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Eye of the Beholder (video game)

Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game for personal computers and video game consoles developed by Westwood Associates. It was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991, for the MS-DOS operating system and later ported to the Amiga, the Sega CD and the SNES. The Sega CD version features a soundtrack composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. A port to the Atari Lynx handheld was developed by NuFX in 1993, but was not released. In 2002, an adaptation of the same name was developed by Pronto Games for the Game Boy Advance.

The game has two sequels, Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, also released in 1991, and Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor, released in 1993. The third game, however, was not developed by Westwood, which had been acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992 and created the Lands of Lore series instead.

Plot
The lords of the city of Waterdeep hire a team of adventurers to investigate an evil coming from beneath the city. The adventurers enter the city's sewer, but the entrance gets blocked by a collapse caused by Xanathar, the eponymous beholder. The team descends further beneath the city, going through Dwarf and Drow clans, to Xanathar's lair, where the final confrontation takes place.

Once the eponymous beholder is killed, the player would be treated to a small blue window describing that the beholder was killed and that the adventurers returned to the surface where they were treated as heroes. Nothing else was mentioned in the ending and there were no accompanying graphics. This was changed in the later released Amiga version, which featured an animated ending.

Gameplay
Eye of the Beholder features a first-person perspective in a dungeon rendered using 3D computer graphics, very similar to the earlier Dungeon Master. The player controls four characters, initially, using a point-and-click interface to fight monsters. This can be increased to a maximum of six characters, by resurrecting one or more skeletons from dead non-player characters (NPCs), or finding NPCs that are found throughout the dungeons.

The possibility to increase the size of the player's party through the recruiting of NPCs was a tradition in all of the Eye of the Beholder series. It was also possible to import a party from Eye of the Beholder into The Legend of Darkmoon or from The Legend of Darkmoon into Assault on Myth Drannor; thus, a player could play through all three games with the same party.

Development
The graphics for the MS-DOS version were created using Deluxe Paint. Over 150 Adlib sound effects exist in the game's audio.

Critical reception
Eye of the Beholder was reviewed in 1991 in Dragon #171 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column, who gave it 5 out of 5 stars. It was #1 on the Software Publishers Association's list of top MS-DOS games for April 1991, the last SSI D&D game to reach the rank. Dennis Owens of Computer Gaming World called it "a stunning, brilliantly graphic and agonizingly tricky" 3-D CRPG. The magazine stated that the game's VGA graphics and sound card audio finally gave IBM PC owners a Dungeon Master-like game. Scorpia, another reviewer for the magazine, was less positive. Although also praising the graphics and audio, stating that they "really give you the feeling of being in an actual dungeon", she criticized the awkward spell user interface and the "outrageous" abrupt ending. Other areas that needed work included the combat, plot, and NPC interaction; nonetheless, she was hopeful that with such improvements "the Legend series will become one of the leaders in the CRPG field". In 1993, Scorpia called the game "an impressive first effort that bodes well for the future".

The One gave the Amiga version of Eye of the Beholder an overall score of 92%, heavily comparing it to Dungeon Master, stating that "comparisons to the [aging] classic – Dungeon Master – are inevitable. When two games look this similar, even their programmers would have trouble telling them apart". The One praises Eye of the Beholder's gameplay, stating that "in contrast to previous AD&D titles, there's more emphasis on puzzle-solving than combat – a refreshing change ... Combat is also handled extremely well, the spells and 'ranged weapons' rules are all faithful to the original game ... The gameplay works wonderfully, conjuring up both the spirit and the atmosphere that you get from [tabletop AD&D]". Despite this, The One expresses that Eye of the Beholder is on par with Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back, but states that Eye of the Beholder is still "an essential purchase for followers of the AD&D series".

Hailing the game as "a dream come true" for Dungeons & Dragons fans, Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Super NES version a 6.2 out of 10, praising its 3-D graphics and variety of characters. They gave the Sega CD version a 7.2 out of 10, this time praising the ability to create custom characters but criticizing the audio. They also remarked that the game has a difficult learning curve. While reviewing the Sega CD version, Computer and Video Games said it is "not quite up there with Snatcher, but without doubt a highly ace role-player".

According to GameSpy in 2004, despite the issues in the first Eye of the Beholder, "most players found the game well worth the effort". IGN ranked Eye of the Beholder No. 8 on their list of "The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time" in 2014. Ian Williams of Paste rated the game #8 on his list of "The 10 GreatestDungeons and Dragons Videogames" in 2015. In 1991, PC Format placed Eye of the Beholder on its list of the 50 best computer games of all time. The editors called it a "classic romp through dungeons dealing with monsters, puzzles, traps and things mythical".

Commercial performance
SSI sold 129,234 copies of Eye of the Beholder. By mid-1991, over 150,000 copies had been sold worldwide. The Eye of the Beholder series overall, including the game's two sequels, reached global sales above 350,000 units by 1996.

Promotion
In January 1991, SSI participated in Computer Gaming World's Top Ad contest and their cover art for Eye of the Beholder came in first place among voting readers, despite the magazine publisher's objection to the piece. From February till October, SSI started up a contest "Beholder Bonus", which required players to find a bonus feature (easter egg) in each level of the game, indicated by an onscreen message. The first 50 PC players and 50 Amiga players to discover all 12 features would win $100 worth of prizes.

Sequels
There were two sequels: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon used a modified version of the first game's engine, added outdoor areas and greatly increased the amount of interaction the player had with their environment, along with substantially more 'roleplaying' aspects to the game.

Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor was not developed by Westwood, the developer of Eye of the Beholder and The Legend of Darkmoon, but rather in-house by the publisher SSI.

Eye of the Beholder Trilogy (1995, SSI) was a rerelease of all the three games for MS-DOS on CD-ROM. Interplay released the three games along with a number of other AD&D DOS Games in two collection CDs: The Forgotten Realms Archives (1997) and Gamefest: Forgotten Realms Classics (2001).

Related games
Several modules for Neverwinter Nights (2002) have been created by fans as remakes of the original Eye of the Beholder game. A team of Indie game developers led by Andreas Larsson did a fan conversion of the game for the Commodore 64 available for free as a cartridge image.

title: Eye of the Beholder (video game)


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Treasure Island Dizzy

Treasure Island Dizzy is a puzzle video game published in 1989 by Codemasters for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, and later ported to the Commodore 64, NES, Amiga, Atari ST and Atari Jaguar.

Treasure Island Dizzy is the second game in the Dizzy series, and is the sequel to Dizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure. The game was developed by the Oliver Twins with graphics being designed by Neil Adamson and music by David Whittaker.

Design
This game is quite different from its predecessor, with a new inventory system and improved animations. The game contains fewer enemies than the previous title. It is more centred on inventory-based problem solving. The aim of the game is to solve various puzzles in order to obtain a boat so that Dizzy can return to his friends and family, the Yolkfolk. To do this Dizzy must journey through haunted mines and tree villages, as well as underwater. The game also features a subquest (albeit one essential to completing the game) in which thirty gold coins must be collected. Such subquests were found in many of the sequels.

Critics consider this one of the most difficult Dizzy games as the energy bar system of later titles was not yet implemented and Dizzy is provided with only one life—contrasting with five in the first game and three in Fantasy World Dizzy, the immediate sequel, and most subsequent titles. Also unique to this game, the player is unable to select any particular item from the inventory for use—Dizzy simply puts down whichever item is at the top of the list. If Dizzy is underwater and the snorkel happens to be at the top of the inventory list, he will drop the snorkel when the player collects another item and instantly die. Treasure Island Dizzy therefore requires more foresight and planning than the other games in the series.

Adding to the difficulty of the game was the fact that the player had two main tasks to complete; the escape from the islands, and the collection of the thirty coins. Upon escaping the final island, the Shopkeeper character appears and tells Dizzy that he cannot leave without finding all thirty coins. Given that a number of the coins were hidden behind scenery, this second task proved to be more difficult than the main game. Commodore Format printed a "complete" solution and map which did not include the hidden coins, frustrating many players.

Ports
A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System was published by Camerica as part of the video game compilation Quattro Adventure. This version was released for the Evercade handheld game system in October 2020 as part of The Oliver Twins Collection compilation cartridge.

Codemasters released a version of Treasure Island Dizzy for Microsoft Windows on the company's website in December 2004. Available for download after registration, it was in fact the Commodore 64 version bundled with the CCS64 emulator in a single executable. The download is no longer available.

Reception
The game spent over two years in the Gallup All Formats Top 40. The ZX Spectrum version alone sold over 100,000 copies and was voted the 16th best Spectrum game of all time in a special issue of Your Sinclair magazine in 2004.

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

title: Treasure Island Dizzy


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Eurovision Young Dancers 1991

The Eurovision Young Dancers 1991 was the fourth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Helsinki City Theatre in Helsinki, Finland on 5 June 1991. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Yleisradio (YLE), dancers from eight countries participated in the televised final. A total of fifteen countries took part in the competition. made their début (making this the first Eurovision event to feature a former Warsaw Pact country ahead of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest), while, and  chose not to send an entry. However, the Austrian broadcaster ÖRF and the Canadian CBC broadcast the event.

Each country could send one or two dancers, male or female, who could perform one or two dances.

The non-qualified countries were, , , , , and. Amaya Iglesias of Spain won the contest, with France and Denmark placing second and third respectively.

Location
Helsinki City Theatre, was the host venue for the 1991 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

During the interval a documentary by Finnish journalist Eila-Maija Mirolybov about the early stages of the competition and the dancers who did not reach the final was broadcast.

