged from it, leaving an increased chance of useful adaptations, but this represents selection acting on current genomes with consequences for the future, rather than foresight.  Function may not always come before form: developed structures could change or alter the primary functions they were intended for due to some structural or historical cause.

Examples.

Exaptations include the co-option of feathers, which initially evolved for heat regulation, for display, and later for use in bird flight. Another example is the lungs of many basal fish, which evolved into the lungs of terrestrial vertebrates but also underwent exaptation to become the gas bladder, a buoyancy control organ, in derived fish. A third is the repurposing of two of the three bones in the reptilian jaw to become the malleus and incus of the mammalian ear, leaving the mammalian jaw with just one hinge.  A behavioural example pertains to subdominant wolves licking the mouths of lead wolves as a sign of submissiveness. (Similarly, dogs, which are wolves who through a long process were domesticated, lick the faces of their human owners.) This trait can be explained as an exaptation of wolf pups licking the faces of adults to encourage them to regurgitate food.  Arthropods provide the earliest identifiable fossils of land animals, from about in the Late Silurian, and terrestrial tracks from about appear to have been made by arthropods. Arthropods were well pre-adapted to colonize land, because their existing jointed exoskeletons provided support against gravity and mechanical components that could interact to provide levers, columns and other means of locomotion that did not depend on submergence in water.  Metabolism can be considered an important part of exaptation. As one of the oldest biological systems and being central to life on the Earth, studies have shown that metabolism may be able to use exaptation in order to be fit, given some new set of conditions or environment. Studies have shown that up to 44 carbon sources are viable for metabolism to successfully take place and that any one adaptation in these specific metabolic systems is due to multiple exaptations. Taking this perspective, exaptations are important in the origination of adaptations in general. A recent example comes from Richard Lenski's "E. coli" long-term evolution experiment, in which aerobic growth on citrate arose in one of twelve populations after 31,000 generations of evolution. Genomic analysis by Blount and colleagues showed that this novel trait was due to a gene duplication that caused a citrate transporter that is normally expressed only under anoxic conditions to be expressed under oxic conditions, thus exapting it for aerobic use. Metabolic systems have the potential to innovate without adaptive origins.  Gould and Brosius took the concept of exaptation to the genetic level. It is possible to look at a retroposon, originally thought to be simply junk DNA, and deduce that it may have gotten a new function to be termed as an exaptation. Given an emergency situation in the past, a species may have used junk DNA for a useful purpose in order to evolve and be able to survive. This may have occurred with mammalian ancestors when confronted with a large mass extinction about 250 million years ago and substantial increase in the level of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. More than 100 loci have been found to be conserved only among mammalian genomes and are thought to have essential roles in the generation of features such as the placenta, diaphragm, mammary glands, neocortex, and auditory ossicles. It is believed that as a result of exaptation, or making previously "useless" DNA into DNA that could be used in order to increase survival chance, mammals were able to generate new brain structures as well as behavior to better survive the mass extinction and adapt to new environments. Similarly, viruses and their components have been repeatedly exapted for host functions. The functions of exapted viruses typically involve either defense from other viruses or cellular competitors or transfer of nucleic acids between cells, or storage functions. Koonin and Krupovic suggested that virus exaptation can reach different depths, from recruitment of a fully functional virus to exploitation of defective, partially degraded viruses, to utilization of individual virus proteins.

Adaptation and exaptation cycle.

It was speculated by Gould and Vrba in one of the first papers written about exaptation, that when an exaptation arises, it may not be perfectly suited for its new role and may therefore develop new adaptations to promote its use in a better manner. In other words, the beginning of developing a particular trait starts out with a primary adaptation toward a fit or specific role, followed by a primary exaptation (a new role is derived using the existing feature but may not be perfect for it), which in turn leads to the development of a secondary adaptation (the feature is improved by natural selection for better performance), promoting further development of an exaptation, and so forth.  Once again, feathers are an important example, in that they may have first been adapted for thermoregulation and with time became useful for catching insects, and therefore served as a new feature for another benefit. For instance, large contour feathers with specific arrangements arose as an adaptation for catching insects more successfully, which eventually led to flight, since the larger feathers served better for that purpose.

Implications.

Evolution of complex traits.

