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Opel Astra

The Opel Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kadett. , the car slots between the smaller Corsa supermini and the larger Insignia large family car.

Initially, the Astra was available in hatchback, saloon, and estate (station wagon; known as the Astra Caravan, later the Sports Tourer) forms. A panel van (sedan delivery; Astravan) and a convertible (Astra Cabrio) also appeared in the early 1990s. These body styles were later followed by a coupé (the Astra GTC) in 2004, and the sporty Astra OPC appeared in 2005. The Twin Top retractable hardtop convertible replaced the soft top convertible in 2006, while the Caravan was renamed to Astra Sports Tourer since 2009.

The Astra is branded the Vauxhall Astra in the United Kingdom. It was rebadged and sold as the Saturn Astra in North America between 2008 and 2009, as the Buick Excelle XT from 2009 until 2015 and as the Buick Verano/Hatchback GS in China from 2015 until 2021. The Holden Astra was discontinued in Australia and New Zealand in 2009, and was replaced by the locally assembled Holden Cruze. It briefly returned to the Australian market in 2012, for the first time badged as an Opel, but was discontinued after Opel withdrew from the country a year later. In 2015, Opel reintroduced the Astra GTC and Astra VXR to Australia and New Zealand in 2015, again bearing the Holden badge. Between 2017 and 2019, the Astra nameplate was also used for the Holden version of the Cruze sedan.

After Opel was sold by General Motors to PSA Group, the Astra K continued to be produced under license until it was replaced by the Astra L. The Astra L was released after the merger of the company to form Stellantis.

The Astra nameplate originates from Vauxhall, which had manufactured and marketed earlier generations of the Opel Kadett (the Kadett D and Kadett E) as the Vauxhall Astra since March 1980. Subsequent GM Europe policy standardised model nomenclature in the early 1990s, whereby model names were the same in all markets regardless of the marque they were sold under.

As of 2021, there have been six generations of the Astra (or eleven generations of the Kadett/Astra family as a whole). In a fashion typical for Opel, they are designated with subsequent letters of the Latin alphabet. Opel's official convention is that the Astra is a logical continuation of the Kadett lineage, thus, the first generation of Opel Astra became the Astra F rather than the Astra A since the final Opel Kadett was the Kadett E. The Mk1 and Mk2 Vauxhall Astras are sometimes called the Astra D and Astra E by enthusiasts to mark the continuity with their sister models.

Models sold as Vauxhall, Holden, or Chevrolet have different generation designations reflecting the history of those nameplates in their home markets and their naming conventions.

First generation (1991) [Astra F; T91]
The Astra F debuted in September 1991. With the Kadett E's successor, Opel adopted the Astra nameplate, which was already used by Vauxhall for the Kadett D and E (see Vauxhall Astra). It was offered as a three- or five-door hatchback, a saloon (sedan), and an estate (wagon) known as the Caravan and available with five doors only, bringing Opel's run of three-door wagons to an end at long last. The Caravan appeared in October 1991, shortly after the original introduction, as did the sporty, 16-valve GSI model with its aggressive bodykit. A cabriolet was also offered, designed, and built by Bertone in Italy.

Compared to the Kadett, the Astra grew slightly in all dimensions except the wheelbase. The windshield was moved forward by 7.5 cm while the roof was extended the same amount at the rear, meaning a significant increase in interior volume.

The Astra F received a facelift in August 1994, accompanied by improved rust protection. This included a new grille with a larger Opel badge, clear front turn signals, new door mirrors (replacing the earlier Kadett E units used on the pre-facelift model), and a generally smoothed-out appearance. While the Astra F finished production in Germany in 2000, Polish-built Astras remained on offer in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey, India and Asia with the name Opel Astra Classic from 1999 to 2003.

The Astra F consisted of two main revisions and was revised in 1995, with the launch of Opel's new Ecotec engine.

Aside from the South Africa-only 200tS, the lead model was the GSi – a 2.0-litre 16V fuel injected model with 150 PS, available as a three-door only. It also featured a sports body kit and widened front seats in the interior. However, this was substituted in 1995 and was renamed as SPORT, although only a limited number were produced and the body kit was removed also and it could be selected with the lower-powered, but more modern 'Ecotec' version, the 136 PS X20XEV parallel with the C20XE. In Europe from 1994 all Astra models were offered with the 2.0 L 16V Ecotec X20XEV parallel with the eight-valve C20NE engine, but the three-door and station wagon models could be selected with the 150 PS C20XE engine.

After the Astra F was replaced by the new generation Astra G in 1998, the so-called "REDTOP" C20XE engine was also taken out of production.

South African models
The model was also launched in South Africa in November 1991, where it was produced under licence by Delta. The "Kadett" name was retained for the hatchback Astras until 2000. The sedan and station wagon models were offered under the Astra name. The Kadett and Astra in South Africa won the title of 'Car of the Year' in two consecutive years (1994 and 1995) even though they were versions of the same car. South African nomenclature was denoted in centilitres, so the Astra and Kadett ranges featured 140, 160i, 180i and 200i models. Models with fuel injection received the "i" designation, while carburetor models didn't. Additional model designation was listed after the displacement with the inclusion of the letters "S" for sport or "E" for executive. Sport trim was typically for the Kadett (hatchback) model and included a different front bumper with spotlights and a rear spoiler. Executive derivatives included a higher specification level than non-executive models. The top variant in the Kadett (hatchback) model was the 200iS which featured a 2.0 SOHC 8v engine producing 95kw while the top spec Astra (sedan) derivative featured a 2.0 16v DOHC engine producing 110kw. The South African lineup also included a unique limited edition variant with a turbocharged C20LET engine called the 200tS offered in either Kadett (hatchback) or Astra (sedan) derivatives and was only available for two model years (1994-1995) and in limited numbers. The 200tS was built by Delta Motor Corporation and faster than the then-current BMW M3 in a quarter-mile drag race. The "t" stands for the turbocharger. The engine was sourced from the 4x4 Opel Calibra and Opel Vectra and converted from a six-speed, four-wheel drive transmission (Getrag F28) to front-wheel drive only with a limited slip differential. The 200tS was unique from other Kadett and Astra models as it used a 5 bolt wheel hub (all other cars used a 4 bolt hub), it also featured unique 16" alloy wheels only available on the 200tS.

Other markets
The Opel Astra also became available in Australasia badged as a Holden, first in New Zealand in 1995, and then Australia in 1996. These models were imported from the UK. The Holden Astra name had previously been used on rebadged Nissan Pulsar models from 1984 to 1989.

The Opel Astra's first generation was exported to Brazil from December 1994 as the Chevrolet Astra, possibly because of a lowering of import tariffs. General Motors do Brasil sent the 2.0-litre, 115 bhp engines to Belgium, whence the completed cars took their way to Brazil. In February 1996 the Brazilian government again changed the import tariff, from 20 to 70% - making the car prohibitively expensive and leading to its cancellation after just over a year on the market. Instead, the locally built Kadett was updated. The second-generation Astra was manufactured in Brazil.

Beginning in March 1995, the Astra sedan was assembled in Indonesia where it was marketed as the Opel Optima. The renaming was done as the global name was already used by Astra International, a local automotive company and an assembler/distributor of several competing car brands. In India the Opel Astra was assembled for the local market in a joint venture with the Birla Companies, beginning in 1996. Indian production ended in 2002.

The first-generation Chevrolet Astra in Brazil had a Vauxhall-style front grille featuring a "V", containing the Chevrolet badge.

Awards

 * 1992 – Semperit Irish Car of the Year
 * 1994 and 1995 – South African Car of the Year

Second generation (1998) [Astra G; T98]
The Astra G was launched in Europe in Spring of 1998. It was available as a three or five-door hatchback, four-door saloon, five-door estate (in Opel tradition, known as a "Caravan") and two special versions from 2000: the Astra Coupé and the Astra Cabrio, both of them designed and built by Bertone. The Astra G saw the introduction of a natural gas-powered engine. Its chassis was tuned by Lotus and formed the base of a 7-seater compact MPV, the Opel Zafira, which was co-developed by Porsche. Approximately 90,000 coupés were produced.

The manufacturing of the Astra saloon and Caravan continued at Opel's Gliwice plant in Poland after the debut of the next-generation Astra H, with the older model being branded as Astra Classic in a similar fashion to its predecessor, catering to the lower end of the market. This car was offered in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Turkey with the name Astra Classic II from 2004 to the end of 2009. Apart from European markets, these models were also sold in Australia and New Zealand as the Holden Astra Classic, until they were replaced by the Holden Viva (built-in South Korea) in 2006.

The Astra G was built as Chevrolet Astra in Brazil. It was facelifted in 2003 and was sold in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and other Latin American markets until 2011. The GM Brazilian 2.0 8V inline-four engine which equips the Astra has the "flex-power" technology, that allows the car to run on both petrol and alcohol fuels, providing 128/140 hp (G/A) at 5200 rpm.

A taxi version of the Brazilian sourced model, powered with gasoline 2.0-litre engine was sold in Chile as the Chevy Urban.

In 2004, GM's Russian joint venture GM-AvtoVAZ launched the 4-door version of the Astra G as the Chevrolet Viva. It was sold through Chevrolet dealers in Russia, while Opel dealers were selling the newer Opel Astra H. Sales were poor from the start due to high pricing: the only version launched was equipped with a 1.8L engine with an above-average trim level, placing the Viva's price above the Toyota Corolla. A project costing $340 million was selling less than a thousand cars annually (801 cars in 2007); rumours of shutting down Chevy Viva production circulated as early as summer of 2005. GM-AvtoVAZ shut down small-scale production of the Viva in March 2008.

V8 Coupe in DTM
The Astra G series Coupé was used for the silhouette racing cars in the DTM series. These DTM racing cars are purpose-built race cars with barely any parts taken from the road cars except for lights and door handles. The car's bodywork featured gull-wing doors that were each supported by two gas struts. The racing cars were powered by 4.0L V8 engines with nearly 500 hp. Opel did poorly during several seasons of DTM as only Manuel Reuter placed significantly in the championship once, taking second in the inaugural season in 2000 before withdrawing at the end of 2005, but the car was also used to win the 24h Nürburgring in 2003.

