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Vadodara

Vadodara, also known as Baroda, is a major city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, 141 km from the state capital of Gandhinagar. The railway line and National Highway 8, which connect Delhi with Mumbai, pass through Vadodara. The city is named for its abundance of banyan (vad) trees. Vadodara is also locally referred to as the Sanskrutik Nagari and Kala Nagari  of India.

The city is prominent for landmarks such as the Laxmi Vilas Palace, which served as the residence of the Maratha royal Gaekwad dynasty that ruled over Baroda State. It is also the home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

Etymology
The city once was called Chandanavati after the rule of Raja Chandan of the Dodiya Rajputis. The capital was also known as Virakshetra (Land of Warriors). Later, it was known as Vadpatraka or Vadodará, and according to tradition, is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word vatodar, meaning "in the belly of the banyan tree". It is, as of 2009, almost impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were made; early English travelers and merchants of the 15th century mention the town as Baroda, and it is from this, that the name Baroda is derived; in 1974 (well after independence), the official name of the city was changed to Vadodara.

Prehistory
At Akota, now a suburb of Vadodara, excavations have found rich microlith deposits, providing early evidence of habitation in the area. These prehistoric people took part in hunting and fishing and lived no later than 1000 BCE.

First millennium CE
By the first centuries CE, Akota was the site of a commercial town with far-reaching trade links. Known in antiquity as Aṅkoṭṭaka, it had well-built houses made from burnt bricks. Two re-struck coins of the early Western Satraps have been found here, along with artifacts possibly of Greco-Roman origin. A Gupta-era coin has also been found here.

Akota flourished under the Maitraka dynasty, although it experienced periodic severe flooding. A huge hoard of Jain bronzes, largely dating from this period, was found at Akota's old site, indicating that the city was a centre of Jainism. The bronzes include images of various tirthankaras as well as an elephant-shaped incense burner. Many of them have inscriptions that have been used to indicate when they were made.

In the 6th century, the town's inhabitants shifted away from the river to a new site near Akota's modern centre. At Kothi, which also now forms part of Vadodara, evidence of habitation also first emerges during this period.

An early mention of Vadodara itself is in an 812 copper-plate grant of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It records Karka Suvarṇavasha, second ruler of the Lata branch of the Rashtrakutas, giving the village of Vaḍapadraka, in the province of Aṅkoṭṭaka and identified with present-day Vadodara, to a Brahmin from Valabhi. Meanwhile, Akota continued to flourish during this period.

Chaulukya period: from village to city
By the 11th century, under the Chaulukya dynasty, Vadodara appears to have gained in importance. A plate dated to 1077 mentions a battle on the bank of the Vishvamitri river in the vishaya of Vaṭapadraka, which had evidently replaced the earlier province of Aṅkoṭṭaka. The Akota bronzes continue until the 11th century but cease thereafter. The main centre of Jainism in the area shifted to Vadodara. By this period, Vadodara is referred to as a pura, or city, rather than just a village.

A manuscript of the Panchavastuka written at Vadodara in 1123 indicates that the province of Lāṭa was then governed by Santūka, a minister of the Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja. At some point, Santūka organised a rathayatra, or chariot procession, at Vaṭapadraka. Several other manuscripts from Vadodara are known from this period, including a Prakrit work composed by Chandraprabhasuri in 1128 along with two copies of Jain works made in 1156 and 1168 respectively. Another manuscript, although copied at Dabhoi, was written by a scribe named Vosari whose father was a pandit named Kesava who came from Vadodara.

During this period, merchants from Vadodara contributed to the temples at the Chaulukya capital of Patan. At some point, the minister Tejpal, returning from a victory at Godhra, stopped at Vadodara for several days and renovated the local shrine of Parshvanatha. Around 1264, shrines to Mahavira and Adishvara were built at Vadodara by one Pethad Shah.

Delhi Sultanate
Under the Delhi Sultanate, Vadodara was home to a group of Afghan amirs known collectively as the Amir-i Sadgan, or "the nobles of the hundred", because each one commanded a force of 100 cavalry. In 1344, during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, they revolted. Led by one Qazi Jalal, they defeated Muqbil, the sultan's main deputy in Gujarat, in a decisive battle near Dabhoi. They went on to occupy a large territory stretching from Kadi in the north to Bharuch in the south, and from Khambhat in the west to the hill country in the east. In 1345, Muhammad bin Tughluq led an army to Gujarat to put down the rebellion and, after initially camping at Pandu Mewas, defeated them in battle at Bharuch.

Gujarat Sultanate
Muzaffar Shah I, founder of the Gujarat Sultanate, appointed his son Firuz Khan as governor of Vadodara at some point. After Muzaffar Shah's death in 1411, he was succeeded by his grandson Ahmad Shah I (Firuz's nephew). Firuz immediately laid claim to the throne. Because the sultanate's central authority in central and southern Gujarat was weak at this point, Firuz had little trouble assembling an army at Vadodara. He then marched to Nadiad and then to Bharuch, which he seized by force. Ultimately, the rebellion dissipated without a pitched battle: internal tensions had already arisen among Firuz Khan's main allies, and when Ahmad Shah offered them amnesty in return for standing down, they readily complied. Firuz Khan was forgiven and given Navsari as a jagir, thus giving up his position as governor of Vadodara.

In 1451, Vadodara was sacked by troops under Mahmud Khalji, ruler of the Malwa Sultanate. Later, during the reign of Mahmud Begada, a major re-foundation of Vadodara took place. A new city called Daulatabad was built, close to the old site. The Muslim name evidently did not stick, but the city itself did, and this new foundation became the basis for the modern city of Vadodara. A later atlas by John Ogilby refers to people moving from the old town to the new one.

Mughal Empire
After Akbar conquered Gujarat in 1573, he gave Vadodara to one Nawab Aurang Khan. There was an administrative reform under Akbar's reign, and Raja Todar Mal conducted a land survey of parts of Gujarat. Vadodara, however, does not seem to have been included in this survey.

In the late 1600s, Gujarat was increasingly attacked by Maratha and Koli raids. One raid, by the Kolis, hit Vadodara in 1705; they looted the city for two days.

Geography
Vadodara is located at 22.3°N, 73.19°W in western India at an elevation of 39 m. It is the 10th-largest city in India with an area of 400 km2 and a population of 3.5 million, according to the 2010–11 census. The city sits on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, in central Gujarat. The Vishwamitri frequently dries up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water. The city is located on the fertile plain between the Mahi and Narmada Rivers. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the cosmopolis falls under seismic zone-III, on a scale of I to V (in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes).

Climate
Vadodara features a borderline tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) that despite the roughly 850 mm of rain that the city receives annually is due to the area's high potential evapotranspiration very close to being classified as a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. Aside from the monsoon season, the climate is dry. The weather is hot during March to July, when the average maximum is 39 °C, and the average minimum is 24 °C. From November to February, the average maximum temperature is 30 °C, the average minimum is 15 °C, and the climate is extremely dry. Cold northerly winds are responsible for mildly chilly days in January. The southwest monsoon brings a humid climate from mid-June to mid-September. The average rainfall is 85 cm, but infrequent, torrential rains cause the river to flood like the 2005 Gujarat flood or the 2008 Indian floods, which were catastrophic.

The highest recorded temperature was 46.7 C on 11 May 1960 crossed with 48.0 C on 19 May 2016, while the lowest recorded temperature was -1.1 C on 15 January 1935.

Demographics
At the time of the 2011 census of India, Vadodara Municipal Corporation and associated outgrowths had a population of 1,670,806. About 9.45% of the population was under 6 years of age. Vadodara had a sex ratio of 920 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 90.48%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 6.63% and 4.07% of the population, respectively.

Hinduism was the main religion, practiced by 85.39% of the population. Islam was the second-largest religion (11.20%). Jains were 2.02%, Christians 0.82%, and Sikhs 0.45%.

At the time of the 2011 census, 71.37% of the population spoke Gujarati, 14.83% Hindi, 7.60% Marathi and 1.91% Sindhi as their first language.

Economy
In Vadodara, various large-scale industries such as Gujarat Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals, Vadodara Manufacturing Division)(Formerly IPCL) of Reliance Industries Limited, Deepak Nitrite, Parikh Industries, Linde Engineering India, and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited have come up in the vicinity of Gujarat Refinery. Other large-scale public-sector units are Heavy Water Project, Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India Limited. Vadodara is also a manufacturing hub of power equipment, rail coaches, and defense aircraft, and several IT sector companies in Vadodara are rapidly growing. Vadodara is also a hub of pharmaceutical industries; many pharmaceutical companies are located within and nearby. Vadodara is home to many big pharmaceutical companies, and is a major hub of pharmaceutical industries in Gujarat.

Located in Vadodara are over 35% of India's power-transmission and distribution equipment manufacturers and an estimated 800 ancillaries supporting the big players in power sector equipment manufacturing and engineering industry. Larsen & Tourbo (L&T) has established "Knowledge City" in Vadodara. This Knowledge City is the hub of several key businesses of the L&T Group. The power business, mid- and downstream Hydrocarbon, L&T Technology Services, and the engineering joint venture L&T-Sargent & Lundy operate out of the facility. It also houses manufacturing facilities for switchgear, air circuit breakers, and moulded-case circuit breakers.

Bombardier Transportation, a Canadian company, has established a rail-coach manufacturing plant in Savli along with other manufacturing companies such as Alstom, Siemens, and Voltas. This plant manufactures coaches for Delhi Metro and the New Generation Rollingstock for Brisbane, Australia. The plant is also manufacturing trainsets for Delhi - Meerut RRTS. Beside this Vadodara holds a key position in Gujarat's pharmaceutical industry, as many small and big pharma companies are located in Vadodara.

Tata Advanced Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Group and Airbus joint venture, has set up a C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility at Vadodara as part of a Rs 22,000 crore deal to supply 56 such aircraft. The C-295 will replace the Avro aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force. This project will make Vadodara a defense manufacturing hub. The first "Made in India" aircraft is expected in September 2026.

The revenue for the city is generated through taxes, service provision, and state government assistance. The taxes include general taxes, conservancy taxes, and water taxes, whereas the nontax or service revenue can include water charges, rent from municipal properties, public service charges, etc. The VMC budget for the year 2020–2021 against the proposed budget of Rs 3,554 crore last year, stood at Rs 3,770 crore this year.

