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Putumayo World Music

Putumayo World Music is a New Orleans-based record label that specializes in compilations of world music, jazz and blues.

History
Dan Storper founded Putumayo in 1975 as a retail store in New York City featuring handicrafts from around the world. Storper took the name of his company, Putumayo, from Colombia's Putumayo River Valley where he travelled in 1974. Putumayo is said to mean a heron and "the place where the river begins" in the local indigenous language. He eventually opened 7 world handicraft and clothing boutiques across the northeastern United States. In 1991, on his way home from Bali, Storper stopped in San Francisco, California. In Golden Gate Park, he heard the Nigerian band Kotoja. He was impressed by the music and started compiling international music to play in his stores. The response from the public was so positive that, in 1993, he launched Putumayo World Music and began offering compilations for sale.

Artwork
Every release features the art of Nicola Heindl. Her art is both folky and modern, and, according to the Putumayo website, "represents one of Putumayo's goals: to connect the traditional to the contemporary."

Putumayo Presents
Typically a Putumayo World Music compilation is presented as a theme under the title “Putumayo Presents:” The themes can be regional (South Africa, Caribbean, Asia), music styles (reggae, folk, Latin, jazz) and other themes (lounge, groove, party). All albums in the series were released on both CD and cassette from 1993 to early 2000, with Republica Dominicana being the last album released on cassette.

The Putumayo Kids division was created in 2002. Since the release of the World Playground CD in 1999, Putumayo Kids music collections have received over 20 Parents' Choice Awards among other accolades.

Putumayo launched the Putumayo World Music Hour in 2000, a commercially syndicated world music radio show. Rosalie Howarth of KFOG hosts the Music Hour. The weekly show is heard internationally on over 100 commercial and non-commercial stations.

In 2011, Putumayo developed a series of cultural coloring books. Beginning in 2017, Putumayo began distributing multicultural books and activity sets in partnership with publisher Barefoot Books. That same year, Putumayo started a series of world greeting card collections that have featured international folk art and photography by illustrator Nicola Heindl, photographer Emerson Matabele, Brazilian block print artist José Francisco Borges, Louisiana Folk Artist William Hemmerling, London artist Christopher Corr and Louisiana painter George Rodrigue.

Putumayo's products are sold at a network of thousands of book, gift, clothing, coffee and other specialty retailers around the world.

Many of Putumayo music collections are now available for digital download and streaming. In 2020, the company launched an ongoing series of themed streaming playlists.

