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List of Will & Grace characters

This list provides descriptions of characters on the NBC situation comedy Will & Grace.

Main characters

 * Eric McCormack as Will Truman: Will is a gay man working as a successful corporate lawyer. He studied at Columbia University, which is where he met his best friend, Grace, they act as titular protagonists. Will's personality seems uptight and obsessive. Especially when it comes to cleaning, dressing, and decorating. However, Will does have a very patient and compassionate nature towards those close to him, often to a fault. Will sometimes tries to pass as straight and has at times avoided admitting his sexual orientation to people.
 * Debra Messing as Grace Adler: Grace is an interior decorator with a large personality. She is known for her fondness of food. She has been Will's best friend since college and roommate throughout most of the show. Grace is Jewish but does not practice her religion staunchly. Grace tends to rely heavily on Will for moral and emotional support, and her emotions balance well with Will's uptight nature.
 * Megan Mullally as Karen Walker: Karen is Grace's assistant, tasked with making Grace's designs popular among her socialite acquaintances. She is married to the wealthy (but mostly unseen) Stanley Walker. Because of her husband's wealth, Karen does not actually need a job and it's discovered at some point during the show's run that she hadn't been cashing her paychecks, preferring to 'collect' them instead. She mentions at one point that she only took the job to get herself 'away from Stan and the kids.' Karen is also known for casually downing alcohol and prescription medication, though it is usually played as comedy. Karen is very close to Jack, adores Grace, and throughout the show's run, warms up to Will. Even though she seems to be devoid of manners and social graces, Karen has shown bouts of intelligence: having a working knowledge of business/real estate market economics, a moderate understanding of computers, and a flair for interior design. She is also a certified public notary and an aficionado of various liquors and prescription drugs. Despite this, she is often unaware of her rudeness and thoughtless conduct toward the working and middle classes, often criticizing and mocking what she fails to understand.
 * Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland: Will's close friend since college. Jack is flamboyantly gay, confident, and free-spirited, having been so from a young age. He drifts from man to man and changes occupations often. He previously worked as a struggling actor, an acting instructor, a backup dancer for Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson, a sales associate at Banana Republic and Barneys New York, a cater-waiter, a student nurse, a Junior VP for Out TV, and a host of his own Out TV talk show, called Jack Talk. Jack made four one-man shows (called Just Jack, Jack 2000, Jack 2001, and Jack 2002) to showcase his singing/dancing/acting abilities; all attempts having only marginal success. Early on in the show he establishes a close friendship with Karen; the pair often spend time together and orchestrate various pranks. Throughout the series, Jack relies on Will and Karen for financial support, but in the finale of the original series, he inherits Beverley Leslie's money and becomes very rich. His idol is Cher.
 * Gary Grubbs as Harlin Polk (regular season 1; guest season 2): A major client of Will's in season one who ultimately fires him.
 * Shelley Morrison as Rosario Salazar (regular seasons 3–8; recurring seasons 1–2): Karen's maid, and later Jack's wife, then ex-wife. Morrison was invited to reprise her role when the series was revived, but declined, having retired from acting.
 * Michael Angarano as Elliot (regular season 4; recurring seasons 3, 5–6, 8; special guest season 9): Jack's son. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack meets Elliot, his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at the age of 17.

Grace's family

 * Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus, portrayed by actor and singer Harry Connick, Jr., is a Jewish doctor and Grace's husband from the fifth season. Leo meets Grace Adler in Central Park while she is on her way to be artificially inseminated with gay best friend Will's baby. After Will finds out that Leo and Grace are dating, they have their biggest fight of the entire series, in which Will tells Grace to move out. Thanks to Jack and Karen's meddling, they forgive each other and Will accepts Grace's relationship. In November 2002, Grace and Leo are married at a spontaneous group ceremony in Central Park, which was supposed to be broadcast on The Today Show. It was later revealed in the storyline that the ceremony was not legal, but the two officially marry at a ceremony soon after. Leo and Grace's relationship was a constant source of tension between Will and Grace, although they eventually achieved a certain accord with each other – Leo even commented to Will at one point that he considered himself essentially married to both of them due to his ability to accept their close relationship. Leo's true first name is Marvin, as revealed by his mother at their wedding reception. According to The Nation Magazine, this was the first time in television history that a Jewish protagonist character had married inside the faith. Grace immediately realizes she does not know as much about Leo as she expected. Their marriage fails after less than two years, when Leo reveals that he had a one-night stand while working in Cambodia for Doctors Without Borders. Leo admits his affair to Will first. Will then refuses to help Leo break the news to Grace. After Leo comes clean about his affair, Grace briefly considers continuing their marriage but quickly decides she wants a divorce. Leo reappears during season eight, a little over a year after the divorce in the storyline, in the episode "Love Is in the Airplane." In the episode, he and Grace have a sexual encounter on an airplane after coincidentally ending up on the same flight to London, though Leo was to continue to Thailand. The result is Grace's pregnancy, as discovered in the season eight episode "The Definition of Marriage". A couple of months later Grace meets Leo, with the intention of telling him that she is pregnant with his baby, but he informs her that he is engaged to another woman, Kate. Consequently, Grace decides not to tell Leo about the pregnancy. In the series finale (May 2006) Leo tells a heavily pregnant Grace that he loves her. Leo has a job as a hospital researcher in Rome, Italy, and this is where Grace gives birth. After one year in Rome, Leo and Grace moved back to Brooklyn, New York, where they raise their daughter, Lila, together. 11 years later in season 9 it was revealed that this was part of Karen's dream.
 * Bobbi Adler, Grace's mother, was played by Debbie Reynolds. Bobbi is an actress and singer, although her performances are generally with the Schenectady Players and involve gender-changing roles, in plays such as "Death of a Salesperson", "The Music Person" and "Queen Lear". She has a constant desire to meddle in the love lives of her daughters, is the creator of the Adler family "Told you so" dance, and can always be relied upon to have a song for every occasion. She has, in the past, shown a perfect willingness for Will and Grace to get married. It is mentioned in the Season 9 episode "Rosario's Quinceañera" that she died.
 * Martin Adler, Grace's father, played by Alan Arkin and Robert Klein in Season 9. Portrayed by his family as the stereotypical Jewish patriarch, Martin shows genuine affection for Grace, although remarks he has made suggest Joyce is his favorite. He has been known to pinpoint Grace's flaws without looking up from his Kojak and Baretta reruns.
 * Janet Adler, Grace's older sister, is played by Geena Davis and Mary McCormack in Season 9. Janet lives in a van and designs jewelry. Her nickname for Grace is "Smudge". It is once implied that she has difficulties with her mother. In the episode "Lows in the Mid-Eighties", Will asks if Grace has another sister named Janet, to which Bobbi, Joyce, and Grace quickly answer "No!"
 * Joyce Adler, Grace's younger sister, is played by Sara Rue. It is suggested that Grace and Joyce had a not-too-friendly relationship growing up and that Joyce was formerly a binge eater. She is often hostile to Grace, but one word from Will and she tends to giggle and act girlishly; it appears that she, like Grace before her, has a crush on Will.
 * Lila Markus, Grace and Leo's daughter, is played by Maria Thayer. Lila was conceived by Leo and Grace on an aircraft, during a period when her parents were divorced. She was going to be raised by Will and Grace, but her parents remarried shortly before her birth. She appears on screen only during the series finale.
 * Warren, played by Jesse Fremont Allis, is the imaginary son of Grace and Leo in a dream that Grace has during the last episode of season 8. Grace and Will raise 'their' son together.

Will's family

 * Vince D'Angelo, played by Bobby Cannavale. An Italian-American police officer, Vince first met Will after giving Karen a ticket for speeding and they started dating after the subsequent hearing. Vince was friends with Joe and Larry and began Will's first long-term relationship in the series' run. Vince broke up with Will, requesting time alone after repeatedly losing his job. He re-encountered Will in season 8 and, during the funeral of Will's father, they acknowledged their mutual feelings, thus rekindling their romance. In the finale, Will and Vince are shown raising a son, Ben, together. 11 years later in season 9 it was revealed that this was part of Karen's dream. He also got remarried in season 9 with Will struggling with Vince moving on.
 * Marilyn Truman, Will's mother, is played by Blythe Danner. A typical WASP, Marilyn regularly drinks, collects Lladró statues and treats them as if they were her children, and puts up with her husband's regular affairs until their ultimate separation. She is not a fan of musical theater – once claiming that Les Misérables was unrealistic because "poor people don't sing that much" – but was impressed with Mamma Mia!. She does not like the jokes Grace and Karen make about Will's sexuality, saying, "Is that a gay joke? I don't like that."
 * George Truman, Will's father, is played by Sydney Pollack. While he and Will have a close loving relationship, of which both Jack and Grace are envious, it is eventually revealed that he had trouble dealing with telling others of his son's sexuality, initially telling his friends Will was married to Grace. He dies in season 8, only days after having a fight with Will in which he admitted that he would rather that Will was not gay.
 * Sam Truman, Will's brother, is played by John Slattery in season one and Steven Weber in season 8. He had a falling-out with Will over comments Will made about his wife, but reconciled after he had a one-night stand with Grace. He eventually divorced his wife and gained full custody of their two children.
 * Paul Truman, Will's brother, is played by Jon Tenney. Paul never really came to terms with his brother's sexuality and often behaved like a childish bully, belittling and insulting Will.
 * Peggy Truman, Paul's wife and Will's sister-in-law, is played by Helen Slater. She was only shown in one episode and came off as waspish and suspicious of Grace's friendly behavior towards her own husband.
 * Tina, George's mistress, is played by Lesley Ann Warren. She began a relationship with George while he was still married to Marilyn, but was dismayed to learn that George was then seeing his ex-wife behind her back. Ultimately she and Marilyn come to an understanding, that they will share George between them without him knowing what is going on. This arrangement apparently ended not long before George's death.
 * Jordy Truman, Sam's son, and Will's nephew is played by Reed Alexander. Flamboyant Jordan incenses Will since Marilyn is incredibly accepting of him even though she was not at first accepting of Will. His nickname is Jordy. He is perceived to be gay by the other characters, although he is still a child, because of his flamboyant nature, love of show tunes and musicals, along with his general disposition.
 * Casey Truman, Sam's daughter, and Will's niece is played by Kyla Dang. Casey was adopted by Sam and his ex-wife.
 * Ben Truman, Will, and Vince's son are played by Ben Newmark. Appearing only during the series finale, Ben was apparently born from a surrogate mother using Will's sperm. Upon going to college, he meets and later marries Grace's daughter, Lila.

