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Robert Downie

Robert Downie VC, MM (12 January 1894 – 18 April 1968) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

World War I
Born on 12 January 1894 in Glasgow, Scotland, he was 22 years old, and a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 23 October 1916 east of Lesboeufs, France, when most of the officers had become casualties, Sergeant Downie, utterly regardless of personal danger and under very heavy fire, organised the attack which had been temporarily checked. At the critical moment he rushed forward shouting "Come on the Dubs!" which had an immediate response and the line rushed forward at this call. Sergeant Downie accounted for several of the enemy and in addition captured a machine-gun, killing the team. Although wounded early in the fight, he remained with his company, giving valuable assistance while the position was being consolidated.

On his homecoming, he arrived at Glasgow Central Station to be met by hundreds of people who carried him shoulder-high to a taxi. Springburn Road was decorated with flags and bunting and lined with hundreds more people, and his achievement was widely reported in the Glasgow press.

Post World War I
On 8 June 1946, Robert attended the World War II Victory Day Celebration Reception held at the Dorchester Hotel, London.

He lived in Charleston Street, Springburn, until his death in 1968. Football fans at Celtic Park regularly saw him on a Saturday as he worked as a cashier at the turnstiles. A modest man, he often played down his bravery, saying he won the medals for having 'shot the cook'. He died on 18 April 1968.

Downie has a grave/memorial at St Kentigern's Cemetery, Glasgow, Scotland. Section 21. Lair 506. Headstone.

title: Robert Downie


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Talk:Addictive Aversions

What is the problem with this article? I am one of the editors at Xenos Books and have used our catalog description for the book. Please advise. Wolfboy21@bolt.com

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

title: Talk:Addictive Aversions


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Quentin Griffin

Quentin LaVell Griffin (born January 12, 1981) is a former American football running back.

Early life
Griffin started his football career as a youth playing in the Humble Area Football League. Griffin starred at Nimitz High School in Houston.

College career
As a sophomore at Oklahoma, Griffin ran for 783 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 45 receptions for 406 yards. He was an All-Big 12 first team selection and was named to the Big 12 All-academic team, his first of three consecutive nominations to both squads. Junior totals were 182 for 884 with 9 touchdowns on the ground with 55 for 448 and 2 touchdowns as a receiver, and as a senior totaled 287 carries for 1,884 yards with 15 scores, placing him second in the league for rushing. Also caught 35 passes for 264 yards with three additional scores. The three-year starter helped his school win a national championship in 2000 and he finished fourth in school history in career rushing yards (3,756), third in touchdowns (44) and chose to preserve Billy Sims’ record and finish second in all-purpose yards (4,973). He had an Oklahoma-record six rushing touchdowns against Texas in 2000.

Professional
Griffin was drafted by the Denver Broncos of the National Football League with the 11th pick of the fourth round (108th overall) in the 2003 NFL Draft. He went on to appear in 16 games, including five starts in his initial two seasons in the league. He even set a Broncos franchise record in 2004 for most rushing yards in a season opener with a career-high 156 yards on 23 carries against the Kansas City Chiefs while also scoring the first three touchdowns of his pro career. His rise to the top came to a sudden halt in 2004 when he tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 7, ending his season early.

Although he was highly productive in two seasons with the Broncos, totaling 179 rushes for 656 yards (3.7 avg.) and two touchdowns, in addition to catching 18 passes for 129 yards and one score, the injury caused him to drop to the bottom of the depth chart behind Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell and Ron Dayne. In September 2005, Denver released Griffin and then brought him back a few weeks later, only to release him again the next month, but this time for good.

In March 2006, Griffin agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs on a one-year deal, but in September 2006, he was cut from the team.

On February 23, 2007, Griffin was chosen by the Hamburg Sea Devils as the second overall pick in the NFL Europa Free Agent Draft. Griffin was the Sea Devils' top rusher with a 4.6 yard average and was third-best among starting running backs in the NFLE. The multi-dimensional Griffin also led NFL Europa in kickoff return average.

On February 29, 2008, he was signed to a one-year plus an option year contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He was released by the Roughriders on June 20, 2008, following the team's final preseason game. According to media reports, Roughriders' head coach Ken Miller was "so upset with Griffin following (the game) that he cut the former NFLer at the airport." Griffin had reportedly pulled himself out of the game early in the second quarter, telling the coaches "he didn't have any interest in playing a preseason game where he might get hurt."

In July 2013, Griffin signed with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in Germany (GFL1). As of 2016, he is no longer on the team because the running back transitioned from playing football to coaching football.

Coaching
Griffin took his first coaching job with Missouri Southern State University. In July 2018, he left MSSU for the position of running backs coach for the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Panthers. After one season at UNI, Griffin took a position as Assistant Football Coach (Running Backs) at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas.

title: Quentin Griffin


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Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta, (born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).

Earth was submitted by India as its official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Water was Canada's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, making it only the third non-French-language Canadian film submitted in that category after Attila Bertalan's 1990 invented-language film A Bullet to the Head and Zacharias Kunuk's 2001 Inuktitut-language feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.

She co-founded Hamilton-Mehta Productions, with her husband, producer David Hamilton in 1996. She was awarded a Genie Award in 2003 for the screenplay of Bollywood/Hollywood. In May 2012, Mehta received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.

Early life
Mehta was born in Amritsar, Punjab near the militarized border of Pakistan and experienced firsthand the impacts brought forth by the Partition of India. She describes learning about warfare from citizens of Lahore, stating "Even when I was growing up in Amritsar, we used to go every weekend to Lahore, so I just grew up around people who talked about it incessantly and felt it was one of the most horrific sectarian wars they knew of."

Her family moved to New Delhi while she was still a child, and her father worked as a film distributor. Subsequently, Mehta attended Welham Girls High School, boarding school in Dehradun on the foothills of Himalayas. She graduated from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi with a degree in Philosophy.

Mehta notes how her reception to film transformed and changed as she got older and was exposed to different types of cinema, which ultimately influenced her to become a filmmaker herself. She states:

"When I was growing up in Delhi and I went to university in Delhi, I used to watch [Indian] films. I grew up with a very healthy dose of Indian commercial cinema. My father was a film distributor, so from a very young age I saw commercial Indian cinema. But once I went to university, or even my last year of school, I really started watching and enjoying Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak and had exposure to non-Hindi cinema and non-Hollywood cinema. At university, I was also exposed to directors like Truffaut and Godard. There was also intense exposure to Japanese cinema. So, Ozu, Mizoguchi."

Career
After graduating Mehta began working for a production company that made documentary and educational films for the Indian government. During the production of her first feature-length documentary focusing on the working life of a child bride, she met and married Canadian documentary filmmaker Paul Saltzman, who was in India making a film. She migrated to Toronto to live with her husband in 1973, and was credited in some of her early films as Deepa Saltzman.

Once in Canada, Mehta and Saltzman along with Mehta's brother Dilip started Sunrise Films, a production company, initially producing documentaries but moved into television production creating the television series Spread Your Wings (1977–79) about the creative and artistic work of young people from around the world. Additionally, Mehta directed several episodes of the Saltzman produced CBC drama Danger Bay (1984–90).

