text:
Age of Mythology

Age of Mythology (AoM) is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 31, 2002 in North America and on November 14, 2002 in Europe.

A spin-off from the Age of Empires series, Age of Mythology takes some of its inspiration from mythology and legends of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norse, rather than from actual historical events. Many gameplay elements are similar to the Age of Empires series. Its campaign follows an Atlantean admiral, Arkantos, who is forced to travel through the lands of the game's three cultures, hunting for a cyclops who is in league with Poseidon against Atlantis.

Age of Mythology was commercially successful, going platinum four months after its release after selling over one million units. In 2003, it was followed by an expansion pack, Age of Mythology: The Titans. On May 8, 2014, Age of Mythology: Extended Edition was released for Windows via Steam. This was followed by a second expansion pack, Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon, released on January 28, 2016. On October 25, 2022, Age of Mythology: Retold was announced.

Gameplay

Like many other real-time strategy games, Age of Mythology is based on defeating enemy units and towns, building your own units and towns, and training villagers and fighters. In this way, players are able to defeat and conquer rival towns and civilizations. Players advance their tribe through four "Ages": starting in the Archaic Age, the player may upgrade to the Classical Age, the Heroic Age, and finally, the Mythic Age. Each upgrade to a higher Age unlocks new units and technologies for the player, which strengthens their settlement. However, upgrading requires a sum of resources to be paid and a certain prerequisite building to be constructed.

There are three playable cultures in Age of Mythology: the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norse. Each culture has three "major gods"—important deities such as Ra, Zeus, or Odin. The player chooses their major god before the game begins. Every time a player advances to the next age, a "minor god" is selected. Minor gods are slightly less significant historically than their major counterparts. Some minor gods include Bast and Aphrodite. All gods grant the player unique technologies, myth units, and a unique "god power"—A one-time special ability that can either damage an opponent, or benefit the player that uses it.

There are four major resources in Age of Mythology: food, wood, gold, and favor; unlike previous games by Ensemble Studios, this game does not include the stone resource. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things. Civilian units—namely, the Greek villagers, Norse gatherers and dwarfs, the Egyptian laborers, and fishing boats—are used to gather resources. Hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and fishing are all methods by which food can be gathered. Wood is gathered only by chopping down trees, and gold is gathered from either gold mines or from trade. Players can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Favor is acquired in different ways by different cultures: Greek players gain it by having villagers pray at temples; Egyptian players earn it by building monuments; and Norse players receive it by fighting/hunting animals or by possessing heroes. Resources can be exchanged at a player's market, with the exception of favor.

Units
Every unit in the game takes up between one and five "population slots". Building additional houses or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—increases the population capacity, up to a maximum of 300.

Units can be classified into seven categories; infantry, archers, cavalry—the three of which are broadly classified as human units—siege units, naval units, heroes, and myth units (monsters and other creatures from mythology). The rock-paper-scissors model governs most units in battle. For example, infantry does additional damage to cavalry, cavalry does additional damage to archers, and archers do additional damage to infantry. The same rock-paper-scissors formation exists in the three different types of naval units—arrow ships, siege ships, and hammer ships. Siege units are generally exempt from the rock-paper-scissors model but are instead able to destroy buildings easily while being vulnerable to cavalry attacks. Heroes are extremely effective against myth units, which in turn do large amounts of damage against human units. Heroes are also able to collect relics, which grant the player additional economic or military bonuses when deposited in a player's temple. Most units can be upgraded, making them better at certain tasks.

Buildings
Buildings in Age of Mythology can generally be split into three categories: economic, military, and defensive. The most important economic building is the Town Center, which is similar to the building of the same name in the Age of Empires series games. Most civilian units are trained at the Town Center, as are some improvements. Most importantly, players advance Age via the building. The Town Center provides 15 population slots, and building additional houses will earn the player 10 additional slots per house. In the Heroic Age, players may claim settlements (unclaimed Town Centres) for additional population slots. In some cases owning all town centres will trigger a countdown to victory. Other economic buildings include the farm and market.

Buildings are able to research improvements, as well as provide resources for the player. All units except civilians and myth units are trained at military buildings. These buildings differ in name and purpose between culture, but all are able to train similar units. Military buildings are also used to research military specific technologies, such as armor upgrades, and attack improvements.

Walls and towers are defensive structures, which are not able to train units, and are used only for the purposes of defense. They are able to research some upgrades, although these are generally only useful to the building performing the research. Another type of building available to players, is a Wonder: a grand building that represents an architectural achievement of the civilization. In certain game modes, once a player builds a wonder, a ten-minute countdown begins. If the wonder is still standing after the countdown ends, the player who built the wonder wins.

Scenario editor
The Age of Mythology editor is far more advanced than that of its predecessor, the Age of Empires II scenario editor. In addition to standard unit placement facilities, the editor allows units to be overlapped, and it facilitates for large mountains, and steep terrain. Triggers, a popular aspect of scenario design in Age of Empires II, are also present in Age of Mythology's editor, as well as cinematics and other special effects.

Campaign
Unlike the campaign modes in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology only has one central campaign, Fall of the Trident. The campaign is significantly longer than campaigns in previous games, with a total of 32 scenarios.

Multiplayer
Age of Mythology included unlimited free multiplayer accounts on ESO. it is no longer possible to create new accounts but access to already created ones is still possible. Similar in function to Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, ESO allows players to play matches, as well as chat with other players.

In multiplayer games, there are seven different game types available, all of which are provided as standard with the game: Supremacy—the standard game mode—includes randomly generated map and all gameplay aspects; Conquest is similar to Supremacy, but victory is only possible by defeating all other players; in Deathmatch players begin the game with high resources, but the game is otherwise the same as Supremacy; in Lightning, the gameplay is identical to Supremacy, but the game plays at twice the normal speed; in Nomad mode, players start with one civilian unit, and no Town Center, and must build up on a settlement; the goal of King of the Hill is to control a monument in the center of the map for a set period of time; and in Sudden Death, a player loses if their Town Center is destroyed, and they fail to rebuild it within a set period of time.

Multiplayer tournaments and LAN parties are popular throughout the world, with many players visiting computer gaming lounges to participate.

Campaign summary
Atlantean admiral and war hero Arkantos returns to Atlantis to see his son, Kastor. However, he is ordered by the Atlantean councillor and theocrat, Krios, to sail to Troy to assist Agamemnon in the Trojan War. Just then, the island is attacked by krakens and the Black Sails, a group of pirate bandits led by the minotaur Kamos, a fierce enemy of Arkantos. After the trident from Poseidon's statue gets stolen, Arkantos raids the pirate settlement on a nearby island, where he recovers the trident, although Kamos escapes on a leviathan and vows revenge. Arkantos sends the trident back to Atlantis and sails away, leaving Kastor behind against the latter's wishes.