Xtreme
The Astra Xtreme, a concept car presented at the 2001 Geneva motor show, was a single-production V8-powered Astra based on the G-series Astra DTM. Like the DTM racing car, it featured a 4.0 L V8 engine, producing 444 hp, gull-wing doors supported by gas struts, carbon fiber panels, and race-specification interior with five-point seatbelts.

Stock Car Brazil
The season of 2005 also joined the history of Stock Car. In addition to the category becoming multi - the first time the Mitsubishi Lancer ran alongside the Chevrolet Astra, on 30 October 2005, 40 cars with Stock Car V8 engines performed an unprecedented race outside of Brazil worth points for the championship. It was a round to the side of TC 2000, the main category of Argentina and in July had run in Curitiba (Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba). The Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez got a crowd of 70,000 people. Giuliano Losacco was the winner, with Mateus Greipel second and Luciano Burti third.

The engine was a V8 Chevrolet 350 imported from the United States by JL, similar to that used in Busch Series, the second category of NASCAR, equal and limited to 450 hp. The automaker GM was now sponsoring the category, providing the fairing of the Astra, making room for other manufacturers to enter the category with a low investment.

Third generation (2004) [Astra H; A04]
The Astra H was launched in March 2004 as a five-door hatchback, whilst a five-door estate launched late 2004 and a sporty three-door hatchback, designated the GTC (Gran Tourismo Compact) for European markets, Sport Hatch in the UK and the Coupé in Australia, launched in 2005. The GTC has the option of a windscreen called "panoramic windscreen" (unique for a production car at the time of its launch) which extends into the roof area. Based on an updated version of GM's T platform, its size was increased compared to the previous version. Production came until the end of 2009, excepting the TwinTop which continued to be manufactured until November 2010.

The ageing Vectra B was replaced in Brazil with a sedan version of the Astra H, named Chevrolet Vectra, until it was replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze in 2009. The model was matched with the other models offered in Brazil. This version was offered as an Opel in some Eurasian markets in 2006, following a debut at the international auto show in Istanbul, Turkey, including Ireland in 2008. This was manufactured in Gliwice, Poland. Also in 2006, the Astravan, a 3-door van variant of the estate, was launched. In September 2007, a version of the 5-door Astra was launched in Brazil, marketed as Chevrolet Vectra GT to differentiate from the already existing Astra, which was replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback in 2011.

The Opel Astra was revised in January 2007, with the introduction of different colours of the posterior lighthouses and a new front.

GM Russia launched SKD assembly of Astra on a temporary production site near Saint Petersburg in February 2008, with a potential capacity of 25,000 vehicles annually.

The Chevrolet Astra was withdrawn from Mexico in 2008 as a result of the withdrawal of Opel products from the brand, replaced by the Chevrolet Cruze sedan for the 2010 model year.

A first for any major European car is the availability of digital radio on some versions of the new Astra, while for the Astra product class first are electronically controlled chassis (IDS+) and AFL (Adaptive Forward Lighting).

The Opel Astra Classic III from Bochum was offered for sale as a 5-door hatchback and estate in some Eastern European markets.

At the end of 2012, the Astravan was replaced by the new Opel Combo D (where the production of the Astra H had already ended).

OPC
During 2005, Opel introduced the OPC version of the Astra GTC (sold as the Astra VXR in the UK) which is powered by an updated version of the 2.0 L turbo Family II engine (Z20 LEH) producing 240 PS (177 kW, 237 bhp) and 320 Nm of torque. Standard features of the OPC version include sports bodykit and recaro interior, a six-speed manual gearbox, xenon headlamps and 18-inch alloy wheels amongst others.

This vehicle was sold until late 2009 in Australia and New Zealand by Holden Special Vehicles as the HSV VXR. HSV VXRs but it never offered a sedan in the UK and Australia are sold as standard with full leather trim, climate control, 6 disc CD and 19-inch alloy wheels. HSV VXRs were badged as per the UK Vauxhall Spec models but without the usual rear boot badge. The sedan was discontinued in Australia and United Kingdom in 2007. Inside the Opel Blitz appears on the steering wheel with an OPC dashboard. The Astra OPC was also sold as the Chevrolet Astra OPC in Chile.

TwinTop
In 2006, the Astra TwinTop arrived. (The "TwinTop" name also applies to the smaller Tigra and refers to a retractable hardtop convertible version of the car, shared with the Pontiac G6.) The Astra TwinTop has a three-part folding metal roof which sits in the upper half of the boot space, leaving considerable luggage space below it. Still marketed as a four-seater, the rear seating space is smaller than other Astra models. The TwinTop was available in three trim levels with a range of engines in each, including a 200 PS 2.0 L turbo and the 1.9 CDTI diesel in 150 PS form.

Launched in January 2007, Australian-market TwinTops came with the Z22YH 2.2 L direct-injection engine with a choice of 6-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission which was unique to Australia.

The folding roof assembly was built by Magna Steyr's Car Top Systems (CTS) subsidiary in Antwerp, Belgium, near the plant where the TwinTop was assembled. The TwinTop was discontinued in November 2010 along with the 3-door GTC, both replaced by the soft-top Opel Cascada.

Stock Car Brazil
In Brazil, Chevrolet Vectra (Astra H) substituted the Chevrolet Astra on Stock Car. The V8 is still the same, apart from that now they use Ethanol instead of Petrol.

Saturn Astra
The Saturn Astra was marketed in North America both the U.S and Canada after debuting at the 2007 Chicago Auto Show. Superseding the Ion, the Astra was a captive import, based on the Opel Astra, manufactured in Antwerp, Belgium.

Available in three and five-door hatchback body styles, sales began on 2 January 2008 with a single engine, a 1.8 L U18XER inline-4-cylinder gasoline engine with variable-valve technology producing 138 hp — available five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic transmission.

The XE base trim level was offered on the five-door hatchback and included steel wheels with plastic covers. The XR trim level was the only trim level for the 3-door and was available on five-door models — and included enhanced seat bolsters, driver lumbar and seat height adjusters; 17-inch alloy ten-spoke wheels and P225/45R17 all-season performance tires; easy Entry front sliding seats (3 door model) and enhanced instrument gauges.

Standard equipment included air conditioning (XR trim); cruise control; driver information center including audio, time and outside temperature display; power door locks with central locking feature and remote keyless entry; courtesy lighting and dual reading lamps in front and rear; cloth front bucket reclining seats with adjustable active head restraints; easy entry front sliding seats (3 door); rear 60/40-split flat-folding seat with adjustable and removable head restraints and retractable; dual cupholders, driver 4-way and passenger 2-way manually adjustable seats; three-spoke steering wheel with rake and telescoping steering column; steering wheel-mounted audio and Driver Information Center controls; overhead sunglass storage; front seat illuminated vanity mirrors; power windows with express-Down; front console with cupholder and 12-volt power outlet; power-adjustable, manual folding, heated side mirrors; and rain sensing front intermittent windshield wipers.

An optional Premium Trim Package for XR models included leather seating surfaces, vinyl door trim, leather-wrapped steering wheel, driver manual lumbar seat adjuster, heated front seats, and interior ambient LED lighting. For 2008, an optional Sport Handling Package included stability control (marketed as StabiliTrak), lowered sport suspension, and quick-ratio power steering. This package was made standard on the 2009 3-door. A panoramic sunroof was available on 5-door models.

In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash tests the Astra earned a Good overall score in frontal impacts, while in side impacts it received a Marginal overall rating. Front and rear head curtain airbags and front seat-mounted torso airbags were standard, along with a system marketed as the Pedal Release System, whereby the clutch and or brake pedal would decouple in the event of a frontal crash with significant cowl intrusion, mitigating lower leg injury.

General Motors predicted sales of between 30,000 and 40,000 vehicles a year in the United States. Sales were slow, due initially to a large glut of unsold Ions and later the uncertainty surrounding the Saturn brand's future. In 2008 only 11,968 were sold in the US and in 2009 this fell to 6,298. In Canada the sales of the Saturn Astra was up to 11,605 in total between 2007 and 2010.

With a large number of unsold cars remaining on dealer lots, GM announced it would end import of the Astra. In June 2009, GM announced its intention to sell the Saturn Corporation to Penske Automotive Group. This never was concluded and in 2010 General Motors discontinued the Saturn brand.

The successor to the Saturn Astra in the North American General Motors lineup was the Buick Verano, introduced for the 2012 model year. The Verano is derived from the succeeding Astra J.

Engines
Engines were available with 5- and 6-speed manual transmission, Easytronic automated manual gearbox with 5-speeds, and also 4- and 6-speed automatic transmission. In the beginning there were petrol 1.4 90 PS, 1.6 105 PS, 1.8 125 PS and new 2.0 Turbo engine with two versions: 170 PS and 200 PS. Diesel lineup were 1.3 CDTI with 90 PS, 1.7 CDTI with 80 PS, 100 PS, and 1.9 CDTI engines with 120 and 150 PS. During production some engine got more power like 1.6, 1.8, 1.7, 1.9 and 2.0 Turbo with 240 PS was introduced in 2005 in OPC/VXR version. 1.3 CDTI 90 PS was introduced in 2005 and he replaces 1.7 CDTI with 80 PS.

After restyle at end of 2006 / beginning of 2007, new engines were introduced: 1.6 Turbo engine with 180 PS which replace 2.0 Turbo with 170, and 1.7 CDTI with 125 PS.

Fourth generation (2009) [Astra J; P09]
The Astra J is based on the General Motors' Delta II platform, debuted at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany and went on sale in November 2009 as a 2010 model while the 2009 model year was entirely skipped. The car has taken most of its styling from the new Opel Insignia, with many of the higher options fitted as standard. Full production came on line at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port Plant at the end of September 2009. Deliveries began in December 2009. Referred to as the "Astra I", it officially received the "Astra J" name instead to avoid confusing the letter I for the number 1.