Mehta also directed the documentaries At 99: A Portrait of Louise Tandy Murch (1975) and Traveling Light (1986), the latter focusing on the work of Mehta's brother Dilip as a photojournalist. Traveling Light would go on to be nominated for three Gemini Awards. In 1987, based on the works of Alice Munro, Cynthia Flood and Betty Lambert, Mehta produced and co-directed Martha, Ruth and Edie. Screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, it would go on to win the Best Feature Film Award at the 11th International Film Festival in Florence in 1988.

In 1991 she made her feature-film directorial debut with Sam & Me (starring Om Puri), a story of the relationship between a young Indian boy and an elderly Jewish gentleman in the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale. It broke the record at the time for the highest-budgeted film directed by a woman in Canada at $11 million. It won Honorable Mention in the Camera d'Or category of the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Mehta followed this with her film Camilla starring Bridget Fonda and Jessica Tandy in 1994. In 2002, she directed Bollywood/Hollywood, for which she won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Mehta directed two episodes of George Lucas' television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The first episode, "Benares, January 1910", aired in 1993. The second episode was aired in 1996 as part of a TV movie titled Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father.

Mehta directed several English-language films set in Canada, including The Republic of Love (2003) and Heaven on Earth (2008) which deals with domestic violence and has Preity Zinta playing the female lead. It premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Also in 2008 Mehta produced the documentary The Forgotten Woman, directed by her brother Dilip.

In 2015, Mehta wrote and directed Beeba Boys. It premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2016, Mehta directed the drama film Anatomy of Violence, which uses fiction to explore the root causes which led to the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder.

On 29 October 2020, Telefilm Canada announced that Mehta's film Funny Boy (2020) would represent Canada in the Academy Awards race for best international feature film. However, the film was disqualified by the Academy Awards as its mix of English, Sinhala and Tamil dialogue did not surpass the required percentage of non-English dialogue.

At the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, Mehta won the Best Director award for Funny Boy. She and cowriter Shyam Selvadurai also won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In November 2021, Variety announced that Mehta is set to direct a film adaptation of Avni Doshi's novel Burnt Sugar, with Ben Silverman's Propagate Content producing the film.

Elements trilogy
Mehta is best known for her Elements Trilogy — Fire (1996), Earth (1998) (released in India as 1947: Earth), and Water (2005) — which won her much critical acclaim. Some notable actors who have worked in this trilogy are Aamir Khan, Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, John Abraham, Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, and Nandita Das. These films are also notable for Mehta's collaborative work with author Bapsi Sidhwa. Sidhwa's novel Cracking India (1991, U.S.; 1992, India; originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988, England) is the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth.

Mehta describes the conception of the idea for the Elements films to be extremely organic. She first conceived of the idea for Water while shooting in Varanasi, stating "You know, you read about widows — my grandmother is a widow — but I had never seen such institutionalization of widows until I went to Varanasi. There was a widow there called Gyanvati who was about 80 years old, and through her I got to know about ashrams and found it very moving. I thought that if I make a film, it would be about something surrounding widows; then I forgot about it. Then I wrote Fire."

After completing the filming process for Fire, Mehta told Shabana Azmi that her next film would be an adaptation of Bapsi Sidwha's Cracking India; when Azmi asked what it would be called, Mehta replied: "Earth". Mehta maintains that each film centers on politics of a certain phenomenon.

Fire follows the love affair between two sisters-in-law whose own sexless marriages bring them together in a passionate romance. It caused controversy upon its release as several Hindutva groups took issue with its central lesbian romance, one that was seen to break traditional family and religious value within society, as there were protests in cities across India. Internationally, the film was critically acclaimed and would go on to win the Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. This was also the first feature length dramatic film which Mehta both wrote and directed, a practice which she would continue throughout the rest of her career.

Earth focuses on the time before and during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and how the life of one family was uprooted by this historical event. The central focus for Earth was intended to be about "the division of the earth, but it is also metaphoric- what does our matrubhoomi (motherland) mean to us?" The film resembled Mehta's own family history as her parents fled the newly created Pakistan in 1947 whilst Mehta herself was born in Punjab, not far from the Indian/Pakistan border.

Water is about is an eight-year-old girl who is suddenly widowed. In keeping with traditions of widowhood, she is left in an ashram, where she is to live from then on. The film, meant to be shot in India, was attacked by Hindu fundamentalists who saw the film as disrespectful and who took issues with Mehta's earlier films and their portrayal of Hindu culture. The regional government overruled the permission given from the central government to the production which allowed them to film in the holy city of Varanasi. Eventually the production moved to Sri Lanka. Water opened the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.

Midnight's Children
Mehta directed Midnight's Children after collaborating on the screenplay with the novel's author, Salman Rushdie. Indian American actor Satya Bhabha played the role of Saleem Sinai while other roles were played by Shriya Saran, Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Siddharth Narayan, Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan, Shahana Goswami and Darsheel Safary.

The film was released on 9 September 2012 at Toronto International Film Festival and would be nominated for Best Motion Picture along with 7 other nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Themes
Many of Mehta's films across her career have focused on the duality of her national and cultural identity which has informed much of her filmmaking as she has been described as the "quintessential transnational filmmaker". With her childhood and heritage informing her of key Indian and Hindu traditions, she has been seen to compare these practices with a more "Westernized" philosophy that has often resulted in controversy. The production of her film Water was delayed by protests from Hindu fundamentalists whilst several of her other films releases have seen boycotts across India, including the film Fire.

Mehta's Elements trilogy notably explores themes of the emergence of new identities, particularly in the context of independence. In Fire, the older character Radha's sense of agency and empowerment increases as she becomes sexually liberated through the younger character Sita. Professor Subeshini Moodley discusses how these women employ their bodies to cross boundaries & borders, stating how “their bodies being the marginal spaces that they occupy, these protagonists don’t always begin as women with agency, but grow and develop to that point. Their marginal spaces are first defined in order to show how they later redefine and transcend its boundaries”. Put otherwise, by allowing themselves to explore their sexuality with each other, these women are breaking free of the restrictive confines of the traditional female Indian archetype that used to define their value (such as traits of virtue & obedience), and instead are reclaiming their power by transgressing the boundaries of their culture.

Another way in which Fire exemplifies the emergence of modern female identities is through its deliberate defiance of patriarchal structures through religious & cultural symbolism. The protagonists’ names of Radha and Sita are direct references to the heroines of the traditional Hindu epic, Ramayana, in which the characters Radha and Sita represent contrasting elements of feminine virtue; Radha embodying the playful adventuress and Sita being the dutiful and dedicated wife. However, Mehta switches the defining characteristics of these characters for her film, making Radha the obedient matriarch and Sita the inquisitive newlywed. This is important to note when discussing a key scene in the film in which after Ashok learns of his wife’s affair with Sita, Radha’s sari catches fire from the kitchen stove and she nearly becomes engulfed in flames. This is a clear allusion to a sequence from the Ramayana in which Sita is forced to prove her purity for her husband Rama by walking through a fire. Dr. David Burton discusses how Mehta’s film subverts the traditional symbolism of the religious epic through its reversed meaning; in Fire, Radha survives the fire not to represent her purity for her husband, but rather to “assert her freedom from patriarchal control and traditional notions of sexual purity”, once again conveying how the film effectively depicts the inception of modernity in the female realm.