Discography

 * 1993
 * 101/103 The Best of World Music: Volume 1 - World Vocal (April 1993)
 * 102/104 The Best of World Music: Volume 2 - World Instrumental (April 1993)
 * 105/107 The Best of Folk Music: Contemporary Folk (August 1993)
 * 106/108 The Best of World Music: African (August 1993)
 * 1994
 * 109/110 Kotoja: The Super Sawalé Collection (July 1994)
 * 111/113 The Best of World Music: Reggae (July 1994)
 * 112/114 The Best of World Music: World Dance Party (July 1994)
 * 115-2 Shelter: The Best of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters (November 1994)
 * 116-2 A Putumayo Christmas (November 1994)
 * 117-2 The Dougie MacLean Collection (November 1994)
 * 1995
 * 118-2 The Laura Love Collection (March 1995)
 * 119-2 Women of the World: International (October 1995)
 * 120-2 Women of the World: Celtic (October 1995)
 * 1996
 * 121-2 The Touré Kunda Collection (19 March 1996)
 * 122-2 The Dalom Kids and Splash Collection (19 March 1996)
 * 123-2 A World Instrumental Collection (19 March 1996)
 * 124-2 A Touré Kunda, Dalom Kids / Splash and World Instrumental Sampler
 * 125-2 A Celtic Collection (2 July 1996)
 * 126-2 One World (2 July 1996)
 * 127-2 A Johnny Clegg and Juluka Collection (2 July 1996)
 * 128-2 Women's Work (May 1996)
 * 1997
 * 129-2 Islands (4 February 1997)
 * 130-2 Travel the World with Putumayo World Music (8 April 1997)
 * 131-2 ¡Latino! ¡Latino! (22 July 1997)
 * 132-2 Caribbean Party (22 July 1997)
 * 133-2 Women of the World: Celtic
 * 134-2 Women of the World: Celtic II (9 September 1997)
 * 135-2 Music From the Coffee Lands (7 October 1997)
 * 1998
 * 136-2 Romantica (13 January 1998)
 * 137-2 Women of Spirit (10 March 1998)
 * 138-2 Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca: Mambo Yo Yo (19 May 1998)
 * 139-2 Afro ~ Latino (19 May 1998)
 * 140-2 Sam Mangwana: Galo Negro (19 May 1998)
 * 141-2 Celtic Tides (29 September 1998)
 * 142-2 Reggae Around the World (30 June 1998)
 * 143-2 Cairo to Casablanca (25 August 1998)
 * 144-2 A Native American Odyssey: Inuit to Inca (10 November 1998)
 * 1999
 * 145-2 Mali to Memphis (26 January 1999)
 * 146-2 Habib Koité & Bamada: Ma Ya (26 January 1999)
 * 147-2 Dublin to Dakar: A Celtic Odyssey (23 February 1999)
 * 148-2 A Mediterranean Odyssey (6 April 1999)
 * 149-2 Cuba (25 May 1999)
 * 150-2 Brasileiro (25 May 1999)
 * 151-2 Africa (13 July 1999)
 * 152-2 Oliver Mtukudzi: Tuku Music (13 July 1999)
 * 153-2 Caribe! Caribe! (22 June 1999)
 * 154-2 World Playground (24 August 1999)
 * 155-2 The Equation: Hazy Daze (28 September 1999)
 * 156-2 Cape Verde (12 October 1999)
 * 157-2 New World Party (9 November 1999)
 * 158-2 Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca: Sao Salvador (22 February 2000)
 * 159-2 Italian Musical Odyssey (24 October 2000)
 * 2000
 * 160-2 Zydeco (25 January 2000)
 * 161-2 Louisiana Gumbo (25 January 2000)
 * 162-2 Republica Dominicana (22 February 2000)
 * 163-2 South African Legends (25 April 2000)
 * 164-2 Miriam Makeba: Homeland (9 May 2000)
 * 166-2 ¡Mo' Vida! (23 May 2000)
 * 167-2 Puerto Rico (23 May 2000)
 * 168-2 Oliver Mtukudzi: Paivepo (13 June 2000)
 * 169-2 Festa Brasil (27 June 2000)
 * 170-2 Chico César (27 June 2000)
 * 171-2 Rita Ribeiro: Perolas Aos Povos (27 June 2000)
 * 172-2 Latinas: Women of Latin America (25 July 2000)
 * 174-2 Mariana Montalvo: Cantos del Alma (25 July 2000)
 * 176-2 Equation: The Lucky Few (11 July 2000)
 * 180-2 Music from the Tea Lands (22 August 2000)
 * 181-2 A Putumayo World Christmas (26 September 2000)
 * 182-2 A Jewish Odyssey (26 September 2000)
 * 2001
 * 183-2 Carnival (9 January 2001)
 * 184-2 Cajun (9 January 2001)
 * 185-2 Gypsy Caravan (13 February 2001)
 * 186-2 Gardens of Eden (13 March 2001)
 * 187-2 Mexico (10 April 2001)
 * 188-2 Jamaica (8 May 2001)
 * 189-2 Arabic Groove (12 June 2001)
 * 190-2 Colombia (10 July 2001)
 * 191-2 African Odyssey (11 September 2001)
 * 192-2 Habib Koité & Bamada: Baro (24 July 2001)
 * 193-2 World Playground II (11 July 2001)
 * 194-2 Music from the Coffee Lands II (9 October 2001)
 * 2002
 * 195-2 Samba Bossa Nova (8 January 2002)
 * 196-2 Mississippi Blues (12 February 2002)
 * 197-2 Latin Groove (12 March 2002)
 * 198-2 World Lounge (9 April 2002)
 * 199-2 Oliver Mtukudzi: Vhunze Moto (24 April 2002)
 * 200-2 Congo to Cuba (21 May 2002)
 * 201-2 Latin Playground (11 June 2002)
 * 202-2 Asian Groove (27 August 2002)
 * 203-2 Rumba Flamenco (24 September 2002)
 * 204-2 Afro-Portuguese Odyssey (22 October 2002)
 * 205-2 Calypso (19 November 2002)
 * 2003
 * 206-2 Global Soul (14 January 2003)
 * 207-2 African Playground (19 February 2003)
 * 208-2 Cover the World (19 February 2003)
 * 209-2 Euro Lounge (11 March 2003)
 * 210-2 African Groove (22 April 2003)
 * 211-2 French Caribbean (20 May 2003)
 * 212-2 Dreamland (20 May 2003) — reissued in 2022 with 7 songs removed + 3 songs brought in.
 * 213-2 Salsa Around the World (24 June 2003)
 * 214-2 The Oliver Mtukudzi Collection: The Tuku Years (8 July 2003)
 * 215-2 American Blues (26 August 2003)
 * 216-2 Brazilian Groove (9 September 2003)
 * 217-2 The Putumayo World Music 10th Anniversary Collection (21 October 2003)
 * 218-2 Christmas Around the World (7 October 2003)
 * 219-2 French Café (11 November 2003)
 * 2004
 * 220-2 Sahara Lounge (20 January 2004)
 * 221-2 World Reggae (24 February 2004)
 * 222-2 Sing Along with Putumayo (23 March 2004)
 * 223-2 Women of Africa (27 April 2004)
 * 224-2 Nuevo Latino (25 May 2004)
 * 225-2 Greece: A Musical Odyssey (29 June 2004)
 * 226-2 Caribbean Playground (27 July 2004)
 * 227-2 World Groove (24 August 2004)
 * 228-2 Women of Latin America (21 September 2004)
 * 229-2 Blues Lounge (5 October 2004)
 * 230-2 Music from the Chocolate Lands (9 November 2004)
 * 231-2 South Pacific Islands (23 November 2004)
 * 2005
 * 232-2 New Orleans (25 January 2005)
 * 233-2 Kermit Ruffins (1 February 2005)
 * 234-2 Acoustic Brazil (25 February 2005)
 * 235-2 Afro-Latin Party (22 March 2005)
 * 236-2 Mali (3 May 2005)
 * 237-2 North African Groove (7 June 2005)
 * 238-2 Italian Café (21 June 2005)
 * 239-2 Swing Around the World (5 July 2005)
 * 240-2 American Folk (9 August 2005)
 * 241-2 Latin Lounge (6 September 2005)
 * 242-2 French Playground (4 October 2005)
 * 243-2 Celtic Crossroads (4 October 2005)
 * 244-2 Asian Lounge (8 November 2005)
 * 804-2 One World, One Kid (2005)
 * 2006
 * 245-2 The Caribbean (10 January 2006)
 * 246-2 Reggae Playground (24 January 2006)
 * 247-2 Brazilian Lounge (21 February 2006)
 * 248-2 Turkish Groove (21 March 2006)
 * 249-2 Paris (18 April 2006)
 * 250-2 Folk Playground (23 May 2006)
 * 251-2 ¡Baila!: A Latin Dance Party (23 May 2006)
 * 252-2 Music from the Wine Lands (27 June 2006)
 * 253-2 Blues Around the World (25 July 2006)
 * 254-2 Acoustic Africa (5 August 2006)
 * 255-2 Radio Latino (3 October 2006)
 * 256-2 New Orleans Christmas (3 October 2006)
 * 257-2 New Orleans Playground (17 October 2006)
 * 258-2 One World, Many Cultures (7 November 2006)
 * 259-2 Asian Dreamland (5 December 2006)
 * 2007
 * 260-2 A New Groove (30 January 2007)
 * 261-2 Women of the World: Acoustic (27 February 2007)
 * 262-2 Gypsy Groove (27 March 2007)
 * 263-2 Putumayo World Party (24 April 2007)
 * 264-2 Animal Playground (22 May 2007)
 * 265-2 Latin Jazz (26 June 2007)
 * 266-2 Americana (31 July 2007)
 * 267-2 World Hits (28 August 2007)
 * 268-2 Israel (25 September 2007)
 * 269-2 Brazilian Playground (25 September 2007)
 * 270-2 New Orleans Brass (23 October 2007)
 * 271-2 Tango Around the World (23 October 2007)
 * 272-2 Celtic Dreamland (6 November 2007)
 * 2008
 * 273-2 Latin Reggae (22 January 2008)
 * 274-2 Hawaiian Playground (22 January 2008)
 * 275-2 Euro Groove (11 March 2008)
 * 276-2 African Party (29 April 2008)
 * 277-2 African Dreamland (29 April 2008)
 * 278-2 Café Cubano (27 May 2008)
 * 279-2 Québec (10 June 2008)
 * 280-2 Reggae Around the World (Re-release of 142-2 with different track order and 1 track less) (22 July 2008)
 * 281-2 Acoustic France (19 August 2008)
 * 282-2 Acoustic Arabia (2 September 2008)
 * 283-2 Sesame Street Playground (30 September 2008)
 * 285-2 A Jazz & Blues Christmas (28 October 2008)
 * 286-2 Women of Jazz (28 October 2008)
 * 2009
 * 287 African Reggae (27 January 2009)
 * 288 India (24 February 2009)
 * 289 ¡Salsa! (24 March 2009)
 * 290 Italia (19 May 2009)
 * 291 European Playground (19 May 2009)
 * 292 Brazilian Café (28 July 2009)
 * 293 Picnic Playground (28 July 2009)
 * 294 España (29 September 2009)
 * 295 A Family Christmas (27 October 2009)
 * 296 Jazz Around The World (27 October 2009)
 * 2010
 * 297 Rhythm & Blues (9 February 2010)
 * 299 Jazz Playground (9 March 2010)
 * 300 Latin Party (6 April 2010)
 * 301 South Africa (18 May 2010)
 * 302 Rock & Roll Playground (29 June 2010)
 * 303 Tribute to a Reggae Legend (13 July 2010)
 * 304 Yoga (14 September 2010)
 * 305 World Christmas Party (5 November 2010)
 * 2011
 * 306 Bossa Nova around the world (11 February 2011)
 * 307 Acoustic Dreamland (22 February 2011)
 * 308 Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha Chá (5 April 2011)
 * 309 Jazz (3 May 2011)
 * 310 Kids World Party (28 June 2011)
 * 311 African Beat (30 August 2011)
 * 312 Latin Beat (30 August 2011)
 * 313 Acoustic Café (12 October 2011)
 * 314 Celtic Christmas (25 October 2011)
 * 2012
 * 315 Brazilian Beat (31 January 2012)
 * 316 Instrumental Dreamland (28 February 2012)
 * 317 African Blues (24 April 2012)
 * 318 Cowboy Playground (22 May 2012)
 * 319 Bluegrass (22 May 2012)
 * 320 Arabic Beat (31 July 2012)
 * 321 Latin Beat (Re-Release with 3 new tracks) (11 September 2012)
 * 322 European Playground (Re-Release with 3 new tracks) (11 September 2012)
 * 323 World Yoga (30 October 2012)
 * 324 World Sing-Along (30 October 2012)
 * 2013
 * 326 Vintage France (25 February 2013)
 * 327 African Beat (Updated) (8 March 2013)
 * 328 Rhythm & Blues (Updated) (8 March 2013)
 * 329 Latin Dreamland
 * 330 Women of Brazil (21 May 2013)
 * 331 Brazilian Lounge (Re-Release) (21 May 2013)
 * 332 Brazilian Beat (Re-Release) (September 2013)
 * 333 Acoustic America (18 June 2013)
 * 334 American Playground (18 June 2013)
 * 335 Reggae Playground (Re-Release with 3 new tracks) (26 July 2013)
 * 336 World Reggae (Re-Release with 6 new tracks) (26 July 2013)
 * 337 Café Latino (24 September 2013)
 * 338 Latin Lounge (Re-Release with 3 new tracks) (24 September 2013)
 * 339 Jewish Celebration (8 November 2013)
 * 340 Acoustic Christmas (10 November 2013)
 * 2014
 * 341 Native America (18 February 2014)
 * 342 Music of the Andes (29 April 2014)
 * 343 Australia (27 May 2014)
 * 344 Australian Playground (27 May 2014)
 * 345 Americana (Re-Release with 6 new tracks) (22 July 2014)
 * 346 Cajun (Re-Release with 5 new tracks) (22 July 2014)
 * 347 Yoga Lounge (30 October 2014)
 * 348 Cafe Del Mundo (30 September 2014)
 * 349 French Christmas (28 October 2014)
 * 2015
 * 350 Celtic Café (6 February 2015)
 * 351 Asian Playground (31 March 2015)
 * 352 Animal Playground (Re-Release with 4 new tracks) (31 March 2015)
 * 353 Afro-Caribbean Party (29 May 2015)
 * 354 Vintage Latino (31 August 2015)
 * 355 French Dreamland (30 October 2015)
 * 357 French Café (Re-Release with 7 new tracks) (20 November 2015)
 * 2016
 * 356 Jazz Café (2 March 2016)
 * 358 French Playground (Re-Release with 4 new tracks) (18 March 2016)
 * 359 Mexico (Re-Release with 4 new tracks) (29 April 2016)
 * 360 Blues Party (4 July 2016)
 * 361 Acoustic Yoga (12 October 2016)
 * 362 African Rumba (11 November 2016)
 * 363 Latin Christmas (31 October 2016)
 * 2017
 * 364 Vintage Italia (24 March 2017)
 * 365 Italian Playground (24 March 2017)
 * 366 Cuba! Cuba! (19 May 2017)
 * 367 Cuban Playground (19 May 2017)
 * 368 Indian Groove (1 September 2017)
 * 2018
 * 369 African Café (23 February 2018)
 * 370 Kid's African Party (23 February 2018)
 * 371 New Orleans Party (20 April 2018)
 * 372 Ska Around the World (31 August 2018)
 * 374 Joy to the World (16 November 2018)
 * 2019
 * 375 Broadway Jazz (25 January 2019)
 * 376 Acoustic Women (5 April 2019)
 * 377 World Peace (14 June 2019)
 * 378 Paris Café (18 October 2019)
 * 379 Blues Christmas (29 November 2019)
 * 2020
 * 380 Celtic Women (14 January 2020)
 * 381 Brazil: Samba, Bossa & Beyond! (28 May 2020)
 * 382 New Orleans Mambo (23 October 2020)
 * 2021
 * 383 Yoga Dreamland (26 February 2021)
 * 384 World Cafe  (30 April 2021)
 * 385 Acoustic Paris (5 November 2021)
 * 386 Jazz Christmas (26 November 2021)
 * 2022
 * 387 World Chill  (25 February 2022) (only digital)
 * 388 Acoustic World (8 April 2022) (only digital) (first collection of discovery series)
 * 389 Blues Cafe   (29 April 2022)
 * 390 Global Groove (20 May 2022) (only digital) (second collection of discovery series)
 * 391 World Party (24 June 2022)  (only digital) (third collection of discovery series)
 * 392 Acoustic World 2 (8 July 2022) (only digital)
 * 393 Afro Cubano (29 July 2022)
 * 394 Reggae World (19 August 2022) (only digital)
 * 395 World Party 2 (16 September 2022) (only digital)
 * 396 Feels Like Home Linda Ronstadt's Musical Odyssey (30 September 2022)
 * 397 Global Lounge (14 October 2022) (only digital)
 * 398 World Relaxation (18 November 2022) (only digital)
 * 399 World Party 3 (2 December 2022) (only digital)
 * 400 Acoustic World 3 (16 December 2022) (only digital)
 * 2023
 * 401 Global Groove 2 (6 January 2023) (only digital)
 * 402 Reggae World 2 (3 March 2023) (only digital)
 * 403 Acoustic World 4 (10 March 2023) (only digital)
 * 404 African Yoga   (31 March 2023)
 * 405 World Party 4 (28 April 2023) (only digital)
 * 406 Acoustic World 5 (5 May 2023) (only digital)
 * 407 Global Lounge 2 (12 May 2023) (only digital)
 * 408 World Relaxation 2 (26 May 2023) (only digital)
 * 409 Acoustic World 6  (9 June 2023 (only digital)
 * 410 Acoustic Latino  (16 June 2023) (only digital) (first full length digital collection)
 * 411 Acoustic Folk (23 June 2023) (only digital)
 * 412 World Party 5 (30 June 2023) (only digital)
 * 413 Global Groove 3 (7 July 2023) (only digital)
 * 414 Reggae World 3 (22 July 2023) (only digital)
 * 415 Bossa Nova (28 July 2023)
 * 416 Acoustic World 7 (11 August 2023) (only digital)
 * 417 Acoustic World 8 (22 September 2023) (only digital)
 * 418 African Acoustic (29 September 2023 (only digital)
 * 419 Acoustic Folk 2 (6 October 2023) (only digital)
 * 420 Global Groove 4 (20 October 2023) (only digital)
 * 421 Global Reggae (27 October 2023) (only digital)
 * 422 Global Cafe (17 November 2023) (only digital)
 * 2024
 * 423 Tropical Party (12 January 2024) (only digital)
 * 424 Mediterranean Cafe (26 January 2024) (only digital)
 * 425 World Love Songs (9 February 2024) (only digital)
 * 426 Fiesta Latina (23 February 2024) (only digital)
 * 427 Women of the World (8 March 2024) (only digital)
 * 428 Caribbean Celebration (22 March 2024) (only digital)
 * 429 Global Beat (12 April 2024) (only digital
 * 430 Cafe du Monde (26 April 2024) (only digital)
 * 431 Global Relaxation (10 May 2024) (omly digital)
 * 432 African Celebration (24 May 2024) (only digital)