The Astra was developed at Opel's 'International Technical Development Center' (ITDC) in Rüsselsheim and continues Opel's design language, ‘sculptural artistry meets German precision’ first introduced on the Insignia. The Astra features a torsion beam rear suspension with Watt's link. Infotainment and car navigation systems are supplied by Bosch.

The Opel Astra came third in the European Car of the Year award in 2010.

The station wagon version of the Astra - dubbed the 'Sports Tourer' by Opel, debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, and went on sale shortly afterwards, with a starting price of £16,575 for the ES version, then Exclusiv, SRI and SE versions, with the SE costing from £20,345. This is cheaper than the previous estate, but has more standard equipment. The adoption of the "Sports Tourer" name finally brought to an end Opel's traditional "Caravan" designation for its station wagon derivatives.

The pre-facelift Astra J was briefly sold in Australia under the Opel brand, with its introduction into the Australian market in 2012. However, the Opel brand and nameplate subsequently pulled out of the Australian market in 2013 due to poor sales, and later versions of the Astra J, namely the OPC and GTC variant, were sold under the Holden brand name from 2013 onwards.

Shanghai GM launched the Chinese version of the Opel Astra hatchback, which is badged as the Buick Excelle XT. This car went on sale in January 2010. Three engines were announced: Ecotec D-VVT 1.6 L, 1.8 L and 1.6 L Turbo.

The saloon version of the Astra was first presented at the 2012 Moscow International Automobile Salon. The 4-door saloon has a number of names depending on market: Buick Excelle GT in China, Buick Verano in North America and Opel Astra sedan/saloon elsewhere. This version is not sold in the United Kingdom, although it is available in some other right hand drive markets, such as Ireland (as the: Astra Saloon), Malta, and South Africa. Production for the saloon version continued until 2018 after the Astra K was released to supply several markets where saloons are popular, including Turkey.

GTC
A 3-door version dubbed Astra GTC was introduced in July 2011. Externally, it retains very few design elements of the old 5-door model. It has a sportier appearance, with a much more 'sculpted' chassis. It features a HiPerStrut front suspension from the Opel Insignia OPC which helps alleviate torque steering. A Watt's linkage is present in the rear suspension, to minimize lateral movement of the axle. The wheelbase is enhanced to accommodate wider low-profile tyres. Similarly to the Astra H GTC, a 'panoramic windscreen' option is available. The Astra GTC was awarded a 5 star rating for its performance under Euro NCAP safety tests. In late 2013, a new 1.6 Turbo EcoTec engine with 200PS output replaced the older 180PS engine of the same capacity, meaning the 1.6 Turbo replaces the BiTurbo Diesel as the fastest non-OPC model in the range.

The GTC is built in Gliwice, Poland, with a range of models & petrol and diesel engines. In the UK, the GTC includes the SRi and VXR models. Production continued alongside the Astra K when it was introduced in 2015, and concurrently dropped the Astra moniker for simply GTC. In 2018, the model was discontinued.

Models and colours
There are three models of the GTC, Sport, the SRi, Limited Edition, and the VXR model. Available colours are Power red (Solid), the Brilliant colours are Summit white & Flaming yellow, The Metallic colours are Granite grey, Deep sky blue, Carbon flash, Sovereign silver & Flip chip silver, The Pearlescent colours are Emerald green & Asteroid grey. The VXR also has Flash blue.

OPC
The OPC trim of the Astra GTC has been available since 2012. This car features a turbocharged 2.0 L direct injection engine with a power of 206 kW and torque of 400 Nm, HiPerStrut front suspension, a mechanical limited slip differential, an electronically controlled FlexRide active suspension, and Recaro-style sport seats, OPC badge on gear knob, steering wheel, and on instrument dials and different and distinctive front and rear bumper, rear standard spoiler as well as optional OPC spoiler compared to GTC version. It comes with 19 inch alloy rims as standard and optional 20-inch alloy rims which are lighter than those 19-inch. The 0 to 100 km/h time is 6 seconds and top speed is limited to 250 km/h.

Astravan
This generation Astra was not available as the commercial version Astravan. But in The Netherlands, the Astra Sports Tourer was available as Astravan at special order.

Engines
Engines are available with the 5-speed or 6-speed manual transmission. The only optional available automatic transmission is the 6-speed with active select mode, which can be ordered for the 1.4 turbo, 1.6, 1.6 turbo and 2.0 CDTI depending on region. From 2011, Start/Stop was introduced in certain countries on some models, and from 2012 an overboost function was added to the 1.4 turbo. [Engines with (S/S) are in bold in column]. The engines are Family 0/Family 1/Ecotec/MGE (petrol), and MultiJet/Circle L/GM MDE (diesel).

In February 2014, Opel introduced its all-new engine - GM Medium Diesel engine, the so-called "whisper diesel" 1.6 CDTI engine with 136 PS, and later with 110 PS.

Facelift
In June 2012, a facelift was announced. Visual changes occurred at the front and back of the hatchback and sports tourer. This included revised bumpers and grills and very minor changes to the headlights. The rear lights were also revised, and had an overall darker appearance, the registration-plate recess of the five-door model was re-designed, and the Sports Tourer (estate body) and 5-door hatchback model received new-style bumpers with chrome trim. New colours were introduced, such as Sculpture Bronze, Phantom Grey and Deep Sky metallic, plus others which were available as extra-cost options. The updated Astra also received some assistance systems such as the Eye front camera with enhanced traffic-sign assistant (TSA II), lane-departure warning (LDW), following-distance indication (FDI) and forward-collision alert (FCA); also available are a rear-view camera, advanced park assist and side-blind-spot alert. A saloon variant was introduced, but only to a very few markets. Engine-wise, the 195-PS 2.0 BiTurbo CDTI from the Insignia became available from autumn 2012, and a new 1.6 L 170 PS turbocharged SIDI Ecotec direct injection unit from the new MGE engine family was added in early 2013.

Fifth generation (2015) [Astra K; B15]

Opel launched the Astra K at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2015 for the 2016 model year.

The Astra K is smaller (5 cm), and lighter (up to 200 kg) compared to Astra J. Although it is smaller on the outside, Opel claims it is bigger on the inside than the previous Astra J. Depending on the model and trim level it is up to 200 kilograms - at the very least 120 kilograms - lighter than its predecessor. The completely new vehicle architecture plays a major role in the weight reduction. Every component was checked for compact design and lightweight materials. The bodyshell weight alone was reduced by 20 per cent from 357 to 280 kilograms. Additional, chassis-related measures resulted in another 50 kilograms of weight reduction; these include high-strength and ultra-high-strength low-weight steels, compact subframes as well as weight reductions to the front and rear axle. Rear suspension is torsion beam (only with Watts linkage on top engines), and MacPherson struts at the front.

Available engines at launch were 1.0-litre three-cylinder and 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engines or 1.6-litre diesels. It will be available with new full-LED front light techniques, A screen in the dash which connect to Android or iPhone comes as standard. This system is already available, in both the Corsa E and Adam.

Engines
Engines are available with the 5-speed or 6-speed manual transmission, and the newly developed 5-speed EasyTronic 3.0 automated manual, which is only available for the 1.0T SIDI engine. The only other available automatic transmission, at the beginning of production, is the 6-speed with active select mode, which can be ordered in late 2015, for the 1.4 SIDI Turbo with 150 PS, and 1.6 CDTI with 136 PS. Buyers can choose the Start/Stop system for all engines as an extra feature, except the 1.0T which will have system as standard.

All engines are new and recently developed by Opel - 1.0T SIDI, 1.4T SIDI (which sees its debut in the Astra K in 2015) and the naturally aspirated version of it (which will be available later in 2015), and the so-called "Whisper diesel" 1.6 CDTI. All turbocharged petrol engines use the Direct Injection Fuel system.

Opel are offering the ecoFLEX range for 1.0T, 1.4T and 1.6 CDTI engines which have same amount of power, but less CO2-emissions (g/km) and lower fuel consumption. The entire ecoFLEX range have Start/Stop as standard, low rolling resistance tyres and aerodynamic tweaks for reduced drag for lower CO2-emissions. The 1.4T SIDI ecoFLEX version have less torque, rated at 230 Nm at 2.000-4.000 rpm.

In 2019 Opel announced the move to the new GM E-Turbo 1.2-liter, "1.4-liter" (actually a 1.3-liter) three-cylinder gasoline engines, and 1.5-liter three-cylinder diesels.

Facelift
A facelift of Opel Astra K released around the summer of 2019. Changes were minimal, both inside and outside; however the facelifted Astra sports a new front grille, new rear lights, as well as a new windscreen wiper mechanism, where both wipers are individually controlled as opposed to a linked setup as before.

The last Astra to be produced in Ellesmere Port rolled off the assembly line on December 13, 2021. The last Astra to be produced in Gliwice factory rolled off the assembly line on November 30, 2021.

Sixth generation (2021) [Astra L; C02]
The sixth generation Astra was unveiled on 13 July 2021 and it went on sale on 12 November 2021. As the first Astra developed by PSA Group, it’s based on the third-generation of the EMP2 platform which made its wheelbase grow by 55 mm. Launched ten months after the merger of FCA and PSA to form Stellantis, the vehicle has been offered as a hybrid for the first time and will unveil a 180-horsepower engine. The 225 horsepower version, taken from the Peugeot 508 and Peugeot 3008, is also available on the GSe version.

Electric
In November 2022, the Opel / Vauxhall Astra Electric debuted with a 154 hp motor and a range of 258 mi.

Euro NCAP
The Astra in its standard European market configuration received 4 stars from Euro NCAP in 2022.

Motorsport
An Astra won the Andros Trophy for three consecutive years starting in 2000.

The Astra Coupé in BTC-T form was dominant in the British Touring Car Championship from 2001 until 2004, and it continued to compete in the series until 2006.

