text:
Nonogram

Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Paint by Numbers, Picross, Griddlers, and Pic-a-Pix are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the edges of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. In this puzzle, the numbers are a form of discrete tomography that measures how many unbroken lines of filled-in squares there are in any given row or column. For example, a clue of "4 8 3" would mean there are sets of four, eight, and three filled squares, in that order, with at least one blank square between successive sets.

These puzzles are often black and white—describing a binary image—but they can also be colored. If colored, the number clues are also colored to indicate the color of the squares. Two differently colored numbers may or may not have a space in between them. For example, a black four followed by a red two could mean four black boxes, some empty spaces, and two red boxes, or it could simply mean four black boxes followed immediately by two red ones. Nonograms have no theoretical limits on size, and are not restricted to square layouts.

Nonograms were named after Non Ishida, one of the two inventors of the puzzle.

Names
Nonograms are also known by many other names, including Hanjie puzzle, Paint by Numbers, Crosspix, Griddlers, Pic-a-Pix, Picross, Picma, PrismaPixels, Pixel Puzzles, Crucipixel, Edel, FigurePic, Hanjie, HeroGlyphix, Illust-Logic, Japanese Crosswords, Japanese Puzzles, Kare Karala!, Logic Art, Logic Square, Logicolor, Logik-Puzzles, Logimage, Oekaki Logic, Paint Logic, Picture Logic, Tsunamii, Paint by Sudoku, Picture-forming logic puzzles, and Binary Coloring Books.

History
In 1987, Non Ishida, a Japanese graphics editor, won a competition in Tokyo by designing grid pictures using skyscraper lights that were turned on or off. This led her to the idea of a puzzle based around filling in certain squares in a grid. Coincidentally, a professional Japanese puzzler named Tetsuya Nishio invented the same puzzles independently, and published them in another magazine. At this time, nonograms were also called picture-forming logic puzzles.

Print publishing
In 1988, Non Ishida published three picture grid puzzles in Japan under the name of "Window Art Puzzles". In 1990, James Dalgety in the UK invented the name Nonograms after Non Ishida, and The Sunday Telegraph started publishing them on a weekly basis. By 1993, the first book of nonograms was published by Non Ishida in Japan. The Sunday Telegraph published a dedicated puzzle book titled the "Book of Nonograms". Nonograms were also published in Sweden, the United States (originally by Games magazine ), South Africa and other countries. The Sunday Telegraph ran a competition in 1998 to choose a new name for their puzzles. Griddlers was the winning name that readers chose. 1993, Ishida published the "Book of Nonograms".

Electronic puzzles
Paint by numbers puzzles were implemented by 1995 on hand held electronic toys such as Game Boy and on other plastic puzzle toys. Nintendo picked up on this puzzle fad and released two "Picross" (picture crossword) titles for the Game Boy and nine for the Super Famicom (eight of which were released in two-month intervals for the Nintendo Power Super Famicom Cartridge Writer as the NP series) in Japan. Only one of these, Mario's Picross for the Game Boy, was released outside Japan. Since then, one of the most prolific Picross game developers has been Jupiter Corporation, who released Picross DS on the Nintendo DS in 2007, 8 titles in the Picross e series for the Nintendo 3DS eShop (along with 5 character-specific titles, including ones featuring Pokémon, Zelda and Sanrio characters), and 9 titles in the Picross S series for the Nintendo Switch (along with two character-specific ones featuring Kemono Friends and Overlord respectively, and another featuring intellectual properties from SEGA's Master System and Genesis).

Increased popularity in Japan launched new publishers and by now there were several monthly magazines, some of which contained up to 100 puzzles. The Japanese arcade game Logic Pro was released by Deniam Corp in 1996, with a sequel released the following year. UK games developer Jagex released a nonogram puzzle in 2011 as part of their annual Halloween event for their role-playing game, Runescape. In 2013, Casual Labs released a mobile version of these puzzles called Paint it Back with the theme of restoring an art gallery. Released early in 2017, Pictopix has been presented as a worthy heir to Picross on PC by Rock, Paper, Shotgun. In particular, the game enables players to share their creations.

Today
Paint by numbers have been published by Sanoma Uitgevers in the Netherlands, Puzzler Media (formerly British European Associated Publishers) in the UK and Nikui Rosh Puzzles in Israel. Magazines with nonogram puzzles are published in the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, and many other countries.

Solution techniques

To solve a puzzle, one needs to determine which cells will be boxes and which will be empty. Solvers often use a dot or a cross to mark cells they are certain are spaces. Cells that can be determined by logic should be filled. If guessing is used, a single error can spread over the entire field and completely ruin the solution. An error sometimes comes to the surface only after a while, when it is very difficult to correct the puzzle. The hidden picture may help locate and eliminate an error, but otherwise it plays little part in the solving process, as it may mislead.

Many puzzles can be solved by reasoning on a single row or column at a time only, then trying another row or column, and repeating until the puzzle is complete. More difficult puzzles may also require several types of "what if?" reasoning that include more than one row (or column). This works on searching for contradictions, e.g., when a cell cannot be a box because some other cell would produce an error, it must be a space.

Simple boxes
At the beginning of the solution, a simple method can be used to determine as many boxes as possible. This method uses conjunctions of possible places for each block of boxes. For example, in a row of ten cells with only one clue of 8, the bound block consisting of 8 boxes could spread from As a result, the block must spread through the six centermost cells in the row.
 * the right border, leaving two spaces to the left;
 * the left border, leaving two spaces to the right;
 * or somewhere in between.

The same applies when there are more clues in the row. For example, in a row of ten cells with clues of 4 and 3, the bound blocks of boxes could be Consequently, the first block of four boxes definitely includes the third and fourth cells, while the second block of three boxes definitely includes the eighth cell. Boxes can therefore be placed in the third, fourth and eighth cells. When determining boxes in this way, boxes can be placed in cells only when the same block overlaps; in this example, there is overlap in the sixth cell, but it is from different blocks, and so it cannot yet be said whether or not the sixth cell will contain a box.
 * crowded to the left, one next to the other, leaving two spaces to the right;
 * crowded to the right, one just next to the other, leaving two spaces to the left;
 * or somewhere between.

Simple spaces
This method consists of determining spaces by searching for cells that are out of range of any possible blocks of boxes. For example, considering a row of ten cells with boxes in the fourth and ninth cell and with clues of 3 and 1, the block bound to the clue 3 will spread through the fourth cell and clue 1 will be at the ninth cell. First, the clue 1 is complete and there will be a space at each side of the bound block.

Second, the clue 3 can only spread somewhere between the second cell and the sixth cell, because it always has to include the fourth cell; however, this may leave cells that may not be boxes in any case, i.e. the first and the seventh.

Note: In this example all blocks are accounted for; this is not always the case. The player must be careful for there may be clues or blocks that are not bound to each other yet.

Forcing
In this method, the significance of the spaces will be shown. A space placed somewhere in the middle of an uncompleted row may force a large block to one side or the other. Also, a gap that is too small for any possible block may be filled with spaces. For example, considering a row of ten cells with spaces in the fifth and seventh cells and with clues of 3 and 2:
 * the clue of 3 would be forced to the left, because it could not fit anywhere else.
 * the empty gap on the sixth cell is too small to accommodate clues like 2 or 3 and may be filled with spaces.
 * finally, the clue of 2 will spread through the ninth cell according to method Simple Boxes above.

Glue
Sometimes, there is a box near the border that is not farther from the border than the length of the first clue. In this case, the first clue will spread through that box and will be forced outward from the border. In the simplest case, whenever a box is present in the first or last cells of a row or column, the first or last clue must be aligned to the edge of that row or column.

Considering a row of ten cells with a box in the third cell and with a clue of 5, the clue of 5 will always span from the third to the fifth cell (but not necessarily to the second or the sixth). It is therefore possible to mark the third, fourth and fifth cell as belonging to the 5.

Note: This method may also work in the middle of a row, farther away from the borders.
 * A space may act as a border, if the first clue is forced to the right of that space.
 * The first clue may also be preceded by some other clues, if all the clues are already bound to the left of the forcing space.

Joining and splitting
Boxes closer to each other may be sometimes joined together into one block or split by a space into several blocks. When there are two blocks with an empty cell between, this cell will be:
 * A space if joining the two blocks by a box would produce a too large block
 * A box if splitting the two blocks by a space would produce a too small block that does not have enough free cells remaining

For example, considering a row of fifteen cells with boxes in the third, fourth, sixth, seventh, eleventh and thirteenth cell and with clues of 5, 2 and 2: Note: The illustration picture also shows how the clues of 2 are further completed. This is, however, not part of the Joining and splitting technique, but the Glue technique described above.
 * The clue of 5 will join the first two blocks by a box into one large block, because a space would produce a block of only 4 boxes that is not enough there.
 * The clues of 2 will split the last two blocks by a space, because a box would produce a block of 3 continuous boxes, which is not allowed there.

Punctuating
To solve the puzzle, it is usually also very important to enclose each bound or completed block of boxes immediately by separating spaces as described in Simple spaces method. Precise punctuating usually leads to more Forcing and may be vital for finishing the puzzle. Note: The examples above did not do that only to remain simple.

