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IO Interactive

IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 3, which was released in January 2021.

The company was founded in September 1998 as a joint venture between the seven-man development team of Reto-Moto and film studio Nordisk Film. IO Interactive was acquired by publisher Eidos Interactive for GB£23 million in March 2004, which saw itself acquired by Square Enix and renamed as Square Enix Europe in 2009. In May 2017, Square Enix ceased funding for IO Interactive and started seeking a buyer for the studio. IO Interactive performed a management buyout in June 2017, becoming independent and regaining the rights to their Hitman and Freedom Fighters franchises. IO Interactive employs 200 people as of January 2021 and operates four subsidiary studios: IOI Malmö in Malmö, Sweden; IOI Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, IOI Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, and IOI Brighton in Brighton, England.

Background and foundation (1997–1998)
In 1997, Reto-Moto was founded as a video game developer in Copenhagen. Before the studio finished any games, they struck a partnership with Danish film studio Nordisk Film in 1998 that would lead to the creation of a developer jointly owned by the two companies. The resulting company, IO Interactive, was established on 16 September 1998, with Reto-Moto's seven employees—Jesper Vorsholt Jørgensen, Rasmus Guldberg-Kjær, Martin Munk Pollas, Karsten Lemann Hvidberg, Jacob Andersen, Janos Flösser, and David Guldbrandsen—serving as the founders and initial staff of IO Interactive. Nordisk Film and the seven founders each held a 50% stake in the venture. By March 2004, Nordisk Film owned 40.3% in IO Interactive.

Hitman: Codename 47 (1998–2000)
Early on, IO Interactive conceptualised a fantasy massively multiplayer online game (MMO) entitled Rex Dominus, however, Nordisk Film staff asked the development team to cease production on Rex Dominus and "test [themselves]" by developing a "simple shooter" instead. As such, the team opted for a run-and-gun action game, as it took less time to develop compared to an MMO, drawing inspiration from John Woo films, such as Hard Boiled and The Killer. They turned to develop for personal computers (PCs), because they were unable to acquire development kits for consoles, and had also found interest in the steady increase of PCs' 3D graphics capabilities.

A part of the development on the game, which would later become Hitman: Codename 47, was the creation of the Glacier, the studio's proprietary game engine that fit their needs; co-founder Andersen stated: "Since killing was the main theme of the game, we wanted to do something special. [...] Standard 'death animations' just looked too static so some of the coders tried to see if they could use real-time inverse kinematics for the falling bodies. The first versions ran terribly slowly until one of the programmers figured out a way to fake the whole calculation." This led to the first use of advanced ragdoll physics in a video game. This physics system caught the eyes of British publisher Eidos Interactive, and especially staff member Jonas Eneroth, who thought that the system could greatly benefit Codename 47 gameplay. Following six months of negotiations, a publishing deal was signed between IO Interactive and Eidos Interactive. Eneroth became executive producer on the project.

As executive producer, Eneroth encouraged the development team to stray away from the run-and-gun gameplay, and instead focus on a "methodical experience", including dragging dead bodies around the scene to create tension. He had previously worked on Deus Ex and Thief: The Dark Project, which had heavily exposed him to the stealth game mechanics he wished to see in Codename 47. The game was released on 19 November 2000, with reception mixed due to the difficulty of the game.

Further ventures (2000–2004)
In October 2001, Eidos Interactive announced Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, a sequel to Codename 47. Following a slight delay in March 2002, it was released in October 2002, this time for Microsoft Windows, as well as PlayStation 2 and Xbox. To more easily overcome the challenge of bringing the game to consoles, IO Interactive grew "considerably" in headcount. The game was received well by critics; according to Greg Kasavin in his review for GameSpot, "Hitman 2 fixes virtually all of the problems of its predecessor". The success of Silent Assassin came as a surprise to the team, and was swiftly followed up with by porting the game to GameCube the following year.

In 2003, IO Interactive decided to open a Hungarian offshoot, named IO Interactive Hungary. To properly establish the studio, 50 Hungarian staff were hired and brought to the company's Copenhagen headquarters for a six-month training programme. However, after the training had been finished, IO Interactive realised that there were 50 people with talent but no leadership that could guide them when in Hungary. Instead of fulfilling the Hungarian subsidiary, IO Interactive opted to offer all 50 people jobs at their headquarters, to which most of them agreed. In October that year, Electronic Arts released Freedom Fighters, an IO Interactive-developed third-person shooter which was previously announced as Freedom: The Battle for Liberty Island in May 2002. Although a sequel to Freedom Fighters has been anticipated, IO Interactive has been unable to comment on whether such a game was in development.

Acquisition by Eidos Interactive, further Hitman releases (2004–2006)
On 3 March 2004, Eidos Interactive announced that they were acquiring IO Interactive for GB£23 million in cash and stock, plus another GB£5 million linked to the studio's performance in the following four years. The deal closed on 31 March that year. At the time, IO Interactive was Europe's 10th largest video game developer, with 140 staff members employed at their offices. The sale was primarily negotiated by founding member Flösser.

The first game to release under Eidos Interactive's management was Hitman: Contracts, the third game in the Hitman franchise, which was announced and released in April that year. The game was developed in about nine months, from concept stage to console submission, but was under the influence of "crunch time" throughout the entire development. Contracts received positive reception. The next game, Hitman: Blood Money, was announced shortly afterwards, in November 2004. Released in May 2006, the game was praised by critics and retrospectively multiply referred to as the best game in the Hitman series.

Other games (2006–2010)
IO Interactive announced their next game, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, in August 2006. Unlike their Hitman games, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men played as a linear, cooperative gameplay-focused third-person shooter, as opposed to Hitman sandbox solo stealth gameplay. Released in November 2007, the game gained mixed reviews, wherein some reviewers felt like the game had a disconnect with modern gameplay styles. On 11 April 2008, four of IO Interactive's co-founders, Vorsholt Jørgensen, Pollas, Andersen and Guldbrandsen, announced that they had, together with former Eidos Interactive executive producer Neil Donnell, reformed Reto-Moto as an active developer. Guldbrandsen and Donnell became chief technology officer and chief executive officer, respectively. Six further IO Interactive employees followed to Reto-Moto in December that year. Co-founder and at the time managing director Flösser left the company in April 2008, and was succeeded by Niels Jørgensen, who had joined the company in 2002.

In January 2009, Eidos Interactive announced IO Interactive-developed Mini Ninjas, a family-friendly game, as opposed to all of the studio's previous titles. Jørgensen explained that, using Mini Ninjas, the studio wanted to reach a broader demographic in the gaming market. Shortly after the announcement of Mini Ninjas, in April 2009, Eidos Interactive was acquired by Japanese video game conglomerate Square Enix for GB£84.3 million. Eidos Interactive was reorganised over the course of 2009 and became known as Square Enix Europe in November that year. Square Enix Europe continued to oversee their previously owned development studios, including IO Interactive. Speaking for IO Interactive, Karsten Lund stated that the studio experienced "no loss of freedom" following the buyout.

A sequel to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, titled Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, was announced in November 2009, and released in August 2010. Critics found that most elements in the game had deliberately been made "ugly" to better fit into the well-told story of the game. In a November 2009 interview with gaming website Gamasutra, Jørgensen revealed that, due to the high costs associated with living in Scandinavia, much of the company's graphic department had been outsourced to Shanghai. The Chinese office had been set up by two Danish representatives from IO Interactive, with one Dane permanently residing in Shanghai to look over the outsourcing progress. In March 2010, 35 of previously 200 employees were let go from the company. A further 30 people were laid off in November that year, supposedly due to the cancellation of a project that was in development for Microsoft.

Return to Hitman (2011–2016)
In May 2011, IO Interactive and Square Enix announced that they would be returning to the Hitman franchise through a new entry, Hitman: Absolution. A spin-off demo, Hitman: Sniper Challenge, was released in May 2012. Absolution was released in November that year, and, like Blood Money, saw highly positive reception from critics. However, many fans of the series, including the developers at IO Interactive, felt like Absolution was leaning too far into the mainstream, as a result of which they were losing their core player base. In February 2012, Square Enix opened a new Copenhagen office under the IO Interactive name. The following March, this new office was announced to be Hapti.co, a subsidiary studio focused on mobile games. Hapti.co was sold to Wargaming Mobile, the mobile games division of publisher Wargaming, in September 2017, and was renamed as Wargaming Copenhagen.

In June 2013, 70 staff members, half of IO Interactive's workforce at the time, were made redundant due to "internal adjustments to face the challenges of today's market". Square Enix announced that, from that point on, IO Interactive would exclusively focus on the development of new entries in the Hitman franchise. At the same time, Hannes Seifert, who for the past three years had held the position of production director at IO Interactive, took over the company's management as studio head. At a June 2015 press conference, Sony announced that a new game in the Hitman series, simply titled Hitman, had been slated for a December 2015 release. The game was shortly delayed to March 2016, and later announced to be released in an episodic model. As such, starting in March 2016, the first season for the game was released through six episodes, the last of which was released in October 2016. Around the same time, Ryan Barnard, previously director of the game The Division, left Massive Entertainment to join IO Interactive. At the time, IO Interactive had 170 employees, and was the largest video game developer in Denmark.

Management buyout, further Hitman games, Project 007 (2017–present)
Seifert announced in February 2017 that he had left IO Interactive to return to his home country of Austria to pursue an unannounced project. Hakan B. Abrak, also formerly production director for the studio, took over his duties, becoming chief executive officer.