An Astra was used in the 1994 Super Tourenwagen Cup season. In 2002, 2003 and 2006, three different drivers were European Rallycross Champions in the Division 2 driving Astras. The 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 runners-up also raced in that car. Christian Ledesma was 2004 TC 2000 champion with an Astra and Matías Rossi took that title in 2006 and 2007.

A rally version of the Astra was built to the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup. The car finished second in class on the 1998 Rally of Great Britain, and claimed the British Rally Championship for manufacturers in 2000. The Astra has been used in the shape of silhouette racing cars as well. It was featured in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters from 2000 to 2003 (Manuel Reuter was runner-up in 2000) and overall winner of the 2003 Nürburgring 24h race and the Stock Car Brasil from 2004 to 2008 (Giuliano Losacco won the tournament in 2004 and 2005). In 2009, the Astra G body was replaced Stock Car Brasil by a Vectra, which is in fact the same as the Astra H.

The car has also been raced in the Russian Touring Car Championship, the 2004 European Touring Car Championship season, the 2006 Swedish Touring Car Championship season, the 2008 European Touring Car Cup and the 2013 European Rallycross Championship season.

Chevrolet Astra
The Chevrolet Astra is the same vehicle as the Opel Astra, but with some mechanical differences. In Brazil, Chevrolet Astra as launched at 1994 as 1995 model only in 5-door hatchback and station wagon body styles. It was available only in the GLS trim level with a 2.0-liter, eight-valve multipoint fuel injection engine with a power of 116 PS. The plan was to replace the Chevrolet Kadett, an Opel Kadett E built locally, but an increase in taxes for import cars (from 35 to 70 per cent) made General Motors of Brazil stop importing the model for the 1996 model year. The Chevrolet Astra only returned in 1998, in second generation and built locally. Initially, it only came in 3-door hatchback and 4-door sedan body styles, and GL and GLS trim levels. The engine options were a 1.8 liter with 110 PS and a 2.0 liter with 112 PS, both with 8 valves. Later models received the option of a 2,0 liter 16 valve engine, initially with a power of 128 PS and later yet with 136 PS.

In 2003 the Astra range received an exterior facelift, with a 5-door hatchback completing the range. The 1.8 liter engine was discontinued, with a 2.0 liter flexfuel (ethanol and gasoline) being launched for the 2004 model year. The 2.0 FlexFuel power was 121 - 128 PS depending on the fuel used; later this changed to 133 - 140 PS. A GSI 2.0 16V was launched with the 2003 facelift and produced until 2005. The range did not change much until its discontinuation in 2011, being in effect replaced by the Chevrolet Sonic and Cobalt.

In Chile, the Astra was sold under the Opel brand until 1997 (replacing the Kadett); beginning in 1999 the second generation was imported from Brazil under the Chevrolet brand. The third generation was again imported from Europe in and in 2017 it returned to be sold under Opel brand.
 * Chile

Chevrolet Vectra (Brazil)
The Opel Astra H was sold in Brazil and Argentina between 2006 and 2011, as Chevrolet Vectra and Vectra GT (hatchback), replacing Vectra B. It shared the powertrain and the platform with the Astra G, except when equipped with the 2.4 engine, and it was inserted above the Astra in both markets. It was replaced by the flagship versions of the Chevrolet Cruze.

title: Opel Astra


text:
Talk:Ussher chronology

Gideon
I took out the phrase:

 * it is reported to have been distributed in hotel rooms worldwide by the Gideon Society until about the 1980s.

No Gideon Bible I've ever seen has much of anything by way of notes or apparatus. If someone has seen the dates, or much else by way of annotation in a Gideon Bible, please correct me. Perhaps I spent too much time musing over the translations of John 3:16 into Sinhalese and such. -- Smerdis of Tlön 23:46, 20 Nov 2003 (UTC)

 * Glad I'm not the only one who pores over that page of translations :) Sherurcij 09:45, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

Bible Picture
If we are going to have a picture of a Bible with the 4004 BC date, shouldn't we have a picture in which we can actually see the date? Philip J. Rayment 14:27, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your comments. I realize the photo is kind of crappy. I'm not a photo geek, so If you have a KJV w/ the Ussher-Lightfoot dates included, feel free to take a better photo! - Hoshie 07:14, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Removing text
I am removing the text " The first page of Genesis was annotated with Ussher's date of Creation, 4004 BC, establishing it as the canonical Biblical estimate" since I'm not aware of annotations being canon in any church.

Title
I propose changing the title of this article for two reasons: it is about a choronology, not about a calendar, and Lightfoot's involvement was either a misunderstanding or a distortion of the facts by White. Ussher chronology doesn't sound right, so Chronology of Ussher might be better. Another possibility is merging it into James Ussher. In either case, the section on Lightfoot's Creation should be moved to John Lightfoot. — Joe Kress 19:07, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Chronology of Ussher does have a much nicer ring to it... Ianus Maximus 03:23, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Indeeds
What about all of the "indeed"s? User:216.90.232.43 14:27, 23 October 2006

 * Maybe someone was a fan of "Big Trouble in Little China"? Indeed!

Fact tags
I have tagged two passage which claimed that Ussher is used by (Young Earth) Creationists. My understanding is that YEC claim that the World is about 10,000 years old, which would put them in conflict with Ussher's date. The only instance in which Ussher and Creationism was linked where anti-creationists jibes. I will wait a few days and if no one adds confirming references I will edit accordingly. Str1977 (smile back) 16:23, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I have now done this.
 * I have rephrased the passage in the intro linking Ussher to Creationism.
 * I have removed the paragraph about YEC believing that Ussher is close to correct. In fact, YEC and Ussher have a similarity in method, but otherwise little in common. Certainly YEC has not led to a revival of a hitherto abandoned "calendar" (which is not a calendar at all).

Str1977 (smile back) 08:15, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I think you may be wrong about Young Earth Creationists. All the young earth creationists whose books and internet articles I've read (on websites like answersingenesis.com and biblicalchronology.com), date the universe at about 6 or 7,000 years.  There is a widely held definition that a YEC is anyone who believes God created the earth less than ten thousand years ago, but very few YECs date the age of the earth much differently than Ussher does.

Fontwords (talk) 15:58, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

6000 years?
The article claims that 1997 is 6,001 years after 4004 BCE. It's actually 6,000 years and the author must have counted Year zero. Um, math?
 * Question: How is 1997 AD exactly six thousand years after 4004 BC? Ianus Maximus 03:20, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

 * There was no year 0. Thus, you have to subtract 1 from the sum.  For example, let's count the number of years from 3 BC to AD 2.:
 * 3 BC
 * 2 BC
 * 1 BC
 * AD 1
 * AD 2
 * AD 2 is only 4 years after 3 BC, not 5, as you would get if you simply counted 2+3. Another way of looking at this is 3 BC is equivalent to AD -2, counting 1 BC as AD 0. Nik42 (talk) 04:43, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Query - So 23rd October, 4004BC (= -4003 Julian) was a Monday, not a Sunday (but 23rd October, 4005BC was a Sunday)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.146.160.203 (talk) 19:59, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

 * 23 October 4004 BC was a Sunday, or the first day of Creation week. 23 October 4005 BC was a Saturday, both being dates in the proleptic Julian calendar. — Joe Kress (talk) 06:02, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

This is not a matter of accurate math but one of whether you count numbers in cardinal form or in ordinal. Did Adam begin with year 1 as 1am as the 1st year, or does it require 12 months before it is year 1. It is only 1655 years from 1am to 1656am. So the year zero thing is all a side-track. Example, 28x 19 year and 19x 28 years is 532 years our Era was created with as 532AD. Thus AD did not mean 532nd year, it meant 532 years. This means 1AD is not 1st year but one whole year from a Jesus born in what someone decided to tag as 1BC. The article claims that 1997 is 6,001 years after 4004 BCE. It's actually 6,000 years and the author must have counted Year zero. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.86.172.174 (talk) 17:59, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

"season" of creation?
Since the Bible records creation itself preceding "times and seasons", the season of creation would be irrelevant from a Christian perspective.192.231.128.67 23:34, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, until the third or fourth day anyway. Whichever day it was where we had seasons.

Removing text
Removing a sentence stating that the Ussher Lightfoot calendar was abandoned partially because the Theory of Evolution "assumes an old earth." The calendar was abandoned because of evidence, not ideological need. YEC Claptrap. 171.159.64.10 18:18, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the removal, however not with the reason given here. The "calendar" (which wasn't a calendar at all) was removed because of geological evidence about the age of the world, not because of anythiong Darwin wrote. To me, the text didn't say anything about ideology. Str1977 (smile back) 08:11, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Roman martyrology?
The Christmas entry in the Roman Martyrology such as is visible at http://www.domcentral.org/life/proclama.htm seems to suggest a creation event date around 5199 BC. Wouldn't Ussher have been familiar with that information? - knoodelhed (talk) 05:49, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

 * No doubt Ussher was familiar with many different Creation dates. Clement of Alexandria (died before 215) placed Creation in 5591 BC. In 221 Africanus placed it in 5500 BC. In 324 Eusebius placed it in 5198 BC, hence placed the birth of Christ in AM 5199, so Eusebius is the source of the date in your Roman Martyrology. In general, Creation near 5500 BC was common in the Eastern Roman Empire, influenced by the Greek Septuagint (third century BC) which often gives the patriarchs from Adam to the father of Abraham an age 100 years older when they begat their named son than does the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew bible, the source of the Latin Vulgate bible, a translation by Jerome completed in 405. The net difference given to the genealogies of Genesis is 1466 years, largely accounting for the 1500 year difference between Greek Creation dates near 5500 BC and Latin Creation dates near 4000 BC. In 1583 the father of modern chronology, Joseph Justus Scaliger, placed Creation in 3949 BC. Ussher, writing in 1650, puts Creation in the year 710 of the Scaliger's Julian Period (4004 BC). — Joe Kress (talk) 22:46, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Interminable?
The last paragraph of the lead uses the word "interminable", which means:

 * 1. Being or seeming to be without an end; endless.
 * 2. Tiresomely long; tedious.