As previously mentioned, Mehta based Earth on Pakistani author Bapsi Sidwha's acclaimed 1988 novel Ice Candy Man, which employs a young Parsi girl from a wealthy family as its protagonist. Mehta's decision to maintain such a privileged protagonist is noteworthy; in one scene, Lenny’s mother attempts to explain to her daughter the role which Parsis play in the movement for India’s independence, in which she compares Parsis in India to sugar in milk: “sweet but invisible”. While this takes on a negative connotation within the film, in a larger historical context, Lenny’s observation further supports Mehta’s decision to have the film’s protagonist taken on by a figure of such religious, cultural and ethnic ambivalence. The main goal of Lenny’s wealthy Parsi family is to stay neutral during the political tensions of Partition, and her astute renouncement of her family’s invisibility only reinforces this. Furthermore, “the fact that Lenny is neither Hindu nor Muslim [frees] the narrative from a divisive communal dichotomy”. Lenny’s whole world is encompassed by her relationship with her Hindu nanny, her nanny’s adoration from two Muslim men, and their diverse friend group. When the conflict of Partition tears the group apart, Lenny’s whole world is simultaneously destroyed, and her humanist perspective allows for an unbiased portrayal of the negative effects which a fear of change and breaking tradition can inflict upon a society’s health.

Mehta's last film in the Elements trilogy, Water, showcases the gross oppression endured by Indian women during precolonial times. It also depicts the mistreatment of widows to present strong support for the breaking of traditional social norms and an embrace of contemporary identities for Indian women. One example of this can be seen through the Hindu male hegemony’s reliance upon the authority of Hindu scriptures to rationalize the mistreatment of widows. In Water, when Narayan’s father is revealed to be a former client of Kalyani, he attempts to justify his sexual exploits to his son by using his class privilege, stating that Brahmins can sleep with whomever they want as the women they sleep with are blessed. Narayan’s response that Brahmins who interpret the Holy Scripture for their own benefit should not be honored elucidates the immense hypocrisy which underlines various ancient religious ideologies that are often employed solely by the caste of men who seek to benefit from such outdated customs. Burton also points out how such selfish reworkings of religious ideologies is the real killer of faith, instead of Mehta’s sensational films. He states, “Reformers… who often view the negative aspects of their religion as misreadings and cultural accretions are themselves in danger of essentializing Hinduism insofar as they imply that the version of Hinduism of which they approve is the only genuine one”. In other words, the insistence to uphold such outdated structures of patriarchal hegemony simply on the basis of religiosity is in itself more blasphemous and sacrilegious than any sin outlined by ancient scriptures. However, there are certain elements of Water that allude to the positivity of embracing modernity. For example, Chuyia’s eventual rescue by Shakuntala and potentially happy future with Narayan presents the promise of Gandhi-influenced reform within Indian society.

Mehta often uses her films to explore the impacts of cultural and political unrest on the lives of normal citizens, stating, "A driving force in the stories I want to tell is definitely curiosity. I was intrigued by sectarian war. I’m appalled by it. I was immensely curious about how it affects the everywoman and everyman."

Personal life
In India, she met and married filmmaker Paul Saltzman whom she divorced in 1983. The couple have a daughter, Devyani Saltzman, an author, curator and cultural critic.

Mehta is currently married to producer David Hamilton. Her brother, Dilip Mehta, is a photojournalist and film director. He directed Cooking with Stella, which he co-wrote with Deepa.

Mehta participated in a TV PSA for the charity Artists Against Racism, and is a member of the organization.

Legacy
Mehta is credited with "infusing the energy of mainstream Indian cinema with fierce political consciousness".

Documentary film
Documentary shorts

Feature film
Film appearances
 * Jurm (1990)
 * Aashiqui (1990)
 * Water (2005)

Television
Acting credits

Awards
In addition to her filmmaking awards, Mehta has received the following honors:

 * Doctor of Laws, University of Victoria, 2009
 * Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winner, 2009
 * Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, 2012
 * Doctor of Laws, Mount Allison University, 2013
 * Doctor of Letters, Concordia University, 2013
 * Member of the Order of Ontario, 2013
 * Officer of the Order of Canada, 2013
 * Head Juror: In 2021 she was selected as head juror for BIFF New Current Award in 26th Busan International Film Festival to be held in October.

title: Deepa Mehta


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William Griffiths (VC)

William Griffiths VC (1841 – 22 January 1879) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Details
His VC not awarded for bravery in action against the enemy, but for bravery at sea in saving life in storm off Andaman Islands. Griffiths, born in County Roscommon, was about 26 years old, and a private in the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (later The South Wales Borderers), British Army during the Andaman Islands Expedition when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 7 May 1867 at the island of Little Andaman, eastern India, in the Bay of Bengal, Private Griffiths was one of a party of five (David Bell, James Cooper, Campbell Mellis Douglas and Thomas Murphy) of the 2/24th Regiment, who risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through dangerous surf to rescue some of their comrades who had been sent to the island to find out the fate of the commander and seven of the crew, who had landed from the ship Assam Valley and were feared murdered by the cannibalistic islanders.

The citation was gazetted on 17 December 1867: THE Queen has been graciously pleased to signify Her intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned Officer and Private Soldiers of Her Majesty's Army, whose claims to the same have been submitted for Her Majesty's approval, for their gallant conduct at the Little Andaman Island, as recorded against their names, viz. :—

2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment: Assistant-Surgeon Campbell Millis Douglas, M.D, Private Thomas Murphy, Private James Cooper, Private David Bell, Private William Griffiths.

For the very gallant and daring manner in which, on the 7th of May, 1867, they risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through a dangerous surf to the rescue of some of their comrades, who formed part of an expedition which had been sent to the Island of Little Andaman, by order of the Chief Commissioner of British Burmah, with the view of ascertaining the fate of the Commander and seven of the crew of the ship " Assam Valley," who had landed there, and were supposed to have been murdered by the natives.

The officer who commanded the troops on the occasion reports : About an hour later in the day Dr. Douglas, 2nd Battalion, 24th ."Regiment, and the four Privates referred" to, gallantly manning the second gig, made their way through the surf almost to the shore, but finding their boat was half filled with water, they retired. A second attempt made by Dr. Douglas and party proved successful, five of us being safely passed through the surf to the boats outside. A third and last trip got the whole of the party left on shore safe to the boats. It is stated that Dr. Douglas accomplished these trips through the surf to the shore by no ordinary exertion. He stood in the bows of the boat, and worked her in an intrepid and seamanlike manner, cool to a degree, as if what he was then doing was an ordinary act of every-day life. The four Privates behaved in an equally cool and collected manner, rowing through the roughest surf when the slightest hesitation or want of pluck on the part of any one of them would have been attended by the gravest results. It is reported that seventeen officers and men were thus saved from what must otherwise have been a fearful risk, if not certainty of death.