Preliminary round
A total of fifteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1991 contest, of which eight qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Jorma Uotinen (Head of Jury)
 * – Josette Amiel
 * – Frank Andersen
 * / – Gigi Gheorghe Caciuleanu
 * – Peter Van Dyk
 * – André-Philippe Hersin
 * – Heinz Spoerli
 * – Gösta Svalberg
 * – Víctor Ullate

Broadcasting
The 1991 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in 17 countries including Austria and Canada.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 1991


text:
Eurovision Young Dancers 1993

The Eurovision Young Dancers 1993 was the fifth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Dance House in Stockholm, Sweden on 15 June 1993. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), dancers from eight countries participated in the televised final. A total of fifteen countries took part in the competition. ,, and  made their début with  returning and , , ,  and  deciding not to participate.

As in 1989 and 1991, a semi-final was held to choose the finalists. The semi-final took place 2 days before the final (13 June 1993). The jury chose the finalists and top 3 performances. The prizes were presented by Princess Christina, the youngest sister of Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.

The non-qualified countries were Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia. Zenaida Yanowsky of Spain won the contest, with Switzerland and Austria and France placing second and joint third respectively.

Location
The Dance House in Stockholm, Sweden, was the host venue for the 1993 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

As in 1991, the interval featured a documentary about the dancers that did not make it to the final.

Preliminary round
A total of fifteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1993 contest, of which eight qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Nils-Åke Häggbom (Head of Jury)
 * – Birgit Cullberg
 * – Frank Andersen
 * / – Gigi Gheorghe Caciuleanu
 * – Paolo Bortoluzzi
 * – Peter Van Dyk
 * – María de Ávila
 * – Heinz Spoerli
 * – Micha Van Hoecke
 * – Pierre Lacotte
 * – Elsa-Marianne von Rosen
 * – Elisabetta Terabust
 * – Jorma Uotinen

Broadcasting
The 1993 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in at least 15 countries.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 1993


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Matrix decomposition

In the mathematical discipline of linear algebra, a matrix decomposition or matrix factorization is a factorization of a matrix into a product of matrices. There are many different matrix decompositions; each finds use among a particular class of problems.

Example
In numerical analysis, different decompositions are used to implement efficient matrix algorithms.

For instance, when solving a system of linear equations $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$, the matrix A can be decomposed via the LU decomposition. The LU decomposition factorizes a matrix into a lower triangular matrix L and an upper triangular matrix U. The systems $$L(U \mathbf{x}) = \mathbf{b}$$ and $$U \mathbf{x} = L^{-1} \mathbf{b}$$ require fewer additions and multiplications to solve, compared with the original system $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$, though one might require significantly more digits in inexact arithmetic such as floating point.

Similarly, the QR decomposition expresses A as QR with Q an orthogonal matrix and R an upper triangular matrix. The system Q(Rx) = b is solved by Rx = QTb = c, and the system Rx = c is solved by 'back substitution'. The number of additions and multiplications required is about twice that of using the LU solver, but no more digits are required in inexact arithmetic because the QR decomposition is numerically stable.

LU decomposition

 * Traditionally applicable to: square matrix A, although rectangular matrices can be applicable.
 * Decomposition: $$A=LU$$, where L is lower triangular and U is upper triangular.
 * Related: the LDU decomposition is $$A=LDU$$, where L is lower triangular with ones on the diagonal, U is upper triangular with ones on the diagonal, and D is a diagonal matrix.
 * Related: the LUP decomposition is $$PA=LU$$, where L is lower triangular, U is upper triangular, and P is a permutation matrix.
 * Existence: An LUP decomposition exists for any square matrix A. When P is an identity matrix, the LUP decomposition reduces to the LU decomposition.
 * Comments: The LUP and LU decompositions are useful in solving an n-by-n system of linear equations $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$. These decompositions summarize the process of Gaussian elimination in matrix form. Matrix P represents any row interchanges carried out in the process of Gaussian elimination. If Gaussian elimination produces the row echelon form without requiring any row interchanges, then P = I, so an LU decomposition exists.

Rank factorization

 * Applicable to: m-by-n matrix A of rank r
 * Decomposition: $$A=CF$$ where C is an m-by-r full column rank matrix and F is an r-by-n full row rank matrix
 * Comment: The rank factorization can be used to compute the Moore–Penrose pseudoinverse of A, which one can apply to obtain all solutions of the linear system $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$.

Cholesky decomposition

 * Applicable to: square, hermitian, positive definite matrix $$A$$
 * Decomposition: $$A=U^*U$$, where $$U$$ is upper triangular with real positive diagonal entries
 * Comment: if the matrix $$A$$ is Hermitian and positive semi-definite, then it has a decomposition of the form $$A=U^*U$$ if the diagonal entries of $$U$$ are allowed to be zero
 * Uniqueness: for positive definite matrices Cholesky decomposition is unique. However, it is not unique in the positive semi-definite case.
 * Comment: if $$A$$ is real and symmetric, $$U$$ has all real elements
 * Comment: An alternative is the LDL decomposition, which can avoid extracting square roots.

QR decomposition

 * Applicable to: m-by-n matrix A with linearly independent columns
 * Decomposition: $$A=QR$$ where $$Q$$ is a unitary matrix of size m-by-m, and $$R$$ is an upper triangular matrix of size m-by-n
 * Uniqueness: In general it is not unique, but if $$A$$ is of full rank, then there exists a single $$R$$ that has all positive diagonal elements. If $$A$$ is square, also $$Q$$ is unique.
 * Comment: The QR decomposition provides an effective way to solve the system of equations $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$. The fact that $$Q$$ is orthogonal means that $$Q^{\mathrm{T}}Q=I$$, so that $$A \mathbf{x} = \mathbf{b}$$ is equivalent to $$R \mathbf{x} = Q^{\mathsf{T}} \mathbf{b}$$, which is very easy to solve since $$R$$ is triangular.

Eigendecomposition

 * Also called spectral decomposition.
 * Applicable to: square matrix A with linearly independent eigenvectors (not necessarily distinct eigenvalues).
 * Decomposition: $$A=VDV^{-1}$$, where D is a diagonal matrix formed from the eigenvalues of A, and the columns of V are the corresponding eigenvectors of A.
 * Existence: An n-by-n matrix A always has n (complex) eigenvalues, which can be ordered (in more than one way) to form an n-by-n diagonal matrix D and a corresponding matrix of nonzero columns V that satisfies the eigenvalue equation $$AV=VD$$. $$V$$ is invertible if and only if the n eigenvectors are linearly independent (that is, each eigenvalue has geometric multiplicity equal to its algebraic multiplicity). A sufficient (but not necessary) condition for this to happen is that all the eigenvalues are different (in this case geometric and algebraic multiplicity are equal to 1)
 * Comment: One can always normalize the eigenvectors to have length one (see the definition of the eigenvalue equation)
 * Comment: Every normal matrix A (that is, matrix for which $$AA^*=A^*A$$, where $$A^*$$ is a conjugate transpose) can be eigendecomposed. For a normal matrix A (and only for a normal matrix), the eigenvectors can also be made orthonormal ($$VV^*=I$$) and the eigendecomposition reads as $$A=VDV^*$$. In particular all unitary, Hermitian, or skew-Hermitian (in the real-valued case, all orthogonal, symmetric, or skew-symmetric, respectively) matrices are normal and therefore possess this property.
 * Comment: For any real symmetric matrix A, the eigendecomposition always exists and can be written as $$A=VDV^\mathsf{T}$$, where both D and V are real-valued.
 * Comment: The eigendecomposition is useful for understanding the solution of a system of linear ordinary differential equations or linear difference equations. For example, the difference equation $$x_{t+1}=Ax_t$$ starting from the initial condition $$x_0=c$$ is solved by $$x_t = A^tc$$, which is equivalent to $$x_t = VD^tV^{-1}c$$, where V and D are the matrices formed from the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of A. Since D is diagonal, raising it to power $$D^t$$, just involves raising each element on the diagonal to the power t. This is much easier to do and understand than raising A to power t, since A is usually not diagonal.

Jordan decomposition
The Jordan normal form and the Jordan–Chevalley decomposition
 * Applicable to: square matrix A
 * Comment: the Jordan normal form generalizes the eigendecomposition to cases where there are repeated eigenvalues and cannot be diagonalized, the Jordan–Chevalley decomposition does this without choosing a basis.

Schur decomposition

 * Applicable to: square matrix A
 * Decomposition (complex version): $$A=UTU^*$$, where U is a unitary matrix, $$U^*$$ is the conjugate transpose of U, and T is an upper triangular matrix called the complex Schur form which has the eigenvalues of A along its diagonal.
 * Comment: if A is a normal matrix, then T is diagonal and the Schur decomposition coincides with the spectral decomposition.

Real Schur decomposition

 * Applicable to: square matrix A
 * Decomposition: This is a version of Schur decomposition where $$V$$ and $$S$$ only contain real numbers. One can always write $$A=VSV^\mathsf{T}$$ where V is a real orthogonal matrix, $$V^\mathsf{T}$$ is the transpose of V, and S is a block upper triangular matrix called the real Schur form. The blocks on the diagonal of S are of size 1×1 (in which case they represent real eigenvalues) or 2×2 (in which case they are derived from complex conjugate eigenvalue pairs).

QZ decomposition

 * Also called: generalized Schur decomposition
 * Applicable to: square matrices A and B
 * Comment: there are two versions of this decomposition: complex and real.
 * Decomposition (complex version): $$A=QSZ^*$$ and $$B=QTZ^*$$ where Q and Z are unitary matrices, the * superscript represents conjugate transpose, and S and T are upper triangular matrices.
 * Comment: in the complex QZ decomposition, the ratios of the diagonal elements of S to the corresponding diagonal elements of T, $$\lambda_i = S_{ii}/T_{ii}$$, are the generalized eigenvalues that solve the generalized eigenvalue problem $$A \mathbf{v} = \lambda B \mathbf{v}$$ (where $$\lambda$$ is an unknown scalar and v is an unknown nonzero vector).
 * Decomposition (real version): $$A=QSZ^\mathsf{T}$$ and $$B=QTZ^\mathsf{T}$$ where A, B, Q, Z, S, and T are matrices containing real numbers only. In this case Q and Z are orthogonal matrices, the T superscript represents transposition, and S and T are block upper triangular matrices. The blocks on the diagonal of S and T are of size 1×1 or 2×2.