One of the challenges to Darwin's theory of evolution was explaining how complex structures could evolve gradually, given that their incipient forms may have been inadequate to serve any function. As George Jackson Mivart (a critic of Darwin) pointed out, 5 percent of a bird wing would not be functional. The incipient form of complex traits would not have survived long enough to evolve to a useful form.  As Darwin elaborated in the last edition of "The Origin of Species", many complex traits evolved from earlier traits that had served different functions. By trapping air, primitive wings would have enabled birds to efficiently regulate their temperature, in part, by lifting up their feathers when too warm. Individual animals with more of this functionality would more successfully survive and reproduce, resulting in the proliferation and intensification of the trait.  Eventually, feathers became sufficiently large to enable some individuals to glide. These individuals would in turn more successfully survive and reproduce, resulting in the spread of this trait because it served a second and still more beneficial function: that of locomotion. Hence, the evolution of bird wings can be explained by a shifting in function from the regulation of temperature to flight.

Jury-rigged design.

Darwin explained how the traits of living organisms are well-designed for their environment, but he also recognized that many traits are imperfectly designed. They appear to have been made from available material, that is, jury-rigged. Understanding exaptations may suggest hypotheses regarding subtleties in the adaptation. For instance, that feathers evolved initially for thermal regulation may help to explain some of their features unrelated to flight (Buss et al., 1998). However, this is readily explained by the fact that they serve a dual purpose.  Some of the chemical pathways for physical pain and pain from social exclusion overlap. The physical pain system may have been co-opted to motivate social animals to respond to threats to their inclusion in the group.

Evolution of technology.

Exaptation has received increasing attention in innovation and management studies inspired by evolutionary dynamics, where it has been proposed as a mechanism that drives the serendipitous expansion of technologies and products in new domains.

Exaptation and the related term co-option describe a shift in the function of a trait during evolution. For example, a trait can evolve because it served one particular function, but subsequently it may come to serve another. Exaptations are common in both anatomy and behaviour. Bird feathers are a classic example: initially they may have evolved for temperature regulation, but later were adapted for flight. Note here that when feathers were initially used to aid in flight they were doing so exaptively; however, since they have since been shaped by natural selection to improve flight, in their current state they are now best regarded as adaptations for flight. So it is with many structures that initially took on a function as exaptations, once molded for that new function they become adapted for that function. Interest in exaptation relates to both the process and products of evolution: the process that creates complex traits and the products (functions, anatomical structures, biochemicals, etc.) that may be imperfectly developed. Exaptation was proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba as a replacement for what they considered to be a teleologically loaded term 'pre-adaptation'.

Exaptace je v evoluční biologii termín popisující změnu ve funkci znaku v průběhu působení evoluce. Exaptace nastala například, pokud znak původně sloužil k jedné funkci, ale časem se využil na jinou - to může být případ nejen fenotypických znaků, ale i genů ovlivňujících chování. Termín nahradil dříve používané spojení "pre-adaptace", který evokoval, že znaky vyvíjejí cíleně.


Personal life.

Papas was born as Irini Lelekou (Ειρήνη Λελέκου) in the village of Chiliomodi, outside Corinth, Greece. Her mother, Eleni, was a schoolteacher, and her father, Stavros, taught classical drama. She was educated at the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Athens, taking classes in dance and singing. In 1947 she married the film director Alkis Papas; they divorced in 1951. In 1954 she met the actor Marlon Brando and they had a long and "secret love affair". She married the film producer Jose Kohn in 1957; that marriage was later annulled.  In 2003 she served on the board of directors of the Anna-Marie Foundation. In 2018 it was announced that she had been suffering from Alzheimer's for five years.

Film career.

Papas debuted in American film with a bit part in the B-movie "The Man from Cairo" (1953); her next American film was a much larger role as Jocasta Constantine, alongside James Cagney, in the Western "Tribute to a Bad Man" (1956). She was discovered by Elia Kazan in Greece, where she achieved widespread fame. She then starred in films such as "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) and "Zorba the Greek" (1964), and critically acclaimed films such as "Z" (1969), where her political activist's widow has been called "indelible". She was a leading figure in cinematic transcriptions of ancient tragedy, portraying Helen in "The Trojan Women" (1971) opposite Katharine Hepburn, Clytemnestra in "Iphigenia" (1977), and the title roles in "Antigone" (1961) and "Electra" (1962), where her portrayal of the "doomed heroine" is described as "outstanding". She appeared as Catherine of Aragon in "Anne of the Thousand Days", opposite Richard Burton and Geneviève Bujold in 1969. In 1976, she starred in "Mohammad, Messenger of God" about the origin of Islam. In 1982, she appeared in "Lion of the Desert", together with Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud. One of her last film appearances was in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" in 2001.  The "Enciclopedia Italiana" describes Papas as a typical Mediterranean beauty, with a lovely voice both in singing and acting, greatly talented and with an adventurous spirit.  In the view of film critic Philip Kemp, Papas was an awe-inspiring presence, which paradoxically limited her career. He admired her roles in the films of Michael Cacoyannis, including the defiant Helen of Troy in "The Trojan Women"; the vengeful, grief-stricken Clytemnestra in "Iphigenia"; and "memorably" as the cool but sensual widow in "Zorba the Greek".  The film critic Roger Ebert observed that there were many "pretty girls" in cinema "but not many women", and called Papas a great actress. Ebert noted her uphill struggle, her height limiting the leading men she could play alongside, her accent limiting the roles she could take, and that "her unusual beauty is not the sort that superstar actresses like to compete with." Ordinary actors, he suggested, had trouble sharing the screen with Papas. All the same, her presence in many well-known movies, wrote Ebert, inspired "something of a cult".