Karen's family

 * Stanley "Stan" Walker, Karen's husband, is a mostly unseen character. Karen is his second wife. He is an obese man and has worn a toupee since his teens. Stan has two children from a previous marriage to a woman named Kathy. Karen fell in love with him in the 1980s but they did not marry until 1995. Stan was jailed for tax evasion in season four and began an affair with a cafeteria worker named Lorraine (played by Minnie Driver), and – after his release in season five – continued the affair, ultimately separating from Karen because of it. He is reported to have died at the end of season five but, at the end of season seven, he reveals to Will that he had faked his own death and is hiding out with the aid of the government. He and Karen reconcile in season 8 but subsequently faced marital difficulties and divorce. Stan's popularity with fast food establishments leads to Pizza Hut taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times to congratulate him on his release from prison; Taco Bell also organized a flyover at his funeral. It is revealed in the original series finale that Stan's riches were actually borrowed and that he had no real money of his own, though this and the divorce is disregarded in the 2017 revival as one of Karen's daydreams. Another lengthy divorce occurs in season 10 when Stan discovers that Karen cheated on him with his friend Malcolm Widmark. In the revival finale, Stan asks Karen to take him back, and she realizes that she still loves him. At his direction, she goes to the observation deck of the Statue of Liberty, where they had their first date, but he does not show up. Just as she is about to leave, however, Stan arrives on a helicopter and sends down a note asking her to marry him again. She says yes, and boards the helicopter.
 * Mason Walker, Stan's son, is another unseen character. He is known to Karen as "the fat one". During one episode, Karen visits Mason during a swim try-out. She cheers and applauds and has a conversation with him until, in the end, she realizes she has been conversing with the wrong boy and not Mason after all.
 * Olivia Walker, Stan's daughter, is played by Hallee Hirsh (child) and Aya Cash (adult). Although she has had fun times with Karen, such as sticking food to the floor to see how long Mason will spend trying to eat it, she also has problems with her stepmother.
 * Lois Whitley, Karen's mother, played by Suzanne Pleshette. A con artist who used Karen in her early schemes. They had been estranged for several years before they reconciled in season 4, with the help of Jack.
 * Virginia "Ginny" Delaney, Karen's sister, played by Bernadette Peters. In 1963, as a child, she was injured in a brutal game of Twister played with Karen.
 * Barry, Karen's cousin, is played by Dan Futterman. Originally a gay bookish homebody, Karen had Will and Jack bring him out of his shell to become an attractive person whom both Will and Jack fall for.
 * Sylvia Walker, Karen's mother-in-law, is played by Ellen Albertini Dow. She is a woman that 'strikes fear in her heart-facsimile'. A seemingly kind, but homophobic old woman, Sylvia appears in one episode to accompany Will and Jack to a club. In the beginning, neither Will nor Jack wanted to babysit Sylvia, known as "Syl". She had been dumped on them by Karen, who then ditched her. Karen and Syl have a caustic relationship.
 * Sumner, Karen's nephew, is played by Paul Satterfield. Karen tries to keep him from dating Grace in season 3.

Rosario Inés Consuelo Yolanda Salazar
Karen Walker's put-upon but faithful maid is portrayed by an actress Shelley Morrison. In 1985, Rosario met Karen Walker at a club, while working as a cigarette lady, and went to work for her as a maid, which was where she was working when the series began in 1998. Rosario and Karen are very close, but their relationship is love-hate. They are notorious for swapping insults. Rosario is just as feisty as Karen and is one of the few people who manage to go head-to-head with her. A native of El Salvador, Rosario was a school teacher who received a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Texas and who almost got a master's degree. She also attended business school. At some point, she moved to the Bronx, presumably while studying business; however, Karen makes a comment that she bought Rosario from Rosario's parents. While there, she also performed with a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez, including a production of "Tea for Two" at the Shalom Retirement Center. At one point, she was also paid to tape pornographic videos for Tommy Lee. Although she had been mentioned by Karen since the pilot episode, Rosario's first appearance was in the season 1 finale. Due to Karen's patronizing tone, we're made to think that Rosario doesn't speak English well. Rosario actually speaks English fluently, albeit with a thick accent, but is an illegal alien. To keep her in the country, Karen has her marry Jack McFarland, her gay friend, to get a green card. The marriage was later terminated at the end of season 2 when Rosario asked for a divorce in order to pursue other romantic interests. However, she maintained a close relationship with Jack (often echoing hers with Karen) and claimed to still think of him as family. In the series finale, Rosario was shown to have lived with Karen and Jack in the years after the show ended, growing older with them and possibly still working for them despite being in a wheelchair (though she states that she is only in the wheelchair due to a sprained ankle).

In the series reboot in 2017, Rosario died off-camera in Season 9 Episode 6, "Rosario's Quinceañera".

Jack's family

 * Judith McFarland, Jack's mother, is played by Veronica Cartwright. Despite the obvious clues, Judith did not learn about Jack's sexuality until he was 30. She was impregnated with Jack while at a swinger's costume and pool party.
 * Daniel McFarland, Jack's stepfather, is played by Beau Bridges. Daniel always had trouble relating to Jack, due to his own athleticism and Jack's lack thereof. Despite Jack's statements to the contrary, Daniel is shown to be a caring man who is at least recently trying to reconnect with Jack.
 * Joe Black, Jack's biological father. Never portrayed on screen, Joe was revealed to have attended a swingers costumed pool party during the 60s, where he was dressed as Richard Nixon. During the party he impregnated Judith, who was dressed as the rear end of a horse. He dies several years before Jack discovers that Daniel McFarland is not his biological father.
 * Elliott, Jack's son, is played by Michael Angarano. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack meets Elliott – his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at the age of 17. He is described by Will as, "Polite, sweet, and kind" which, he says, is the reason Karen initially dislikes him. His relationship with Jack is shown to be very close – Jack noting in one episode that he wants to avoid being the kind of father he had as he always regretted the fact that they never really connected. However, they have a brief rift when Elliott prepares to leave for college during the last season.
 * Bonnie, Elliott's mother, is played by Rosie O'Donnell. Initially, Bonnie did not want Jack to be included in Elliott's life. Bonnie was a lesbian, but was not open about her sexuality to Elliott. She felt jealous that Jack found it easy to be open with Elliott about his sexuality when she did not feel she could be.
 * Estéfan Gloria-McFarland, Jack's husband, is played by Brian Jordan Alvarez. Estéfan, a flight attendant, meets Jack in season 9, as a rebound from a recent breakup of Jack's. Throughout season 10, their relationship builds and leads to a marriage in that season's finale.

