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Jarosław Kaczyński

Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician. He co-founded the Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2001 with his twin brother and has served as its long-time leader since 2003. He served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2006 to 2007, and has twice held the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, first from 2020 to 2022, and a second time from June to November 2023. He is considered to have been the de facto leader of Poland, when PiS formed the government in 2005–2007 and again in 2015–2023, with direct political influence over the prime ministers Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Beata Szydło and Mateusz Morawiecki.

Jaroslaw Kaczyński as a student took part in protest during the March 1968 political crisis. Subsequently, he became involved in the anti-communist opposition as a collaborator of KOR and KSS KOR. He took part in the protests in August 1980 when he was arrested, then joined the Solidarity movement. In 1982 he became a member of the Polish Helsinki Committee. He took part in the 1988 strikes.

In 1989, Kaczyński took part in the Round Table talks. In 1989–1991, he served as a senator. In 1990, he founded the Centre Agreement party, of which he served as leader until 1998. In 1990–91 he was head of the chancellery of President Lech Wałęsa. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1991 to 1993 and continuously since 1997.

In 2001 he co-founded the PiS party with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, of which he became leader in 2003. Running for PiS, he served as the prime minister of Poland from July 2006 to November 2007, while his brother was the president of Poland. After PiS's electoral defeat in 2007, Kaczyński was the main leader of the opposition during Civic Platform's governments. Following the death of his brother in a plane crash, Jarosław Kaczyński ran in the 2010 Polish presidential election losing to Bronisław Komorowski.

Since the 2015 victories of PiS, both in the presidential and parliamentary election, Kaczyński was considered to be the most powerful politician in Poland and one of the most influential European leaders. In 2020, he was designated as the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland with oversight over the defense, justice and interior ministries.

Early life
Kaczyński was born on 18 June 1949, the identical twin brother of Lech Kaczyński. They were born in Warsaw. His father was Rajmund Kaczyński (1922–2005), an engineer who served as a soldier in the Armia Krajowa in World War II, and his mother was Jadwiga Kaczyńska (1925–2013), a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, during the war served in the Grey Ranks.

As children, he starred with his brother in the 1962 Polish film The Two Who Stole the Moon (O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc), based on a popular children's story by Kornel Makuszyński. Kaczyński attended the Joachim Lelewel XLI High School, but due to failing to be promoted to the next grade he moved to the Mikołaj Kopernik XXXIII High School. He graduated from secondary school in 1967.

Kaczyński studied law at the Warsaw University's Faculty of Law and Administration, where in 1976 he obtained a Doctor of Law (LL.D.) degree after completing a dissertation titled "The role of collegial bodies in governing institutions of higher education" under the supervision of Stanisław Ehrlich. From 1971 to 1976, he was employed as a researcher at the Institute of Scientific Policy and Higher Education and then became an assistant professor at the Białystok branch of the University of Warsaw.

Anti-communist opposition
During his studies, he took part in the student protests in March 1968. Kaczyński began working with the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR) in 1976. KOR was formed after the workers' protests of June 1976 to defend workers against persecution by the communist authorities. In 1976, he was stopped in time while carrying out tasks for the KOR during a journey to Płock. Subsequently, the KOR was transformed into the Committee for Social Self-Defense KOR (KSS KOR), which aimed to undertake broader dissident activities. Jarosław Kaczyński worked in the Intervention Office of the KSS KOR, run by Zbigniew Romaszewski and Zofia Romaszewska. Its task was to register all cases of human rights violations by the authorities, providing assistance to the repressed and those affected by the regime's actions. Kaczynski investigated cases of murders committed by MO and SB officers.

Kaczyński also joined the editorial board of the monthly magazine Głos in 1979, which was associated with KSS KOR and headed by Antoni Macierewicz.

During the communist-era, Kaczyński worked for several opposition organizations including Workers' Defence Committee, Committee for Social Self-Defense, and the Solidarity trade union. Kaczyński was also the executive editor of the Tygodnik Solidarność weekly magazine from 1989 to 1991.

1990s
In 1991, he created the conservative, Christian democratic Centre Agreement party and later became its chairman, remaining in the role until 1998. In the years 1991 to 1993 and since 1997, Kaczyński was a member of the Sejm. In the same year, he worked under direction of the president of Poland, Lech Wałęsa, as the head of his presidential chancellery. Wałęsa fired Kaczyński, who then led the protest movement against him.

2005 elections

Kaczyński was the Law and Justice prime ministerial candidate in the September 2005 Polish parliamentary election. However, when the party emerged as winner of the election, he pledged that he would not take the position, expecting that his nomination would reduce the chances of his brother Lech Kaczyński, who was a candidate for the October presidential election. Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed prime minister.

In the following months, he was a frontbench MP and the leader of his party. He was said to have an enormous influence on the prime minister's decision-making process. Kaczyński was described as the architect of the coalition with the populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona) and the far-right League of Polish Families party.

Prime Minister: 2006–2007
Following reports of a rift between Kaczyński and Marcinkiewicz, the latter resigned on 7 July 2006. Kaczyński was appointed prime minister by his brother, the president, Lech Kaczyński, on 10 July, and sworn in on 14 July, following the formation of a cabinet and a confidence vote in the Sejm. They were the first pair of brothers in the world to serve as president and prime minister of a country and the only twin brothers to have done so. The following 15 months were erratic and not without controversy, Kaczyński initiated a nationwide program (Lustracja) which required thousands of public employees, teachers, and journalists to formally declare whether or not they had collaborated with the security services of the former communist regime. In 2006, Kaczyński also established a Central Anticorruption Bureau (Polish: Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne) with far-reaching powers and was embroiled in a case relating to the suicide of Barbara Bilda who was under investigation for corruption. The government also modified Polish foreign relations relating to the European Union by adopting a more eurosceptical stance, where Polish governments had in the past adopted a very pro-European Union position.

At the request of his government, taxes were reduced.

2007 parliamentary election
Despite gaining votes, Law and Justice lost the parliamentary election on 21 October 2007, finishing a distant second behind the pro-European and liberal-conservative party Civic Platform. Kaczyński was succeeded as prime minister by Donald Tusk, but remained chairman of Law and Justice and became leader of the opposition.

2010 presidential election
Following the death of his brother, Jarosław announced that he would run for president against Bronisław Komorowski in the election held on 20 June 2010. Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska ran his electoral campaign staff and the spokesperson was Paweł Poncyljusz. Kaczyński appeared to soften his image during the campaign in order to win centrist voters. The campaign's motto was Poland Comes First. He polled 36.5% of the vote in the first round, against the acting president Bronisław Komorowski's 41.5%. In the second round he lost with 47.0% of the vote to Komorowski's 53.0%.

After 2015
In order to win over moderate voters, rather than running as PiS's candidate for president or prime minister, Kaczyński put forward more moderate PiS members in the 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections. Andrzej Duda ran as PiS's presidential candidate, while Beata Szydło was its candidate for prime minister. PiS won both elections. In the parliamentary election, PiS became the first party to win an outright majority since the end of communism. But despite being a popular leader among PiS's base, he himself remains unpopular among the wider public, with some polls showing that more Poles think Kaczyński is not trustworthy compared to Duda or Szydło. In 2017, Politico described him as the de facto ruler of Poland and as one of the most influential politicians in Poland.

In 2020, Kaczyński became deputy prime minister in the Mateusz Morawiecki government. Kaczyński announced in mid-October 2021 that he would step down as the deputy prime minister at the beginning of 2022 in order to focus on his leadership of his party, and stepped down on 21 June 2022.

On 10 April 2020, on the anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster, Kaczyński and nine other people, standing close together, visited the grave of Kaczynski's mother and the symbolic grave of twin-brother Lech at Powązki Military Cemetery, though they were closed to the public due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The Polish Police stated that the gathering in Powązki did not constitute a gathering in the sense of big gatherings forbidden in relation to the pandemic, this caused controversy and criticism. The former prime minister of Poland Leszek Miller described the gathering as showing contempt for ordinary people respecting the restrictions.

In May, a Polish radio station Trójka (run by state-owned broadcaster Polskie Radio) was accused of censoring "Twój ból jest lepszy niż mój" ("Your Pain is Better Than Mine"), a song by Kazik Staszewski that is critical of Law and Justice. The song was inspired by Kaczyński's actions and does not reference the party or Kaczyński by name. When "Twój ból jest lepszy niż mój" charted at number one on Trójka's weekly countdown on 15 May, the station subsequently suppressed the chart and all references to the song from its website. Station director Tomasz Kowalczewski accused the programme's host Marek Niedźwiecki of having rigged the chart in favour of Kazik's song. Bartosz Gil — who also works on the chart show — alleged that Kaczyński's claim was false, and accused him of specifically targeting the song. The following Sunday, Niedźwiecki announced his immediate resignation from the station, and also threatened legal action against the broadcaster for false claims of fraud. On 16 May, Polskie Radio music head Piotr Metz revealed that, after the chart show aired, Kowalczewski had ordered him via text message to remove "Twój ból jest lepszy niż mój" from the station's music library. Metz also resigned from the station. The station also faced threats of boycotts from members of the Polish music industry.

Political views

Kaczyński's project is said to consist of a "moral revolution" culminating in the creation of a "fourth republic" drawing a radical break from the compromises surrounding the fall of Communism in Poland, as well as reverting Poland back to its conservative, Roman Catholic roots and away from a multi-cultural styled Western European mainstream. In April 2016, he stated that he is not going to run for the office of President or Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland in the upcoming elections.

Drawing from his strong, uncompromising views (especially regarding parts of the political, cultural and media environment, which he sees as remnants or heirs of the former communist networks), Kaczyński is often labelled as "polarizing".

In recent years, he was also known as an activist for animal rights, and, among other things, undertook activities aimed at banning the breeding of fur animals.

A pejorative term for ideology of Jarosław Kaczyński used by some of his political opponents is "Kaczyzm".