Petrochemicals
Since the discovery of oil and natural gas in the area, Vadodara has become the site of various petrochemical industries. These are concentrated in the peri-urban areas to the northwest and south of the city proper.

In 1963, construction began on Gujarat Refinery outside of Vadodara, on a 1800-acre tract surrounded by the villages of Koyali, Ranoli, Karachia, and Dhanora. Jawaharlal Nehru ceremonially laid the foundation. The refinery's first trial production was in October 1965. As of 1973 it was producing 4.3 million tonnes of various products per year and it employed some 1,450 people. It was the third public-sector refinery to be built in India.

Among the refinery's products as of 1979 were gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, jet fuel, and various industrial materials such as benzene, toluene, and naphtha. Crude was piped in from Ankleshwar and from northern Gujarat (around Kalol and Vadagam), and condensate was also supplied from the Khambhat gas fields.

In early 1978, two new petrochemical plants began operation in Vadodara: a naphtha cracking plant in March and a low-density polyethylene plant with an 80,000-tonne capacity in April. Both were operated by Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (now part of Reliance Industries) and both were also the first plant of their kind in Gujarat. In March 1979, IPCL also formally commissioned a major petrochemical complex at Vadodara that included an aromatics plant (producing dimethyl terephthalate and two types of xylene), an oil refinery, and seven other downstream facilities. The 7 downstream facilities were: 1. acrylonitrile, 2. synthetic rubber, 3. low-density polyethylene, 4. polypropylene, 5. ethylene glycol, 6. detergent alkylate, and 7. acrylic fibre. There were also plans in the works for a polyester yarn plant as part of the complex with a capacity of 3,500 to 7,000 tonnes per year.

Government and politics

The Vadodara city's municipal corporation or Maha Nagar Palika is a part of the Vadodara district. The district is set up in three distinct levels of administration, which are the collectorate - the district falls under the jurisdiction of a collector; the prant offices which take care of the affairs of taluka and other state government offices and the mamlatdar or taluka offices. The overall district administration has four departments: city survey, district supply office, district planning office, and district election office.

The City elects one member to the Lok Sabha (parliament) and five to the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha (Assembly). All of the five assembly seats of Vadodara were won by the BJP during the legislative elections in 2017. In the 2021 VMSS/VMC elections, the BJP won 69 seats, seven seats went to the Congress.

 * Election wards: 19
 * Seats (Corporators): 76
 * Population per ward: 87,826
 * Seats reserved for women: 38
 * Total voters (as on 1 January 2019): 1,638,300

Civic administration
According to the 2011 census, the total Urban Agglomeration (UA) population of Vadodara is 35,17,191. This is governed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation which was founded in 1951. It was initially called the Baroda Municipal Corporation but later changed to Vadodara Municipal Corporation after the city's name was changed in the year 1974. The Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1951 was setup as the main legislation for the administration and governance of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation.

The city limits of Vadodara have expanded since: an area of 148 sqkm was added in the year 2002, followed by 15 to 20 km2 of additional expansion to the north of the city in 2006. The villages Sayajipura, Bapod, Kapurai, Khatamba, Tarsal Kalali, Gorva, Chhani and Vemali were added to the VMC boundaries in 2017 and the latest expansion notice has been given to the seven villages of Sevasi, Bhayli, Vemali, Bil, Karodiya, Undera and Vadadala in the year 2020.

City governance
The Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 governs the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. The Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act of 1949 which is derived from the Bombay Act No. LIX of 1949 is another legislation which most municipal corporation, including Vadodara in Gujarat function under.

The highest body of power in the municipal corporation is the General Board, which is composed of elected members from each ward within the VMC. There are 19 wards under the VMC, each of which consists 4 seats of councilor which has a 50% reservation of seats for women. There are a total of 76 councilors elected for this VMC term where every councilor is appointed in various committees for a period of one year.

The VMC has twelve executive committees apart from the standing committee, which look after the specialized functions of VMC. These committees include public works committee, water work committee, drainage and sewerage committee, health committee, town planning committee, estate management committee, recreation and culture committee, electric committee, and legal committee. Each committee consists of 12 councilors each. The formulation of an additional ward committee is recommended by the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act of 1949 for a city exceeding the population of three lakhs - which is above the current population of Vadodara.

Politics
Three corporators are elected from each ward, who in turn elect a mayor. Executive powers are vested in the municipal commissioner, who is an IAS officer appointed by the Gujarat state government. The mayor is responsible for the day-to-day running of the city services, municipal school board, the city bus service, the municipal hospital and the city library. The last municipal corporation election for Vadodara took place in the year 2015 where Bhartiya Janta Party won in the majority with 57 out of the total 76 seats, followed by the Indian National Congress (INC) with 14 seats.

There are six sitting MLAs who have VMC under their jurisdiction and are currently part of the state ministry. Rajendrabhai Trivedi is the BJP MLA and incumbent 14th Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, who was unanimously elected on 9 February 2018. Jitendra Sukhadia is the Minister of Tourism, Non-resident Gujarati division as well as the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs. Saurabhbhai Patel is the incumbent Energy Minister of Gujarat while Yogeshbhai Patel heads the Ministry of State for Narmada Development. The MLA Madhubhai Shrivastav is the state appointed Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation (GAIC) chief and Manisha Vakil is BJP's Vadodara City Assembly Constituency MLA.

Law and order
The Vadodara City Police are responsible for law enforcement and public safety in Vadodara, Gujarat. The Vadodara City Police is headed by a Police Commissioner, an IPS officer. They are a subdivision of the state police force of Gujarat and are headed by a commissioner. The Vadodara police force is responsible for the protection and safety of Vadodara citizens. Shamsher Singh, a previous serving as the Additional Director General of Police (State Crime Record Bureau cum Computer Centre), Gandhinagar, is the current Police commissioner of the Vadodara. He formally took charge on 1 January 2021.

Museums
Vadodara is home to notable museums like:

 * Sayaji Baug, Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery

 * Maharaja Fatehsinh Museum

 * Museum Of Archeology And Ancient History

 * Health Museum, Sayaji Baug

Civic services
Three civic service departments are under the municipal corporation - the engineering department, the health department, and the support or administration department.

These departments together provide services, infrastructure, and management for the entire city. The engineering department manages infrastructure and services provided through cells or subdepartments such as bridge cell, drainage project, town development, streetlight, electrical sewerage, mechanical sewerage, building project, solid-waste management, road, storm-water drainage, water work, land, and estate. The health department takes care of public health-related issues and services through its solid-waste management, health, and ICDS subdepartments. The health department also has a subdepartment for managing birth, death, and marriage registrations. The support department handles all IT and administration-related issues and services, with cells such as IT, accounts audit, census, PRO, election, real estate (acquisition), shops and establishment, assessment, and UCD-NULM departments.

Urban planning
The two main institutions involved in planning and development in Vadodara are VMSS and the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA). The responsibilities of both these agencies are demarcated clearly not only physically but also functionally. The governing acts for both institutions differ. The principal responsibility of VUDA is to ensure a holistic development of the Vadodara agglomeration covering an area of 714.56 km2, whereas VMSS is involved in the development of area of 235 km2.

Vadodara's population grew the fastest during the decade between 1961 and 1971. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation drew up the first official urban plan for the city's growth in 1970, the Vadodara Development Plan. The VUDA was formed in 1980. The second Development Plan, developed in 1984, included decentralising the city's infrastructure. During the mid-late 70s early 80s, development on the city's outskirts focused on building cheap, low-income housing for industrial workers. By the 1990s, the focus had shifted to mixed-density, "self-sustainable settlements" in peri-urban areas, especially on the west and southwest sides of town. Farmland was purchased from nearby villages to provide space for these new developments, which caused a large drop in cultivated acreage and overall agricultural produce in the area.

Initially, major industrial development happened on the city's north side; the east side also saw plenty of development because of its location near the old city core. The south and west were relatively less populated in comparison.

Various unplanned slum areas have been formed by rapid immigration from rural areas that outpaced formal city planning. These slum areas consist largely of temporary (kachcha) structures with communal toilets or none at all. They are often found in less-desired areas along river banks and nallahs or in other low-lying spots. Sanitation in these developments is generally poor.

A low of relatively lower-income, blue-collar workers live in industrial housing developments on Vadodara's outskirts. Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing and slums are located especially on the northwest, northeast, and east sides of the city. In recent decades (as of 2021), major industrial development has taken place along the NH-8 corridor. Religious institutions like temples and ashrams have especially developed on the east side of town, while the Transport Nagar development is located on the northeast.

Solid waste management
The municipal corporation under its health department provides the solid waste management for the Vadodara city. All zonal asst. municipal commissioners, zonal health officers, ward officers, sanitary inspectors are part of the solid waste management committee who need to be present during the weekly SWM coordination meetings. The department takes care of the sweeping, cleaning and maintenance along with complaint redressal. All zonal chief, assistant municipal commissioners, zonal health officers and other sanitary staff are expected to work on field between 7am to 11am on weekdays. The solid waste management also has a litter prevention system which carries out litter patrol and charges fines as administrative fees from the defaulters.

Water supply
An average of 53.2 million gallon (240 million litres) of water per day, or 38 gallon (190 litres) per person per day is provided the city daily to meets its daily water requirement. The water supply is provided by the water works department of the municipal corporation along with other agencies like the Sardar Sarovar Narmada limited who directly supply water to VMC which is looked after the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board, and the Water and Sanitation Management Organization. The city receives its drinking water supply from 16 high rise water tanks and one busting station located within the city.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam which is one of the drinking water sources for the city, had halted supply temporarily in 2019 after receiving complains about the high sulphur content from the Narmada river, but the water supply was restarted again after a few days. The other sources of water are the Mahi River for which the water is obtained from a French well that has naturally purified water through layers of sand. The Ajwa Sarovar is another source of drinking water and is filtered at Nimeta Water Purification Plant.

In January 2019, VUDA and GWSSB joined hands to reduce the acute shortage of drinking water for residential societies near close to the Vadodara city. A quantity of 3 MLD water per day for three years will be provided as a temporary measure until water from the Timbi pond and Narmada canal reaches these residences.

Drainage and sewage

The drainage is provided under the Engineering department's drainage projects or the Public Health Engineering Laboratory (PHEL). The department provides planning, designing, estimating, tendering, executing and operating and maintaining the sewerage systems like the sewerage network, sewage pumping stations, sewage pumping mains, sewage treatment and effluent disposal works.