Mercury
Mercury is a special case of Simple spaces technique. Its name comes from the way mercury pulls back from the sides of a container. If there is a box in a row that is in the same distance from the border as the length of the first clue, the first cell will be a space. This is because the first clue would not fit to the left of the box. It will have to spread through that box, leaving the first cell behind. Furthermore, when the box is actually a block of more boxes to the right, there will be more spaces at the beginning of the row, determined by using this method several times.

Contradictions
Some more difficult puzzles may also require advanced reasoning. When all simple methods above are exhausted, searching for contradictions may help. It is wise to use a pencil (or other color) for that to facilitate corrections. The procedure includes:
 * 1) Trying an empty cell to be a box (or then a space).
 * 2) Using all available methods to solve as much as possible.
 * 3) If an error is found, the tried cell will not be a box for sure. It will be a space (or a box, if space was tried).

In this example a box is tried in the first row, which leads to a space at the beginning of that row. The space then forces a box in the first column, which glues to a block of three boxes in the fourth row. However, that is wrong because the third column does not allow any boxes there, which leads to a conclusion that the tried cell must not be a box, so it must be a space.

The problem of this method is that there is no quick way to tell which empty cell to try first. Usually only a few cells lead to any progress, and the other cells lead to dead ends. Most worthy cells to start with may be:
 * cells that have many non-empty neighbors;
 * cells that are close to the borders or close to the blocks of spaces;
 * cells that are within rows that consist of more non-empty cells.

Mathematical approach
It is possible to get a start to a puzzle using a mathematical technique to fill in blocks for rows/columns independent of other rows/columns. This is a good "first step" and is a mathematical shortcut to techniques described above. The process is as follows:
 * 1) Add the clues together, plus 1 for each "space" in between. For example, if the clue is 6 2 3, this step produces the sum 6 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 13.
 * 2) Subtract this number from the total available in the row (usually the width or height of the puzzle). For example, if the clue in step 1 is in a row 15 cells wide, the difference is 15 - 13 = 2.  Note: If spaces can be used on the left or right (top or bottom) borders, this "shrinks" the available area. If it is known that the rightmost cell is a space, the difference is 14 - 13 = 1.
 * 3) Any clues that are greater than the number in step 2 will have some blocks filled in. In the example, this applies to the clues 6 and 3, but not 2.
 * 4) For each clue in step 3, subtract the number in step 2 to determine the number of blocks that can be filled in. For example, the 6 clue will have (6 - 2 =) 4 blocks filled in and the 3 clue will have (3 - 2 =) 1. Note: Applying the same procedure to a clue that "failed" step 3 will produce a non-positive number, indicating that no blocks will be filled in for this clue. The clue 2 produces the number (2 - 2 =) 0; if there were a 1 clue, it would produce the number (1 - 2 =) -1.
 * 5) To fill in the blocks, assume the blocks are all pushed to one side, count from that side "through" the blocks, and backfill the appropriate number of blocks. This can be done from either direction. For example, the 6 clue can be done either of two ways as follows:
 * 6) From the left: Since the 6 is the first number, count 6 blocks from the left edge, ending in the 6th block.  Now "backfill" 4 blocks (the number obtained in step 4), so that cells 3 through 6 are filled.
 * 7) From the right: Starting from the right, the clues that are to the right of the 6 clue must be accounted for. Starting from cell 15, count 3 cells for the 3 clue (to cell 13), then a space (12), then the 2 clue (10), then a space (9), then the 6 clue (3). From the 3rd cell, "backfill" 4 blocks, filling cells 3 through 6. The results are the same as doing it from the left in the step above.
 * 8) Repeat step 5 for all clues identified in step 3.

In the illustration, row 1 shows the cells that are filled under this procedure, rows 2 and 4 show how the blocks are pushed to one side in step 5, and rows 3 and 5 show the cells backfilled in step 5.

Using this technique for all rows and columns at the start of the puzzle produces a good head start into completing it. Note: Some rows/columns won't yield any results initially. For example, a row of 20 cells with a clue of 1 4 2 5 will yield 1 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 5 = 15. 20 - 15 = 5. None of the clues are greater than 5. Also, this technique can be used on a smaller scale. If there are available spaces in the center or either side, even if certain clues are already discovered, this method can be used with the remaining clues and available spaces.

Deeper recursion
Some puzzles may require to go deeper with searching for the contradictions. This is, however, not possible simply by a pen and pencil, because of the many possibilities that must be searched. This method is practical for a computer to use.

Multiple rows
In some cases, reasoning over a set of rows may also lead to the next step of the solution even without contradictions and deeper recursion. However, finding such sets is usually as difficult as finding contradictions.

Nonograms in computing
Solving nonogram puzzles is an NP-complete problem. This means that there is no polynomial time algorithm that solves all nonogram puzzles unless P = NP.

However, certain classes of puzzles, such as those in which each row or column has only one block of cells and all cells are connected, may be solved in polynomial time by transforming the problem into an instance of 2-satisfiability.

Software solvers
An extensive comparison and discussion of nonogram solving algorithms is found at the WebPBN site (Web Paint-By-Number). A Nonogram solver written in C++ and published in the journal Pattern Recognition solves lines in quadratic time at most.

Video game versions
Nintendo has published several nonogram video games using the name "Picross" (ピクロス). The Nintendo Game Boy game Mario's Picross was initially released in Japan on March 14, 1995 to decent success. However, the game failed to become a hit in the U.S. market, despite a heavy advertising campaign by Nintendo. The game is of an escalating difficulty, with successive puzzle levels containing larger puzzles. Each puzzle has a limited amount of time to be cleared. Hints (line clears) may be requested at a time penalty, and mistakes made earn time penalties as well (the amount increasing for each mistake). Picross 2 was released later for Game Boy and Mario's Super Picross for the Super Famicom, neither of which were translated for the U.S. market (Mario's Super Picross was, however, later released on the Wii Virtual Console's PAL service on September 14, 2007, as part of its Hanabi Festival, as well as on the Nintendo Switch Online service worldwide on September 23rd, 2020 ). Both games introduced Wario's Picross as well, featuring Mario's nemesis in the role. These rounds vary by removing the hint function, and mistakes are not penalized—at the price that mistakes are not even revealed. These rounds can only be cleared when all correct boxes are marked, with no mistakes. The time limit was also removed. Nintendo also released eight Picross volumes on the Japanese Nintendo Power peripheral in Japan, called NP Picross, each with a new set of puzzles, including puzzles based around various Nintendo characters, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.

Nintendo has released Picross DS for the Nintendo DS portable system in 2007. It contains several stages of varying difficulty, from 5x5 grids to 25x20 grids. Normal mode tells players if they made an error (with a time penalty) and free mode does not. A hint is available before starting the puzzle in all modes; the game reveals a complete row and column at random. Additional puzzles were available through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection; some of the original Mario Picross puzzles were available. However, the service was shut down on 20 May 2014. Nintendo made new releases available bi-weekly. Picross DS was released in Europe and Australia on 11 May 2007 and in the United States on July 30, 2007 and has been received well by critics, including Craig Harris, Jessica Wadleigh and Dave McCarthy labelling the game "Addictive". A 3D version of the game, titled Picross 3D, was also released for the DS in Japan in 2009 and internationally in 2010. A sequel, Picross 3D: Round 2, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Another downloadable version of the game was released for Nintendo 3DS's Nintendo eShop, called Picross e, Picross e2, and Picross e3 released in 2013, with Picross e4 released in 2014. Nintendo has also released a Pokémon spinoff on December 7, 2015 in the form of the freemium game of Pokémon Picross for Nintendo 3DS. My Nintendo Picross The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was released for Nintendo 3DS on March 31, 2016, exclusively as a premium reward for My Nintendo.

Other companies have also released nonogram video games, such as Falcross on iOS, Across-Stitch by Knitwit Studios on Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS, and the Color Cross series of games by Little Worlds Studio on the Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, and iOS. In addition, nonogram puzzles have appeared in non-picross puzzle games, such as in Deadly Rooms of Death's fifth installment, The Second Sky. In it, nonogram puzzles (again called "Picross" puzzles) representing in-game objects are optional, unlockable puzzles late into the game that can be played in the level "The Central Station", and solving them unlocks bonus levels in the game. In 2018, Konami released a game titled Pixel Puzzle Collection, or Picross Puzzle (ピクロジパズル), featuring classic Konami characters and sprites.

Other picture logic puzzles
Pentomino paint-by-numbers is a variant in which the twelve pentomino shapes must be placed in the grid, without touching each other (even diagonally).

Triddlers are an offshoot that uses triangle shapes instead of squares.

Paint by pairs or Link-a-Pix consists of a grid, with numbers filling some squares; pairs of numbers must be located correctly and connected with a line filling a total of squares equal to that number. There is only one unique way to link all the squares in a properly-constructed puzzle. When completed, the squares that have lines are filled; the contrast with the blank squares reveals the picture. (As above, colored versions exist that involving matching numbers of the same color.)