Kaczyński is a Eurosceptic, and he pejoratively stated that "Germany wants to turn the European Union into Fourth Reich".

LGBT views
On 21 September 2005, Kaczyński said that "homosexuals should not be isolated, however, they should not be school teachers for example. Active homosexuals surely not, in any case", but that they "should not be discriminated otherwise". He has also stated, "The affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilization. We can't agree to it". On 30 August 2006, during a visit to the European Commission, Kaczyński, as the Prime Minister, stated that "people with such preferences have full rights in Poland, there is no tradition in Poland of persecuting such people". He also asked the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso "not to believe in the myth of Poland as an anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic country".

In 2019, Kaczyński characterized the LGBT rights movement as a foreign import that threatens the Polish nation. He also stated that everyone must recognize Christianity and questioning the Roman Catholic Church in Poland as unpatriotic: "We are dealing with a direct attack on the family and children — the sexualization of children, that entire LGBT movement, gender. This is imported, but they today actually threaten our identity, our nation, its continuation and therefore the Polish state."

Honors
🇵🇱 Poland:
 * Title "Man of the Year" by the weekly magazine Gazeta Polska, thrice (2004, 2015, 2019)

 * Title "Man of the Year" by the weekly magazine Wprost, twice (2005, 2015)

 * Title "Man of the Year" by the Federation of Regional Associations of Municipalities and Powiats of the Republic of Poland (2005)

 * Title "Man of the Year 2014" by the Economic Forum (2015)

 * Title "Man of Freedom" by the weekly magazine Sieci, twice (2016, 2021)

 * 25th anniversary award of Gazeta Polska (2018)

Georgia:
 * GEO_St-George_Victory_Order_BAR.svg St. George's Order of Victory (2013)

🇺🇦 Ukraine:
 * Order_of_Prince_Yaroslav_the_Wise_1st_2nd_and_3rd_Class_of_Ukraine.png Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 2nd class (2022)

Personal life
Kaczyński is a practicing Roman Catholic. He is a lifelong bachelor and has no partner or children. He lived with his ailing mother until her hospitalization. He owns no computer and is said to have opened his first bank account only in 2009. He owns a cat and has been described as a "feline enthusiast".

The communist-era Security Service (SB) files described Kaczyński as "...very uncertain about his fate. His appearance is careless. He claimed that he was not interested in material matters, women, e.g. he does not care about having a family in the future. He has a phlegmatic disposition, the appearance of a bookworm." The files also noted that he was not willing to cooperate with the SB in any capacity.

In popular culture
The main character of the political satire web series The Chairman's Ear, chairman Jarosław (portrayed by series creator Robert Górski), is modeled on Kaczyński.

title: Jarosław Kaczyński


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Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to Los Angeles veterans of World War I. Completed in 1923, it will become the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympics three times when it hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics, previously hosting in 1932 and 1984. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, a day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The stadium serves as the home of the University of Southern California Trojans football team of the Big Ten Conference, and is located directly adjacent to the school's main University Park campus. It has also hosted the Busch Light Clash for NASCAR since 2022, in which the infield is paved over into a quarter-mile long racetrack for NASCAR Cup cars to race on every February.

The Coliseum is jointly owned by the State of California's Sixth District Agricultural Association, Los Angeles County, and the city of Los Angeles. It is managed and operated by the Auxiliary Services Department of the University of Southern California (USC).

USC granted naming rights to United Airlines in January 2018. After concerns were raised by the Coliseum Commission, which has public oversight of USC's management and operation of the Coliseum, the airline agreed to become the title sponsor of the playing field, naming it United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Coliseum was the home of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1979, when they moved to Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, and again from 2016 to 2019, prior to the team's move to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The facility had a permanent seating capacity of 93,607 for USC football and Rams games, making it the largest football stadium in the Pac-12 Conference and the NFL. The stadium also was the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1958 to 1961, and was the host venue for games three, four, and five of the 1959 World Series. It was the site of the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (later called Super Bowl I) and Super Bowl VII. Additionally, it has served as a home field for a number of other teams, including the 1960 inaugural season for the Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles Raiders of the NFL from 1982 to 1994, and UCLA Bruins football.

From 1959 to 2016, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was located adjacent to the Coliseum before it closed in March 2016. BMO Stadium, formerly Banc of California Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium and the home of Major League Soccer (MLS)'s Los Angeles FC, was constructed on the former Sports Arena site, and opened in 2018.

In 2019, USC completed a two year long major renovation of the stadium that included replacing the seating along with the addition of luxury boxes and club suites. The $315 million project, funded solely by the university and managed by architectural firm DLR Group, was the first major upgrade of the stadium in twenty years. The improvements and added amenities resulted in a reduced stadium capacity from 92,348 to 77,500.

Operation
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which consists of six voting members appointed by the three ownership interests and meets on a monthly basis, provides public oversight of the master lease agreement with USC. Under the lease, the university has year-round day-to-day management and operation responsibility for both the Coliseum and BMO Stadium properties. USC's Vice President of Auxiliary Services is the Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and Coliseum employees are employees of the university.

Until 2013, USC had a series of mostly one and two year agreements with the Coliseum Commission – which up to that time had been directly operating the stadium. Those agreements were limited to the university only renting the stadium for USC home football games. On July 29, 2013, after the previously governing Coliseum Commission failed to deliver promised renovations, the Coliseum Commission and USC implemented a significantly more extensive master lease agreement that transferred to USC the responsibility for the long-term management and operation of both the Coliseum and the adjacent BMO Stadium property and the capital renewal of the Coliseum. The 98-year agreement required the university to make approximately $100 million in initial physical repairs to the Coliseum. Additionally, it requires USC pay $1.3 million each year in rent to the State of California for the state-owned land the property occupies in Exposition Park; maintain the Coliseum's physical condition at the same standard used on the USC Campus; and assume all financial obligations for the operations and maintenance of the Coliseum and BMO Stadium Complex.

USC
The Coliseum is primarily the home of the USC Trojans football team. Most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity crowd. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 77,500, with 42 suites, 1,100 club seats, 24 loge boxes, and a 500-person rooftop terrace. USC's women lacrosse and soccer teams use the Coliseum for selected games, usually involving major opponents and televised games. USC also rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events.

In May 2021, due to the previous year of local COVID-19 restrictions, USC held commencement ceremonies in the Coliseum for graduating students from the classes of 2020 and 2021. Ceremonies were held in the Coliseum twice a day for a week, with over 36,000 diplomas (including undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates) were awarded. It was the first time in 70 years that USC had held its commencement in the stadium.

Planning
The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to L.A. veterans of World War I (rededicated to all United States veterans of the war in 1968). The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 21, 1921, with construction being completed in just over 16 months, on May 1, 1923. Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl's initial construction costs were $954,873. When the Coliseum opened in 1923, it was the largest stadium in Los Angeles, with a capacity of 75,144. In 1930, however, with the Olympics due in two years, the stadium was extended upward to seventy-nine rows of seats with two tiers of tunnels, expanding the seating capacity to 101,574. The physical structure of a bowl-shaped configuration for the Coliseum was undoubtedly inspired by the earlier Yale Bowl which was built in 1914. The now-signature Olympic torch was added, and the stadium was briefly known as Olympic Stadium. The Olympic cauldron torch which burned through both Games remains above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances. Originally for the 1984 games, burnable Olympic Rings and a 25-step hydrolic staircase were added inisde in the front of the coliseum to allow the Cauldron to be lit by lifting up the stairs to the burnable Olympic Rings, which brought the flame to the Cauldron on top. The football field runs east to west with the press box on the south side of the stadium.

The current jumbotrons to each side of the peristyle were installed in 2017, and replaced a scoreboard and video screen that towered over the peristyle dating back to 1983; they replaced a smaller scoreboard above the center arch installed in 1972, which in turn supplanted the 1937 model, one of the first all-electric scoreboards in the nation. Over the years new light towers have been placed along the north and south rims. The large analog clock and thermometer over the office windows at either end of the peristyle were installed in 1955. In the mid- and late 1950s, the press box was renovated, and the "Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum" lettering and Olympic rings, lighted at night, were added to the eastern face of the peristyle tower. Between the double peristyle arches at the east end is the Coliseum's "Court of Honor" plaques, recognizing many of the memorable events and participants in its history, including a full list of 1932 and 1984 Olympic gold medalists (the complete roster of honorees can be seen below).

Renovations
For many years, the Coliseum was capable of seating over 100,000 spectators. In 1964, the stadium underwent its first major renovation in over three decades. Most of the original pale green wood-and-metal bench seating was replaced by individual theater-type chairs of dark red, beige and yellow; these seats remained until 2018, although the yellow color was eliminated in the 1970s. The seating capacity was reduced to approximately 93,000.

The Coliseum was problematic as an NFL venue. At various times in its history, it was either the largest or one of the largest stadiums in the league. While this allowed the Rams and Raiders to set attendance records, it also made it extremely difficult to sell out. The NFL amended its blackout rule to allow games to be televised locally if they were sold out 72 hours before kickoff. However, due to the Coliseum's large size, Rams (and later Raiders) games were often blacked out in Southern California, even in the teams' best years.

From 1964 to the late 1970s, it was common practice to shift the playing field to the closed end of the stadium and install end zone bleachers in front of the peristyle, limiting further the number of seats available for sale. For USC–UCLA and USC–Notre Dame games, which often attracted crowds upward of 90,000, the bleachers were moved eastward and the field was re-marked in its original position. When a larger east grandstand was installed between 1977 and 1978, at the behest of Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom, the capacity was just 71,500. With the upcoming 1984 Summer Olympic Games, a new track was installed and the playing field permanently placed inside it. However, the combination of the stadium's large, relatively shallow design, along with the presence of the track between the playing field and the stands, meant that some of the original end zone seats were as far from the field by the equivalent length of another football field. To address these and other problems, the Coliseum underwent a $15 million renovation before the 1993 football season, which included the following:

 * The field was lowered by 11 ft and 14 new rows of seats replaced the running track, bringing the first row of seats closer to the playing field (a maximum distance of 54 ft at the eastern 30-yard-line).
 * A portable seating section was built between the eastern endline and the peristyle bleachers (the stands are removed for concerts and similar events).
 * The locker rooms and public restrooms were "modernized."
 * The bleachers were replaced with individual seating.