Friends

 * Rob and Ellen, Will and Grace's close friends, are played by Tom Gallop and Leigh-Allyn Baker. Ellen and Grace were best friends since college, as were Rob and Will, and the two couples regularly played charades and other games during dinner parties. Grace also sleeps with Rob in season one when they were both going through break-ups and felt emotionally vulnerable, a fact that didn't come up until Rob and Ellen's wedding some years later. The couple did get married, however, and have since had three children, the youngest named Roman (which is the name of Debra Messing's real-life son, born in 2004). Rob and Ellen want to separate, so that they could begin dating other people, and they announce their separation at a dinner date with Will and Grace. Grace makes them realize that they had worked at their marriage and they should remain together; and also keenly reminded them that no one else would have them. Rob and Ellen decided to give their marriage another chance.
 * Joe and Larry are Will, Jack and Grace's close friends, and are played by Jerry Levine and Tim Bagley. A gay couple, once party animals, Joe and Larry adopted a baby girl called Hannah in season three. Karen occasionally refers to them as "Mo and Mary", with "Mo" being a play on the word "Homo".
 * Val Bassett, a neighbor of Will and Grace, is played by Molly Shannon. Slightly unstable, and alcoholic, Val originally befriends only Will, until Grace eventually discovers some common interests with her. Both of them still consider her unstable, as does Jack, who found her as an uninvited guest in his bedroom. When Grace accidentally attends an AA meeting, she is seen there by Val, who coerces her to stay. Grace pretends to be an alcoholic for the "free food and therapy".
 * Beverley Leslie, played by Leslie Jordan, is an effeminate and very short "frenemy" of Karen's. Having a wealthy spouse, as Karen does, Karen and Beverley routinely find themselves traveling in the same society circle of the wealthy and elite. Their relationship is that of friends and enemies. Beverley's wife's name is Crystal and is considerably older than he is. His marriage seems to be held together purely out of his love of Crystal's money. Karen, Will, Grace, and Jack see Beverley as a closeted gay man. He is often seen with a younger attractive man named Benji who appears to be his lover, but Beverley tries to pass him off as a "business associate". When Beverley appears on screen he often catches the other characters by surprise. Sometimes his appearance comes after a character says something that could be comically associated with him. For instance, whilst discussing a dessert, Jack says, "I want something small and fruity, with ladyfingers," and Beverley enters. Beverley and Karen often trade insults, as Karen enjoys ridiculing him for his height. Whenever he appears on screen he can usually be heard saying 'Well, well, well' in an effeminate way. Crystal later dies and Beverley inherits the fortune. Some years later Karen's husband Stan loses his fortune, putting Karen's extravagant lifestyle in jeopardy. Beverley presumably spends several more years with Benji after Crystal's death, and then begins seeing a reluctant Jack, who only dated Beverley to support Karen's excessive spending habits, as she had done for him for so many years. During the series finale Beverley is swept off a balcony by a strong gust of wind and dies, leaving his estate in his will to Jack. In the 2017 revival, this is retconned as one of Karen's daydreams, as Beverley shows up alive and well in the same hotel room Karen is staying, and with another younger male lover, coincidentally also named Benji. During a morphine-induced stupor, Beverley finally admits to Karen that he is gay and seeks her help coming out to his wife, Crystal, whom it turns out had survived her death, coming back to life during her burial, with Beverley wishing he had cremated her. Karen agrees to help, but is frustrated when Beverley reneges on the deal, claiming to have no memory of his "confession". As payback, Karen subjects Beverley to a night of unwanted torrid lovemaking by Crystal.
 * Rory, Toby, and Josh are friends of Jack who are never seen, but mentioned in various episodes. Early in Season 3, Rory is mentioned as being into Asian men. In Season 4 Josh, Toby, and Jack watch a video of Will freezing up on camera talking about Stanley Walker, but Josh and Toby leave before Will gets home, mainly because Jack ran out of wine.

Grace

 * Nathan, played by Woody Harrelson. Nathan is Grace's neighbor in season 3, who becomes her boyfriend. They appear to be a good match, but early in Season 4 he abruptly proposes to her during sex and she becomes distraught at the unromantic nature of his proposal, forcing him to take it back and ask again in a more romantic way. For several days they are awkward around each other and, fearing that their relationship is over, Grace proposes to Nathan who reluctantly refuses and breaks up with her.
 * Ben Doucette, played by Gregory Hines, is introduced in mid-season 2. Grace sues him after he violates her contract of employment, firing her without reimbursement for expenses she incurred while decorating his house. Although at first he played Grace and Will, who was representing her, he eventually gave her the money voluntarily and hired Will to work at his renowned law firm. Grace and he disliked each other for the rest of the season, until the season finale when Ben showed her his more humane face, when Will invited him to dine with them. They then started a happy, semi-monogamous relationship that lasted for roughly six months, until they broke up early in Season 3 when they realized that they were not in love.
 * Josh, played by Corey Parker. A sweet, romantic New Age-y man whom Grace dates in season 2. Grace often has issues with him being far too affectionate and nice, to the point of being obnoxious. The two broke up because Jack confessed that he had slept with him.
 * Nick, played by Edward Burns. A greetings-card writer who falls for Grace when he meets her one Valentine's Day in season 7, after her divorce from Leo. Nick is the first guy Grace starts dating after her divorce with Leo. They decide to break up when he has to go out of the country to work on a screenplay he wrote.
 * Tom Cassidy, played by Eric Stoltz. An old friend of Grace's, now married, with whom she reunited briefly at the end of season 7. He asks her to help design his and his wife's hotel, yet she still feels chemistry with him and kisses him. She nearly takes it further, but feels guilty and breaks it off with him at the beginning of season 8.
 * Danny, played by Tom Verica, Grace's long-term boyfriend from roughly 1995–1998, whom she nearly marries in the pilot episode. She realizes, after Will advised her against the marriage, that Danny was too immature for her, and practically leaves him at the altar. They reunite at the end of season 1, much to Will's dismay. Yet again Grace decides that she does not love him and, after roughly a week (one episode), Grace breaks up with him off-screen.
 * Mark, played by Ken Marino, is another of Grace's partners in Season 3, "Three's a Crowd, Six is a Freakshow". She dumps him because he has six toes on one foot, although the actual sixth toe was not seen in the episode.
 * Noah Broader, played by David Schwimmer, is a Twitter-based critic known as the West Side Curmudgeon, who Grace encounters at the start of season 10. A relationship deepens, as she moves in with Noah within the season. Will later voices concerns about Grace's relationship compromises being one-sided, and the couple part ways amid plans for Jack and Estefan's wedding.

Will

 * Barry, played by Dan Futterman. Karen sets up her hopeless cousin Barry with Will, shortly after he comes out. Will and Jack soon undertake a Pygmalion-esque attempt at turning Barry into a more confident gay man, ending when Will falls for Barry though Barry wants to play around before settling down.
 * James Hanson, played by Taye Diggs. Will meets James at a Manhattan theater and the two have an immediate connection. He later runs into James while on a trip to Los Angeles. James has recently discovered he is going to be deported back to Canada. Grace agreed to marry James so that he can acquire a green card in order to remain in the United States, thus giving James and Will's relationship a chance. However, Will soon discovers James was not who he thought he was, as James began showing himself to be self-centered. Will requests that Grace annul their marriage.
 * Matthew, played by Patrick Dempsey, is a sports reporter Will meets at a Banana Republic store while trying to help Jack woo him. Jack and Matt have little in common and Will instead finds himself in a relationship with him. They date for a while but Matt's refusal to come out leads to their break-up.
 * Scott, played by Branden Williams, is Will's 23-year-old date in two episodes in season 3, and works at a local video rental shop. Although they get along well together, Will feels self-conscious about dating Scott, who is quite a bit younger than he is. Will agrees to break it off with Scott if Grace agrees to dump Nathan. Grace agrees and Will breaks up with Scott, though Grace keeps on seeing Nathan.
 * Diane, played by Mira Sorvino & Lisa Borgnes, is a woman with whom Will has a drunken one-night stand in order to convince himself he was 100% gay after leaving Grace. Diane is also one of Leo's exes. Both of these facts make Grace very jealous. Diane states that Will is much better in bed than Leo. Diane was shown briefly (though she had no lines) in the season 3 episode titled "Lows In the Mid-Eighties", but was played by a writer's assistant, Lisa Borgnes.
 * Claire, played by Megyn Price, is Will's high school friend and girlfriend, the first of the only two women Will has ever dated, the second being Grace. She lives in Paris and asks Will to donate sperm so that she can have a baby, but Will realizes that if he was going to donate sperm he wanted to donate it to Grace.
 * Michael, played by Chris Potter in season 2 and Cheyenne Jackson in season 9, is a mostly unseen character and is Will's lover of seven years. When the sitcom first appeared, he and Michael had recently broken up. Michael appears in the episode "Hey La, Hey La, My Ex-Boyfriend's Back", which aired on March 14, 2000. He is mentioned occasionally by Will and Grace, and more than once Will refers to him as the love of his life. In the early seasons of the show Will has a hard time letting him go. He and Will begin dating again in season 9, but Will ends it when Michael asks for money.
 * McCoy Whitman, played by Matt Bomer, is a TV anchor Will initially tries to date early in season 10, only to find McCoy's taste in men to be shallow. The two connect again later in the season, with Jack's assistance, and develop a long-distance relationship as McCoy accepts a foreign correspondent position in London. After an engagement and talk of raising a child, McCoy says he is not ready to have children and the couple's relationship ends in season 11. In the series finale, McCoy changes his mind about children and he and Will get back together.