Fill-a-Pix also uses a grid with numbers within. In this format, each number indicates how many of the squares immediately surrounding it, and itself, will be filled. A square marked "9," for example, will have all eight surrounding squares and itself filled. If it is marked "0" those squares are all blank.

Maze-a-Pix uses a maze in a standard grid. When the single correct route from beginning to end is located, each 'square' of the solution is filled in (alternatively, all non-solution squares are filled in) to create the picture.

Tile Paint is another type of picture logic puzzle by Nikoli. It works like regular nonograms except that it only specifies the total number of squares in each row or column that will be filled in and irregular sections within the grid have borders around them that indicate that, if one of the squares within it is filled in, all of them must be filled in.

title: Nonogram


text:
National unity government

A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency. A unity government according to the principles of consensus democracy lacks opposition, or opposition parties are too small and negligible.

Afghanistan
Following the disputed 2014 presidential elections, a National Unity Government (NUG) between both run-off candidates was formed with Ashraf Ghani as President of Afghanistan and Abdullah Abdullah in the new office of Chief Executive of Afghanistan. This power-sharing agreement broke apart after the 2019 Afghan presidential election, after which Ghani abolished the office of Chief Executive while Abdullah again refused to recognize Ghani's presidency and demanded the formation of a new government in northern Afghanistan. Both politicians lost power after the Taliban won the Afghanistan War and recaptured the country.

Canada
During World War I, the Conservative government of Sir Robert Borden invited the Liberal opposition to join the government as a means of dealing with the Conscription crisis of 1917. The Liberals, led by Sir Wilfrid Laurier refused; however, Borden was able to convince many individual Liberals to join what was called a Union Government, which defeated the Laurier Liberals in the fall 1917 election.

During World War II, the opposition Conservative Party ran under the name National Government in the 1940 election as a means of promoting their platform of creating a wartime national government coalition (evocative of the previous war's Union government). The party was not successful in the election, which re-elected the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose party continued to rule alone for the duration of World War II.

Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland (not to be part of Canada for another three decades) had a National Government during World War I led by Edward Patrick Morris.

Croatia
Croatia formed a national unity government in 1991 under prime minister Franjo Gregurić in response to the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence. Even though the cabinet included ministers from minority parties, all heads of ministries were either from the majority Croatian Democratic Union or soon defected to it.

Estonia
Estonia had national unity governments during the Estonian War of Independence (Päts I–III Provisional cabinets) and after the 1924 coup d'état attempt by the Communist Party of Estonia (Jaakson cabinet).

Greece
A national unity government in Greece is often called ecumenical government:
 * 1926 under Alexandros Zaimis
 * 1944 under Georgios Papandreou
 * 1974 under Konstantinos Karamanlis
 * 1989 under Xenophon Zolotas
 * 2011 under Lucas Papademos

Hungary
There are five periods in Hungary when national unity governments emerged:
 * 1917–1918, during World War I (Móric Esterházy and Sándor Wekerle cabinets)
 * 1919–1920, cabinet of Károly Huszár, restoration of the Kingdom of Hungary
 * 1944–1945, meanwhile World War II, Government of National Unity (Ferenc Szálasi cabinet)
 * 1944–1947, opposition government meanwhile World War II (Béla Miklós) and after following Zoltán Tildy and Ferenc Nagy cabinets)
 * 1956, during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (third cabinet of Imre Nagy)

Ireland
A national unity government, following the failure of government formation after the 2020 general election, was suggested to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, a Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green coalition was formed, creating the 32nd government of Ireland.

Israel
Israel has had several national unity governments, in which major rival parties formed a ruling coalition. Such coalitions were formed in the days leading up to the Six-Day War in 1967, in the late 1980s and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The 36th government, formed in 2021, was a national unity government that has been frequently described as the most diverse governments in Israeli history, consisting of right-wing, centrist, left-wing and one Arab Islamist political party. Following the Hamas attacks of October 2023, the National Unity party became part of an Israeli war cabinet.

Italy
In the republican era, the first two cabinets, led by Alcide De Gasperi, were supported by all three of the following parties, the pro-American Christian Democrats and the pro-Soviet Italian Communist Party and Italian Socialist Party.

Afterwards, the first government generally recognised as a national unity government was the third Andreotti Cabinet, also known as non-no confidence vote government, as the Italian Communist Party decided to not take part at the confidence vote. The communists voted in favour of the motion of confidence for the following cabinet, still led by Giulio Andreotti.

During the Eurozone crisis, the two main parties, The People of Freedom and the Democratic Party, along with other minor political forces, supported the Monti cabinet, and eventually, after the 2013 general election, formed a grand coalition in support of the Letta Cabinet, which, however, was opposed by a new major political force in parliament, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.

The Draghi Cabinet, formed during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis, has been described as a national unity government. It comprises a mixture of independent experts as well as politicians from most of Italy's political parties: the Five Star Movement, Democratic Party, League, Forza Italia, Italia Viva, and Free and Equal.

The following is a list of national unity or grand coalition governments:
 * De Gasperi II Cabinet (14 July 1946 – 2 February 1947)
 * De Gasperi III Cabinet (2 February 1947 – 1 June 1947)
 * Andreotti III Cabinet (29 July 1976 – 11 March 1978)
 * Andreotti IV Cabinet (11 March 1978 – 20 March 1979)
 * Ciampi Cabinet (28 April 1993 – 10 May 1994) – Note: grand coalition support lasted only until 4 May 1993
 * Monti Cabinet (16 November 2011 – 28 April 2013)
 * Letta Cabinet (28 April 2013 – 22 February 2014) – Note: grand coalition support lasted only until 15 November 2013
 * Draghi Cabinet (13 February 2021 – 22 October 2022)

Kenya
From 2008 to 2013, Kenya was governed by Government of National Unity between the rival Party of National Unity of Mwai Kibaki and the Orange Democratic Movement of Raila Odinga following the 2007 presidential election and subsequent violence. This was due to the ODM winning the majority of seats in the National Assembly, but controversially losing the presidential election by a margin that has since been called into question for its validity.

Lebanon
Since Lebanon is a multireligious state and consensus democracy, having a national unity government is more favorable in this country. Unlike other democracies, no group in Lebanon can govern alone.

Libya
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, selected as Prime Minister of Libya by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) on 5 February 2021, is required under the agreements made by the LPDF to nominate a cabinet of ministers to the House of Representatives (HoR) by 26 February 2021, establishing the Government of National Unity (Libya).

Luxembourg
Luxembourg has had two National Union Governments. The first was formed in 1916, during World War I (in which Luxembourg was neutral, but occupied by Germany nonetheless). It was led by Victor Thorn and included all of the major factions in the Chamber of Deputies, but lasted for only sixteen months.

The second National Union Government was formed in November 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, which had devastated Luxembourg. It was led by Pierre Dupong, who had been Prime Minister in the government in exile in the war, and included all four parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies. The government lasted until 1947, by which time, a normal coalition between two of the three largest parties had been arranged, thus maintaining the confidence of the legislature.

In addition, Luxembourg had a Liberation Government between November 1944 and November 1945, also under Dupong. It served a similar emergency role to a national government, but included only the two largest parties, the CSV and the LSAP.

Myanmar
After the 2021 Myanmar coup, on 16 April 2021, the exiled Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) announced the formation of a National Unity Government (အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရ), pursuant to the Federal Democracy Charter released on 31 March 2021. The National Unity Government re-introduced the position of Prime Minister, and consists of CRPH members and other ethnic leaders.

Nepal
Following the devastating April 2015 Nepal earthquake, top political parties in Nepal have decided to form a national unity government in order to handle the crisis and draft a constitution that's been long overdue. The major political parties and unified political fronts have agreed to settle the disputed issues of the constitution drafting process by 3 June and to form a national unity government.

Palestine
The Palestinian Unity Government of June 2014 was a national unity government of the Palestinian National Authority under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed on 2 June 2014 following the Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Agreement that had been signed on 23 April 2014. The ministers were nominally independent, but overwhelmingly seen as loyal to President Abbas and his Fatah movement or to smaller leftist factions, none of whom were believed to have close ties to Hamas. However, the Unity Government was not approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council, leading to its legitimacy being questioned. The Unity Government dissolved on 17 June 2015 after President Abbas said it was unable to operate in the Gaza Strip.

Poland
In the 1989 Polish parliamentary election, Poland's first semi-free election since World War II, candidates backed by the Solidarity movement won all 161 seats up for free election. The ruling Communist-dominated Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth—comprising the Communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), the United People's Party (ZSL), and the Democratic Party (SD)—broke down soon after, as the ZSL and SD formed an alliance with Solidarity. This forced President Wojciech Jaruzelski to appoint the Cabinet of Tadeusz Mazowiecki on September 12, 1989, Poland's first government since World War II with a non-Communist majority. It was a national unity government of Solidarity-endorsed ministers alongside the PZPR, ZSL, and SD, with the Communists still controlling the Defense and Interior ministries. The PZPR was dissolved on January 29, 1990 and its former ministers resigned on July 6.