He was killed in action, in the Battle of Isandhlwana in Zululand, on 22 January 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War

The medal
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh (Brecon, Powys, Wales).

title: William Griffiths (VC)


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Kronberg im Taunus

Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was absorbed into Prussia. Kronberg lies at the foot of the Taunus, flanked in the north and southwest by forests. A mineral water spring also rises in the town.

Neighbouring communities
Kronberg borders in the north and east on the town of Oberursel, in the southeast on the town of Steinbach, in the south on the towns of Eschborn and Schwalbach (both in Main-Taunus-Kreis), and in the west on the town of Königstein.

Constituent communities
Kronberg consists of the three centres of Kronberg (8,108 inhabitants), Oberhöchstadt (6,363 inhabitants) and Schönberg (3,761 inhabitants).

1220–1704

When Kronberg Castle was built (about 1220) it was shared by the Knights of Askenburne (Eschborn), who owned a towered castle there. The Kronenstamm (stamm = stem) moved to Kronberg, giving themselves that name at the time, while the Flügelstamm ("wing stem") followed them there only 30 years later.

Town rights were granted the small settlement on 25 April 1330 by Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor. As of 1367, the town also had market rights as well as Blutgerichtsbarkeit (meaning that there was an Imperial court authorized to mete out bodily punishment, including death), granted by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Together with those from Hattstein Castle and Reifenberg Castle, the Knights of Kronberg from Frankfurt declared the so-called "Kronberg Feud" in 1389. When on 13 May a great force from Frankfurt swept to Kronberg Castle, Hanau (Ulrich von Hanau) and the Electorate of the Palatinate (150 of Ruprecht von der Pfalz's cuirassiers) troops rushed to help those being beset, driving the Frankfurt forces off on 14 May in the Battle of Eschborn and taking 620 prisoners, among them the mayor, a few noble council members and all the town's bakers, butchers, locksmiths and shoemakers.

The story is told in Kronberg that during the battle one of the knights of Kronberg was unhorsed, and because he lacked a replacement mount, he returned to battle on a donkey. Legend has it that it was the unearthly noise the donkey made in battle that made the Frankfurt army run, and this gave birth to the third "Stem", the Ohrenstam (Earstem) - with a pair of donkeys ears on its coat of arms.

Only the huge ransom of 73,000 golden guilders – negotiated on 22 August, the pain of which Frankfurt would feel for 120 years – ended the fight with Frankfurt and laid the groundwork for the Frankfurter Landwehr fortifications. Peace was, however, quickly concluded (1391) and alliance sought with Kronberg. In 1394, the council appointed Hartmuth von Cronberg to a two-year term as Bailiff of Bonames, and in 1395, Johann von Cronberg concluded a detailed treaty of federation with Frankfurt, which the Kronbergers bound the Frankfurters and their masses to protect. Finally, in 1398, the "Schießgesellen zu Cronenberg" ("Journeymen shooters of Kronberg") invited the "Schießgesellen zue Franckenfurd unsern guten frunden" ("Journeymen shooters of Frankfurt, our good friends") to a "Schießen umb eyn Cleynod" ("shoot for a treasure"). The letter bearing this message is said to be Germany's oldest surviving invitation to a shooting event (this refers to early weapons, since firearms were as yet unknown).

Since Hartmut XII of Kronberg, who is said to be the town's Reformer, had earlier stood by his cousin Franz von Sickingen in his attack on Trier and Worms, Archbishop Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads of Trier, Ludwig V of the Electorate of the Palatinate and Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse attacked the town and the castle at Kronberg in 1522 and forced an unconditional surrender. Hartmut fled, and Philip introduced the Reformation throughout Hesse. However, since Kronberg was an Imperial fief, Philip had to give the castle and town back to Hartmut in 1541 under the issuing of property rights for the Lutheran Church. These rights were affirmed by Hesse-Darmstadt in the 17th and 18th centuries, ensuring that Mainz's later attempts at a Counterreformation (1626–1649) and the Simultanisierung (1737–1768) would never enjoy success.

In 1704, the last member of the ruling family, Herr Johann Niclas von und zu Cronberg, died childless at Hohlenfels Castle in Mudershausen. Kronberg, along with the communities of Schönberg, Niederhöchstadt and Eschborn therefore passed to the Electorate of Mainz.

1704–1866
It was under Mainz's rule that the nowadays so-called "Dispute Church" ("Streitkirche") was built, having been planned as a Catholic church in 1758 to be built right next to the Evangelical church. This led to great protests by the town's Evangelical majority, whose plight reached the Eternal Imperial Diet (Immerwährender Reichstag) in Regensburg, where the Evangelicals were granted their wish, and although the building was built anyway, it was never consecrated as a church. Since 1768, the building has served secular purposes (as a pharmacy, guesthouse, and today as the Kronberg Painters' Colony's museum).

In the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, the Electorate of Mainz lost its worldly territory, including the Imperial fief of Kronberg, which was confiscated by the Prince of Nassau-Usingen in 1802, and formally awarded to him in 1803. In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Duke of Nassau sided with Austria, thereby losing his land to Prussia.

1866–1945
Wealthy industrialists, traders and bankers discovered the little Taunus town's idyllic and climatically advantageous setting right near Frankfurt in the middle of the 19th century and built villas and summer homes in Kronberg and Schönberg. Even artists, among them Anton Burger and Jakob Fürchtegott Dielmann, came to Kronberg and founded the Kronberg Painters' Colony, which lasted into the 20th century. Some of the Kronberg painters' works are on display in the museum at the "Dispute Church". The small town, for so long shaped by smallholders and craftsmen reached in its "Prussian epoch" its first upswing with the building of the Kronberg-Rödelheim railway (1874) and the luxurious Schloss Friedrichshof (1889–94) often called "Kronberg", the residence of Princess Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and German Dowager Empress.

Since 1945
After the Second World War, Kronberg belonged to Gross-Hessen ("Greater Hesse" – a provisional name for the state that was later dropped), and remains in Hesse today.

In 1946, the Papal Mission for Displaced Persons in Germany was moved to Kronberg by Pope Pius XII. The apostolic visitor and leader of the institution was the Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota, USA Aloisius Muench, who was of German heritage. His spiritual guidance mandate included caring for those who had fled or been driven out of Eastern Europe. Until the summer of 1949, he organized from Kronberg the transport of about 950 goods wagons full of Papal aid supplies to Germany. He was also supported by the US Government; before taking his position in Kronberg, he received from US Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson the document of appointment as liaison commissioner for religious affairs to the US military government in Germany. Through his contacts in the USA Muench arranged a formidable flow of donations into destruction-stricken Germany. After the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, the Kronberg Apostolic Mission was dissolved in 1951. Muench afterwards became the first Apostolic Nuncio in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In 1959, Pope John XXIII made Archbishop Muench a Cardinal.

Since 28 June 1966, Kronberg has been a state-recognized spa town.

As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, on 1 April 1972, Kronberg merged with the formerly independent communities of Oberhöchstadt and Schönberg.