Arkantos travels to Troy to assist Agamemnon. After a series of skirmishes against Troy, fighting alongside Ajax and Odysseus, they devise the plan involving the Trojan Horse, and swiftly win the war. Afterwards, Ajax recommends Arkantos to sail to Ioklos to repair his ships, which are too heavily damaged for the trip back to Atlantis. When they arrive, the port has been raided by bandits, who have imprisoned the centaur Chiron. After rescuing Chiron, he reveals that the leader of the bandits is a man named Kemsyt.

Chiron takes them north to locate the other prisoners, who are being forced to dig up an entrance to the underworld by Gargarensis, a cyclops warlord and commander of both Kemsyt and Kamos. The heroes destroy Gargarensis's base and confront him, but he escapes to the underworld of Erebus using the entrance. The heroes follow Gargarensis into the underworld, where they find him trying to burst open a large door in the stone with a huge battering ram. Cautious of his motives, they destroy the ram. An amused Gargarensis confronts them and causes a cave to collapse before escaping, forcing the heroes to find another way out. With the help of the dead, they reach three temples dedicated to the Greek gods Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. Arkantos prays to Atlantis's patron Poseidon for help but receives none. He then prays to Zeus, who creates a staircase to the surface.

Reaching the surface, they find themselves in Egypt, where they help a Nubian mercenary leader named Amanra in fighting Kemsyt, who is there to steal a relic that Amanra's men are excavating. She reveals that the Egyptian god Osiris has been killed and had his body parts scattered across the desert by Set, who aids Gargarensis. Amanra plans to reunite Osiris's body parts scattered throughout the desert, bringing him back. During this time. Arkantos falls asleep and is met by Athena in his dreams, who reveals Gargarensis's motives:

Ages before, the Earth was ruled by the Titans under Kronos. Zeus stopped Kronos and imprisoned him in Tartarus, of which several entrances to exist behind adamantine doors across the world. However, Poseidon, who is envious of Zeus's power, is trying to free Kronos and the Titans in order to destroy Zeus so he could claim the throne. Gargarensis is aiding him because Poseidon and Kronos have promised him immortality as a reward. Athena asks Arkantos to stop Gargarensis at all costs, as Zeus himself cannot interfere.

In order to stop him, Arkantos travels with Ajax, while Amanra and Chiron go their separate ways to find the pieces of Osiris. Amanra goes north, where she finds Kemsyt's fortress on an island. With the aid of nearby villagers, she captures the piece he had stolen, but Kemsyt escapes. Chiron finds and recovers another piece hidden beneath a giant tamarisk tree, and is aided by Norsemen, who are seeking Gargarensis to try and stop him from causing Ragnarok. Meanwhile, Arkantos and Ajax find the last piece in Kamos's main fortress. Arkantos raids the fortress, secures the piece, and mortally wounds Kamos with a spear, who falls to his death.

The heroes gather all the pieces outside Osiris's pyramid, which protects another gate to Tartarus. Osiris is resurrected and defeats Gargarensis's army but the cyclops escapes, heading north to the Norselands, the location of another Tartarus gate.

Following Gargarensis, Ajax and Arkantos find Odysseus's wrecked ship on the coast of an island, and so decide to land to look for him. Upon landing, both men are turned into boars by the sorceress Circe. They proceed to rescue Odysseus and his men, who have also been cursed, reverse the curse on them and destroy Circe's fortress. Odysseus continues his journey home, while Arkantos and Ajax continue north.

When they reach the frozen Norselands, they are given directions to the underworld by dwarf brothers Brokk and Eitri in return for repelling giants from their forge. Later, an elderly man named Skult gives them a banner to unite the Norse clans. However, the Norsemen are instead enraged, and the heroes are forced to defeat their chieftains in combat. Valkyries arrive and explain that the flag is actually the banner of the evil giant Folstag and the plan a trick by Skult, who is actually the god Loki in disguise, another ally of Gargarensis.

With the help of the valkyrie Reginleif, who sent the Norsemen to Egypt, the heroes locate Gargarensis and the Tartarus gate. Inside the Norse underworld Niflheim, they are pursued by fire giants until Chiron sacrifices himself to hold them off, saving his friends. While Gargarensis is trying to knock down the gate, Brokk and Eitri have been rebuilding Thor's hammer (shattered by Loki), that upon completion seals the gate. Back on the surface, they confront Gargarensis with the help of Odysseus, who has made a detour to help them, and the cyclops is captured and beheaded by Ajax.

Arkantos sails back to Atlantis. When he brings out Gargarensis's head to tie it to the mast in victory, the bag sprouts ravens and he finds the head is actually Kemsyt's, another trick by Loki. Gargarensis is still alive and is trying to break the final gate holding Kronos, which is located at the centre of Atlantis. Gargarensis has captured and fortified Atlantis, and Poseidon himself has possessed a statue in the city center to protect him. Arkantos builds a wonder to Zeus and gains his blessing, giving him god-like power and enabling him to confront Gargarensis and the living statue at the temple of Poseidon. With his new powers, Arkantos defeats the statue, and Gargarensis is impaled by its trident as it collapses. All of Atlantis then collapses into the ocean, along with Arkantos. While the remaining heroes sail away with the surviving Atlanteans, Athena revives Arkantos and rewards him by making him a god.

The Golden Gift
An official campaign, The Golden Gift, was released as a download on Microsoft's website. The campaign follows the adventures of Brokk and Eitri, the dwarves who appeared in the initial campaign. The plot unfolds with both dwarves planning to create a giant golden boar as an offering to the Norse god Freyr. While working separately, Brokk is approached by Skult (also from Fall of the Trident) who warns him that Eitri is making preparations to create the boar without his brother, of which Eitri is also told the same about Brokk. As both brothers race to complete the boar in the great forge, Skult steals the finished piece and holds it in Loki's fortress. The brothers eventually assault the base, and the boar is retrieved and successfully offered to Freyr.

Development
Ensemble Studios began work on their first fully 3D engine at the same time as their development of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Named the BANG! Engine, this was announced in January 2001, for use in a new game, codenamed RTSIII. RTSIII was eventually revealed as Age of Mythology. In developing Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios decided to move away from the center of the Age of Empires series history, to avoid becoming stale and repetitive. This allowed them to work with new ideas and concepts.