Theatre career.

Papas began her acting career in variety and traditional theatre, in plays by Ibsen, Shakespeare, and classical Greek tragedy, before moving into film in 1951. Later in her career, she took the title role in "Medea" in a 1973 production of Euripides's play. Reviewing the production in "The New York Times", Clive Barnes described her as a "very fine, controlled Medea", smouldering with a "carefully dampened passion", constantly fierce. Walter Kerr also praised Papas's Medea; both Barnes and Kerr saw in her portrayal what Barnes called "her unrelenting determination and unwavering desire for justice". Albert Bermel considered Papas's rendering of Medea as a sympathetic woman a triumph of acting.

Singing.

In 1969, the RCA label released Papas' vinyl LP, "Songs of Theodorakis" (INTS 1033). This has 11 folk songs sung in Greek, conducted by Harry Lemonopoulos and produced by Andy Wiswell, with sleeve notes in English by Michael Cacoyannis. It was released on CD in 2005 (FM 1680). Papas knew Mikis Theodorakis from working with him on "Zorba the Greek" as early as 1964.  In 1972, she appeared on the album "666" by the Greek rock group Aphrodite's Child on the track "∞" ("infinity"). She chants "I was, I am, I am to come" repeatedly and wildly over a percussive backing, causing controversy with her "graphic orgasm".  In 1979, Polydor released her solo album of eight Greek folk songs entitled "Odes", with electronic music performed (and partly composed) by Vangelis Papathanassiou. The lyrics were co-written by Arianna Stassinopoulos. They collaborated again in 1986 for "Rapsodies", an electronic rendition of seven Byzantine liturgy hymns, also on Polydor.

Politics.

Papas was a member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and in 1967 called for a "cultural boycott" against the "Fourth Reich", meaning the military government of Greece at that time. Her opposition to the regime sent her, and other artists such as Theodorakis whose songs she sang, into exile when the military junta came to power in Greece in 1967.

Awards and honours.

She has received the honours of Commander of the Order of the Phoenix in Greece, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in France, and Commander of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise in Spain.  In 2017, it was announced that the National Theatre of Greece's drama school was to be relocated to a new "Irene Papas - Athens School" on Agiou Konstantinou Street in Athens from 2018.

Irene Papas (or Pappas) (, born according to most sources on 3 September 1926) is a Greek actress and singer who has starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She became famous in Greece, and then internationally in feature films such as "The Guns of Navarone" and "Zorba the Greek". She was a powerful protagonist in films including "The Trojan Women" and "Iphigenia". She played the title roles in "Antigone" (1961) and "Electra" (1962).

Irene Papasová, řecky "Ειρήνη Παππά", rodným jménem Irini Lelekou, řecky "Ειρήνη Λελέκου" (* 3. září 1926, Chiliomodi) je řecká herečka a zpěvačka, která se prosadila v Hollywoodu. Natočila přes sedmdesát filmů.


Early life and education.

Walliams was born at St Teresa's Maternity Hospital in Wimbledon, in the London Borough of Merton, in 1971. He is the son of Peter Williams (1936–2007), a London Transport engineer, and Kathleen Williams (née Ellis), a laboratory technician who worked at Sutton Grammar School. Walliams grew up in Banstead, Surrey, specifically in the residential area of Nork, with his mother, father and sister Julie. He was educated at Collingwood Boys' School in Wallington, and Reigate Grammar School in Surrey, where he was a contemporary of writer Robert Shearman. From 1989 to 1992, he studied at the University of Bristol, where he resided at Manor Hall and graduated with Bachelor of Arts (Drama). During university holidays in 1990, Walliams performed with the National Youth Theatre, where he met future comedy partner and friend Matt Lucas. He changed his stage name to David Walliams when he joined college Equity, as there was already a member named David Williams.

Television career.