Portugal
A national unity government (known as the Sacred Union Government; Port.: Governo da União Sagrada) was in place during the first year of Portuguese participation in World War I, led by the Evolutionist Party president António José de Almeida from March 15, 1916 to April 25, 1917, and with the participation of the Democratic Party of Afonso Costa.

Rwanda
After Rwandan genocide in 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), has ruled Rwanda using tactics which have been characterized as authoritarian. Elections are manipulated in various ways including banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud.

South Africa
The interim constitution negotiated by the multi-party negotiations to end apartheid that started in 1990 allowed all parties that gained more than 5% of the vote to participate in a Government of National Unity. The new government that was elected in the 1994 general election therefore had members from many political parties in the cabinet. This government of national unity lasted until the 1999 general election, although it was dominated by the African National Congress (ANC) and a reported lack of shared decision-making prompted the second-largest party, the National Party, to withdraw from the GNU in 1996.

In the 2024 South African general election, support for the ruling ANC party significantly declined. The ANC remained the largest party but lost the parliamentary majority that it had held since the inaugural post-apartheid election in 1994, which required negotiations between parties on the formation of a government. On 14 June 2024, the ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), agreed to form a coalition which they referred to as a 'Government of National Unity' (GNU), led by the ANC's Cyril Ramaphosa who was re-elected President of South Africa with the support of the parties who then formed part of the GNU. A further six parties subsequently joined the GNU to form a grand coalition of ten parties, with jointly 287 seats in the 400 seat parliament (72%).

Sri Lanka
Following the fall of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, the United National Party who won the 2015 elections formed a National Unity Government with the main opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party Under Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Sweden
Sweden has only had one national unity government; The Hansson III Cabinet during World War II. The government was made up of all parties in the parliament except the Communist party which was considered to be pro-Soviet and hence unreliable. The government consisted of six ministers from the Social Democratic party (including prime minister Per Albin Hansson), three from the Right Wing party, three from the Liberal People's party, three from the Farmer's League and two nonpartisan politicians. The ultimate goal of this government's policy was to keep Sweden out of the war, which they also succeeded with. The Hansson government introduced censorship of press, literature and culture, which was applied to both pro-nazi and pro-communist propaganda. The government also approved departures from the neutrality policy to keep Sweden out of the war.

United Kingdom
First-past-the-post voting, the British electoral system, has long increased the likelihood of a single party gaining a majority of Members of Parliament, who have run most departments and the government legislation of the country since the early 20th century.

After the formation of clear political parties in the Lords and Commons, the first national unity government came in response to the Napoleonic Wars. William Pitt the Younger offered to replace Prime Minister Henry Addington's government with a cabinet including all of the major parliamentary leaders such as himself, Charles James Fox, and Lord Grenville. This proved impossible because of irreconcilable policy differences between the factions (including Fox's opposition to the war in general), Fox's intense animosity towards Pitt the Younger, and King George III's refusal to appoint a government including Fox. After the death of Pitt the Younger in 1806, King George finally acquiesced and allowed Grenville and Fox to form a new "Ministry of All the Talents." This ministry had cross-party support, ranging from very socially conservative Tories, and the broad range of Whigs (among them Charles James Fox and the Foxites as well as Grenvillites), selected for their combined broad political support in both Houses of Parliament and known capabilities in a time of crisis. However, the ministry was frustrated in its attempts to make peace with the First French Empire, and despite one major legislative success (the Slave Trade Act 1807 banning the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire), it fell apart in 1807 over the question of Catholic Emancipation and was replaced following a general election by a Tory ministry led by the Duke of Portland.

The world wars and the long recovery to the Great Depression would be the only further instances of National Governments. The next major government representing all parties came during World War II after the Norway Debate, in which Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his cabinet were condemned for their handling of the war and faced a vote of no confidence in which members of his own party voted with the Opposition against him. The debate also revealed that Winston Churchill, an early opponent of Nazi Germany and appeasement, would be the only Conservative minister under which both Labour and Conservative MPs would join a government. Churchill agreed to form a new government after Chamberlain resigned. The subsequent Churchill war ministry included Churchill as Prime Minister, Labour Party Leader Clement Attlee as Deputy Prime Minister, and Conservative Party Leader Chamberlain as Lord President of the Council.

Quasi-national governments
After 10 years of rule by the Liberal Party, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith agreed to form a new coalition ministry with the Conservative Party in response to World War I in 1915. However, the government remained dominated by the Liberals with few Conservatives in important Cabinet posts. Asquith resigned as Conservatives refused to serve in his government in 1916, and David Lloyd George and Conservative Party Leader Bonar Law formed a new coalition government from Conservatives and a minority of Liberals opposed to Asquith's handling of the war, which was opposed by Asquith's Liberals. In the 1918 general election held after the end of the war, Coalition-endorsed candidates won a large majority. Thereafter a coalition that faced few opposition MPs under David Lloyd George lasted until 1922 when, at the Carlton Club meeting, Conservative backbenchers declared that the party would fight the forthcoming election with its own leader and programme.

During the Great Depression the first of four consecutive National Governments was formed in 1931 by Ramsay MacDonald (Labour/National Labour) succeeded by Stanley Baldwin (Conservative) with their largest opponent and the Liberals. Most members of the Labour and Liberal Parties rejected the government, however, and moved to the opposition benches leaving MacDonald's supporters to rival mainstream party candidates in many cases as National Labour/National Labour Organisation or in the Liberal National Party. Notably candidates styled in this way contested the 1935 election; this long period of quasi-national government took in broader support and widened its selections of ministers in the war years, and its fourth transmutation persisted until the general election of 1945.

In 2019, the idea of a government of National Unity was proposed by politicians including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson to stop a no-deal Brexit spearheaded by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Northern Ireland
The Belfast Agreement, which sets out the workings of the Northern Ireland Assembly, effectively enforces all-party governments in Northern Ireland. All governments formed since the foundation of the Northern Ireland Executive in 1999 have contained ministers from the five main parties (Sinn Féin, Democratic Unionist Party, Ulster Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Alliance), with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method.

United States
In hopes of bridging partisan politics during the American Civil War, Republican Abraham Lincoln ran for his second term under the new National Union Party with Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate. The National Union Party allowed members to retain affiliations with other political parties.

Since the Civil War, there has never been a "national unity" government in the United States in the traditional sense. There have been several instances, however, during national disasters or wars, that the two parties have briefly "rallied around the President". Such instances include the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the September 11 attacks, all of which not only had a worldwide effect, but preceded a massive spike in the approval rating of the sitting president.

Zimbabwe
The 2008–2009 Zimbabwean political negotiations between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (led by Morgan Tsvangirai), its small splinter group, the Movement for Democratic Change – Mutambara (led by Arthur Mutambara), and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (led by Robert Mugabe) created a framework for a power-sharing executive government between the two parties. These negotiations followed the 2008 presidential election, in which Mugabe was controversially re-elected, as well as the 2008 parliamentary election, in which the MDC won a majority in the House of Assembly. The new national unity government, including Tsvangirai, was sworn in on 11 February 2009.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: National unity government


text:
Situation puzzle

Situation puzzles are often referred to as minute mysteries, lateral thinking puzzles or "yes/no" puzzles.

Situation puzzles are usually played in a group, with one person hosting the puzzle and the others asking questions which can only be answered with a "yes" or "no" answer. Depending upon the settings and level of difficulty, other answers, hints or simple explanations of why the answer is yes or no, may be considered acceptable. The puzzle is solved when one of the players is able to recite the narrative the host had in mind, in particular explaining whatever aspect of the initial scenario was puzzling.

These puzzles are inexact and many puzzle statements have more than one possible fitting answer. The goal however is to find out the story as the host has it in mind. Critical thinking and reading, logical thinking, as well as lateral thinking may all be required to solve a situation puzzle. The term lateral thinking was coined by Edward De Bono to denote a creative problem-solving style that involves looking at the given situation from unexpected angles, and is typically necessary to the solution of situation puzzles.

The term "lateral-thinking puzzle" was popularised by Paul Sloane in his 1992 book Lateral Thinking Puzzlers.

Example
One situation puzzle would be:

"A man walks into a bar, and asks the bartender for a drink of water. The bartender pulls out a gun, points it at the man, and cocks it. The man pauses, before saying "Thank you" and leaving. What happened?"

The question-and-answer segment might go something like this.
 * 1) Question: Could the bartender hear him? Answer: Yes
 * 2) Question: Was the bartender angry for some reason? A: No
 * 3) Question: Was the gun a water pistol? A: No
 * 4) Question: Did they know each other from before? A: No (or: "irrelevant" since either way it does not affect the outcome)
 * 5) Question: Was the man's "thank you" sarcastic? A: No (or with a small hint: "No, he was genuinely grateful")
 * 6) Question: Did the man ask for water in an offensive way? A: No
 * 7) Question: Did the man ask for water in some strange way? A: Yes

Eventually the questions lead up to the conclusion that the man had the hiccups, and that his reason for requesting a drink of water was not to quench his thirst but to cure his hiccups. The bartender realized this and chose instead to cure the hiccups by frightening the man with the gun. Once the man realized that his hiccups were gone, he no longer needed a drink of water, gratefully thanked the bartender, and left.