Takagi's factorization

 * Applicable to: square, complex, symmetric matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=VDV^\mathsf{T}$$, where D is a real nonnegative diagonal matrix, and V is unitary. $$V^\mathsf{T}$$ denotes the matrix transpose of V.
 * Comment: The diagonal elements of D are the nonnegative square roots of the eigenvalues of $$AA^*=VD^2V^{-1}$$.
 * Comment: V may be complex even if A is real.
 * Comment: This is not a special case of the eigendecomposition (see above), which uses $$V^{-1}$$ instead of $$V^\mathsf{T}$$. Moreover, if A is not real, it is not Hermitian and the form using $$V^*$$ also does not apply.

Singular value decomposition

 * Applicable to: m-by-n matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=UDV^*$$, where D is a nonnegative diagonal matrix, and U and V satisfy $$U^*U = I, V^*V = I$$. Here $$V^*$$ is the conjugate transpose of V (or simply the transpose, if V contains real numbers only), and I denotes the identity matrix (of some dimension).
 * Comment: The diagonal elements of D are called the singular values of A.
 * Comment: Like the eigendecomposition above, the singular value decomposition involves finding basis directions along which matrix multiplication is equivalent to scalar multiplication, but it has greater generality since the matrix under consideration need not be square.
 * Uniqueness: the singular values of $$A$$ are always uniquely determined. $$U$$ and $$V$$ need not to be unique in general.

Scale-invariant decompositions
Refers to variants of existing matrix decompositions, such as the SVD, that are invariant with respect to diagonal scaling.

 * Applicable to: m-by-n matrix A.
 * Unit-Scale-Invariant Singular-Value Decomposition: $$A=DUSV^*E$$, where S is a unique nonnegative diagonal matrix of scale-invariant singular values, U and V are unitary matrices, $$V^*$$ is the conjugate transpose of V, and positive diagonal matrices D and E.
 * Comment: Is analogous to the SVD except that the diagonal elements of S are invariant with respect to left and/or right multiplication of A by arbitrary nonsingular diagonal matrices, as opposed to the standard SVD for which the singular values are invariant with respect to left and/or right multiplication of A by arbitrary unitary matrices.
 * Comment: Is an alternative to the standard SVD when invariance is required with respect to diagonal rather than unitary transformations of A.
 * Uniqueness: The scale-invariant singular values of $$A$$ (given by the diagonal elements of S) are always uniquely determined. Diagonal matrices D and E, and unitary U and V, are not necessarily unique in general.
 * Comment: U and V matrices are not the same as those from the SVD.

Analogous scale-invariant decompositions can be derived from other matrix decompositions; for example, to obtain scale-invariant eigenvalues.

Hessenberg decomposition

 * Applicable to: square matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=PHP^*$$ where $$H$$ is the Hessenberg matrix and $$P$$ is a unitary matrix.
 * Comment: often the first step in the Schur decomposition.

Complete orthogonal decomposition

 * Also known as: UTV decomposition, ULV decomposition, URV decomposition.
 * Applicable to: m-by-n matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=UTV^*$$, where T is a triangular matrix, and U and V are unitary matrices.
 * Comment: Similar to the singular value decomposition and to the Schur decomposition.

Polar decomposition

 * Applicable to: any square complex matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=UP$$ (right polar decomposition) or $$A=P'U$$ (left polar decomposition), where U is a unitary matrix and P and P' are positive semidefinite Hermitian matrices.
 * Uniqueness: $$P$$ is always unique and equal to $$\sqrt{A^*A}$$ (which is always hermitian and positive semidefinite). If $$A$$ is invertible, then $$U$$ is unique.
 * Comment: Since any Hermitian matrix admits a spectral decomposition with a unitary matrix, $$P$$ can be written as $$P=VDV^*$$. Since $$P$$ is positive semidefinite, all elements in $$D$$ are non-negative. Since the product of two unitary matrices is unitary, taking $$W=UV$$one can write $$A=U(VDV^*)=WDV^* $$ which is the singular value decomposition. Hence, the existence of the polar decomposition is equivalent to the existence of the singular value decomposition.

Algebraic polar decomposition

 * Applicable to: square, complex, non-singular matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=QS$$, where Q is a complex orthogonal matrix and S is complex symmetric matrix.
 * Uniqueness: If $$A^\mathsf{T}A$$ has no negative real eigenvalues, then the decomposition is unique.
 * Comment: The existence of this decomposition is equivalent to $$AA^\mathsf{T}$$ being similar to $$A^\mathsf{T}A$$.
 * Comment: A variant of this decomposition is $$A=RC$$, where R is a real matrix and C is a circular matrix.

Mostow's decomposition

 * Applicable to: square, complex, non-singular matrix A.
 * Decomposition: $$A=Ue^{iM}e^{S}$$, where U is unitary, M is real anti-symmetric and S is real symmetric.
 * Comment: The matrix A can also be decomposed as $$A=U_2e^{S_2}e^{iM_2}$$, where U2 is unitary, M2 is real anti-symmetric and S2 is real symmetric.

Sinkhorn normal form

 * Applicable to: square real matrix A with strictly positive elements.
 * Decomposition: $$A=D_{1}SD_{2}$$, where S is doubly stochastic and D1 and D2 are real diagonal matrices with strictly positive elements.

Sectoral decomposition

 * Applicable to: square, complex matrix A with numerical range contained in the sector $$S_\alpha = \left\{r e^{i \theta} \in \mathbb{C} \mid r> 0, |\theta| \le \alpha < \frac{\pi}{2}\right\}$$.
 * Decomposition: $$A = CZC^*$$, where C is an invertible complex matrix and $$Z = \operatorname{diag}\left(e^{i\theta_1},\ldots,e^{i\theta_n}\right)$$ with all $$\left|\theta_j\right| \le \alpha $$.

Williamson's normal form

 * Applicable to: square, positive-definite real matrix A with order 2n×2n.
 * Decomposition: $$A=S^\mathsf{T}\operatorname{diag}(D,D)S$$, where $$S \in \text{Sp}(2n)$$ is a symplectic matrix and D is a nonnegative n-by-n diagonal matrix.

Matrix square root

 * Decomposition: $$A=BB$$, not unique in general.
 * In the case of positive semidefinite $$A$$, there is a unique positive semidefinite $$B$$ such that $$A=B^*B=BB$$.

Generalizations
There exist analogues of the SVD, QR, LU and Cholesky factorizations for quasimatrices and cmatrices or continuous matrices. A ‘quasimatrix’ is, like a matrix, a rectangular scheme whose elements are indexed, but one discrete index is replaced by a continuous index. Likewise, a ‘cmatrix’, is continuous in both indices. As an example of a cmatrix, one can think of the kernel of an integral operator.

These factorizations are based on early work by, and. For an account, and a translation to English of the seminal papers, see.

title: Matrix decomposition


text:
Eurovision Young Dancers 1995

The Eurovision Young Dancers 1995 was the sixth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland on 6 June 1995. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), dancers from nine countries participated in the televised final. A total of fifteen countries took part in the competition. and made their début while  and  decided not to participate. However, the Danish broadcaster DR broadcast the event as did Bulgaria and Romania.

The semi-final took place days 3 before the final (3 June 1995). Like in the previous contests, each country could participate with one or two dancers, male or female, not older than 19, that could perform one or two different dances: either a 2 variations (individual) no longer than 5 minutes each or a "pas de deux" (couples) no longer than 10 minutes.

The disqualified countries were,, , , , and. Spain, represented by Jesús Pastor Sahuquillo and Ruth Miró Salvador, won the contest for the 4th time (3rd in a row) with Sweden and Belgium placing second and third respectively.

Location
Palais de Beaulieu, a convention centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, was the host venue for the 1995 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

The centre includes the Théâtre de Beaulieu concert, dance and theatre hall and hosted the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest. With 1,850 seats, the Théâtre de Beaulieu is the biggest theatre in Switzerland. The Prix de Lausanne, an international ballet competition, is hosted at the centre.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

The interval act this year was "Moments in a garden of Spain": a flamenco show performed by Nina Corti and her musicians.

Preliminary round
A total of fifteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1995 contest, of which eight qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Heinz Spoerli (Head of Jury)
 * / – Maurice Béjart (Honorary guest of the Jury)
 * / – Oscar Araiz
 * / – Gigi Caciuleanu
 * – Paola Cantalupo
 * – Peter Van Dyk
 * / – Beatriz Consuelo
 * – Víctor Ullate
 * – Gilbert Mayer
 * – Pierre Lacotte
 * – Youri Vámos
 * – Jorma Uotinen

Broadcasting
The 1995 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in 18 countries. Bulgaria, Denmark, and Romania broadcast the contest in addition to the competing countries.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 1995


text:
Cleaning

Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for aesthetic, hygienic, functional, safety, or environmental protection purposes. Cleaning occurs in many different contexts, and uses many different methods. Several occupations are devoted to cleaning.

Contexts
Cleaning occurs in various commercial, domestic, personal, and environmental contexts, which differ in scale and requirements.