Following the announcement of the game for September 2002, a trial version was released. It contained five scenarios of the game's campaign, and two random maps. In the trial version, the player can only select Zeus, but there are nine gods available in the full version of the game. There was debate during Age of Mythology's construction concerning the unbalanced nature of god powers and how to make them "fair" while still maintaining an element of fun in them. It was concluded that the best way to make it fair for everyone was to limit the use of god powers to one a game. Age of Mythology underwent a large amount of beta-testing during its developmental phase, as Ensemble Studios attempted to create a more balanced and competitive game than its predecessors. Greg T. Street commented that one of the reasons Age of Mythology became so popular was because the development team spent many hours working on the game through active testing, rather than just taking advice from a "faceless drone in another building".

Music
The official soundtrack was released on October 22, 2002, under the record label "Sumthing Else". The score was written by Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan. Rippy cites musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Tuatara, Bill Laswell, Talvin Singh and Tchad Blake as inspirations for the soundtrack. The musical work done on Age of Mythology was unlike anything Rippy had done before; an example of this was "writing for a seventy-piece orchestra and then flying out to Washington to record it".

Music 4 Games' reviewer, Jay Semerad, praised Age of Mythology's soundtrack. He summarized his review by declaring: "In all, the Age of Mythology soundtrack is an experience that should not be missed. It's easily one of my favorite soundtracks from this past year." Semerad was also astonished, and appreciative, of the use of instruments such as the ney flute, tabla and toy piano, all of which he said produced "some innovative analog and synthesized electronic effects". His only critique was that at times some of the background melodies were "bound to a simple harmonization", and lacking any "real bold or innovative purpose".

The Titans
Age of Mythology: The Titans is an expansion to Age of Mythology, released on September 30, 2003. The expansion added a new culture, the Atlanteans, as well as several new units, including titans. Critics and fans received the expansion with enthusiasm, although its ratings were slightly lower on average than those of the original version.

Mythologies
Age of Empires: Mythologies is a spin-off of Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, but with the unique mythology-based gameplay elements of Age of Mythology. It was developed by Griptonite Games for the Nintendo DS.

Extended Edition
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition is a compilation that includes the main game and The Titans expansion. It adds Steamworks integration, Twitch support, an enhanced observer mode, native HD widescreen and improved water and lighting. It was released on May 8, 2014. The Extended Edition was developed by SkyBox Labs.

Tale of the Dragon
On September 18, 2015, a new expansion was announced, Tale of the Dragon. It was co-developed by SkyBox Labs and Forgotten Empires, the latter having worked on new expansions for Age of Empires II. The expansion added a new culture, the Chinese, with the major gods Fuxi, Nüwa, and Shennong. The expansion also features a new campaign and multiplayer maps, as well as other features. It was released on January 28, 2016.

Retold
Age of Mythology: Retold is an upcoming game that will serve as the Definitive Edition of the Age of Mythology. The game was revealed on October 25, 2022 and is currently in development. It will be made in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition's version of the Bang Engine and all units and animations will be completely redone. Its soundtrack will be a new fully symphonic version, it will be given a lot of tweaks and modernizations, and will contain more options for players. Unlike the Definitive Edition versions of Age of Empires I, II and III, which at launch included all the official content released before, Retold description only mentions the Greek, Egyptian, Norse and Atlantean cultures, without any content from Tale of the Dragon expansion. The release date is set for September 4th, 2024.

Reception
In the United States, Age of Mythology sold 870,000 copies and earned $31.9 million by August 2006, after its release in October 2002. It was the country's 10th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of the game and its Titans expansion had reached 1.3 million units in the United States by August 2006. Age of Mythology received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Critical reception
Age of Mythology received critical acclaim, reaching an estimated one million units sold within five months of its release. The game received nominations for "Computer Game of the Year" and "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" during the AIAS' 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. GameSpot named Age of Mythology the best computer game of November 2002. It was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual "Best Single-Player Strategy Game on PC" and "Best Multiplayer Strategy Game on PC" awards, which went respectively to Medieval: Total War and Warcraft III.

Age of Mythology's graphics were praised by the majority of reviewers. IGN reviewer Steve Butts stated that "some fantastic effects and believable animations make this one a joy to watch. The differences between the armies and environments are awesome." As such, he gave the graphics a rating of 9 out of 10. Meanwhile, GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin also rated the graphics 9 out of 10, stating that "Age of Mythology is a great-looking game, filled with bright colors and carefully detailed animations." Game Revolution also appreciated Age of Mythology's graphics, stating in their review that the "new 3D landscape looks good", and including graphics as one of the positives in the review summary. PC Gamer reviewer William Harms admired the graphics, "The environments, units, and buildings are packed with detail," and excitedly commented on the effects: "What really impressed me, though, were the game's animations. When a Minotaur smacks a dude with his club, the schmoe goes flying, skids on the ground, and then bounces back into the air."

The game's soundtrack was also praised by reviewers, although several commented that it was repetitive and predictable at times. IGN described it as "great, if repetitive, music", whilst Game Revolution declared that the sound "really showcases Ensemble's continued attention to detail", before going on to praise the audio snippets in various languages.

IGN was pleased with Age of Mythology's campaign, and not bothered by its length. Instead, they stated that "the meaningful and engaging single player campaign provides a nearly flawless experience." However, GameSpot was slightly critical of it, claiming that "while some of the campaign missions do feature some unusual circumstances or objectives that change, the game's story isn't incredibly engaging." This was compromised by stating that Age of Empires fans wouldn't expect an amazing campaign; they would "make a beeline for the game's random map mode, anyway." PC Gamer elaborated more on the campaign however, saying: "many of the missions are extremely well-crafted", and that "sprinkled throughout these encounters are moments of genuine comedy — a truly delightful surprise." However, they still found reasons to criticize: "Regrettably, most of AoMs missions suffer from one recurring, frustrating problem: a severe case of 'build base-itis.'" The reviewer elaborated: "I know base-building is inherent to the genre, but even the most ardent fan will be put off by just how much there is. What's most disappointing is that AoMs setting really lends itself to imaginative mission design — and I don't think the designers took full advantage of the backdrop, which is a shame."