Additionally, for Raiders home games, tarpaulins were placed over seldom-sold sections, reducing seating capacity to approximately 65,000. The changes were anticipated to be the first of a multi-stage renovation designed by HNTB that would have turned the Coliseum into a split-bowl stadium with two levels of mezzanine suites (the peristyle end would have been left as is). However, after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the $93 million was required from government agencies (including the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to repair earthquake damage, and the renovations demanded by the Raiders were put on hold indefinitely. The Raiders then redirected their efforts toward a proposed stadium at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood before electing to move back to the Oakland Coliseum prior to the 1995 NFL season. In 2000, Bentley Management Group (BMG) was hired as the project manager to complete work at the Coliseum and Sports Arena funded by FEMA. In addition to seismically bracing the Sports Arena while it remained open for events, BMG also coordinated the Coliseum's new press box elevator, various concession stands, restroom improvements, and concrete spalling repairs.

New videoboard
In August 2011, construction began on the Coliseum's west end on a new 6000 sqfoot HD video scoreboard, accompanying the existing video scoreboard on the peristyle (east end) of the stadium. The video scoreboard officially went into operation on September 3, 2011, at USC football's home opener versus the University of Minnesota, with the game being televised on ABC.

2018–2019 renovation project
After USC took over the Coliseum master lease in 2013, they began making plans for major renovations needed and as stipulated in the master lease agreement. On October 29, 2015, USC unveiled an estimated $270 million project for a massive renovation and restoration the Coliseum. The upgrades included: replacing all seats in the stadium, construction of a larger and modern press box (with new box suites, premium lounges, a viewing deck, a V.I.P. section, and the introduction of LED ribbon boards), adding new aisles and widening some seats, a new sound system, restoration and renaming of the peristyle to the Julia and George Argyros Plaza, stadium wide Wi-Fi, two new HD video jumbotrons, new concession stands, upgraded entry concourses, new interior and exterior lighting, modernization of plumbing and electrical systems, and a reduction in capacity of about 16,000 seats, with the final total at approximately 78,500 seats.

The plans were met with mixed reactions from the public. The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic bid committee contemplated additional renovations to support its bid.

On January 8, 2018, USC began the project to renovate and improve the Coliseum. The project, which was solely funded by the university, was completed by the 2019 football season, and was the first major upgrade of the stadium in 20 years. The project budget increased from the initial estimate of $270 million to $315 million mainly due to the tight construction schedule.

Naming rights
On January 29, 2018, Chicago-based United Airlines became the stadium's first naming rights partner. Originally, Memorial Coliseum was to be retained in the name of the stadium by the condition of the Coliseum Commission's requirement in its master lease agreement with USC. However, veterans groups and the new president of the Coliseum Commission raised concern about the new name, while United did not approve of any change from the stadium and stated that they were willing to step away from the deal.

On March 29, 2019, USC suggested the name United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum instead of the planned United Airlines Memorial Coliseum. Although United also did not support this and considered withdrawal, the two parties agreed to the name on June 7.

During Los Angeles Rams home games for the 2019 season, the stadium reverted to its original name, and all signage indicating "United Airlines Field" was covered due to the franchise's sponsoring partnership with American Airlines.

1920s
On October 6, 1923, Pomona and USC played in the inaugural game at the Coliseum, with the Trojans prevailing 23–7. Situated just across the street from Exposition Park, USC agreed to play all its home games at the Coliseum, a circumstance that contributed to the decision to build the arena.

From 1928 to 1981, the UCLA Bruins also played home games at the Coliseum. When USC and UCLA played each other, the "home" team (USC in odd-numbered years, UCLA in even), occupied the north sideline and bench, and its band and rooters sat on the north side of the stadium; the "visiting" team and its contingent took to the south (press box) side of the stadium. Excepting the mid-1950s and 1983–2007, the two teams have worn their home jerseys for the rivalry games for the Victory Bell. This tradition was renewed in 2008, even though the two schools now play at different stadiums. UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in 1982.

1930s–1940s

In 1932, the Coliseum hosted the Summer Olympic Games, the first of two Olympic Games hosted at the stadium. The Coliseum served as the site of the field hockey, gymnastics, the show jumping part of the equestrian event, and track and field events, along with the opening and closing ceremonies. The 1932 games marked the introduction of the Olympic Village, as well as the victory podium.

The former Cleveland Rams of the National Football League relocated to the Coliseum in 1946, becoming the Los Angeles Rams; however, the team later relocated again, first to Anaheim in 1980, then to St.Louis in 1995, only to move back to Los Angeles in 2016. The Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference played in the Coliseum from 1946 to 1949, when the franchise merged with its NFL cousins just before the two leagues merged. The Coliseum hosted the NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1934, 1939, 1949, and 1955. It also hosted several Coliseum Relays and several Compton-Coliseum Invitational (track and field) events from the 1940s until the 1970s.

1950s–1960s
Among other sporting events held at the Coliseum over the years were Major League Baseball (MLB) games, which were held when the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League relocated to the West Coast in 1958. The Dodgers played here until Dodger Stadium was completed in time for the 1962 season. Even allowing for its temporary status, the Coliseum was extremely ill-suited for baseball due to the fundamentally different sizes and shapes of football and baseball fields. A baseball field requires roughly 2.5 times more area than a football gridiron, but the playing surface was just barely large enough to accommodate a baseball diamond. As a result, foul territory was almost nonexistent down the first base line, but was expansive down the third base line, with a very large backstop for the catcher. Sight lines also left much to be desired; some seats were as far as 710 ft from the plate. Also, from baseball's point of view, the locker rooms were huge as they were designed for football (not baseball) teams.

In order to shoehorn even an approximation of a baseball field onto the playing surface, the left-field fence was set at only 251 ft from the plate. This seemed likely to ensure that there would be many "Chinese home runs", as such short shots were called at the time. Sportswriters began jokingly referring to the improvised park as "O'Malley's Chinese Theatre" or "The House that Charlie Chan Built", drawing protests from the Chinese American community in the Los Angeles area. They also expressed concern that cherished home run records, especially Babe Ruth's 1927 seasonal mark of 60, might easily fall as a result of 250 foot pop flies going over the left-field fence. Sports Illustrated titled a critical editorial "Every Sixth Hit a Homer!" Players also complained, with Milwaukee Braves ace Warren Spahn calling for a rule that would require any home run to travel at least 300 ft before it could be considered a home run.

Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick ordered the Dodgers to erect a 42 ft screen in left field to prevent pop flies from becoming home runs. Its cables, towers, wires, and girders were in play. The "short porch" in left field looked extremely attractive to batters. In the first week of play during the 1959 season, the media's worst preseason fears seemed to be realized when 24 home runs were hit in the Coliseum, three of them by Chicago Cubs outfielder Lee Walls, not especially distinguished as a hitter. However, pitchers soon adapted, throwing outside to right-handed hitters, requiring them to pull the bat hard if they wanted to hit toward left. Perhaps no player took better advantage than Dodgers outfielder Wally Moon, who figured out how to hit high fly balls that dropped almost vertically just behind the screen. By the end of the season, he had hit 19 homers, all but five of them in the Coliseum. In recognition, such homers were dubbed "Moon Shots".

Nonetheless, the number of home runs alarmed Frick enough that he ordered the Dodgers to build a second screen in the stands, 333 ft from the plate. A ball would have had to clear both screens to be a home run; if it cleared the first, it would have been a ground-rule double. However, the Dodgers discovered that the earthquake safety provisions of the Los Angeles building code forbade construction of a second screen.

Unable to compel the Dodgers to fix the situation, the major leagues passed a note to Rule 1.04 stating that any stadium constructed after June 1, 1958, must provide a minimum distance of 325 ft down each foul line. Also, when the expansion Los Angeles Angels joined the American League in 1961, Frick rejected their original request to use the Coliseum as a temporary facility. This rule was revoked (or perhaps, simply ignored) when the Baltimore Orioles launched the "retro ballpark" era in 1992, with the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. With a right field corner of only 318 ft, this fell short. However, baseball fans heartily welcomed the "new/old" style, and all new ballparks since then have been allowed to set their own distances.

Late that season, the screen figured in the National League pennant race. When the Braves were playing the Dodgers at the Coliseum on September 15, 1959, Joe Adcock hit a ball that cleared the screen but hit a steel girder behind it and got stuck in the mesh. According to ground rules, this should have been a home run. However, the umpires ruled it a ground-rule double. The fans shook the screen, causing the ball to fall into the seats. The umpires changed the call to a homer, only to rule it a ground-rule double while Adcock was left stranded on second. The game was tied at the end of nine innings, and the Dodgers won in the tenth inning. At the end of the regular season, the Dodgers and Braves finished in a tie. The Dodgers won the ensuing playoff and went on to win the World Series.

Although less than ideal for baseball due to its poor sight lines and short dimensions (left field at 251 ft and power alleys at 320 ft), the Coliseum was ideally suited for large paying crowds. Each of the three games of the 1959 World Series drew over 92,000 fans, with game five drawing 92,706, a record unlikely to be seriously threatened anytime soon given the smaller seating capacities of today's baseball parks. In May 1959, an exhibition game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees in honor of legendary catcher Roy Campanella drew 93,103, the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in the Western Hemisphere until a 2008 exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox to mark the 50th anniversary of MLB in Los Angeles. The Coliseum also hosted the second 1959 MLB All-Star Game.

The Coliseum was also the site of John F. Kennedy's memorable acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. It was during that speech that Kennedy first used the term "the New Frontier".