title: Putumayo World Music


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Last Action Hero

Last Action Hero is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott. It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a Los Angeles police detective within the Jack Slater action film franchise, while Austin O'Brien co-stars as Danny Madigan, a boy magically transported into the Slater universe, and Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, a ruthless assassin from the Slater universe who escapes to the real world. Schwarzenegger also served as the film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater. The film also marked Art Carney and Tina Turner's last feature film before their deaths in 2003 and 2023, respectively.

Last Action Hero failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office, and was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Since its release Last Action Hero gained a cult following, with some noting it as underrated in Schwarzenegger's catalogue.

Plot
Ten-year-old Danny Madigan lives in a crime-ridden area of New York City with his widowed mother, Irene. Following his father's death, Danny takes comfort in watching action movies, especially a series featuring Los Angeles cop Jack Slater at a condemned movie theatre owned by Nick. Nick gives Danny a golden ticket once owned by Harry Houdini and invites him to watch Jack Slater IV.

During the film, the ticket stub (counterfoil) transports Danny into the fictional world, interrupting Slater during a car chase. Slater takes Danny to the LAPD headquarters, where Danny points out evidence of the fictional nature of Slater's world, such as the presence of numerous attractive women and a cartoon cat detective named Whiskers. Danny says that Slater's friend John Practice should not be trusted as he "killed Mozart" (since he is played by the same actor as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus). Though Slater dismisses this as Danny's imagination, Slater's supervisor, Lieutenant Dekker, assigns Danny as his partner and instructs them to investigate criminal activities related to mafia boss Tony Vivaldi.

Danny guides Slater to Vivaldi's mansion, recognising its location from the start of the movie. There, they meet Vivaldi's henchman, Mr. Benedict. Vivaldi and Benedict killed Slater's second cousin, but Slater has no evidence and is forced to leave with Danny; however, Benedict is curious as to how Danny knew, and he and several hired guns follow Slater and Danny back to Slater's home. There, Slater, his daughter Whitney, and Danny thwart the attack, though Benedict gets the ticket stub and discovers that it can transport him into the real world.

Slater deduces Vivaldi's plan to murder the rival mob by releasing a lethal gas. He and Danny go to stop it but are waylaid by Practice, who reveals that Danny was right: he is working for Vivaldi. Whiskers kills Practice, saving Slater and Danny, who prevent any deaths from the gas release. After Vivaldi's plan fails, Benedict kills him and uses the stub to escape into the real world, pursued by Slater and Danny.