The editors of Computer Games Magazine named Age of Mythology the fourth-best computer game of 2002, and called it "an amazingly well-balanced game, both in terms of its pacing and its mix of standard historical and fantastical units". It was a nominee for PC Gamer US's "2002 Best Real-Time Strategy Game" award, which ultimately went to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

Scientific study
Age of Mythology's artificial intelligence (AI) was used by four Austrian researchers—Christoph Hermann, Helmuth Melcher, Stefan Rank and Robert Trappl—in a study into the value of emotions in real-time strategy games. According to the abstract, "We were interested whether incorporating a simple emotional model to an existing bot-script improves playing strength." The results of the study determined that of the four bots they tested, the neurotic bot was most capable of defeating Age of Mythology's default AI, followed by the aggressive one. Neither bot was defeated by the standard AI, but the neurotic bot won, on average, twenty five percent more rapidly. Plans were made to extend the research in the future by pitting the neurotic bot against a human player.

title: Age of Mythology


text:
John Ridley

John Ridley IV (born October 1, 1964) is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the anthology series American Crime. In 2017 he directed the documentary film Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992.

Early life
Ridley was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was raised from the age of seven in Mequon, Wisconsin, with an ophthalmologist father, John Ridley, III, and a mother, Terry Ridley, who was a special education teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools. He has two sisters and is the middle sibling.

Ridley graduated from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin in 1982. He enrolled in Indiana University but transferred to New York University. There, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in East Asian languages. The subject wasn't applicable to his career, but it sparked his intellectual interests. Ridley is Christian.

Career
Following college, Ridley spent a year living and traveling in Japan. Then, he returned to New York and began performing standup comedy in New York City, and he made appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Moving to Los Angeles in 1990, he began writing for such television sitcoms as Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The John Larroquette Show. After both writing and directing his film debut, the 1997 crime thriller Cold Around the Heart, he and Oliver Stone co-adapted Ridley's first novel, Stray Dogs (still unpublished when Stone bought the rights ) into the 1997 Stone-directed film U Turn, which was released slightly earlier than Cold Around the Heart. Ridley went on to write the novels Love Is a Racket and Everybody Smokes in Hell. His novel Spoils of War was adapted into the 1999 David O. Russell-directed Three Kings. Ridley's original script was rewritten by Russell and Ridley, with Ridley receiving a "story by" credit negotiated among himself, Russell, and the releasing studio, Warner Bros. Ridley then became a writer and a supervising producer on the NBC crime drama Third Watch. His other novels are The Drift, Those Who Walk in Darkness, and A Conversation with the Mann. He also wrote the graphic novel The American Way.

From 2000 to 2010, he was a commentator and blogger for NPR. His blog was Visible Man, a play on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. In 2003, Ridley inked a one-year overall deal with Universal Network Television.

His work as screenwriter also includes 12 Years a Slave, Red Tails, and Undercover Brother. His script for 12 Years a Slave won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, making Ridley the second African American to win the award, after Geoffrey S. Fletcher (for Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire).

In April 2015, Ridley was developing an ABC television series involving an existing Marvel Comics character. However, by December 2019, the project was cancelled due to Marvel Television folding into Marvel Studios. Ridley later revealed that his cancelled project would have been a version of Eternals, which was instead developed as an unrelated movie directed by Chloé Zhao.

On April 16, 2018, it was announced that Ridley would direct and write an adaptation of his graphic novel The American Way produced by Blumhouse Productions.

On June 4, 2018, it was announced that Ridley would direct a feature film adaptation of the Robert Silverberg short story, Needle in a Timestack produced by Bron Studios. The film featured performances from Leslie Odom Jr., Freida Pinto, Cynthia Erivo, and Orlando Bloom.

In 2021, Ridley began writing a number of series for DC Comics. The series include a new Batman series 'The Next Batman' as part of the company's line-wide event 'Future State', and a 5-issue series 'The Other History of the DC Universe' a text-based story about the history of the non-white, non-American DC heroes such as Black Lightning and Katana.

In May 2021, Marvel Comics announced that Ridley will write Black Panther comics.

Controversy
In December 2007, during the Writers Guild of America strike against the major production studios, Ridley opted for WGA membership as a dues-paying non-member, or "fi-core," making him eligible to submit scripts to the studios while the strike was ongoing. In an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times, Ridley expressed his frustration at the direction the strike had taken and the WGA's crushing of internal dissent: "After 15 years of being told shut up, sit down and be part of the groupthink, I decided I did not belong in the guild. The guild has a way to option out. I took the option." Ridley's screenplay for 12 Years a Slave was thus ineligible for a Writers Guild of America Award.

Personal life
Ridley is married to wife Gayle, a former script supervisor. They have two children.

Television
Acting credits

Novels

 * Ridley, John. Stray Dogs. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-345-41345-1
 * Ridley, John. Love Is a Racket: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1998. ISBN 978-0-375-40142-8
 * Ridley, John. Everybody Smokes in Hell. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 978-0-375-40143-5
 * Ridley, John. A Conversation with the Mann: A Novel. New York: Warner Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-446-52836-8
 * Ridley, John. The Drift. New York: Knopf, 2002. ISBN 978-0-375-41182-3
 * Ridley, John. Those Who Walk in Darkness New York: Warner Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0-446-53093-4
 * Ridley, John, and Patricia R. Floyd. What Fire Cannot Burn. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2011, 2007. ISBN 978-1-456-10151-0

Graphic novels

 * Ridley, John, and Ben Oliver. The Authority: Human on the Inside. La Jolla, CA: WildStorm Productions, 2004. 978-1-401-20070-1
 * Ridley, John. The Razor's Edge: Warblade #1-5. DC Comics. 2005.
 * Ridley, John, Georges Jeanty, and Karl C. Story. The American Way. La Jolla, Calif: WildStorm/DC Comics, 2007. ISBN 978-1-401-21256-8
 * Ridley, John, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, and José Villarrubia. The Other History of the DC Universe. DC Comics, 2021. ISBN 978-1-779-51197-3

Stage plays

 * Ridley, John. Ten Thousand Years. 2005 (world premiere).

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

title: John Ridley


text:
Template:Election box turnout

! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |

title: Template:Election box turnout


text:
Template:Election box majority

! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |
 * style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" |

title: Template:Election box majority


text:
Regine Hildebrandt

Regine Hildebrandt (née Radischewski; 26 April 1941 – 26 November 2001) was a German biologist and politician (Social Democratic Party of Germany).

Wartime in Germany
Regine Radischewski was born in Berlin during the war, the second of her parents' two recorded children. Her father was a pianist who worked as an accompanist at the National Ballet Academy.

Her mother would later own a small tobacconist shop. When she was two the family were evacuated from central Berlin to countryside far to the east of Germany, and shortly after that they were bombed out, losing most of their material possessions.