 * Commercial cleaning, in business or other commercial settings
 * Terminal cleaning, in healthcare settings
 * Housekeeping, including spring cleaning
 * Hygiene, including personal grooming
 * Environmental remediation, the removal of pollution or contaminants from the natural environment

Methods
Cleaning is broadly achieved through mechanical action and/or chemical processes (usually solvation); many methods rely on a combination of mechanical and chemical action. Methods include:

 * Washing, usually done with water and often some kind of soap or detergent
 * Mopping, usually using a mop
 * Wiping, usually using a dry or moist piece of cloth (such as toilet paper, paper towel and wet wipe)
 * Pressure washing, using a high-pressure stream of water
 * Wet cleaning, methods of professional laundering that avoid the use of chemical solvents
 * Abrasive blasting, typically used to remove bulk material from a surface, may be used to remove contaminants as well
 * Acoustic cleaning, the use of sound waves to shake particulates loose from surfaces
 * Ultrasonic cleaning, using ultrasound, usually from 20 to 400 kHz
 * Megasonic cleaning, a gentler mechanism than ultrasonic cleaning, used in wafer, medical implant, and industrial part cleaning
 * Carbon dioxide cleaning, a family of methods for parts cleaning and sterilization using carbon dioxide in its various phases
 * Dry cleaning of clothing and textiles, using a chemical solvent other than water
 * Flame cleaning of structural steel, with an oxyacetylene flame
 * Green cleaning, using environmentally friendly methods and products
 * Plasma cleaning, using energetic plasma or dielectric barrier discharge plasma created from various gases
 * Sputter cleaning, performed in a vacuum by using physical sputtering of the surface
 * Steam cleaning, in both domestic and industrial contexts
 * Sweeping, mechanical removal usually using a brush
 * Thermal cleaning, in industrial settings, involving pyrolysis and oxidation
 * Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, which destroys microorganisms; used extensively in the medical and food industries
 * Vacuum cleaning, using a vacuum cleaner

Cleaning by item

Some items and materials require specialized cleaning techniques, due to their shape, size, location, or the material properties of the object and contaminants.

Buildings and infrastructure

 * Beach cleaning
 * Carpet cleaning
 * Chimney cleaning
 * Crime scene cleanup
 * Exterior cleaning
 * Floor cleaning
 * Graffiti removal
 * Roof cleaning
 * Silo cleaning
 * Street cleaning

Other items

 * Coin cleaning
 * Conservation and restoration of cultural property, which often involves careful cleaning
 * Jewellery cleaning
 * Laundry, the washing of clothes and other textiles
 * Parts cleaning, in industry
 * Pot washing, in food service
 * Teeth cleaning
 * Tube cleaning

Occupations involving cleaning
Several occupations involve cleaning, either in their entirety or among other duties.
 * Cleaner
 * Dental hygenist
 * Housekeeper (domestic worker)
 * Janitor
 * Maid
 * Property caretaker
 * Property manager

General

 * Cleaning (disambiguation), for other uses of the term
 * Cleanliness, an abstract concept for a state that may be achieved by cleaning
 * Cleaning agent, substances used in cleaning
 * Contamination control, of which cleaning is a part

Biology and health

 * Cleaning symbiosis, among living creatures
 * Hygiene, a set of practices performed for the preservation of health
 * Sanitation, techniques to protect human health by providing a clean environment
 * Sterilization (microbiology), the elimination or deactivation of biological agents

Organizing

 * Professional organizing, improvement of organizing systems and processes
 * Sorting, any process of arranging items systematically

Technologies

 * Cleanroom, a room with low levels of particulates, used in specialized manufacturing or research
 * Automated pool cleaner
 * Central vacuum cleaner
 * Robotic vacuum cleaner
 * Self-cleaning floor
 * Self-cleaning glass
 * Self-cleaning oven

Other contexts

 * Cleaning event, in which solar panels on planetary rovers are cleaned by wind
 * Cleaning validation, used to assure that manufacturing residues are removed

title: Cleaning


text:
St Nazaire Raid

The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force any large German warship in need of repairs, such as, sister ship of , to return to home waters by running the gauntlet of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy and other British forces, via the English Channel or the North Sea.

The obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown (I42), accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and rammed into the Normandie dry dock south gate. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of service until 1948.

A force of commandos landed to destroy machinery and other structures. German gunfire sank, set ablaze, or immobilized virtually all the small craft intended to transport the commandos back to England. The commandos fought their way through the town to escape overland but many surrendered when they ran out of ammunition or were surrounded by the Wehrmacht defending Saint-Nazaire.

Of the 612 men who undertook the raid, 228 returned to Britain, 169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. German casualties included over 360 dead, some of whom were killed after the raid when Campbeltown exploded. To recognise their bravery, 89 members of the raiding party were awarded decorations, including five Victoria Crosses. After the war, St Nazaire was one of 38 battle honours awarded to the commandos. The operation has been called "the greatest raid of all" in British military circles.

Background
St Nazaire is on the north bank of the Loire, 400 km from the nearest British port. In 1942, it had a population of 50,000. The St Nazaire port has an outer harbour known as the Avant Port, formed by two piers jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. This leads to two lock gates before the Bassin de St Nazaire. These gates control the water level in the basin so that it is not affected by the tide.

Beyond the basin is the larger inner dock called the Bassin de Penhoët, which can accommodate ships up to 10,000 tons. There is also an old entrance to the Bassin de St Nazaire midway along the Bassin de St Nazaire. Immediately upstream of this lies the Normandie dry dock, between the Bassin de St Nazaire and the Loire, with its southern end giving on to the Loire and the northern end facing into the Bassin de Penhoët. Built to house the ocean liner SS Normandie, this dock was the largest dry dock in the world when it was completed in 1932. The "Old Mole" jetty juts into the Loire halfway between the southern pier of the Avant Port and the old entrance into the basin.

On 24 May 1941, the Battle of the Denmark Strait was fought between the German ships and  and the British ships HMS Prince of Wales (53) and HMS Hood (51). Hood exploded and sank; the damaged Prince of Wales was forced to retire. Bismarck, also damaged, ordered her consort to proceed independently while she headed for the French port of St Nazaire, which was the only port on the Atlantic coast with a dry dock able to accommodate a ship of her size. She was intercepted by the British and sunk en route.

Britain's Naval Intelligence Division first proposed a commando raid on the dock in late 1941. When the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Tirpitz was declared operational in January 1942, the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Air Force (RAF) were already drawing up plans to attack her. Planners from Combined Operations Headquarters were looking at potential scenarios if Tirpitz escaped the naval blockade and reached the Atlantic. They decided the only port able to accommodate her was St Nazaire, especially if, like Bismarck, she was damaged en route and needed repairs. They came to the conclusion that if the dock at St Nazaire were unavailable, the Germans were unlikely to risk sending Tirpitz into the Atlantic.

Combined Operations examined several options while planning the destruction of the dock. At this stage of the war the British government still tried to avoid civilian casualties. This ruled out a bombing attack by the RAF, which at the time did not possess the accuracy needed to destroy the dock without serious loss of civilian life.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) were approached to see if its agents could destroy the dock gates. They decided that the mission was beyond their capabilities because the weight of explosives required would have needed too many agents to carry them. The Royal Navy was also unable to mount an operation, as St Nazaire is 8 km up the Loire estuary. Any naval ships large enough to cause sufficient damage would be detected well before they were within range.

The planners then examined whether a commando force could accomplish the task. An unusually high spring tide was due in March 1942 which would allow a light ship to pass over the sand banks in the estuary and approach the docks, bypassing the heavily defended dredged channel. In one early plan, the planners designed a raid to approach the docks with only motor launches. John Hughes-Hallett and his colleagues immediately rejected this plan. Their opposition to the plan was strong. They argued, "they'll never reach the shore..." They concluded, "no destroyer, no operation." The approach was also too shallow for an infantry landing ship, but the planners believed if a destroyer could be lightened it might have a draft shallow enough to enable it to get through.

Plan
The purpose of the raid was to destroy the Normandie dock, the old gates into the Bassin de St Nazaire with the water pumping machinery and other installations and any U-boats or other shipping in the area. The initial Combined Operations plan required one specially lightened destroyer to carry out the raid. It would be packed with explosives and rammed into the dock gates. Commandos on board would then disembark and use demolition charges to destroy nearby dock installations, searchlights and gun emplacements. The destroyer would then be blown up. At the same time the RAF would undertake diversionary air raids in the area.

When the plan was presented to the Admiralty they refused to support it. The certain loss of one or both destroyers to eliminate the dry dock was out of the question. They suggested they could provide an old Free French destroyer, FRENCH DESTROYER Ouragan, and a flotilla of small motor launches to transport the commandos and evacuate them afterwards. Approval for the mission, codenamed Operation Chariot, was given on 3 March 1942. Using a French ship would involve using the Free French forces and increase the number of people aware of the raid. Consequently, it was decided the navy would have to provide a ship of their own. The RAF complained that the raid would draw heavily on their resources and the number of aircraft assigned by RAF Bomber Command dwindled during the planning of the raid. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill further complicated matters when he ordered that bombing should only take place if targets were visually identified.

Combined Operations Headquarters worked closely with several intelligence organisations to plan the raid. The Naval Intelligence Division compiled information from a variety of sources. A detailed plan of the town of St Nazaire was provided by the Secret Intelligence Service, and information on the coastal artillery nearby was provided by the War Office's Military Intelligence branch. Intelligence about the dock itself came from pre-war technical journals. The Naval Operational Intelligence Centre selected the route and timing for the raid based on intelligence about the location of minefields and German recognition signals gleaned from Enigma decryptions and knowledge of Luftwaffe patrols compiled by the Air Ministry's Air Intelligence Branch. When all the plans had been pulled together and the timing worked out, the main part of the raid was expected to last no longer than two hours. The commandos and crew from Campbeltown were to board the motor launches at the Old Mole jetty and then make their escape.