Slater becomes despondent upon learning the truth but cheers up after spending time with Irene. Meanwhile, Benedict devises a plan to kill the actor portraying Slater in the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, bring other movie villains into the real world, and take over. To help, Benedict brings the Ripper, the villain of Jack Slater III, to Jack Slater IV 's premiere to assassinate Schwarzenegger. Slater saves Schwarzenegger and kills the Ripper. Benedict shoots Slater, critically injuring him. Danny disarms Benedict, allowing Slater to shoot Benedict in his explosive glass eye, killing him; however, the blast causes the stub to be lost. With Slater losing blood, Danny knows the only way to save him is to return him to the fictional world, where his injury will become a flesh wound.

The ticket stub falls in front of a theatre playing The Seventh Seal, where The Figure of Death emerges from the screen. Death is curious: Jack Slater is missing from his lists of when people will die, and Danny is slated to die as a grandfather. Death then suggests searching for the other half of the ticket. Danny finds it and takes Slater back into his movie, where his wounds instantly heal. Danny returns to the real world before the portal closes. A recovered Slater then embraces the true nature of his reality, appreciating the differences between the two worlds. Danny and Nick bond while reminiscing their past, while Slater drives away on the screen, waving goodbye.

Cast

 * Arnold Schwarzenegger as Detective Jack Slater, a fictional LAPD officer who serves as the film's protagonist. Schwarzenegger also portrays Hamlet and a fictionalized version of himself.
 * Austin O'Brien as Danny Madigan, a ten-year-old boy who is a big fan of the Slater franchise and the film's overarching protagonist.
 * Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, Vivaldi's right-hand man, a supporting antagonist in Jack Slater IV who becomes the film's hidden main antagonist.
 * Robert Prosky as Nick the projectionist
 * Tom Noonan as the Ripper, the main antagonist of Jack Slater III. He also appears as himself at the Jack Slater IV premiere.
 * Frank McRae as Lieutenant Dekker, Slater's immediate and ill-tempered supervisor, who is always screaming at him.
 * Anthony Quinn as Tony Vivaldi, the main antagonist of Jack Slater IV until Danny's interference changes events. A running gag with him is his frequent butchering of common phrases.
 * Bridgette Wilson as Whitney Slater, Jack's daughter. Wilson also plays Meredith Caprice, the actress who plays Whitney in the Slater films
 * F. Murray Abraham as John Practice, Jack's friend, revealed to be a traitor. Danny says not to trust him, saying he killed Mozart, referring to Abraham's Oscar-winning role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus.
 * Mercedes Ruehl as Irene Madigan, Danny's mother
 * Art Carney as Frank Slater, Jack's second cousin. This was Carney's final film role.
 * Professor Toru Tanaka (credited as the Tough Asian Man) as Vivaldi and Benedict's bodyguard
 * Ryan Todd as Andrew Slater, Jack's son, who was killed in Jack Slater III by the Ripper.
 * Jeffrey Braer as Skeezy
 * Bobbie Brown (credited as Bobbi Brown Lane) as Video Babe

Cameo appearances

 * Franco Columbu's name appears during the opening credits as director of Jack Slater IV. Columbu was a fellow bodybuilder and a close friend of Schwarzenegger.
 * Tina Turner as the mayor of Los Angeles at the climax of Jack Slater III. This was Turner's final film role.
 * Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick appear outside the front door of LAPD as Catherine Tramell (from Basic Instinct) and the T-1000 (from Terminator 2: Judgment Day), respectively. Stone and Patrick had earlier co-starred with Schwarzenegger in Total Recall and Terminator 2, respectively.
 * Mike Muscat as a cop in the LAPD headquarters. Muscat previously appeared with Schwarzenegger as Moshier in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and was also Edward Furlong's acting coach for the same film.
 * Veteran stuntmen Al Leong, Henry Kingi and Sven-Ole Thorsen as Vivaldi's henchmen in the car chase
 * Sylvester Stallone as the Terminator on a poster promoting Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This references the Schwarzenegger-Stallone rivalry.
 * Angie Everhart as a video store clerk
 * During the premiere of Jack Slater IV in the real world, several celebrities appear as themselves. These include Schwarzenegger's then-wife Maria Shriver, Little Richard, Entertainment Tonight host Leeza Gibbons, Jim Belushi (who starred with Schwarzenegger in Red Heat and later Jingle All the Way), Damon Wayans, Chevy Chase, Melvin Van Peebles, entertainment reporter Chris Connelly, and Jean-Claude Van Damme (who worked with John McTiernan on the Schwarzenegger film Predator as the original Predator before dropping out, and later co-starred with Schwarzenegger in The Expendables 2).
 * As Jack and Danny enter the movie theater to find Arnold Schwarzenegger, MC Hammer asks Slater about a deal to do the Jack Slater V soundtrack.
 * Michael V. Gazzo as crime boss Torelli
 * Wilson Phillips as themselves
 * Ian McKellen as Death, emerging via the ticket stub's magic from Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal (in which the role was originally played by Bengt Ekerot).
 * Danny DeVito (uncredited) as Whiskers, the cartoon cat police detective. DeVito had earlier co-starred with Schwarzenegger in Twins.
 * Colleen Camp as Officer Ratcliff, the cop who retaliates when harassed by Whiskers in the police station
 * Joan Plowright as the English teacher who shows her class the 1948 film adaptation of Hamlet, which starred and was directed by Plowright's husband Laurence Olivier.

Development and writing
Last Action Hero was an original screenplay by Zak Penn and Adam Leff, meant to parody typical action-film screenplays of writers such as Shane Black. Penn himself noted that the studio ironically then had Black rewrite the script. The original screenplay differs heavily from the finished film and is widely available to read online. Although it was still a parody of Hollywood action films, it was set almost entirely in the film world and focused largely on the futile cycle of violence displayed by the hero and the effect it had on people around him. Due to the radical changes, Penn and Leff were eventually credited with the story of the film, but not the screenplay.

Several script doctors did uncredited work on the script, including Carrie Fisher, Larry Ferguson, and William Goldman. Penn and Leff disliked various parts of the final film, including the idea of a magic golden ticket. In their draft, the story would not explain how Danny got transported into the film world.

John McTiernan originally turned down the offer to direct the film, Robert Zemeckis was under consideration to direct, but McTiernan later changed his mind.

Schwarzenegger received a salary of $15 million for his role in the film.

Some scenes were filmed in a dome adjacent to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. The exterior of the film's Pandora Theater was the Empire Theater on 42nd Street in New York. The interiors were filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

Years after its release, the film was the subject of a scathing chapter called "How They Built The Bomb", in the Nancy Griffin book Hit and Run which detailed misadventures at Sony Pictures in the early to mid-1990s. Among the details presented in this chapter were:

 * Universal moved Jurassic Park to June 11, 1993, well after Sony had decided on a June 18 release date for Last Action Hero.
 * The movie was reportedly the first to have an advertisement placed on a space-going rocket.
 * The film was capsized by a wave of negative publicity after a rough cut of it was shown to a preview audience in May. Sony then destroyed the test cards and the word-of-mouth proved to be catastrophic for the film.
 * The shooting and editing schedule were so demanding and so close to the June 18 release date that after the movie's release, a source close to the film said that they "shouldn't have had Siskel and Ebert telling us the movie is 10 minutes too long".
 * Sony was even more humiliated the weekend after the film opened, when the movie lost 47% of its opening-weekend audience and had TriStar's Sleepless in Seattle open as the number-two movie at the box office.
 * The final declared financial loss for the film was $26 million.
 * Last Action Hero was the first film to be released using Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, but only a few theaters were set up for the new format, and many of those experienced technical problems with the new system. Insiders at Paramount reportedly referred to it as "Still Doesn't Do Shit".

Music
The film was scored by composer Michael Kamen and peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The album, which was positively received by active rock radio outlets, was certified platinum on August 24, 1993.

Theatrical
At the time of its release, the film was billed as "the next great summer action movie" and many movie insiders predicted it would be a huge blockbuster, especially following the success of Schwarzenegger's previous film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film premiered in Westwood, Los Angeles on June 13, 1993, and entered general release in the United States five days later. It was the first film to use the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo.

Home media
Last Action Hero was released on VHS and LaserDisc on January 26, 1994, and on DVD on October 7, 1997. On February 3, 2009, Last Action Hero was reissued on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a double-feature set with the 1986 film Iron Eagle. It was released on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format on January 12, 2010. The film double-featured with Hudson Hawk on Blu-ray and released by Umbrella Entertainment on September 4, 2019, in Australia only. An Ultra HD Blu-ray restored version was released on May 18, 2021, and featured a director's commentary track, deleted scenes, an alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer, all in 4K. The film was re-released with Cliffhanger in a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray pack on November 2, 2021.