Karen

 * Lyle Finster, played by John Cleese. Lyle is the father of Stan's mistress, Lorraine. He becomes Karen's fourth husband for about 20 minutes until the couple realize how little they had in common outside of the bedroom.
 * Scott Woolley, played by Jeff Goldblum. Woolley is the man who lost to Karen for Student Body President and has spent his life hatching schemes to ruin her. Sadly, his schemes are often poorly thought out and eventually Grace realises that he does not hate Karen, he loves her. However, his attempts to woo her are as misguided as his previous ones. Woolley also has a dreadful sense of word-play (e.g., "The Scotty Mammoth", "Beam me up, Woolley"). He also changes his first name when using an alias, whereas most people change their last names.
 * Lionel Banks, played by Rip Torn. Banks is a bachelor who falls for Karen, under her alias Anastasia Beaverhausen, while Stan is in jail and tempts her into having an affair.
 * Malcolm Widmark, played by Alec Baldwin. Malcolm is a government agent who helps Stan fake his death. He has a brief relationship with Karen before she reconciles with Stan, and Malcolm goes on a government mission to Sri Lanka. Malcolm reappears in the final two episodes of season 9, where it is revealed that he and Karen go on a rendezvous trip every year. However, Malcolm is very tired of having to hide from Stan and pressures Karen into deciding between him and Stan. Though she is reluctant to change their situation and despite both of them being tempted to give in to each other, Karen decides to stay with Stan and she and Malcolm share an awkward goodbye. In the beginning of season 10, Malcolm confesses the affair to Stan in hopes of starting a relationship with Karen again, but when Karen finds out about this, she slaps Malcolm and tells him to leave her alone for good. Later in the season, Malcolm reappears at Karen's and Grace's office, hoping to win Karen back, but she is still angry at him and Grace is forced to be a mediator between them. Grace manages to convince Karen to forgive Malcolm and they decide to take things slow. However, when she feels that Malcolm is not putting as much effort into their relationship as she is, she breaks up with him.
 * Nikki, played by Samira Wiley. Nikki is a lesbian who works in the office above Grace Adler Designs in season 10. During a snowstorm, Karen confides in Nikki when she feels that Malcolm is not putting as much effort into their relationship as she is, and Nikki tells her she needs someone to take care of her. They then become lovers and Karen begins to question changing her sexuality. Ultimately in the season 10 finale, she announces herself as straight and breaks things off with Nikki, after realizing how lost she has become since her divorce from Stan.

Jack

 * Stuart Lamarack, played by Dave Foley, is a client of Will's who becomes Jack's longest relationship, until Jack cheats on him.
 * Drew, played by Ryan Pinkston, is a police officer, Vince's co-worker and Jack's boyfriend for the second half of season 9. Jack meets him at Vince D’Angelo's wedding in “The Wedding”. As Drew is the only cop at the wedding whose favourite show is “This is Us”, Jack concludes he must be gay and sleeps with him. This turns out to be the first gay experience for the formerly straight Drew, who reveals he is married, tells Jack he loves him and then introduces him to his wife Angela. Jack is annoyed at that revelation, but later comes to relish it and he and Drew go at it in the bathroom. In the next episode, Jack and Drew start seeing each other secretly and Jack, nervous about screwing things up too soon, advises a reluctant Drew to hold off on coming out to Angela for the time being. He even supports the alibi of them being just guy friends by having Karen pose as his wife. However, Karen, reminded of her mother's unhappiness in her marriage, outs both Jack and Drew in front of Angela, who is surprisingly supportive and arranges a coming out party for Drew, much to Jack's distress. Jack admits to Drew that he fears missing out on other great men in his life, but when Karen reminds him of his fear of being old and lonely, which is even worse, he decides to give Drew another chance. In “One Job”, after two months of dating, Drew breaks up with Jack, admitting he is not ready for a serious commitment at the moment and wants to see other people. Jack is devastated at the breakup, as he realises that he is now ready to settle down with someone. Drew reappears in the season 10 episode "Conscious Coupling" when he rescues Jack from an elevator stuck in a snowstorm. He admits that he has regretted breaking up with Jack and wants to give their relationship another chance. However, Jack tells Drew that he is engaged and although both are tempted to have a one-night stand in the elevator, Jack refuses to cheat on his fiancé, whom he is now in love with, and tells Drew that they both need to move on.
 * Jack has countless short-term lovers over the course of the series (and presumably long before and after the events of the original run), although most are never mentioned by name, or mentioned at all; it is constantly assumed, and not always stated, that he has multiple boyfriends in every episode. Due to Jack's promiscuity, and his habit of forgetting his boyfriends' names, it would be literally impossible to list all of his love interests over the course of the show. Will jokes that if he was to avoid every man that Jack has ever slept with, "that would leave [him] with women." Grace jokes that if everyone stopped working for every man that broke his heart "the city would shut down." Jack also comments that he goes on thousands of dates a year.

Other supporting characters

 * Lorraine Finster, played by Minnie Driver, is Stan's mistress. She is a slutty prison cafeteria worker (and, it is implied, prostitute) and she and Karen dislike one another. She was Karen's stepdaughter for a very brief time when Lyle, her father, marries Karen. Lorraine occasionally calls Karen "mother" to annoy her. It is implied she was estranged from her father for several years and may have been born out of wedlock.
 * Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs, is a major client of Will's in season one who ultimately fires Will as his lawyer.
 * Mrs. Freeman, played by Jo Marie Payton, is an executive assistant at Doucette & Stein, her most commonly uttered phrase is "Mm-hmm" which she often says with sass.
 * Zandra Zoggin, played by Eileen Brennan, is Jack's crusty acting coach and a chain-smoking former Hollywood star. After Jack takes over her class, Zandra loses her interest in life and ends up in an actor's retirement village.
 * Dr. Jay Markus, played by Tom Skerritt, is Leo's father and Grace's eventual father-in-law. She meets him during brunch, thinking he is one of Leo's "old friends".
 * Eleanor Markus, played by Judith Ivey, is Leo's mother and a noted author of three books on theatre; she meets Grace during brunch alongside her husband. She also is the first to tell her new daughter-in-law her son's actual name, Marvin.
 * Mr. Stein, played by Gene Wilder, is the senior partner at Will's firm, an eccentric man who takes a liking to Will. He refers to Will as "Gay Will," but without at first realising that Will is actually gay. He and Karen are attracted to each other, but nothing comes of it. He is away from the office for some time prior to season 5 due to a mental breakdown and subsequent incarceration in a mental facility; having been referred to in the company letter-head as running "The London Office" in his absence.
 * Margot, played by Lily Tomlin, is a senior partner at Will's firm, who apparently takes over after Mr. Stein. She is also quite eccentric and sarcastic. She promotes Will to partner.
 * Dorleen, played by Parker Posey, is Jack's bitchy, chain-smoking boss during his brief tenure at Barneys New York.
 * Mr. Zamir, played by Marshall Manesh, is an obnoxious tenant in Will and Grace's building, with a tendency to take off his shirt and to steal Will and Grace's newspapers.
 * Benji, played by Brian A. Setzer, is Beverley Leslie's "business associate" and boytoy.
 * Joanne, played by Emily Rutherfurd, is a student of Zandra's acting class who becomes a devoted follower of Jack and his "McFarland method".
 * Russell, played by Jon Fleming, is a handsome, muscular student of Zandra's acting class who is often asked by Jack to take his shirt off when Jack is teaching the "McFarland method".
 * Julius, played by Neil Vipond, is Bobbi Adler's close friend and a pianist.
 * Gary, played by Jamie Kaler, is Will's coworker at Doucette and Stein.
 * Nurse Sheila, played by Laura Kightlinger, is a rather creepy nurse who works at the sperm bank (where Will visits, intending to donate sperm to his high-school friend Claire). She openly admits she is a whore in season 4 (when Will and Grace are planning to have a baby together), and thereafter seems to appear whenever Will goes into a hospital. She is pregnant in season 8 and attends birth-classes alongside Grace. Her brother, a doctor played by guest-star Jack Black (Kightlinger's real-life former boyfriend), claims he would be "tappin' that big time" if they weren't related.
 * Dave, played by Mathew Botuchis, is the only openly straight worker at OutTV, the gay network where Jack works in the last seasons. Jack is unimpressed with his heterosexuality and instead refers to him as Elizabeth.
 * Jamie, played by John Ducey, is the station manager and Jack's boss at OutTV.
 * Tim, played by Mark Harelik, is a member of senior management at OutTV.
 * Jimmy, played by Sam Pancake, is a colleague of Jack's at OutTV.
 * Smitty, played by Charles C. Stevenson Jr, is a bartender who regularly serves Karen at different establishments. She has been known to call other bartenders "Smitty", even when they tell her it isn't their name. If Karen is depressed Smitty will tell her a tragic story about his own life, which she will laugh at thinking it is a joke.
 * Tony, played by Anthony Ramos, is Grace's assistant