Terminology

 * Yope is a word devised to answer a question with yes and no simultaneously, in a sense saying Yes, but ... and No, but ... at the same time. This would be used when it would be misleading to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer to the player's question. It can be compared to the Japanese and Korean term mu, which is often translated as meaning that the question must be "unasked", as it cannot be answered.
 * N/a (or stating "irrelevant") is used when a question is not applicable to the current situation or when a "yes" or "no" answer would not provide any usable information to solving the puzzle.
 * Irrelevant, but assume yes is used when the situation is the same regardless of what the correct answer to the question is, but assuming one direction will make further questioning easier or the situation more likely. An example question that might have this answer from the puzzle above is: “Was the gun loaded?”

title: Situation puzzle


text:
Dervla Murphy

Dervla Murphy (28 November 1931 – 22 May 2022) was an Irish touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books, writing for more than 50 years.

Murphy is best known for her 1965 book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, about an overland cycling trip through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. She followed this with volunteer work helping Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal and trekking with a mule through Ethiopia. Murphy took a break from travel writing following the birth of her daughter, and then wrote about her travels with Rachel in India, Pakistan, South America, Madagascar and Cameroon. She later wrote about her solo trips through Romania, Africa, Laos, the states of the former Yugoslavia and Siberia. In 2005, she visited Cuba with her daughter and three granddaughters.

Murphy normally travelled alone without luxuries and depending on the hospitality of local people. She was in some dangerous situations; for example, she was attacked by wolves in the former Yugoslavia, threatened by soldiers in Ethiopia, and robbed in Siberia. However, she described her worst incident as tripping over cats at home and shattering her left arm.

Early life
Dervla Murphy was born and brought up in Lismore, County Waterford. Her parents were from Dublin and had moved to Lismore when her father was appointed county librarian. When Murphy was one year old, her mother developed rheumatoid arthritis, from which she suffered for the rest of her life. They were advised not to have any more children and Dervla grew up as an only child. From a young age, Murphy planned to travel: For my tenth birthday my parents gave me a second-hand bicycle and Pappa [her grandfather] sent me a second-hand atlas. Already I was an enthusiastic cyclist, though I had never before owned a bicycle, and soon after my birthday I resolved to cycle to India one day. I have never forgotten the exact spot, on a steep hill near Lismore, where this decision was made. Half-way up I rather proudly looked at my legs, slowly pushing the pedals around, and the thought came "If I went on doing this for long enough I could get to India." Murphy attended secondary school at the Ursuline Convent in Waterford but left at age 14 to take care of her disabled mother. During young adulthood she took a number of short trips (between three and six weeks): to Wales and southern England in 1951; to Belgium, Germany and France in 1952; and two trips to Spain in 1954 and 1956. She published a number of travel articles in the Hibernia journal and the Irish Independent newspaper, but her Spanish travel book was rejected by publishers.

Murphy's first lover, Godfrey, died abroad in 1958 and her father became ill with nephritis, a complication of influenza, and died in February 1961. Her mother's health had been deteriorating for many years, and she died in August 1962. Her mother's death freed Murphy from her domestic duties and allowed her to make the extended trip for which she had long planned: "The hardships and poverty of my youth had been a good apprenticeship for this form of travel. I had been brought up to understand that material possessions and physical comfort should never be confused with success, achievement and security."

Murphy published an autobiography Wheels Within Wheels in 1979, describing her life before the journey described in Full Tilt.

Full Tilt and other early writings
In 1963 Murphy set off on her first long-distance bicycle tour, a self-supported trip from Ireland to India. Taking a pistol along with other equipment aboard her Armstrong Cadet men's bicycle (named Rozinante in allusion to Don Quixote's steed, and always known as Roz), she passed through Europe during one of the worst winters in years. In Yugoslavia, Murphy began to write a journal instead of mailing letters. In Iran she used her gun to frighten off a group of thieves, and "used unprintable tactics" to escape from an attempted rapist at a police station. She received her worst injury of the journey on a bus in Afghanistan, when a rifle butt hit her and fractured three ribs; however, this only delayed her for a short while. She wrote appreciatively about the landscape and people of Afghanistan, calling herself "Afghanatical" and claiming that the Afghan "is a man after my own heart". In Pakistan, she visited Swat (where she was a guest of the last wali, Miangul Aurangzeb) and the mountain area of Gilgit. The final leg of her trip took her through the Punjab region and over the border to India towards Delhi. Her journal was later published by John Murray as her first book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle. She had sent it to John Murray at the suggestion of Penelope Betjeman whom she had met in Delhi during her journey, although initially too modest to contact such an illustrious publisher of travel books; she had a happy publishing relationship with Jock Murray (John Murray VI) until his death in 1993.

After arriving in Delhi, Murphy worked as a volunteer helping Tibetan refugees under the auspices of Save the Children. She spent five months in a refugee camp in Dharamsala run by Tsering Dolma, sister of the 14th Dalai Lama. She then cycled through the Kullu Valley, spending Christmas in Malana. Her journals from this period were published in her second book, Tibetan Foothold.

On returning to Europe, Murphy took part in a fundraising campaign for Save the Children, and in 1965 she worked with another group of Tibetan refugees in Pokhara, Nepal (described in The Waiting Land).

In 1966 Murphy made her first trip to Africa. She travelled to Ethiopia and walked with a pack mule from Asmara to Addis Ababa, confronted by Kalashnikov-carrying soldiers on the way. This journey was described in her fourth book, In Ethiopia with a Mule.

Travels with Rachel
Murphy's daughter Rachel accompanied her on a trip to India at the age of five; they flew into Bombay and travelled to Goa and Coorg (described in On a Shoestring to Coorg). The pair later journeyed to Baltistan (Where the Indus is Young), Peru (Eight Feet in the Andes) and Madagascar (Muddling through in Madagascar). Their last trip was through Cameroon on a horse, where Dervla was frequently mistaken for Rachel's husband (Cameroon with Egbert). She surmised that this misgendering occurred not only because of her physique but also because the idea of women travelling so far without a man was inconceivable. She tried different ways to correct the understanding, the most successful being unbuttoning her shirt. "It was, like her literary voice, frank and persuasive," wrote Jori Finkel in her Washington Post obituary.

On travelling with a child, Murphy wrote: A child's presence emphasises your trust in the community's goodwill. And because children pay little attention to racial or cultural differences, junior companions rapidly demolish barriers of shyness or apprehension often raised when foreigners unexpectedly approach a remote village.

Politicisation
In 1978, Murphy wrote A Place Apart about her travels in Northern Ireland and encounters with members of the Protestant and Catholic religious communities. It won the 1979 Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. She credits her 1982 book ''Race to the Finish? The Nuclear Stakes'' as a turning point that led her to write more about political issues. In 1985 she lived for several months in Bradford and Birmingham, talking to members of the Asian, Afro-Caribbean and White communities and witnessing first-hand one of the Handsworth riots (described in Tales From Two Cities). In 1992 she cycled from Kenya to Zimbabwe, where she witnessed the impact of AIDS; when describing this journey in The Ukimwi Road, she criticised the role of non-governmental organisations in sub-Saharan Africa. Her other writings include discussions about the aftermath of apartheid (South from the Limpopo) and the Rwandan genocide (Visiting Rwanda), the displacement of tribal peoples (One Foot in Laos), and post-war reconstruction of the Balkans (Through the Embers of Chaos).

She was anti-globalization and critical of NATO, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. She spoke out against nuclear power and climate change.

Murphy stated that some readers disapproved of the "political stuff", but another group "tells me they haven't thought about these things in this way before and are glad that I've written and thought more about the political side. My view is that I have these things I want to say and I don't really care if it spoils a pure travel book."

Irish babushka
In 2002, aged 71, Murphy planned to cycle in the Ussuriland region of eastern Russia. She broke her knee while on the Baikal Amur Mainline railway, then tore a calf muscle while recuperating at Lake Baikal, and her plans changed to a journey around Siberia by train, boat and bus, documented in Through Siberia by Accident. She revisited Siberia and wrote a companion book, Silverland.

In 2005, she visited Cuba with her daughter and three granddaughters, and made two return trips in 2006 and 2007 (described in The Island that Dared). Her Havana experiences are also featured in a collection of traveller's tales.

Over the summer of 2011, Murphy spent a month in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, where she met liberals and Islamists, Hamas and Fatah supporters. She described her stay in a book published in 2013: A Month by the Sea. She wrote about further encounters with Israelis and Palestinians in her 2015 book, Between River and Sea.

Personal life and interests
Murphy never married. In 1968 she gave birth to her only child, Rachel, fathered by Irish Times journalist Terence de Vere White. Her decision to bring up her daughter alone was described as "a brave choice in 1960s Ireland" by The Sunday Business Post, although she said she felt safe from criticism because she was in her thirties and was financially and professionally secure. Following Rachel's birth, she spent five years as a book reviewer before returning to travel writing.

Murphy lived in Lismore with five dogs and three cats. She was a patron of Sustrans, a British charity for sustainable travel, and of the Lismore Immrama Festival of Travel Writing.

In 2009 Murphy appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives, nominating Freya Stark as a Great Life, supported by expert John Murray VII of the publishing family.