Walliams performed in the Big Finish Productions "Doctor Who" audio play "Phantasmagoria", written by Mark Gatiss in 1999. In 2005, Walliams, Simon Pegg, Lucy Davis and Lauren Laverne starred in the video for Charlotte Hatherley's single "Bastardo". Later in the year, Walliams presented a documentary on James Bond, entitled "David Walliams: My Life with James Bond". In 2007, he returned to non-comedy television, garnering positive reviews for his portrayal of a suave and dangerous manipulator in Stephen Poliakoff's "Capturing Mary".  He portrayed comedian Frankie Howerd in the BBC Four television film "Rather You Than Me". In 2010, Walliams appeared with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in the comedy "Dinner for Schmucks". Walliams played the strange mole-like alien Gibbis in the sixth series of "Doctor Who", in the episode "The God Complex", broadcast on BBC One in 2011. In April 2012 Walliams appeared in an episode of ITV's "Perspectives" programme entitled "David Walliams: The Genius of Dahl". Also in 2012, he narrated "Are You Having a Laugh? TV and Disability" on BBC Two, and the ITV2 series "Top Dog Model".  In 2013, Walliams appeared in two episodes of the comedy series Blandings as Rupert Baxter, an efficiency expert hired to serve as Lord Emsworth's secretary. Also that year, and in 2014, Walliams starred as chemistry teacher Keith Church in the BBC One sitcom "Big School", which he created and co-wrote. The series also starred Catherine Tate, Frances de la Tour and Philip Glenister. In June 2015, it was announced that "Big School" would not be returning for a third series. In March 2014 Walliams narrated a short video for the charity, Electrical Safety First, featuring the character Charley from the Charley Says educational films of the 1970s.  For Comic Relief 2015, Walliams appeared as Lou Todd and Stephen Hawking in the Andy Pipkin role along with Catherine Tate as a nun. In 2015, coinciding with the 125th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth, Walliams played the role of Tommy Beresford in "Partners in Crime", a six-part BBC series. In September 2015, Walliams began filming for his BBC sketch show "Walliams & Friend", which also starred Joanna Lumley and Morgana Robinson and premiered on Christmas Eve in 2015. The show returned for a full series in November 2016, and a second series has been announced.  Walliams hosted the final comedy show "Thrills and Spills" in December 2016. The final was held in Louisville, Kentucky. In December 2016, Walliams presented the "Royal Variety Performance" and a Christmas special episode of "Blankety Blank", both shows for ITV. In 2017, Walliams guest presented five episodes of "The Nightly Show" for ITV.  In 2017, Walliams, along with Rochelle Humes, were both confirmed as Voice Trumpets, joining the existing cast of Daniel Rigby, Antonia Thomas, Jim Broadbent, Fearne Cotton and Jane Horrocks In series 2 of the reboot of classic British children’s television series "Teletubbies".  In October 2019, in a video posted on social media, Walliams was announced as the new National Television Awards (NTAs) host for 2020, taking over after Dermot O'Leary's ten year presenting stint.

Matt Lucas.

Walliams and Matt Lucas first met at the National Youth Theatre. At their first meeting, Lucas did an impression of Jimmy Savile and Walliams an impression of Frankie Howerd. They would not meet again for another year. In the late 1990s, playing minor roles in sketches such as "The Club", Walliams and Lucas played grotesque caricatures of various rock musicians in the series "Rock Profile" and in the spoof documentary series "Sir Bernard's Stately Homes". They were also stars of the Paramount Comedy Channel show "Mash and Peas", and it was in this guise that they appeared in the Fat Les video. Walliams and Lucas also had small roles in "Plunkett and Maclaine" as prisoners.  The duo appeared together in a music video for the Pet Shop Boys single "I'm with Stupid", in which the two are apparently auditioning their version of the song's video for Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who are tied up and appear to be hostages.  The pair are best known for "Little Britain", which ran from 2003 to 2009 on the BBC in the UK and from 2008 onwards on HBO in the USA. The programme first aired on BBC Three before moving to the more mainstream BBC One. Among the characters Walliams played were Emily Howard, a deluded "transvestite"; Ray McCooney, an insane Scottish hotel owner; and Sebastian Love, an "aide de camp" to the Prime Minister (portrayed by Anthony Head) on whom Love has a huge crush. A successful live stage show of the series, "Little Britain Live", was produced in 2006. A number of seasonal and charity specials followed, up to 2009. A spin-off series produced in the United States by HBO, "Little Britain USA", aired in 2008. The characters from "Little Britain" played by Walliams and Lucas appeared in a 2010 UK television advertising campaign for the Nationwide Building Society. In January 2005 Walliams and Lucas were named the most powerful people in TV comedy by "Radio Times".  Their later series was "Come Fly with Me", a six-part series airing on BBC One. The first episode was the third most-watched programme of Christmas Day 2010, and the most watched comedy of the year. The duo have not worked or made any public appearances together since early 2011 (although they each make separate cameo appearances in Michael Winterbottom's 2013 film "The Look of Love").  In October 2019, Lucas and Walliams announced "Little Britain" would be returning to BBC Radio 4 on 31 October 2019, for a one-off special entitled "Little Brexit".