In May 2017, Square Enix announced that they had withdrawn funding from IO Interactive and would begin negotiating with potential investors that would want to purchase the studio. Several jobs were cut at IO Interactive shortly following that announcement. On 16 June 2017, IO Interactive announced that it had performed a management buyout, as a result of which they became independent. Square Enix retained a minor financial stake in IO Interactive. The buyout also included the intellectual property (IP) for Hitman and Freedom Fighters, but lacked that of Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas. Yosuke Matsuda, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix at the time, stated that the company's decision to divest itself of IO Interactive, alongside Hitman, was made because they felt like the series needed to go on, but would be in better hands with another partner or with IO Interactive itself. IO Interactive's associate director, Eskil Mohl, said that, when Square Enix decided to withdraw from the studio, they were already working on Hitman 2, and the job cuts were a necessary step to make sure that the studio would remain viable without Square Enix's backing; Mohl felt that this helped harden the studio to make Hitman 2 a stronger game.

IO Interactive confirmed shortly after the split that all profits from 2016's Hitman would from that point go directly to the studio. In August that year, the studio confirmed that another Hitman game was in development. In April 2018, IO Interactive partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) to distribute a Definitive Edition of 2016's Hitman, which was released in the following month. In June 2018, IO Interactive announced Hitman 2. Unlike 2016's Hitman, Hitman 2 does not feature an episodic release format. Published by WBIE, Hitman 2 was released in November that year. On 16 January 2019, IO Interactive opened a subsidiary studio, IOI Malmö, in Malmö, Sweden. IO Interactive continued its partnership with WBIE and, by October 2019, had turned it into a multi-IP deal.

In June 2020, IO Interactive announced Hitman 3, the conclusion to their World of Assassination trilogy, which was released on 20 January 2021 for Windows computers and current and next-gen consoles, with IO publishing the game themselves.

In November 2020, the company announced Project 007, an original James Bond video game, working closely with licensors MGM and Eon Productions. IO studio director Hakan Abrak said they had spent about two years in preparing a pitch to the Bond license holders, knowing that the current rights holders, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were dissatisfied with the amount of violence in past Bond video games. IO's Bond will be a wholly original character and not use any of the film actors' likenesses, and Abrak anticipates that this game would be the start of a trilogy of Bond games. Abrak expected that the game would require them to double their current staff of 200 employees to 400 by the time the first Bond game is released.

IOI Barcelona, based in Barcelona, Spain, was announced in April 2021. The studio is to assist IOI on its active projects, including Hitman and Project 007 game.

In February 2023, IO Interactive announced Project Fantasy, this new IP is set to be an online fantasy RPG, a departure from IO's Hitman games.

IOI Brighton, in Brighton, England, was announced by the company in July 2023. The studio initially will support IO's Project 007, Project Fantasy and Hitman.

Cancelled games

 * Rex Dominus
 * Unannounced game for Microsoft (2009)

Glacier
Glacier is a proprietary in-house game engine developed for the Hitman series, Freedom Fighters, the Kane & Lynch series and Mini Ninjas. Glacier supports DLSS, XeSS and FSR. The engine supports ray tracing in Hitman 3. Eidos-Montréal licensed Glacier for their own in-house engine, Dawn Engine.

title: IO Interactive


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GRB

GRB or grb may refer to:

Organizations

 * Gage Roads Brewing Company (ASX stock code: GRB), an Australian brewery
 * Game Rating Board, former name of the South Korean game rating organization
 * GRB Studios, an American television production company

Science and technology

 * Gamma-ray burst, an astronomical event
 * Granzyme B (GrB), serine protease most commonly found in the granules of NK cells and cytotoxic T cells
 * , the file extension of GRIB files

Transportation

 * Great Bentley railway station (station code), in Essex, England
 * Green Bay–Austin Straubel International Airport (IATA and FAA LID: GRB), in Wisconsin, US

Other uses

 * George R. Brown Convention Center, in Houston, Texas, US
 * Grebo language (ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3: grb), spoken in Liberia and Ivory Coast

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

title: GRB


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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Its story follows Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the Ministry of Magic is in denial of Lord Voldemort's return.

Filming took place in England and Scotland for exterior locations and Leavesden Film Studios in Watford for interior locations from February to November 2006, with a one-month break in June. Post-production on the film continued for several months afterwards to add in visual effects. The film's budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million ($150–200 million).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in 2D cinemas and IMAX formats in the United States on 11 July 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 12 July, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was nominated for many awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design and Special Visual Effects. With a worldwide five-day opening of $333 million and a total gross of $942 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2007, the film was noted as a case of Hollywood accounting, as Warner Bros. claimed that it lost $167 million despite the total gross.

A sequel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released in 2009.

Plot
While staying at the Dursleys', Harry Potter and Dudley are attacked by Dementors. Harry repels them using a Patronus spell. The Ministry of Magic detects the underaged Harry using magic and expels him from Hogwarts, though he is later exonerated.

The Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation founded by Albus Dumbledore, informs Harry that the Ministry of Magic is attempting to stonewall rumors about Lord Voldemort's return. At the Order's headquarters, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, mentions that Voldemort seeks an object he previously lacked; Harry believes it to be a weapon.

Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has appointed Dolores Umbridge as Hogwarts new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Umbridge's refusal to teach defensive spells causes her and Harry to clash. Harry is forced to write lines for "lying" about Voldemort. A magic quill etches the words into his hand as he writes. Ron and Hermione are outraged, but Harry refuses to tell Dumbledore, who has distanced himself from Harry. As Umbridge gains more control over the school, Ron and Hermione help Harry form "Dumbledore's Army", a secret group to teach students defensive spells. Umbridge recruits Slytherins for an Inquisitorial Squad to spy on the other students. Meanwhile, Harry and Cho Chang develop romantic feelings for each other.

One night, Harry envisions Arthur Weasley being attacked at the Ministry, seeing it from the attacker's perspective. Concerned that Voldemort will exploit this connection to Harry, Dumbledore has Severus Snape teach Harry Occlumency to defend his mind from Voldemort's influence. During a lesson, Harry sees Snape's memories of how his father, James, bullied and tormented Snape in school. The connection between Harry and Voldemort further isolates Harry from his friends. Meanwhile, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's deranged Death Eater cousin, escapes Azkaban prison along with nine other Death Eaters. At Hogwarts, Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad expose Dumbledore's Army. Dumbledore, falsely accused of forming it, escapes as Fudge orders his arrest. Harry believes Cho betrayed Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge, ending their budding relationship. Umbridge becomes the new Headmistress.

Harry experiences a vision that Voldemort is torturing Sirius. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rush to Umbridge's office to alert the Order via the Floo Network. Umbridge catches them and, as she is about to severely punish Harry, Hermione claims Dumbledore has hidden a "secret weapon" in the Forbidden Forest. She and Harry lead Umbridge to where Hagrid's giant half-brother, Grawp is kept. The centaurs confront them and kidnap Umbridge after she insults and attacks them. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville and Ginny fly to the Ministry of Magic on Thestrals to save Sirius.

The six enter the Department of Mysteries and recover the object that Voldemort is after, a bottled prophecy labelled with Harry's name. Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, ambush them. Lucius reveals that Harry's vision of Sirius being tortured was a ruse to lure him there. Harry refuses to give Lucius the prophecy, and a fight between Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters ensues. The Death Eaters overpower the students and force Harry to surrender the prophecy. When Harry hands it to Lucius, Sirius and Remus Lupin arrive with Order members Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody. As they attack the Death Eaters, Lucius accidentally drops the prophecy, destroying it. Just as Sirius overpowers Lucius, Bellatrix kills Sirius.

Voldemort appears, but moments before he can kill Harry, Dumbledore arrives. A violent duel erupts, destroying much of the Atrium, while Bellatrix escapes. The two wizards are evenly matched, so Voldemort possesses Harry's body, wanting Dumbledore to sacrifice him. The love Harry feels for his friends and family quickly drives out Voldemort. Ministry officials arrive before Voldemort disapparates; Fudge admits that Voldemort has returned and resigns in disgrace. Umbridge is dismissed and Dumbledore returns as Hogwarts headmaster. Dumbledore explains he had distanced himself from Harry to prevent Voldemort exploiting their connection. He also reveals the prophecy. As he grieves Sirius's death, Harry tries coming to terms with the prophecy: "Neither can live while the other survives."

Cast

 * Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter: A 15-year-old British wizard famous for surviving his parents' murder at the hands of Voldemort as an infant, who now enters his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
 * Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley: Harry's best friend at Hogwarts.
 * Emma Watson as Hermione Granger: Harry's Muggle-born best friend and the brains of the trio.
 * Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange: one of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters and the cousin of Sirius Black.
 * Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid: the half-giant Gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort: leader of the Death Eaters, a Dark wizard intent on conquering the wizarding world
 * Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore: the legendary Hogwarts headmaster and leader of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody: Ex-Auror and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley: Harry's Muggle uncle.
 * Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy: a falsely pardoned senior Death Eater.
 * Gary Oldman as Sirius Black: Harry's godfather and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Alan Rickman as Severus Snape: the Potions teacher at Hogwarts and the Head of Slytherin
 * Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley: Harry's Muggle aunt.
 * Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall: the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge: the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and a plant from the corrupt Ministry of Magic.
 * David Thewlis as Remus Lupin: Harry's ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
 * Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney: the Divination teacher at Hogwarts.
 * Julie Walters as Molly Weasley: the Weasley matriarch and a mother figure to Harry, also a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Mark Williams appears as Molly Weasley's husband, Arthur, a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Warwick Davis plays Filius Flitwick, the school's charms teacher, maestro and Head of Ravenclaw House while David Bradley plays Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch. Tom Felton, Jamie Waylett and Joshua Herdman play Slytherin students Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. James and Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright and Chris Rankin play Ron's siblings, Fred, George, Ginny and Percy while Devon Murray, Alfred Enoch and Matthew Lewis play Gryffindor students, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. Katie Leung plays Harry's love interest, Cho Chang. Robert Hardy plays the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Harry Melling plays Harry's cousin, Dudley Dursley.