In April 2022, she spoke at her home to an interviewer from the Financial Times, who was "instructed by her publisher to bring along some 'really good cheddar'. And beer." During the conversation Murphy "claim[ed] to have no time to dwell on the past because she finds so much in current events to worry about, following the news on the BBC World Service radio and Al Jazeera on her computer because she has no desire for — indeed, has never owned — a television." and said that "There are so many books to be read. The problem is, at 90, there isn’t enough time to read them all".

Death
Murphy died at her home in Lismore on 22 May 2022, aged 90. She was survived by her daughter Rachel and her three grand-daughters. The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, said "Her contribution to writing, and to travel writing in particular, had a unique commitment to the value of human experience in all its diversity."

Recognition
In 2019 she was presented with the inaugural Inspiring Cyclist of the Year award by Dublin-based advocacy group I BIKE Dublin. The same year, she received the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award "for the popularisation of geography through travel literature".

Publications
Murphy's books from 1965 to 1979 have all been republished in new editions by Eland, as travel classics.

Profiles

 * Profile at Irish Writers Online
 * The First Lady of Irish Cycling
 * Who is Dervla Murphy, 2010 documentary film by Martina McGlynn and Garret Daly which includes interviews with the author, her daughter and publisher, and contemporary travel writers

Book reviews

 * The Perils of Dervla Murphy Clifford L. Graves reviews Full Tilt, The Best of Bicycling, Jan 1969
 * Not a person to murder Barbara Trapido reviews South From The Limpopo, The Spectator, 4 October 1997
 * Peddling Strong Views on Laos Alain Gilloux reviews One Foot in Laos, Asiaweek, 14 July 2000
 * On a Shoestring to Coorg Shriram Krishnamurthi reviews On a Shoestring to Coorg, Brown University, Feb 2005
 * The intrepid Irish babushka Rory Maclean reviews Silverland, The Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2006
 * Cuba on the cusp of change JS Tennant reviews The Island that Dared, Irish Times, 18 October 2008

Interviews

 * Trailblazer Joanne Hayden, Sunday Business Post, 18 August 2002
 * Free wheeler Nicholas Wroe, The Guardian, 15 April 2006
 * On Top of the World Vicky Allan, Sunday Herald, 20 January 2007
 * Interview with Dervla Murphy Rachel Moffat, Studies in Travel Writing website, 2009
 * The Light of Lismore – The Saturday Interview: Dervla Murphy Irish Times, 20 February 2010
 * '‘You could say I’m reluctantly retired from writing books': travel writer Dervla Murphy Philip Watson, The Guardian, 24 January 2018

title: Dervla Murphy


text:
Chris Evans (presenter)

Christopher James Evans (born 1 April 1966 ) is an English television presenter, radio DJ and producer for radio and television. He started his broadcasting career working for Piccadilly Radio, Manchester, as a teenager, before moving to London as a presenter for the BBC's BBC Radio London and then Channel 4 television, where The Big Breakfast made him a star. Soon he was able to dictate highly favourable terms, allowing him to broadcast on competing radio and TV stations. Slots like Radio 1 Breakfast and TFI Friday provided a mix of celebrity interviews, music and comic games, delivered in an irreverent style that attracted high ratings, though often also generated significant numbers of complaints. By 2000 he was the UK's highest paid entertainer, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. In the tax year to April 2017, he was the BBC's highest-paid presenter, earning between £2.2m and £2.25m annually.

In 2005, he started a new career on BBC Radio 2, hosting his long-running Drivetime programme in April 2006, before moving in 2010 to host The Chris Evans Breakfast Show every weekday morning. He presented The One Show on Fridays between 2010 and 2015. Between 2011 and 2018, he co-hosted Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park.

In 2015, Evans signed a three-year deal to lead a new Top Gear line-up and presented a revival series of TFI Friday. On 4 July 2016, he announced that he would be stepping down as presenter of Top Gear.

On 3 September 2018, he announced that he would be leaving The Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Christmas Eve, and would be going to Virgin Radio UK to present its breakfast show. He moved from BBC Radio 2 with most of his regular team.

Early life
Evans was born in Warrington, England, the youngest child of bookmaker and health authority wages clerk Martin Joseph Evans (12 November 1921 – 25 April 1979), and Minnie Beardsall (1926–2018), who managed a corner shop. His siblings are brother David (born 1953) and sister Diane (born 1963). He started his schooling at St Margaret's Church of England Infants and Junior School, and later the Junior School in Orford, Warrington. Evans' father died of colorectal cancer, and his mother was a breast cancer survivor.

He passed the Eleven-Plus exam and started at Boteler Grammar School, Warrington. After the death of his father on Wednesday, 25 April 1979, the 13-year-old Evans took part-time work at an outlet of T. J. & B. McLoughlin's newsagent–tobacconist in Woolston, and ran an alternative tuck-shop at Padgate High School, which was a comprehensive school he attended for the final three years of his secondary education. Evans left secondary school aged 16 after moving into the sixth form, and then had a number of dead-end jobs in and around Warrington, including at a private detective agency and, notoriously, as a "Tarzan-ogram".

Early career
Evans began his professional career at Piccadilly Radio, Manchester, in 1983, where he had previously had unpaid schoolboy work. Until 1984 Evans had three jobs: as an assistant to Timmy Mallett, and playing a character on his show called 'Nobby Nolevel' ('No 'O' Level'); acting as a disc jockey in the evenings at local pubs when he was not at Piccadilly Radio; and still working at the newsagents, opening up daily at 5 a.m. to sort out the newspaper deliveries.

Evans switched to a full-time position at the station in 1984, his new role including being driven around the Manchester area in the radio car to turn up at listeners' houses. In addition he was producer to presenter James H. Reeve. Following this he presented a weekday graveyard slot with competitions and segments where listeners had opportunities to sell their belongings on air.

After working as a producer on Richard Branson's service The Superstation, where he produced material for Jonathan Ross, Evans went on to work at the newly launched BBC Greater London Radio, first as a producer on Emma Freud's mid-morning show, then on Weekend Breakfast with Danny Baker.

Owing to his success working on both shows, Evans was offered a producer role at BBC Radio 1, but was persuaded to stay at GLR after station controller Matthew Bannister gave him the chance to present his own show, taking over Saturday afternoons in early 1990. Three months later, he started presenting The Greenhouse, a Monday-to-Thursday evening show; he remained in this slot until the end of 1990.

In early 1991, as a result of his first regular TV hosting work presenting the Power Up breakfast show on The Power Station for British Satellite Broadcasting, Evans moved to presenting Round at Chris's, every Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., which he continued to present until April 1993.

Career success
In addition to his Saturday morning show on GLR, in March 1992 Evans began presenting a Sunday afternoon show on BBC Radio 1, replacing Phillip Schofield. His show, Too Much Gravy, was broadcast from 14:30 to 16:00 and ended in September 1992. His move to Radio 1 was short-lived but seen as a huge success, with controller Johnny Beerling later admitting he wished he'd offered Evans a full-time show there and then. At the time, however, Evans objected that Radio 1 had attempted to constrain his style, preventing him from using the "zoo" format, allegedly because Steve Wright was already doing that on the station.

In April 1993, Evans left GLR and joined the new Virgin Radio, to host a Saturday morning show.

The Big Breakfast
Evans' departure from radio was in part so he could devote his time to the new Channel 4 breakfast television show, The Big Breakfast, from 28 September 1992. He co-hosted the show with Gaby Roslin.

Evans left The Big Breakfast on 29 September 1994 and formed his own television production company, Ginger Productions. Its first major programme, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, was broadcast between 1994 and 1995. The original concepts proved to be lucrative for Evans as its format was sold to numerous foreign broadcasters.

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show
In April 1995, Evans returned to radio to host the flagship Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Evans negotiated into his contract with Radio 1 a clause allowing him to still make television programmes, and specifically an option to make a Friday night programme for Channel 4. A further clause required the Breakfast Show to be produced independently by Evans' Ginger company, rather than in-house by BBC Radio.

Allowed to create the "zoo" format he had previously been disallowed from performing on Radio 1, Evans was given a free rein by his friend, the station's controller Matthew Bannister. Critics hated innuendo-laden features like Honk Your Horn and in Bed with Your Girlfriend, but Evans put on 600,000 new listeners over Steve Wright – one for every £5 spent on salary and advertising. The effect also flowed through into the listening figures for later programmes. The audience grew as the breakfast format became more outrageous: humiliating assistant Holly Samos by repeatedly asking her about her sex life (Evans and Samos were reportedly in a relationship at periods through their time working together), and encouraging two female guests to perform a strip show on live radio. The show's highest listening figure reached 7.5 million.

Evans began making editions of Channel 4's TFI Friday from 1996. The show – devised, produced and hosted by Evans through his Ginger Media company – combined celebrity interviews, musical guests and daft games and competitions. Largely based on the successful formula of his radio show, it was initially a big success. However, as the success of both shows peaked, combined with a string of celebrity relationships and highly publicised nights drinking with friends Danny Baker and Paul Gascoigne, the strain began to show, and a model emerged described as a "template for his approach to all his subsequent projects – an abundance of enthusiasm at the beginning which eventually falls prey to boredom and shiftlessness."