Box office
The film grossed approximately $1.1 million in previews on the evening of Thursday, June 17, 1993, and opened at number two at the US box office, behind Jurassic Park's second weekend, grossing $14.2 million on its opening weekend from 2,306 theaters. It ended its run with $50,016,394 in the United States and Canada. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 30, 1993, on 266 screens and again opened at number two behind Jurassic Park (on 435 screens) with a gross of $1.34 million for the weekend. In France it opened at number one with a gross of 21 million French franc ($3.6 million) in its opening week. It grossed $87,202,095 overseas, for a worldwide total of $137,298,489. In an A&E biography of Schwarzenegger, the actor (who was also the film's executive producer) says that the film could have done better if not for bad timing, since it came out a week after Jurassic Park which went on to break box-office records as one of the top-grossing films of all time.

Schwarzenegger states that he tried to persuade his coproducers to postpone the film's June 18 release in the United States by four weeks, but they turned a deaf ear on the grounds that the film would have lost millions of dollars in revenue for every weekend of the summer it ended up missing, also fearing that delaying the release would create negative publicity. He told the authors of Hit And Run that while everyone involved with the production had given their best effort, their attempt to appeal to both action and comedy fans resulted in a film that appealed to neither audience and ultimately succumbed to heavy competition.

Critical response
Last Action Hero received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 53 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Last Action Hero has most of the right ingredients for a big-budget action spoof, but its scattershot tone and uneven structure only add up to a confused, chaotic mess." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing that despite some entertaining moments, Last Action Hero "plays more like a bright idea than like a movie that was thought through. It doesn't evoke the mystery of the barrier between audience and screen the way Woody Allen did in The Purple Rose of Cairo, and a lot of the time it simply seems to be standing around commenting on itself." Vincent Canby likened the film to "a two-hour Saturday Night Live sketch" and called it "something of a mess, but a frequently enjoyable one". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Last Action Hero makes such a strenuous show of winking at the audience (and itself) that it seems to be celebrating nothing so much as its own awfulness. In a sense, the movie's incipient commercial failure completes it aesthetically." Variety called it "a joyless, soulless machine of a movie, an $80 million-plus mishmash of fantasy, industry in-jokes, self-referential parody, film-buff gags and too-big action set-pieces." Halliwell's Film Guide described it as "a film that tries to have it both ways, simultaneously mocking and celebrating the conventions of action movies, which leaves audiences, as well as the actors and director, in a state of bewildered confusion". John Ferguson of Radio Times was more positive, awarding it four stars out of five and stating, "An Arnold Schwarzenegger backlash had been on the cards for some time and when this extravaganza was released the knives were well and truly out. It was actually all a little unfair, because this is a smart, funny blockbuster [...] Schwarzenegger has rarely been better and he is backed up by a never-ending stream of star names in cameo roles [...] And, although McTiernan has fun spoofing the conventions of the action genre, he still manages to slip in some spectacular set pieces."

Legacy
About the film's failure and critical response, John McTiernan said: "Initially, it was a wonderful Cinderella story with a nine-year-old boy. We had a pretty good script by Bill Goldman, charming. And this ludicrous hype machine got hold of it, and it got buried under bullshit. It was so overwhelmed with baggage. And then it was whipped out unedited, practically assembled right out of the camera. It was in the theater five or six weeks after I finished shooting. It was kamikaze, stupid, no good reason for it. And then to open the week after Jurassic Park—God! To get to the depth of bad judgment involved in that, you'd need a snorkel." Later Schwarzenegger blamed the film's poor performance on bad press and the election of Democratic president Bill Clinton, which he said influenced audiences to see 1980s action film stars as lowbrow. In 2017, he said streaming services gave the film its chance to reach new audiences unencumbered by the bad press. In Netflix's three-part docuseries Arnold (released in 2023), the actor recalled how the failure of the movie affected him. "When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2, having the most successful movie of the year worldwide, I cannot tell you how upset that I was [about the negative Last Action Hero reviews]. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It's embarrassing. I didn't want to see anyone for a week but you keep plodding along." Director James Cameron said that he had called Schwarzenegger the weekend after Last Action Hero opened and recalled that it was the only time he's "ever heard him down." Cameron continued, "He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him."

Shane Black was very critical of the movie: "It was a mess. There was a movie in there, struggling to emerge, which would have pleased me. But what they'd made was a jarring, random collection of scenes."

In the years since the release of Last Action Hero, the film has developed a strong cult following. Schwarzenegger singled out that movie as his most underrated: "Last Action Hero was great – it wasn't fantastic, but it was underrated. Now, more and more people are seeing it and saying, "I love this movie." I'm getting the residual checks, so I know it's true. It made money – that's always an important thing for me. Because it's show business, right?" Later, Charles Dance said: "I think they just didn't time the release very well. It came out more or less at the same time as something very big", referring to Jurassic Park. "But it was fun to do." He also praised Schwarzenegger: "Arnold is a very smart man, oh yes. Very definitely. And very funny, and very aware."

Accolades
The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star (Austin O'Brien), and Worst Original Song ("Big Gun"), but it did not win any. At the 1993 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received two nominations without wins: Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Schwarzenegger). The film was also nominated for seven Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Performance by a Young Actor, Best Costume, and Best Special Effects, again winning nothing.

Video games
A video game based on the film was released in 1994 on video game consoles, the themed-pinball machine by Data East was included and released on The Pinball Arcade and its spin-off Stern Pinball Arcade in 2016.

Potential sequel
In October 2019, Schwarzenegger revealed that he was willing to star in True Lies 2 and Last Action Hero 2, possible legacy sequels to the two films of his 90s action roles.

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

title: Last Action Hero


text:
UGM-96 Trident I

The UGM-96 Trident I, or Trident C4, was an American submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California. First deployed in 1979, the Trident I replaced the Poseidon missile. It was retired in 2005, having been replaced by the Trident II.

The missile was a three-stage, solid-fuelled system, capable of carrying up to eight W76 warheads in the Mark 4 RB.

The first eight Ohio-class submarines were armed with Trident I missiles. Twelve James Madison-class submarine- and Benjamin Franklin-class submarines were also retrofitted with Trident I missiles, which replaced older Poseidon missiles.

In 1980, the Royal Navy requested Trident I missiles under the Polaris Sales Agreement. In 1982, the agreement was changed to supply Trident II instead.

title: UGM-96 Trident I


text:
UGM-133 Trident II

The UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the United States and Royal Navy. It was first deployed in March 1990, and remains in service. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad and strengthens U.S. strategic deterrence. The Trident II is considered to be a durable sea-based system capable of engaging many targets. It has payload flexibility that can accommodate various treaty requirements, such as New START. The Trident II's increased payload allows nuclear deterrence to be accomplished with fewer submarines, and its high accuracy—approaching that of land-based missiles—enables it to be used as a first strike weapon.

Trident II missiles are carried by 14 US Ohio-class submarine and 4 British Vanguard-class submarine submarines, with 24 missiles on each Ohio class and 16 missiles on each Vanguard class (the number of missiles on Ohio-class submarines was reduced to 20, by 2017, in compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). There have been 177 successful test flights of the D5 missile since design completion in 1989, the most recent being from USS Maine (SSBN-741) in February 2020. There have been fewer than 10 test flights that were failures, the most recent being from HMS Vanguard (S28) off the coast of Florida in January 2024. The D5 is the sixth in a series of missile generations deployed since the sea-based deterrent program began 60 years ago. The Trident D5LE (life-extension) version will remain in service until 2042.

History

The Trident II was designed with greater range and payload capacity than its predecessor (Trident C-4). In 1972, the US Navy projected an initial operating capability (IOC) date of 1984. The US Navy shifted the IOC date to 1982. On 18 October 1973, a Trident program review was administered. On 14 March 1974, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense disseminated two requirements for the Trident program. The first was an accuracy improvement for the Trident C-4. The second requirement asked for an alternative to the C-4, or a new Trident II missile with a larger first-stage motor than the C-4.