I'm wondering if it was meant to be "indeterminable".

??? Wanderer57 (talk) 16:13, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Citation really needed?

 * This view had been almost completely abandoned by 1997,[citation needed] six thousand years after 4004 BC.

Does that need a citation, really?  Said: Rursus   ☻   10:56, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed; purging it now.--Nucleusboy (talk) 00:10, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

What happened in 1997 that made everyone change their mind? I didn't. Its a weird way of expressing that his view didn't effect the world? Joshuajohnson555 (talk) 22:05, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Factual Accuracy Of Ussher
Obviously general consensus of Ussher is that he was incorrect, at least as far as the creation of the world is concerned, however are Ussher's claims valid for later dates? I've noticed other articles (I found this page through Gaza Strip) make assertions about dates based off of Ussher. If any part of Ussher's chronology is still useful as a way of establishing dates, the article should be much more clear on this issue, as it currently seems that the Gaza Strip article is using a debunked chronology to establish the timing of events. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 158.104.166.247 (talk) 18:27, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

 * Truth is not a requirement for inclusion in Wikipedia, but verifiability is according to its first phrase "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth". Any judgment on the validity of Ussher's dates must also rely on a verifiable source. — Joe Kress (talk) 04:24, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

 * That wasn't my point, of course Ussher should still be included even if he's not accurate. But other articles (like I said, I noticed this on Gaza Strip) are citing it as a resource for establishing dates, which means there ought to be either some mention of his factual accuracy or it should be removed from articles which treat it as such.dimo414 (talk) 03:55, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

 * My statement still stands. No statement of factual inaccuracy may be included in this article unless you can find a verifiable source which states that he is inaccurate. Your example, "The first mention of Gaza in the Bible is in Joshua 10:41, which took place around 1451 B.C. according to Ussher's chronology." restricts itself to Joshua's conquests in Israel, which are not mentioned in any non-biblical source. We can assume that his conquests must have occurred after the Exodus from Egypt which is traditionally assumed to have occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II. Now we must introduce various opinions regarding his reign, one of which, 1279 BC to 1213 BC, is mentioned in his Wikipedia article. This is far too much detail for any 'mention' in some random article like Gaza Strip, so if you object to the date, you can only remove the dating phrase. Of course, any other editor may reinsert the phrase because Ussher did indeed date it as stated. No objection is possible to the remaining part, so may not be removed. Regarding this article, we still need some verifiable source which states that he is inaccurate regarging some of his dates—my analysis is an example of original research, which is not allowed in Wikipedia. — Joe Kress (talk) 08:26, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

"[A] serious error in the 1658 English version"?
I'm not familiar with the translations of Ussher's Latin, but the English phrase "Julian Calendar" is correct usage, and is an accurate contemporary translation of "periodi Julianae." Is there a citation as to why this is a "serious error?" Hariboa (talk) 16:54, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

 * I would agree that it is unclear what the "error" in question is. And as the section in question is wholly unsourced, we may never know. HrafnTalkStalk(P) 17:06, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

 * The phrase "Julian Calendar" is not an accurate contemporary translation of "periodi Julianae" (from the two images at the top of the page). Also see a modern translation by Larry Pierce who uses "JP" (for Julian Period) in the corresponding location. To understand this requires knowledge of the Julian Period invented by Joseph Justus Scaliger in 1583. Ussher himself adequately describes Scaliger's Julian Period in "The Epistle to the Reader" of The Annals of the World. The Julian Period is a 7,980-year period which began on January 1, 4713 BC, an epoch which Scaliger chose because it was before all recorded history, especially his determination of Creation in 3949 BC (see Roman martyrology above). Ussher placed Creation in 4004 BC, which was the year 710 of the Julian Period, not the year 710 of the Julian Calendar, which began much later in 45 BC. — Joe Kress (talk) 00:19, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Controversial Statement--Development of the Bible
In the Ussher's methods sections, the article reads,
 * Their [the Biblical scholars'] task was complicated by the fact that the Bible was compiled from different sources over several centuries with differing versions and lengthy chronological gaps, making it impossible to do a simple totaling of Biblical ages and dates.

I think this statement needs some justification, since we do not really know how long the Bible took. This statement also presupposes a view insisting that the Bible was compiled after the Babylonian Captivity, and not written by its original authors, and thus includes errors, and so probably is not true. I do not think that this statement is necessary to the article because it has an anti-Biblical bias, and seems to just be a jab at the Bible. It is not worthwhile. Joshuajohnson555 (talk) 22:11, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

 * I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any hypothesis with widespread academic credibility that did not posit some form of multiple-authorship over an extended period. WP:MNA would therefore seem to apply. However, even if the underlying assumption is policy-compliant, it requires a source demonstrating that this was in fact a complicating issue -- hence the tag. HrafnTalkStalk(P) 03:33, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

more than 4004
This article is useless for reference. The book I understand is about all kinds of history besides 4004 BC and I wanted to see Usher's reconciliation with persians accounts but there's nothing here. Is it possible to post Usher's correlations of other historical accounts somewhere for reference? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.234.110.47 (talk) 22:19, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

The astronomical tables that Ussher probably used were Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (Rudolphine Tables, 1627).
Not my area of expertise but a possible useful source is "Stephen Humphrey" senior lecturer history of science at  Lancaster university speaking on In our Time Early Geology 12 Apr 2012" http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01dgh7d

At around 23:mins he says unequivocally that Ussher used the latest tables from Kepler. JRPG (talk) 22:09, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Saturday or Sunday
"...the first day of creation began at nightfall preceding Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC" — nightfall preceding Sunday, wouldn't that be Saturday night? Also, if the Universe was created out of nothing, where did the nightfall come from? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donutcity (talk • contribs) 13:38, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

Equinox
The northern autumnal equinox is now around September 21st, not October. Since no one has commented on this apparently obvious error I feel I must be missing something? ping (talk) 22:44, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, the date is based on the Julian Calendar, not the Gregorian Calendar, hence the equinox "drifts" by about 3 days every 400 years, so for 4004BC, would be ~30 days of drift, aka about a month. As the post above yours comments, Ussher used the best astronomical tables available at the time, to calculate the actual date of the equinox in 4004BC. 86.12.44.240 (talk) 09:21, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Genesis Source
The main article claims Septuagint is 1500 years more than Hebrew. This is 50% false since it is actually 1200 years difference with a shift of 300 years. (Before Flood, 6 fathers each extended 100 years and after Flood 6 fathers extended 100 years. Basically this is GREEK and with a Flood of 2958bc it portrays a 5200bc Adam to 800AD End as 1200 years difference to the 4000bc Adam to 2000AD End.) Shifting its year 1600bc as if end of 300-year Babylon as year Adam's 3600am (Babylon correctly ends 1594bc), the result is claiming a fall of Ur in 1900bc which gives us the Alexandrian Era of 5500bc Adam to 500AD End. The Septuagint was translated in Alexandria. (Further addition is the claim of a 130-year Cainan only used by Egyptian and Christian historians, not recognized by Assyria, Mesopotamia, or anywhere eastward because they know it means 130 years of Chaldea.)

Citation for a Babylon versus Ur shifting 300 years is simple when Jasher and Jubilees refer to THE CITY ruled by Nimrod instead of saying Babel or saying Ur. They do not distinguish Abram and Nimrod from two different cities but claim they are the same one. As for variance in this Septuagint the 2256-year is altered to 2242 and a less-accepted 2262 (this 2262 is created by restoring Greek Methuselah 167 back to Hebrew 187). While some feel Methuselah is 9th on the ark (reality 9th was the fetus Arpaxad), living 14 years beyond Flood, the strength is instead found in the claim that 969-year Methuselah was 955-year Menes. There is also postFlood evidence in honoring Noah or Adam in that year 3192am is both 2242+950 for Noah versus 2262+930 for Adam. The year 2256am ending the Flood as 2256+936 is never noted by current scholars that 936x 365 day = 949x 360 day which makes it year 950. But does imply honoring Noah when he reached Adams 930. (see Gilgamesh date, Venus rises to find Mars turning into Scorpio. Happens in 2040bc and 1645bc.) Jasher sharing the same Terah 2127bc with Ussher, Jasher's Haran then (when Terah is 39 in 2088bc) is easily a MAYAN 70-year old Terah because the Mars (205-year Marduk of Terah) as 208 tun =16x 13 year Mars =96x 780 day Mars) counts back directly to a 3113bc Arpaxad from tun 1040 (2088bc Sept 21 as day 1-imix), and divides all the 360-day tuns into Genesis figures leaving the remainder as the rare and hard-to-find 179-year Nahor listed by William Whiston.

1556 year Genesis and 1307 year Genesis. This gets to the next article contradiction which implies Hebrew was the short alternative. Not so. Jasher has the identical 2349bc Flood to 2127bc Terah as Ussher does, except Jasher has Terah 39 in 2088bc for Haran, and Ussher has 70 in 2057bc for Haran. So their bonded common strength is PRE- Terah in their sources and not some extension back from Exodus or Abram. Yet OTHER sources existed, at the same time as Samaritan versions. Though Samaritan contains the post-Flood 600 years added to Hebrew, it removes years before the Flood. It reduces Jared from 162 to only 62 to give a preFlood 1556 years (used by Jasher), and there is also the placing of Noah's death in year 1656am (not his baptismal death thru the Flood, or rebirth) but literally reducing his 350 years after the Flood to be year 1307 for the Flood. These are the versions of Britain and America from Ussher's day to Adventists which honored neither the Catholic 800AD kingdom, nor the Anglican now arising from Septuagint studies. American Adventists stood against Ussher's dates in the King James by adhering to dates like 4128bc Adam plus 1656 years to Flood.75.86.172.174 (talk) 22:18, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

Ussher's Three Main Time Periods
The article currently contains this:

 * "In his article on Ussher's calendar, James Barr has identified three distinct periods that Ussher and others had to tackle:[4]

 * "1. Early times (Creation to Solomon). Ostensibly the easiest period, as the Bible provides an unbroken male lineage from Adam through to Solomon complete with the ages of the individuals involved. However, not all of the versions of the Bible provide the same ages — the Septuagint gives much longer ages, adding about 1500 years to the date of Creation.[citation needed] Ussher resolved this problem by relying on the Hebrew Bible instead.