Beginning to think he was indispensable at Radio 1, the first big falling-out with management came in December 1995 after taking his crew out on a 17-hour pub-crawl which ended two hours before they were due on air: Evans was fined one day's pay, £7,000. In 1996, broadcasting watchdogs investigated a continual trail of complaints against the show: Radio 1 refused to comment, and Evans never said sorry. Evans also made increasing public demands of the Radio 1 management: after taking an extra week of unplanned holiday, Evans chose to turn up half an hour late for his 06:30 show and then demanded that his hours were changed so that it was a permanent fixture – this request was accepted.

However, following the summer break things got decidedly worse. Criticised by the broadcasting watchdog for a tasteless joke about Holocaust victim Anne Frank, Evans countered with an item about haemorrhoids. Asked by Bannister to watch the rules, Evans the next day branded Bannister "The Fat Controller". In November, Evans announced on air that he was medically unfit to be on the radio – Bannister re-negotiated his contract to double his holiday to twice that of other Radio 1 DJs. After more publicised public drinking and self-confessed illness, Evans' spell at the station ended in January 1997 when he quit after his demand not to host the show on Friday (to have a full day getting ready for his TV show) was not accepted.

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show was taken over by Mark and Lard (Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley). When Evans found out that they were a ratings disaster, he quickly got in touch with BBC Radio 1 management to ask whether he could take back the show again. Station management declined but did offer him a weekend slot, which he turned down. In response to the falling ratings, bosses decided to replace its presenters with the relatively unknown Kevin Greening and the well-known children's TV presenter Zoe Ball. Their tenure started on 13 October 1997.

Virgin Radio
During a holiday in Killarney, Evans listened to the Irish broadcaster Gerry Ryan on the radio. Evans claims the variety on Ryan's show made him want to return to radio. Evans was then hired by Virgin Radio to host its breakfast show, prompting an immediate upsurge in station listening figures of 1.8 million to 2.6 million. His first show was on 13 October 1997, the same day as Kevin Greening and Zoë Ball on Radio 1. Starting at 7:00 am, Evans' crew presented the show from Monday to Friday, but without Evans on a Friday.

As Richard Branson had decided to reduce his media holding, he began talks to sell the station to Capital Radio in a deal that would have given him 10% of holding company Capital Group. As this became public knowledge, Evans, who did not want to work for Capital, publicly dismissed them as "a bleating, blowing asthmatic dog." On 9 December, with the assistance of investors, Evans' vehicle Ginger Media Group bought Virgin Radio from Branson for £85m, to control the interests both of Ginger Productions and Virgin Radio. Both Apax Partners and Branson each owned 20% of Ginger Media Group, while Evans and his investors owned the remaining 60%. The group later engaged in the prospect of buying the Daily Star newspaper, but decided against from commercial angles.

Virgin Radio's new programme controller Paul Jackson, in light of audience figures which had dropped from a peak of 2.7 million to 1.7 million, had pruned Evans's "zoo" team and installed a music policy which replaced more eclectic choices with a strict diet of chart pop. As a result, on 20 June Evans was followed throughout the day by tabloid newspaper photographers, and undertook an "18-hour bender" which started after his show at 9.30 in the morning, and ended – after numerous pints of Kronenbourg and Guinness, plus five bottles of Dom Pérignon – with Evans asleep in front of a lap-dancer at Stringfellows. Later photographed by the tabloids that week with new wife Billie Piper in the nearest pub to their home in Hascombe, Surrey while claiming he was too ill to present his show, he was dismissed on 28 June 2001 for repeatedly failing to arrive at work. Evans was replaced by the older Steve Penk, whom Evans criticised for his age – 39 versus Evans's then 35.

Evans attempted to sue Virgin Radio, claiming that he was unfairly dismissed and denied share options worth £8.6 million. On 26 June 2003, in the judgement of Evans v SMG Television Ltd. & Ors 2003 EWHC 1423 (Ch), Justice Lightman found that he had been fairly dismissed and was not entitled to the share options. Giving his ruling at the High Court, Evans was publicly criticised for his attitude by the judge, who said of Evans: "He has the temperament of a prima donna." Virgin Radio/SMG later countersued, with Evans ordered to pay £1m towards their legal costs.

In his autobiography, Evans writes that shortly after the sale of Virgin Radio he was offered £56m for his SMG shares by Goldman Sachs. He declined the offer and eventually sold them for £250,000.

UMTV
In August 2002 Chris Evans set up a radio and television production company, UMTV, with the aim of specialising in live, cutting-edge, entertainment programming. Over the next 3 years UMTV produced more than 375 hours of television, with mixed success. TV shows included Boys and Girls hosted by Vernon Kay for Channel 4, Johnny Vegas: 18 Stone of Idiot for Channel 4 / E4; OFI Sunday for ITV; Live with Christian O'Connell and Live with Chris Moyles for Five; and the BAFTA award-winning School of Hard Knocks for 4 Learning.

Following two high-profile shows which failed to perform in the ratings, UMTV hired Terry Wogan and Evans' former Big Breakfast co-host Gaby Roslin to host a weekday morning magazine show, The Terry and Gaby Show. Evans said publicly that if this show failed he would set up a market stall. Despite critical acclaim the audience numbers never took off and Channel 5 axed the show after its year-long run, citing its high cost as a reason. True to his word, Evans was pictured at the end of the final show with a market stall and later he opened it for real at Stables Market, Camden.

Radio 2
Evans re-entered public life in early 2005, presenting the breakfast slot of UK Radio Aid's day of programming for the victims of the Asian tsunami, which was aired on most of the UK's commercial radio stations, and also The BRIT Awards in 2005 and 2006. From April 2005, Evans presented a number of one-off Bank holiday shows for BBC Radio 2, including coverage of the Live 8 concert in London.

Saturday afternoon show
Evans then joined Radio 2 on a permanent basis in September 2005, presenting a weekly Saturday afternoon show from 14:00 to 17:00. His first show featured singer Robbie Williams, and accompanied by a posse including friend "Big" Pete Winterbottom and newsreader Andrew Peach. Evans told listeners to his first show: "We've had a couple of test drives over the summer and we've decided to take it. Yes, we like this vehicle."

Move to Drivetime
The show was well received by listeners and critics, and Evans was announced as the successor to Radio 2's Drive time show on 2 March 2006, succeeding long-time host Johnnie Walker, beginning on 18 April. RAJAR audience figures published in August 2006 showed Evans had 150,000 fewer listeners than his predecessor's last show but was on par with previous years. The second set of RAJAR's published in October 2006 showed his audience was up by 109,000-year-on-year, and up by 33,000 compared with the previous quarter. Figures showed he was drawing an average audience of 4.9 million a day on his drivetime show. By the end of 2007, the show was averaging over five million listeners. On 7 September 2009 it was announced that Evans would take over breakfast show from Sir Terry Wogan after Wogan announced his intention to leave the show at the end of the year. Evans hosted his final drivetime show on Christmas Eve 2009.

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show
Evans took over the Radio 2 breakfast show on 11 January 2010, succeeding Sir Terry Wogan. The show was originally 30 minutes longer than the Wogan incarnation and began at 07:00, but following the departure of Sarah Kennedy from early breakfast, the show was extended by another 30 minutes and began at 06:30. The show always ended with a handover to Ken Bruce at 09:30. While Evans replaced Wogan owing to his long-planned retirement, supporters of Kennedy alleged there was a deliberate intention to force her out so that Evans' show could be lengthened. His first three songs were The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life"; and Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly with Me". His co-presenters included ex-BBC TV newsreader Moira Stuart, sports presenter Jonny Saunders (who was replaced in June 2011 by Vassos Alexander), and travel reporter Lynn Bowles. Features included The Gobsmackers (two songs selected by a listener that sound good played back-to-back).

On 3 September 2018, Evans announced live on air that he would be leaving the show and the station in December for Virgin Radio. On 11 September the BBC Director General Lord Hall of Birkenhead told the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee that, as well as wanting a new challenge, releasing the salaries of those at the BBC earning more than £150,000 had been a contributing factor in Evans' leaving. A month later, Evans confirmed live on air that Zoe Ball would replace him on the show from January 2019. The show officially ended on 24 December 2018. Evans moved to Virgin with most of his Radio 2 team including sports reporter Vassos Alexander and Rachel Horne who provides regular news bulletins expanded her role as the show's travel expert. Ellie Davis leads the show as Executive Producer and producer Meera Depala is also part of the team. Supporting Davis are David Brain (Producer) and Jayne Cheeseman (Assistant Producer) who produced the previous breakfast show on Virgin Radio.

Sony Music Radio Personality of the Year
In May 2006, Evans was named Music Radio Personality of the Year at the annual Sony Radio Academy Awards, defeating rivals Jamie Theakston, Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley and Tim Lovejoy to win. When accepting the award, Evans thanked the BBC for giving him "a second chance." Evans won 'music radio personality' the following year, while his show won the Entertainment award. "I didn't expect this," he said. "I wouldn't have minded if I didn't win, but I really love the fact I have won." Evans was voted the 82nd most influential media personality in The Guardian newspaper's 2007 poll.