The U.S. Navy conducted studies to determine whether the more expensive Trident II could be constructed similarly to the US Air Force's MX ICBM, primarily to decrease budget costs. It was established that the Trident II would be 83 in in diameter and 44 ft in length in order to match the performance of the existing MX ICBM. Modifications to the guidance system, electronics hardening, and external protective coatings were incorporated into the design. While this satisfied the Navy's study requirements, it did not accommodate the US Air Force payload requirements.

Propulsion stages were proposed to be used between the first stage and second stage motors, effectively making the Trident II a longer three-stage missile than the C-4. Studies were delayed in 1978 when Congress only approved $5 million of the suggested $15 million for the Navy and Air Force program studies. By December 1978, the Navy's and the Air Force's own studies agreed with each other that a similar missile structure would not achieve desired savings. It was determined that the Navy and Air Force would maintain and be responsible for their own unique weapon systems. The US Navy continued with its own design of the Trident II.

In March 1980, US Secretary of Defense Harold Brown proposed an increased level of funding for the submarine-launched ballistic missile modernization, emphasizing increased accuracy. The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) recommended no funding, while the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) recommended full funding of $97 million. The SASC asked for a plan incorporating "the fullest possible competition . . . [and] should consider competing among contractors for each major component, including the integrated missile." $65 million was awarded for the submarine-launched ballistic missile modernization.

On 2 October 1981, President Reagan called for the modernization of the strategic forces. The Defense Department directed the Navy to fund all development of the Trident II D5 missile with a December 1989 IOC. All research and development efforts would be directed toward "a new development, advanced technology, high accuracy Trident II D5 system." In December 1982, Deputy SECDEF Frank Carlucci advised the Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger to include funding for a new reentry vehicle–warhead combination for Trident II. The reentry vehicle was to be designated as the Mk 5, which was to have a greater yield than the Mk 4. The development contract for Trident II was issued in October 1983. On 28 December 1983, the deputy SECDEF authorized the Navy to proceed with full-scale engineering development of the Trident II D5.

An initial series of 19 land-based Trident II launches took place from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 46 from 15 January 1987 to 27 January 1989. The first submarine launch was attempted by USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), the first D-5 ship of the Ohio class, on 21 March 1989 off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch attempt failed four seconds into the flight because the plume of water following the missile rose to a greater height than expected, and water was in the nozzle when the motor ignited. Once the problem was understood, relatively simple changes were quickly made, but the problem delayed the initial operating capability of Trident II until March 1990. IOC for Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) was completed on schedule in 2001, allowing Trident II SSBN to be deployed in the Pacific theater.

In 1980, the United Kingdom adopted the Trident I C-4 missile as part of its Trident nuclear program.

Design
The Trident II is a three-stage rocket, each stage containing a solid-fuel rocket motor. The first motor is made by Northrop Grumman. This first stage incorporates a solid propellant motor, parts to ensure first-stage ignition, and a thrust vector control (TVC) system. The first-stage section, compared to the Trident C-4, is slightly larger, allowing increased range and a larger payload. In addition to a larger motor, the D-5 uses an advanced and lighter fuel binder (polyethylene glycol) than the C-4. This fuel is more commonly known as NEPE-75. (NEPE stands for nitrate ester plasticized polyether, the 75 represents that the fuel contains 75% solids.) The solid components bound by fuel binder are HMX, aluminum, and ammonium perchlorate.

Both the first- and second-stage motors are connected by an interstage casing, which contains electronic equipment and ordnance for separation during flight. The second stage also contains a motor made by Thiokol and Hercules Inc., parts to ensure the second-stage ignition, and a TVC system. The first and second stages are both important to the structural integrity of the missile. To ensure that the stages maintain a maximal strength-to-weight ratio, both stages are reinforced by a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer hull.

The second and third-stage sections are connected by an integrated equipment/adapter section (ES). The equipment/adapter section is modified to be shorter and more compact than the C-4's adapter section. The D-5's equipment section contains critical guidance and flight control avionics, such as the Mk 6 navigation system. The equipment section also contains the third-stage TVC system, ordnance for ejecting from the second-stage motor, and the MIRV platform. The nose fairing shields the payload and third-stage motor. Mounted within the nose cap (above the nose fairing) is an extendable aerospike. This aerospike effectively decreases drag by 50%. The third-stage hull is also reinforced by carbon fiber and kevlar.

The Trident II is the first missile of the US Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile program to incorporate a 3D printed component.

While Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor, a variety of corporations work on the Trident II. For example, in October 2020, Boeing was contracted for maintenance, rebuilding and technical services for the Trident II navigation subsystem, and Northrop Grumman was contracted for engineering support and integration for the Trident II and relevant submarines at sites and shipyards from Sunnyvale, California, and Bangor, Washington, to Kings Bay, Georgia, and Cape Canaveral, Florida, among other locales. Peraton was contracted for program support services on the Trident II reentry subsystem, and Systems Planning & Analysis Inc. was contracted for Trident II technical services, program support, assessments, special studies, and systems engineering.

Sequence of operation
Before the launch sequence is initiated, the on-board MARK 6 navigation system is activated. The specified mission trajectory is loaded onto the flight computer.

Once the launch command is given, a steam generator system is activated, igniting a gas generator whose exhaust is fed into cooling water, causing expanding gas within the launch tube to force the missile upward, and out of the submarine. Within seconds, the missile breaches the surface of the water and the first-stage Thrust Vectoring Control (TVC) subsystem ignites. This enables hydraulic actuators attached to the first-stage nozzle. Soon after, the first-stage motor ignites and burns for approximately 65 seconds until the fuel is expended; in addition, an aerospike atop the missile deploys shortly after first-stage ignition to shape airflow. When the first-stage motor ceases operation, the second-stage TVC subsystem ignites. The first-stage motor is then ejected by ordnance within the interstage casing.

Once the first stage is cleared, the second-stage motor ignites and burns for approximately 65 seconds. The nose fairing is then jettisoned, separating from the missile. When the nose fairing is clear of the missile, the third-stage TVC subsystem ignites, and ordnance separates the second-stage motor. The third-stage motor then ignites, pushing the equipment section the remaining distance (approx. 40 seconds) of the flight. When the third-stage motor reaches the targeted area, the Post Boost Control System (PBCS) ignites, and the third-stage motor is ejected.

The astro-inertial guidance uses star positioning to fine-tune the accuracy of the inertial guidance system after launch. As the accuracy of a missile is dependent upon the guidance system knowing the exact position of the missile at any given moment during its flight, the fact that stars are a fixed reference point from which to calculate that position makes this a potentially very effective means of improving accuracy. In the Trident system, this was achieved by a single camera that was designed to spot just one star in its expected position. If it was not quite aligned to where it should be, it would indicate that the inertial system was not precisely on target and a correction would be made.

The equipment section, with the MIRV, then aims the reentry vehicles (RV) towards the earth. The payload is then released from the MIRV platform. To prevent the PBCS correctional thrust from interfering with the RV when released, the equipment section initiates the Plume Avoidance Maneuver (PAM). If the RV will be disrupted by the PBCS nozzle's thrust, the nearest nozzle will shut off until the RV is away from the MIRV. The PAM is used only when a nozzle's plume will disrupt the area near an RV. The PAM is a specialized design feature added to the Trident II to increase accuracy.

Warheads
In US service Trident II can be loaded with up to eight Mk-5 RVs with 475-kt W88 warheads, up to fourteen Mk-4A RVs with 90-kt W76-1 warheads, and up to fourteen Mk-4A RVs with 5–7-kt W76-2 warheads. In practice, each missile on average carries four warheads due to the warhead limitations placed by the New START treaty.

The system previously carried the Mk-4 RV with a 100kt W76-0 warhead, but beginning in September 2008 W76-0s were converted to W76-1s. This process was completed by December 2018. Conversion from the W76-0 to W76-1 involved fitting the warheads with a new RV (the Mk-4A), replacing age limited components and fitting the warhead with a new MC4700 arming, fusing and firing (AF&F) system. The MC4700 AF&F system (dubbed the "super fuze") significantly improves warhead kill probabilities against hardened targets such as silos or bunkers. The W76-2 is also fitted with the Mk-4A RV and MC4700 fuze.

In the National Nuclear Security Administration's 2021 budget request, the agency requested US$53m to begin development of a new W93 warhead for use on Trident II and US$32 million to begin development of a new Mk-7 RV. If approved, the W93 will be the first new nuclear weapon system to receive a type designation since the end of the Cold War. It is unclear if the W93 will replace the W76-1, the W88 or both warheads.