The sewage as of 2001 covered 55% area and 65% of the present population when the VMC limits extended to 108.00 km2. The Public Health Engineering Laboratory (PHEL) has been working on a comprehensive sewerage system Master Plan for 1425 km2 of sewers and nine sewage treatment works. The plan master plan is designed for the year 2021 where the project aims to increase the sewage coverage from 55% to 95% by area and 65% to 93% by population for an area of 159.31 km2.

Electricity
Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL) is the main electricity provision company for the Gujarat state and Vadodara. Hydroelectricity is additionally being generated by water from Sardar Sarovar Dam with six units of river bed power houses of 200 megawatt each.

Fire and emergency
Fire and rescue operations are provided by the VMC under its fire department which is provided according to the Section 285 to 289 of the BPMC Act. VMC has fixed rates for rescue operations & fire extinguishing within the VMC limits and outside it. The VMC's fire department also provide additional services like water tanker provision for domestic, religious or marriage purposes, providing ambulance, dead body carrier.

Transport
The city is on the major rail and road arteries joining Mumbai with Delhi and Mumbai with Ahmedabad.

Air
Vadodara Airport (IATA: BDQ) is located north-east of the city. Vadodara has flight connections with Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Goa. Air India and IndiGo are currently operating their services from the airport. A new integrated international terminal has been constructed at the Vadodara airport and was inaugurated in October 2016. Vadodara is the first Green Airport in Gujarat and Second Green Airport in India after Kochi.

Railway
Vadodara was part of the historic Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (BBCI), which arrived in the city in January 1861. On 5 November 1951 the BBCI Railway was merged with the Saurashtra, Rajputana and Jaipur railways to create the Western Railway. Vadodara Railway Station now belongs to the Western Railway zone of Indian Railways and is a major junction on the Western Railway Main Line.

The under-construction Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, India's first High-speed rail line will have a stop at the existing Vadodara Junction railway station. The station is planned for renovation to accommodate the new line.

Bus
Vadodara bus station is also beautifully designed as a symbol of Banyan (Vad) trees and located near by Railway Station. It also has a market, food court and multiplex facilities.

Road
Vadodara has taxi services that is operational mostly around Vadodara Railway station and the Vadodara Airport, apart from this Vadodara has private cab services like Ola, Uber, etc. Vadodara also has self drive car rental services operated by private companies like Just Drive Self Drive Cars.

Sports
Vadodara has a professional cricket team, the Baroda cricket team, as well as the oldest cricket ground in Asia, called Moti Baug. The team has won the Ranji Trophy six times. Reliance Stadium, a private cricket ground owned by Reliance Industries, hosts ODIs. Some of the notable cricketer's from Baroda are Vijay Hazare, Anshuman Gaekwad, Kiran More, Nayan Mongia, Atul Bedade, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda.

Vadodara too have an International cricket stadium under construction at Kotambi.Vadodara would also have a sports university in Desar.

Media
The city has five local FM stations: Radio City (91.1 MHz), Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz), Red FM (93.5 MHz), Big FM (92.7 MHz), and All India Radio, Vividh Bharti (93.9 MHz)(Aakashwani). Radio City (91.1 MHz) is known all over Vadodara for its Rag Rag Ma Vadodara City profile. All India Radio is broadcast on the AM band. Satellite radio was launched in nearby city of Ahmedabad by WorldSpace in 2005. Vadodara News Magazine(VNM) is a local news TV channel that covers events in the city. Sandesh News is a local news TV channel.

Education
The city houses many Schools and Colleges, including Baroda High School. Higher Education Institutions across various disciplines attract international students mainly from the African countries such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, and Kenya.

In 1909 there were plans to open a school for the deaf.

Universities

 * The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
 * Sigma Group of Institute
 * Parul University
 * Navrachna University
 * GSFC University
 * National Rail and Transportation Institute (Railway University)
 * Sumandeep Vidyapeeth
 * ITM Vocational University

Secondary schools
There are several private and public secondary schools in Vadodara, including the following:
 * Navrachana Higher Secondary School
 * Navrachana Vidyani Vidyalaya
 * Navrachana International School
 * Cygnus World School
 * Zenith High School
 * Cygnus International School
 * Billabong High International School
 * Rosary High School
 * Convent of Jesus & Mary Girls High School
 * Parth School Of Science & Competition

title: Vadodara


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Flight of the Earls

The Flight of the Earls took place in September 1607, when Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers, left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe. Their permanent exile was a watershed event in Irish history, symbolizing the end of the old Gaelic order.

Name
The event was first named as a "flight" in a book by the Reverend C. P. Meehan that was published in 1868.

Historians disagree to what extent the earls wanted to start a war with Spanish help to re-establish their positions, or whether they accepted exile as the best way of coping with their recent loss of status since the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603. Meehan argued that the earls' tenants wanted a new war: "Withal, the people of Ulster were full of hope that O'Neill would return with forces to evict the evictors, but the farther they advanced into this agreeable perspective, the more rapidly did its charms disappear."

Background to the exile
After the defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell traveled to Spain to seek support from Philip III. Unsuccessful, he died in Spain and was succeeded by his younger brother Rory O'Donnell.

The O'Neills and O'Donnells retained their lands and titles, although with much-diminished extent and authority. However, the countryside was laid bare in a campaign of destruction in 1602, which induced famine in 1603. Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, was pardoned under the terms of the Treaty of Mellifont in March 1603 and submitted to the crown.

When King James VI and I took the English throne in 1603, he quickly proceeded to issue pardons for the Irish lords and their rebel forces. Already reigning as king of Scotland, he had a better understanding of the advantages from working with local chiefs in the Scottish Highlands. However, as in other Irish lordships, the 1603 peace involved O'Neill losing substantial areas of land to his cousins and neighbors, who would be granted freeholds under the English system, instead of the looser arrangements under the former Brehon law system. This was not a new policy but was a well-understood and longstanding practice in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

On 10 September 1602, the Prince of Tyrconnell had already died, allegedly assassinated, in Spain, and his brother succeeded him as 25th Chieftain of the O'Donnell clan. He was later granted the Earldom of Tyrconnell by King James I on 4 September 1603 and restored to a somewhat diminished scale of territories in Tyrconnell on 10 February 1604.

In 1605, the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, began to encroach on the former freedoms of the two Earls and The Maguire, enforcing the new freeholds, especially that granted in North Ulster to the O'Cahan chief. The O'Cahan had formerly been important subjects of the O'Neills and required protection; in turn, Chichester wanted to reduce O'Neill's authority. O'Cahan had also wanted to remove himself from O'Neill's overlordship. An option was to charge O'Neill with treason if he did not comply with the new arrangements. The discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in the same year made it harder for Catholics to appear loyal to both the crown and the papacy. A lengthy legal battle however found in O'Neill's favor.

By 1607, O'Neill's allies the Maguires and the Earl of Tyrconnell were finding it hard to maintain their prestige on lower incomes. They planned to seek Spanish support before news of the Battle of Gibraltar arrived. When their ship dropped anchor, O'Neill seems to have joined them on impulse. He had three options:
 * Flee with his friends and hope for a reinvasion by Spain
 * Go to London and stay at court until his grievances were redressed
 * Do nothing and live on a reduced income as a large landowner in Ulster.

Fearing arrest, they chose to flee to Continental Europe, where they hoped to recruit an army for the invasion of Ireland with Spanish help. However, earlier in 1607 the main Spanish fleet in Europe had been defeated by the Dutch in the Battle of Gibraltar. But the oft-repeated theory that they were all about to be arrested contradicts writer Tadhg Ó Cianáin, the main historical source on the Flight, who said at the start of his account that O'Neill heard news of the ship anchored at Rathmullen on Thursday 6 September, and "took his leave of the Lord Justice (Chichester) the following Saturday". They had been meeting at Slane for several days, and there is no proof that warrants for his arrest had been drawn up, nor was it a hurried departure.

Also, as the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) had been ended by the Treaty of London in 1604, King Philip III of Spain wanted to remain at peace with England under its new Stuart dynasty. As a part of the peace proposals, a Spanish princess was to marry James' son, Henry, though this never happened. Spain had also gone bankrupt in 1598. Tyrone ignored all these realities, remained in Italy, and persisted with his invasion plan until his death in exile in 1616.

End of the old Gaelic order
The earls left from the town of Rathmullan with some of the leading Gaelic families in Ulster; they traveled down Lough Swilly on a French ship. Their departure was the end of the old Gaelic order, in that the earls were descended from Gaelic clan dynasties that had ruled their parts of Ulster for centuries. The Flight of the Earls was a watershed event in Irish history, as the ancient Gaelic aristocracy of Ulster went into permanent exile. Despite their attachment to and importance in the Gaelic system, the Earls' ancestors had accepted their Earldoms from the English-run Kingdom of Ireland in the 1540s, under the policy of surrender and regrant. Some historians argue that their flight was forced upon them by the fallout from the Tudor conquest of Ireland, while others that it was an enormous strategic mistake that cleared the way for the Plantation of Ulster.

From 1616, a number of bards outside Ulster had a poetic debate in the "Contention of the bards" and one of the arguments celebrated King James's Gaelic-Irish Milesian ancestry through Malcolm III of Scotland. So it is debatable whether the Gaelic order had ended or was evolving.

Journey
The Earls set sail from Rathmullan, a village on the shore of Lough Swilly in County Donegal, accompanied by ninety followers, many of them Ulster noblemen, and some members of their families. Several left their wives behind, hoping either to return or retrieve them later. The late Tomás Ó Fiaich, Archbishop of Armagh, gave a lecture at Rathmullan in September 1988 and recounted that the Earl of Tyrone allegedly “had a gold cross which contained a relic of the True Cross, and this he trailed in the water behind the ship, and according to O’Ciainain, it gave some relief from the storm” during the crossing to Quillebeuf-sur-Seine in Normandy, France. They finally reached the Continent on 4 October 1607. This supposed relic of the True Cross was probably a minor relic taken from that kept at Holy Cross Abbey, which they had previously visited en route to Kinsale in 1601.

Their destination was Spain, but they disembarked in France. The party proceeded overland to Spanish Flanders, some remaining in Leuven, while the main party continued to Italy. Tadhg Ó Cianáin (sometimes quoted by historians as O'Keenan) subsequently described the journey in great detail. While the party was welcomed by many important officials in the Spanish Netherlands, he makes no mention of any negotiations or planning between the earls and the Spanish to start a new war to regain the earls' properties.