"Britain's Got Talent".

Since 2012 Walliams has been a judge on the ITV talent show "Britain's Got Talent" with Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Simon Cowell. In 2015, 2018 and 2019, he was recognised at the National Television Awards as Best Judge for his involvement in the series. His chemistry with Simon Cowell on the show has often been praised.

Writing career.

Children's novels.

In early 2008 Walliams signed a contract with HarperCollins to publish two children's books. The debut novel, "The Boy in the Dress", illustrated by Quentin Blake, was released worldwide on 1 November 2008. It explores several of the themes of "Little Britain" from Walliams' own life on an emotional level, such as the camp humour of cross-dressing and effeminacy. The story recounts a neglected 12-year-old boy called Dennis' search for a female role model, his friendship with the popular girl in school, and the ways in which relationships develop along gender lines. The story has a strong resonance with Anne Fine's 1989 book "Bill's New Frock". It was announced that this book will be adapted into a film for Christmas 2014.  In November 2009 came "Mr Stink", again illustrated by Quentin Blake, about a 12-year-old girl who meets a tramp and helps look after him. She keeps him hidden from her family. The book consists of 26 illustrated chapters full of jokes. It is aimed at teenagers and children over 9. It was the last of Walliams books to be illustrated by Quentin Blake. The book was awarded the Children's Award in the inaugural People's Book Prize in 2010, and was made into a 60-minute film, which premiered on BBC One on 23 December 2012.  On 28 October 2010 Walliams published his third book "Billionaire Boy", illustrated by Tony Ross, telling the story of Joe Spud, the richest 12-year-old in the country. Joe's father is a famous inventor, and his wealth means that Joe has everything he could ever want: his own bowling alley, cinema and a trained orangutan who serves as his butler, but there is just one thing he really needs: a friend. The book included a 'billion pound note' that was used to enter a competition to win a day as a billionaire in London. This was the first of his books to be illustrated by Tony Ross.  Walliams' fourth book, "Gangsta Granny" was released in October 2011 and again illustrated by Tony Ross. It tells the story of Ben who is bored every time he is made to stay at his grandma's house as all she wants to do is to play board games and eat cabbage soup. Ben learns that she was once an international jewel thief and all her life she has wanted to steal the crown jewels. Ben is determined that they do it together. It won a Red House Children's Book Award and was adapted to be a 70-minute film for BBC One and shown on 26 December 2013.  In September 2012 Walliams released his fifth children's book, "Ratburger", telling the story of a young girl named Zoe whose life is a misery as she has an evil stepmother. It was made into a one-off drama for Sky One.  "Ratburger" was followed in September 2013 by Walliams' sixth book, "Demon Dentist", relating the tale of a young boy named Alfie with no family except his dad whose world goes upside-down when a new dentist arrives in town. The book won the top prize in the Younger Readers category at the 2015 Red House Children's Book Awards.  Walliams' seventh children's book, "Awful Auntie", was released on 25 September 2014. This was the story of a girl named Stella whose Auntie has moved into her house with her owl, Wagner. It is the first (and currently only) of Walliams' books to not include Raj the newsagent, due to the book being set in the 1920s before Raj was born.  In September 2015 he released "Grandpa's Great Escape". The story follows a boy called Jack trying to rescue his Grandpa who suffers from Alzheimer's disease from a care home run by an evil matron. The book was adapted for BBC One, with the script written by Walliams and Kevin Cecil, and starring Tom Courtenay as Grandpa. This book, although set in the 1980s like "Awful Auntie" is, sees the return of Raj the newsagent. The same year that "Grandpa's Great Escape" was published, Walliams backed children's fairytales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF, together with Roger Moore, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine, Charlotte Rampling and Paul McKenna.  "The Midnight Gang" was published in November 2016. "Bad Dad" was published in November 2017. Walliams sold £16.57 million worth of books in 2017. "The Ice Monster" was published in November 2018. Walliams' latest children's novel, "Fing", was published in February 2019.

Short story collections.

Illustrated in colour by Tony Ross, Walliams' three "The" "World's Worst Children" short story collections, centered around 'five beastly boys and five gruesome girls', were published in May 2016, May 2017 and May 2018 respectively.  In May 2019, it was announced that "The World’s Worst Teachers" would be published on 27 June.

Other work.

Theatre.