In UK usage Trident II missiles are equipped with a warhead called Holbrook and have a maximum yield of 100kt. The UK government insists the warhead is a British design, but analysts believe that it is largely based on the US W76 design. In 2011 it was reported that British warheads would receive the new Mk 4A reentry vehicles and some or all of the other upgrades that US W76 warheads were receiving in their W76-1 Life Extension Program. Some reports suggested that British warheads would receive the same arming, fusing and firing system (AF&F) as the US W76-1. Under a 1958 agreement, the US supplies the UK with blueprints of its own warhead designs but the design, manufacture and maintenance of UK warheads are purely a UK responsibility. The British government's Atomic Weapons Establishment is currently developing a new warhead to replace the existing Holbrook warhead, with deployment expected in the 2030s.

Additional specifications
Full load: ~7600 km Reduced load: ~12000 km
 * Range (exact is classified):
 * Guidance system: The MK 6 Astro-inertial guidance navigation system. Inertial guidance is most favored for the initial guidance and reentry vehicles of strategic missiles, because it has no external signal and cannot be jammed.
 * CEP: Requirement: <90 m. (Information from flight tests is classified.)

Operators

The Royal Navy operates its missiles from a shared pool, together with the Atlantic squadron of the U.S. Navy Ohio-class SSBNs at King's Bay, Georgia. The pool is co-mingled and missiles are selected at random for loading on to either nation's submarines.

title: UGM-133 Trident II


text:
Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger

The  Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of World War II. It mounted the QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun on a chassis derived from the Cromwell tank to add anti-tank firepower to the cruiser tank units. The design compromises made in fitting the large gun onto the Cromwell chassis resulted in a tank with a powerful weapon and reduced armour. However, the extemporised 17-pounder Sherman Firefly conversion of the US-supplied Sherman proved easier to produce and, with delays in production, only 200 Challengers were built. The Challenger was able to keep up with the fast Cromwell tank and was used with them.

History
The driving force in the development of the Challenger was William Arthur Robotham. "Roy" Robotham had been a Rolls-Royce executive in the car division who, with no work to do, had led a team to develop a tank powerplant from the Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine. The Rolls-Royce Meteor gave the British a powerful, reliable engine, which was used in the A27M Cruiser Mk VIII Cromwell tank. Robotham's contributions gained him a place in the Ministry of Supply and on the Tank Board, despite his lack of experience in tank design.

The General Staff brought forward specification A29 for a 45 ton, 17 pounder-armed cruiser tank based on needs identified in the African desert campaign. British tanks were generally underarmed compared to German vehicles. The design weight of this vehicle was subsequently seen as excessive and the specification was passed over in favour of the alternate specification, A30, which was 10 LT lighter. In 1942, an order for the development of an A30 based tank was placed with Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company (BRC&W) expecting it to be based on the Cromwell components also being manufactured by BRC&W. The turret and gun mounting were in the hands of Stothert & Pitt. Birmingham Carriage had to modify the Cromwell hull to take a bigger turret.

The first prototype was ready in August 1942, only seven months after development had commenced, but proved to be very flawed. An improved second prototype was presented in January 1943 but was still considered unacceptable. A committee met to determine whether a requirement for a 17-pounder tank existed. The Challenger had been developed in anticipation of more heavily armoured Axis tanks, following the trend in Nazi German tank design. At roughly the same time the Tiger I entered service with the German army, placing an immediate need for a 17-pounder armed tank in response. When the second prototype was tested at Lulworth, it was found that although it would be effective at long range against the current best-gunned tank in German service (the Panzer IV "Special" with the long 75 mm gun), at shorter ranges it would be at a disadvantage due to its slow firing rate and thin armour. The design received additional emphasis when, in May 1943, it was found that the Cromwell could not carry its intended armament. Vickers had been developing a 75 mm 50-calibre-long high-velocity tank gun. It was realised late in the design process that the Cromwell's turret ring was too small for this gun. The Challenger would be the only British cruiser tank to mount a weapon that could tackle heavier German armour until the arrival of the A34 Comet. So in February 1943 an order was made of two hundred vehicles; the Army General Staff took five months to approve the Challenger design for production (in February 1943, the only significant alteration was to the ammunition stowage), and Robotham was also critical of the decision to continue manufacturing the Cromwell with a 6-pounder gun (the 17-pounder gun was "infinitely better").

British tank production was constrained by limited resources and insufficient numbers could be made. This was compensated by American production. In the lead up to D-Day, Sherman tanks were fitted with the 17 pounder, creating the interim 17 pounder Sherman Firefly. Converting Sherman tanks was simpler than producing Challengers, so it was decided in November 1943 to terminate the A30 production run after the two hundred vehicles had been built, allowing BRC&W to concentrate on the Cromwell. At the same time the A 40 "Challenger Stage II" project was cancelled, which had envisaged a 36 tonne type with heavier armour. Future design priority was concentrated on the A34 Comet, which eventually replaced the Cromwell, Firefly and Challenger. Challenger production started in March 1944. That year 145 vehicles were delivered with another 52 in 1945. Production was in two batches. A first run of forty vehicles had a 40 mm gun mantlet; with the second batch this was replaced by a 102 mm mantlet. From the hundredth vehicle onwards appliqué 25 mm armour plates were fitted on the turret, that had already been applied to existing vehicles by field units.

The tank was rendered obsolete when the Vickers HV 75 mm gun was developed to become the 77 mm HV (actually 3 inch = 76.2 mm calibre) to arm the Comet tank. The 77 mm HV used the same projectiles as the 17 pounder with a reduced propellant charge. The 17 pounder gun was used on the earliest marks of the Comet's successor, the Centurion tank.

Design
The turret mounted the Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun required in the Tank Board specification and the hull machine gun was removed to provide stowage space for the long 17-pounder cartridges. The War Office expected that this larger ammunition, together with its stowage forward, would require two loaders alongside the commander and gunner in the turret. To fit the larger weapon and additional crewman in the turret, a much larger turret than that of the Cromwell was specified, developed separately, which had a significant effect on the design and was not resolved until later development of Avenger.

To carry the weight of the 17-pounder and ammunition, an extra wheel station and suspension arm was needed, lengthening the hull. This change in length, without a corresponding change in width across the tracks, reduced mobility compared to the Cromwell, although speed remained high at 25 mph. To limit the weight, the amount of armour was reduced but this could only be achieved on the turret, 63 mm on the front (the mantlet was 102 mm of IT 90) and 40 mm on the sides compared to 75 mm and 60 mm on the Cromwell. Applique armour, 25 mm thick, was later added to turret and hull front. The turret did not use a conventional turret ring: to increase the aperture diameter by four inches, it rested on a ball mount on the hull floor. Therefore the base of the turret was unprotected, and it would cantilever if struck by enemy rounds. A jacking feature, with four internal semi-automatic jacks, was fitted to clear jams. The additional length allowed larger hatches to be fitted in the hull while still clearing the turret, providing easier access than Cromwell.

Upon Robotham's appointment as Chief Engineer to the Department of Tank Design, the lack of progress on an (A29) 17-pounder armed tank could not adequately be explained. Robotham's memoirs indicate a lack of awareness that any such requirement existed within the department and military users were still unsure whether the tank was required at the point when the rushed A30 design had been completed and prototype vehicles run. The Challenger was then rushed into production alongside existing production runs of Cromwell, limiting the number of tanks that could be produced.

Performance
The 17-pounder gun mounted on the Challenger offered sufficient performance against the majority of German AFVs, including the Tiger I and Panther tank and the tank had a higher top speed and cross country mobility than the Panzer IV or StuG III. The Challenger could only hold 48 rounds of the large 17-pounder ammunition because the General Staff required four men in the turret, though later tanks like the Centurion used a three-man turret. The armour of the Challenger offered very little protection against contemporary German anti-tank guns and was lower than that of the Cromwell, which often operated with Challengers.

In combat, the Challenger fulfilled much the same role as the Sherman Firefly, providing overwatch for the other tanks in the troop, as its 17-pounder could penetrate almost all German AFVs frontally, unlike the 75 mm. It was deployed in a similar manner at a troop level, this was typically one 17-pounder armed tank (such as Challenger or Firefly) to three 75 mm armed tanks (Cromwells or Shermans); at times, the deployment of 17-pounder armed tanks was increased to two per troop.