 * "2. Early Age of Kings (Solomon to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity). The lineage breaks down at this point, with only the length of the kings' reigns being provided and a number of overlaps and ambiguities complicating the picture. Ussher had to cross-reference the Biblical records with known dates of other people and rulers to create an overall timeline.

 * "3. Late Age of Kings (Ezra and Nehemiah to the birth of Jesus). No information at all is provided in the Bible. Ussher and his counterparts therefore had to try to link a known event from this period with a dateable event in another culture, such as the Chaldeans, Persians or Romans. For instance, the death of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar II (who conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC) could be correlated with the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 25:27)."

This is just wrong. I've read the article by James Barr that is cited, and instead the three time periods given are (see pages 603-606, the article has a link to the PDF): (1) "Creation to Abram's Migration." (2) "Abram's migration to Solomon's temple." (3) "Period of the Judean kingdom from the fourth year of Solomon to the end." That's the threefold division given by Barr. On top of giving the wrong threefold divison, it's also false to say that there's an unbroken male lineage, with ages, from Adam to Solomon. The unbroken male lineage with ages only goes to Adam to Jacob. You won't find how old Jacob was when Judah was born, or how old Judah was when Perez was born, or so on until Solomon. It's just not there: not in the Bible, not in Ussher, not in Barr.

I'll rewrite accordingly. Alephb (talk) 05:54, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

October 22 or 23?
If you hit ctrl-F and search for “October” in this article, you’ll find two subtly different claims.

The lead claims October 22, 6 pm (no citation given) was “the first day of creation." Later, we read a quote from Ussher in which he places “the beginning of time” on October 22.

The biblical scholar James Barr has an essay in which he repeatedly gives the beginning of creation according to Ussher as October 23rd (see pages 590, 591, 593).

On the other hand, on page 607 we find a reference to “22 October which was the beginning of time.”

So what’s going on here? Barr explains the situation on page 592.

 * “There is another complication in the date of creation. In Ussher’s scheme, as in many others, there is a sort of double creation. The first verse of the Bible, ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’, is read not as a summary of the entire chapter but as a reference to a single act of creation preceding the creation of light which is the first element in the seven-day creation. This was an ancient understanding, found for example in St. Augustine: first God created the chaotic matter, then out of it he made the created world. For Ussher this means that this pre-creation took place the night before, the Saturday evening, noctis illius initium, which preceded the 23 October. This was the temporis principium, the beginning of time. This is why some people say that according to Ussher the world began at 6 p.m. on a Saturday evening.”

So, to sum up: in Ussher’s scheme the “first day” of creation was 23 October, while the “beginning of time” was 22 October. The creation, in a sense, began on the 22nd, but the "first day" of creation was the 23rd.

Because today most believers don’t think in terms of a “pre-creation” the day before the “first day”, this subtlety gets missed.

I propose that, in the lead, we therefore identify the first day of creation as 23 October. Later, in the part of the article that discusses this at greater length we can make the subtler distinction. Alephb (talk) 07:04, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

Julian Calendar a "serious error"?
I've already made two fairly serious edits to this article today, so I plan to wait a little before making this next one. Here's what I'm suggesting. As it stands now, this article contains the following:

 * Ussher referred to his dating of creation on the first page of Annales in Latin and on the first page of its English translation Annals of the World (1658). The following English quote is based on both, with a serious error in the 1658 English version corrected by referring to the Latin version (calendar → period).

 * In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, Gen. 1, v. 1. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob[er] in the year of the Julian [Period] 710. The year before Christ 4004. The Julian Period 710.

This is a somewhat unorthodox thing to do -- to declare a quote to be in error and fix it. I think we can accomplish the same goal in a less intrusive way. In the original English translation, the quote reads "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, Gen. 1, v. 1. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob[er] in the year of the Julian Calendar, 710." In addition, there's a strange repetition with the additional two sentences at the end, which is caused by taking a marginal note from the original and moving it into the body of the quote. So, first of all, I suggest we pull that marginal material out, and insert some explanatory language that equates the year 710 with 4004.

Second, as for the "serious error." It might be a serious error today, if one were to translate Ussher, to translate the Latin "in anno Periodi Julianae" as "in the year of the Julian Calendar." However, I don't think it's at all clear that this was a "serious error" in 1658. I suggest we preserve the original wording as just about all modern quotations of this sentence do (click on the book results that come up here if you need confirmation of that). So I propose that we simply add an explanatory note that indicates that this refers to the Julian Period in place of the note that accuses the translation of a "serious error." We don't, after all, have any reliable source that indicates that "in the year of the Julian Calendar" is indeed a serious error. So here's my proposed fix:

 * Ussher referred to his dating of creation on the first page of Annales in Latin and on the first page of its English translation Annals of the World (1658). In the following extract from the English translation, the phrase "in the year of the Julian Calendar" refers to the Julian Period, of which year 1 is 4713 BC, and therefore year 710 is 4004 BC.

 * In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, Gen. 1, v. 1. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob[er] in the year of the Julian Calendar, 710.

Any objections? Alephb (talk) 11:29, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

 * Nobody said anything, so I went ahead and did it.Alephb (talk) 05:33, 26 April 2017 (UTC)

Jesus and his birth as related to the Creation
Currently, the article distorts Ussher's process for finding dates.

 * Using these methods, Ussher was able to establish an unadjusted Creation date of about 4000 BC. He moved it back to 4004 BC to take account of an error perpetrated by Dionysius Exiguus, the founder of the Anno Domini numbering system. Ussher chose 5 BC as Christ's birth year because Josephus indicated that the death of Herod the Great occurred in 4 BC.

The second part of this is true. Ussher does use 5 BC or thereabouts as Jesus' birthdate. That part has references, and it's find. But what's not true is that Ussher first worked out a 4000-year Creation-to-Christ interval and then "moved back" the creation as a result of "moving back" the birth of Jesus. Instead, the two dates are figured out independently.

What Ussher does (you can look up the article by James Barr in the footnotes, p. 579-580 to confirm this) is instead to work out the creation by reckoning the biblical years from the creation to the accession of Jehoiachin. Then, using 2 Kings 25:27, he works out the years from Jehoiachin's accession to the accession of Amel-marduk king of Babylon. At this point, he uses Babylonian, Greek, and Roman historians to fix the accession of Amel-marduk at 4004 BC 563 BC. Getting to this date does not involve Jesus birth in any way, or imposing any "moving it back." There is certainly to "unadjusted Creation date of about 4000 BC" to be found anywhere in Ussher's work.Alephb (talk) 05:46, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
 * "the accession of Amel-marduk at 4004 BC". You sure? PiCo (talk) 23:03, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Haha good catch. 563 BC is the date Ussher gave to it. Good thing I didn't reproduce this mistake in the article.Alephb (talk) 18:00, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
 * And In Real Life I just caught out a professor of archaeology who said in a published book that X happened in 500 CE. She meant 500 BCE. Attention to detail is the beginning of the avoidance of embarrassment :) PiCo (talk) 01:33, 27 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, but if people start paying too much attention to detail, there'd soon be nothing left to correct on Wikipedia, and I'd have to find another hobby! Alephb (talk) 21:06, 27 August 2017 (UTC)

Punctuation, and Capitalization of Deities.
We have in this article references to people who believed in "young Earth creationism," involving the recent creation of everything by "God." Adherence to such a set of beliefs clearly makes these people members of an irrational cult, and it seems to me Wikipedia should write about "their god" or "a god," rather than "God." They should be treated with kindness, and correctly. Punctuation which implies the objective correctness of their beliefs, however, seems to me inappropriate. David Lloyd-Jones (talk) 21:28, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

 * There's nothing about capitalizing God that implies the correctness of their beliefs. Young-earthers, in general, believe that the Christian deity created the world less than 10,000 years ago. This deity is commonly referred to as "God". If I wrote, for example, "Jim Jones claimed he was God," that wouldn't constitute an endorsement of Jim Jones' position. That's not how capitalization works in English. Alephb (talk) 05:16, 26 August 2017 (UTC)

Newton's date of Creation is questionable
I have been reading through the Newton corpus at the Newton Project for more than a year now and I have not found any concrete evidence to suggest that Newton ever proposed a date for creation. The 4,000 BC figure is often cited in secondary sources, but never with any reference to a primary source. Until we have a primary source for this, I would suggest that the 4,000 BC is merely folklore.--Martinricq1979 (talk) 09:37, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
 * and also in Chronology of the Bible ※ Sobreira ◣◥ ፧ (parlez)⁇﹖ 12:23, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

 * I appreciate the query and the delving into the Newton corpus. But this is not the place to publish the fruits of primary research. If reliable secondary sources are wrong about this, Wikipedia has to be wrong too, until they get it right. (WP:NOT) If there is a debate, Wikipedia should give an impartial summary of the debate. — ℜ ob C. alias ALAROB 17:20, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