On 26 August 2008 Walliams made his stage debut at the Gate Theatre in Dublin opposite Michael Gambon in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land", in front of an audience that included Pinter himself. The production transferred to London later in the year.  In 2013, he played the part of Bottom in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Noël Coward Theatre opposite Sheridan Smith as Titania.  In July 2014, Walliams appeared on stage with Monty Python during their live show "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" held at the O Arena, London. He was the special guest in their "Blackmail" sketch.

Screenwriting.

In addition to his writing credits for his Sketch Shows and adaptions of his novels, it was announced in November 2015 that he would be co-writing an animated feature with filmmaker Edgar Wright for DreamWorks Animation. In July 2016, it was announced that it would be titled "Shadows" and be released in 2019.  In 2018, Walliams also starred in the British Airways Safety video, which was conducted in conjunction with Comic Relief for the airlines in house charity. Walliams most notable occasion in the video is the lifejacket instruction. Since then the video has been reworked with a mixture of the previous version, however Walliams still appears in the new version.

Controversies.

Kim Jong-un Halloween costume.

In early November 2017, Walliams caused upset through his dressing as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for Halloween and posting it online. He had shared the photograph on his Twitter account, in costume, wearing a black suit, wig, and artificial prosthetics that appeared to alter his eyelids and hairline. There was an immediate backlash online, many Twitter users branding the outfit "racist" and accusing Walliams of "yellow-face". Others made the point that it was insensitive for Walliams to dress as Kim Jong-un given the North Korean leader's 'appalling' human rights record. Walliams responded to the backlash lightly, constructing a fake text message from Kim Jong-un which he posted to Twitter, reading: "Hi Dave, Loved the Halloween outfit mate! Wet meself laughing. Don’t see what all the fuss is about. Kim x. PS Can’t wait to read "Bad Dad"."

Personal life.

In 2007, Walliams' father, Peter, died of an aggressive form of liver cancer.  In 2009, Walliams began dating Dutch model Lara Stone. On 20 January 2010, they announced their engagement. Walliams proposed to Stone in Los Angeles after her parents had given their blessing to the relationship. On 16 May 2010, the couple were married at central London's Claridge's Hotel. In December 2012, the couple announced that Stone was pregnant with their first child and on 6 May 2013, Stone gave birth to their son, Alfred.  Walliams and Stone lived in the house with recording studio, formerly owned by Noel Gallagher, and known as 'Supernova Heights' in Belsize Park, north London. It was reported on 4 March 2015 that, following five years of marriage, the pair had decided to try a trial separation after "drifting apart". On 9 September 2015, Walliams filed for divorce from Stone, citing "unreasonable behaviour". The couple were granted a decree nisi the next day; the marriage was formally dissolved six weeks after the date of filing.  Walliams hinted at being pansexual in the book "Inside Little Britain", but said he did not like to be labelled by that word. In an interview with "Radio Times" in 2013, he stated: "I think it's all about falling in love with the person and that is overlooked, really. I hate it when people 'confess' or'reveal' their sexuality and also things can change for people over the years. So it is about the person but I also think it goes beyond that. You don't just fall in love with someone's body, do you? You fall in love with someone's soul and heart and brain."  Walliams has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and described his 2006 swim of the English Channel as "some sort of redemption".

Charity work.

Telethon hosting.

Walliams co-hosted a segment of the Sport Relief telethon in 2012, co-hosting the 22:00–22:40 slot with Miranda Hart when the show moved over to BBC Two while the BBC News at Ten was aired.  Walliams also co-hosted the 2014 Sport Relief telethon. This time, he hosted the earlier slot between 19:00–22:00 with Gary Lineker and later Davina McCall.

Swimming the English Channel.

On 4 July 2006 Walliams swam the English Channel for Sport Relief. It took him 10 hours and 34 minutes to swim the 22-mile (35 km) stretch of sea, equivalent to 700 lengths of an Olympic-size swimming pool. This was wrongly reported as one of the top 50 recorded times for an unaided Channel crossing; in reality Walliams placed 167th at the time of crossing in only the CSA listings, excluding the CSPF listings. He raised over £1 million in donations. Under the supervision of his trainer, he trained for nine months to prepare for the swim. The training had to coincide with Walliams and Lucas's "Little Britain Live" tour, so he daily had to train for several hours before performing on stage in the evening.  Walliams first swam from Lee-on-the-Solent near Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in around two hours and also completed an eight-hour swim off the coast of Croatia before embarking on the cross-Channel attempt. Walliams has insisted that prior to his challenge he had never seriously taken part in any sport. The Bluetones' lead singer Mark Morriss wrote a song, "Fade In/Fade Out", in honour of Walliams' achievement; it can be found on their self-titled album, released on 9 October 2006..

Swimming the Strait of Gibraltar.