Guest stars playing one-time characters

 * Shohreh Aghdashloo, as Pam, an incompetent Iranian hired by Grace who she then fires upon realizing Pam is Jewish and thus she 'doesn't owe (her) anything'.
 * Rosanna Arquette, as Julie, a masseuse who lives in the same building as Leo and Grace.
 * Orson Bean, as Professor Joseph Dudley, a gay former literature professor of Will and Grace.
 * Jason Biggs, as Baby Glenn, a former local celebrity and a guest at Will's auction.
 * Roscoe Lee Browne, as Linus, owner of a landmark gay bookstore about to be turned into a gym.
 * Jack Black (uncredited), as Dr. Isaac Hershberg. He examines Karen and is also the brother of the occasionally seen nurse Sheila, played by show writer and Black's girlfriend at the time, Laura Kightlinger.
 * Richard Chamberlain, as Clyde, an elderly man who Will brings to game night, much to Grace's chagrin
 * Glenn Close, as Fannie Lieber (a play on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz), a noted photographer who takes Will and Grace's picture.
 * Joan Collins, as Helena Barnes, a designer with whom Grace competes for a job, and a nemesis of Karen's.
 * Macaulay Culkin, as Jason Towne, a lawyer representing Karen in her divorce from Stan.
 * Tim Curry, as Marion Finster, Lyle Finster's brother.
 * Matt Damon, as Owen, Jack's heterosexual rival, pretending to be gay to vie for a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men's Chorus.
 * Kristin Davis, as Nadine, Vince's straight female friend – the same as Grace is to Will.
 * Ellen DeGeneres, as Sister Louise, a nun to whom Will sells Grace's uncle's old car.
 * Michael Douglas, as Gavin Hatch, a somewhat closeted gay police detective who becomes attracted to Will and has issues with seeing food stuck in people's teeth.
 * Christine Ebersole, as Candy Pruitt, another of Karen's rivals.
 * Edie Falco, as Deirdre, one of a pair of lesbian real-estate "flippers".
 * Victor Garber, as Peter Bovington, a former actor now working as a doorman.
 * Andy García, as Milo, a restaurateur, and lover of Karen's, who fails to phone Karen after their date and is confronted by Grace.
 * Sara Gilbert, as Cheryl who, like Will, is a Barry Manilow fanatic, a.k.a. "fanilow".
 * Seth Green, as Randall Finn, a former child star.
 * Clark Gregg, as Cameron, Jack's wealthy boyfriend who becomes Grace's client.
 * Neil Patrick Harris, as Bill, the leader of a group of so-called "former" lesbians and gays.
 * Alex Kapp Horner, as Alice Robinson, one of Grace's former classmates.
 * Peter Jacobson, as Paul Budnik, an overbearing guy who Will dates but is more fond of his dog.
 * Kathryn Joosten, as the owner to a cabin Grace finds money in.
 * Stacy Keach, as Wendell Schacter, a former colleague of Jack's who usurps his acting class.
 * Piper Laurie, as Sharon Timmers, the best friend of Professor Joseph Dudley.
 * Michele Lee, as Lucille, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with both Will & Jack.
 * Hal Linden, as Alan Mills, an elderly gay man who befriends Will and bestows expensive gifts upon him.
 * Natasha Lyonne, as Gillian, Grace's intern who decides to turn into the spitting image of Karen.
 * Madonna, as Liz, Karen's roommate.
 * Lee Majors, as Burt Wolfe, a friend of Grace's father.
 * Camryn Manheim, as Psychic Sue.
 * Jason Marsden, as Kim, a friend of Leo's.
 * Dylan McDermott, as Tom, a boyfriend of Will's who is very closely attached to his elderly mother.
 * Michael McDonald, as a Don, a student in a cooking class Will takes and dates his brother.
 * Julian McMahon, guy in an elevator who Grace flirts with.
 * Demi Moore, as Sissy, Jack's former babysitter.
 * Nick Offerman, as a plumber that Karen has sex with on Thanksgiving when Stan asks her to be sexually active while he is still in jail.
 * Offerman also appeared in season 9 as Jackson Boudreaux, a celebrity chef who meets Will and Grace at a cooking class, and begins a sexual relationship with both of them.
 * Sharon Osbourne, as a bartender in No Sex N' in the City.
 * Peter Paige, as a gay Immigration and Naturalization Service officer whom Jack tries to convince his marriage with Rosario is real.
 * Scott Patterson, as Grace's former high school crush in "Das Boob".
 * Sara Paxton, as Melanie, the head cheerleader at Elliot's school.
 * Luke Perry, as Aaron, a "hot gay nerd" bird-watcher on whom Jack develops a crush.
 * Jeremy Piven, as Nicholas, Grace's ex. who asks Grace if she wants to join him in a threesome with his current lover.
 * Chita Rivera, as Lenore, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with Will & Jack.
 * Brandon Routh, as Sebastian, a stud whom Alan Mills replaces Will with, after the two have a falling out over Will's misinterpretation of their relationship.
 * Chloë Sevigny, as Monet, a wealthy bisexual real-estate agent who falls for Will.
 * Nicollette Sheridan, as Dr. Danielle Morty, a fellow doctor who wanted Leo sexually.
 * Jamie-Lynn Sigler, as Ro, Vince's lesbian sister.
 * Britney Spears, as Amber-Louise, a conservative Christian and a "hardcore lesbian" as she describes herself, and a co-host to Jack on his talk show.
 * Wendie Jo Sperber, as April, Grace's short-lived housekeeper.
 * Sharon Stone, as Georgia Keller, Will and Grace's therapist.
 * Larry Sullivan, as Robert, Will's ballet dancing boyfriend on the holiday episode "Jingle Balls".
 * Wanda Sykes, as Cricket, a woman Karen offers to pay to deliver a child for her.
 * Tamlyn Tomita, as Naomi, half of the couple that takes Will and Grace out all night.
 * Rip Torn, as Lionel Banks, a man with whom Karen almost cheats on Stan with during his incarceration.
 * Stuart Townsend, as Edward, Karen's pansexual pastry chef, who ends up "sexing" Will, Karen, and Rosario.
 * Tracey Ullman, as Anne, the instructor of a couples cooking class that Will, Jack, and Jack's boyfriend Stuart attend.
 * Steve Valentine, as Kai, half of the couple who takes Will and Grace out all night.
 * Steven Weber, as Will's brother Sam.

Guest stars playing themselves

 * Kevin Bacon
 * Candice Bergen
 * Sandra Bernhard
 * Cher
 * Katie Couric
 * John Edward
 * Jennifer Lopez
 * Rudy Galindo
 * Hall & Oates
 * Deborah Harry
 * Janet Jackson
 * Elton John
 * James Earl Jones
 * Matt Lauer
 * Stone Phillips
 * Josh Lucas
 * Patti LuPone
 * Barry Manilow
 * Martina Navratilova
 * Bebe Neuwirth
 * Al Roker
 * George Takei
 * Rip Taylor

title: List of Will & Grace characters


text:
Aku

Aku may refer to:
 * Aku, Nigeria, a town in Enugu State
 * "Aku" (poem), 1943, by Chairil Anwar
 * Aku people of Gambia
 * Aku dialect, a dialect of Sierra Leone Krio
 * Aku, the main antagonist of the animated television series Samurai Jack
 * The Hawaiian word for skipjack tuna
 * Hal Lewis (Aku), a former Hawaii radio presenter
 * Aku (given name)
 * Aku (album), by Japanese band MUCC (2020)

AKU may refer to:
 * Aksu Airport, China (IATA code AKU)
 * Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Bihar, India
 * Adaptation kit upgrade, for updating Windows Mobile
 * Aga Khan University, Pakistan, East Africa, and the UK.
 * Al-Kafaàt University, Beirut, Lebanon
 * Alkaptonuria, or black urine disease
 * Algemene Kunstzijde Unie, a Dutch company merged into Akzo Nobel

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

title: Aku


text:
Václav Cílek

Václav Cílek (born 11 May 1955) is Czech geologist, climatologist, writer, philosopher, science popularizer and translator of Tao and Zen texts.

Biography
In his youth, Cílek moved to Tanzania, where his father worked as a geologist. From 1969 to 1970, he studied at a high school in Tanzania. Later he continued his studies at the Mining Technical School in Příbram (1970–1974). In 1979 he graduated in geology from the Charles University in Prague. Since 1980, he works in Geologic Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences and specializes on geology of Cenozoic Era. He also explores interactions between environment and civilization. Between 2004 and 2012, he was the director of the Geologic Institute of Czech Academy of Science.

Cílek also published several popularization books and many articles in journals and newspapers. During his career, he collaborated with Hospodářské noviny, Lidové noviny, Mladá fronta DNES, Mladý svět, Právo, Reflex, Respekt, Czech Television, Czech Radio etc. He was a co-creator of the TV series about caves of the Czech Republic, called Podzemní Čechy (The Underground Czech Republic, 2001).

In 2004, Cílek was awarded Tom Stoppard Prize for his books Krajiny vnitřní a vnější (2002) and Makom: Kniha míst (2004). Additionally, he was named Laureate by the Minister of Ecology for "valuable contribution to the popularization of Czech science, especially geology and climatology" (2007). In 2009, he was awarded the Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize.