Growing up
The war ended in May 1945 and the family ended up back in Berlin. For the first five or six years of her schooling she attended a school in a western occupation zone of the city ("West Berlin"), but as the political division between the Soviet occupation zone and the western occupation zones became more stark and, it seemed, more permanent, her parents opted on her behalf for a school in the Soviet zone in what had by now become known as East Berlin. The family home was in the city centre along Bernauer Straße ("Bernau Street") which formed the (initially hard to spot) political border between East Berlin and West Berlin, and afforded Regine a ring-side seat in the cold wall drama until September 1961 when the family were forcibly relocated in connection with the building of the Berlin Wall. In October 1961 she co-founded and joined the interdenominational choir at Berlin's (Protestant) Cathedral, which now flourished under the musical direction of a man called Herbert Hildebrand.

The student
From 1959 to 1964, she studied biology at the Humboldt University in East Berlin.

She had never joined the Free German Youth (FDJ/Freie Deutsche Jugend), which was in effect the youth wing of the young country's ruling SED party. Her failure to join seems to have been a result of timetable clashes involving her commitment to singing in the church choir. Failure to enroll in the FDJ had nevertheless led to her application for the university course to be initially rejected; and subsequent failure as an adult to become a Party Member would constrain her career opportunities right up until 1989.

A career in research
Between 1964 and 1978 Regine Radischewski worked in a management position involving Quality Control in the pharmacology department of VEB Berlin-Chemie, a major conglomerate in East Berlin. Hildebrandt combined her responsibilities in the pharmaceuticals department with a medicines research project at the Humboldt University which led to her receiving her doctorate in 1978. In 1978 she took a senior research position at Berlin's Centre for the Study of Metabolism Illnesses and Diabetes, heading up the Diabetes department until 1990. During this period she had numerous research papers published.

Family matters
During these years she also found time, in 1966 to marry Jörg Hildebrandt, brother of the musical director of the choir in which they sang. The two had known each other through the church since 1950: they had also been near neighbours, with a shared childhood experience of living along the East–West front-line before 1961. The marriage produced three children, born in 1969, 1971 and 1974. Her research career left her with enough space to devote time to the family, which was very important to her. Her husband later recalled that they ate together each evening six days per week, and on Sundays had a family lunch in the middle of the day after getting back from church. When she died, aged 60, she would still be living with younger family members in a large "multi-generational family house" they had been able to have built after 1990.

Interaction with the state
The family participated the political life of the one-party dictatorship only when they felt they had to. They did not vote in the country's sham elections because §22 of the constitution did not oblige them to vote (although the 1986 General election resulted, typically, in a reported turnout of 99.74%). Regine Hildebrand did join the national Trade Union Federation (FDGB/Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) because not to have done so would have deprived her research colleagues of vital funding. When fraternal tanks appeared on the streets of Prague to crush political reform, the Hildebrandts joined in a protest demonstration outside the Czechoslovak embassy in Berlin.

They would write letters of protest to the Party Central Committee and to Neues Deutschland, the party's mass-circulation official daily newspaper. Hildebrand assiduously read Neues Deutschland and followed other official media, if only to keep herself up to date with The Party's politically correct linguistic contrivances of the moment. The family never owned a television set, but news came from radio programmes broadcast from West Berlin or London, and from friends who visited from the west and were permitted (unlike East German citizens) to return to the west afterwards.

Politics
The summer of 1989 brought a dramatic change in her life when she, together with her husband, Jörg, was among the co-founders of Democracy Now, which sought an alliance of Christians and critical Marxists "to think about our future, to think about a society based on solidarity".

The Social Democrats
On 12 October 1989 she joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) which (in East Germany) had been re-founded five days earlier. The Hildebrandts valued the embracing compassionate socialism of the moderate left which had been nurtured and demonstrated by iconic (western) SPD figures from the recent past such as Kurt Schumacher and Willy Brandt. A year later, following reunification, in October 1990 the party would merge formally with the West German Social Democratic Party (SDP).

National ministerial office
1990 was the year in which, for rather less than a year, she became an important Social Democratic participant in the national politics of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). National elections in the GDR had traditionally operated according to a single list system which offered the voters only one list of (carefully preselected) candidates. Anyone wishing to vote against the list could do so by placing the ballot paper in a separate ballot box while the officials looked on: few did. But on 18 March 1990 the German Democratic Republic conducted its first (and as matters turned out, last) democratically configured general election. The Social Democrats took 21.9% of the vote which entitled them to 88 seats in the country's first freely elected National legislative assembly (Volkskammer). One of the seats went to Hildebrand, representing the Berlin electoral district. She also joined the coalition government of Lothar de Maizière, serving between April and August 1990 as the East German Minister for Labour and Social Affairs.

A political decision had been taken to convert East German currency into western Marks at a one-for one rate (except in respect of very large amounts), and Hildebrandt's priority as a government minister was tackling growing unemployment in east Germany, following economic disruption associated with the ongoing reunification process.

The governing coalition started to splinter in August 1990 leading to the withdrawal of the Social Democrats from it, as a result of which Regine Hildebrandt terminated her career as a government minister at the national level. The next month, however, in 1990 she was elected to the national committee of the SPD (for the whole of Germany, even though national reunification would not be formally enacted until October).

Minister in Brandenburg
Hildebrandt now became a key SPD figure in the state politics of Brandenburg. In October 1990, the state tier of government was reintroduced to what had been the German Democratic Republic, and as part of the process elections took place for a new state parliament in Brandenburg on 26 October. Hildebrandt was elected as an SPD member and then appointed to ministerial office under minister-president Manfred Stolpe: from 1 November 1990 onwards she served as Brandenburg's Minister for Labour, Social affairs, Health and Women, in effect an expanded version of the ministerial portfolio she had been handling nationally earlier in the year.

She was a popular and effective minister, often hitting the headlines with less than diplomatic outbursts, always charmingly reasonable but also forcefully persuasive with key colleagues when, as often happened, issues within her ministerial ambit came down to arguments about funding. In the popular media she frequently attracted the soubriquet "Mother Courage".

In the 1999 Brandenburg state election the Social Democrats lost their absolute majority and minister-president Manfred Stolpe prepared to form a "grand coalition" with the centre-right CDU party. Hildebrand was already seriously ill and had strongly campaigned for an alternative alliance, with the left-wing PDS. She resigned from the state government.

The Hildebrandts and the state prime minister Manfred Stolpe had known one another since the 1960s through their church connections, though they had not been aware at every level of Stolpe's complicated and possibly at times collaborative relationship with the Ministry for State Security during the years of the dictatorship. After her resignation from the government Hildebrand and Stolpe would continue to treasure one another's friendship, and remain political allies, until Hildebrandt's death in 2001.