Ó Cianáin's diary is important as the only continuous and contemporaneous account of the Flight. Its original title, Turas na dTaoiseach nUltach as Éirinn – the departure of the Chiefs of Ulster from Ireland – has been changed since the creation of the more dramatic phrase "Flight of the Earls" to the latter's modern literal translation, Imeacht na nIarlaí; and, according to Professor Ó Muraíle, turas can also mean a religious pilgrimage.

Attainders
King James issued "A Proclamation touching the Earles of Tyrone and Tyrconnell" on 15 November 1607, describing their action as treasonous, and therefore preparing the ground for the eventual forfeiture of their lands and titles. No reply that is known of was made to the proclamation

Their titles were attainted in 1614, although they continued to be recognized on the Continent. The attainders were not considered legitimate in continental Catholic countries of the day. Even within the context of English and colonial Irish rule, the attainder came about six years after Rory, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, had already died. As accused, for him to have been properly tried, he should have been tried by his peers in the Peerage of Ireland, under the presiding authority of the Lord High Steward of Ireland. However, he was already dead, unable to stand in his own defense, and his title already inherited by his son Hugh “Albert” O'Donnell; therefore in order to attain the title, the trial would have to have been of Hugh “Albert”, who had in fact committed no crime. The 6-year delay in hearing the attainders was unavoidable, as his peers in the Irish House of Lords next sat in 1613, and dealt with the matter in the usual manner.

The attainder was however considered a travesty of justice by his supporters, and was considered null and void by many on the Continent. The succession of the Earl of Tyrconnell's son, Hugh Albert O'Donnell, as 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell (1st creation) was therefore recognized as valid in the Spanish Empire, and he was given the same status under a new Spanish title Conde de Tirconnel.

Under the Common law, the title granted by King James and accepted by the earl had potentially lapsed as soon as the Earl embarked on the ship without his king's permission to leave Ireland, and when it lapsed it could not then pass down to his descendants without some special waiver. Assuming that Hugh Albert was being punished for a crime he did not commit, and was not being given a hearing, misses the whole point of the law of attainder. Hugh Albert was never issued a Writ of Summons to sit in the Irish House of Lords as his father's heir. Hugh Albert also never came to Dublin in 1614 to argue his case for a waiver, so far as is known, and never accepted James I as his king. Until he did so, his title and his claim to nobility were considered to be "in abeyance".

These attainders had a much greater impact on the people of Ulster. The 1603 peace arrangement with the three lords was ended, as they had broken its conditions by leaving the kingdom without permission, and their remaining freehold lands were confiscated. Chichester proposed a new plantation of settlers from England, Wales and Scotland, sponsored in part by the City of London merchants, which became known as the Plantation of Ulster. This had an enormous negative impact on the lower class Gaelic-culture inhabitants of Ulster.

Change in Spanish policy
In the papal bull Ilius of 1555, the Pope had conferred the title King of Ireland on King Philip II of Spain when he was married to Queen Mary. Philip II made no claim to the kingship of Ireland after Mary's death in 1558. He engaged in a lengthy war from 1585 with her sister Elizabeth I, and he and his successor Philip III supported the Irish Catholic rebels up to the siege of Kinsale in 1601. He had been offered the kingship in 1595 by O'Neill and his allies but turned it down. Given this lengthy support, it was reasonable for O'Donnell and O'Neill to imagine that they might solicit help from Philip III, but Spanish policy was to maintain the recent (1604) Treaty with England, and its European fleet had been weakened from several conflicts, including the Battle of Gibraltar by the Dutch over four months earlier.

Therefore, by mid-1607 Spain had neither the desire nor the means to assist an Irish rebellion. While the Flight is often described as a first step in arranging a new war, this must be seen as an emotional and false conclusion, as there were no plans or proposals at all from the Spanish side to support the earls. Spanish policy in the 1590s had been to help the Irish warlords as a nuisance against England, but they had been defeated by 1603. It could not be in any way in the interest of Spain to assist their unsuccessful former allies in 1607.

Commemoration on the 400th anniversary
The 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls was marked on 14 September 2007, throughout Donegal, including a regatta of tall ships, fireworks, lectures, and conferences. The President of Ireland Mary McAleese unveiled a statue by John Behan depicting the Flight at Rathmullan. There is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Flight of the Earls and the subsequent plantation in Draperstown in Northern Ireland and at the "Flight of the Earls Centre" in the Martello tower at Rathmullan. There were also commemorative postage stamps issued by the Irish post office, featuring Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, and based on original illustrations by Sean O Brogain, made as they were about to sail out of Rathmullan.

In 2008 there were also celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Earls in Rome, with a celebratory performance by the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland in Sant'Ignazio Church in Rome.

List of refugees
Tadhg Ó Cianáin kept a record of the refugees who participated in the flight. In 1972, Tomás Ó Fiaich and Pádraig de Barra published Imeacht na nIarlaí, which expanded the list of refugees based on extensive research.

Ship's Crew

 * John Connor, captain
 * John Rath, pilot

Family

 * Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
 * Catherine O'Neill, Countess of Tyrone, his wife
 * Hugh O'Neill, Baron Dungannon, his son
 * Shane O'Neill, his son
 * Brian O'Neill, his son
 * Art Óg O'Neill
 * His wife
 * Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill’s nephew
 * Feardorcha, Hugh O'Neill’s grandson
 * Aodh Óg, Hugh O'Neill’s grand-nephew
 * Maigbheathadh Ó Néill
 * Aodh Mac Éinrí Ó Néill

Staff

 * Henry Hovenden, secretary (also O'Neill's foster-brother)
 * Pedro Blanco, footman
 * Muirchearttach Ó Cionne, marshall
 * Christopher Plunkett, master of horse
 * Colmán, priest
 * Hugh O'Neill’s page
 * 2 lackies of O'Neill
 * Seán na bpunta Ó hÁgáin, rent collector
 * His wife
 * Enri Ó hAgáin, possibly a relative

Family

 * Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell,
 * Hugh Albert O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, his son,
 * Cathbarr O'Donnell
 * Rosa O'Donnell, his wife
 * Hugh O'Donnell, his son
 * Nuala O'Donnell
 * Grania O'Donnell, her daughter,
 * Domhnall Óg, son of Rory's half-brother Donal
 * Nechtain O'Donnell, Rory's second cousin

Staff

 * Seán Crón MacDaibhid, steward
 * Mathew Tullie, secretary
 * Caecilia O'Gallagher, Hugh Albert O'Donnell's wet nurse
 * Muiris, page
 * 4 servants of O'Donnell’s
 * 3 lackies of O'Donnell’s
 * 3 waiting women

Nobles

 * Sémus Mac Éimhir MacConnell, son of the Lord of Fermanagh
 * His brother

Clergymen

 * Fr. Muiris Ultach, a Franciscan friar
 * Fr. Roibeard Mac Artúir (or Chamberlain)
 * Fr. Tomás Strong
 * Fr. Pádraig Ó Duibh
 * Fr. Pádraig Ó Lorcáin
 * Fr. Pádraig Ó Luchráin
 * Fr. Niallán Mac Thiarnáin
 * Fr. Toirealach Ó Sléibhín
 * Fr. Brian Ó Gormlaigh
 * Fr. Flaithrí Ó Maolchonaire
 * Fr Diarmaid Ó Duláin

Students

 * Pádraig Mac Éinrí Ó hÁgáin
 * Pádraig Mac Cormaic Ó hÁigáin
 * Éamann Ó Maolchraoibhe
 * Fearghas mac Cathmhaoil
 * Matha Mac Thréanfhir
 * Walter Rath

Merchants

 * Richard Weston of Dundalk
 * John Bath of Drogheda

Other

 * Eamonn gruamdha MacDaibhid
 * MacDaibhid's wife
 * Aodh Mac Domhnaill Ó Gallchobhair
 * Tirlagh Carragh Ó Gallchobhair
 * Edmund Breatnach
 * Henry O’Kelly
 * George Cashell
 * Tadhg Ó Cianáin, writer
 * Cúchonnacht Maguidhir
 * Donnchadh Ó Briain
 * James Bath
 * Donnachadh Mac Suibhne
 * Gearóid Ó Conchubhair
 * Cyer Mac Tamalin
 * David Craffort
 * George Ichingham
 * Donncha Ó hÁgáin
 * Pádraig Ó Coinne
 * George Moore
 * Peter Preston
 * Patrick Rath
 * Pádraig Mag Uidhir
 * Edmund de Burgo
 * Cathaoir Mac Airt Ó Gallchóir
 * Tuathal Ó Gallchóir
 * Aodh Óg Ó Gallchóir
 * Eoghan Rua Mac an Bhaird
 * Seán Mac Philib
 * Aonghus Mac Dhuifíthe
 * Uilliam Ó Loingsigh
 * Cathal Ó Broin
 * Bernard Morris
 * Niallan Mac Davitt
 * Conchbhar Óg Ó Dubheannaigh
 * Donnchadh Coughlan
 * Dermot Dolan
 * Brian O’Hegarty
 * Doighre Ó Duígeannáin

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

title: Flight of the Earls


text:
McFly

McFly are an English pop rock/pop band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the Back to the Future character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar), Dougie Poynter (bass guitar, vocals) and Harry Judd (drums). They were signed to Island Records from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records.

McFly rose to fame after fellow band Busted, with whom they later formed McBusted, helped launch them by inviting them to tour in 2004. In 2005, they won the Brit Award for Best British Pop Act. McFly's debut album Room on the 3rd Floor debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and is certified as double platinum; this led to them taking the record, in the Guinness Book of records, as being the youngest band ever to have an album debut at number one—a title taken from the Beatles. A month after the album was released, the band had their first UK headlining tour.

The band's second album, Wonderland, which was released in 2005, also charted at number one in the UK making them the youngest band to have topped the UK Albums Chart twice. Their third album, Motion in the Ocean, was released on 6 November 2006 and charted at number 6 in the UK. McFly released their All the Greatest Hits compilation album on 5 November 2007, which charted at number 4 in the UK. The band's fourth studio album, Radio:Active, was given away for free as a supplement in the Mail on Sunday on 20 July 2008, before being released in the conventional manner (via physical release) on 2 September 2008. Their fifth album Above the Noise was released in November 2010 and charted at number 20.