Works

 * 1985: Heavy Mineral Accumulations in Coastal Mozambique
 * 1995: Podzemní Praha: Soupis podzemních objektů hlavního města a vybraná bibliografie, ISBN 80-85304-34-1
 * 1997: Píseň pro odcházející duši
 * 2002: Krajiny vnitřní a vnější: texty o paměti krajiny, smysluplném bobrovi, areálu jablkového štrůdlu a také o tom, proč lezeme na rozhlednu, ISBN 80-86569-29-2
 * 2003: Střední Čechy: příroda, člověk, krajina, ISBN 80-86569-40-3 (coauthored by Vojen Ložek and Jarmila Kubíková)
 * 2003: Velká kniha o klimatu Zemí koruny české, ISBN 978-80-86367-34-7 Jiří Svoboda, Zdeněk Vašků; (coauthored)
 * 2004: Makom: kniha míst, ISBN 80-86569-91-8
 * 2004: Vstoupit do krajiny. O přírodě a paměti středních Čech, ISBN 80-86569-58-6 (coauthored by Vojen Ložek and Pavel Mudra)
 * 2004: Prague Between History and Dreams. US: Xlibris. ISBN 1-4134-3192-5
 * 2005: Tichý břeh světa. ISBN 80-7363-036-2. (photography by Hana Rysová)
 * 2005: Střední Brdy ISBN 80-7084-266-0, (ed.)
 * 2006: Tsunami je stále s námi: eseje o klimatu, společnosti a katastrofách, ISBN 80-86851-22-2
 * 2007: Nejistý plamen: Průvodce ropným světem. ISBN 978-80-7363-122-2. (coauthored by Martin Kašík)
 * 2007: Borgesův svět. ISBN 978-80-7363-109-3
 * 2008: Dýchat s ptáky: Obyčejné texty o světle paměti, pravdě oblaků a útěše míst ISBN 978-80-7363-202-1
 * 2008: Podzemní Praha: Jeskyně, doly, štoly, krypty a podzemní pískovny velké Prahy, ISBN 978-80-7281-346-9. (photography by Milan Korba and Martin Majer)
 * 2009: Orfeus: Kniha podzemních řek, ISBN 978-80-7363-244-1
 * 2009: Krajina z druhé strany, ISBN 978-80-903759-5-6.
 * 2010: Jak to vidí Václav Cílek, ISBN 978-80-86212-84-5 (interviews on Czech Radio)
 * 2010: Archeus: Fragment radostné vědy o trpaslících ISBN 978-80-7363-290-8
 * 2011: Krásná paní: Kameny domova,
 * 2012: Prohlédni si tu zemi, ISBN 978-80-7363-419-3

title: Václav Cílek


text:
Birkenstock

Birkenstock Holding plc is a German shoe manufacturer known for its sandals and other shoes notable for contoured cork footbeds (soles), made with layers of suede and jute, which conform to the shape of their wearers' feet. Founded in 1774 by Johann Adam Birkenstock and headquartered in Neustadt (Wied), Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the company's original purpose was to create shoes that support and contour the foot, compared to the flat soles of many shoes during that time. In 1896 the Fussbett (footbed) was designed, and by 1925, Birkenstocks were sold all over Europe.

In 1966, Margot Fraser first brought Birkenstocks to America. In the United States, they were sold in health stores, thus becoming associated with hippies in the 1970s.

Early years
The history of the Birkenstock "shoemaking dynasty" can be traced back to the first documented mention of Johannes Birkenstock (1749–1812), registered on March 25, 1774, as a "vassal and shoemaker" in local church archives in the small Hessian village of Langen-Bergheim. Since that time, there have been five generations of master shoemakers or part-time shoemakers, several lines of the Birkenstock family working in the shoemaking trade and finally three generations of shoe manufacturers. In 1774, Johannes Birkenstock had already trained as a shoemaker and settled in the small Hessian town of Langen-Bergheim; he became a master shoemaker shortly afterwards. After his younger brother Johann Adam Birkenstock (born 1754) died in 1790, his son Johannes (1790–1866) grew up with his uncle Johannes and also became a master shoemaker.

His grandson, Konrad Birkenstock (1873–1950), left the Wetterau after also training as a shoemaker and opened an orthopaedic shoemaker's workshop in Frankfurt am Main in 1896 and founded Konrad Birkenstock GmbH a year later. Konrad Birkenstock developed the first contoured insole for use by shoemakers in the production of custom footwear. His success in orthopaedic circles with his insoles and health shoes and the satisfaction of his customers did not lead to financial success. The inventor Konrad Birkenstock concentrated too much on the further development of his material mix in order to further develop healthy walking. When he himself was called to the orthopaedic workshop of the Friedrichsheiner Klinik in Frankfurt am Main – and therefore did not have to do military service – he relocated his business activities. In 1915, Konrad Birkenstock acquired a house in Friedberg (Hesse), where the production of insoles now took place. In 1925 Konrad Birkenstock acquired the Derfelt soap factory in Friedberg, Hesse, thereby expanding production.

As a master orthopaedic shoemaker, Konrad Birkenstock invented a fully plastic last as early as 1897 and a fully plastic flexible insole in 1902. Shoes made on this last and with this insole were called "health footwear" by Konrad Birkenstock. With this invention, Konrad Birkenstock had followed the ideas of the shoe reform, which, in keeping with the times, rethought the human body. His flexible insoles, developed along the same lines for healing purposes, differed from the rigid insoles made of metal that were common at the time. In 1914, Konrad Birkenstock's insoles were recognized as orthopaedic remedies for the first time. He gave two of these insoles the name "footbed". In 1925, Konrad Birkenstock was able to register the "Fussbett" trademark. In the 1920s, Birkenstock insoles were already being supplied to Austria, France, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Konrad Birkenstock had three sons and one daughter. Over the course of time, they all became involved in the manufacture of orthopaedic insoles, in different companies and in different family constellations. His eldest son Carl (born in 1900) followed in Konrad Birkenstock's footsteps during the First World War. He visited specialist shoe stores and shoemakers and explained to them the use and effect of the "Birkenstock system", as the combination of a fully plastic last and flexible footbed was soon called. Carl continued to develop his father's deposits, was active with his own business in Vienna from 1923 to 1926 and founded Geb. Birkenstock GmbH in Steinhude am Meer together with his brothers Heinrich and Konrad Jr. in 1929. From 1939, Carl Birkenstock continued to run the company, which at that time had 13 employees, alone without his brothers. Carl Birkenstock took the idea of foot health even further than his father and limited sales of his insoles to specialist retailers and shoemakers who had successfully completed his training course. Although he managed to get over 6,000 people to attend this course, this approach still limited his sales options in the long term. However, it was important to him that his flexible insoles were fitted correctly in order to achieve the effect of a foot-health-preserving insole. He wanted to avoid incorrect use at all costs.

Carl Birkenstock joined the NSDAP in 1940. Carl continued to sell insoles at least until 1943. There is no evidence of forced laborers in the Birkenstock family companies, which is not surprising given the small size of the companies and the non-war-related production. The largest Birkenstock company - Gebr. Birkenstock GmbH in Steinhude im Meer - employed 13 people during the National Socialist era, including the owners, 6 of whom were drafted into the Wehrmacht. Even though Carl Birkenstock tried at times, there were no supply contracts between Birkenstock and the Wehrmacht, the Nazi Party or its organizations. Sales during the National Socialist era were made to private individuals. Birkenstock therefore did not do any business with the NSDAP, other party organizations or the Wehrmacht; he did not have any materials or deposits checked on the Schuhprüfstrecke of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Birkenstock also did not profit by the company or the family "Aryanizing" Jewish property, i.e. by acquiring real estate or assets from Jewish ownership at favourable prices. Even during the National Socialist era, Carl Birkenstock was busy perfecting his idea of "natural walking". Like the entire entrepreneurial family, he was not a delicate entrepreneur. This robustness led to numerous conflicts within the family, with competitors and with members of the NSDAP. Birkenstock was neither an ideologically convinced National Socialist nor a hero. Even though he wanted to do something good for mankind with his healthy footwear, his dealings with individuals were robust.

After World War II (1939–1945), the Birkenstock sandal was popular among returning soldiers because of the orthopedic support. After 1945, Carl Birkenstock continued to pursue his idea of his handmade healthy footwear at his new headquarters in Bad Honnef near Bonn. He wanted to make this "ideal shoe" suitable for mass production, which he tried to realize together with shoe manufacturers until 1961, when he abandoned this idea and retired to writing books on foot health. During this time, the still very small company earned money through the successful sale of the "Blue Footbed" orthopaedic insole. In 1954, Carl's only son, Karl, joined his father's company. While his grandfather Konrad and father Carl Birkenstock worked all their lives on producing orthopaedic insoles that were as individualized as possible for the wearer, the young Karl Birkenstock succeeded in making healthy footwear mass-produced in 1962 with the invention of a standardized, permanently installed, anatomically shaped insole.

In 1963, Karl Birkenstock released his first model, the "Original Birkenstock Footbed Sandal", an athletic sandal with a flexible footbed, which has been called "Madrid" since 1979, laying the foundation for the company's expansion since the 1970s. The shoe was constructed so that the wearer would have to grip their toes to keep the sandals on; this resulted in toning the calf muscle, which became quite useful to athletes, especially among gymnasts. However, the market launch in 1963 was a disaster. No shoe retailer wanted to offer the gender-neutral sandal, which was diametrically opposed to the shoe fashion trend of the time - Italian stilletos - and consequently orders failed to materialize. The first sales were made through direct marketing in the medical sector. Birkenstock Orthopädie GmbH, as the company was now called, was run jointly by Karl and his wife Gisela. The number of employees in 1970 was 57.