Composition of the raiding force

The revised Combined Operations plan required one destroyer to ram the dock gates and a number of smaller craft to transport the commandos. The Royal Navy would therefore provide the largest contingent for the raid, under the overall command of the senior naval officer, Commander Robert Ryder. The ship selected to ram into the dock gates was HMS Campbeltown (I42), commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie. Campbeltown was a First World War destroyer and had previously been USS Buchanan (DD-131) in the United States Navy. She had come into RN service in 1940 as one of 50 destroyers transferred to the United Kingdom under the destroyers-for-bases deal.

Converting Campbeltown for the raid took ten days. She had to be lightened to raise her draught to get over the sand banks in the estuary. This was achieved by completely stripping all her internal compartments. The dockyard removed her three 4 in guns, torpedoes and depth charges from the deck and replaced the forward gun with a light quick-firing 12-pounder 3 in gun. Eight 20 mm Oerlikons were installed on mountings raised above deck level. The bridge and wheelhouse were given extra armour-plate protection, and two rows of armour were fixed along the sides of the ship to protect the commandos on the open deck.

Two of her four funnels were removed, and the forward two were cut at an angle to resemble those of a German destroyer. The bow was packed with 4.5 tons of high explosives, which were set in concrete. It was decided that the explosive charge would be timed to detonate after the raiders had left the harbour. To prevent the Germans towing her away, the crew would open the ship's seacocks before abandoning the ship. Should she become disabled or sunk before getting to the dock, four motor launches had been detailed to take off the crew and put the commandos ashore. The charge would be reset to explode after the last boat had left.

Other naval units involved were two Hunt-class destroyers, HMS Tynedale (L96) and HMS Atherstone (L05), which would accompany the force to and from the French coast and remain out at sea during the raid. A motor gun boat (the Fairmile C type MGB 314) was the headquarters ship for the raid, with Commander Ryder and the commanding officer of the commandos on board, Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Newman. A motor torpedo boat (a 70 ft Vosper, MTB 74), commanded by Sub-Lieutenant Michael Wynn, had two objectives: If the outer Normandie dock gates were open, she had to torpedo the inner dock gates. If the gates were closed she would instead torpedo the gates at the old entrance into the St Nazaire basin.

Wynn's boat was offered for the raid at the last moment. The MTB consumed a lot of petrol and was capable of only two speeds: a slow 6 knots and a fast 33 knots. The flaw meant the MTB could only progress by leap frogging and waiting. It was clear she would need a tow if taken in that condition. The flawed boat brought disapproval, necessitating last-minute modifications.

To assist in transporting the commandos, 12 Fairmile B Motor Launches (ML) were assigned from the 20th and 28th Motor Launch flotillas. These boats were re-armed with two Oerlikon 20 mm guns mounted forward and aft to complement their twin 0.303-in Lewis guns. At the last minute another four MLs were assigned from the 7th Motor Launch flotilla (see Footnotes for flotilla details). These four boats were also armed with two torpedoes each. Instead of transporting the commandos, these boats were to engage any German shipping found in the estuary. All the MLs had a 500 impgal auxiliary fuel tank fixed to the upper deck to increase their range. The S-class submarine HMS Sturgeon (73S) would leave before the rest of the convoy and be in position to act as a navigational beacon to guide the convoy into the Loire estuary.

The man selected to lead the Commando force was Lieutenant Colonel Charles Newman; his No. 2 Commando would provide the largest commandos contingent, 173 men, for the raid. The Special Service Brigade headquarters used the raid to provide experience for their other units and 92 men were drawn from Nos 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 12 Commandos.

The commandos were divided into three groups: One and Two would travel in the 12 MLs, while Three would be in Campbeltown. Half the commandos would be in the motor launches, alongside the explosive destroyer. Under the command of Captain Hodgeson, Group One traveling in ML 447, 457, 307, 443, 306 and 446 had the objectives of securing the Old Mole and eliminating the anti-aircraft gun positions around the southern quays. They were then to move into the old town and blow up the power station, bridges and locks for the new entrance into the basin from the Avant port. The capture of the mole was a major objective, as it was to be the embarkation point for the evacuation after the mission.

Group Two, under the command of Captain Burn, in ML 192, 262, 267, 268, 156 and 177 would land at the old entrance to the St Nazaire basin. Its objectives were to destroy the anti-aircraft positions in the area and the German headquarters, to blow up the locks and bridges at the old entrance into the basin and then to guard against a counterattack from the submarine base. Group Three was under the command of Major William 'Bill' Copland, who was also the commandos' second in command. It was to secure the immediate area around Campbeltown, destroy the dock's water-pumping and gate-opening machinery and the nearby underground fuel tanks. All three groups were subdivided into assault, demolition, and protection teams. The assault teams would clear the way for the other two. The demolition teams carrying the explosive charges only had sidearms for self-defence; the protection teams, armed with Thompson submachine guns, were to defend them while they completed their tasks.

The commandos were aided in their planning for the operation by Captain Bill Pritchard of the Royal Engineers, who had pre-war experience as an apprentice in the Great Western Railway dockyards and whose father was the dock master of Cardiff Docks. In 1940 while part of the British Expeditionary Force in France, his duties had included determining how to disable the French dockyards if they were captured. One of the dockyards he had studied was St Nazaire, and he had submitted a report detailing how to put the dock out of action.

German forces

The Germans had around 5,000 troops in the immediate area of St Nazaire. The port was defended by the 280th Naval Artillery Battalion under the command of Kapitän zur See Edo Dieckmann. The battalion was composed of 28 guns of various calibres from 75 mm to 280 mm railway guns, all positioned to guard the coastal approaches. The heavy guns were supplemented by the guns and searchlights of the 22nd Naval Flak Brigade under the command of Kapitän zur See Karl-Konrad Mecke.

The brigade was equipped with 43 anti-aircraft guns ranging in calibre from 20 to 40 mm. These guns had a dual role as both anti-aircraft and coastal defence weapons. Many were in concrete emplacements on top of the submarine pens and other dockside installations of the St Nazaire submarine base.

The harbour defence companies were responsible for local defence and for the security of the ships and submarines moored in the harbour. These companies and the harbour defence boats used to patrol the river were under the command of Harbour Commander Korvettenkapitän Kellerman. The 333rd Infantry Division was the German Army unit responsible for the defence of the coast between St Nazaire and Lorient. The division had no troops based in the town, but some were garrisoned in villages nearby and would be able to respond to any attack on the port.

The Kriegsmarine (German navy) had at least three surface ships in the Loire estuary: a destroyer, an armed trawler and a Sperrbrecher ('minesweeper'), the last being the guard ship for the port. On the night of the raid there were also four harbour defence boats and ten ships from the 16th and 42nd Minesweeper flotillas berthed in the basin, while two tankers were berthed inside the Normandie dock. The 6th and 7th U-boat flotillas, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Georg-Wilhelm Schulz and Korvettenkapitän Herbert Sohler respectively, were permanently based in the port. It is not known how many submarines were present on the day of the raid. The submarine base had been inspected by the U-boat Commander in Chief, Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz, the day before the raid. He asked what they would do if the base were subjected to an attack by British Commandos. Sohler replied that "an attack on the base would be hazardous and highly improbable."

Outward journey
The three destroyers and 16 small boats left Falmouth, Cornwall, at 14:00 on 26 March 1942. They formed into a convoy of three lanes, with the destroyers in the middle. On arrival at St Nazaire the portside MLs were to head for the Old Mole to disembark their commandos, while the starboard lane would make for the old entrance to the basin to disembark theirs. Not having the range to reach St Nazaire unaided, the MTB and MGB were taken under tow by Campbeltown and Atherstone.

The convoy next encountered two French fishing trawlers. Both crews were taken off and the ships sunk for fear they might report the composition and location of the convoy. At 17:00 the convoy received a signal from Commander-in-Chief Plymouth that five German torpedo boats were in the area. Two hours later another signal informed them that another two Hunt-class destroyers, HMS Cleveland (L46) and HMS Brocklesby (L42), had been dispatched at full speed to join the convoy's return.

The convoy reached a position 65 nmi off St Nazaire at 21:00 and changed course toward the estuary, leaving Atherstone and Tynedale as a sea patrol. The convoy adopted a new formation with the MGB and two torpedo MLs in the lead, followed by Campbeltown. The rest of the MLs formed two columns on either side and astern of the destroyer, with the MTB bringing up the rear. The first casualty of the raid was ML 341, which had developed engine trouble and was abandoned. At 22:00 the submarine Sturgeon directed her navigation beacon out to sea to guide the convoy in. At about the same time Campbeltown raised the German naval ensign in an attempt to deceive any German lookouts into thinking she was a German destroyer.

At 23:30 on 27 March, five RAF squadrons (comprising 35 Whitleys and 27 Wellingtons) started their bombing runs. The bombers had to stay above 6000 ft and were supposed to remain over the port for 60 minutes to divert attention toward themselves and away from the sea. They had orders to only bomb clearly identified military targets and to drop only one bomb at a time. As it turned out, poor weather with full cloud cover over the port meant that only four aircraft bombed targets in St Nazaire. Six aircraft managed to bomb other nearby targets.

At around 02:00, the convoy was sighted by the GS U-593, which dived and later reported the British ships as moving westward, further complicating the German understanding of the raid.

The unusual behaviour dropping bombs one by one from the bombers concerned Kapitän zur See Mecke. At 00:00 on 28 March, he issued a warning that there might be a parachute landing in progress. At 01:00 on 28 March, he followed up by ordering all guns to cease firing and searchlights to be extinguished in case the bombers were using them to locate the port. Everyone was placed on a heightened state of alert. The harbour defence companies and ships' crews were ordered out of the air raid shelters. During all this an estuary lookout boat reported seeing some activity out at sea, so Mecke began suspecting some type of landing and ordered extra attention to be paid to the approaches to the harbour.