On 7 March 2008 Walliams, along with James Cracknell, swam the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco, again for Sport Relief. He successfully completed the swim in just over 4 hours.

Cycling.

In March 2010 Walliams and a group of celebrities cycled an end-to-end journey through the UK, raising over £1 million for Sport Relief. Walliams suffered a serious fall when tackling the Kirkstone Pass, a thousand-foot climb in the Lake District but was able to complete the ride.

"24 Hour Panel People".

In March 2011 Walliams undertook "24 Hour Panel People", in which he took part in back to back recordings of various panel show formats over the course of 24 hours to raise money for Comic Relief. The recordings were streamed live on the BBC website. He took part in 19 episodes of "classic" TV panel shows.

Swimming the Thames.

From 5 to 12 September 2011 Walliams swam the length of the River Thames (140 miles) and raised more than £2m for Sport Relief. In the process, he saved a dog from drowning in the river. Once he had got out of the river Walliams said "I think a bath is the only water I will be seeing for a while." The swim resulted in him getting giardiasis and injuring a intervertebral disc. In late 2013, Walliams had emergency back surgery to alleviate issues caused by the swim.

Awards and honours.

Walliams was given a special award in recognition of his sporting efforts for charity. Matt Lucas produced a documentary on the subject, entitled "Little Britain's Big Swim". On 6 November 2006, Walliams won the Pride of Britain Award for "The Most Influential Public Figure" as he raised more than £1.5 million swimming the channel for the Sport Relief charity. Although initially tipped as a contender for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year poll for 2006, Walliams failed to make the final shortlist of 10 contenders. Walliams was given a special award during the ceremony for his achievement. In July 2006, he became Patron of 'Cardiac Risk in the Young'.  At the 2012 National Television Awards, Walliams won the 'Landmark Achievement Award', for his television career and achievements for Sport Relief. In December 2012 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Ratburger". In December 2013 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Demon Dentist". In December 2014 he won the Specsavers National Book Awards "Children's Book of the Year" for "Awful Auntie". "Awful Auntie" also won the 2014 Specsavers National Book Awards "Audiobook of the Year".  Walliams has won the award for Best TV Judge at the 2015, 2018 and 2019 National Television Awards.  He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to charity and the arts. He was invested with the honour by Princess Anne.

Bibliography.

Children's fiction.

Novels.

The first two novels are illustrated by Quentin Blake, the rest are illustrated by Tony Ross.

Short story collections.

Illustrated by Tony Ross.

David Walliams (born David Edward Williams; 20 August 1971) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series "Rock Profile" (1999–2000, 2009), "Little Britain" (2003–2007, 2020), and "Come Fly With Me" (2010-2011). Since 2012, Walliams has been a judge on the television talent show competition "Britain's Got Talent" on ITV. He is also a writer of children's books, having sold more than 37 million copies worldwide.

David Edward Walliams (* 20. srpna 1971), známý jako David Walliams je anglický komik, herec, spisovatel, televizní osobnost a aktivista.


Etymology.

Both Polish and German names are of topographic origins, but with a slightly different meanings. The Polish name is derived from oaks (Polish: "dąb", plural "dęby") and denotes "an oaken part of wood". German name: "Baumgarten" is a conjunction of two words: (tree) and ("garden").

History.

The village was first mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called "Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis" from around 1305 as "item in Dambonczal". It meant that the village was in the process of location (the size of land to pay a tithe from was not yet precise). The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what would later be known as Upper Silesia.  The village became a seat of a Catholic parish, first mentioned in an incomplete register of Peter's Pence payment from 1335 as "Bemgard" and as such being one of the oldest in the region. It was again mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among the 50 parishes of Teschen deanery as "Bomgarte".  The name from 1335 is of Germanic roots and indicates that among long ethnically Polish (Slavic, as the name from "Liber fundationis.." is of Slavic origins) citizens an unknown number of German settlers arrived and gave the common village a German name which eventually evolved into "Baumgarten".  Politically the village belonged initially to the Duchy of Teschen, formed in 1290 in the process of feudal fragmentation of Poland and was ruled by a local branch of Piast dynasty. In 1327 the duchy became a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became part of the Habsburg Monarchy.  After the 1540s Protestant Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and a local Catholic church was taken over by Lutherans. It was taken from them, as one from around fifty buildings in the region, by a special commission and given back to the Roman Catholic Church on 18 April 1654.  On 15 March 1793 the village was bought from Marklowski noble family by Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen and included in Teschener Kammer. In 1807 the first school in Dębowiec was opened, before that the local children attended to school in Simoradz. In the years 1854-1856 new bricked church was built, which replaced old wooden church. Lutherans built a cemetery chapel in 1912. The new school building was opened in 1908, to celebrate 60 years of reign of Franz Joseph I of Austria.  After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the political district of Bielsko and the legal district of Skoczów. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the village dropped from 992 in 1880 to 984 in 1910, with majority of the inhabitants being native Polish-speakers (between 99% and 99.1%) and a few people German-speaking (at most 9 or 0.9% in 1880 and 1890) or Czech-speaking (at most 7 or 0.7% in 1900), in terms of religion in 1910 majority were Roman Catholics (560 or 56.9%), followed by Lutherans (417 or 42.4%) and Jews (7 people). The village was also traditionally inhabited by Cieszyn Vlachs, speaking Cieszyn Silesian dialect.  At the beginnings of the 20th century methane was discovered in the village. Its explosion in 1911 caused a fire lasting few days.  After World War I, the fall of Austria-Hungary, the Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, it became a part of Poland. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. During the night between 15 and 16 February 1941 the first elite special-operations paratroops called Cichociemni parachuted over Dębowiec. It was caused by a mistake of navigator and a lack of fuel as they originally intended to land somewhere around Włoszczowa. After the war the village was restored to Poland.  In 2014 graduation tower in the center of the village was opened.