Main sights

 * Old Town with Kronberg Castle, or Burg Kronberg, with its keep, which is the town's oldest building
 * the Schloss Friedrichshof (a stately home built as a widow's residence for "Empress Frederick" and now home to the Schlosshotel Kronberg)
 * the Recepturhof, Mainz Electorate's administration building
 * the town park
 * Saint John's Protestant Church (Kirche St. Johann, 1440)
 * the "Streitkirche" ("Dispute Church", 1758)
 * "Hellhof", a noble seat built by the Kronberg Knights (first mentioned in 1424), nowadays partially converted into a gallery.
 * Opelzoo, a medium-sized animal park between Kronberg and Königstein. The Opelzoo originally came into being from Opel Works founder Georg von Opel's grandson's private animal reserve. About 1956, the younger Opel brought a pair of endangered Persian fallow deer to Kronberg and through breeding ensured their survival.

Museums and galleries

 * Museum at Kronberg Castle
 * Kronberg Painters' Colony Museum at the Streitkirche
 * Fritz-Best-Museum (closed)
 * Braun Collection
 * Galerie Opper at the Streitkirche
 * Galerie Hellhof
 * Galerie Hana
 * Galerie Sties
 * Galerie Satyra
 * ArtXchange

Distribution of town council seats
The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:
 * CDU 12 seats
 * SPD  7 seats
 * UBG 4 seats
 * KfB 4 seats
 * Greens 3 seats
 * FDP  2 seats
 * independent 1 seat

Festivals
The biggest street festival in the Old Town (around Steinstraße) is the Thäler Kerb. Since 1967, when the Thäler Kerbe club was founded, it has been and is still celebrated, always on Tuesday and Wednesday after the first Sunday in July (although in 2006, it was postponed until 11–12 July owing to the World Cup). During the two festival days, the Thäler Pärchen – the "king" and "queen" of the festival – Miss Bembel and the Thäler Bürgermeister, rule.

Other festivals

 * Dallesfest in Oberhöchstadt
 * Brunnenfest (spring festival) in Schönberg (2nd Saturday in August)
 * Oberhöchstädter Kerb
 * Kürbis-Festival (Gourd Festival) at Kronberg Castle (October)
 * Linsenhoff UNICEF Foundation Schafhof Festival (irregular, next festival in 2007)

Markets

 * Flea market in the Old Town (first Sunday in July)
 * Bilder- und Weinmarkt (Picture and Wine Market; first weekend in August)
 * Herbstmarkt ("Autumn Market, federation of independents, 2nd weekend in September)
 * Apfelmarkt ("Apple Market"; October)
 * Christmas Markets in Kronberg and Oberhöchstadt

Music festivals

 * Internationally known Kronberg Academy Cello Festival
 * Article in The Local about the festival

Transport
Kronberg is the terminus of the S-Bahn line S4, successor to the Kronberg Railway, which connects Kronberg with Frankfurt city center, the main train station and the neighboring city of Eschborn. The S-Bahn is part of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund.

For this purpose exists in Kronberg since 2001, a city bus network of three routes. Like the S-Bahn, it is integrated into the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund and carries around 380,000 people a year. The offer is complemented by a call-collecting taxi, which covers some geographical gaps of the city bus and serves for operating hour extension. In addition, regional bus lines connect Kronberg with the neighboring cities and the nearby Frankfurt Northwest Center.

The first years of operation of the Kronberg city bus were characterized by controversial political discussions, not only in the city council, but also within the population. This was due to initial planning errors that initially reduced the acceptance of the offer, as well as changing political majorities. Although the city bus has meanwhile (2011) established itself in a positive sense, are now due to the poor budgetary situation again cuts in urban transport offer in the middle.

Since early 2013, the Frankfurt Department of Transportation has a possible extension of the subway line 6 to Eschborn examine, which ends at the Heerstraße in Frankfurt-Praunheim. The Frankfurt Department of Transportation has commissioned a correspondingly concrete study of the project. A stop in the industrial park Helfmann-Park is possible. This would, according to the mayor of Eschborn "further enhance the location Eschborn". An exact timetable for the project does not exist yet. In the foreseeable future, there will be a meeting with representatives from Eschborn, Frankfurt and Oberursel on the subway theme. The Greens in the Hochtaunuskreis have recently advocated upgrading the U6 via Eschborn with stops in Steinbach and Kronberg. The city of Oberursel in the high tunnel circle was long ago connected via the U3 to the Frankfurt subway network.

Economy and infrastructure
Kronberg is home to the national headquarters of a number of international firms, such as Accenture, Braun GmbH (Gillette), Celanese and Fidelity International.

Agriculturally, Kronberg is known best of all for its sweet chestnuts and strawberry fields; there are also a few Streuobstwiesen, meadows that also support a variety of different fruit trees. There are Mineral springs in the Kronthal.

Education

 * Kronthal-Schule (primary school) Kronberg, formerly Grundschule Kronberg, in the former building of the Altkönigschule
 * Viktoria-Schule (primary school) Schönberg
 * Schöne Aussicht (primary school) Oberhöchstadt
 * Altkönigschule (secondary school, comprehensive school with gymnasial upper level) in Kronberg's main town, until 1973/74 in the Villa Winter
 * Montessori School (Schönberg)
 * Religionspädagogisches Studienzentrum der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau (Schönberg)
 * DRK School of Elderly Care (Kronberg)
 * Waldkindergarten Kronberg - Related article in The Local

Notable people

 * Eberwin II (died 1308), from 1300 Bishop of Worms
 * Johannes von Cronberg (?-?) about 1300, Choir Bishop at Strasbourg
 * Walter von Cronberg (1477–1543) High Master of the Teutonic Knights
 * Hartmut XII (1488–1549) early companion of Martin Luther, editor of many "Reformational" writings
 * Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg (1553–1626) from 1604 Elector and Archbishop at Mainz, builder of the Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg
 * Johann Daniel von Cronberg (c. 1616–1668) member of the "Fruitbearing Society"
 * Alwara Höfels (born 6 April 1982) German stage and screen actress was born there.

Residents

 * Hermann Abs (1901–1994) German banker
 * Josef Ackermann (1948- ), Deutsche Bank Chairman of the Board.
 * Fritz Best (1894–1980) painter and sculptor
 * Johann Ludwig Christ (1739–1813) Evangelical clergyman, pomologist
 * Jakob Fürchtegott Dielmann (1809–1885) founder of the Kronberg Painters' colony
 * Joachim Fest (1926–2006) German historian
 * Empress Frederick (1840–1901) Frederick III's widow, Queen Victoria's eldest daughter
 * Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenberg (1891–1958) politician and participant in the 20 July Plot, lived from 1945 until his death in 1958 in Kronberg
 * Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) lived for a time, until Hitler seized power, on Minnholzweg
 * Walther Leisler Kiep (1926-2016) CDU politician
 * Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff (1960- ) German dressage rider, founder of the Linsenhoff UNICEF foundation
 * Liselott Linsenhoff (1927–1999) German dressage rider, multiple Olympic champion, VDO founder Adolf Schindling's daughter.
 * Hans Matthöfer (1925-2009) SPD politician
 * Wolfgang Mischnick (1921–2002) FDP politician
 * Maria Mucke (1919-2018) singer and television entertainer
 * Karl Otto Pöhl (1929-2014) president of the Deutsche Bundesbank 1980-1991
 * Fritz Schilgen (1906–2005) last torchbearer in the relay to the Summer Olympics in Berlin in 1936.
 * Werner Sollors (1943- ), U.S. scholar of English literature and African-American studies