The Rams hosted the 1949, 1951 and 1955 NFL championship games at the Coliseum. The Coliseum was also the site of the first NFL–AFL Championship Game in 1967, an event since renamed the Super Bowl. It also hosted Super Bowl VII in 1973, but future Super Bowls in the Los Angeles region would instead be hosted at the Rose Bowl, which has never had an NFL tenant. The Coliseum was also the site of the NFL Pro Bowl from 1951 to 1972, and again in 1979. In 1960, the American Football League (AFL)'s Los Angeles Chargers played at the Coliseum before relocating to San Diego the next year; the team moved back to the L.A. area in 2017.

The United States men's national soccer team played its first match at the stadium in 1965, losing to Mexico in a 1966 World Cup qualifier. Also, the Los Angeles Wolves of the United Soccer Association played their home games at the Coliseum for a year (1967) before moving to the Rose Bowl.

1970s–1980s
In June 1970, the first Senior Olympics (known as the Senior Sports International Meet) took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In July 1972, the Coliseum hosted the "Super Bowl" of Motocross. The event was the first motocross race held inside a stadium. It evolved into the AMA Supercross championship held in stadiums across the United States and Canada. The Coliseum last hosted the event in 1998.

On August 20, 1972, Wattstax, also known as "Black-Woodstock", took place in the Coliseum. Over 100,000 black residents of Los Angeles attended this concert for African-American pride. Later in 1973, a documentary was released about the concert.

In 1973, Evel Knievel used the entire distance of the stadium to jump 50 stacked cars. Knievel launched his motorcycle from atop one end of the Coliseum, jumping the cars in the center of the field, and stopping high atop the other end. The jump was broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Also in 1973, the Coliseum was host to Super Bowl VII, which saw the AFC champion Miami Dolphins defeat the NFC champion Washington Redskins 14–7, becoming the only team in NFL history to attain an undefeated season and postseason.

The Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group hosted the first stadium short course off-road race at the Coliseum in 1979. The event was last held in 1992.

The Los Angeles Rams played their home games in the Coliseum until 1979, when they moved to Anaheim prior to the 1980 NFL season. They hosted the NFC Championship Game in 1975 and 1978, in which they lost both times to the Dallas Cowboys by lopsided margins.

The Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League used the Coliseum as their home ground in 1977 and 1981.

The Coliseum was also home to the USFL's Los Angeles Express between 1983 and 1985. In this capacity, the stadium also is the site of the longest professional American football game in history: on June 30, 1984 (a few weeks before the start of the 1984 Summer Olympics), a triple-overtime game between the Express and the Michigan Panthers that was decided on a 24-yard game-winning touchdown by Mel Gray of the Express, three and a half minutes into the third overtime, to give Los Angeles a 27–21 win. Until 2012, this game marked the only time in the history of professional football that there was more than one kickoff in overtime play in the same game.

In 1982, the former Oakland Raiders moved in. The same year, UCLA decided to move out, relocating its home games to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The Coliseum was also the site of the 1982 Speedway World Final, held for the first and only time in the United States. The event saw Newport Beach native Bruce Penhall retain the title he had won in front of 92,500 fans at London's Wembley Stadium in 1981. An estimated 40,000 fans were at the Coliseum to see Penhall retain his title before announcing his retirement from motorcycle speedway to take up an acting role on the television series CHiPs.

Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics, and the Coliseum became the first stadium to host the Summer Olympic Games twice, again serving as the primary track and field venue and as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Coliseum played host to the California World Music Festival on April 7–8, 1979.

The Rolling Stones played at the stadium on their 1981 Tattoo You tour (October 9 and 11), supported by George Thorogood, the J. Geils Band, and relatively unknown newcomer Prince. The Stones played for 90,000 for each of 2 nights in 1981 and a record 90,000 fans for 4 nights in 1989.

The Argentina national soccer team played a friendly match against Mexico on May 14, 1985, as part of Argentina's tour of North America prior to the 1986 FIFA World Cup that would be won by the squad managed by Carlos Bilardo.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concluded their Born in the U.S.A. Tour with four consecutive concerts on September 27, 29, 30, and October 2, 1985, in front of 82,000 people each night. These shows were recorded and eight songs from the show of September 30 appear on their box set Live 1975–85. The September 27 show was released through Springsteen's website in 2019.

U2 played at the stadium during leg three of their breakout Joshua Tree tour on November 17 and 18, 1987. They later returned to the stadium for their PopMart Tour on June 21, 1997.

Los Angeles natives Mötley Crüe played at the stadium on December 13, 1987, during the second leg of their Girls, Girls, Girls World Tour, with fellow Los Angeles band Guns N' Roses as the opening act. At that time, Mötley Crüe was one of the most popular and successful acts in the world, while Guns N' Roses was one of the largest up-and-coming acts. The latter would later return for four shows in October 1989 as the opening act for the Rolling Stones, then again on September 27, 1992, as part of their infamous co-headlining tour with Metallica.

The stadium played host to The Monsters of Rock Festival Tour, featuring Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica, and Kingdom Come, on July 24, 1988. A second show was planned to take place on July 23, but was later canceled.

The stadium also played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 21, 1988, headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, and Joan Baez.

1990s–2000s
The Raiders began looking to move out of the Coliseum as early as 1986. In addition to the delays in renovating the stadium, they never drew well; even after they won Super Bowl XVIII in 1984, they had trouble filling it. The NFL scheduled all of the Raiders' appearances on Monday Night Football as road games since the Los Angeles market would have been blacked out due to the Coliseum not being sold out. Finally, in 1995, the Raiders left Los Angeles and returned to Oakland, leaving the Coliseum without a professional football tenant for the first time since the close of World War II.

In the mid-1990s, the Coliseum was planned to be the home of the Los Angeles Blaze, a charter franchise of the United League (UL) which was planned to be a third league of Major League Baseball.

In 2000, the Los Angeles Dragons of the Spring Football League used the Coliseum as their home stadium.

The Legends Football League began as a halftime spectacular known as the Lingerie Bowl. The first three years (2004, 2005, 2006) were played at the Coliseum. From 2009 to 2011, a couple of Los Angeles Temptation games were played in the Coliseum. Beginning in 2015, the Temptation resumed playing at the Coliseum after three seasons at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario.

The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer tournament was also held at the Coliseum. The United States national team beat Honduras in the final. The Coliseum also staged the final match of the Gold Cup in 1996, 1998 and 2000. In October 2000, the United States played its last match at the stadium in a friendly versus Mexico. Since then, the team has preferred the Rose Bowl Stadium and Dignity Health Sports Park as home stadiums in Greater Los Angeles.

The stadium hosted the K-1 Dynamite!! USA mixed martial arts event. The promoters claimed that 54,000 people attended the event, which would have set a new attendance record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States; however, other officials estimated the crowd between 20,000 and 30,000.

In May 1959, the Dodgers had hosted an exhibition game against the reigning World Series champion New York Yankees at the Coliseum, a game which drew over 93,000 people. The Yankees won that game 6–2. As part of their West Coast 50th anniversary celebration in 2008, the Dodgers again hosted an exhibition game against the reigning World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox. On March 29, 2008, the middle game of a three-game set in Los Angeles was also won by the visitors by the relatively low score of 7–4, given the layout of the field; Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek had joked that he expected scores in the 80s.

As previously mentioned in the 1950s–1960s section, during 1958–1961, the distance from home plate to the left field foul pole was 251 ft with a 42 ft screen running across the close part of left field. Due to the intervening addition of another section of seating rimming the field, the 2008 grounds crew had much less space to work with, and the result was a left field foul line only 201 ft, with a 60 ft screen, which one Boston writer dubbed the "Screen Monster". Even at that distance, 201 ft is also 49 ft short of the minimum legal home-run distance. This being an exhibition game, balls hit over the 60 ft temporary screen were still counted as home runs. There were only a couple of home runs over the screen, as pitchers adjusted (and Manny Ramirez did not play). A diagram illustrated the differences in the dimensions between 1959 and 2008:
 * 2008 – LF 201 ft – LCF 280 ft – CF 380 ft – RCF 352 ft – RF 300 ft
 * 1959 – LF 251 ft – LCF 320 ft – CF 417 ft – RCF 375 ft – RF 300 ft

A sellout crowd of 115,300 was announced, which set a Guinness World Record for attendance at a baseball game, breaking the record set at a 1956 Summer Olympics baseball demonstration game between teams from the US and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Coliseum formerly hosted the major U.S. electronic dance music festival, the Electric Daisy Carnival. It last hosted the event in 2010; following the drug-related death of an underage attendee at EDC that year, the festival's organizer Insomniac Events was blacklisted from hosting future events at the venue, and it subsequently moved to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011.

In 2003, select events of the X Games IX action sports event were held at the Coliseum. In 2010, the X Games XVI were held at the venue.

In 2006, the Coliseum Commission focused on signing a long-term lease with USC, who offered to purchase the facility from the state but was turned down. After some at-time contentious negotiations, with the university threatening to move to the Rose Bowl in late 2007, the two sides signed a 25-year lease in May 2008, giving the Coliseum Commission 8% of USC's ticket sales, approximately $1.5 million a year, but committing the agency to a list of renovations.

In 2006, Mexican band RBD held a concert during their U.S. tour before 70,000 people, with tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes. It was the highest attended event by a Mexican act since Los Bukis' 1993 and 1996 concerts.

On June 23, 2008, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission announced that they were putting the naming rights of the Coliseum on the market, predicting a deal valued at $6 million to $8 million a year. The funds would go towards financing over $100 million in renovations over the next decade, including a new video board, bathrooms, concession areas, and locker rooms. Additional seating was included in the renovation plans which increased the Coliseum's seating capacity to 93,607 in September 2008.