Ramming the dry dock

At 00:30 hours on 28 March the convoy crossed over the shoals at the mouth of the Loire estuary, with Campbeltown scraping the bottom twice. Each time she pulled free, and the group proceeded toward the harbour in darkness. They had come within about eight minutes' passage from the dock gates when, at 01:22, the entire convoy was illuminated by searchlights on both banks of the estuary. A naval signal light demanded their identification.

MGB 314 replied in a coded response obtained from a German trawler boarded during the Vågsøy raid in 1941. A few bursts were fired from a shore battery and both Campbeltown and MGB 314 replied: "Ship being fired upon by friendly forces". The deception gave them a little more time before every German gun in the bay opened fire. At 01:28, with the convoy 1 mi from the dock gates, Beattie ordered the German flag lowered and the White Ensign raised. The intensity of the German fire seemed to increase. The guard ship opened fire and was quickly silenced when the ships in the convoy responded, shooting into her as they passed.

By now all the ships in the convoy were within range to engage targets ashore and were firing at the gun emplacements and searchlights. Campbeltown was hit several times and increased her speed to 19 kn. The helmsman on her bridge was killed, and his replacement was wounded and replaced as well. Blinded by the searchlights, Beattie knew they were close to their objective. Still under heavy fire, the MGB turned into the estuary as Campbeltown cleared the end of the Old Mole, cut through anti-torpedo netting strung across the entrance and rammed the dock gates, striking home at 01:34, three minutes later than scheduled. The force of the impact drove the ship 33 ft onto the gates, crushing 36 ft of the bow forward of the demolition charge cemented belowdecks.

Disembarkation from Campbeltown and the MLs
The commandos on Campbeltown now disembarked. These comprised two assault teams, five demolition teams with their protectors and a mortar group. Three demolition teams were tasked with destroying the dock pumping machinery and other installations associated with the dry dock caisson gates. The Captain Donald William Roy – 'The Laird' – and his 14-man kilted assault troop were tasked with knocking out two pump-house roof-top gun emplacements high above the quayside and securing a bridge to provide a route for the raiding parties to exit the dock area. Roy and Sgt Don Randall used scaling ladders and grenades to accomplish the former, and a head-on rush to secure the bridge and form a bridgehead that enabled Captain Bob Montgomery and Lt Corran Purdon and their demolition teams to exit the area.

They lost four men in this action. The fifth team also succeeded in completing all their objectives, but almost half their men were killed. The other two commando groups were not as successful. The MLs transporting Groups One and Two had almost all been destroyed on their approach. ML 457 was the only boat to land its commandos on the Old Mole and only ML 177 had managed to reach the gates at the old entrance to the basin. That team succeeded in planting charges on two tugboats moored in the basin.

There were only two other MLs in the vicinity: ML 160 had continued past the dock and was engaging targets upriver, ML 269 appeared to be out of control and was running in circles.

Lt Col Newman aboard the MGB need not have landed, but he was one of the first ashore. One of his first actions was to direct mortar fire onto a gun position on top of the submarine pens that was causing heavy casualties among the commandos. He next directed machine-gun fire onto an armed trawler, which was forced to withdraw upriver. Newman organised a defence that succeeded in keeping the increasing numbers of German reinforcements at bay until the demolition parties had completed their tasks.

Some 100 commandos were still ashore when Newman realised that evacuation by sea was no longer possible. He gathered the survivors and issued three orders:
 * To do our best to get back to England;
 * Not to surrender until all our ammunition is exhausted;
 * Not to surrender at all if we can help it.

Newman and Copland led the charge from the old town across a bridge raked by machine gun fire and advanced into the new town. The commandos attempted to get through the narrow streets of the town and into the surrounding countryside, but were eventually surrounded. When their ammunition was expended, they surrendered. Not all the commandos were captured, as five men reached neutral Spain and eventually returned to England.

Small ships

Most of the unarmoured wooden MLs had been destroyed on the run in and were burning. The first ML in the starboard column was the first boat to catch fire. Her captain managed to beach her at the end of the Old Mole. Some starboard boats managed to reach their objective and disembark their commandos. ML 457, the leading boat in the port column, got to within 10 ft of the mole in the face of heavy direct fire and hand grenades before being set on fire. The crew were rescued by ML 160, one of the torpedo MLs which had been looking for targets of opportunity such as the two large tankers reported to be in the harbour. The commanders of ML 160 and ML 447, Lieutenants T Boyd and T D L Platt, were awarded the Distinguished Service Order for their bravery. The rest of the port column had been destroyed or disabled before reaching the mole. ML 192 and ML 262 were set on fire, and all but six of their men were killed. ML 268 was blown up, with one survivor.

Thomas O'Leary, the wireless operator for ML 446, said:"One commando was remarking how pretty the tracer fire, red and green, was. A moment later one blew the back of his head out. I was down below with my tin hat because by now the bullets were going through (the boat) and out the other side. If I wanted to get about I had to crawl on my hands and knees and I was lucky nothing came through at my level. We couldn't get in (to the objective) and all of a sudden the wounded started coming down. By then all our guns had jammed and most of the other ships were on fire." ML 177, the launch that had successfully taken off some of the crew from Campbeltown, was sunk on her way out of the estuary. ML 269, another torpedo-armed boat, moved up and down the river at high speed to draw German fire away from the landings. Soon after passing Campbeltown it was hit and its steering damaged. It took ten minutes to repair the steering. The boat turned and started in the other direction, opening fire on an armed trawler in passing. Return fire from the trawler set the boat's engine on fire.

ML 306 also came under heavy fire when it arrived near the port. Sergeant Thomas Durrant of No. 1 Commando, manning the aft Lewis gun, engaged gun and searchlight positions on the run in. He was wounded but stayed with his gun. The ML reached the open sea but was attacked at short range by the GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Jaguar. Durrant returned fire, aiming for the torpedo boat's bridge. He was wounded again but remained at his gun even after the German commander asked for their surrender. He fired many drums of ammunition until the ML was boarded. Durrant died of his wounds and, on the recommendation of Jaguar's commander, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

After the commando headquarters group had landed, Commander Ryder went to check for himself that Campbeltown was firmly stuck in the dock. Some of her surviving crewmen were being taken on board the MGB. Ryder returned to the boat and ordered the MTB to carry out its alternative task and torpedo the lock gates at the old entrance to the basin. After a successful torpedo attack, Ryder ordered the MTB to leave. On their way out of the estuary they stopped to collect survivors from a sinking ML and were hit and set on fire. Back at the docks the MGB had positioned itself in mid-river to engage enemy gun emplacements. The forward 2 pounder was manned by Able Seaman William Alfred Savage. Commander Ryder reported that "The rate of supporting fire had evidently been felt, and the commandos in the area of the Tirpitz dock had undoubtedly overcome the resistance in that area. There was an appreciable slackening in the enemy's fire."

Ryder could see no ships other than seven or eight burning MLs. He then realised that the landing places at the Old Mole and the entrance to the basin had both been recaptured by the Germans. There was nothing more they could do for the commandos, so they headed out to sea. On their way they were continuously illuminated by German searchlights and were hit at least six times by the German guns. Passing ML 270, they ordered her to follow and made smoke to hide both boats.

When they reached the open sea the smaller calibre guns were out of range and stopped firing but the heavier artillery continued to engage them. The boats were about 4 mi off-shore when the last German salvo straddled them and killed Savage, who was still at his gun. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his exploits. His citation recognised both Savage and the bravery of "many others, unnamed, in Motor Launches, Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats who gallantly carried out their duties in entirely exposed positions against Enemy fire at very close range."

Return journey
At 06:30 the five German torpedo boats that the convoy had evaded the previous day were sighted by HMS Atherstone and Tynedale. The destroyers turned toward them and opened fire at a range of 7 nmi. After ten minutes the German boats turned away, making smoke. The destroyers sighted the MGB and two accompanying MLs soon after and transferred their casualties to Atherstone. Not expecting any more boats to arrive, they headed for home. Just after 09:00 the Hunt-class escort destroyers Brocklesby and Cleveland arrived, sent by Commander-in-Chief Plymouth. Shortly after this the ships were spotted by a Heinkel 115 floatplane of the Luftwaffe.

The next German aircraft on the scene, a Junkers Ju 88, was engaged by a RAF Bristol Beaufighter which had arrived in the area earlier. Both aircraft crashed into the sea. Other German planes arrived but were driven off by Beaufighters and Hudsons from Coastal Command. The Atlantic weather conditions deteriorated. Amid concerns about the growing German threat and the realisation that the damaged small ships would not be able to keep up, Commander Sayer ordered the crews off the smaller boats and had them sunk.

ML 160, ML 307 and ML 443 reached the rendezvous and waited until 10:00 for the destroyers to appear. Having already been attacked once, they moved further out into the Atlantic to try to avoid the Luftwaffe but a Junkers Ju 88 appeared overhead at 07:30 and approached them at low level for a closer look. The ships opened fire, hit the Junkers in the cockpit and the aircraft crashed into the sea. The next aircraft to appear was a Blohm & Voss seaplane which attempted to bomb the ships but left after being damaged by machine-gun fire. The MLs eventually reached England unaided the following day.

Campbeltown explodes

The explosive charges in HMS Campbeltown detonated at noon on 28 March 1942, and the dry dock was destroyed. Reports vary on the fate of the two tankers that were in the dock; they were either swept away by the wall of water and sunk, or swept to the far end of the dock, but not sunk. A party of 40 senior German officers and civilians who were on a tour of Campbeltown were killed. In total, the explosion killed about 360 men. The wreck of Campbeltown could still be seen inside the dry dock months later when RAF photo reconnaissance planes were sent to photograph the port.

According to Captain Robert Montgomery (Royal Engineers, attached to No. 2 Commando), Campbeltown was meant to have detonated at 04:30, the delay caused, he believes, by some of the acid in the pencil detonators being distilled away. As the morning progressed, more and more captured comrades joined him in the German HQ.