Honorary citizens

 * 1895 Adolf Schreyer (1828–1899)
 * 1902 Karl Wilhelm von Meister (1863–1935)
 * 1933 Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934)

Twin cities
Kronberg im Taunus has also a friendship with:
 * 🇫🇷 Le Lavandou, France, since September 2, 1972
 * 🇩🇪 Ballenstedt, Germany, since October 6, 1988
 * 🇮🇹 Porto Recanati, Italy, since September 5, 1993
 * 🇬🇧 Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom, since November 1, 1997
 * 🇧🇪 Zaventem, Belgium
 * 🇦🇷 Esquel, Argentina
 * 🇪🇸 Marchena, Spain
 * 🇩🇪 Guldental, Germany

title: Kronberg im Taunus


text:
User talk:Yakk~enwiki

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~ ~ ~. Four tildes (~ ~ ) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! -- Grunt 🇪🇺 21:19, 2004 Nov 29 (UTC)
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Boo!
Look! It's a stvidget post!

Boo!
Look!

It's a stvidget ghost!

-syKz

=
============ Don't look behind you!

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Also, Grunt told me to ask you why you have such a stupid name.

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Yakk. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Yakk~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

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Renamed
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title: User talk:Yakk~enwiki


text:
Talk:Rojo

Untitled
This page reads suspiciously like an advert for the website, especially with the section I just deleted urging you to stop by and sign up for an account. It may need to be deleted entirely. Pacian 21:20, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

 * Adding Rojo.com, deserves to be here at this point. Here 07:16, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

=Rowan Jones= Does the description really need to read "world worst footballer ever"? It seems to be unfounded data. If you feel differently, feel free to post here.Alex (talk)

title: Talk:Rojo


text:
Talk:Byblos

"The name seems to derive from gb (𐤂𐤁, "well") and ʾl (𐤀𐤋, "god")..."

The problem with this proposed etymology is that it is not reflected in ANY of the early spellings. The gbl ("mountain") trilateral root is problematic because it does not fit the location.

The difficulties with these etymologies need to be made explicit in the text. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.60.129.28 (talk) 00:11, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Need map and governorate
This article needs a map and the name of the governorate Byblos is part of. Badagnani 22:44, 31 July 2006 (UTC) proteckfirst — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:6011:5502:8AEA:A99A:1839:4876:AE50 (talk) 22:25, 22 October 2023 (UTC)

Merge
I see that there are several stub articles that have been split off, relating to individual tourist attractions in Byblos. I recommend that they be merged back into the main article for now, since they really don't have much in the way of information or sources. Then if more information becomes available later that extends it past a couple paragraphs, it'll be easy enough to split things out to a separate article again. --Elonka 18:42, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
 * This information might be better located at . --Elonka 20:21, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

- Oppose These articles were not split off from the main article as the tourism section was added recently. They are important enough to have seperate enrtries on their own and they will be expanded further. BlingBling10 01:14, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Uh, where's that new info? I strongly favor a merge. Beeblbrox (talk) 23:48, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Just added the 2008 lineup; it should remain a separate entry in my opinion. For the festival and the city's sake. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.126.21.5 (talk) 19:02, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

== Why is it not mentioned that the word "bible" comes from the name "byblos"? 141.152.247.183 (talk) 07:45, 19 September 2008 (UTC) ==

Seems to be a giant hole in the article by not mentioning that.
 * Fixed 24 January 2015. --Observer6 (talk) 14:39, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

somebody inserted wrongly text in first sentence
This article starts with an inserted phrase that not only seems incorrect but also does not respect punctuation.

Now, it says:

Byblos The name originated from the Greek word biblion [1] which means Book and the City was known as Papyrus [2], because this commercial center was important in the papyrus trade. (Greek: Βύβλος) is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal

So it seems that the part "The name originated from the Greek word biblion [1] which means Book and the City was known as Papyrus [2], because this commercial center was important in the papyrus trade. (Greek: Βύβλος)"

was inserted and that the original sentence was: Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal

first of all there is no respect for punctuation while inserting, and secondly the issue about the word biblion and Papyrus appears below in a much more clear way.

I suggest to just eliminate the inserted phrase.

Camilo Ramada camilo.ramada@mail.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.21.11.75 (talk) 15:46, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

 * I'll have to admit that the first source in the lead, the Beirut International Dental Meeting, is not exactly the sort of source that should be used in an article. In fact it's a good example of what not to use. Your idea sounds sensible. Dougweller (talk) 16:24, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

 * I've done as you suggested, and am now looking at the editor's other edits. I wish I hadn't looked at this! Dougweller (talk) 16:57, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Threats to Byblos
"The 2006 Lebanon War negatively affected this ancient site by covering the harbor and town walls with an oil slick"

What does this actually mean? How can a war cover anything with an oil slick? Did the war suddenly get up one morning and think "I know what, I'll go and paint the town walls with oil"? Is it still a slick when it's coating the walls (surely an oil slick is when the oil is floating on water!)? Does it mean the town was affected by an oil slick during the war? What was the effect of the oil slick? How was it caused? Was it ever cleaned up or is the town still under a metre thick layer of the gooey black stuff? Did it have any affect on the health of the inhabitants? Is a whole section really justified for this one liner? Would Lebanese civil war be a better heading for the section, if it remains? More questions than answers! Skinsmoke (talk) 02:23, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

JUBAYL
Why is this article called byblos and not the city's current name? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.152.41.197 (talk) 07:24, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Etymology

 * The article claims: "The name seems to derive from GB (𐤂𐤁, "well") and ʾL (𐤀𐤋, "god"), the latter a word that could variously refer to any of the Canaanite gods or to their leader in particular. The name thus seems to have meant the "Well" or "Source of the God"."
 * Where is the reference for this claim? I have not been able to find any documented source that corroborates this supposed etymology.
 * Aside from the fact that Phoenician script was written right to left (in contrast to the above-written words in Phoenician characters), the purported etymology fails to explain the loss of the letter "Aleph" when going from GB 'L to GBL.
 * Every reference I have been able to find traces the etymology of the Phoenician name of the city Gebal (Byblos) to the trilateral Semitic route GBL meaning "border", "frontier", "mountain".
 * In light of what is written in the article that the early Neolithic settlement of Byblos "was located on the seaward slope of the larger of the two hills that used to compose ancient Byblos", this etymology makes perfect sense. This etymology is also better explained by the Akkadian form "Gubla".
 * Unless a reliable source can be cited in support of the cited "Source of the God" etymology, it should be changed in support of the well-documented GBL etymology.
 * Jacob D (talk) 09:36, 6 March 2019 (UTC)Jacob D

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title: Talk:Byblos


text:
Mike Shanahan

Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is an American football coach serving as an offensive consultant to the New York Jets, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he led the team to two consecutive Super Bowl victories in XXXII and XXXIII; along with being the first Super Bowl championships in team history, they were the seventh team to win consecutive Super Bowls in NFL history. His head coaching career spanned a total of twenty seasons and also included stints with the Los Angeles Raiders and Washington Redskins. He is the father of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.