Nationally in December 1999 and again in November 2001, a few weeks before she died, Hildebrand topped the polls in the elections to the national executive of the Social Democratic Party.

Death
In July 1996 it became known that Regine Hildebrandt had breast cancer. She died at age 60 on 26 November 2001 in Woltersdorf, Brandenburg.

Honours and awards

 * 1993: Gustav Heinemann Citizenship Prize
 * 1993: Hamm Brücher Medal
 * 1997: "Golden Hen"
 * 2000: Fritz Bauer Prize
 * 2001: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

title: Regine Hildebrandt


text:
Sideboy

A sideboy is a member of an even-numbered group of seamen posted in two rows at the quarterdeck when a visiting dignitary boards or leaves the ship, historically to help (or even hoist) him aboard, in a ceremony known as tending the Side. Presently, Sideboys are used only for ceremonial purposes and not always aboard ships. For example, they may be used for Change of Command and Retirement ceremonies. Sideboys are instructed by the piping of the Boatswain's Mate. The sideboy function may be performed by either male or female members of the ship's complement.

Since 1843, United States Navy regulations have stipulated the number of sideboys according to the importance of the guests, which are similarly entitled to other honors; viz., the number of ruffles and flourishes and the number of cannon fired as a salute. It is traditional to post sideboys to honor superior officers. Anywhere from two to eight sideboys can be placed; this depends on the officer's rank or paygrade. The President rates the maximum number of sideboys (8), as does the Vice President and the Chief of Naval Operations. Specific requirements for other dignitaries and military Officers can be found in OPNAVINST 1710.7A, the Social Usage and Protocol Handbook.

title: Sideboy


text:
The Portico Library

The Portico Library, The Portico or Portico Library and Gallery on Mosley Street in Manchester, England, is an independent subscription library designed in the Greek Revival style by Thomas Harrison of Chester and built between 1802 and 1806. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building, having been designated on 25 February 1952, and has been described as "the most refined little building in Manchester".

History
The library was established as a result of a meeting of Manchester businessmen in 1802 which resolved to found an "institute uniting the advantages of a newsroom and a library". A visit by four of the men to the Athenaeum in Liverpool inspired them to achieve a similar institution in Manchester. Money was raised through 400 subscriptions from Manchester men and the library opened in 1806.

The library, mainly focused on 19th-century literature, was designed by Thomas Harrison, architect of Liverpool's Lyceum and built by one of the founders, David Bellhouse. Its first secretary, Peter Mark Roget, began his thesaurus here.

Today the ground floor is tenanted by The Bank, a public house that takes its name from the Bank of Athens that leased the property in 1921. The library occupies what became the first floor with its entrance on Charlotte Street.

In November 2023, it was announced that the library had been awarded a £453,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to transform the building and preserve its book collection. The regeneration project would aim to unite all three original floors of the building for the first time in more than 100 years. The ground floor and basement would be changed to a "northern bookshop" with educational activities, dining and exhibition areas and meeting spaces, while the upper floors would showcase the library's unique book collection, manuscript archive and architecture.

Architecture
The library was the first Greek Revival building in the city. Its interior was inspired by John Soane. The library has a rectangular plan and is constructed in sandstone ashlar on a corner site at 57 Mosley Street. It has two storeys, a basement and roof space. Its façade on Mosley Street has a three-bay pedimented loggia with four Ionic columns set slightly forward and steps between the columns. Under the loggia are two entrance doors and three square windows at first floor level.

The Charlotte Street façade has an entrance into the loggia with a square window above and another on the first floor. A five-bay colonnade of Ionic semi-columns has tall sashed windows on the ground floor in each bay and square window above at first floor level. The attic storey is behind a pilastered parapet. Originally the reading room was on the ground floor and the library occupied the remainder of the ground floor and a mezzanine gallery. A glass-domed ceiling was inserted at gallery level in about 1920 to separate the new tenants from what remained of the library.

Prizes
The Portico Library, in conjunction with its cultural partners and funders, hosts a series of literary prizes throughout the year to celebrate writers and poets from Northern England and beyond. The Portico Prize for Literature was established in 1985 and awarded biennially to a work of fiction or poetry and a work of non-fiction set wholly or mainly in the north of England. The library launched the Sadie Massey Award to celebrate the North West's young writers in 2015.

Notable members
The library's first chairman was John Ferriar and its secretary was Peter Mark Roget. Other notable members include John Dalton, Reverend William Gaskell, Sir Robert Peel and more recently Eric Cantona.

title: The Portico Library


text:
Roy Roberts

Roy Roberts (born Roy Barnes Jones; March 19, 1906 – May 28, 1975) was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.

Life and career
Born in Tampa, Florida, Roberts began his acting career on stage with a stock company there. He left the Tampa company after a year to perform in touring stock theater for five years.

He first appeared on Broadway in May 1931 before making his motion picture debut in Gold Bricks, a 1936 two-reel comedy short released by 20th Century-Fox. He appeared in numerous films in secondary parts and returned to perform on Broadway in such productions as Twentieth Century, My Sister Eileen, and Carnival in Flanders until he began making guest appearances on television series. After appearing on Gale Storm's My Little Margie in 1956, he became part of several television series.

In a show that was the precursor to The Love Boat, Roberts played the ship's captain for four years in Storm's next hit, Oh! Susanna, which aired on CBS and ABC from 1956 to 1960. He guest-starred in scores of series, including the western-themed crime drama, Sheriff of Cochise, the western series, My Friend Flicka, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (as Texas cattle baron Shanghai Pierce, and The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, and Brian Keith's Cold War drama, Crusader.

Roberts appeared on four episodes of the CBS legal drama, Perry Mason, including the role of Arthur Janeel in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Malicious Mariner."

During the middle 1960s, Roberts was one of the most recognizable faces on television, and had recurring roles concurrently on a number of popular programs, including:

 * Bank president Mr. Cheever on CBS's The Lucy Show
 * John Cushing, president of the rival Merchants Bank in several episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies
 * The judge in The Beverly Hillbillies "The Clampetts in Court"
 * Railroad president Norman Curtis on CBS's Petticoat Junction
 * Darrin's father Frank Stephens on ABC's Bewitched, alternating with actor Robert F. Simon depending upon availability.
 * Banker Harry Bodkin & Dodge House Proprietor Mr. Dobie on CBS's Gunsmoke
 * Neighbor Bruce MacDermott on ABC's Our Man Higgins
 * Preston "Press" Wasco and Kelly on the NBC western, Laredo
 * "Doc" on John Payne's The Restless Gun in the 1957 episode "Trail to Sunset"
 * Banker George Bristol on NBC's Bonanza
 * Admiral Rogers on McHale's Navy (in some episodes, his first name is given as "John" and in others his name is given as "Bruce").
 * Capt. Walter A. Bascom in three episodes of the religion anthology series, Crossroads
 * The Governor in a season two episode of Green Acres, "One of Our Assemblymen is Missing".