On June 17, 2009, the Coliseum was the terminus for the Los Angeles Lakers' 2009 NBA championship victory parade. A crowd of over 90,000 attended the festivities, in addition to the throngs of supporters who lined the 2 mi parade route. The Coliseum peristyle was redesigned in purple and gold regalia to commemorate the team, and the Lakers' court was transported from Staples Center to the Coliseum field to act as the stage. Past parades had ended at Staples Center, but due to the newly constructed L.A. Live complex, space was limited around the arena.

2010s–present

On July 30, 2011, the LA Rising festival with Rage Against the Machine, Muse, Rise Against, Lauryn Hill, Immortal Technique, and El Gran Silencio was hosted at the Coliseum.

Roger Waters continued his The Wall Live at the stadium on 19 May 2012 to a sold-out crowd.

On April 27, 2013, the stadium hosted a round of the Stadium Super Trucks off-road race.

On September 13, 2014, the Coliseum hosted the fifth-place game, third-place game and final of the 2014 Copa Centroamericana in front of 41,969 spectators.

In August 2015, the Coliseum hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

On June 16, 2018, Shannon Briggs hosted the first press conference for a celebrity boxing event with KSI, Deji, Jake Paul, and Logan Paul.

On September 14, 2021, the NASCAR Cup Series announced that the annual Busch Clash would take place at the Coliseum, at a purpose-made quarter-mile track.

On December 9, 2021, Kanye West performed a benefit concert for the long-imprisoned Larry Hoover with special guest Drake at the Coliseum.

On September 23 and 24, 2022 German band Rammstein performed two shows as part of the North American leg of their Rammstein Stadium Tour

On December 10, 2022, Deadmau5 and Kaskade performed as their collaborative project Kx5 to a crowd of 50,000. Making it the largest ever one-day EDM headlining event in North America at the time.

Return of the Los Angeles Rams 2016–19

On January 12, 2016, the NFL gave permission for the St. Louis Rams to relocate back to Los Angeles. The Rams resumed play at the Coliseum while awaiting completion of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

On August 13, 2016, the Coliseum hosted its first NFL game at the stadium since 1994, as the Rams hosted the Dallas Cowboys at a preseason game in front of 89,140 people. On September 18, 2016, the Coliseum hosted the first Rams regular season home game since 1979, against the Seattle Seahawks following an impromptu pregame concert from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Rams would boast a 9–3 victory over Seattle in front of a crowd of 91,046 in attendance.

On January 6, 2018, the Coliseum hosted its first Rams playoff game since the 1978 NFC Championship game, a 26–13 wild card round loss to the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons.

On November 19, 2018, the Coliseum hosted its first Monday Night Football game since 1985, and the first Monday night game the Rams hosted at the Coliseum, exact date 40 years later, with the Rams taking on the Kansas City Chiefs. That game, which was originally scheduled to be played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City that night, was moved to the Coliseum due to poor field conditions at the former. The Rams won the game, 54–51 in the highest-scoring game in Monday Night Football history.

On January 12, 2019, the Coliseum hosted its final NFL playoff game, where the Rams defeated the Dallas Cowboys 30–22 in an NFC Divisional Playoff.

On December 8, 2019, the final Sunday Night Football game would be played at the Coliseum in which the Rams defeated the rival Seattle Seahawks 28–12 in front of a crowd of over 77,000 people.

On December 29, 2019, the Rams played their final game at the Coliseum, beating the Arizona Cardinals 31–24 before moving to SoFi Stadium in time for the 2020 NFL season. The Rams finished with a record of 16–14 playing their home games at the Coliseum in their second stint as tenants from 2016 through 2019.

On February 16, 2022, three days after winning Super Bowl LVI, the Rams hosted their victory celebration before thousands of fans in front of the Coliseum's peristyle end.

2028 Summer Olympics
Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028. During the 131st IOC Session, the International Olympic Committee officially awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles on July 31, 2017. The Coliseum will be the first stadium to host events for three different Olympic games.

NASCAR
On February 6, 2022, NASCAR hosted a pre-season NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event. The temporary .25 mi track marked the series' first race of any kind on a quarter-mile since 1971 and was won by Joey Logano. Martin Truex Jr. won the 2023 running of the event, followed by Denny Hamlin in 2024.

Seating capacity (college football)

 * Source:Ballparks.com

1963 Billy Graham Crusade
The largest gathering in the Coliseum's history was a Billy Graham crusade which took place on September 8, 1963, with 134,254 in attendance, noted by the Coliseum's website as an all-time record. With the renovations of 1964, the capacity of the Coliseum was reduced to roughly 93,000 for future events.

Sporting events
Records differ between the 2006 USC football media guide and 2006 UCLA football media guide. (This may be due to only keeping records for "home" games until the 1950s.) The USC Media guide lists the top five record crowds as:
 * College football
 * 1. 104,953 — vs. Notre Dame 1947 (USC home game; Highest attendance for a football game in the Coliseum)
 * 2. 103,303 — vs. UCLA 1939 (USC home game)
 * 3. 103,000 — vs. USC 1945 (UCLA home game)
 * 4. 102,548 — vs. USC 1954 (UCLA home game)
 * 5. 102,050 — vs. UCLA 1947 (USC home game)

The UCLA Media guide does not list the 1939 game against USC, and only lists attendance for the second game in 1945 for Coliseum attendance records. These are the top three listed UCLA record Coliseum crowds: The largest crowd to attend a USC football game against an opponent other than UCLA or Notre Dame was 96,130 for a November 10, 1951, contest with Stanford University. The largest attendance for a UCLA contest against a school other than USC was 92,962 for the November 1, 1946, game with Saint Mary's College of California.
 * 1. 102,548 — vs. USC 1954 (UCLA home game)
 * 2. 102,050 — vs. USC 1947 (UCLA home game)
 * 3. 100,333 — vs. USC 1945 (USC home game; 1945's second of two meetings)

The Los Angeles Rams played the San Francisco 49ers before an NFL record attendance of 102,368 on November 10, 1957. This was a record paid attendance that stood until September 2009 at Cowboys Stadium, though the overall NFL regular season record was broken in a 2005 regular season game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Both records were broken on September 20, 2009, at the first regular season game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
 * National Football League

In 1958 the Rams averaged 83,680 for their six home games, including 100,470 for the Chicago Bears and 100,202 for the Baltimore Colts.

In their 13 seasons in Los Angeles the Raiders on several occasions drew near-capacity crowds to the Coliseum. The largest were 91,505 for an October 25, 1992, game with the Dallas Cowboys, 91,494 for a September 29, 1991, contest with the San Francisco 49ers, and 90,380 on January 1, 1984, for a playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Coliseum hosted the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game, later called the Super Bowl. The January 15, 1967, game, pitting the Green Bay Packers against the Kansas City Chiefs, attracted 61,946 fans—a lower-than anticipated crowd (by comparison, a regular-season game between the Packers and Rams a month earlier drew 72,418). For Super Bowl VII in 1973, which matched the Miami Dolphins against the Washington Redskins, the attendance was a near-capacity 90,182, a record that would stand until Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl. The 1975 NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys had an attendance of 88,919, the highest for an NFC Championship Game. The 1983 AFC Championship Game between the Raiders and Seattle Seahawks then attracted 91,445, still the largest crowd for a conference championship game since the conference-title format began with the 1970 season.

The Rams' first NFL game at the Coliseum since 1979, after spending fifteen years at Anaheim Stadium and then twenty-one seasons in St. Louis, a pre-season contest against the Cowboys on August 13, 2016, drew a crowd of 89,140. The team's first regular-season home game, on September 18 against the Seattle Seahawks, attracted 91,046—the largest attendance for a Rams game at the Coliseum since 1974.

Contemporary baseball guides listed the theoretical baseball seating capacity as 92,500. Thousands of east-end seats were very far from home plate, and were not sold unless needed. The largest regular season attendance was 78,672, the Dodgers' home debut in the Coliseum, against the San Francisco Giants on April 18, 1958.
 * Major League Baseball

The May 7, 1959, exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1958 World Series Champion New York Yankees, in honor of disabled former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, drew 93,103, which was a Major League Baseball record prior to 2008.

All three Dodgers home games in the 1959 World Series with the Chicago White Sox exceeded 90,000 attendance. Game 5 drew 92,706 fans, a major league record for a non-exhibition game.

The attendance for the exhibition game on March 29, 2008, between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers, was 115,300, setting a new Guinness World Record for attendance at a baseball game. The previous record of an estimated 114,000 was in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne Cricket Ground for an exhibition game between teams from branches of American Military Forces and Australia.

 * Soccer

The first official soccer match at the Coliseum was an international fixture between the United States and Mexico that took place on March 7, 1965, as part of regional World Cup qualification. The teams drew 2–2 in front of 22,570 spectators.

Although the stadium represents the second most active venue in the history of the US national team (after Robert F. Kennedy), it has only played 22 matches in it, the last of them in 2000. Of these, eleven were of official competition (three from World Cup qualifiers, seven from the CONCACAF Gold Cup and one from the North American Nations Cup) and eleven friendlies, all category "A". In this scenario, the team won their first absolute title by finishing as champion of the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup, defeating their counterpart from Honduras on penalties.

However, the most active national team at the Memorial Coliseum is Mexico, which has played 86 matches in the building: 14 in official competition (3 in the World Cup qualifying round, 9 in the Gold Cup and two from the North American Nations Cup), including the Gold Cup finals from 1996 and 1998, in which they won 2–0 against Brasil and 1–0 against United States respectively; and 72 friendlies (50 of Category "A" – against other senior teams – 6 of the so-called "B" selection and 16 against both Mexican and foreign clubs). Los Angeles is the second stadium where the Mexican representative has played the most matches, only after its official headquarters, the Azteca Stadium, surpassing any other venue both in his country and in the United States.