In November 2013, it was announced that McFly would be joining forces with Busted to form the "supergroup" McBusted. They played a 34-date tour with both Busted and McFly songs. The only member of the original groups not to participate in the new lineup was former Busted singer Charlie Simpson. After Simpson's return to Busted in November 2015, McFly made a return and sold out their Anthology Tour in September 2016. After that, the band took an indefinite hiatus, with their Twitter account confirming that the boys were focusing on solo projects in 2018. In January 2019, Poynter confirmed via a podcast that the band would be reforming that year with a new album and tour. In September the band announced a new album of previously unreleased material and a concert at the O2 Arena in November 2019, followed by a 2020 come-back arena tour, this would however be delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their sixth album, Young Dumb Thrills, was released in 2020.

According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), McFly has been certified for 2 million albums and 2.6 million singles in the UK. and more than 10 million records worldwide. As of 2016, McFly have had 18 consecutive UK top 20 singles, seven of which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and fifteen of which were consecutive top ten singles.

2002–2004: Formation and Room on the 3rd Floor
In 2001, Tom Fletcher auditioned for Busted, but lost out on the place to Charlie Simpson. Fletcher was originally accepted as part of Busted's line-up, but Island Records went on to reassess the situation and eventually decided to have the band as a three-piece rather than a four-piece. Though the record label decided against offering Fletcher a place in Busted, they were intrigued by his songwriting talents and later offered him a place on Busted's songwriting 'team', alongside band member (and already accomplished songwriter) James Bourne, whom Fletcher credits with helping him to compose melodies.

While writing Busted's second album, A Present for Everyone, Fletcher was asked by the record label if he was available to film auditions for a new band, V. It was at this time that Jones and Fletcher met for the first time; Danny Jones went to the audition mistaking the band to be an instrumental band rather than the conventional, all-singing, all-dancing boyband, for which they were intended. Fletcher was impressed with Jones' unique style and so approached and invited him to write with himself and Bourne. When writing projects for Busted had come to an end, the two began collaborating for their own (yet unnamed) band and, eventually, moved into the InterContinental Hotel in London for two months, (while still receiving help from Bourne) to concentrate on writing together. Bassist Dougie Poynter and drummer Harry Judd were subsequently recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine. The pair, both from Essex, coincidentally turned up at the same audition and discussed their shared appreciation of the band the Starting Line, after Poynter noticed their name and logo was printed on Judd's T-shirt.

McFly's early sound was surf/pop rock. Their debut single, "5 Colours in Her Hair", released 29 March 2004, entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1 in April 2004 and stayed there the following week. In July 2004 their second single, "Obviously", also topped the charts. This was followed by the album Room on the 3rd Floor debuting at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart. It would go on to be certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album broke records, as McFly earned an award from Guinness World Records for being the youngest band to have a debut album enter the charts in the top position, a distinction previously held by The Beatles. The idea for the album name came from where Jones and Fletcher wrote most of the songs for the album: room 363 in the InterContinental Hotel in London. The third single, "That Girl", was released on 6 September 2004, placing at number 3. The fourth single, Room on the 3rd Floor, the album's title track, was released on 15 November 2004 and reached number 5. McFly supported Busted on their nationwide arena tour along with V in February 2004 and then had their first headlining tour in September 2004.

2004–2007: Wonderland and Motion in the Ocean
In March 2005, McFly released a double A-side of "All About You/You've Got a Friend" from their second album, Wonderland, which featured a 60-piece orchestra. The single reached number 1 for a week on 13 March 2005, with all profits donated to Comic Relief. The video for "You've Got a Friend" was shot in Uganda, Africa, which McFly visited for to raise awareness for the cause. Several months later, on 2 July, McFly co-headlined Live 8 Japan, with Björk and Good Charlotte and also took part in the London concert at Hyde Park. The second single from Wonderland, "I'll Be OK", was released in the UK on 15 August 2005 and scored them their fourth UK number 1. The album itself was released on 29 August 2005 entering at number 1. The third single from Wonderland, "I Wanna Hold You", was released on 17 October 2005 with an unknown song Easy Way Out on the single and it gave them their 6th top 3 single. Their fourth and final single, "Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" from Wonderland was released on 12 December 2005 and reached number 9. McFly headlined their Wonderland Arena Tour, which started on 15 September 2005, supported by Tyler James and Famous Last Words. A DVD of the tour, recorded live at the MEN Arena in Manchester, was released on 28 November. The band also played at the 2005 Royal Variety Performance. Nemesis, an inverted roller coaster at the Alton Towers theme park was renamed Wonderland for a month in 2005 to celebrate the album's release. The band were filmed riding Nemesis with competition winners by music show CD:UK.

In 2006, McFly turned their attentions to the United States, appearing in the Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck, released on 12 May, three days after the soundtrack of the movie, which comprised McFly songs taken from both Room on the 3rd Floor and Wonderland, as well as a new version of "Five Colours in Her Hair". The band played several gigs in Los Angeles and New York, as well as attending the American premiere of Just My Luck in Hollywood.

McFly's first single of 2006 was "Please, Please", released in the UK as a double A-side with a cover of the Queen hit "Don't Stop Me Now" on 17 July as the official song for Sport Relief 2006. It reached number 1 in the UK charts on 23 July, making it the band's fifth number 1 single of their career. On 14 September 2006, it was confirmed via an email newsletter from McFly's official website that the third album would be called Motion in the Ocean. The album was released on 6 November 2006 and reached number 6. The second release from the album, "Star Girl" was released on 23 October 2006, to promote the album. "Star Girl" reached number 1 in its first week. The third release from the album, "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night", was released on 18 December 2006, and reached number 3 in the UK singles charts. "Friday Night" is featured in the movie Night at the Museum, which was released on 22 December 2006, in Canada and the US and 26 December 2006, in the UK. Their next single, "Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania", was released on 7 May 2007, becoming the band's seventh number 1. The original single release date was due to be 26 February, but the band took up the offer to return at that time to the town of Kamwokya in Uganda, which they previously visited for Comic Relief in 2005. Until 1 January 2016,"Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania" held the record for the biggest fall from number one for a non-limited edition single. It fell from number 1 to number 20 after a week, matching a limited edition Elvis Presley single, "One Night". This record was broken by the 2015 NHS charity single A Bridge Over You; after becoming the Christmas number one on 25 December 2015, the single fell to Number 29 the following week.

McFly held their Motion in the Ocean tour from 17 September 2006 and were supported by The Click Five and Nylon. They also held their McFly Up Close and Personal tour, supported by Lil' Chris, which started on 20 March 2007, and consisted of performing in twenty four locations not covered by their arena tours over thirty four dates. Motion in the Ocean was re-released as a double disc edition with "Baby's Coming Back" and DVD from the Wembley show on 14 May 2007 and reached number 14.

2007–2009: All the Greatest Hits, touring and Radio:Active
McFly's All the Greatest Hits compilation album was released on 5 November 2007 and reached number 4 in the charts. The first single from the album, The Heart Never Lies, which reached number 3 in the UK singles chart, was premiered at the V Festival in August. The album also featured two new songs alongside "The Heart Never Lies", "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Don't Wake Me Up". The band went on a 26-date Greatest Hits tour for a month, starting near the end of November 2007 supported by Elliot Minor and Saving Aimee, to promote the album.

On 23 February and 1 March 2008, they performed two small gigs at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney, Australia while recording Radio:Active. They performed the same set list as for their Greatest Hits tour. It was here where they recorded the crowd singing "we don't care" which was later used on their single "One for the Radio". A compilation album of B-Sides was also released on 3 December 2007, The Greatest Bits: B-Sides & Rarities, which contains 12 B-sides of their UK singles.

On 20 May 2008, McFly confirmed that their fourth studio album would be titled Radio:Active (typeset as Radio:ACTIVE). It was recorded in Australia, and given away for free as a supplement in The Mail on Sunday on 20 July 2008. It was subsequently released in stores on 22 September 2008 with four additional tracks, a DVD and a 32-page booklet. The album was announced after McFly confirmed that they had left Island Records as they were unhappy with some of the decisions that the label was making for them. Since announcing the launch of their new record label, the band have said that they "won't rule out" signing other acts, but that for the moment they're just concentrating on releasing their "own stuff". Radio:Active mixes their love of vintage rock with a British twist on the modern pop-rock sound.

The first single released from the Radio:Active album was "One for the Radio", a song about as the band's "constant struggle for critical acceptance". The single was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Switch with Nick Grimshaw on 1 June 2008 and was released on 14 July 2008. As of 25 June 2008, "One for the Radio" was included in Radio 2's A list, meaning that it receives primary airplay during the daytime. The single charted at number 2 in the charts. The album was recorded, and produced in Australia. McFly performed a showcase concert on 10 July 2008 at Shepherd's Bush Empire and performed another concert at KOKO on 24 July 2008 as part of the iTunes Live Festival '08. An EP of the performance, released 4 August 2008, was made available to download from the iTunes Store. The second single from the album, "Lies" was released on 15 September 2008 and reached number 4 in the charts.

McFly embarked on their sixth arena tour in 2008, starting from 7 November 2008, attending 14 dates, supported by manufactured pop band Avenue and Indie pop rock band Reemer. They also performed four concerts in Brazil from 5 October 2008 to 11 October 2008. The third single from the album was "Do Ya/Stay With Me", released 23 November 2008. The song was released in aid of 2008's Children in Need and reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart, the lowest charting position of any of their singles to date, and their first single not to reach Top 10. In 2009 McFly decided to once again arrange a tour to situate smaller venues, this time being called Up Close... And This Time It's Personal starting on 18 April in Amsterdam. They then did 14 dates in the UK before going on to do 7 dates in South America including Brasil, Argentina and Chile. David Archuleta, the American Idol runner up, supported them on their UK stint.

McFly achieved their third number 1 album, Radio:Active, with the Radio:Active – Live at Wembley Tour DVD on 17 May 2009. The Up Close... And This Time It's Personal tour ended on 9 June. Later this month Mcfly did 3 shows for the forestry commission, which are concerts that take place every year to raise awareness of the UK forests. They were supported by indie-rock band Vagabond. Also in June, McFly made a surprise appearance at the Jonas Brothers' show at Wembley Stadium on 15 June, joining them on stage to sing "Star Girl".

2010–2012: Above the Noise and Memory Lane: The Best of McFly
In Autumn 2010, McFly re-signed and partnered with their previous Label (Island Records) to create and launch an interactive website, Super City, which provided fans with unprecedented access to the band. Subscribers would be able to download CDs before they were sold in stores. They would also gain access to video streams, web-chats, VIP access at gigs, and first call on tickets. This website was developed in a hope to combat any leaks (piracy) and gain loyalty from their fans, as they would have access to any new materials before they could be leaked. The website had about 50,000 visitors the first day, causing the site to shut down for two weeks.