The Challenger was based on the reliable Cromwell tank, which used the new Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, which was far more reliable and powerful than the ageing Liberty engine used in earlier British Cruiser designs like the Crusader tank. Its reliability was slightly below that of the Cromwell, as a problem was experienced with track throwing, caused by mud building up in the wheels but this was resolved in the field. Supply and maintenance were vastly simplified through the use of common parts with the Cromwell.

In comparison with the Firefly, the tank lacked the sloping forward armour but presented a lower profile and avoided the Firefly's constraint on gun depression. The Challenger provided 100° of gun depression while Firefly was limited to 50°, which was a significant disadvantage in combat. It was preferred within Cromwell units as it shared similar mobility and manoeuvrability, whereas the Firefly was slower. Despite a lower design weight than the earlier A29 specification (32½ not 34 tons), the Challenger was heavy and required dockyard equipment to ship, making it impractical to use in amphibious assaults such as the D-day landings.

Service
No provision was made for deep wading, before the design went into production; as a result, the A30 could not be landed in the initial phase of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Challenger crews had to wait until July 1944, when Mulberry harbours were operational and ports had been captured.

The Challenger and Firefly, equipped with 17-pounder, were added to tank squadrons to deal with opposing heavy tanks and many Challengers were issued to reconnaissance units using Cromwells. It was initially used by the Guards Armoured Division and the 11th Armoured Division, with about sixteen vehicles in each unit: one Challenger and three Cromwells in each troop. The latter division phased the type out from February 1945 onwards, while it was being introduced to the Cromwell units of the 7th Armoured Division. The tank was unpopular at first, with crews complaining about the lack of armour, the high silhouette and the tracks being thrown. The track problem was caused by the smaller idler wheels compared to the Cromwell; these were in August replaced by idlers with a standard diameter. Troops used to the low profile of the Crusader and Cromwell found the height a serious problem, although it was still shorter than the comparable Sherman Firefly.

Confidence in the vehicle grew and it became preferred over the Firefly, being lower, faster and more manoeuvrable but the early bad reputation persisted with others. Allied forces were issued with the Challenger, the 1st Polish Armoured Division receiving several in mid-1945 and the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade used it (Unit Entitlements at the end of 1944 for CIABG was four Challengers) during the siege of Dunkirk in late 1944.  After the war, the Czechoslovak government purchased 22 Challengers from the brigade inventory, which served in the Czechoslovak army (first with the 11th, later 23rd, Tank Brigade and then with the 13th Independent Tank Battalion) until they were put in reserve in 1951 and scrapped in 1959.

Variants
The A30 Avenger SP2 or SP 17pdr, A30 (Avenger) was a development of the Challenger to be used as a self-propelled gun. It removed the second loader's position and featured a much lower profile turret and lower superstructure on the hull. An additional stowage bin was provided on the glacis plate for a large camo net and return rollers were added to the tracks.

The Avenger featured a permanent opening in the turret roof covered with an armoured cover supported a few inches above. This provided the commander and loader with full 360 degree visibility.

By the time the pilot was complete, the British had lend-lease M10s for anti-tank work coming into service and the production of Avenger was de-prioritised in favour of Comet production

As many as 500 vehicles appear to have been planned and 230 vehicles were ordered from BRC&W, but this dropped to 80 with the end of the war. It is not known how many were actually built; the SP2 nomenclature indicates its place in production with the Archer (SP1) and Alecto (SP3).

The Avenger suffered in trials as the engine had to remain running to use the turret traverse motor, because the noise and exhaust could give the vehicle away. Winter trials in a prolonged stationary position also failed in comparison with Archer, when the Avenger's steering failed. Both vehicles had problems with camouflage. The vehicle was dropped from trials in 1950, along with removal of the 17pdr SP Achilles (re-gunned US M10 GMC- equipped with 17pdr).

While the Avenger was only used for trials and was ultimately unsuccessful in comparison with the purpose built vehicles, it provides an example of what could have been possible for the Challenger had it not been forced to accommodate a second loader in a larger (four-man) turret in its design. It may have been corrected had effort not been moved to the Comet.

Survivors
Two vehicles survive, one at the Overloon War Museum in the Netherlands, acquired from the Muzeeaquarium Delfzijl in 1976; the other was awaiting restoration at the Isle of Wight Military Museum in the United Kingdom until its closure. Once restored, it will be displayed at the Bovington Tank Museum.

title: Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger


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Frederick Gowland Hopkins

Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (20 June 1861 – 16 May 1947) was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins. He also discovered the amino acid tryptophan, in 1901. He was President of the Royal Society from 1930 to 1935.

Education and early life
Hopkins was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, and initially attended the City of London School. However, he soon transferred to Alexandra Park College in Hornsey and completed his further study with the University of London External Programme (through evening classes at Birkbeck College) and the medical school at Guy's Hospital which is now part of King's College London School of Medicine.

Career and research
After graduating, Hopkins then taught physiology and toxicology at Guy's Hospital from 1894 to 1898. In 1898, while attending a meeting of the Physiological Society, he was invited by Sir Michael Foster to join the Physiological Laboratory in Cambridge to investigate the chemical aspects of physiology. Biochemistry was not, at that time, recognised as a separate branch of science. He was a lecturer in chemical physiology at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in March 1900, when he received the academic rank Master of Arts (MA) honoris causa. He earned a doctorate in physiology (D.Sc.) from the University of London in July 1902, and at the same time was given a readership in biochemistry at Trinity College. While at Cambridge he was initiated into Freemasonry. In 1910 he became a Fellow of Trinity College, and an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College. In 1914 he was elected to the Chair of Biochemistry at Cambridge University, thus becoming the first Professor in that discipline at Cambridge. His Cambridge students included neurochemistry pioneer Judah Hirsch Quastel and pioneer embryologist Joseph Needham.

Hopkins had for a long time studied how cells obtain energy via a complex metabolic process of oxidation and reduction reactions. His study in 1907 with Sir Walter Morley Fletcher of the connection between lactic acid and muscle contraction was one of the central achievements of his work on the biochemistry of the cell. He and Fletcher showed that oxygen depletion causes an accumulation of lactic acid in the muscle. Their work paved the way for the later discovery by Archibald Hill and Otto Fritz Meyerhof that a carbohydrate metabolic cycle supplies the energy used for muscle contraction.

In 1912 Hopkins published the work for which he is best known, demonstrating in a series of animal feeding experiments that diets consisting of pure proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and water fail to support animal growth. This led him to suggest the existence in normal diets of tiny quantities of as yet unidentified substances that are essential for animal growth and survival. These hypothetical substances he called "accessory food factors", later renamed vitamins. It was this work that led his being awarded (together with Christiaan Eijkman) the 1929 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

During World War I, Hopkins continued his work on the nutritional value of vitamins. His efforts were especially valuable in a time of food shortages and rationing. He agreed to study the nutritional value of margarine and found that it was, as suspected, inferior to butter because it lacked the vitamins A and D. As a result of his work, vitamin-enriched margarine was introduced in 1926.

Hopkins is credited with the discovery and characterisation in 1921 of glutathione extracted from various animal tissues. At the time he proposed that the compound was a dipeptide of glutamic acid and cysteine. The structure was controversial for many years but in 1929 he concluded that it was a tripeptide of glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine. This conclusion agreed with that from the independent work of Edward Calvin Kendall.

Awards and honours
Hopkins was elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 1924. During his life, in addition to the Nobel Prize, Hopkins was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1918, the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh in 1922, and the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1926.

Other significant honours were his election in 1905 as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), Great Britain's most prestigious scientific organisation; his knighthood by King George V in 1925; and the award in 1935 of the Order of Merit, Great Britain's most exclusive civilian honour.

From 1930 to 1935, he served as president of the Royal Society and, in 1933, served as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1937.

Personal life
In 1898, he married Jessie Anne Stephens (1861–1937); they had one son and two daughters, the younger of whom, Jacquetta Hawkes, became a prominent archaeologist and married the author J. B. Priestley.

Gowland Hopkins died on 16 May 1947 in Cambridge and is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife.

title: Frederick Gowland Hopkins