In the 1940s and 1950s, Roberts was a regular in many films noir, including Force of Evil (1948), He Walked by Night (1948), Nightmare Alley (1947), The Brasher Doubloon (1947), Borderline (1950) and The Enforcer (1951). In 1953, he appeared as Vincent Price's character's crooked business partner (and first victim) in House of Wax.

In 1956, he was Colonel Sam Sherman in The First Texan. In 1962 Roberts appeared as John Kemper on the TV western Lawman in the episode titled "Heritage of Hate".

He appeared in the neo-noirs The Outfit (1973) and Chinatown (1974). He also had a small role in the hit 1963 Stanley Kramer comedy, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as a police officer. Unfortunately, his role was cut from later television and movie versions to reduce running time. However, Roberts' brief role is included in versions on laserdisc and extended-length DVDs.

Roberts appeared in an episode of the situation comedy A Touch of Grace in 1973. His last television appearance was on the January 21, 1974, CBS broadcast of Here's Lucy. In that installment, "Lucy Is N.G. As An R.N.", Roberts played a veterinarian.

Death
Roberts died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, California, of a heart attack on May 28, 1975, and was interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

Selected filmography

 * Guadalcanal Diary (1943) - Capt. James Cross
 * The Fighting Sullivans (1944) - Father Francis
 * Tampico (1944) - Crawford (uncredited)
 * Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) - Frank Williams - FBI Chief (uncredited)
 * Wilson (1944) - Ike Hoover - Chief White House Butler (uncredited)
 * Circumstantial Evidence (1945) - Marty Hannon
 * The Caribbean Mystery (1945) - Capt. Van den Bark
 * A Bell for Adano (1945) - Col. W.W. Middleton - Provost Marshal
 * Within These Walls (1945) - Martin 'Marty' Deutsch
 * Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946) - Army Capt. Rampey
 * Behind Green Lights (1946) - Max Calvert
 * Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946) - J.P. Hartley
 * Strange Triangle (1946) - Harry Matthews
 * Smoky (1946) - Jeff Nix
 * It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1946) - 'Mitch' Mitchell
 * My Darling Clementine (1946) - Mayor
 * The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) - Mr. Foster
 * The Brasher Doubloon (1947) - Police Lt. Breeze
 * The Foxes of Harrow (1947) - Tom Warren
 * Nightmare Alley (1947) - McGraw - Final Carnival Owner (uncredited)
 * Gentleman's Agreement (1947) - Mr. Calkins (uncredited)
 * Daisy Kenyon (1947) - Quint - Dan's Attorney (uncredited)
 * Captain from Castile (1947) - Capt. Alvarado
 * Fury at Furnace Creek (1948) - Al Shanks
 * The Gay Intruders (1948) - Charles McNulty
 * Joan of Arc (1948) - Wandamme (Burgundian captain)
 * No Minor Vices (1948) - Mr. Felton (uncredited)
 * He Walked by Night (1948) - Police Capt. Breen
 * Force of Evil (1948) - Ben Tucker
 * Chicken Every Sunday (1949) - Harry Bowers
 * Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949) - Marshal Peak
 * Flaming Fury (1949) - Capt. S. Taplinger
 * Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) - Construction Foreman Roberts (uncredited)
 * The Reckless Moment (1949) - Nagel
 * Chicago Deadline (1949) - Jerry Cavanaugh
 * A Kiss for Corliss (1949) - Uncle George
 * Bodyhold (1949) - Charlie Webster
 * Chain Lightning (1950) - Maj. Gen. Hewitt
 * Borderline (1950) - Harvey Gumbin
 * The Palomino (1950) - Ben Lane
 * Sierra (1950) - Sheriff Knudsen
 * The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) - Mayor of New York
 * Wyoming Mail (1950) - Charles De Haven
 * The Second Face (1950) - Allan Wesson
 * Stage to Tucson (1950) - Jim Maroon
 * The Enforcer (1951) - Capt. Frank Nelson
 * Santa Fe (1951) - Cole Sanders
 * Fighting Coast Guard (1951) - Captain Gibbs
 * I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) - Father Novac
 * The Tanks Are Coming (1951) - Major General (uncredited)
 * The Man with a Cloak (1951) - Policeman
 * My Favorite Spy (1951) - Johnson - FBI Man (uncredited)
 * The Cimarron Kid (1952) - Pat Roberts
 * The Big Trees (1952) - Judge Crenshaw
 * Hoodlum Empire (1952) - Police Chief Thales
 * Skirts Ahoy! (1952) - Capt. Graymont
 * Cripple Creek (1952) - Marshal John Tetheroe
 * One Minute to Zero (1952) - Lt. Gen. George Thomas (uncredited)
 * Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952) - Maj. Gladwin
 * Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) - Maj. George Porter Houston
 * The Man Behind the Gun (1953) - Sen. Mark Sheldon
 * San Antone (1953) - John Chisum
 * The Lone Hand (1953) - Mr. Skaggs
 * House of Wax (1953) - Matthew Burke
 * The Glory Brigade (1953) - Sgt. Chuck Anderson
 * Second Chance (1953) - Charley Malloy
 * Sea of Lost Ships (1953) - Captain of the 'Eagle'
 * Tumbleweed (1953) - Nick Buckley
 * The Outlaw Stallion (1954) - Hagen
 * Dawn at Socorro (1954) - Doc Jameson
 * They Rode West (1954) - Sgt. Creever
 * Big House, U.S.A. (1955) - Chief Ranger Will Erickson
 * Stranger on Horseback (1955) - Sam Kettering
 * Wyoming Renegades (1955) - Sheriff McVey
 * The Eternal Sea (1955) - Review Board captain (uncredited)
 * I Cover the Underworld (1955) - District Attorney
 * The Last Command (1955) - Dr. Summerfield
 * Backlash (1956) - Maj. Carson
 * The First Texan (1956) - Col. Sam Sherman
 * The Boss (1956) - Tim Brady
 * Yaqui Drums (1956) - Matt Quigg
 * The White Squaw (1956) - Edward Purvis
 * The King and Four Queens (1956) - Sheriff Tom Larrabee
 * The Restless Gun (1957) as Kitt Springer in Episode "The Gold Buckle"
 * The Underwater City (1962) - Tim Graham
 * Kid Galahad (1962) - Jerry Bathgate
 * Lawman (1962 episode titled "Heritage of Hate") - John Kemper
 * The Chapman Report (1962) - Alan Roby
 * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) - Policeman Outside Irwin & Ray's Garage
 * Those Calloways (1965) - E.J. Fletcher
 * I'll Take Sweden (1965) - Ship's Captain
 * Hotel (1967) - Bailey
 * Tammy and the Millionaire (1967) - Gov. Alden
 * Cry for Poor Wally (1969) - Doctor
 * Some Kind of a Nut (1969) - Mr. Burlingame
 * The Million Dollar Duck (1971) - The Judge (uncredited)
 * The Outfit (1973) - Sheriff Bob Caswell
 * Chinatown (1974) - Mayor Bagby
 * The Strongest Man in the World (1975) - Mr. Roberts (final film role)