 * So... Unsourced references are regarded as reliable? What's the Wikipedia policy on that? 2600:1700:8720:5000:A8A3:440C:FC9F:662C (talk) 01:53, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Where Jasher and Ussher are the Same and Differ
Ussher 4004-2349bc (1656-year) differs from Jasher (3904-2349bc) by Jared as Samaritan 62 instead of Hebrew and Septuagint 162. Then from Flood 2349-2127bc as birth of Terah the dispute that separates the two is Jasher's Terah being 39 fathering Haran, and Ussher's Terah being 70 fathering Haran. This is based on Abram tagged as legal firstborn (and so does not argue whether he was born before Haran, but rather) arguing which son was born at 70, Haran as chronological-firstborn or Abram as legal. The argument uses Abram born in the 32-year of Haran, reducing the 60-year of Terah's age 70-130 and death debating 145-205 by a reduction of 28 years; but this likely meant Abram was born in the 32nd year of the city Harran Syria built by Haran. This accounts for 13-year shifts in chronology (6 orbits of Mars in 360-day calendar), and thus 39-year 2049bc/2088bc/2127bc/2166bc/2205bc. Each of these are major issues such as Harran Syria debated as 2047bc/2049bc. The year 2088bc debated as birth of Terah who will be 39 to father Haran in 2049bc and 70 father in Abram in 2018bc, or debating the same 2088bc as Harran because Terah is 2127bc (Ussher & Jasher) and debates the 39 as 2088bc or age 70 as firstborn 2057bc (Haran or Abram). Then another 39-year Mars back and 2166bc is Greek Nahor, and again 39-year and the 2205bc is Chinese king Yu versus 2207bc where Chaldean kingship is honored as 1460-year sothic 365 leap days in 747bc (Babylon's new year Era Thoth 1 on Feb 26, or Persian Thoth 1 on March 3). This Chaldean kingship honored as 2207-747bc is according to WatchTower (Ur's founder) Peleg (anointing his son Reu/Chinese-Yu as ruler of Ur) when his grandson Serug is born in 2207bc, shifted by Chinese to 2205bc to be the RAT year. My personal findings are that in 1894bc king Samu-Abum altered the 7-day Marduk of 52-year 6x 52 of 360-day where Marduk Temple is day 7 logging Mars for 52 years 2060-2009bc (Greeks confuse this with 52-year Nineveh 2058-2007bc) and he altered this 2009bc to be 6 days of 39-year from Babel's foundation 2240bc, instead of world foundation Arpaxad 2368bc. This greatly implies they felt thatif Peleg made Reu as ruler when grandson Serug was born, then when Serug became king at 80 in 2127bc that they presume Terah was born when in fact Terah was 21. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.86.172.174 (talk) 17:02, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

Alephb: Amel-Marduk's Enthronement
Thanks for showing the pages in Barr's citation, I missed it before. My reason for deleting was an error I see now. Barr is saying Nebuchadnezzar died in 563 and Evil-Murduk took the throne in 562. Since it says here that Murduk took the throne in 563 and does not mention Neb., I was quite confused. Samfoe (talk) 05:22, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Barr is saying Nebuchadnezzar died in 563 and Evil-Murduk took the throne in 562. Not quite. Barr is saying that, according to the figures used by Ussher, Nebuchadnezzar died and Amel-Marduk replaced him in 563. However, Barr says that, in real history, Nebuchadnezzar died in 562. He's saying Ussher almost got things right here. Alephb (talk) 05:32, 21 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Considering that Ussher had no access to Babylonian records and could not read Akkadian, that he was only off by a year in his estimation is rather surprising. Dimadick (talk) 19:30, 21 January 2018 (UTC)

No "controversy" or "detractors" section?
First off, this is a great Wikipedia article. Lots of good stuff here. I'm just surprised nobody even on talk is asking the fairly obvious question: is it really not relevant to this article to note that the universal opinion of science is that the Earth is 4.3B years old?

I get it. It's an article on a religious proposition. As a self-contained artifact, that's all fine. But there's even a section in here saying "by this time most people were figuring it was more like hundreds of millions" and yet literally zero mention of the consensus view from today. Moreover, pick any article on any other contentious subject and you'll get a decent "and other people say this is nonsense" section, even when the article is describing consensus views. And yet if you read this one in a vacuum you don't even get an inkling that anyone thinks this is entirely bogus.

Seems like it'd be a big improvement to include something in the intro like "this chronology isn't accepted by many mainstream Christians and is considered completely invalid by the secular scientific community." It wouldn't detract from the description of the chronology itself, just add a bit more context. Similarly, toward the end when there are discussions of theological detractors it would probably be useful to include a quote or two from actual Earth scientists saying more or less "yeah this is wrong." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2D80:4022:86AE:6C86:1C5A:E44:1568 (talk) 20:01, 14 July 2018 (UTC)

 * The "Ussher's chronology today" section could be improved with a sentence or two, which could then also be summarized in the lead. There was existing text there about its current reputation which I summarized for now (and that could eventually be improved, please review).  I however have the impression that since the article is dedicated to the topic, it is unnecessary to add much more criticism (as you already expected too).  It's still possible to present the criticism clearly in a few words.  Thanks, — Paleo  Neonate  – 09:16, 15 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Adding: I agree that we should find and summarize a source which says how much older the earth really is (and is about the Ussher chronology, of course). — Paleo  Neonate  – 09:20, 15 July 2018 (UTC)

 * Wow, "ask and ye shall receive." ;-) I like your edits and figure they address 90% of my concern. Thanks! I'll look around and see if I can find an appropriate quote on the subject for addition to the latter section; if I find it I'll post here in talk rather than editing the article as I'm an anom commenter without a strong grasp of the policies here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2D80:4022:86AE:85F3:E2E0:3C84:638E (talk) 18:40, 15 July 2018 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Ussher chronology


text:
Worshipful Company of Broderers

The Worshipful Company of Broderers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. Broderers were workers in embroidery; the organization of Broderers existed in at least 1376, and was officially incorporated by a royal charter in 1561. As the craft of embroidery has lost its importance as a trade, the company has become less of a trade association for broderers. Instead, the company is now, as are most livery companies, a charitable foundation.

The company is the forty-eighth in the order of precedence for livery companies. Its motto is Omnia Desuper, Latin for All From Above.

The livery hall of the Broderers, Broderers' Hall, stood on Gutter Lane from 1515 until its destruction in the London blitz. The Broderers now dine in Mercers' Hall.

title: Worshipful Company of Broderers


text:
Michael Ovitz

Michael Steven Ovitz (born December 14, 1946) is an American businessman. He was a talent agent who co-founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and served as its chairman until 1995. Ovitz later served as president of The Walt Disney Company for only 16 months, from October 1995 to January 1997.

Early life and education
Ovitz was born to a Romanian Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a liquor wholesaler. Raised in Encino, California, he was student body president at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, a classmate of Sally Field and Michael Milken. While a pre-med student at the University of California, Los Angeles and president of Zeta Beta Tau, he began his entertainment career as a part-time tour guide at Universal Studios.

Career
Upon graduating from UCLA, in 1968, with a degree in theater, film, and television, Ovitz secured a job in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency. From there, he left for law school, but returned shortly (something William Morris normally did not allow). He was soon promoted, eventually becoming a highly successful television agent. Six years later, he and four other young colleagues left William Morris to found Creative Artists Agency.

Creative Artists Agency
Dissatisfied with his pay and promotion opportunities, Ovitz and fellow William Morris agents Ronald Meyer, William Haber, Rowland Perkins, and Michael S. Rosenfeld planned to form their own agency after raising money. Learning of their plans, William Morris fired them in January 1975. Borrowing $21,000 from a bank, the agents rented a small office, conducting business on card tables and rented chairs, their wives taking turns as agency receptionist.

Ovitz reportedly had three new film packaging deals sold in the first week. Within four years CAA had $90.2 million in annual bookings and was the third-largest Hollywood agency. Under his direction, CAA quickly grew from a start-up organization to the world's leading talent agency, expanding from television into film, investment banking, and advertising. Ovitz was known for assembling package deals, wherein CAA would utilize its talent base to provide directors, actors and screenwriters to a studio, thus shifting the negotiating leverage from the studios to the talent. As CAA rose in stature Ovitz became one of the most powerful men in Hollywood; he was so influential that, when The New York Times wrote about him in 1989, industry executives, directors, and actors refused to comment or would only do so if CAA allowed it.

Promoted to president, then to chairman of the board, Ovitz's roles at CAA were numerous. He served as talent agent to Hollywood actors Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Costner, John Belushi, Michael Douglas, Bill Murray, Sylvester Stallone, and Barbra Streisand, as well as directors Steven Spielberg, Barry Levinson, and Sydney Pollack. He also provided corporate consulting services, helping negotiate several major international business mergers and deals including Matsushita's acquisition of MCA/Universal, the financial rescue of MGM/United Artists, and Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures. Ovitz's signing of Coca-Cola as a CAA client from agency McCann-Erickson had a significant impact on the advertising industry. He negotiated David Letterman's move from NBC to CBS, chronicled in the book The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night by Bill Carter. He disliked publicity, however, with the Times reporting that "Ovitz is one of the very few people in the world who own almost all the photographs ever taken of them".

Disney
Ovitz resigned from CAA in 1995 to become president of The Walt Disney Company under chairman Michael Eisner. Ovitz quickly grew frustrated with his role in the company and vague definition of duties. After a tumultuous year as Eisner's second in command, he was dismissed by Eisner in January 1997 and left Disney with a (previously agreed-upon) severance package valued at $38 million in cash and an estimated $100 million in stock.

Disney shareholders later sued Eisner and Disney's board of directors for awarding Ovitz such a large severance package. Later court proceedings reflect that Ovitz's stock options were granted when he was hired to induce him to join the company, not granted when he was fired. In 2005 the court upheld Disney's payment.

Artist Management Group and controversy
In January 1999, Ovitz formed CKE, comprising four distinct companies: Artist Management Group (AMG), Artist Production Group (APG), Artist Television Group (ATG) and Lynx Technology Group (LTG). In 2002 Ovitz sold AMG to Jeff Kwatinetz for an undisclosed amount, which was merged into his management group The Firm.