Evanna Lynch joins the cast as Ravenclaw student Luna Lovegood. Timothy Bateson voices house-elf, Kreacher and Tony Maudsley plays Hagrid's half-brother, Grawp. Kathryn Hunter plays the Dursley's neighbour, Mrs. Figg. George Harris and Natalia Tena play members of the Order of the Phoenix, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks.

Development
British television director David Yates was chosen to direct the film after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell, as well as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Vaughn and Mira Nair, turned down offers. Yates believed he was approached because the studio saw him fit to handle an "edgy and emotional" film with a "political backstory", which some of his previous television projects including State of Play, Sex Traffic and The Girl in the Café demonstrated. Producer David Heyman supported Yates's comments about the film's political theme, stating that "[Order of the Phoenix] is a political film, not with a capital P, but it's about teen rebellion and the abuse of power. David has made films in the UK about politics without being heavy handed." On the film's political and social aspects, Emma Watson stated that "somehow it talks about life after 7 July, the way people behave when they're scared, the way truth is often denied and all the things our society has to face. Facing the fact that the authority is corrupted means having a non-conformist approach to reality and power."

Steve Kloves, the screenwriter of the first four Potter films, had other commitments. Michael Goldenberg, who was considered to pen the first film in the series, filled in and wrote the script. Kloves subsequently returned to write all remaining instalments of the series.

Mark Day was the film editor, Sławomir Idziak was the cinematographer, and Jany Temime was the costume designer. Choreographer Paul Harris, who had previously worked with David Yates several times, created a physical language for wand combat to choreograph the wand fighting scenes.

Casting
Casting began as early as May 2005, when Radcliffe announced he would reprise his role as Harry. Across the media frenzy that took place during the release of Goblet of Fire, most of the main returning actors announced their return to the series, including Grint, Watson, Lewis, Wright, Leung, and Fiennes.

The announcements of the casting of the rest of the new characters to the series was spanned across 2006. Evanna Lynch won the role of Luna Lovegood over 15,000 other girls who attended the open casting call, waiting in a line of hopefuls that stretched a mile long. Saoirse Ronan auditioned for the role but was considered too young.

Persistent rumours linked Elizabeth Hurley to the role of Bellatrix Lestrange, although Warner Bros. asserted there was "no truth whatsoever" to reports that she had been cast. As early as August 2005, rumours began linking Helen McCrory to the role. On 2 February 2006, it was announced that McCrory had indeed been cast as Bellatrix. However, in April 2006 she revealed that she was three months pregnant and withdrew from the film because she would not have been able to perform the intense battle sequences in the Ministry of Magic in September and October 2006. The announcement that Bonham Carter had been recast in the role was made on 25 May 2006. McCrory was subsequently cast as Narcissa Malfoy from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince onwards.

The inclusion or cutting of some characters sparked speculation from fans as to the importance of the characters in the final book of the series, which was released just ten days after the film. In April 2006, representatives of Jim McManus said he would be playing Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's brother and the barman of the Hog's Head, in which Harry and his friends found Dumbledore's Army. A week later WB announced that the role was "very minor", allaying some of the speculation to the significance of the role, which, before the final book, was not even a speaking part. MTV reported in October 2006 that Dobby the house elf, who appeared in the second film, Chamber of Secrets, and in the fifth book, would be cut, opening up "plot questions" as to how the role of the elf would be filled. MTV also reported about a month before the release of the final book that Kreacher, the Black family's house-elf, was cut from the film in one draft of the script. Rowling prodded the filmmakers to include him, saying, "You know, I wouldn't [cut him] if I were you. Or you can, but if you get to make a seventh film, you'll be tied in knots", he was added back into the script.

Other minor roles were cut with subsequent drafts of the script. At the US premiere of Goblet of Fire, series producer David Heyman said that former Hogwarts professor Gilderoy Lockhart, played by Kenneth Branagh in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was in the first draft of the script for Phoenix. Neither Branagh nor the character of Lockhart appears in the final version. Tiana Benjamin was scheduled to return for the film in the role of Angelina Johnson, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but she had to withdraw due to a commitment to playing Chelsea Fox in EastEnders. The character, as well as the entire Quidditch subplot, was ultimately cut from the film. Benjamin did record sound clips for the Order of the Phoenix video game.

The family of footballer Theo Walcott made a cameo appearance in the film. They were signed on by director David Yates, who is the partner of Yvonne Walcott, Theo's aunt. Theo himself was due to appear alongside his family, though his commitments to Arsenal Football Club forced him to pull out.

Set design
Stuart Craig returned as set designer, having designed the first four films' sets. There were a number of notable new sets in this film. The atrium in the Ministry of Magic is over 200 feet in length, making it the largest and most expensive set built for the Potter film series to date. Craig's design was inspired by early London Underground stations, where, he said, architects "tried to imitate classical architecture but they used ceramic tile", as well as a Burger King on Tottenham Court Road in London, where "there's a fantastic Victorian façade which just embodies the age". The set of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place contains the Black family tapestry spread across three walls; when the producers told Rowling they wanted to visualise the details of each name and birth year, she faxed them a complete copy of the entire tree. The set of the Hall of Prophecies was entirely digitally built. During a fight scene which occurs there, prophecies crash to the ground and break; had it been an actual physical set, the reset time would have been weeks.

The set used for Igor Karkaroff's trial scene in Goblet of Fire was doubled in size for Harry's trial in this film, while still protecting its symmetry. New professor Dolores Umbridge, though she teaches in a classroom that has appeared in films two through four, inhabits an office vastly different from those of her predecessors. The set was redressed with "fluffy, pink filigree" and a number of plates upon which moving kittens were animated in post-production. A 24-hour photo shoot was held to photograph and film the kittens for use on these plates. The quill which Umbridge gives Harry to write lines is designed by the set designers.

Filming
Rehearsals for Order of the Phoenix began on 27 January 2006, and principal photography began on 7 February 2006 and wrapped in November 2006. Filming was put on a two-month hiatus starting in May 2006 so Radcliffe could sit his A/S Levels and Watson could sit her GCSE exams. The film's budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million (US$150–200 million). The largest budget of the other films in the series has been the £75 million it cost to make Goblet of Fire. Though the producers explored options to film outside of the UK, Leavesden Film Studios in Watford was again the location on which many of the interior scenes, including the Great Hall, Privet Drive, and Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place were shot.

One of the locations in England is the River Thames, used for the flight of the Order of the Phoenix to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place and the flight of Dumbledore's Army to the Ministry of Magic. This sequence also includes such landmarks as the London Eye, Canary Wharf, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and HMS Belfast (C35). Filming at platform nine and three-quarters took place at King's Cross station, as it has in the past. A red telephone booth near Scotland Yard was used as Harry and Arthur Weasley enter the Ministry, while the crew closed the Westminster tube station on 22 October 2006 to allow for filming of Arthur Weasley accompanying Harry to his trial at the Ministry of Magic. Other scenes were filmed in and around Oxford, specifically at nearby Blenheim Palace in Woodstock.

In Glenfinnan, the Hogwarts Express crosses a viaduct, as it has in the past films. Aerial scenes were shot in Glen Coe, Clachaig Gully, and Glen Etive, which, at the time of filming, was one of the few places in Scotland without snow, making it ideal for a backdrop.

Director David Yates stated in an interview that he had originally shot a three-hour cut of Order of the Phoenix. However, some material had to be cut out in the final edit, as the movie was 45 minutes too long. Therefore, several locations that were used for various scenes do not appear in the final cut of the film. In Virginia Water, scenes were shot where Professor McGonagall recovers from Stunning Spells, and Burnham Beeches was used for filming the scene where Hagrid introduces his fifth-year Care of magical creatures class to Thestrals. Harry skips stones in front of the Glenfinnan Monument in Glenfinnan in another cut scene.

Visual effects
The film required over 1,400 visual effects shots, and the London-based company Double Negative created more than 950 of them. Working for six months on previsualisation starting in September 2005, Double Negative was largely responsible for sequences in the Room of Requirement, the Forbidden Forest, the Hall of Prophecies, and the Death Chamber.

A new character in the film, Grawp, Hagrid's giant half-brother, came to life by a new technology called Soul Capturing, developed by Image Metrics. Instead of building the character from scratch, the movements and facial expressions of actor Tony Maudsley were used to model Grawp's actions.

Music and soundtrack
Nicholas Hooper was the composer for the soundtrack of the film, following John Williams, who scored the first three films, and Patrick Doyle, who did the fourth. In the new score, Hooper incorporated variations on "Hedwig's Theme", the series' theme originally written by Williams for the first film and heard in all subsequent instalments. In March and April 2007, Hooper and the Chamber Orchestra of London recorded nearly two hours of music at Abbey Road Studios in London. The score, like the film and book, is darker than previous instalments in the series. To emphasise this, the two new main themes reflect the sinister new character Dolores Umbridge, and Lord Voldemort's invasion of Harry's mind. A Japanese Taiko drum was used for a deeper sound in the percussion. The soundtrack was released by Warner Bros. Records on 10 July 2007, the eve of the film's release. For his work on the film, Hooper was nominated for a World Soundtrack Discovery Award. The trailer prominently features the cues "Divine Crusade" by X-Ray Dog and "DNA Reactor" by Pfeifer Broz. Music.

The film also featured the song "Boys Will Be Boys" by The Ordinary Boys which played during a scene in the Gryffindor common room (at min. 31:35). According to Rupert Grint, David Yates used the song to create a more "casual" feel to the Common Room.