The day after the explosion, Organisation Todt workers were assigned to clean up the debris and wreckage. On 30 March at 16:30 the torpedoes from MTB 74, which were on a delayed fuse setting, exploded at the old entrance into the basin. This raised alarms among the Germans. The Organisation Todt workers ran away from the dock area. German guards, mistaking their khaki uniforms for British uniforms, opened fire, killing some of them. The Germans also thought that some commandos were still hiding in the town, and made a street by street search, during which some townspeople were also killed.

Aftermath
The explosion put the dry dock out of commission for the remainder of the war. The St Nazaire raid had been a success, but at high cost: of the 612 men of the Royal Navy and commandos who took part in the raid, only 228 men returned to England. Five commandos escaped via neutral Spain and Gibraltar with the help of French citizens and took a ship to England; 169 men were killed (105 RN and 64 commandos) and another 215 became prisoners of war (106 RN and 109 commandos). They were first taken to La Baule and then sent to Stalag 133 at Rennes. The fallen British raiders were buried at the La Baule-Escoublac cemetery, 13 km west of St Nazaire.

To recognise their achievement, 89 decorations were awarded for the raid, including Victoria Crosses awarded to Lieutenant Commander Beattie, Lieutenant Colonel Newman and Commander Ryder and posthumously to Sergeant Durrant and Able Seaman Savage. Distinguished Service Orders were awarded to Major William Copland, Captain Donald Roy, Lieutenant T. Boyd and Lieutenant T. D. L. Platt. Other decorations awarded were four Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, five Distinguished Conduct Medals, 17 Distinguished Service Crosses, 11 Military Crosses, 24 Distinguished Service Medals and 15 Military Medals. Four men were awarded the Croix de guerre by France and another 51 were mentioned in dispatches.

Adolf Hitler was furious that the British had been able to sail a flotilla of ships up the Loire unhindered and he sacked Generaloberst Carl Hilpert, chief of staff to the OB West (Commander in Chief West). The raid refocused German attention on the Atlantic Wall and special attention was given to ports to prevent any repeat of the raid. By June 1942, the Germans began using concrete to fortify gun emplacements and bunkers in quantities previously only used in U-boat pens. Hitler laid out new plans in a meeting with Armaments Minister Albert Speer in August 1942, calling for the construction of 15,000 bunkers by May 1943 to defend the Atlantic coast from Norway to Spain. The battleship Tirpitz never entered the Atlantic. She remained in Norwegian fjords to threaten Allied shipping until she was destroyed by the RAF in Operation Catechism on 12 November 1944.

Legacy
St Nazaire was one of the 38 battle honours presented to the commandos after the war. The survivors formed their own association, the St Nazaire Society, which is a registered charity in the United Kingdom.

A memorial to the raid erected in Falmouth bears the following inscription:

A new HMS Campbeltown (F86), a Type 22 frigate, was launched on 7 October 1987. She carried the ship's bell from the first Campbeltown, which had been rescued during the raid and been presented to the town of Campbelltown, Pennsylvania, US at the end of the Second World War. In 1988 the people of Campbelltown voted to lend the bell to the new ship for as long as she remained in Royal Navy service. The bell was returned to the town on 21 June 2011 when HMS Campbeltown was decommissioned.

On 4 September 2002, a tree and seat at the National Memorial Arboretum were dedicated to the men of the raid. The seat bears the inscription:"In memory of the Royal Navy Sailors and Army Commandos killed in the raid on St Nazaire on 28 March 1942"

A new Type 31 HMS Campbeltown has been announced as part of the new "Inspiration class" of frigates for the Royal Navy, announced on 19 May 2021.

In 2007, Jeremy Clarkson presented a BBC documentary on the raid entitled Jeremy Clarkson: The Greatest Raid of All Time, featuring interviews with surviving commandos.

title: St Nazaire Raid


text:
Eurovision Young Dancers 1997

The Eurovision Young Dancers 1997 was the seventh edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Teatr Muzyczny in Gdynia, Poland on 17 June 1997. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP), dancers from seven countries participated in the televised final. A total of thirteen countries took part in the competition. and made their début while five countries (,, ,  and ) decided not to participate. However, France, Switzerland, Norway and, for the first time Ireland, broadcast the event.

The participant countries could send one or two dancers, male or female, who performed one or two dances. The semi-final took place six days before the final (11 June 1997).

The non-qualified countries were,, , , , and. Spain, with Antonio Carmena San José, won the contest for a 5th time (4th in a row) with Belgium and Sweden placing second and third respectively.

Location
Teatr Muzyczny, a theatre in Gdynia, Poland, was the host venue for the 1997 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. Once all the jury votes have been counted, the two participants which received the highest total of points progress to a final round. The final round consists of a 90-second 'dual', were each of the finalists perform a 45-second random dance-off routine. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

Folk dance group "Bazuny" performed as the interval act.

Preliminary round
A total of thirteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1997 contest, of which seven qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Maya Plisetskaya (Head of Jury)
 * / – Gigi Caciuleanu
 * – Paola Cantalupo
 * – Katarzyna Gdaniec
 * – Uwe Scholz
 * – Gösta Svalberg
 * – Heinz Spoerli

Broadcasting
The 1997 Young Dancers competition was broadcast in 17 countries. France, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland broadcast it in addition to the competing countries.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 1997


text:
Eurovision Young Dancers 1999

The Eurovision Young Dancers 1999 was the eighth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Opéra de Lyon, in Lyon, France, on 10 July 1999. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster France 3, dancers from ten countries participated in the televised final. A total of sixteen countries took part in the competition. made their début while host country, , and  returned. and decided not to participate.

Both single dancers and couples younger than 20 could enter the competition, male or female. Single dancers had to perform 2 pieces of maximum 10 minutes in total, while couples could choose to perform 1 or 2 dances, but in total no longer than 10 minutes as well. The semi-final that took place in the same venue 6 days before the final (4 July 1999).

The non-qualified countries were, , , , Switzerland and United Kingdom. Katja Wünsche and Stegli Yohan of Germany won the contest, with Sweden and Spain placing second and joint third respectively.

Location
Opéra de Lyon, in Lyon, France, was the host venue for the 1999 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

The Opéra Nouvel (Nouvel Opera House) in Lyon, France, is the home of the Opéra National de Lyon. The original opera house was re-designed by the distinguished French architect, Jean Nouvel between 1985 and 1993 in association with the agency of scenography dUCKS scéno and the acoustician Peutz. Serge Dorny was appointed general director in 2003.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

The interval act was a performance by the hip-hop dance group "Kä-fig".

Preliminary round
A total of sixteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 1999 contest, of which ten qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Boris Eifman (Head of Jury)
 * – Maguy Marin
 * – Meryl Tankard
 * / – Jean-Christophe Maillot
 * – Tero Saarinen
 * – Vicente Sáez
 * – Victoria Maragopoulou

Broadcasting
A total of 20 countries broadcast the 1999 event, including, , and.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 1999


text:
Oliver Twins

Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver, together known as the Oliver Twins, are British twin brothers and video game designers.

They developed computer games while they were still at school, contributing their first type-in game to a magazine in 1983. They worked with publishers Codemasters for a number of years following their first collaboration Super Robin Hood, creating the Dizzy series of games and many of Codemasters' Simulator Series games. In 1990 they founded Interactive Studios which later became Blitz Games Studios. In October 2013 they founded Radiant Worlds, based in Leamington Spa, with long time friend and colleague Richard Smithies.

History
Philip and Andrew Oliver first began programming computer games while at school (Clarendon School in Trowbridge ). They discovered their interest in computing when their brother bought a used ZX 81 when they were 13. They bought a faster Dragon 32 in September 1982, with a bigger memory. They tried to improve the type-in games they found in magazines and eventually created their own game, Road Runner, which was published as written code in Computer and Video Games Magazine in January 1984. The same year they won first prize in a national TV competition (The Saturday Show) to design a computer game.

Codemasters
Their first game for Codemasters, Super Robin Hood for the Amstrad CPC, was published in 1986. The Codemasters publishing relationship led to the origin of the Dizzy series and the Simulator series.

Interactive Studios (Blitz Games Studios)
In 1990, at the age of 22, they started Interactive Studios, later called Blitz Games Studios. Apart from their own games, the Oliver Twins were also responsible for porting a number of other prominent games to the Sega platforms, including Theme Park and Syndicate.

After 23 years, Blitz Games folded in 2013, with the loss of 175 staff, and owing millions to creditors.

Radiant Worlds
In October 2013 they founded Radiant Worlds, based in Leamington Spa, UK, with long time friend and colleague Richard Smithies to develop SkySaga: Infinite Isles for Korean-based Smilegate. SkySaga was an ambitious online voxel based game based on an original concept by members of the Blitz Games Studios team. In August 2017 Smilegate put SkySaga on hold and the Olivers and Smithies put the company up for sale. In January 2018, Rebellion, a UK games developer and publisher, purchased the company and renamed it to Rebellion (Warwick). The twins remained with Rebellion until February 2019, at which point they left to form a game consultancy business.

Dizzy revival
In 2015 Philip Oliver found a hand drawn map titled Wonderland Dizzy while preparing for a talk the twins were due to give at that year's Play Blackpool event, after looking around further a disk was found which contained the full uncompiled source code of a game with the same name which they had written 22 years earlier for the NES but had forgotten about. The twins came into contact with Lukasz Kur via a Dizzy fansite, who fixed a few bugs in the game's code and translated it into a few languages before compiling it. The game was released online and free to play on 24 October 2015. In 2016, they released a second lost Dizzy game, Mystery World Dizzy, which was originally scheduled for release on the Nintendo in 1993. In May 2017 the twins announced they would be working on a new Dizzy game, their first for over 20 years. In a fun video for the ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter campaign they revealed the game would be inspired by the classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by author L. Frank Baum, and would be called Wonderful Dizzy.