The first single from their fifth album, "Party Girl", was written in Atlanta with Dallas Austin. It premiered on 14 July on BBC Radio 1 and was released on 5 September and reached number 6 in the UK charts. The "Party Girl" music video was voted number 1 by fans, in the 4Music Video Honours of 2010. The album, Above the Noise, was released on 15 November. It debuted at number 20 in the album charts & reached number 7 in the album download charts. The second single released from the album was "Shine a Light", a song penned with Taio Cruz. "Shine a Light" reached number 3 in the UK charts. The third single, "That's the Truth", was released on 6 March 2011.

The band made a mini 30-minute-long movie titled Nowhere Left to Run which featured a vampire theme along with a sex scene involving Judd. The "Party Girl" video was taken from the movie. This was released on DVD on 29 November exclusively to HMV stores. The film has since been panned by the band themselves.

In August 2011, McFly announced that they would be doing a tour consisting of 26 dates around the UK in March/April 2012. On 1 November McFly teamed up with Gioia Jewellery to release their first official jewellery range designs include each member's SuperCity logo. On 4 December, Poynter won the eleventh series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. On 17 December, Judd won the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing.

On the band's latest tour, entitled Keep Calm and Play Louder Tour, they showcased three brand new songs entitled "Do Whatcha", "Red" and "Touch the Rain", all of which would be on their sixth studio album.

Judd was invited to carry the Olympic Torch as part of the Olympic Torch Relay Run for the 2012 London Olympics. On 4 August 2012, McFly played for a crowd of 50,000 people at an outdoor show in Hyde Park as part of the Olympic BTLondonLive celebration.

In September 2012, McFly played four shows in America. Two at L.A.'s famed Roxy and two at New York's legendary Gramercy Theatre. All four shows sold out in less than a minute and fans lined up hours before the shows. On the American shows, they premiered another brand new song entitled "Love Is Easy". In 2012, it was announced an autobiography entitled Unsaid Things: Our Story would be due for release on Amazon Stores in October 2012 and to coincide with the autobiography, the band also announced that they would be releasing another Greatest Hits album. Fletcher announced on Twitter that their next single would be "Red" as it had been so well received on the tour but this was later changed to "Love Is Easy", which was released on 11 November 2012, a week before the new Greatest Hits compilation.

In September 2012, for the final Chris Moyles Show, the band put together a special video for Chris's feature McFly day, where he would normally play Star Girl every Friday (since January 2010), this latest edition was called Star Boy as a tribute, thanking Chris Moyles for playing "Star Girl" every week.

In October 2012, it was announced that they would release a greatest hits which is titled Memory Lane: The Best of McFly featuring most of the band's hits and 3 brand new songs, Love Is Easy, "Do Whatcha" and "Cherry Cola". The album was released on 26 November 2012 and the new single "Love Is Easy" was released on 18 November 2012. It debuted at number 10, with the album following at number 21. A few weeks before "Love Is Easy" was due to go on sale, McFly announced that they would bring the release date forward a week, meaning that the new release date would be 11 November 2012. In November 2012, they also announced that they would be doing 18 tour dates in the UK between April and May 2013 in support of the album.

On 11 October 2012, McFly published their first autobiography, Unsaid Things: Our Story, named after a song from their first album. The book was a tell-all story which featured exclusive information that they revealed for the first time from the band's start to their present. They shared stories about their childhoods, the band's rise to fame and even the challenges they faced along the way.

2013–2015: Planned sixth studio album and McBusted
McFly confirmed that they would embark an original 18-date tour (21 later) to promote their 2012 Memory Lane: The Best of McFly album which would run from April–May. They were joined for some for these dates by James Bourne. McFly went on several writing trips for the writing stage of this album and worked with Matt Willis and Bourne in writing. Titles for songs were to be "Hyperion", "Break Me", "We Were Only Kids", "Dare You To Move", "Hammer Ring", "Josephine", "Love Is Easy", "Do Watcha", "Cherry Cola", "Red", "Love Is on the Radio" and "Touch the Rain". "Love Is Easy" was released as a single in 2012 while "Do Watcha" and "Cherry Cola" were both featured on Memory Lane: The Best of McFly. "Red" and "Touch the Rain" were both previewed during McFly's Keep Calm and Play Louder tour in 2012. "Love Is on the Radio" was previewed during McFly's 10th anniversary shows at the Royal Albert Hall in 2013. "Love Is on the Radio", the first single taken from their new album, was released on 24 November. The album was due to be released in the northern spring of 2014, but this has been put on hold. In the McBusted biography by Jennifer Parker it was hinted that the sixth album was abandoned in favour of the debut album of McBusted. In November 2013, the band wrote and performed the new theme tune to The Paul O'Grady Show.

In late January 2013, McFly went on a writing trip with Bourne and wrote five songs. In early April, McFly uploaded a video of an acoustic live demo called 'My TVR' to their official YouTube account. The song was written with Bourne. On 19 May the band announced via their Twitter page that they would also be playing a two-date special concert at the Royal Albert Hall in celebration of their 10th anniversary as a band. Due to huge demand, two extra dates were announced. In addition, the Saturday show was streamed live from the band's website for fans who couldn't attend. During an interview with the Big Top 40 Webchat, Fletcher described the shows as his "favourite shows we've ever played". All four shows were held in September and featured McBusted, a surprise collaboration between McFly and Busted, minus Charlie Simpson. Following the shows with Busted, the two bands announced a 30-date UK arena tour as McBusted. The McBusted Tour was the biggest tour of 2014.

In 2015, they embarked on a second McBusted tour, McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Tour. They also released a DVD following the tour.

On 21 June, a solo interview by Fletcher was published by Fabulous magazine in time for Father's Day. Fletcher stated that "McBusted was an opportunity to have fun without knowing where it would take us, but McFly is for life. McBusted has been amazing fun, but it's not where our passion is. McFly is more than a band, we live and breathe it. We want to make album number six."

On a documentary with Fearne Cotton, Jones confirmed that McFly have three unreleased albums. The band were on a hiatus but Jones hinted at a future reunion, stating "It's really nice to have a bit of breathing space after 12½ years with McFly. We've never really had this time off, so we'll give it a few months and see how we feel. When we're all refreshed, we'll go and smash an album."

2016: Return as McFly and The Anthology
On 25 April 2016, the band announced that they would be going back on tour in June 2016, where they would be playing all five albums and including some original new songs for a potential new album over three dates in each of four chosen cities: Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London, with the tour called "The Anthology". Talking to 1883 Magazine, Fletcher said: "After doing two massive Arena tours with McBusted, we really wanted to do something different for this tour to herald the return of McFly. So we're playing some iconic rock venues that will allow our fans to experience the songs in a much more up close and personal environment." They also revealed that they'll be making new music after the tour, with Judd stating, "We all agreed to go on tour first and then that will be the catalyst of what's to come." On 25 May 2016, it was announced the band would have to postpone the Anthology Tour due to Judd herniating a disc in his neck. McFly eventually toured in September 2016.

2016–2019: Indefinite hiatus
After the tour, the band revealed that they had scrapped two albums worth of songs recorded since Above the Noise. Fletcher said: "After a certain amount of time, you feel like that was where you were at, at a moment[...] If we released stuff we recorded three years ago, we wouldn't be 100 per cent behind it any more. We still love the songs but we'd be excited about doing new things." The following day, they announced that they would finally begin recording new material in January 2017. In December 2016, Judd revealed that the McBusted-recorded song 'Getting It Out' would have appeared on the band's scrapped album. McFly's return was still in doubt, with Fletcher working on a feature-length film and regularly writing new books. Jones was said to be launching solo music and has had a new born son. In early 2018, it was announced Poynter was to go on tour with the band A. Those tour dates are now completed and it is unknown whether Poynter will play with them again. Judd was promoting his new book 'Get Fit, Get Happy' as well as raising his new son Kit. A writing trip was last taken in January 2017 for their sixth album, otherwise no obvious progression was made towards album six.

On 14 March 2018, the band confirmed via their Twitter account that they were focusing on solo projects in 2018, but looking forward to making more music in the future. The members still supported each other on their individual projects such as Tom, Jones and Judd collaborating in March 2018. All members have stated that new music will eventually be released when the time and music is right.

Poynter started a band called Ink.

Fletcher has several books out, including the Christmasaurus which has been adapted to the stage and Fletcher was working on the film version.

Judd went on tour with a production called Rip It Up, a musical. Jones released his own website with his own music released in July 2018 titled Is This Still Love.

In July 2018, McFly played Matt's anniversary celebrations, the first time performing as a band in almost 2 years.

2019–present: The Lost Songs, Young Dumb Thrills and Power to Play
On 28 December 2018, Poynter confirmed via a podcast on Sappenin' Podcast with Sean Smith that McFly would be returning from their hiatus with a new album during the year and they would also be doing a new tour during the summer.

Following this, on 9 September, the band's Instagram page posted a video of their microphone logo, accompanied by the sound of guitar feedback as the picture comes into focus. This was the first post made by the page since 2017. All members of the band then proceeded to post the same thing on their personal social media profiles, announcing an ‘Instagram Live’ at 9:30am on the following day (10 September). The announcement involved the band's first album of new material in 9 years, The Lost Songs, as well as their first ever solo show at the O2 Arena (they performed there at the 2010 Jingle Bell Ball). Following the selling-out of the O2 Show the band announced a further eleven tour dates forming an official comeback arena tour in 2020. However, the band rescheduled the tour three times (now called the Young Dumb Thrills Tour due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; they eventually undertook the tour in September 2021.

On 2 July 2020, the band announced they had signed a new record deal with BMG Rights Management and confirmed they will be releasing their first album of new material later in the year. On 27 July 2020, the band announced their sixth studio album Young Dumb Thrills. Pre-orders began 30 July 2020, with the lead single Happiness releasing on the same day.

The instant gratification single from the new album was "Growing Up" featuring Mark Hoppus, released on 4 September 2020 as the second single. It failed to chart on the UK Singles Top 100 but debuted and peaked at number 80 on the Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100 on 11 September 2020. The third single was "Tonight Is The Night", released on 1 October 2020. On 24 September 2021, they released the single "Dragonball", with lyrics making references to the Japanese manga/anime of the same title. "Dragonball" did not enter the Official UK Top 100 Chart, but debuted and peaked at number 57 on the Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100.