Differences from the book
At 766 pages in the British edition and 870 in the American edition, Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the Harry Potter series, however the film is the second shortest. Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg described his task to cut down the novel as searching for "the best equivalent way to tell the story. My job was to stay true to the spirit of the book, rather than to the letter". Goldenberg said that Rowling told him, the producers, and Yates that "she just wanted to see a great movie, and gave [them] permission to take whatever liberties [they] felt [they] needed to take to translate the book into a movie she would love". Cutting down the book to meet the time frame of the film, Goldenberg explained, became "clearer when [he] figured out that the organising principle of the screenplay was to narrate Harry's emotional journey". He and Yates "looked for every opportunity to get everything [they] could in there. And where [they] couldn't, to sort of pay homage to it, to have it somewhere in the background or to feel like it could be taking place off-screen".

One cut Goldenberg had to make, which he "hated" to do, was the absence of Quidditch, the Wizarding sport. "The truth is that any movie made of this book, whoever made it, that had included the Quidditch subplot would have been a lesser film", he said. In the book, Ron grows as a character by trying out for the Quidditch team. "Ron facing challenges and coming into his own in the same way that Harry is, we tried to get that into the film in other ways, as much as possible. So, you feel like, if not the details of that story, at least the spirit of it is present in the film". The change disappointed actor Rupert Grint who had been "quite looking forward to the Quidditch stuff".

In a significant scene in the book, Harry sees a memory of his own father humiliating Snape in their school days, and Snape insulting his mother after she stood up for him. In the film, it is abbreviated to an "idea", in Goldenberg's words. "It's an iconic moment when you realise your parents are normal, flawed human beings. ... Things get trimmed out, but I kept the meat of that in there – and that was what really gave me the coming-of-age story." Young Lily Potter did not appear at all, but promotional screenshots showed unknown teenager Susie Shinner in the role.

The scene at St Mungo's, the hospital where Harry and friends run into classmate Neville Longbottom and learn that his parents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, was cut because it required the construction of a new set. The main purpose of the action of the scene was relocated to the Room of Requirement after one of Dumbledore's Army's lessons. Also, to speed up the film's climax, several events in the Ministry leading up to Harry's battle with Voldemort were removed, including the brain room. Mrs. Weasley's encounter with a boggart at Grimmauld Place, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy becoming prefects, the appearance of Mundungus Fletcher, and Firenze teaching Divination followed suit.

The character of Kreacher the house-elf, who was included in the script only at Rowling's request, has a larger part in the book than the film. In the novel, he is seen saving some of the Black family's artefacts which the Order of the Phoenix throw away, including a locket that ends up being extremely important in the seventh book. "It was kind of tricky to raise that in our story, because it's for so much later", Yates said. "We figured we can probably introduce it later, and that's the approach we took". Whilst Kreacher remained, all parts involving Dobby were cut, and his important actions were given to other characters.

Rita Skeeter, the journalist played by Miranda Richardson in Goblet of Fire, was also removed. In the book, Hermione blackmails her into writing an article that supports Harry as the rest of the wizarding world denies his claims. Richardson noted that "it's never gonna be the book on film, exactly. ... They'll take certain aspects from the book and make it something that they hope is going to be commercial and that people want to see".

Marketing
The first trailer was released on 17 November 2006, attached to another WB film, Happy Feet. It was made available online on 20 November 2006, on the Happy Feet website. The international trailer debuted online on 22 April 2007 at 14:00 UTC. On 4 May 2007, the US trailer was shown before Spider-Man 3.

Three posters released on the Internet that showed Harry accompanied by six classmates, including Hermione Granger, generated some controversy by the media. They were essentially the same picture, though one advertised the IMAX release. In one poster, the profile of Hermione, played by Emma Watson, was made curvier as the outline of her breasts was enhanced. Melissa Anelli, webmistress of noted fan site The Leaky Cauldron, wrote:

The video game version, designed by EA UK, was released 25 June 2007, as well as Harry Potter: Mastering Magic mobile game by EA Mobile. Lego produced just one set, a model of Hogwarts, the lowest number of sets for a film so far. NECA produced a series of action figures, while a larger array of smaller figures was also produced by PopCo Entertainment, a Corgi International company.

Theatrical release
The film was the third Harry Potter film to be given a simultaneous release in conventional theatres and IMAX. The IMAX release featured the full movie in 2D and the final 20 minutes of the film in 3D. According to estimates in March 2007, by Warner Bros., the film would debut on over 10,000 theatre screens during the summer.

Previews of the film began in March 2007 in the Chicago area. Under tight security to prevent piracy, WB had security guards patrol the aisles, looking for cell phone cameras or small recording devices, at a preview in Japan. The world premiere took place in Tokyo, Japan on 28 June 2007. MySpace users could bring copies of their online profiles to gain free admission to sneak previews in eight different cities across the country on 28 June 2007. The UK premiere took place on 3 July 2007 in London's Odeon Leicester Square, during which author J. K. Rowling made a public appearance. The US premiere took place on 8 July in Los Angeles. After the premiere, the three young stars of the film series, Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson, were honoured with a ceremony where their handprints, footprints, and "wandprints" were placed in the cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Originally, Warner Bros. set the Australian release date as 6 September 2007, nearly two months after the majority of other release dates. However, after complaints from the Australian community, including a petition garnering 2,000 signatures the date was pulled back to 11 July 2007. The release dates of the film in the UK and US were also moved back, both from 13 July, to 12 and 11 July, respectively.

Even though the book is the longest in the series (over 700 pages), the film is 138 minutes long (2 hours and 18 minutes), the second shortest in the entire film series.

Home media
The DVDs included additional scenes, a feature showing a day in the life of Natalia Tena, who played Nymphadora Tonks, an A&E documentary about the films and books, and a featurette on film editing in Phoenix. The DVD-ROM features a timeline and a sneak peek of the next film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). The HD DVD and Blu-ray contain additional features, such as the "in-movie experience", a video commentary in which members of Dumbledore's Army share their favourite moments from the production of the film, and "focus points" featurettes on how certain scenes of the film were made. The HD DVD also includes an exclusive feature called "community screening", which enables owners of the HD DVD to watch the film together over the Internet. Order of the Phoenix was the seventh best-selling DVD of 2007, with 10.14 million units. The high-definition DVDs had combined sales of 179,500 copies, with more units coming from the Blu-ray version. The film overall made a revenue of $200.2 million from home video sales in the US.

There was also a third DVD with extras featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the sets of the movie. This can only be found in those purchased at Target stores (Future Shop in Canada) since it is a Target exclusive. The package included a one-time-only code that activated a digital copy of the film, which may be played on a computer with Windows Media Player. The digital copy is not playable on Macintosh or Apple Inc. iPod devices. This issue was partially addressed, with the film being made available on the iTunes Store in the UK but not the US.

Box office
The film opened to a worldwide 5-day opening of $333 million, the fourteenth-biggest opening of all time. In the United States, tickets for hundreds of midnight showings of the film, bought from online ticket-seller Fandango, were sold out, making up approximately 90% of the site's weekly ticket sales. In the US and Canada, midnight screenings (very early morning on 11 July) brought in $12 million from 2,311 midnight exhibitions making the showings "the most successful batch of midnight exhibitions ever". In one-night earnings, Phoenix is behind only At World's End, which had debuted four hours earlier on its date. In studio documents leaked in July 2010, it was revealed the film "lost" Warner Bros. about $167 million.

In North America, Phoenix earned an additional $32.2 million on Wednesday, post-midnight showings, making it the biggest single-day Wednesday gross in box office history, with a total of $44.2 million from 4,285 theatres. That amount topped Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 2, which held the record since 2004 with its $40.4 million take on a Wednesday, until this record was broken in 2009 by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $62 million. It was also the fifth-biggest opening day for a movie in history, at the time, surpassing At World's End's $42.9 million. It earned $1.9 million from a record-breaking 91 IMAX screens, the highest opening day ever for any IMAX day of the week, beating Spider-Man 3's $1.8 million. In the UK the result was similar. The film made £16.5 million during its opening 4-day run, breaking the UK box office record for the biggest 4-day opening weekend ever.

Phoenix's gross was at $292.4 million in the US and Canada, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2007 in these regions, and at £49.2 million, or $101.4 million in the UK. Internationally, it has grossed $648 million, the seventh-highest grosser ever overseas, for a worldwide total of $942 million making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year closely behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End's $960 million gross. It became the sixth-highest-grossing film in history at the time, the second-highest-grossing Potter film worldwide, and the second Potter film to break the $900 million mark, as well as the fourth-highest-grossing Potter film in the franchise behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2s $1.341 billion, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stones $974 million, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1's $960 million and the highest-grossing 2007 film in Australia and the UK. IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the film has made over $35 million on IMAX screens, worldwide, with an impressive per-screen average of $243,000 making it the highest-grossing live-action IMAX release in history. In South Africa the film opened at number 1 with a total of $944,082.00, being screened at 87 theatres.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of based on  reviews, with an average rating of. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's not easy to take the longest Harry Potter book and streamline it into the shortest HP movie, but director David Yates does a bang up job of it, creating an Order of the Phoenix that's entertaining and action-packed." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 71 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 of 4 stars saying "Harry no longer has as much joy." The review by Charles Frederick of The Telegraph was headlined "Potter film is the best and darkest yet". Colin Bertram of the New York Daily News gave the film four out of four stars, calling it the best Potter film yet and wrote that "die-hard Potter addicts will rejoice that Yates has distilled J. K. Rowling's broad universe with care and reverence". Mark Adams of The Sunday Mirror, while giving the film four out of five stars, called it "a dark and delicious delight [and] a must-see movie". Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that the film "is the first installment in the soon-to-be series-of-seven that doesn't seem like just another spinoff capitalizing on the money-minting Harry Potter brand name. Instead, Phoenix feels like a real 'movie'".