Geography.

Dębowiec lies in the southern part of Poland, approximately west of the nearest town, Skoczów, north-east of the county seat, Cieszyn, west of Bielsko-Biała, south-west of the regional capital Katowice, and east of the border with the Czech Republic.  It is situated on the Knajka river (left tributary of the Vistula), along which many fish ponds are located. It lies on the geographical border between Silesian Foothills (to the south), Ostrava Basin (to north-west) and Oświęcim Basin (to north-east), between above sea level; north of the Silesian Beskids; The biggest forest, called "Dębowczak", lies in the north-west part of the village. Several oak trees ("Quercus robur") aged between 250 and 300 years were registered in 1959 as natural monuments.

Dębowiec (, ) is a village and the seat of Gmina Dębowiec, Cieszyn County in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has an area of and a population of 1,772 (2007). It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia.

Dubovec ( Dębowiec, "Baumgarten", nářečně "Dymbowjec") je vesnice v jižním Polsku ve Slezském vojvodství v okrese Těšín. Leží na území Těšínského Slezska na řece Knajce (přítok Visly) asi 6 km severozápadně od Skočova. Je sídlem gminy Dubovec. Roku 2008 obec čítala 1 786 obyvatel a měla rozlohu 13,17 km2.


History.

Channel Zero was formed in Brussels, Belgium in 1990. They released their first album "Channel Zero" in 1992. Their second album "Stigmatized For Life" (mixed by Vinnie Paul of Pantera) followed in 1993.  They achieved their breakthrough with the album "Unsafe" in 1994. The album featured guest vocals of Billy Milano of S.O.D. and Richard 23 of Front 242. Their last studio album "Black Fuel" was released in 1996.  In 1997, the band announced their break-up. They released one last live album of their performance at Marktrock, Leuven in 1997, simply titled "Live". Franky De Smet Van Damme went on to form his own band Skitsoy, while Xavier Carion later formed Sons of Jonathas.  In 2010, the band played six reunion shows in the AB concert hall in Brussels. The first three sold out within 49 minutes, and the next two announced one week later, again sold out.  A single, "Black Flowers", was released in January 2010. On 5 April 2010, de Smet revealed that they are working on a new album, during an interview he gave during 'De zwaarste lijst', a radio show on the Belgian radio station, Studio Brussel.  The band played concerts at the Graspop Metal Meeting in 2010 and 2011 in Dessel, Belgium. They also played at Rock Werchter in 1995, back when the festival was still known as Torhout-Werchter, and in 2010.  The band's former drummer, Phil Baheux, died on 10 August 2013, at the age of 45.  On October 2013, the band announced that they will continue the work made on the new album, with Roy Mayorga playing the drums as a session drummer. Chris "Seven" Antonopoulos became the permanent drummer after the albums release. Their 6th studio album "Kill All Kings" was released on 24 June through Metal Blade Records. Christophe Depree, from fellow Belgium metal band After All, would join the band as a second guitarist in late 2017.

Discography.

Albums:  Live albums:  EPs:  Singles:

Channel Zero is a Belgian heavy metal band, formed in Brussels, Belgium, in 1990. They are one of the best known heavy metal bands from Belgium. They disbanded at the height of their career in 1997, however in 2009, the band announced a series of reunion gigs starting in January 2010.

Channel Zero (v překladu z angličtiny "kanál nula") je belgická thrash/groove metalová kapela z Bruselu založená v roce 1990. Stejnojmenné debutní studiové album bylo vydáno v roce 1992.