The stadium hosted the Los Angeles Wolves during the inaugural season of the United Soccer Association in 1967, which culminated in the final championship at the Coliseum. The Los Angeles Toros of the National Professional Soccer League also played at the Coliseum in 1967, but were moved to San Diego the following season before folding. The Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League played at the Coliseum in 1977 and 1981 between stints at the Rose Bowl.

Sculpture and commemorations
A pair of life-sized bronze nude statues of male and female athletes atop a 20,000 pound (9,000 kg) post-and-lintel frame formed the Olympic Gateway created by Robert Graham for the 1984 games. The statues, modeled on water polo player Terry Schroeder and long jumper from Guyana, Jennifer Inniss, who participated in the games, were noted for their anatomical accuracy. A decorative facade bearing the Olympic rings was erected in front of the peristyle for the 1984 games, and the structure remained in place through that year's football season. The stadium rim and tunnels were repainted in alternating pastel colors that were part of architect Jon Jerde's graphic design for the games; these colors remained until 1987.

Court of Honor plaques
"Commemorating outstanding persons or events, athletic or otherwise, that have had a definite impact upon the history, glory, and growth of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum"

 * 1959 Dodgers World Series, 1961
 * 1963 Billy Graham Crusade, 1965
 * 50th Anniversary of Armistice, 1969
 * John C. Argue, 2004
 * Count Baillet-Latour, 1964
 * Elgin Baylor, 2009
 * Joan Benoit, 2017
 * Thomas Bradley, 2019
 * Judge William A. Bowen, 1955
 * Coliseum Commission – 1984 Olympics, 1984
 * Coliseum Commission (1933–1944), 1970
 * Coliseum Commission (1945–1970), 1970
 * Coliseum Commission (1971–1998), 1998
 * Coliseum Commission Restoration (1923), 2013
 * Coliseum Track and Field Records, 2002
 * Community Development Association, 1932
 * Pierre de Coubertin, 1958
 * Newell "Jeff" Cravath, 1960
 * Dean Bartlett Cromwell, 1963
 * Anita DeFrantz, 2017
 * Mildred "Babe" Didrickson, 1961
 * Earthquake Restoration, 1999
 * John Ferraro, 2000
 * John Jewett Garland, 1972
 * William May Garland, 1949
 * Kenneth F. Hahn, 1993
 * Elmer "Gus" Henderson, 1971
 * Paul Hoy Helms, 1958
 * Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, 2005
 * Rafer Johnson, 2009
 * Thomas LaBonge, 2022
 * Israeli Olympic Athletes, 1984
 * Pope John Paul II, 1987
 * Howard Harding Jones, 1955
 * President John F. Kennedy, 1964
 * Francis "Frank" Leahy, 1974
 * Nelson Mandela, 2014
 * James Francis Cardinal McIntyre and Mary's Hour, 1966
 * John McKay, 2001
 * Mercy Bowl, 1961
 * J.D. Morgan, 1984
 * Jesse P. Mortensen, 1963
 * Jim Murray, 1999
 * William Henry "Bill" Nicholas, 1990
 * Walter F. O'Malley, 2008
 * James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens, 1984
 * Charles W. Paddock, 1955
 * Rams Reunion, 2007
 * Daniel Farrell Reeves, 1972
 * Jackie Robinson, 2005
 * Knute Rockne, 1955
 * Pete Rozelle, 1998
 * Henry Russell "Red" Sanders, 1959
 * W.R. "Bill" Schroeder, 1990
 * Vin Scully, 2008
 * Andrew Latham "Andy" Smith, 1956
 * William Henry "Bill" Spaulding, 1971
 * Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, 2016
 * Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1965
 * Brice Union Taylor, 1975
 * USC All-Americans (1880–2005), 2007
 * Peter V. Ueberroth, 2022
 * Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner, 1956
 * Kenneth Stanley Washington, 1972
 * Jerry West, 2009
 * John R. Wooden, 2008
 * Rosalind Wyman, 2021

Coliseum Cauldron
The Coliseum Cauldron was built for the 1932 Summer Olympics and was also reused during the 1984 Summer Olympics. The cauldron is a main sight on stadium and is still present in the Stadium and is lit during special events (such as the period when an edition of the Olympic Games are being held in another city or in mourning for some personality related to the city). As the stadium was the main venue on the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games the cauldron was relit by Rafer Johnson during the opening ceremonies and being extinguished again during the closing ceremony.

In addition, the torch has been lit on the following historic occasions:
 * To honor the memory of Israeli athletes killed during the terrorist attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
 * For several days following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
 * For over a week following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
 * The pyre was lit for a week without interruption during the official period of mourning after the death of the former American president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the president of the United States when the city of Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics and also declared that edition of the Games open, and was also Governor of California from 1967 to 1975.
 * In April 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II, who had celebrated Mass at the Coliseum during his visit to Los Angeles in 1987.
 * At the Los Angeles Dodgers' 50th anniversary game on March 29, 2008, during the ThinkCure! charity ceremony (while Neil Diamond's "Heartlight" was played and the majority of the attendees turned on their complimentary souvenir keychain flashlights).
 * For the returning Los Angeles Rams' first home game on September 18, 2016, against the Seattle Seahawks.
 * On the evening of September 13, 2017, when Los Angeles was awaiting a few hours before the confirmation as the host city of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
 * For the Coliseum Gladiator MMA Championship Finals on Sat., September 23, 2017.
 * For the Los Angeles Rams' first playoff game in Los Angeles in 38 years on January 6, 2018, against the Atlanta Falcons.
 * To honor the victims of the 2018 California wildfires & the Thousand Oaks shooting.
 * For the Los Angeles Rams' final regular season game against the San Francisco 49ers on December 30, 2018.
 * For the Los Angeles Rams' playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys on January 12, 2019.
 * For the Rams' final game in the Coliseum vs. the Arizona Cardinals on December 29, 2019.
 * To honor Kobe Bryant after his death on January 26, 2020.
 * To honor Rafer Johnson after his death on December 2, 2020.
 * To honor former L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge, known to many as "Mr. Los Angeles" after his death on January 14, 2021.
 * To honor Dodgers Legend Tommy Lasorda after his death on January 14, 2021.
 * For the Kanye West and Drake Larry Hoover Benefit Concert on December 9, 2021.
 * For the 2022 NASCAR Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum on February 6, 2022. The Cauldron was ceremoniously lit by 4 time NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon.
 * Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez on February 17, 2022, after his death, the Latin artist performed at the LA Memorial Sports Arena various times.
 * For the 2023 NASCAR Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. The Cauldron was lit by 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.

Film

 * 1923: Scenes from the Roman Age in Buster Keaton's Three Ages were filmed in the Coliseum, the first ever use of the Coliseum as a movie location.
 * 1927: Scenes in College a 1927 comedy-drama silent film directed by James W. Horne and Buster Keaton, and starring Keaton, Anne Cornwall, and Harold Goodwin are filmed on the field of the Coliseum.
 * 1944: Scenes in “The Falcon in Hollywood” starring Tom Conway.
 * 1972: The Coliseum was used in the filming of Hickey & Boggs. There is a gunfight that takes place within the stadium.
 * 1976: The Coliseum was the key location in the movie Two-Minute Warning.
 * 1978: The Coliseum was used in the filming of Warren Beatty's film Heaven Can Wait, about a fictional Super Bowl XII game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Rams.
 * 1994: The outside of the Coliseum was used as a scene in D2: The Mighty Ducks.
 * 1996: The Coliseum was used in the filming of Escape from L.A. starring Kurt Russell, including a basketball death match.
 * 1997: The Coliseum was used in the filming of Money Talks starring Chris Tucker and Charlie Sheen.
 * 2002: The field and locker room were used in the filming of the pornographic Gangbang Girl #32 starring Kimberly Franklin, Olivia Saint and Gauge
 * 2013: The stadium appears in one of the final scenes of World War Z when the military bombs the stadium full of zombies.

Television and streaming

 * 1972: The Coliseum was a key location in "The Most Crucial Game", the third episode of the second season of Columbo.
 * 1976: The Coliseum was used in filming of Emergency! (1970's TV Series) episode titled "The Game".
 * 1978: The Coliseum was used in the filming of The Incredible Hulk episode titled "Killer Instinct".
 * 1978: The Coliseum was used in the filming of the Charlie's Angels episode titled "Pom Pom Angels".
 * 2003: The Coliseum was used in the filming of the last episode of the second season of the television series 24.
 * 2008: The Coliseum was used as the starting point of the premiere episode of The Amazing Race 13.
 * 2009: The Coliseum was featured in Life After People. 150 years after people, an earthquake brings down the Coliseum.
 * 2016: The Coliseum was used as the finishing point for the second episode of the Chinese reality show Race the World.
 * 2019: Season 17 of Bravo's Top Chef filmed an episode at the Coliseum at the 1923 Club on the roof of the new Scholarship Club Tower.
 * Visiting... with Huell Howser Episode 411, which includes an interview of Robert Graham.
 * 2021: The Coliseum was used in the filming of the last episode of the fifth season of the Netflix series Lucifer.

Video games

 * 1996: Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95 included a challenge to fly through the needle of the Coliseum and land on the field.
 * 2004/2013: The Maze Bank Arena featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V has an outer wall and arch similar to the Coliseum, but has a roof.
 * 2005: The Coliseum is featured as one of the playable Supercross tracks in MX vs. ATV Unleashed.
 * 2008: The Coliseum was featured in Midnight Club: Los Angeles, albeit with a different name.
 * 2011: The Coliseum featured as a rallycross track in Dirt 3.
 * 2014: The Coliseum is one of the main settlements of Los Angeles in Wasteland 2.
 * 2019: The Coliseum is featured as one of the playable Supercross tracks in Monster Energy Supercross 2: The Official Video Game as a DLC.

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

title: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum


text:
George Brown College

The George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, George Brown College was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and opened the next year.

Programs
George Brown offers more than 170 full-time programs in art and design, business, community services, early childhood education, construction and engineering technologies, health sciences, hospitality and culinary arts, preparatory studies, as well as specialized programs and services for recent immigrants and international students.