Imelda Staunton's performance as Dolores Umbridge and Helena Bonham Carter's as Bellatrix Lestrange were widely acclaimed; Staunton was described as "coming close to stealing the show" by The Guardian and the "perfect choice for the part" and "one of the film's greatest pleasures" by Variety. Bonham Carter was said to be a "shining but underused talent" by The Times. Variety further praised Alan Rickman's portrayal of Severus Snape, writing that he "may have outdone himself; seldom has an actor done more with less than he does here". Newcomer Evanna Lynch, playing Luna Lovegood, also received good word from a number of reviewers, including the New York Times, which declared her "spellbinding".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also lauded the three principal actors' achievements, especially Radcliffe: "One of the joys of this film is watching Daniel Radcliffe grow so impressively into the role of Harry. He digs deep into the character and into Harry's nightmares. It's a sensational performance, touching all the bases from tender to fearful". Rolling Stone's review also classified the film as better than the previous four instalments in the series, by losing the "candy-ass aspect" of the first two and "raising the bar" from the "heat and resonance" of the third and fourth. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "the best of the series so far, [with] the laughs, the jitters and the juice to make even nonbelievers wild about Harry".

Leo Lewis of The Times (London) expressed disappointment that the three main actors were not able to fully advance the emotional sides of their respective characters, weakening the film. The San Francisco Chronicle complained about a "lousy" storyline, alleging that the first twenty minutes of the film, when Harry is put on trial for performing magic outside of school and threatened with expulsion, but is cleared of all charges, did not advance the plot. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Phoenix is "quite possibly the least enjoyable of the [series] so far", and that despite "several eye-catching moments", "the magic – movie magic, that is – is mostly missing". The review also criticised the under use of the "cream of British acting", noting the brief appearances of Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, David Thewlis, Richard Griffiths, and Julie Walters.

Accolades
Before it was released, Order of the Phoenix was nominated in a new category at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet. On 26 August 2007, the film won the award for Choice Summer Movie – Drama/Action Adventure at the Teen Choice Awards.

The film was also nominated for several awards at the 2007 Scream Awards presented by Spike TV, in the categories of The Ultimate Scream, Best Fantasy Movie, and Best Sequel. Daniel Radcliffe was nominated in the Fantasy Hero categories, respectively. The film won for Best Sequel and Ralph Fiennes won for "Most Vile Villain". The film picked up three awards at the inaugural ITV National Movie Awards, taking Best Family Film, Best Actor for Radcliffe and Best Actress for Emma Watson. The film was one of ten nominees for a 2007 Hollywood Movie of the Year. It was also nominated for Best Live Action Family Film at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards and won the 2007 People's Choice Award for "Favorite Movie Drama". The production was also nominated for six awards at the 13th Empire Awards, organised by Empire, including Best Film, David Yates won Best Director. Yates later received the BAFTA Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing for his four Harry Potter films, which includes Order of the Phoenix.

Nicholas Hooper received a nomination for a World Soundtrack Discovery Award for his score to the film. Imelda Staunton was nominated in the "British Actress in a Supporting Role" category at the London Film Critics Circle Awards. At the 2008 BAFTA Awards, the film was nominated for "Best Production Design" and "Best Special Visual Effects". Order of the Phoenix was also nominated for the awards from the Art Directors Guild and Costume Designers Guild, and was awarded for "Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture" by the Visual Effects Society out of six nominations. The British Academy Children's Awards (BAFTA) nominated Order of the Phoenix for Best Feature Film in 2007 and the Hugo Awards nominated the film for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) in 2008.


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Johnny Podres

John Joseph Podres (September 30, 1932 – January 13, 2008) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in the majors from 1953 to 1969, spending most of his career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Podres won four World Series titles with the Dodgers. He is best known for pitching a shutout in game 7 of the 1955 World Series to give the Dodgers their first championship.

Professional baseball career
Podres was born in Witherbee, New York, in 1932. He was of Lithuanian–Polish descent.

Podres was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before the 1951 season. He started his professional baseball career that year with the Hazard Bombers of the Mountain States League. With the Bombers, he had a 21–9 win–loss record and a 1.67 earned run average (ERA), leading the league in wins and ERA.

After spending one more season in the minors in 1952, Podres made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1953. He went 9–4 and helped the Dodgers win the National League (NL) championship. In the 1953 World Series, he made one start, taking the loss, and the Dodgers lost the series. Podres then went 11–7 in 1954.

In 1955, Podres went 9–10, and the Dodgers won the NL pennant. After the Dodgers lost the first two games of the 1955 World Series to the New York Yankees, Podres pitched a complete game, seven-hit victory on his 23rd birthday in game 3. The series went to a deciding seventh game, with Podres getting the start. Considered one of the most unlikely game 7 starters in World Series history because of his regular season record, Podres pitched a 2–0 shutout to help the Dodgers win their first and only World Series title in Brooklyn. For his performance in the World Series, he was given the first-ever World Series Most Valuable Player Award and was presented with a red two-seater Corvette. He also won the Babe Ruth Award and was later named the Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated.

Podres was out of baseball in 1956 due to military service. He returned to the Dodgers in 1957 and had his best season, going 12–9 and leading the NL with a 2.66 ERA, 155 ERA+, 1.082 WHIP, and six shutouts.

In 1958, after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Podres went 13–15 and was an All-Star for the first time. In 1959, he went 14–9, helping the Dodgers win the NL. He made two starts in the 1959 World Series, going 1–0, and the Dodgers won the series.

In 1960, Podres went 14–12 and made both of the All-Star teams that year. In 1961, he went 18–5, setting his major league career-high in wins.

In 1962, Podres went 15–13 and was an All-Star for the fourth and final time. In 1963, he went 14–12, and the Dodgers won the NL. He made one start in the 1963 World Series, winning it, and the Dodgers won the series. From 1957 to 1963, Podres pitched over 180 innings and won over 10 games every year.

Podres' play then started to decline. He went 0–2 in limited action in 1964. In 1965, he went 7–6, and the Dodgers won the NL. Podres did not play in the 1965 World Series, which the Dodgers won.

In 1966, the Dodgers traded Podres to the Detroit Tigers, for whom he played through the 1967 season. He spent 1968 in the minors and then came back for one season with the San Diego Padres in 1969 before retiring as a player.

In his 15-year MLB career, Podres had a 148–116 record, a 3.68 ERA, 1,435 strikeouts, and a 105 ERA+. He was at his best in the World Series; in four World Series, he went 4–1 with a 2.11 ERA and 18 strikeouts. As a hitter, Podres had a .190 career regular season batting average and a .313 batting average in the World Series.

Later life
After his playing career ended, Podres served as the pitching coach for the Padres, Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, and Philadelphia Phillies for 23 seasons between 1973 and 1996. Among the pitchers he worked with were Frank Viola and Curt Schilling.

In 2002, Podres was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

Podres later settled in Queensbury, New York. He died in Glens Falls, New York, in 2008 at age 75 after being hospitalized for heart and kidney ailments and a leg infection. Podres was survived by his wife of 41 years, the former Joni Taylor of Ice Follies fame, and his two sons, Joe and John Jr. He is interred at St. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Moriah, New York, which is in the Adirondack Park.

title: Johnny Podres


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Finns Point

Finns Point is a small promontory in Pennsville Township, Salem County, New Jersey, and New Castle County, Delaware, located at the southwest corner of the cape of Penns Neck, on the east bank of the Delaware River near its mouth on Delaware Bay. Due to the wording of the original charter defining the boundaries of New Jersey and Delaware, part of the promontory is actually enclosed within the state of Delaware's border, due to tidal flow and the manner in which the borders between New Jersey and Delaware were first laid out. Therefore, this portion of Finns Point, also called The Baja, is an exclave of Delaware, cut off from the rest of the state by Delaware Bay. The area is about 10 mi south of the city of Wilmington, and directly across the Delaware River from the New Castle area, and the Delaware River entrance to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Pea Patch Island, part of the state of Delaware, sits in the channel of the river facing the promontory.

The area in Delaware was previously protected as Killcohook National Wildlife Refuge but is now a confined disposal facility used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

17th century
At the time of European colonization in the 17th century the Delaware River was known as the South River and the Salem River was known as Varkens Kill, or Hogg Creek.

Tradition holds that a settlement was first planted by Finns as part of the colony of New Sweden in 1638. among them, the family of Anders Sinicka, whose surname has many variations. This is recalled in the name of the road running along the shore south of the Port of Salem, Sinnicksons Landing Road. which bears the name of the a prominent Salem County family, including Thomas Sinnickson and his descendants.

In 1641, a group of 60 settlers (20 families) from the New Haven Colony (in today's Connecticut) purchased land along the kill. In 1643, the Governor of New Sweden built Fort Nya Elfsborg, just east of present-day Salem, New Jersey, and allowed the Varkens Kill settlement to remain if they swore allegiance to Sweden.

In 1651, Fort Casimir was constructed directly across the river on the west bank of the Delaware and by 1655, the region came under the control of New Netherland, which it remained until 1664 when the English overran the settlements on the south banks of the Delaware. The peninsula on the east banks became West Jersey. The town at Salem was founded in 1675 by John Fenwick, a Quaker.

Military facilities
The promontory is the location of Finns Point National Cemetery, a military cemetery used in the American Civil War for Union and Confederate soldiers who died while at Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island. It was also the location of Fort Mott, constructed after the Civil War and used up through World War I to protect the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company facilities upriver at Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, as well as the port of Philadelphia. The fort is now part of Fort Mott State Park.

title: Finns Point


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Tweed New Haven Airport

Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles southeast of downtown New Haven, in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The airport is partly located in the City of New Haven, which owns the airport, and partly in the town of East Haven.

Tweed is one of two airports with regularly scheduled commercial service in Connecticut, the other being Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.