Return to television
Following his success in the 1990s, Evans' attempts at a TV comeback in the 21st century have been mixed with a record of poor ratings and cancellations, including falling viewing figures for his recent role as co-host of Friday editions of The One Show. In November and December 2005 Evans presented OFI Sunday on ITV. In a move described by Private Eye as Partridgean, ex-wife Billie Piper was the first guest on the programme. OFI Sunday was cancelled after just five shows following poor reviews and low viewing figures. Its cancellation led Evans to complain on air during his Saturday BBC Radio 2 slot that he no longer knew how to be successful on television. In 2009 Evans narrated the CBeebies Christmas pantomime.

The One Show (2010–15)
In 2010, it was announced that Evans would be replacing Adrian Chiles as the Friday co-presenter of The One Show on BBC One. Chiles and then co-host Christine Bleakley left the show to join ITV. Evans presented the show on Fridays with Alex Jones, and occasionally covered other weekdays. Matt Baker presented the show on a regular Monday to Thursday basis.

In 2015, Evans announced he was quitting The One Show to focus on Top Gear.

Return to Channel 4
In January 2011 Evans returned to Channel 4 to present a new reality show Famous and Fearless, in which eight celebrities were arranged into two teams, 'Boys' and 'Girls'. The celebrities taking part on the boys' team were: Rufus Hound, Charley Boorman, Sam Branson (son of Richard Branson) and Jonah Lomu. On the girls' team were Jenny Frost, Kacey Ainsworth, Sarah Jayne Dunn and Dame Kelly Holmes. Holmes won the girls'; Boorman won the boys' and the show outright. In February 2011, it was reported that the show had been axed after one series due to poor ratings.

Top Gear
On 16 June 2015, the BBC announced that Evans had signed a three-year deal to be the main presenter on the BBC Two motoring show Top Gear, following the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.

On his radio show the next morning he confirmed his acceptance and explained the offer came after James May and Richard Hammond had confirmed to the BBC they would not be returning to the show. Evans stated that before the announcement, he sent texts to May, Hammond and Clarkson and received supportive replies from all three.

In February 2016, it was confirmed that Matt LeBlanc, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris and Eddie Jordan would also be joining Evans for the twenty third series of Top Gear. It was also revealed that the new series would begin airing in May 2016.

Sale of GMG – dismissal and legal cases
On 14 March 2000, Evans agreed to the sale of Ginger Media Group to Scottish Media Group for £225 million. The sale made Evans the highest-paid entertainer in the UK in 2000, estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to have been paid around £35.5 million. Following poor reviews of TFI Friday, and Evans himself handing over presentation of the last series of the show to a series of "friends", the show was cancelled in December 2000.

Evans continued to host the station's breakfast show, but echoes of his earlier dismissal from Radio 1 began to emerge. In May 2000, the station was fined £75,000 (then the largest penalty imposed by the Radio Authority) for his repeated on-air endorsement of Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral elections.

Allegations and termination from Top Gear
The first episode of the new six-episode series of Top Gear was broadcast 29 May 2016. In June 2016 it was reported that fellow presenter Matt LeBlanc had threatened to quit the show unless Evans was fired, because of inappropriate behaviour on set. The source alleged that Evans had become jealous of the attention the other presenters were getting and had become distanced from the group.

On 4 July 2016 Evans announced that he had stepped down as presenter of the show and cut his contract with Top Gear short by two years. Throughout the duration of the new series, Evans had received strong criticism due to his presenting style.

In the tax year to April 2017, he was the BBC's highest paid presenter, earning between £2.2 million and £2.25 million.

Personal life
Evans has a daughter, Jade (born 1986), by former fiancée Alison Ward. In 1998, after a long-running dispute, the couple reached an out-of-court arrangement whereby Evans provided a home for his daughter and an allowance to Ward. On 9 January 2015, Evans became a grandfather when Jade gave birth to her son.

Evans married Carol McGiffin in 1991. Their 1993 break up was not amicable and the two divorced in 1998. McGiffin was scathing about Evans in newspaper articles as late as 2003.

During his time at BBC Radio 1 and Virgin, Evans had well publicised relationships with Kim Wilde, model Rachel Tatton-Brown (whose sister was a researcher on The Big Breakfast), assistant producer Suzi Aplin, Anthea Turner, Geri Halliwell and Melanie Sykes.

In May 2000, Evans met teenage pop star Billie Piper, whom he dated for a while. As a present to him, she proposed on his 35th birthday, and the couple married in a £200 ceremony at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas on 6 May 2001, in a ceremony attended by six guests including best man Danny Baker. Piper was 18 at the time. In September 2004, news stories circulated regarding a trial separation; Evans at the time had a stall at Camden Market where he sold furniture and paintings from his London and Los Angeles homes, commenting: "I just want to get rid of it all, it's just a headache." In 2005, it was confirmed that Evans and Piper would divorce, with Piper publicly stating that she would take no money from Evans. Almost three years after they had separated, Evans and Piper divorced in May 2007.

A keen golfer who plays with a handicap of 15, Evans met professional golfer, part-time model and columnist for Golf Punk magazine Natasha Shishmanian when they became golf partners in the All*Star Cup celebrity tournament in Newport; Evans gave his 17-year-old caddy at the 2005 event, Natalie Harrison, a £10,000 Russian Kristall Smolensk diamond he won for the quality of his play. Evans and Shishmanian married in August 2007, and held a reception in Faro, Portugal the following weekend that was attended by Evans's former wife Piper. The couple have four children and live in Ascot, Berkshire. Their two eldest sons have appeared a number of times on their father's Breakfast Radio show.

In March 2008, Evans said in his Radio 2 blog that he had taken "magic mushrooms" two days before attending a Meat Loaf concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He said: "I thought I was chronicling the Albert Hall moving sideways on the back of a giant rock and roll crab, something I didn't think the world should miss." A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said the force would investigate any reports of class A drug-taking.

A fan of fast cars, and particularly Ferraris, Evans was banned from driving for 56 days in 2001 and fined £600 after admitting to a speeding charge at Staines Magistrates' Court after being stopped by Surrey Police when driving at 105 mi/h on the A3 road in Esher in January 2001. In 2005 Evans crashed his silver Ferrari 575M Maranello into a verge near his then Surrey home. On 18 May 2008, Evans attended RM Auctions/Sotheby's Ferrari auction in Maranello, Italy, and bought a 1961 250 GT Spyder California SWB formerly owned by US actor James Coburn for the then world record price of 6.4 million euros. In May 2010 he bought a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, one of only thirty-six built, for £12 million. Reportedly he sold three Ferraris from his collection to pay for it. He sold it three years later for $25 million to a Swiss collector.

In August 2002, Evans was one of seven onboard the sailing yacht Nausicaa, when one of the crew members, James Ward, landlord of Evans' local pub the White Horse in Hascombe, Surrey, was struck by a sailing boom, knocked overboard and subsequently drowned. Evans was said to be "deeply shocked and saddened" by the incident which occurred in The Solent.

In September 2007, Evans and Shishmanian started taking helicopter lessons at Shoreham Airport.

Evans is a first cousin of the father of former Scottish Rugby internationals Max Evans and Thom Evans.

Evans is also an ambassador for The Scout Association.

On 15 November 2016, Evans was awarded an honorary degree from York St John University; he was presented this by university's chancellor Archbishop Dr John Sentamu at York Minster. On 3 May 2018, Evans' mother Minnie died at the age of 92.

On 21 August 2023, Evans revealed he was being treated for melanoma; on 20 September, he revealed he was now cancer-free.

Shows hosted
The following lists are the main shows Evans has presented:

Radio

 * Piccadilly Radio, Saturday afternoons & weekday evenings (1986–1987)
 * BBC GLR, Saturday afternoons, 3–5 pm (1990)
 * BBC GLR, The Greenhouse, Mondays–Thursdays, 7:30–10 pm (1990)
 * BBC GLR, Round at Chris's, Saturdays, 10 am – 1 pm (January 1991– April 1993)
 * BBC Radio 1, Too Much Gravy, Sundays, 2:30 pm – 4 pm (March – September 1992)
 * Virgin Radio, Saturday mornings, 10 am – 1 pm (May -July 1993)
 * BBC Radio 1, Weekday Breakfast Show, 6:30–9 am (April 1995 – January 1997)
 * Virgin Radio, Weekday Breakfast Show, 6–10 am (October 1997 – June 2001)
 * BBC Radio 2, Saturday afternoons, 2–5 pm (September 2005– April 2006)
 * BBC Radio 2, Weekday Drivetime Show, 5–7 pm (18 April 2006 – 24 December 2009)
 * BBC Radio 2, Weekday Breakfast Show, 7:00–9:30 am (11 January 2010 – 24 September 2010); 6:30–9:30 am (11 October 2010 – 24 December 2018)
 * Virgin Radio UK, Weekday Breakfast Show, 6:30–10:00 am (21 January 2019–present)

title: Chris Evans (presenter)