The college offers diploma programs, advanced diploma programs, as well as degree programs, two in conjunction with Toronto Metropolitan University. The college offers the following degrees:

Arts, Design & Information Technology

 * Honours Bachelor of Brand Design
 * Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience

Business

 * Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Services)
 * Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Business Analytics)

Community Services & Early Childhood

 * Honours Bachelor of Interpretation (American Sign Language)
 * Early Childhood Education (consecutive diploma/degree)
 * Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership

Construction & Engineering Technologies
 * Honours Bachelor of Technology (Construction Management)

Health Sciences

 * Honours Bachelor of Behaviour Analysis
 * Bachelor of Science in Nursing
 * Honours Bachelor of Science (Dental Hygiene)

Hospitality & Culinary Arts

 * Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Culinary Management)
 * Honours Bachelor of Food Studies
 * Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Hospitality)

Graduate and certificate programs, pre-college and apprentice programs round out the college's full-time offerings. As of 2022, there are 180 continuing education certificates/designations available.

In 2021, there were 27,128 full-time students — 29 percent international students — as well as 3,123 part-time students and 58,119 continuing education registrants.

George Brown has 15,000 distance education students studying in over 35 countries. One of the most popular distance education programs offered by the college is its award-winning Electronics Technician distance education program, developed by Dr. Colin Simpson.

George Brown was named one of the Greater Toronto's Top Employers for 2022.

In 2022, George Brown College was ranked among the top 10 research colleges in the country, ranking 8th for overall research income, and ranking 4th for both the number of paid students and for the number of completed projects. Research Infosource, which publishes annual rankings reports on research and development at institutions across Canada, released the results for the top 50 colleges in January 2022.

History
The college was established during the formation of Ontario's community college system in 1967. Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology were established on May 21, 1965. The college is named after George Brown, who was an important 19th-century politician and newspaper publisher (he founded the Toronto Globe, forerunner to The Globe and Mail) and was one of the Fathers of Confederation.

The college's predecessor, the Provincial Institute of Trades (PIT), was founded in 1951 to offer apprentice training on behalf of the provincial Department of Labour. In 1952, the PIT began operation at 21 Nassau Street in Toronto's Kensington Market and, after expanding with the construction of two additional buildings on the site, was offering programs in lathing and structural steel, barbering, diesel mechanics, jewellery arts, watchmaking and welding by 1961. In 1962 the province opened the Provincial Institute of Trades and Occupations (PITO), a sister training institute, at 555 Davenport Road near Casa Loma.

When George Brown College was formed in 1967, it absorbed both the PIT and PITO and opened its Kensington and Casa Loma campuses at the two institutes' former facilities. George Brown College also went on to absorb, in 1969, four former Toronto Board of Education Adult Education Centres in a third campus at 507 College Street and, in 1973, five Toronto-area Schools of Nursing in 1973, including: St. Joseph's, St. Michael's, Toronto General, Atkinson (Toronto Western) and Nightingale.

In 1973, a new expanded Casa Loma campus was opened. In 1976, the St. James Campus opened at 200 King Street East in buildings formerly belonging to Christie Bakery and Hallmark Cards.

The Hospitality building (300 Adelaide E.) opened at St. James Campus in 1987, the same year that the College Street Campus closed. Kensington Campus closed in 1994.

Presidents

 * Gervan Fearon 2021–present
 * Anne Sado 2004 - 2021
 * Frank Sorochinsky 1994 - 2004
 * John Rankin 1991 - 1995
 * D.E. Light 1978 – 1991
 * C.C. Lloyd 1968 - 1978

Casa Loma campus
43.6758°N, -79.4107°W

Casa Loma campus is situated on the stretch of Kendal Ave. between Davenport Rd. and MacPherson Ave. Nearby features include Casa Loma, and the City of Toronto Archives. The campus itself is a collection of five buildings.

In 2004, the old and mostly unused A building was torn down due to health concerns and to create a green space on campus. Students attending classes in building A were experiencing illness, thought to be due to sick building syndrome. There is a moose sculpture stood in the green space until 2012 or 2013.

St. James campus
43.6513°N, -79.3702°W

St. James campus consists of five buildings. The first is a large brick building at 200 King St. E. The second and third are located at 290 and 300 Adelaide St. East and are connected. They are home to Financial services, Creative Arts, Business Administration and the faculty of Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. This campus is where the chef school is located.

Waterfront campus
43.6446°N, -79.3643°W

In September 2012, George Brown opened the Waterfront Campus located at 51 Dockside Dr., south of Queen's Quay between Jarvis and Parliament Streets (between Corus Quay and Redpath Sugar Refinery). This campus is home to the Centre for Health Sciences. In 2019, the college expanded its Waterfront Campus to the Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts complex at 3 Lower Jarvis St. - home to the School of Design. And the latest Waterfront Campus expansion, Limberlost Place, is set to open at 185 Queens Quay E. in 2025. The 10-storey tall-wood, mass-timber building will be the first institutional building of its kind in Ontario and will house the School of Architectural Studies and the School of Computer Technology. It will also house a research institute and a child care centre.

Toronto Metropolitan University campus
This associate campus is in the Sally Horsfall Eaton building (SHE building) at Toronto Metropolitan University. The address is 99 Gerrard St. E.

George Brown also has classes from the Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Assistant and Activation Coordinator Gerontology programs at the Sally Horsfall Eaton (SHE) Building at TMU (located at the corner of Gould St and Mutual St.).

Young Centre for the Performing Arts
The Theatre School at George Brown College presents a season of productions at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District in downtown Toronto. It is a brand-new theatre built into 1800s-era Victorian industrial buildings, with the incorporation of additional teaching facilities. The theatre arts program enjoys a partnership with the Tarragon Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre Company.

Student Residence, The George
George Brown’s student residence, The George, opened in 2016. Located at 80 Cooperage St. E., near Cherry and Front streets, close to Toronto’s Distillery District, the building was part of the 2015 Pan Am/Para Pan Am Games Athletes Village before George Brown took ownership.

The building also houses the Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Conference Centre. The facility is named after a wife and husband who escaped slavery and established Toronto’s first cab company, helped found the Little Trinity Anglican Church and worked on anti-slavery initiatives. Their story is told in a student-created mural at the conference centre.

Sports
The school's team name is the Huskies, and varsity sports include:
 * Badminton
 * Baseball
 * Basketball
 * Cross Country
 * Esports
 * Indoor Soccer
 * Soccer
 * Volleyball

The volleyball team has been coached by, among others, Olympian Sam Schachter.

Media
The Dialog is the student newspaper on campus and is a service provided by the Student Association of George Brown College, The Dialog is a member of CUP.

Libraries
George Brown College students have access to several libraries:
 * 341 King St. Library Learning Commons
 * Casa Loma Library Learning Commons
 * Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts e-Library
 * Toronto Metropolitan University – Sally Horsfall Eaton Academic Resource Centre
 * St. James Library Learning Commons
 * Waterfront Library Learning Commons
 * Sunnybrook Health Science Centre Library – Orthotics & Prosthetics Collection

Each of the college libraries primarily house materials suitable for the programs taught at their respective campuses.

Students, faculty and staff have access to an extensive range of electronic resources including, ebooks, articles, and image databases. These are available for use in the library and remotely.

Notable alumni

 * Hannah Emily Anderson, actress
 * Katherine Barrell, actress, writer, producer, director
 * Samantha Bee, comedian, writer, actress, television host
 * Shaun Benson, actor
 * Ryder Britton, actor
 * Robin Brûlé, actress
 * Valerie Buhagiar, actress, film director
 * Patrick Kwok-Choon, actor
 * Darwyn Cooke, comics artist, writer, cartoonist, animator
 * Lynn Crawford, television chef
 * Christine Cushing, television personality
 * Mary Jo Eustace, actress, singer, chef
 * Natasha Falle, activist, professor, abolitionist
 * John Henry, politician
 * Simin Keramati, multidisciplinary artist
 * Daniel MacIvor, actor, playwright, theatre director, film director
 * Dan MacKenzie, sports and marketing executive
 * Michael Mahonen, actor, director, screenwriter
 * Mark McEwan, celebrity chef
 * Keith Mondesir, Saint Lucian politician
 * Roger Mooking, chef, musician, TV host
 * Jayde Nicole, model
 * Aaron Poole, actor
 * Rob Rainford, television chef, broadcaster
 * Ted Reader, chef, author
 * Lou Rinaldi, politician, entrepreneur
 * Gigi Gorgeous, YouTube personality
 * Michael Smith, Chef
 * Aliyah, WWE Superstar

title: George Brown College


text:
Marek Borowski

Marek Stefan Borowski (born 4 January 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm (the lower, more powerful, house of Poland's parliament) from 2001 to 2004.

Biography
He was born to a Polish-Jewish family, as a son of Janina and Wiktor Borowski(born as Aron Berman).

He was Minister of Finance of Poland from 1993 to 1994. From 2004 to January 2009 he was the leader and chairman, of a new Polish left-wing party called Social Democracy of Poland (SdPl), formed from a break-away group of SLD. He was a candidate in the presidential elections in 2005, but he got fourth place, with 10%.

Marek Borowski is an MP from Piła, but in the September 2005 parliamentary elections he contested a seat in Warsaw. Borowski was the Social Democratic presidential candidate in the 2005 Polish presidential elections. Just as his party received a massive defeat in the September 2005 Parliamentary elections, Borowski lost the presidential elections, receiving 10% of the vote and fourth place, despite Aleksander Kwaśniewski's support following the withdrawal of Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

He most recently ran (unsuccessfully) for the office of mayor of Warsaw in the 2010 local elections.

title: Marek Borowski


text:
Hedgehog (weapon)

The Hedgehog (also known as an Anti-Submarine Projector) was a forward-throwing anti-submarine weapon that was used primarily during the Second World War. The device, which was developed by the Royal Navy, fired up to 24 spigot mortars ahead of a ship when attacking a U-boat. It was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers and corvettes to supplement the depth charges.