Early career
Shanahan played high school football at East Leyden High School, Franklin Park, Illinois, where he played wishbone quarterback for coach Jack Leese's 1968 and 1969 Eagles teams. Shanahan held the single-game rushing record of 260 yards on 15 carries (which was set in a 32–8 win over Hinsdale South on September 20, 1969) until it was broken in 1976 by Dennis Cascio. He graduated from high school in 1970.

He was a quarterback at Eastern Illinois University, where he joined Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. In 1972, a piercingly hard hit on the practice field ruptured one of his kidneys, which caused his heart to stop for thirty seconds and nearly killed him. A priest was summoned to administer the last rites to Shanahan, a devout Roman Catholic.

College coaching
In 1975 and 1976, Shanahan was a graduate assistant on Barry Switzer's staff at the University of Oklahoma. In 1977, he became the offensive backfield coach at Northern Arizona University. NAU went 9–2 and played in the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs. He left after one season to return to his alma mater as offensive coordinator. He helped Eastern Illinois win the Division II football championship. Shanahan then worked as the offensive coordinator for the University of Minnesota for a single season, before accepting the same position at the University of Florida under head coach Charley Pell in 1980. Shanahan stayed with the Gators through 1983.

Assistant coaching stints
Shanahan first served as a receivers coach and later offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos under Dan Reeves from 1984 to 1987. This firmly places Mike Shanahan on the Tom Landry tree of coaching, as Dan Reeves was one of Landry's greatest disciples. It was his skill as an offensive mind that garnered Shanahan the attention of maverick Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. After Shanahan and the Raiders parted ways four games into the 1989 season, Shanahan returned to the Broncos as quarterbacks coach on October 16, 1989. He was fired a couple years later by Reeves after finding himself in the middle of a growing feud between Reeves and quarterback John Elway.

Los Angeles Raiders
Shanahan was hired by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1988 to replace longtime Raiders coach Tom Flores. He was the Raiders' first head coach hired from outside the organization since Davis himself 23 years earlier. Shanahan (who proved very unpopular with the players) and the micromanaging Davis clashed almost immediately, and this was only exacerbated after the Raiders finished a disappointing 7–9, losing four of their last five games. Tensions increased towards the end of the season when wide receivers coach and Shanahan loyalist Nick Nicolau got into a heated argument with assistant coach Art Shell (a Davis loyalist) in which Nicolau reportedly accused Shell of having a job only by virtue of his friendship with Davis. When Shell went to Davis later to ask if this was true, Davis' response was to immediately fire Nicolau. Shanahan responded by firing running backs coach Joe Scannella and offensive coordinator Tom Walsh (both Davis hires), but Davis ordered them both back to work. At the end of the season, Shanahan fired defensive assistants Willie Brown and Charlie Sumner. An enraged Davis re-hired Brown to a different position in the organization. When the Raiders began 1–3 in 1989, Shanahan himself was fired and replaced by Shell. Shanahan's final Raiders record was 8–12 in less than two seasons, going 2–7 after a 6–5 start.

San Francisco 49ers
In 1992, Shanahan was hired as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers under head coach George Seifert, capping his rise with a victory in Super Bowl XXIX after the 1994 season. His years under Seifert placed him in the Bill Walsh coaching tree. In 1994 while coaching for the 49ers, Shanahan added to the ongoing feud between him and Raiders owner Al Davis when he had then quarterback Elvis Grbac throw a football at Davis' head, which missed by a few inches as Davis was able to dodge it just in time; afterwards Davis responded with an obscene gesture.

Denver Broncos
Shanahan's success with the 49ers earned him a head coaching spot once more, this time back in Denver with the Broncos beginning in 1995. He led the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, during which time the Broncos set a then-record for victories in two seasons.

Between 1996 and 1998, the Broncos set the NFL record for victories by going 46–10 over a three-year span. The 1998 Broncos won their first 13 games on their way to a 14–2 mark. Shanahan, taking his cue from West Coast offense guru Bill Walsh, was well known for scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game, and helped the 1998 Broncos set an NFL record for first quarter points scored in a season. In 2005, he passed Dan Reeves as the winningest coach in franchise history.

Shanahan is known for an offense featuring zone running plays and play-action passes. He has often found unheralded running backs from later rounds of the annual NFL Draft and then turned them into league-leading rushers behind small-but-powerful offensive lines. Examples of this phenomenon are Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns and Tatum Bell, all of whom have had at least one 1,000-yard season in a Denver uniform during Shanahan's tenure.

In 1999, with the assistance of writer Adam Schefter, Shanahan penned Think Like a Champion, a motivational book about leadership; it was published by HarperCollins. In 2006, he cooperated with Stefan Fatsis's endeavor to spend a year as a Broncos place-kicker, and much of the resulting book A Few Seconds of Panic (2008) covers Shanahan's coaching from the player's point of view.

After Elway's retirement and Davis' career-ending injuries, Shanahan went six years without a playoff win (including three seasons when the Broncos failed to qualify for the postseason), a drought which caused criticism from fans. The playoff drought ended during the 2005–06 postseason when the Broncos defeated the two-time defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs at Invesco Field at Mile High. The victory, however, would be Shanahan's last playoff win as a head coach.

Shanahan was fired after the 2008 NFL season following a collapse that caused the Broncos to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year. Although the Broncos held an 8–5 record by Week 14 and would have won the AFC West with one more victory, the team lost their remaining three games and the 8–8 San Diego Chargers won the division on a tiebreaker.

Washington Redskins
In the early part of the 2009 season, it was reported that the Washington Redskins were interested in naming Shanahan their head coach, replacing Jim Zorn. Although this was reported by several media outlets, the Redskins' vice president of football operations, Vinny Cerrato, stated that a coaching change would not be considered until the end of the season. On November 18, 2009, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Buffalo Bills had contacted Shanahan about their head coaching vacancy after the team parted ways with former coach Dick Jauron.

On January 5, 2010, Shanahan was formally introduced as the Redskins' 24th full-time head coach. As part of the deal, he was also named vice president of football operations, with the final say on football matters. He was one of several coaches who also had the title or powers of general manager, along with New England's Bill Belichick and others. Shanahan was signed to a five-year, $35 million contract. Several months earlier, Bruce Allen was named the team's general manager. Shanahan and Allen split the duties held by a general manager, with Shanahan having the final say. This model is similar to how Belichick and Scott Pioli worked during their eight years in New England.

Shanahan's son, Kyle Shanahan, became the offensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins on January 20, 2010.