It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

Historical airline service
Ground-breaking ceremonies for the new airport occurred on November 11, 1929. The facility was later dedicated and opened for traffic on August 29, 1931, as the New Haven Municipal Airport. In 1961 it was renamed in honor of John H. "Jack" Tweed, its first airport manager. The first airline to serve New Haven was Li-Con Airways, Inc., (Long Island-Connecticut Airways) of Islip, Long Island, New York. That carrier commenced service on November 10, 1933, and provided passenger and airmail service until July 1934. In the fall of 1934, American Airlines began serving New Haven as a stop on flights between New York and Boston and continued service until 1960. The American service was then replaced by Allegheny Airlines and Allegheny Commuter (with the latter being operated by commuter air carriers Suburban Airlines and Pennsylvania Airlines). Allegheny operated British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets into Tweed in the mid-1970s. Eastern Airlines initiated service in 1948 and then left in 1970 due to legal challenges pertaining to a runway extension. Eastern returned briefly from 1972 to 1974 with Boeing 727 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 "Whisperjet" service nonstop to Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Washington-National (DCA) and Boston. The carrier also offered one-stop service to Miami (MIA) and Atlanta (ATL).

1970s and 1980s
Fixed base operator (FBO) New Haven Airways started scheduled flights in 1978 and became New Haven's hometown airline, NewAir, in 1980. The airline operated flights to New York's JFK and LaGuardia Airports, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington International, and Washington National Airports, with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante and Short 360 commuter turboprop aircraft. NewAir ended all service in 1985.

Competing was Pilgrim Airlines based at Groton–New London, to New York–JFK and LaGuardia, Boston, Washington (DCA) on de Havilland Canada Twin Otters and Fokker F27 turboprops. By the mid-1980s the two airlines merged and were then purchased by Hartford-based Business Express Airlines, which initially flew only from Brainard Airport to Boston and Philadelphia. Business Express established a code-sharing relationship with Delta Air Lines and became a Delta Connection feeder airline in 1985.

In 1987 Hyannis-based Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA), a commuter airline for PeoplExpress Airlines (which was subsequently merged into Continental Airlines), began flights to New Haven. PBA operating as Continental Express flew Embraer EMB-110s from Tweed to Continental's hub at Newark and also to Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

USAir Express (operated by commuter air carriers PSA, Piedmont, Allegheny) flew to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC area airports, utilizing Shorts 360, Dash-8 100/300, Dornier 328 and Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft.

Jet flights from New Haven to Chicago O'Hare Airport started in 1985–86, initially on Air Wisconsin's BAe-146s operating code sharing service as "United Express" on behalf of United Airlines. From 1991 to 1996, United Airlines Boeing 737-300s and 737-500s flew non-stop to O'Hare. Tweed was also served by Atlantic Coast Airlines operating code sharing service as United Express flying Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops to Washington Dulles Airport.

Continental Express (flown by PBA) service continued with Beechcraft 1900 and ATR 42 turboprops, while Business Express flights were operated with Saab 340 and Beechcraft 1900 turboprops.

Other small air carriers serving New Haven over the years include Ocean Airlines, Astec Air East, East Hampton Aire, Trans International Express, TW Express operated by Pocono Airlines on behalf of Trans World Airlines (TWA), and Northwest Airlink operated by Precision Airlines and Northeast Express Regional Airlines on behalf of Northwest Airlines.

1990s
By the late 1990s service began to decline to the airport. Business Express service ended, as it put its Saab-340s out of service after its acquisition by AMR Corporation. Continental Express flights ended in 1994, returned in 1995, and then left again on December 17, 1997.

21st century
Comair (Delta Connection) began service to HVN in 2004 with three daily flights to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport using CRJ-200 aircraft. The airline ceased operations at HVN in January 2006.

Pan Am Clipper Connection, operated by Boston-Maine Airways, began non-stop flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Hanscom Field, and Pease International Airport on March 8, 2007, using 19-seat Jetstream 31 aircraft. Service ended on July 30, 2007.

This left US Airways Express (Piedmont) as the only airline at Tweed, which in 2015 became American Eagle.

American Eagle was the only airline serving New Haven year-round. As of November 29, 2017, PSA replaced Piedmont's Dash 8-100 turboprop service with three daily round trips to and from Philadelphia on Canadair CRJ-200, Canadair CRJ-700 and occasionally Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets. Weekly flights to Charlotte Douglas International Airport started on December 22, 2018. Service by Republic Airways to Philadelphia and flying the Embraer E-175 commenced on May 3, 2019. On September 9, 2020, all service was shifted to Charlotte then subsequently canceled one month later on October 7, 2020. American Eagle service resumed on January 5, 2021, after a renewal of the government-subsidized CARES Act created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Service was shifted back to Philadelphia with one daily flight; however, all service ended once again on September 30, 2021.

United Airlines connects to New Havens' Union Station in downtown New Haven via Amtrak train to/from Newark Liberty International Airport ; the airport code for New Haven, in this case, is, but United does not fly to Tweed.

Today, the airport is operated by AFCO AvPorts of Dulles, Virginia, under contract with the Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport Authority.

Public transit to the airport is available on Connecticut Transit's 206 route.

On April 18, 2019, Shoreline Aviation announced a merger with Cape Air. This popular New Haven-based seaplane service is expected to continue connecting HVN with the 23rd Street Seaplane Base in New York City. The merger could also provide future connection opportunities within Cape Air/Nantucket Airline's New England service area.

On June 14, 2019, Southern Airways Express, a Florida-based-Part 135 commuter carrier, began seasonal nonstop service between Tweed and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

On May 6, 2021, Houston-based low-cost startup Avelo Airlines announced that it would be opening its first East Coast base at New Haven Tweed. The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737-700 aircraft and initial routes from Tweed would be to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, and Tampa beginning on November 3, 2021. Before service even started, two more routes were announced to Sarasota and West Palm Beach. Service began as planned on November 3 with the first flight departing New Haven to Orlando. As of 2024, service had been expanded to 25 cities.

Facilities and aircraft

Tweed-New Haven Airport covers 394 acres (159 ha) at an elevation of 12 feet (4 m) above mean sea level. It has one asphalt runway: 2/20 is 5,600 by 150 feet (1,707 x 46 m). The airport previously had a crosswind runway, 14/32, which was decommissioned in 2015.

For the 12-month period ending May 31, 2021, the airport served 36,029 aircraft operations, averaging 99 per day: 92% general aviation, 6% air taxi, 1% scheduled commercial, and <1% military. In November 2022, 63 aircraft were then based at this airport: 46 single-engine, 4 multi-engine, and 13 jet.

General aviation operations at the airport are handled by the Fixed-Base Operator, Robinson Aviation, Inc, which has been providing FBO services at the airport since 1989. Services offered include on-site maintenance, flight training and aircraft rental via New Haven Aviation Center, in addition to normal ground handling, fueling, and concierge services. General aviation accounts for the majority of traffic at the airport, catering to corporate, charter, and private-use aircraft of all sizes.

The Connecticut Wing Civil Air Patrol 73rd Minuteman Squadron (NER-CT-073) operates out of the airport.

Planned expansion and opposition
The future of the airport has been the subject of disagreement between the City of New Haven and the Town of East Haven. New Haven has advocated airport runway expansion, which would be required to attract more commercial air service and larger planes. Some groups of local residents have historically been opposed, saying that expansion would negatively affect the local environment and health of New Haven and East Haven residents.

In 2002, the FAA and the State of Connecticut had approved the airport's layout plan which specified the installation of safety overruns and extending the length of Tweed's main runway 02–20. In 2007, the FAA and the State of Connecticut approved the addition of safety overruns to Tweed's main runway. The City of New Haven issued the wetlands and building permits for the project, but officials in East Haven voted to reject the upgrade proposal and deny permits for work on the East Haven (North) side; the Airport Authority and the City of New Haven filed a lawsuit against the Town of East Haven to allow work on the north overrun, and won.

Since the lawsuit, the Airport Authority has completed the work for the $25 million safety overruns on the New Haven (south) side of the airport, as well as the East Haven (north) side.

On March 16, 2009, New Haven and East Haven announced that an agreement had been reached, keeping the main runway at 5600 ft, with all obstructions in the approach zones to be removed. Departures are to be capped at 30 per day, with a passenger cap of 180,000 boardings per year.

In July 2014, the Tweed New Haven Airport Authority and the City of New Haven sought federal grant money as a part of the Small Community Air Service Development Program. Language within this air service proposal described the airport's hope to lengthen the main runway past 5600 ft. In the same month, the airport also sought an increase in annually-appropriated State of Connecticut funds, specifically to pave the runway safety areas in order to expand the length of the runway. This legislation was not enacted and federal money for air service development was not granted. In 2015, Mayor Toni Harp of New Haven and Rep. Rosa DeLauro wrote a joint letter to residents pledging their support for runway expansion.

Opposition to the airport runway expansion is strong among some local residents, resulting in a small grassroots campaign. Tensions flared up at May 20, 2015 and May 21, 2015    community meetings. East Haven voters and Mayor Joseph Maturo still oppose Tweed expansion proposals.

In November 2015, the Airport Authority's board of directors voted to sue the State of Connecticut in Federal court.

Tim Larson, former executive director and State Senator for East Hartford, described Tweed as "an airport at a critical juncture. Commercial carriers are interested in servicing the Southern Connecticut market but will not consider coming to Tweed until the runway is lengthened." He added that "American (formerly US Airways), may discontinue our existing service when in the next few years they replace the current Dash-8 aircraft with planes that require a longer runway." Activist residents responded with a new effort against the expansion and a reporting app for noise, health, and quality of life complaints. East Haven Mayor Maturo described the lawsuit as "foolish".

In July 2019, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Tweed New Haven Airport. In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled that the state statute limiting the length of the runway is preempted by federal law, and is therefore invalid.

In December 2019, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States seeking a challenge to the runway expansion.

On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the State of Connecticut's appeal to the proposed runway expansion. Having exhausted all legal options, the state can no longer prevent the airport from expanding its runway and adding additional services.