Margot Fraser and introduction to U.S.
In 1966, Margot Fraser, a German-American dressmaker who resided in Santa Cruz, California, decided to travel back to Germany to visit a spa in Bavaria, where she was recommended Madrids to help with a foot ailment caused by tight shoes. Due to Fraser's relief from her foot condition and her enthusiasm for the sandals, Birkenstocks were introduced in the United States—though some hurdles stood in the way of their eventual acceptance by American buyers. Many shoe stores rejected the sandals due to their appearance, leading Fraser to health stores near the granola section. The 1970s brought a spike in sales. In the United States, Birkenstocks were first popular among young men and later on among flower children, a group traditionally associated with American liberalism. The shoe became popular with hippies and others who had a "back to nature" philosophy and appreciated the natural foot shape and foot-friendly comfort of Birkenstocks. Hippies and representatives of the tech movement in California discovered the shoes as an expression of the unconventional. In the 1970s, Fraser successfully continued to sell them from organic supermarkets and quickly expanded with her company, Birkenstock Footprint Sandals, Inc., in Novato, California, which later became Birkenstock USA, in the largest market for Birkenstocks since the 1980s.

Birkenstock sandals became popular in Germany in the 1980s. Since the 1960s, Birkenstock sandals had become popular in the care professions and in the alternative and peace movement, and then also in "middle-class" households as slippers and leisure shoes. They were not developed for the medical sector, but were designed from the outset for young and old as well as all types of occupations and leisure activities. Although derided at the shoe trade fair in 1963, Karl Birkenstock developed the closed sandal "Zürich" the following year, followed by the strappy sandal "Roma" in 1965, the low shoe "Oslo" and the boot "Athen" in the second half of the 1960s. A first plastic model - the "Noppy" massage sandal - saw the light of day in the new decade. In 1973, Birkenstock's most popular sandal, Arizona, was introduced. This was followed in 1976 by the first cork clog, the "Boston", and finally in 1983 by the range of thong sandals, including the "Gizeh".

Expansion and present-day
Fraser's trading company named Birkenstock Footprint Sandals, Inc., was renamed Birkenstock Distribution USA, Inc. (BDUSA) in 2005. The company remained until 2007 the exclusive importer and distributor of Birkenstock name-brand products in the United States. In 2007 the owners of Birkenstock Orthopädie GmbH & Co. KG purchased their long-standing distribution partner BDUSA.

In 1986 Nordstrom became the first department store to sell Birkenstock sandals.

The success of Birkenstock sandals on the European markets and in the USA since the 1970s led to strong growth for the company. After German reunification in 1990, Karl Birkenstock seized the opportunity and expanded production into the new federal states. However, growth came at a price: conflicts arose with various trade unions in the company. After Karl Birkenstock retired from the company in the early 2000s, his three sons, Christian, Stephan, and Alexander Birkenstock, took over management and ownership. The handover took the form of a multi-brand strategy, with Alexander, Christian and Stephan Birkenstock each responsible for their own brands and companies. Each of them had different ideas for the company's future and ended up creating multiple competing product lines and subsidiaries.

Since the 1980s, the fashion world, celebrities and designers have discovered Birkenstock for themselves and sent models down the catwalk in the sandals. The first appearance with André Walker in New York can be traced back to 1983. Pictures of models also adorned covers and articles in well-known fashion magazines. As a result, the sandals also became increasingly popular in the so-called mainstream, until the multi-brand strategy gradually eroded customer interest. Serious disputes developed, particularly with the US market and Margot Fraser, over the new competing brands within the Birkenstock Group.In the early 1990s, "Birks" enjoyed another spike in sales among high-school and college-aged Generation Xers, in part due to the introduction of Birkenstocks into High Fashion, most notably, Kate Moss. Birkenstocks continued to spread to Britain in the early 2000s due to headlines of Gwyneth Paltrow, who was spotted wearing them. Birkenstocks saw another comeback among teens and young adults in the early 2010s, as well as in the late 2010s due in part to the VSCO girl trend. The company was given PETA's Libby Award for being the "Most Animal-Friendly Shoe Company" in 2018.

In 2013, the company, which had previously consisted of 38 individual companies since the 1990s, was fundamentally restructured to form a single group of companies, the Birkenstock Group. In 2013, Stephan sold his stake to the two brothers; they recruited Oliver Reichert, an outsider, to consolidate various subsidiaries into Birkenstock Group and lead the company.

In February 2021, the American-French investment company L Catterton and the family holding Financière Agache, the private equity firm backed by Bernard Arnault's LVMH, acquired a majority stake in the German sandal manufacturer Birkenstock. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price or other details of the transaction. According to media reports, they had agreed to buy Birkenstock in a deal that valued the company at about €4bn. Christian and Alex Birkenstock retained minority ownership and remained responsible for production in Germany.

In September 2023, Birkenstock filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States stating that the company would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker "BIRK". The company completed the IPO and went public on 11 October 2023 raising US$1.48 billion valuing the company at $8.64 billion. Following the IPO, L Catterton continued to be a controlling shareholder with 83 percent ownership. Alex exited his stake following the IPO.

As of 2023, 72 percent of their customers were female.

High fashion
Birkenstock has been collaborating with fashion brands and designers since the early 2000s. The third collaboration - initially the most significant due to its duration - was with Heidi Klum from 2003. In 2012 Birkenstocks were spotted on a Céline runway in Paris. Called "Furkenstocks", this recreation of the Arizona sandal incorporated a mink-covered footbed. The "Furkenstocks" caused a sensation and soon original Birkenstock sandals were appearing in fashion magazines again. Besides Céline's creative director Phoebe Philo, many other designers have also created their version of the sandal, including Giambattista Valli and Givenchy.

In 2019 Valentino collaborated with Birkenstock to create their version of the sandal featured at Men's Paris Fashion Week.

On June 3, 2021, the Birkenstock Group announced a collaboration with fashion designer Rick Owens. Starting on June 4 of that year, interpretations of the Arizona and Boston models were released. A new Rotterdam style was also presented and released for sale.

Production

The original footbed of the Birkenstock shoe was created in the 1930s and possesses four different layers that complete the shoe. The first layer of the shoe is the shock-absorbent sole, followed by a layer of jute fibers, a firm cork footbed, and another layer of jute. The last layer is the footbed line which is a soft suede.

In addition to the original footbed, Birkenstock gives the option of a soft footbed. The shoe is made of the same materials as the original footbed, with the addition of a foam insert placed under the suede lining.

In 2015, Birkenstock introduced a lightweight, waterproof shoe called the Birkenstock EVA, made of a material called ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA).

title: Birkenstock


text:
Talk:Zealand

New Zealand
''The nation of New Zealand gains it's name from this island. When the Island was discovered by a Dutch explorer, it was named after the Dutch Province of Zeeland. However, the English mistakenly thought it had been named after Zealand, and referred to it as New Zealand.''

I'd very much like to see a reference for this, because every other reference I have seen explicitly contradicts this - Zeeland was the name which inspired New Zealand, not Sjaelland. Zealand is/was the English translation of the Dutch province of Zeeland. --kudz75 01:42, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * I think that there are nothing that will stop you from removing it (and the notice in the disambig line), and adding a note about that New Zealand was not named after the island, also adding a note in the edit summary to check the talk page. If there is anyone out there that comes up with any evidence, take a discussion about it. -- Elisson | Talk 13:32, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * I think it is enough that the disambiguation text at the start refer to the accepted explanations.--Per Abrahamsen 20:42, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

"However, the Dutch state Zeeland was named after Danish merchants who traded with the Dutch." - That's ridiculous Zeeland means "land of the sea" and does not in any way refer to the Danes. I remove this statement. MaartenVidal 21:16, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

 * And "Sjælland" means the exact same thing. You're right; there is no conncection. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

"(and Germany from 2028)" is in this article in the explanation of bridges. I have no idea what that means. Can someone who does be more descriptive/explicit? Sounds like someone is predicting that Germany is going to invade Denmark in 2028. Or that someone is digging a tunnel for the next decade to the bridge. from Germany. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:645:8301:4D5:8908:C426:B839:DFF7 (talk) 07:02, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

Groningish
an excerpt from the article:

When the Pacific Ocean island was discovered by Groningish explorer Abel Tasman...

What does Groningish mean? Best solution would be to wiki-link it... but the word is completely strange to me. -- Fudoreaper 07:39, July 30, 2005 (UTC)

I suspect it means that he came from the city or province of Groningen... But I've never seen the word either... --Thf1977 12:12, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

Changed to Groninger Theodore W. 09:36, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Okay, cool. But how does that help us understand the meaning?  groninger is still a red-link. -- Fudoreaper 00:02:09, 2005-08-06 (UTC)

 * Should be linked to Groningen (province)Theodore W. 06:27, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks, Theodore W. I updated the link just now, works perfectly. -- Fudoreaper 18:32:03, 2005-08-12 (UTC)

Souls and seals
I have deleted this remark under etymology:
 * "In ancient Danish seal (sæl) and "soul" (sjæl) are very closely related words, as seals were thought to be souls of lost seamen."