Shanahan had a combined 11–21 record in his first two seasons as Redskins coach, followed by a 3–6 start to the 2012 season, but ended the year with a seven-game winning streak on the way to the team's first NFC East title and home playoff game since the 1999 season. During this season Shanahan also continued his trend of developing unheralded draft picks into 1000-yard rushers, with the 6th-rounder Alfred Morris. The Redskins lost in the Wild Card round of the 2012 NFL Playoffs to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 24–14, during which his quarterback Robert Griffin III sustained a tear of his LCL and a damaged ACL to his previously injured knee. Shanahan came under criticism for his handling of the injury, both in bringing Griffin back to play after the initial injury on December 9 and keeping him in the game against the Seahawks after reinjuring the knee. While there were reports in December 2012 that the Redskins were considering negotiating a contract extension with Shanahan in the 2013 offseason, this did not happen and there were later reports that Shanahan had considered resigning after the end of the year.

Griffin underwent reconstructive surgery of his knee on January 9 and returned as the starter for the beginning of the 2013–2014 season, though Shanahan held him out of the preseason to protect him from further injury. The team continued to struggle in 2013. With the final three games of the regular season, Shanahan decided to make Griffin inactive for the rest of the season because Shanahan thought it was best for both Griffin's and the Redskins' future.

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder fired Shanahan on December 30, 2013. The team finished 3–13 in the 2013 season, and was in last place in the NFC East division three of Shanahan's four seasons.

Potential return to coaching
Shanahan has not held a coaching position since his dismissal from the Washington Redskins in 2013. In 2015, he was interviewed by the Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears for their vacant head coaching spots, as well as the Oakland Raiders, whom he previously coached from 1988 to 1989, when the club was based in Los Angeles. Shanahan was also interviewed for the vacant head coaching spot by the San Francisco 49ers in 2015, whom Shanahan previously served as their offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 1992 to 1994 and was part of the 1994 team that won Super Bowl XXIX. Coincidentally, the 49ers would hire his son, Kyle Shanahan as their head coach 2 years later. In 2016, Shanahan was nearly hired as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins before they hired Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase for the vacant spot on January 9, 2016. On August 17, 2019, it was revealed that the Denver Broncos, whom Shanahan previously coached from 1995 to 2008, nearly re-hired him as head coach in 2018 before their decision to retain Vance Joseph on January 1, 2018.

Accomplishments

 * Posted the most wins in National Football League history during a three-year period at the time (46 in 1996–98).
 * Won the most postseason games in history over a two-year period (seven, 1997–98).
 * Been undefeated and untied for three consecutive regular seasons (1996–98) at home, just the second team ever to be undefeated and untied at home in three consecutive years. The Miami Dolphins posted three consecutive seasons of untied undefeated home records from 1972 to 1974. Including playoff games, the Dolphins had won 31 consecutive home games from 1971 to 1974. Oddly enough, in 1999 on the opening Monday Night Football game, the Dolphins ended the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos streak with a 38–21 win in Denver.
 * In 2004, he joined the exclusive club of head coaches to post 100 wins in his first 10 seasons with one club, finishing the campaign and decade tied for fourth on this list of 12 coaches, six of whom are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 * Joins Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Belichick, and Andy Reid as the only seven coaches to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
 * He is the second coach in history to win two Super Bowl titles in his first four years coaching a team (Shula did it first with the Miami Dolphins in 1972 and 1973).
 * Highest winning percentage in Denver history (.646) and most wins in Denver history (138).
 * Shanahan is among twelve coaches in pro football history to post four wins in one postseason along with Tom Flores, Joe Gibbs, Brian Billick, Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, Tom Coughlin (twice), Mike McCarthy, John Harbaugh, Bruce Arians, Sean McVay, and most recently, Andy Reid.
 * The all-time high of 636 points in a season came from the 1994 Super Bowl Champion San Francisco 49ers, for whom Shanahan was the offensive coordinator. This was eclipsed during the 2007 season when the New England Patriots scored 589 points in the regular season and 66 points in the postseason for a total of 655 points. Ironically, that record was again broken in the 2013–2014 season when Shanahan's former team, the Denver Broncos, scored 606 points in the regular season and 58 in the postseason for a total of 664 points.
 * During his NFL career, Shanahan has been a part of teams that have played in 10 Conference Championship Games, in addition to his five Super Bowl appearances, Super Bowl XXI, Super Bowl XXII, Super Bowl XXXII, and Super Bowl XXXIII with Denver and Super Bowl XXIX with San Francisco.

Coaching tree
Shanahan has worked under six head coaches:
 * Barry Switzer, Oklahoma (1975)
 * Joe Salem, Northern Arizona (1976–1977), Minnesota (1979)
 * Darrell Mudra, Eastern Illinois (1978)
 * Charley Pell, Florida (1980–1983)
 * Dan Reeves, Denver Broncos (1984–1987, 1990–1991)
 * George Seifert, San Francisco 49ers (1992–1994)

Fifteen of Shanahan's assistant coaches became head coaches in the NFL or NCAA:

 * Art Shell, Los Angeles Raiders (1989–1994), Oakland Raiders (2006)
 * Karl Dorrell, UCLA (2003–2007), Colorado (2020–2022)
 * J. D. Brookhart, Akron (2004–2009)
 * Greg Robinson, Syracuse (2005–2008)
 * Gary Kubiak, Houston Texans (2006–2013), Denver Broncos (2015–2016)
 * Tim Brewster, Minnesota (2007–2010)
 * Troy Calhoun, Air Force (2007–present)
 * Jon Embree, Colorado (2011–2012)
 * Anthony Lynn, Buffalo Bills (2016, interim), Los Angeles Chargers (2017–2020)
 * Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams (2017–present)
 * Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers (2017–present)
 * Jedd Fisch, UCLA (2017, interim), Arizona (2021–2024), Washington (2024-present)
 * Charlie Jackson, Kentucky State (2019–2021)
 * Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers (2019–present)
 * Lou Spanos, UConn (2021, interim)
 * Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins (2022–present)

Two of Shanahan's former players became head coaches in the NFL or NCAA:
 * Anthony Lynn, Buffalo Bills (2016, interim), Los Angeles Chargers (2017–2020)
 * Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech (2013–2018), Arizona Cardinals (2019–2022)

Five of Shanahan's executives/former players became general managers in the NFL:
 * Rick Smith, Houston Texans (2006–2017)
 * John Elway, Denver Broncos (2011–2020)
 * Reggie McKenzie, Oakland Raiders (2012–2018)
 * Dave Gettleman, Carolina Panthers (2013–2017), New York Giants (2018–2021)
 * John Lynch, San Francisco 49ers (2017–present)

Personal life
Shanahan is a Catholic. He and his wife, Peggy, have two children — a son, Kyle, the current San Francisco 49ers' head coach, and a daughter, Krystal. Shanahan is also a brother in the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

In May 2008, Shanahan attended the wedding of George W. Bush's daughter Jenna Bush, who was the former college roommate of Shanahan's daughter.

In July 2016, Shanahan hosted a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In October 2016, Shanahan spoke on Trump's behalf at a campaign rally in Loveland, Colorado.

In October 2021, Shanahan sold his mansion in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado (near Denver) for a record $15.7 million.

title: Mike Shanahan


text:
User talk:Therabidwombat

chickennicken

I changed my nick to Asdfdsa :)

-Yakov 04:41, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Therabidwombat