On May 6, 2021, Avelo Airlines announced that their new East Coast hub would be located at Tweed and would hire 100 new employees to be based in New Haven. Avelo Airlines announced that flights would begin in the third quarter of 2021. It was also announced that Avports would build a new terminal on the East Haven side of the airport in addition to expanding the length of the runway. Service began with flights to four destinations in Florida, but it quickly expanded to 14 destinations in eight states. During Avelo's first full year of service, over 340,000 enplanements were recorded, an all-time record for the airport.

Highway access
The airport can be accessed from I-95's northbound Exit 50 onto Townsend Avenue, and southbound Exit 51 onto Frontage Road. More directly, the terminal is accessed by taking Fort Hale Road to Burr Street.

Public transportation
CT Transit bus route 206 provides regular daily service between the passenger terminal (upon request) and East Chapel Street in Downtown New Haven. The route also provides access to New Haven–State Street train station, which is served by Amtrak, CT Rail, and Metro-North Railroad.

Accidents and incidents

 * On March 1, 1958, an American Airlines Convair CV-240-O with eight passengers destined for Bridgeport Airport crashed on the runway after the landing gear was retracted before the aircraft had lifted off. The plane landed on its belly and a small engine fire occurred. There were no injuries.
 * On June 7, 1971, an Allegheny Airlines Convair 580 with 30 passengers arriving from Groton-New London Airport crashed, striking cottages 4890 ft from the runway. 28 occupants died. It was blamed on pilot error.
 * On January 7, 2011, a Bombardier Dash 8-100, operating as Piedmont Airlines flight 4507 from Philadelphia International Airport to New Haven was struck by lightning over the Long Island Sound. The captain reported electrical problems and diverted safely to Long Island MacArthur Airport due to better weather. The flight carried 33 passengers who were bused to New Haven.
 * On August 9, 2013, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey crashed into two houses in an East Haven residential neighborhood while on approach to this airport. The impact and the resulting fires destroyed both houses. The incident resulted in the deaths of both people on the plane (the 54-year-old pilot Bill Henningsgaard and his 17-year-old son Maxwell) and two children in one of the homes (13-year-old Sade Brantley and her 1-year-old sister Madisyn Mitchell).
 * On February 22, 2017, a single-engine Piper PA-38-112, which was operated by the Connecticut Flight Academy, crashed southeast of Runway 2 in a swamp. This is the second deadliest crash for the flight academy. The student pilot was killed on impact, the flight instructor was listed in critical condition. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the plane nosedive prior to crashing. The NTSB wrapped up its investigation and published a final report on the accident on February 12, 2018. A plastic valve inside the fuel selector was found to have failed in such a position as to restrict fuel flow to the engine, resulting in a total loss of engine power due to fuel starvation. Final blame was shared between the flight school, whom the NTSB said failed to properly address progressive wear and binding of the part, as well as the flight instructor's exceeding the critical angle of attack for the plane while attempting an emergency return to the airport, resulting in an aerodynamic stall/spin.
 * On May 3, 2020, at about 3:30 pm, a large brush fire broke out on airport property between Dean Street and Runway 02/20. The fire was extinguished in a few hours by New Haven Fire Department. No injuries were reported and no aircraft or buildings were reported damaged. The incident was not linked to any aircraft operations.
 * On June 30, 2022, at about 5:20 pm, a single-engine prop plane headed from Florida to Massachusetts crashed into the Quinnipiac River after the plane began to experience some engine troubles over New Haven. The two people on board radioed into Tweed New Haven Airport alerting them to the engine troubles. Tweed Airport personnel advised the pilot to attempt to make it to the airport to land the plane. The pilot stated that he would not make it and would ditch into the river. Both persons and a dog were rescued thanks to nearby boaters and bystanders at the Quinnipiac Marina. Fire crews along with other partners were able to safely pull the plane out of the water. The incident is being investigated by the NTSB and FAA.

title: Tweed New Haven Airport


text:
Param Vir Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime. Param Vir Chakra translates as the "Supreme Wheel of Bravery", and the award is granted for "most conspicuous bravery in the presence of the enemy". , the medal has been awarded 21 times, of which 14 were posthumous and 16 arose from actions in Indo-Pakistani conflicts. Of the 21 awardees, 20 have been from the Indian Army and one has been from the Indian Air Force. Major Somnath Sharma was the first recipient. A number of state governments of India as well as ministries of the central government provide allowances and rewards to recipients of the PVC (or their family members in case of the recipient's death).

The history of present-day Indian gallantry awards can be traced back to the rule of the East India Company, when the first formal award was instituted by Lord William Bentinck in 1834 as the Order of Merit, later renamed the Indian Order of Merit in 1902. During the First World War, the British awards system was adopted and continued through the Second World War. Post-independence, new awards were instituted on 26January 1950, with retroactive effect from 15August 1947. The PVC is equivalent to the Victoria Cross in the United Kingdom and the Medal of Honor in the United States.

History
The history of modern-day Indian gallantry awards can be traced back to the rule of the East India Company. Gold medals were awarded to Indian officers for the first time in 1795, with the first recipient being Subedar Abdul Kader of the 5thMadras Native Infantry. The chain of the gold medal awarded to Kader was inscribed with the words "For Conduct and Courage on All Occasions". In 1834 the Order of Merit was established by the then Governor-General of India, Lord William Bentinck. The decoration was renamed the Indian Order of Merit (IOM) in 1902, and Indians considered it to be "the most coveted gallantry award" until the Victoria Cross (VC)—the highest award for gallantry in the British Empire—was extended to Indians in 1911. The VC was awarded to 153 Indian and British soldiers of the British Indian Army, and civilians under its command, from 1857 until Indian independence in 1947.

During the First World War, in addition to the IOM, the award system of the British Indian Army was expanded. Based on the British practice for recognising actions of gallantry, senior officers would be awarded the Distinguished Service Order, junior officers the Military Cross, and enlisted men with the Military Medal. This system continued through the Second World War.

Post-independence, the British honours and awards system in India informally came to an end. A short time later, Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru decided to give gallantry awards for the ongoing conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. Although India and Pakistan still had the option to award British honours, the leaders felt that it would not make sense to give the same honour to personnel from opposing forces. Accordingly, in June 1948 it was decided to institute new Indian awards for gallantry: the Param Vir Chakra(PVC), Maha Vir Chakra(MVC), and Vir Chakra(VrC). After the PVC, the MVC and VrC are the second and third highest gallantry awards during wartime.

Nehru entrusted the implementation of the PVC to Major General Hira Lal Atal, the first Indian adjutant general of India. He in turn requested Savitri Khanolkar, the wife of an Indian Army officer, Vikram Khanolkar of the Sikh Regiment, to design the medal for the PVC. Coincidentally, the first PVC would be awarded to Major Somnath Sharma, the brother-in-law of Khanolkar's daughter.

Despite gaining independence from British rule, India still remained a dominion of the United Kingdom. This meant that the Governor-General of India could not approve the establishment of the awards without assent from the British Crown. Therefore, a draft of the Royal Warrant was sent to London for approval by King George VI. However, by mid-1948 it became clear that the King's ratification would not be forthcoming for some time. As author Ian Cardozo suggests: "How could the King sanction awards for a war between two members of the Commonwealth? Also, the King would have not even have been a symbolic presence on the awards."

Therefore, the draft warrants to formally establish the new gallantry awards were not put into effect. On 1January 1949, a ceasefire was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, and as it was becoming too late to honour acts of heroism from the 1947–1948 Indo-Pakistani War, Nehru forwarded the draft warrants to Governor-General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari to "institute the awards as your own". But Rajagopalachari felt that, as India was still a dominion, it would be inappropriate for him to establish the awards without the King's approval. He instead suggested to Nehru that, as India was to become a republic on 26January 1950, it would be appropriate to announce the establishment of the awards on that date, but with retroactive effect from 15August 1947.

On 26January 1950, now celebrated as Republic Day of India, the PVC was established by Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, with effect from 15August 1947 (Independence Day of India). Provision was made in the event a PVC recipient was to receive a further award of the medal; if this were to arise, the recipient would receive a bar to their existing PVC, along with a gift of a replica of the vajra (club), the weapon of Indra, the god of heaven. , no instances of an individual being conferred with a second PVC have arisen. The medal carries with it the right to use "PVC" as a post-nominal.

Regulations
The regulations of the PVC were set out in The Gazette of India the day the award was established, 26 January 1950, as follows: "First: The decoration shall be in form of a medal and styled and designated the Param Vir Chakra (hereinafter referred as the Chakra).

Second: The medal shall be circular in shape, made of bronze, one and three-eighth inches [35 mm] in diameter, and shall have embossed on the obverse, four replicas of Indra's Vajra with the state emblem embossed in the centre. On the reverse, it shall have embossed Param Vir Chakra, both in Hindi and English, with two lotus flowers between the inscriptions. A sealed pattern of the decoration shall be deposited and kept.

Third: The medal shall be suspended from the left breast by a plain purple-coloured ribbon of one and a quarter inches [32 mm] in width; on those occasions when only the ribbon is worn, a replica of Indra's Vajra in miniature shall be fixed in the centre of the ribbon.

Fourth: The Chakra is awarded for most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice, in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea, or in the air.

Fifth: The Chakra may also be awarded posthumously.

Sixth: The distinction shall be conferred by the President.

Seventh: The names of those persons upon or on account of whom the decoration may be conferred shall be published in The Gazette of India, and a Register thereof kept under the directions of the President.

Eighth:

 * (a) Officers, men and women of all ranks of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, of any of the Reserve Forces, of the Territorial Army, Militia and of any other lawfully constituted Armed Forces.

 * (b) Matrons, Sisters, Nurses and the staff of the Nursing Services and other Services pertaining to Hospitals and Nursing and Civilians of either sex serving regularly or temporarily under the orders, directions or supervision of any of the above-mentioned Forces.