title: Roy Roberts


text:
Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) is a private law school in San Diego, California. It offers a Juris Doctor and two Master of Laws programs.

The school is not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), following the ABA's withdrawal of approval in December 2019. However, it is approved by the California State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners.

History
The Thomas Jefferson School of Law was founded in 1969 as the San Diego campus of the Western State University College of Law and operated as such until 1995, when it became independent. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 2008. In January 2011, TJSL moved to a new, 305000 sqft building located in the East Village district of downtown San Diego. In 2018, the school announced it would vacate its building as a cost-cutting measure, moving into an office building in downtown San Diego.

Accreditation
TJSL received accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1996. The ABA revoked the school's accreditation on June 10, 2019. This followed a public censure by the ABA in 2018 and a 2017 decision to place the school on probation for being out of compliance with the ABA requirement that schools admit only students who appear capable of earning a J.D. degree and passing the bar examination. In October 2018, TJSL became a California state approved school, allowing its students to take the California Bar Exam.

Academics
The program offers two Master of Laws (LL.M.) and aJSD "Doctor of Laws or Juridical Science" degree. The J.D. program is offered in person as well as online. Certificate Programs in International Financial Centers, United States Taxation, E-commerce, Anti-Money Laundering & Compliance, and Trusts and Estate Planning are available. Faculty for the program are generally part-time and populated with industry professionals. Students begin classes in August, attend the three-year, full-time program or the four-year, part-time program, and can accelerate graduation one semester by taking additional classes during the summer. Day and evening classes are offered.

Bar pass rate
The October 2020 California Bar pass rate for TJSL graduates was 47% for first time takers and 44% for repeat takers, vs. statewide averages of 74% and 43%, respectively. The July 2021 California Bar pass rate for TJSL graduates was 52% for first time takers and 18% for repeat takers, vs. statewide averages of 71% and 19%, respectively. For the July 2023 California Bar, the pass rate for TJSL graduates was 4% for first-time takers and 20% for repeat takers versus statewide averages of 64% and 24%, respectively.

Costs and student debt
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law for the 2018–2019 academic year is $77,660. Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years at $297,652.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the average indebtedness of 2018 graduates who incurred law school debt was $196,607 (not including undergraduate debt), and 92% of 2018 graduates took on debt. The average indebtedness of graduates who incurred law school debt is second-highest among US law schools. The school's Associate Dean for Student Affairs has attributed the average debt level to the school's admittance of immigrants and those who are the first in their family to attend law school—people who are statistically more likely to lack individual or family resources.

Post-graduation employment
According to Thomas Jefferson School of Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 19% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.

In 2013, the National Law Journal reported the college has the worst unemployment rate after graduation (31.5%) amongst all law schools in the country.

In January 2011, a New York Times article about the inability of many recent law school graduates to get jobs discussed Thomas Jefferson's claim that 92% of the class of 2009 was employed within nine months of graduation. The school's claim was based on a survey of the class of 2009. (Under ABA rules, 25% of graduates who do not participate in employment surveys are counted as employed.). The Wall Street Journal also ran a story in June 2012 listing TJSL as one of the 'bottom five' schools for 2011 graduate employment.

In May 2011, Anna Alaburda filed a class-action lawsuit against her alma mater, alleging that the law school had committed fraud by publishing deceptive post-graduation employment statistics and salary data in order to bait new students into enrolling. Alaburda, a 2008 honors graduate, claimed that despite having graduated at the top of her class and passed the California bar exam, she was unable to find suitable legal employment, and had racked up more than $150,000 in student loan debt. This is the first time a law school would stand trial for allegedly inflating its employment statistics. The jury found in favor of TJSL with a 9–3 verdict.

Center for Solo Practitioners
Since Fall 2012, TJSL has operated a lawyer incubator program called the Center for Solo Practitioners. The incubator provides space and support for selected alumni who are going into solo practice. It is also intended to help serve under-represented communities.

At the 2013 annual meeting of the American Bar Association, the Center for Solo Practitioners was honored with an ABA award in recognition of "successful implementation of a project or program specifically targeted to solo and small-firm lawyers."

Intellectual property
In 2009, TJSL initiated an Intellectual Property Fellowship Program for students with undergraduate or advanced degrees in the hard sciences or engineering. The TJSL Center for Law and Intellectual Property has course offerings in copyright, patent, trademark and unfair competition law as well as cyberspace law, biotechnology law and bioethics, telecommunications and media law, and sports and entertainment law.

International law
The Center for Global Legal Studies offers a specialized program in international law.

Social Justice Center
The Center for Law and Social Justice is a research and teaching program in areas of public policy and law in its field.

Alumni

 * Roger Benitez (1978), Federal Judge of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California
 * Bonnie Dumanis (1976), first openly gay or lesbian DA in the country. Also the first Jewish woman DA in San Diego
 * Michael Dvorak (1975), former Indiana State Representative and St. Joseph County, Indiana Prosecutor
 * Duncan Hunter (1976), Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009 and 2008 presidential candidate
 * Jessica King (2001), Wisconsin professor and former Wisconsin state senator
 * Leslie Alexander, former stock trader and former owner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Houston Rockets.
 * Tim Purpura (1992), former general manager of the Houston Astros
 * Sherrexcia "Rexy" Rolle (2014), Bahamian attorney, singer and VP of Operations & General Counsel of Western Air

Faculty

 * Marjorie Cohn, former president of the National Lawyers Guild and book author

title: Thomas Jefferson School of Law