As the mortar projectiles employed contact fuzes rather than time or bathymetric (depth) fuzes, detonation occurred directly against a hard surface such as the hull of a submarine making it more deadly than depth charges, which relied on damage caused by hydrostatic shockwaves. During World War II out of 5,174 British depth charge attacks there were 85.5 kills, a ratio of 60.5 to 1. In comparison, the Hedgehog made 268 attacks for 47 kills, a ratio of 5.7 to 1.

Development
The "Hedgehog", so named because the empty rows of its launcher spigots resembled the spines on the back of a hedgehog, was a replacement for the unsuccessful Fairlie Mortar that was secretly tested aboard HMS Whitehall (D94) in 1941. The Fairlie was designed to fire depth charges ahead of a ship when attacking a submarine. The principle of firing projectiles forwards, instead of dropping depth charges over the stern, was considered viable, despite the failure of the Fairlie. This research by the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) led to the development of the Hedgehog.

The weapon was a multiple 'spigot mortar' or spigot discharger, a type of weapon developed between the wars by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, RA. The spigot mortar was based on early infantry trench mortars. The spigot design allowed a single device to fire warheads of different sizes. The propelling charge was part of the main weapon and worked against a rod (the spigot) set in the baseplate which fitted inside a tubular tail of the 'bomb'. This principle was first used on the Blacker Bombard 29 mm Spigot Mortar and the later PIAT anti-tank weapon.

The adaptation of the bombard for naval use was made in partnership with MIR(c) under Major Millis Jefferis, who had taken Blacker's design and brought it into use with the Army. The weapon fires a salvo of 24 bombs in an arc, aimed to land in a circular or elliptical area about 100 ft in diameter at a fixed point about 250 yd directly ahead of the attacking ship. The mounting initially was fixed, but was later replaced by a gyro-stabilised one to allow for the rolling and pitching of the attacking ship.

The system was developed to solve the problem of the target submarine disappearing from the attacking ship's ASDIC when closer than the sonar's minimum range. The speed of sound in water was such that the time taken for the 'ping' echo to return to the attacking ship from a close by target submarine became too short to allow the human operator to distinguish the returning audible echo from the initial sound pulse emitted by the sonar – the so-called "instantaneous echo", where the output sound pulse and returning echo merge, with the submarine still out of depth charge range. A submarine in this "blind spot" became effectively invisible to the sonar, allowing it to make evasive manoeuvres undetected. The solution was a weapon mounted on the foredeck that discharged the projectiles up and over the ship's bow while the submarine was still detectable by the sonar, entering the water some distance in front of the ship.

History
The Hedgehog entered service in 1942. Carrying a 16 kg Torpex charge, each mortar projectile had a diameter of 18 cm and weighed about 29.5 kg. The spigots were angled so the projectiles would land in a circular pattern with a diameter of 40 m, about 180 m ahead of the ship's position. The projectiles would then sink at about 7 m/s. They would reach a submerged U-boat, for example at 200 ft in under 9 seconds. Sympathetic detonation of projectiles near those contacting hard surfaces was a possibility, but the number of explosions counted was usually fewer than the number of projectiles launched.

The prototype launcher was tested aboard HMS Westcott (D47) in 1941, but there were no submarine kills until November 1942, after it had been installed aboard one hundred ships. Initial success rates, of about 5%, were only slightly better than depth charges. Swells and spray frequently covered the launcher during heavy North Atlantic weather, and subsequent attempts to launch from the soaked launcher were often hindered by firing circuit problems, launching an incomplete pattern. A depth charge total miss would still produce an explosion, leading crews to think that they might have damaged their target or at least demoralised its personnel; a Hedgehog miss was discouragingly quiet. The Royal Navy launched Hedgehog so seldom in early 1943 that a directive was issued ordering captains of ships equipped with Hedgehog to report why they had not used Hedgehog on an underwater contact. The results were blamed on crew inexperience and low confidence in the weapon. However, after an officer from the DMWD was sent to the base at Londonderry, where the escort vessels were based, with better training and shipwide talks on examples of successful Hedgehog attacks, the kill rate improved considerably. By the end of the war, statistics showed that on average, one in every five attacks made by Hedgehog resulted in a kill (compared with fewer than one in eighty with depth charges).

In response to this new deadly threat to its U-boats, the Kriegsmarine brought forward its programme of acoustic torpedoes in 1943, beginning with the Falke. These new "homing" acoustic torpedoes could be employed effectively without the use of a periscope, providing submarines a better chance to remain undetected and evade counterattack.

In the Pacific Theatre, USS England (DE-635) sank six Japanese submarines in a two-week period with the Hedgehog in May 1944.

In 1946, the destroyer escort USS Solar (DE-221) was destroyed while unloading ammunition when a crewman accidentally dropped a Hedgehog charge near one of her main turret ammunition rooms, triggering three devastating explosions that wrecked the superstructure.

Operational usage
The launcher had four "cradles", each with six launcher spigots. The firing sequence was staggered so all the bombs would land at about the same time. This had the added advantage of minimising the stress on the weapon's mounting so that deck reinforcement was not needed, allowing the weapon to be easily retrofitted at any convenient place on a ship. Reloading took about three minutes.

The Hedgehog had four key advantages over the depth charge:

 * 1) An unsuccessful attack does not hide the submarine from sonar.
 * When a depth charge explodes, it can take 15 minutes before the disturbance can settle down enough that sonar becomes effective. Many submarines escaped during the time after an unsuccessful depth charge attack. Since Hedgehog charges explode only on contact, sonar tracking of the submarine is less likely to be disrupted by an unsuccessful Hedgehog attack.
 * 1) Proximity weapons (such as depth charges) need to be set for the target's correct depth to be effective. Contact-fuzed charges do not have that limitation, and an explosion at the time predicted for the contact-fuzed projectile to reach the target depth may indicate a "hit".
 * However, although knowledge of target depth was less important, the Hedgehog was less successful against deep targets. Doctrine based on combat experience discouraged use on targets deeper than 400 ft.
 * 1) There is no "blind period" allowing the submarine to escape undetected.
 * Until depth-finding sonar became available (the first was the Royal Navy's Q attachment in 1943), there was a "dead period" during the final moments before a depth-charge attack began when contact with the target would be lost. U-boat commanders became adept at sharp course changes and direction speed at these moments to break contact and escape. Hedgehog remained usable while the submarine was detectable by sonar giving it no time to take evasive actions.
 * 1) A direct hit by a single Hedgehog bomb was usually sufficient to sink a U Boat.
 * Many depth charges were required to inflict enough cumulative damage to sink a U Boat; even then, many survived hundreds of detonations over a period of many hours. For example, GS U-427 survived 678 depth charges dropped against it in April 1945. The effectiveness of the depth charge was reduced because they detonated at a set depth at a distance away from the submarine, the explosive shock was rapidly dissipated by a cushion of water between it and the target. In contrast the Hedgehog charge exploded in direct contact with the hull. However, misses with the Hedgehog were silent and did not cause any damage unlike the cumulative damage caused by depth charging; nor did it have the same psychological effect as a depth charge attack.

Derivatives and successors
In late 1943 the Royal Navy introduced Squid. This was a three-tubed mortar that launched depth charges. Initially it was used as a single weapon, but when this failed to be successful, it was upgraded to the "double squid" that consisted of two launchers placed in parallel. In 1955 this system was upgraded to the three-barrelled Limbo that launched 400 lb Minol charges.

The United States produced a rocket version of Hedgehog called Mousetrap, then Weapon Alpha as a replacement for both. Still, Hedgehog remained in service with the United States Navy into the Cold War until both Hedgehog and the less satisfactory Weapon Alpha were replaced by ASROC.

Three "Hedgerow" flotillas of specialized Landing Craft Assault boats carrying the Hedgehog instead of troops were used during the Normandy landings. An addition of impact fuse extensions in the projectile noses enabled detonating the warheads above ground. The bombs were used to clear 100-yard-wide paths through mines and barbed wire obstacles on the beach.

The Australian Army adapted the marine Hedgehog into a land-based seven-shot launcher that could be mounted on the back of Matilda tanks.

In 1949, a copy of Hedgehog was created in the USSR called the MBU-200, which was then developed in 1956 into the MBU-600 with an increased range of 644 m.

Weapons derived from the Hedgehog have been largely phased out from Western navies in favor of homing torpedoes, and in Russia and allied states like India by anti-submarine rocket launchers like the RBU-6000.

General characteristics

 * Ammunition
 * Weight: 65 lb
 * Shell diameter : 7.2 in
 * Shell length: 3 ft
 * Explosive charge: 30 lb TNT or 35 lb Torpex
 * Range: about 250 yd
 * Sinking speed: 22 to 23.5 ft/s
 * Fuze: Contact, high explosive

 * Launcher
 * Firing order: Ripple in pairs, one every tenth of a second
 * Reload time: ~3 minutes

Variants

 * Mark 10: elliptical pattern measuring about 140 × to a range of 200 yd.
 * Mark 11: circular pattern measuring 200 ft in diameter out to a range of about 188 yd.
 * Mark 15: pattern as for the Mark 11 but mounted on a platform adapted from that of a quadruple 40 mm Bofors gun mount. The Mark 15 could be fired remotely from the ship's plotting room.

title: Hedgehog (weapon)


text:
Malcolm Wilson

Malcolm Wilson may refer to:

 * Malcolm Wilson (governor) (1914–2000), governor of New York, 1973–1974
 * Malcolm Wilson (rally driver) (born 1956), British rally driver and motorsports personality
 * Malcolm Wilson Bridge, a bridge in New York State, also known as the Tappan Zee Bridge
 * Malcolm Wilson (botanist) (1882–1960), Scottish botanist

title: Malcolm Wilson


text: Template:Lower respiratory system anatomy