Ninth: If any recipient of the Chakra shall again perform such an act of bravery as would have made him or her eligible to receive the Chakra, such further act of bravery shall be recorded by a bar to be attached to the ribbon by which the Chakra is suspended, and for every such additional act of bravery an additional bar shall be added, and any such bar or bars may also be awarded posthumously. For every bar awarded, a replica of Indra's Vajra in miniature shall be added to the ribbon when worn alone.

Tenth: The miniature decoration, which may be worn on certain occasions by those to whom the decoration is awarded, shall be half the size of the Chakra and a sealed pattern of the said miniature decoration shall be deposited and kept.

Eleventh: Every recipient of the Chakra being or ranking junior in rank to that of Sub-Lieutenant in the case of the Navy, Second Lieutenant in the case of the Army, and Pilot Officer in the case of the Air Force, shall, from the date of the act by which the decoration has been gained, be entitled to a special pension, and each additional bar shall carry with it additional pension for life at such rates as the President may prescribe. On the death of the recipient of the Chakra to whom the clause applies, the pension shall be continued to his widow until her death or remarriage under such rules as may be prescribed by the President.

Twelfth: This Chakra shall rank first among all awards.

Thirteenth: The President may cancel and annul the award of the Chakra to any person together with any pension appertaining thereto not already paid, and thereupon his or her name in the register shall be erased and he or she shall be required to surrender his or her insignia; but it shall be competent for the President to restore the decoration when such cancellation and annulment has subsequently been withdrawn, and with it such pension as may have been forfeited.

Last: Notice of cancellation or restoration in every case shall be published in The Gazette of India."

An amendment to the above regulations on 26 January 1980 saw Clause 12 deleted, and the remaining clauses renumbered accordingly.

Design specifications
The name of the award translates as the "Wheel of the Ultimate Brave". The medal is a circular bronze disc 1+3/8 in in diameter. On the obverse, or front, the National Emblem of India appears in the centre on a raised circle surrounded by four copies of the vajra, the weapon of Indra, the ancient Vedic king of the gods. The motif symbolizes the sacrifice of Rishi Dadhichi, who gave his bones to the gods to make the vajra to kill the demon Vritra. The medal is suspended from a straight-swiveling suspension bar. On the reverse, around a plain centre, are two legends separated by lotus flowers. The words "Param Vir Chakra" are written in Hindi and English. A purple ribbon, 32 mm long, holds the Param Vir Chakra.

Recipients
The PVC has been awarded 21 times, of which 14 were awarded posthumously and 16 arose from actions in Indo-Pakistani conflicts. Of the 21 awardees, 20 have been from the Indian Army, and one has been from the Indian Air Force. The Grenadiers, with three awards, have received the greatest number of Param Vir Chakras. The various Gorkha Rifle regiments of the Indian Army have received three awards, with the 1, 8, and 11 Gorkha Rifle regiments each having one PVC recipient.

, Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, who was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously in 1971, is the only Indian Air Force officer to have been honoured with the medal. Subedar Major Bana Singh, Subedar Sanjay Kumar and Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav, are the only living recipients of the award.

 * ** Rank refers to rank held at time of award.

Allowances and rewards for the awardees
The PVC also carries a cash allowance for those under the rank of lieutenant (or the appropriate service equivalent), and in some cases a cash award. Upon the death of the recipient, the pension is transferred to the spouse until their death or remarriage. In the case of a posthumous recipient who is unmarried, the allowance is paid to their parents. In the case of the award being conferred posthumously on a widow or widower, the allowance is to be paid to their son or unmarried daughter. A monthly stipend of ₹20,000 is given to the awardee along with their regular pay. The award amount and pension benefits are exempted from income tax. In addition, different ministries under the central government have various financial awards for PVC awardees.

A relatively unknown convention in the Indian Army is for a PVC recipient to be saluted, when in ceremonial uniform, by everyone in the Army irrespective of rank, although no legal provision exists.

Allowances by state governments
Many Indian states have established individual pension rewards that far exceed the central government's stipend for recipients of the PVC.

Memorials
A memorial has been built in the memory of PVC recipients at Marina Park, Port Blair, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was inaugurated in September 2014 by the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Lieutenant General Ajay Kumar Singh, in the presence of the Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command, Vice Admiral Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee.

On 2 May 2017, at a ceremony conducted in the National Media Center, New Delhi, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre inaugurated a campaign to build a "wall of valour" in a thousand educational institutions across the country. The campaign was initiated by the two serving receipts of PVC, Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav and Naib Subedar Sanjay Kumar. The campaign was named "Vidya Veerta Abhiyan". The objective is to build a wall of 15 by at various educational campuses with the voluntary contributions from the students and the faculty of respective institutions. These walls are to portray all 21 recipients of the PVC along with relevant information.

Bronze Busts of all 21 recipients are installed in the Param Yodha Sthal, which is a part of the National War Memorial. The site is adjacent to the main memorial and has informative plaques displaying the citations of the heroes.

On 23 January 2022 (birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose), the Indian government named 21 large uncharted islands in the Andaman Islands after the 21 recipients of the Param Vir Chakra.

In popular culture
The TV series Param Vir Chakra (1990), which focuses on the lives of Param Vir Chakra winners, was directed by Chetan Anand. The first episode of the series featured the first recipient of the award, Major Somnath Sharma of the Kumaon Regiment.

Indian Punjabi-language biopic movie Subedar Joginder Singh (2018) is based on Singh's life and his action during Sino-Indian War.

The Bollywood film LOC Kargil (2003) gives an account of all of the PVC recipients from the Kargil War. Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey is played by Ajay Devgan, Subedar Yogendra Singh Yadav is played by Manoj Bajpayee, Naib Subedar Sanjay Kumar is played by Sunil Shetty, and Captain Vikram Batra is played by Abhishek Bachchan.

An upcoming Hindi-language film Ekkis will focus on the life on Arun Khetarpal, who is the youngest recipient of the award.

In the 2021 film Shershaah, Sidharth Malhotra played Vikram Batra in a biopic directed by Vishnuvardhan.

title: Param Vir Chakra


text:
Talk:Trigonal crystal system

Untitled
I concure with the contributer below. the title is confusing. I looked yp this article in reference to another article (Ettringite) while researching problems with concrete. instead of a clear susinct article on Trigonal it went off and spoke at large about Rombohedral crystal systems. Importantly without really giving a clear definition of the term Trigonal. My point of view is as an engineer not someone interested in crystals so really anything beyond a definition of the term Trigonal is wasted on me.

My reference book (a Peterson field guide) lists the same name for the 3 and 3bar classes, which I think must be a typo. But I put it in anyway, rather than just take a guess based on the names of the triclinic classes, as I did at first. If anyone knows better, please fix it. Tantalate 19:46, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

Name change?
I would like to rename this and other articles so that all of the articles describing the seven crystal systems are named the same way. For example, I would like to rename this article Rombohedral crystal system. That way it woun't be confued with the general geometric shape. Any objections? O. Prytz 17:39, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
 * See my response at Talk:Orthorhombic, ditto for here. Vsmith 00:03, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Oversight
The question as to merging the trigonal system in with hexagonal system is one perpetual confusing question in crystallography. Some people certainly class the trigonal system as a kind of subset of the hexagonal.

However, at the moment, there is an omission in the coverage of the crystal systems: within the trigonal system there are both primitive (P-centered) and rhombohedral (R-centered) lattices. At the moment a search for "trigonal" redirects you to "rhombohedral". This latter entry has the statement 'There exists only one rhombohedral Bravais lattice.' True, but there is a primitive trigonal Bravais lattice, from which many space groups like P3 exist. These are not mentioned at all (so far as I can see) in the current coverage on crystal systems. In reality rhombohedral lattices are one component of the trigonal system, which consists of P- and R-centered lattices. (See for example http://cst-www.nrl.navy.mil/lattice/spcgrp/trigonal.html). The French entry on crystal systems would be good to translate and merge here (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Système_cristallin#Classification_morphologique_:_les_syst.C3.A8mes_cristallins). The latter contains a note on the confusion "Trigonal versus rhomboédrique", although I am not sure it is totally correct either.Octopodes 04:50, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Rhombohedral is not a crystal system, it is a lattice system and is defined by the symmetry of the lattice. Trigonal is a crystal system and is related to the morphological symmetry. A trigonal crystal may have either a rhombohedral or a hexagonal lattice. The two concepts are basically different and must not be confused. --Mahlerite 15:29, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The picture given is false. All angles alpha, beta and gamma should be equal. If you look at the space of quadratic form allowed by the rhombohedral symmetry, you will see that it has dimension 2. Here alpha, beta and gamma are not equal and the parameter a is allowed to vary. This implies a space of allowed quadratic form of dimension 4 which is impossible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MathieuDutourSikiric (talk contribs) 20:09, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Noted and corrected in the article text, but I do not have the means at my disposal to correct the image.

Definition?
This article doesn't seem to be helpful because it doesn't define "Rhombohedral lattice system" or "Trigonal crystal system".

It just gives vague characteristics. The problem seems endemic on crystal system/lattice/point group/etc articles. For example, is a "rhombohedral lattice system" defined as any set of points with equal length non-orthogonal translation vectors? Or does it just happen to have that property? Is it the only lattice system with that property?

What is the difference between a "rhombohedral lattice system" and a "trigonal crystal system"? Apparently there is one because this article berates the reader for not knowing the difference and then doesn't explain it.

For that matter, what is the definition of a crystal system as opposed to a lattice system? All of the articles either don't have definitions or the definitions refer to articles that refer back to the first article.

This is all very frustrating. Any ideas? --66.32.188.42 (talk) 07:43, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

title: Talk:Trigonal crystal system