After the sale of AMG, Ovitz became the subject of controversy for remarks made in a Vanity Fair interview, wherein he blamed the downfall of AMG upon a cabal led by Dreamworks cofounder David Geffen which Ovitz described as the "gay mafia". In addition to Geffen, the list included The New York Times correspondent Bernard Weinraub, Disney chairman (and former employer) Michael Eisner; Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane, and Richard Lovett, partners at CAA, Universal Studios president Ronald Meyer (Ovitz's former partner at CAA); and Vivendi CEO Barry Diller. "If I were to establish the foundation of the negativity", Ovitz stated, "it all comes down to David Geffen and Bernie Weinraub. Everything comes back to those two. It's the same group [quoted] in every article." He later apologized for his Vanity Fair comments.

Personal life
Ovitz acts as a private investor. Active in philanthropy, he donated $25 million in 1999 to spearhead fund raising efforts for UCLA's Medical Center, and has contributed significantly to numerous other philanthropic endeavors. A private investor and businessman, his notable activities have ranged from attempts to bring an NFL team to the Los Angeles Coliseum to ventures in online media.

Ovitz is considered among the world's top 200 art collectors. He owns works by Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and many others.

He married Judy Reich whom he met in college; they have three children, including New York fashion designer Kimberly Ovitz.

In 2015, Ovitz became engaged to Tamara Mellon.

Books
Who is Michael Ovitz? was a memoir published by Michael Ovitz recounting his time at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and his brief stint at The Walt Disney Company.

title: Michael Ovitz


text:
Bill Rieflin

William Frederick Rieflin (September 30, 1960 – March 24, 2020) was an American musician. Rieflin came to prominence in the 1990s mainly for his work as a drummer with groups (particularly in the industrial rock and industrial metal scenes) such as Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, and Nine Inch Nails. He worked regularly with R.E.M. following the retirement of Bill Berry in 1997. He was a member of King Crimson from 2013 until his death in 2020.

Early years
Rieflin was born on September 30, 1960, and began his professional career in his hometown of Seattle. In 1975, he was in The Telepaths, a band which played backup for a couple of live gigs by the pre-The Screamers band The Tupperwares. He played drums for The Blackouts starting in 1979. His bandmates included Mike Davidson, Paul Barker, Roland Barker and Erich Werner. Eventually that band dissolved and Paul Barker joined the nascent Ministry.

Ministry, Pigface, solo work
Rieflin's earliest collaboration with Al Jourgensen was in 1986 on "You Often Forget", the second single by the Revolting Cocks. Later, he participated in the creation of Ministry's 1988 album The Land of Rape and Honey, and was noted for his performance in the live video In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (alongside fellow drummer Martin Atkins). Rieflin's work with Ministry and its side projects lasted through to the mid-nineties, though he noted that he was never credited as a member of Ministry proper, always as an "other" musician. Therefore, when he parted ways with the band during the Filth Pig sessions, he did not really quit since he was never an official member.

Rieflin helped Atkins kick off Pigface, the industrial collective that would grow to incorporate hundreds of artists, formed a friendship with labelmate Chris Connelly and founded First World Music. Like Connelly, Rieflin's work grew beyond his industrial roots. They collaborated on several recordings; two in particular, The Ultimate Seaside Companion (as "The Bells") and Largo, showcase Rieflin's keyboard skills.

Rieflin's solo debut, Birth of a Giant, featured him singing in something other than a background role, and also featured Robert Fripp. Improvisations from these sessions turned up later on the CD The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior, which was credited to Rieflin, Fripp and Trey Gunn.

KMFDM, R.E.M.
Rieflin appeared on all KMFDM records released from 1995 to 2003 as a drummer, programmer, vocalist and keyboardist. He toured with the band as a bassist in 2002 in support of its comeback album, Attak and performed on the 2011 KMFDM album, WTF?!. He also drummed for Scott McCaughey's band, The Minus 5, which occasionally included R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.

Eventually Rieflin's work with The Minus 5 led to Buck offering him the opportunity to sit in with R.E.M., who had been missing a permanent drummer since the 1997 departure of Bill Berry. The band gave him the live drummer slot in its 2003 tour. They later announced that Rieflin would fill the role indefinitely, though once again as a hired musician rather than as an official member. In recordings, Rieflin also contributed bouzouki, keyboards and guitars to the group, serving as an auxiliary member until R.E.M. disbanded in 2011.

Robin Hitchcock, Slow Music, The Humans, Swans, Robbie Williams
Rieflin, along with Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck, was a member of Robyn Hitchcock's backing band "The Venus 3", and appeared on three Hitchcock albums, from 2006 to 2010.

Rieflin was key to forming an experimental ensemble named Slow Music in 2005 with Fred Chalenor (bassist whom he had previously played drums with in the Seattle based instrumental LAND in the late 90's), Hector Zazou, Matt Chamberlain, Peter Buck, and Robert Fripp; in this sextet Rieflin played synthesizers rather than drums. The group played a small handful of live dates in 2005 and 2006 and became inactive until 2014, when they played a few shows as a quintet due to Zazou's passing in 2008. He was also involved in a music collaboration project entitled The Humans, which consisted of him, Chris Wong, Fripp and Toyah Willcox. The band performed a series of live dates in Estonia in Autumn 2007 and 2009, and released their debut album We are the Humans in 2009. Hector Zazou's 2010 album Corps Electriques featured Rieflin, as well as KatieJane Garside, Lone Kent and nu-jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær.

Rieflin was a regular contributor to Swans, playing an array of instruments from the 1995 album The Great Annihilator through 2016's The Glowing Man. (He is listed as an "honorary Swan" on the band's 2012 album The Seer.)

In 2012, Rieflin performed on drums for Robbie Williams's album Take the Crown. Later that year he produced the single Crush Vaccine for Atomic Bride.

King Crimson
In an online diary entry dated September 6, 2013, Robert Fripp announced a new lineup for King Crimson that included Rieflin as one of the band's three drummers. Although this particular version of King Crimson would never record a studio album, Rieflin would play live with the band for the rest of his career.

Following two-and-a-half years of touring (during which new percussion pieces incorporating Rieflin's drumming work made their way into King Crimson's live repertoire) and a few days after the first full-length live release of the band with Rieflin on board (Live in Toronto 2015), Fripp announced Rieflin's decision to take a sabbatical from the band, effective March 6, 2016. This was "a decision supported by all the Crimson Brothers." He was replaced on drums by Jeremy Stacey for the following year of group activity. In early 2017, Fripp announced that Rieflin would return to the band, but that (due to Fripp's desire to stave off complacency after several years of touring) Stacey would continue to drum for the group while Rieflin himself "[would] be focusing on mellotron, keys and fairy dusting, rather than using drums as a main instrument" in the new Double Quartet configuration. Rieflin thus became the band's first ever full-time dedicated keyboardist.

At the time of King Crimson's US Autumn 2017 tour dates in October–November, Rieflin once again needed to take time away from the group. The Seattle-based guitarist Chris Gibson temporarily covered for him on keyboards during the autumn tour. Rieflin rejoined the band in 2018 before taking another indefinite sabbatical in 2019. He was tentatively and temporarily replaced on keyboards by Soft Machine's sax player Theo Travis for initial rehearsals before Fripp and the band made the decision to not replace Rieflin, thus reverting King Crimson to a seven-member band. Fripp would summarise the situation as "regardless of the quality of player depping for Bill, simply, Bill is irreplaceable. It's not the notes that are played, it's the Billness of Bill that Master Rieflin brings to the group."

Although he would not appear onstage with King Crimson again, Rieflin would remain a nominal and fully-respected member of the band until his death a year later. Via retrospective footage, he played a significant part in Toby Amies' 2022 documentary In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50, candidly discussing his terminal stage 4 colon cancer, his imminent death, and his choice to spend his final years playing music with King Crimson.

Personal life and death
Rieflin was married to painter Francesca Sundsten until her death in 2019. Rieflin died on March 24, 2020, from colon cancer, at the age of 59.

Discography
Thistle-colored cells with daggers (†) indicate a live release

title: Bill Rieflin


text:
Worshipful Company of Upholders

The Worshipful Company of Upholders is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. "Upholder" is an archaic word for "upholsterer". In past times, upholders did not just manufacture and sell upholstered goods but were cabinet makers, undertakers, soft furnishers, auctioneers, and valuers. The organisation was formed on 1 March 1360 and officially incorporated by a Royal Charter granted by Charles I in 1626. The Company originally had the right to set standards for upholstery within London and to search, seize and destroy defective upholstery. However, over the years, the Company's power has eroded, as has the profession of upholsterers, because of the advancement of technology.

The Livery's purpose today is:
 * To Uphold the livery of the Upholders, ensuring it continues to flourish. Upholding the craft of the Upholder and through charitable giving uphold individuals and organisations connected with our trade and Livery.

In support of the upholstery and soft furnishing trade, the Livery provides prizes and bursaries to students studying these crafts. It gives Merit Awards to companies achieving the highest standards of craftsmanship and Master Craftsman awards to individuals. Working closely with the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers, it is developing a "Centres of Excellence" scheme for colleges and other organisations to ensure traditional upholstery skills are taught and passed on to professionals and enthusiasts. In 2017, the first Upholders' apprentice to complete his training through the Livery Companies' Apprenticeship Scheme was awarded his certificate by the Lord Mayor of London. In addition to working with the AMUSF, the company supports the Guild of Traditional Upholsterers. The Livery provides several pensions to special-needs pensioners who have worked in the trade.

Upholders arranged the funeral of Admiral Lord Nelson, and the Livery is proud to include undertakers today. Members of the company continue to be involved with the funerals of national figures. The name Undertaker also has Upholder as its root.

The Livery, through its charities, the Peter Jackson Charity, and the Neville Hayman Charity, supports its crafts & artisans and other charities connected with the City of London and the armed forces. The Livery has close connections with TS Upholder, the Chelmsford Sea Cadet unit.

The Livery and Liverymen are actively involved in many organisations and charities in the City of London, including Castle Baynard Ward Club, as the site of the Company's Hall until the Great Fire in 1666 is in the Ward. The Company is the forty-ninth in the order of precedence for Livery Companies. Its motto is Sustine Bona, Latin for Uphold the Good.

title: Worshipful Company of Upholders