On 2 December 2021, they released their cover version of "Walking in the Air". The single did not enter the Official UK Top 100 Chart, but debuted and peaked at number 25 on the Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100.

On 29 March 2023 the group announced that their seventh studio album Power to Play would be released on 9 June 2023. The lead single from the album, "Where Did All The Guitars Go?" was released on 31 March 2023. On 26 April 2023, McFly released the single "God Of Rock & Roll" and announced their Power to Play UK and Ireland tour, scheduled for October–November 2023. Power to Play released on 9 June 2023. On 21 July 2023, the band released the single "Broken By You", a bilingual song (English/Portuguese) featuring Brazilian band Fresno. McFly brought the Power To Play tour to Brazil for 3 nights in May 2024.

Super Records
Super Records Ltd. is an independent label operated and owned by McFly. Initially, McFly were signed to major record outlet Universal Island Records. Although they have left Universal, McFly's singles are distributed by a company named "Absolute" who also distribute for acts like Cascada and Jay Sean and are part of the Universal Group. Super Records was created after McFly decided to leave Island, Universal Records at the end of 2007. They returned to Island, Universal for their fifth album Above the Noise (2010).

Television and film appearances
Throughout the early years, McFly were regular guests on CBBC and CD:UK.

In January 2005, the band guest-starred in an episode of the long-running British drama series Casualty. In May 2006, they starred in the American teen comedy film Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine, which was released in the US on 12 May 2006 and in the UK on 30 June 2006. They play themselves in the film and the soundtrack features a variety of their songs from their first two albums. The band also recorded another song, "Just My Luck", which was to be included on the US-only album release of the same name. McFly held a concert at the London Hammersmith Apollo on 19 May 2005 which was used in the film. The UK premiere of the film took place on 28 June 2006 in London. The film generally did not receive good reviews, gaining a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

On 16 March 2007, McFly guest starred in the Top Gear comic relief show Top Gear of the Pops, where they were given a challenge to come up with a song from scratch without using the words 'love', 'baby', or 'heart', and including the words 'sofa', 'administration', and 'Hyundai'. Near the end of the show they performed the song they named 'The Top Gear Blues'. It was later renamed 'Sofa, Hyundai, Administration' and placed as a B-side on "The Heart Never Lies" single. On 23 June 2007, McFly made a cameo appearance in an episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who. The episode "The Sound of Drums", saw the band appearing in a spoof party political broadcast, which featured testimonials from British celebrities such as McFly and Sharon Osbourne showing their support and trying to encourage others to "Vote Saxon!" in support of Mr Saxon (The Master played by John Simm) to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

On 22 October 2007, McFly hosted the first annual Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards. McFly also appeared on the show Ghosthunting with... in 2007.

On 27 May 2008, McFly appeared on Gordon Ramsay's The F Word as the celebrity guests and cooked a three course meal for 50 customers. Their score was that 115 out of 150 dishes were paid for. On 20 July 2008, McFly also played at T4 on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare.

McFly's performance at KOKO on 24 July 2008, as part of the iTunes Live Festival '08, was broadcast at Vue cinemas across the UK on the same day.

On 25 August 2008, McFly performed at the London 2012 Olympic Visa Party. On 14 December, they were the headline music act for Miss World in South Africa, which had a predicted worldwide audience of over 2 billion viewers. Their hits "5 Colours in Her Hair" and "Lies" were played during the show. They appeared in teen soap Hollyoaks on Channel 4 on Friday, 8 May 2009 performing in the SU Bar with The Somethings as a support group. On 31 May 2009, McFly performed at the biggest TV show in Brazil Domingão do Faustão which had a predicted audience of over 30 million viewers. In June and July 2009, they did a Woodland tour, performing at forest venues around the UK. In October 2008 McFly performed on the 50th birthday episode of Blue Peter, live outside BBC Television Centre.

McFly made a cameo appearance in Derren Brown's Enigma tour in 2009–2010. A recording of the live stage show first aired on Channel 4 on 6 January 2011. McFly made a return to T4 on the Beach in July 2011.

Fletcher took on The Cube in a celebrity special in the 3rd season and walked away with £100,000. Judd appeared on and won a Children in Need special episode of Strictly Come Dancing, with his partner Ola Jordan. The following year Judd won the 9th series of Strictly Come Dancing with his dance partner Aliona Vilani. Poynter won the 11th series of the UK TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Poynter and Judd appeared on the "Hunks Special" of Celebrity Juice on 1 March 2012. Jones also participated in 2010's Popstar to Operastar, placing 5th.

The band had their own McFly on the Wall documentary series in 2011. It followed the band as they embarked on their latest UK tour. It ran for 6 episodes. The first episode aired on Five Star on 11 May, and the last episode aired on 15 June. In 2012 McFly appeared on the celebrity edition of Deal or No Deal in which they won £10,000 for their chosen charities.

On 8 December 2012, McFly appeared as themselves on ITV in a one-off special called The McFly Show. It featured special guests, comedy sketches and the band performing their hit songs.

On 23 March 2013, McFly performed a one-off concert as part of an event organised by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for Earth Hour 2013 which was broadcast live via YouTube.

On 21 September 2013, McFly were the guest band on the BBC One show When Miranda Met Bruce with Miranda Hart and Bruce Forsyth.

Since 2017, Jones has appeared as a coach on The Voice Kids UK. This is aired on ITV.

In 2021, Fletcher took part in the 19th season of the UK TV series Strictly Come Dancing. He and his partner, Amy Dowden, were eliminated 8th.

In 2023, Judd announced he would compete in Celebrity Race Across the World, with his mother, Emma. The mother/son duo came 2nd place in the race overall.

In 2024, Jones won Series 5 of The Masked Singer UK as "Piranha" covering hits including "It's all coming back to me now", which peaked at number two on the UK singles chart.

Influence
McFly have been cited as having influenced a number of high-profile musicians in various different ways. Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson of One Direction, have credited McFly as the opening act of the first concert they had ever attended. Speaking about meeting with the group, Jones said "it turned out that Niall and Louis were at one of our first ever shows. And they were all like, 'we copied your haircuts, and you made us want to play guitar', which is really amazing to hear. They're the biggest band in the world right now. And their favourite band was us! We influenced them. It's really strange, because you feel like a veteran!". Reviews for One Direction's debut album Up All Night had credited McFly as a notable influence,  and Horan stated the group were very happy to have such a comparison noted. McFly had contributed song-writing to the first three studio albums that the group released.

Also citing McFly as influences are British pop rock band The Vamps, who supported McFly on their 2013 Memory Lane tour. Guitarist and vocalist James McVey stated "McFly is a band we love to be compared to over other bands, simply for the fact of their good musicianship. They write very well and they're very energetic on stage, which is something we try to replicate in our own performances." Drummer Tristan Evans also spoke of the band, explaining "McFly were an influence on me wanting to get into music and we feel like the next generation of their take on pop," while bassist Connor Ball continued "They're chilled-out and we hope we can have that calm attitude if we ever get that successful." Frontman Brad Simpson also referred to McFly when asked about influences, stating "Their debut album was a first in all of our collections". 5 Seconds of Summer have themselves confirmed that McFly are an influence on their music on a number of occasions, while they have also been compared to McFly in reviews. When UK pop/R&B group Rixton were asked which bands they had looked up to when they were younger, Jake Roche said, "I listened to a lot of McFly when I was growing up. I was a part of that era."

Asked about influencing a new generation of bands, Jones stated, "There's a few bands, like the 1D boys, and they're all getting to that age where Busted or McFly was the first gig they ever went to. It's really nice to see that bands are taking influence from what you do." He continued, "to actually see people in bands picking up guitars and doing their thing – any musical influence that we can give them – is amazing to see."

Discography
Studio albums
 * Room on the 3rd Floor (2004)
 * Wonderland (2005)
 * Motion in the Ocean (2006)
 * Radio:Active (2008)
 * Above the Noise (2010)
 * The Lost Songs (2019)
 * Young Dumb Thrills (2020)
 * Power to Play (2023)

Members

 * Tom Fletcher – lead and backing vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele (2003–present)
 * Danny Jones – lead and backing vocals, guitar, harmonica (2003–present)
 * Dougie Poynter – bass guitar, backing and lead vocals (2003–present)
 * Harry Judd – drums, percussion (2003–present)

Touring members
 * Isaac Aryee – keyboards (2006–2012)
 * Adam Marc – keyboards (2022–present)

Tours

 * McFly: The Tour (2004)
 * Wonderland (2005)
 * Motion in the Ocean (2006) (originally titled "2006 Tour")
 * Up Close and Personal (2007)
 * Greatest Hits (2007)
 * Radio:Active (2008)
 * Up Close ... and This Time It's Personal (2009)
 * Before the Noise (2010)
 * Above the Noise (2011)
 * Keep Calm & Play Louder (2012)
 * Memory Lane (2013)
 * Anthology Tour (2016)
 * One Night Only (2019)
 * The 2020 Tour (2020) (Promoting The Lost Songs - cancelled due to Covid)
 * Young Dumb Thrills Tour (2021) (rescheduled/rebranded 2020 cancelled tour)
 * One Night Only... Again (2021)
 * Power to Play Tour (2023)

Awards
Number ones in the UK Singles Chart

(1) Obviously (27-06-2004) (2) 5 Colours In Her Hair (04-04-2004) (3) All About You (13-03-2005) (4) I'll Be OK (21-08-2005) (5) Star Girl (29-10-2006) (6) Don't Stop Me Now (23-07-2006) (7) Baby's Coming Back (13-05-2007)

2004
 * Walt Disney Awards – Best Newcomer
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best Album for Room on the 3rd Floor
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best Video for "That Girl"
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best Stars of the Year
 * Smash Hits Awards – Most Fanciable Male (Danny Jones)

2005
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
 * Smash Hits Awards – Most Snoggable Male (Danny Jones)
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best Single for "All About You'"
 * Smash Hits Awards – Best Album for Wonderland
 * BRIT Awards – Best Pop Act

2006
 * Virgin.net Music Awards – God Group
 * BT Digital Music Award for People's Choice Award for Best Official Music Site

2007
 * Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band (also hosted)
 * UK Festival Awards – Best Pop Act (for appearance at V Festival)
 * Virgin.net Music Awards – Best Live Act

2008
 * Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band
 * Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Album (Radio:ACTIVE)
 * Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Band
 * Star Smash Awards 2008 – Artist of the Year

2009
 * Meus Premios Nickelodeon Brazil 2009– Best International Artist
 * UK Music Video Awards – Best Live Music Coverage
 * News of the World – The Most Sexiest Men of the Year (Dougie Poynter)
 * Also nominated for MTV Latin Awards

2010
 * 4Music Video Honours – Best Video of 2010 for Party Girl

2011
 * Nordoff Robbins – American Express Digital Innovation Award
 * In Rock Magazine – Best British Band

2012
 * Nordoff Robbins Music Awards – Best Live Act

2013
 * The Verified Teen Awards – Best Live Act
 * The Verified Teen Awards – Best Band

2014
 * Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards UK – Favourite UK Band of the Decade (Honorary award)

Publications

 * McFly – Unsaid Things...Our Story

title: McFly


text:
Leonard Darwin

Leonard Darwin (15 January 1850 – 26 March 1943) was an English politician, economist and eugenicist. He was a son of the naturalist Charles Darwin, and also a mentor to Ronald Fisher, a statistician and evolutionary biologist.