The two words are unrelated (cf. Niels Åge Nielsen, Dansk etymologisk ordbog, 1990, s.vv. sæl and sjæl). 192.38.32.3 14:49, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

 * You're right, as mentioned above "Sjælland" simply means "Land of/by the Sea", just like Zeeland in Netherland. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Not necessarily. Den Store Danske Encyklopædi explains the etymology thus
 * Sjælland, (ca 950 Selund, af glda *sial 'fure' eller dyrebetegnelsen sæl og afledningsendelsen -und) ...
 * that is, the first part might mean "furrow" or "seal", the marine mammal. I have also seen the "sea" etymology in other respectable sources, though (but note that the Danish cognate of "sea", "sø", means "lake"). If there is to be any etymological information in the article, the main point should be to state that the origin of the name is uncertain ("contested" would be too strong, I think). At least everybody seems to agree that the first component was not originally homonymous with sjæl "soul". –Henning Makholm 01:39, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Seal and steal
I've read a passage of old norse mythology giving another explanation to the name. In this story, a god in disguise of a man with two oxes come to the king of present Mälaren Valley-area and asks for some land. The king agrees that he will be given the amount of land he with his oxes can plough in one day. His oxes having supernatural powers, he manages to plough the whole of the area today being the lake Mälaren. After having ploughed the land, he dug it free and attached it to his oxes and made them swim out in the Baltic sea. All the way down to outside of the coast of Scania he made them pull the stolen land. Hence the lake Mälaren and the island Sjælland, "steal-land", from the word for steal, today "stjæle". Can anyone confirm or present evidence against? Yenx 20:24, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Mythology
I don't think the text of the norse mythology is correct. If I remember correctly this story is only Swedish mythology, and in fact written during the middle ages as fake norse mythology. The same stories that claims Odin to by a swedish king.

 * The Gefion myth is as much an "authentic" myth as any other. Of course it wasn't written down until the Middle Ages, but neither were any other Norse myths. There is no evidence that the form in which we know it today was any more or less "fabricated" than any other myths. --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Greenland
Shold there not also say, that technically it is Greenland that is the bigges island of Danmark. Since it is considet Greenland is an island, and a part of Danmark?

 * Greenland is technically part of the monarchy, but it is self governing and not a part of Denmark proper. I don't think you will find many Danes who consider Greenland a Danish island (let alone Greenlanders!). --dllu 11:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Now that really really wrong. Every dane thinks of Greenland as a danish isle. Just like every dane think Sjaelland a danish island.

- Skadi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.48.185.54 (talk) 20:49, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

 * "Every Dane" knows (or really, really ought to know) that "Danish" can be used to refer either to the entire kingdom, or to its Danish-speaking part (i.e. Jutland and islands east thereof). Most Danes would probably not consider either of these usages "wrong" – except for the kind of wrongness inherent in using ambiguous wording in an encyclopedia, in a context that does not clearly resolve the ambiguity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Henning Makholm (talk • contribs) 23:25, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Added Geobox and named maps
02-Sep-2007: The article "Zealand" was created 6-April-2002, as text-only. After 2.3 years as text, the crude unlabeled pink-red map was added in 2004 (which showed Zealand+Amager merged as one mass). In September 2007, I added the standard "Geobox" plus new labeled maps that show Zealand, in context with other named islands and cities. The separate island Amager now appears as shown separate from Zealand, after 3 years of displaying the merged-islands map. Maps showing several named cities, with kilometer/miles scale, have been used in Wikipedia articles since 2005, as in: "Middletown, New Jersey" (English Wikipedia). -Wikid77 13:21, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

 * Amager is often considered part of Zealand, a large part of it is also artificially constructed to merged it with Copenhagen in a series of harbors, meaning Zealand and Amager are only separated by canals. 87.160.84.75 (talk) 15:18, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Hight and length of coastal line?
I would like more information about larger islands, provinces or geographical areas. First of all think that elevation over sea level would be a nice indication of what kind of landscapes we are talking about.
 * Elevation
 * Coast
 * Soil
 * Climate
 * Special biotopics
 * Population
 * Name in local language/dialect

besides cities which are mentioned for Zealand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Donald j axel (talk • contribs) 17:49, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Primary use
I strongly dispute that the primary use for "Zealand" is for the Danish island - it is almost certainly for the Dutch province of Zeeland, or else the term is ambiguous. I think that Zealand ought to be a disambiguation page, and that this article should be moved to Sjaelland. john k (talk) 23:48, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Øresund Bridge
The article seems to imply that the island of Zealand is directly connected to Sweden by the Øresund Bridge. Perhaps the text should be amended to read "connected to Sweden by the Øresund Bridge via the island of Amager" or something similar to clear up this confusion.128.119.165.217 (talk) 18:38, 20 July 2009 (UTC) and Peberholm/Pepparholm... 85.228.28.99 (talk) 23:29, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I think it's quite common (and understood) for bridges to make use of available islands; after all, the other bridge mentioned, the Great Belt Bridge, also touches down on an intermediate island (Sprogø). Given the location of the statement in the article's lead paragraph, adding this rather peripheral point (which is more about the bridge than Zealand itself) would, IMHO, be detrimental to the article. I'm not passionate about it, but I really don't think there's much to be confused about, if the reader is confused it doesn't matter, and details are available by following the links to the bridge articles. 71.41.210.146 (talk) 15:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Further reading shows that the island was built as part of the bridge/tunnel project, so although it has been given a name, it is ridiculous to consider it any sort of interruption of the bridge span. 71.41.210.146 (talk) 07:13, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * In the interests of precision, I have made the nature of the link to Sweden clearer. I hope nobody will mind this. I believe that it would be misleading to claim that the Øresund Bridge/tunnel connects with Zealand. After all, the island of Amager has its own Wikipedia article. Alfrew (talk) 19:40, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Move?

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 11:44, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Zealand (Denmark) → Zealand —
 * Zealand currently redirects to Zealand (Denmark), so there's no need for the "(Denmark)" 86.182.73.10 (talk) 09:59, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Make it a disambig between New Zealand and Zeeland and Sjælland. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 13:10, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Disagree with the above and Support the move. Sjælland is also an redirect to Zealand (Denmark), and New Zealand is already linked to.  There aren't enough identical cases to require a disambiguation page, and certainly none important enough to warrant making the main page a disambig.  71.41.210.146 (talk) 15:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * More nuanced view: There is already a Zealand (disambiguation) page, which lists several other possibilities. (I've added a  link to the page already).  I wouldn't violently object if Zealand linked there, but none of the other articles are obviously more important than the Denmark one, either; it seems like the oldest and most significant usage which spawned the others, and deserves the base name.  I think the situation is similar to (but less extreme than) York, and warrants the same solution.  In fact, the latter does not provide a direct dablink to New York. 71.41.210.146 (talk) 22:13, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Support per nom and 71.41.210.146. Station1 (talk) 21:57, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Support. With a disambiguation page already in place, I see no problem with this move. --Saddhiyama (talk) 22:56, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Support per UCN. Flamarande (talk) 21:01, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Beagel (talk) 11:13, 4 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Support per above. Hayden120 (talk) 11:25, 4 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Sjaelland/Zealand
Should this island be given the primary name as Sjaelland maybe? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.0.222.2 (talk) 05:50, 28 October 2010 (UTC) INDID,NITSKONFUSIN2BUT!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.32.125.141 (talk) 05:14, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

 * That would be wrong. It is not called Sjaelland in any language. Either go by the Danish name Sjælland or the official english name Zealand. 87.160.84.75 (talk) 15:21, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

TITL=Sjælland!!
AROGANTANGLSAXONPRAKTIS!!

96th or 95th
It says here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_by_area that it is the 95th, rather than 86th largest island. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Helmihamid (talk • contribs) 01:05, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Sealand
Why doesn't the article note the English name "Sealand"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Henryfunk (talk • contribs) 17:37, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

Add. discussion
Add. discussi 188.247.78.43 (talk) 10:09, 27 November 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:00, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Belte inter.png

title: Talk:Zealand


text:
Murchison Falls

Murchison Falls, also known as Kabalega Falls, is a waterfall at the apex of Lake Albert on the Victoria Nile in Uganda. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks, only 7 m wide, and tumbles 43 m, before flowing westward into Lake Albert. The outlet of Lake Victoria sends around 300 m3/s of water over the falls, squeezed into a gorge less than 10 m wide.

Some historians believe that a party of Roman legionaries dispatched by Nero to explore the Nile may have reached the Murchison Falls in 61 AD, but there is major controversy about the feasibility of what would have been a very difficult achievement.

Samuel Baker and Florence Baker were the first Europeans who definitely sighted the falls. Baker named them after Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society. The falls lend their name to the surrounding Murchison Falls National Park.

During the regime of Idi Amin in the 1970s, the name was changed to Kabalega Falls, after the Omukama (King) Kabalega of Bunyoro, although this was never legally promulgated. The name reverted to Murchison Falls following the downfall of Amin. It is still sometimes referred to as Kabalega Falls.

Ernest Hemingway crashed a plane just downriver from Murchison Falls in 1954. In August 2019, Uganda rejected a hydropower project by South Africa’s Bonang Power and Energy in order to preserve the Falls, one of the country's most lucrative tourism sites.

title: Murchison Falls


text:
User talk:165.123.178.236

AfD nomination of Anti-conquest narrative
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Proposed deletion of Active vacation

The article Active vacation has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern: "I considered proposing a merge but adventure travel and vacation already adequately cover this article's content. I considered blanking and redirecting but I was unsure as to which of the two aforementioned pages to target the redirect at. Therefore, I'm proposing deletion per WP:NOTNEO."

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

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Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion.  SITH   (talk)   11:54, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

title: User talk:165.123.178.236