Leadership
Both of the Olivers take an active role in supporting the UK games industry. Philip Oliver is one of the founders of developers' trade body TIGA and has served as an active board member (currently a director) since its inception in 2001. He was also a director on the board for e-skills UK for several years.

The brothers received honorary doctorates in 2008 from Coventry University (in business administration (DBA) and technology (DTech) for Philip and Andrew respectively) in recognition of their contribution to the growth of the electronic games industry both regionally and internationally, and were honoured as Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts in 2010.

After Philip attended the launch of the UK Government's Next Gen Report (also known as the Livingstone-Hope Report) in February 2011 about challenges faced by the UK Games industry, he established Made in Creative UK which with Andrew they run as a not for profit campaign to raise awareness of the world class game developers and digital creatives developers based in the UK. The campaign has over 350 supporting companies and many high-profile supporters, including Sajid Javid MP (Culture Secretary & Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills).

The Oliver Twins' early games and story inspired many people to develop video games as a career, and this was captured in Chris Wilkins and Roger Kean's book Let's Go Dizzy: The Story of the Oliver Twins, published December 2016 through Fusion Retro Books.

A video shot at the launch of the book entitled Videogame Legends – Computerphile prompted Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft, to tweet that he was one of those inspired by the Oliver Twins games: "I grew up loving and being inspired by their work."

In December 2017 Guinness World Records awarded the Oliver Twins the record for "Most Prolific 8-bit videogame developers". They developed 26 different commercially released games for 8-bit computers and consoles from 1984-1992 and wrote a total of 49 games overall, taking into account titles released for multiple platforms.

Games developed

 * Road Runner - (Computer & Video Games Magazine) December 1983 - Dragon 32 (Type-in listing)
 * Gambit (initially called Strategy) - (Acornsoft) April 1984 - BBC Model B
 * Tellscope - (Acorn User) November 1984 - BBC Model B
 * Easy Art - (Interceptor Micros) - Amstrad CPC (Original written for the BBC Model B for Firebird but never released)
 * Cavey - (Players) - BBC Model B
 * Panda Sprites - (Interceptor Micros) - Amstrad CPC
 * Rescue Mission - (Beebug) - BBC Model B
 * Magic Maths - (Players) - Amstrad CPC
 * Magic Clock - (Players) - Amstrad CPC
 * Killapede - (Players) - Amstrad CPC
 * Excaliber - half complete & unreleased - Amstrad CPC
 * Super Robin Hood – (Codemasters) November 1986 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, ST, Amiga, NES
 * Ghost Hunters – (Codemasters) February 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Grand Prix Simulator – (Codemasters) April 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Dizzy - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure – (Codemasters) June 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Professional Ski Simulator – (Codemasters) October 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga
 * 3D Starfighter – (Codemasters) November 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
 * Fruit Machine Simulator – (Codemasters) February 1988 – ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Treasure Island Dizzy – (Codemasters) August 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, NES, PC DOS
 * Advanced Pinball Simulator – (Codemasters) October 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Pro BMX Simulator – (Codemasters) November 1988 – C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Fast Food Dizzy – (Codemasters) December 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC DOS
 * Grand Prix Simulator II – (Codemasters) February 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * The Race Against Time – (Codemasters) May 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Jet Bike Simulator – (Codemasters) September 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Incredible Shrinking Sphere – (published by Activision) October 1988 – C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Fantasy World Dizzy – (Codemasters) October 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Ghostbusters II (published by Activision) August 1989 – C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Operation Gunship – (Codemasters) August 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Kwik Snax – (Codemasters) November 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Magicland Dizzy – (Codemasters) February 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Dizzy Panic! – (Codemasters) May 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Master System, Game Gear
 * Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk – (Codemasters) August 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Bubble Dizzy – (Codemasters) November 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Spellbound Dizzy – (Codemasters) December 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Dizzy Down the Rapids – (Codemasters) April 1991 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64
 * Fantastic Dizzy – (Codemasters) April 1992 – NES, Amiga, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC, Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear.
 * Firehawk – (Codemasters) September 1992 – NES, Atari ST, Amiga
 * Crystal Kingdom Dizzy – (Codemasters) December 1992 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, PC
 * Robin Hood Legend Quest – (Codemasters) January 1993 – NES (Quattro Adventure), Atari ST, Amiga,
 * Dizzy The Adventurer – (Codemasters) November 1992 – NES (Bundled with Aladdin)
 * Go! Dizzy Go! – (Codemasters) November 1992 – NES (Quattro Arcade)
 * BMX Simulator – (Codemasters) March 1993 – NES (Quattro Sports)
 * The Excellent Dizzy Collection – (Codemasters) November 1993 – Master System, Game Gear
 * Wonderland Dizzy – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) November 2015 – NES
 * Dreamworld Pogie – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) May 2017 – NES
 * Mystery World Dizzy – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) February 2018 – NES

Key to formats...

They are in order of release, the first in the list being the first and main version, from which others were derived. Bold Designed and written by The Oliver Twins.

Plain Font Converted by other people to these formats.

Bold + Italic Converted to these formats by The Oliver Twins.

Later games (Developed after 1993)
Games created or published by Complex Software, Interactive Studios, Blitz Games Studios, and Radiant Worlds:

 * Puss in Boots (Q4 2011)
 * Michael Phelps: Push the Limit (Q4 2011)
 * SpongeBob's Surf and Skate Roadtrip (Q4 2011)
 * Fantastic Pets (2011)
 * Yoostar 2 (2011)
 * Droplitz Delight (2010)
 * SFG Soccer: Football Fever (2010) – Published by Blitz 1UP
 * The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout (2010)
 * The Biggest Loser Challenge (2010)
 * Dead to Rights: Retribution (2010)
 * All Star Karate (2010)
 * Biggest Loser (2009)
 * Karaoke Revolution (2009)
 * iCarly (2009)
 * KrissX (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Fluttabyes (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Mole Control (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Clover: A Curious Tale (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao (Q4 2009)
 * Droplitz (Q3 2009)
 * PowerUp Forever (2008)
 * Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy (2008)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 (2008)
 * Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade (2008)
 * Bratz Girlz Really Rock (2008)
 * Tak and the Guardians of Gross (2008)
 * Project Aftermath (2008)- Published by Blitz 1UP
 * Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore (2008)
 * SpongeBob SquarePants – Underpants Slam (2007)
 * Bratz: The Movie (video game) (2007)
 * Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol (2007)
 * Big Bumpin' (2006)
 * PocketBike Racer (2006)
 * Sneak King (2006)
 * SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (2006)
 * Bratz: Forever Diamondz (2006)
 * Reservoir Dogs (2006)
 * Pac-Man World 3 (2005)
 * Bratz: Rock Angelz (2005)
 * The Fairly OddParents: Shadow Showdown (2004)
 * Bad Boys: Miami Takedown (2004)
 * Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue (2003)
 * The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' Da Rules (2003)
 * Zapper: One Wicked Cricket (2002)
 * Taz: Wanted (2002)
 * Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise (2002)
 * Fuzion Frenzy (2001)
 * The Mummy Returns (2001)
 * Chicken Run (2000)
 * The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
 * Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge (2000)
 * Action Man: Destruction X (2000)
 * Action Man: Mission Xtreme (1999)
 * Glover (1999)
 * WarGames (1998)

Radiant Worlds
 * SkySaga: Infinite Isles (Alpha released Q4 2014 )

title: Oliver Twins


text:
Eurovision Young Dancers 2001

The Eurovision Young Dancers 2001 was the eighth edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers, held at the Linbury Studio Theatre of the Royal Opera House in London, United Kingdom between 18 and 23 June 2001. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), dancers from eleven countries participated in the televised final. A total of eighteen countries took part in the competition. and made their début while,  and  returned. and decided not to participate, along with  who broadcast the event.

The semi-final that took place five days before the final (18 June 2001). Each country could send one or two performers, male and female, not older than 20, who could perform one or two dances. The dancers could choose between classical and contemporary dance.

The non-qualified countries were Austria,, , Ireland, Norway, and Ukraine. David and Marcin Kupinski of Poland won the contest, with Belgium and Netherlands placing second and third respectively.

Location
The Linbury Studio Theatre of the Royal Opera House in London, United Kingdom was the host venue for the 2001 edition of the Eurovision Young Dancers.

The Linbury is most notable for hosting performances of experimental and independent dance and music, by independent companies and as part of the ROH2, the contemporary producing arm of the Royal Opera House. The Linbury Studio Theatre regularly stages performances by the Royal Ballet School and also hosts the Young British Dancer of the Year competition.

Format
The format consists of dancers who are non-professional and between the ages of 16–21, competing in a performance of dance routines of their choice, which they have prepared in advance of the competition. All of the acts then take part in a choreographed group dance during 'Young Dancers Week'.

Jury members of a professional aspect and representing the elements of ballet, contemporary, and modern dancing styles, score each of the competing individual and group dance routines. The overall winner upon completion of the final dances is chosen by the professional jury members.

The interval act was Symbiont(s) by Wayne McGregor.

Preliminary round
A total of eighteen countries took part in the preliminary round of the 2001 contest, of which eleven qualified to the televised grand final. The following countries failed to qualify.

Final
Awards were given to the top three countries. The table below highlights these using gold, silver, and bronze. The placing results of the remaining participants is unknown and never made public by the European Broadcasting Union.

Jury members
The jury members consisted of the following:

 * – Matthew Bourne (Head of Jury)
 * – Amanda Miller
 * – Maina Gielgud
 * / — Samuel Wuersten
 * – Monique Veaute

Broadcasting
A total of 19 countries broadcast the 2001 event. France was the only country to broadcast the event without competing.

title: Eurovision Young Dancers 2001