Biography
Leonard Darwin was born in 1850 at Down House, Kent, into the wealthy Darwin–Wedgwood family. He was the fourth son and eighth child of the naturalist Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood, and the last of Darwin's immediate offspring to die. He considered himself the least intelligent of their children – brothers Frank, George and Horace were all elected Fellows of the Royal Society. He was sent to Clapham School in 1862.

Darwin joined the Royal Engineers in 1871. Between 1877 and 1882 he worked for the Intelligence Division of the Ministry of War. He went on several scientific expeditions, including those to observe the Transit of Venus in 1874 and 1882.

In 1890, Darwin was promoted to the rank of major, but soon left the army and from 1892 to 1895 was a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Lichfield constituency in Staffordshire, where his grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood II, had also been an MP. He wrote vigorously on the economic issues of the day: bimetallism, Indian currency reform and municipal trade.

Darwin married Elizabeth Frances Fraser on. She died 16 years later, on. On, he married his second cousin, Charlotte Mildred Massingberd, granddaughter of Charlotte Wedgwood, his mother's sister. Their shared ancestor was Josiah Wedgwood II. His wife Charlotte's paternal grandfather married his paternal aunt, after her grandmother Charlotte's death. Since Leonard's parents were cousins, Charlotte was also a second cousin on his father's side. Leonard had no children from either marriage.

He was president of the Royal Geographical Society from 1908 to 1911 and chairman of the British Eugenics Society from 1911 to 1928 – succeeding his half-cousin once removed Francis Galton. He became the society's honorary president in 1928. In 1912 the University of Cambridge conferred on him an honorary doctorate of science.

Darwin played an important part in the life of the geneticist and statistician Ronald Fisher, supporting him intellectually, morally and sometimes financially. Fisher, replying to Darwin's congratulations on his election to the Royal Society, replied on, "I knew you would be glad, and your pleasure is as good to me almost as though my own father were still living."

Some years before, Fisher had resigned from the Royal Statistical Society after a disagreement. Darwin regretted this and engineered Fisher's re-entry by making him a gift of a life-time subscription. Fisher's 1930 book The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection is dedicated to Darwin. After Darwin's death in 1943 at the age of 93, Fisher wrote to Darwin's niece, Margaret Keynes, "My very dear friend Leonard Darwin... was surely the kindest and wisest man I ever knew."

Darwin retired to Cripps Corner at Forest Row, East Sussex in 1921, with his second wife Charlotte Mildred Massingberd (died 1940), and lived there until his death in 1943. He and Charlotte were buried at Forest Row Cemetery. Leonard Darwin was the last surviving child of Charles Darwin.

title: Leonard Darwin


text:
Talk:Candy-O

disambiguate
Wikipedia shows Let's Go as a track by the band Rancid, should we disambiguate it and show it as also a track by The Cars? -Wikibob 11:37, 2004 Mar 9 (UTC)

Lead vocal credit in track listing section
Please do not change the article again without discussing it on the album discussion page. The standard format should be used unless there is a compelling reason to change it. Since nothing has been added to the discussion page to justify the deviation, I am reverting this edit. --Fantailfan 14:06, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Lead vocal credit in track listing section again
 * You have again changed the article without discussing it on the album discussion page. The standard format should be used unless there is a compelling reason to change it. Since nothing has been added to the discussion page to justify the deviation, I am reverting this edit again and requesting semi-protection. --Fantailfan 20:17, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Cover Model NOT from the Lucy Show:
The cover model section needs to be updated. The model isn't the same actress from the Lucy Show, this model also appears on REO Speedwagon's "Nine Lives" album from 1979, and she also co-starred in Lunch Wagon in 1981. She's taller than the actress from the Lucy Show, why are people not seeing this obvious mistaken identity? Connect the dots. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bflowers062181 (talk • contribs) 06:00, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Candy-O


text: User:ArinArin

title: User:ArinArin


text:
Rueda de Casino

Rueda de Casino (Rueda) is a type of salsa round dance, born from the Cuban dance style known as "casino." Depending on the setting, the dance can be either choreographed or improvised.

History
Casino was developed in Havana, Cuba in the early 1950s. Casino traces its origin as a partner dance from Cuban Urban Son and Cuban Cha Cha Cha, fused with partner figures and turns adopted from the Cuban Mambo, Rumba Guaguancó and North American Jive. Casino is different from other types of Salsa dance styles because of its spontaneous use of the rich Afro-Cuban dance vocabulary within a Casino dance; a Casino dancer frequently improvises references to other dances, integrating movements, gestures and extended passages from the folkloric and popular heritage. This is particularly true of African-descended Cubans. Such improvisations might include extracts of rumba, dances for African deities (Orishas), the older popular dances such as Cha Cha Cha and Danzón as well as anything the dancer may feel.

Casino danced with multiple partners in a circular fashion emerged in the late 1950s under the name "Rueda del Casino". This dance was exclusively danced at the Club Casino Deportivo, but quickly spread to other clubs around the beachfronts and later to the capital. While the dance became popular, so did the phrases "vamos a hacer la rueda como en el Casino" (let's go dance "rueda" like in the Casino) and "vamos a hacer la rueda del Casino" (let's go dance "rueda" of the Casino). Given the popularity of the music and dance, numerous Rueda de Casino dance groups appeared on the island made up of friends, family members, and professional dancers. At the end of the 1970s, Rueda de Casino groups became well-known through the popular TV show "Para Bailar".

As a result of the Castro regime, many Cubans emigrated to the US, many to the Miami area. They took their culture with them, including various dishes, music and dancing. Rueda de Casino began to slowly make its way into the Miami salsa community during the Mariel boatlift, and in the late 1980s and early 1990s it experienced an enormous explosion of popularity. However, the style of Rueda de Casino that became popular was a style somewhat different from its original form. Rene Gueits, founder of "Salsa Lovers" in 1994, changed the Cuban-style Rueda de Casino and structured it. Rene's style adapted the Rueda de Casino steps into a more "disco-like" style, where the Cuban Urban Son, Cuban Cha Cha Cha, and Rumba Guaguancó were completely removed.

From Miami, Rueda de Casino spread first to major U.S. metropolitan centers with large Hispanic populations and eventually to other cities, becoming a popular dance around the United States and the world. Although the majority of the Rueda de Casino dancers have learned from the Miami-style Rueda de Casino syllabus and repertoire, many dancers from Cuba have been able to share the original version of the dance throughout the world, and most recently in the United States.

In 2014, the first International Rueda de Casino Multi Flash Mob took place in which people from 67 countries, including 199 cities, danced Rueda de Casino simultaneously. In 2017, the International Rueda de Casino Multi Flash Mob drew 230 unique groups dancing Rueda de Casino. The differences between the Miami-style Rueda de Casino and the Cuban-style Rueda de Casino are stark, and these differences can be seen throughout the performances of the 230 groups that participated in 2017.

Description
The word "Rueda" is Spanish for a "wheel," referring to the typically circular format of the dance. Rueda dancing requires a minimum of two couples, but could be as large as the maximum number of couples who can create a circle in the dance venue. (If necessary, multiple concentric circles can even be formed.) Since the 1990s, the music most commonly used for Rueda de Casino is either Salsa music or a unique variation of Salsa known as "Timba."

After the initial couples (pairs of dancers) form a circle, dance moves are then called out by one person, a caller (or "líder" or "cantante" in Spanish). Although there are some similarities to square dancing, Rueda de Casino is distinguished by having a caller who is dancing along with the other participants, rather than simply standing on the outside to direct the moves. When danced socially, the order or sequence of the moves in a Rueda de Casino is completely improvised by the caller, so the dancers have to pay close attention.

Many Rueda moves have hand signs to complement the calls; these are useful in noisy venues, where spoken calls might not be easily heard. Many moves involve the swapping of partners, where the partners move around the circle to the next partner. The combination of elaborate dance combinations and constant movement of partners creates a visually spectacular effect. Also, it not uncommon for the Rueda dancers to have fun with coordinated noises such as shouts, stomps, or hand claps.

Traditionally, the names of the moves are called mostly in Spanish, regardless of the country where the dance occurs, although some words can be in English (or Spanglish; e.g., "un fly"). The names of most fundamental moves are similar across the board, but different towns in Cuba did begin to develop their own names for other moves. This is because some pioneers of Rueda de Casino wanted to be unique with their variations and/or simply keep others from participating in their Rueda. Many local versions of the calls (and/or changes to the steps) can now be found; indeed, the variations might change from town-to-town or even in the same town from teacher-to-teacher.

The Rueda dance will either start from "al Medio" (normal closed hold with all the couples stepping in and out of the circle) or from Guapea (stepping forward on the inside foot and backward on the outside foot, tangent to the circle). Some of the most common fundamental moves in Rueda include Dame, Enchufe/Enchufla, Vacila, and Sombrero. There are different hand motions that the caller can use to indicate a specific Rueda move, especially in case one's voice cannot be heard over loud music. For example, the hand signal for the Rueda move "Sombrero" (i.e., the Spanish word for "hat") is the caller tapping the top of his or her head.

Filmography
Rueda de Casino scenes may be seen in the movie Dance with Me and in the music video clip No me dejes de querer by Gloria Estefan. Rueda de casino dance may also be seen in the documentary film "La Salsa Cubana".

title: Rueda de Casino