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Albert Luque

Albert Luque Martos (born 11 March 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left winger or striker.

His 14-year professional career was mainly associated with Mallorca and Deportivo, and he amassed La Liga totals of 248 matches and 61 goals over 11 seasons. He also had spells in the English Premier League with Newcastle United and the Dutch Eredivisie with Ajax.

A Spain international in the first half of the 2000s, Luque represented the nation at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

Mallorca
Born in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia, Luque was a lifelong supporter of FC Barcelona, and started out in football on trial with them, but was released by the C team when he was 19. He was then taken by RCD Mallorca and assigned to their reserves, but eventually broke into the main squad after a successful loan spell at Málaga CF.

In 2000–01, Luque scored nine goals for Mallorca, helping the Balearic Islands side qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history after finishing third. His extra time goal in the third qualifying round against HNK Hajduk Split carried the team into the first group stage.

Deportivo
Luque was transferred to Deportivo de La Coruña on 29 August 2002, in an eight-year deal worth €15 million (approximately £10 million), for strikers José Flores and Walter Pandiani (on loan). In his first season at Depor, he scored the winner against former club Málaga with a bicycle kick, adding further important goals against Racing de Santander and RCD Espanyol; he netted a total of 12 La Liga goals during the campaign, mostly from substitute appearances.

2003–04 saw Luque firmly established as a starter, as he scored the winner against Rosenborg BK in the Champions League qualifying round, the only goal over both legs. He also netted important goals in the knockout stages against Juventus FC and AC Milan, and added 11 more on the domestic front in his final year in Galicia.

Newcastle United
On 27 August 2005, Luque was sold to Newcastle United for a fee of £9 million, signing a five-year contract. He made his debut against Manchester United at St James' Park, which included having a goal ruled out for offside. However, in his next game, he suffered a hamstring injury while playing at Fulham; upon his return he was used in a number of roles, including left midfielder, failing to live up to his large price tag.

On 17 April 2006, Luque scored his first goal for Newcastle in the Tyne–Wear derby, when he broke free from the Sunderland defence and chipped the ball over Kelvin Davis. He commented after the match that he hoped to score before the end of the season, but played no part in the remaining fixtures, however.

Luque's first competitive home goal came against Lillestrom S.K. at the start of the team's UEFA Intertoto Cup tournament – he added two in a 4–1 defeat of Liverpool's reserves in October. After having fallen low in the side's attacking pecking order, a number of injuries awarded him a start against Serie A table-toppers U.S. Città di Palermo on 2 November, in the UEFA Cup, and rewarded manager Glenn Roeder's choice scoring the game's only goal with a header. After that, however, the player had few significant first-team appearances, by now behind the likes of youth graduate Matty Pattison; in the January 2007 transfer window he was linked with a loan move to PSV Eindhoven, but the deal fell through in spite of his wishes.

On 23 June 2007, new Magpies manager Sam Allardyce stated that he would be willing to give Luque a proper chance to impress. However, this did not prevent the former from awarding the latter's number 7 shirt to new signing Joey Barton, which initially left the Spaniard without a squad number. He was eventually given the number 19 jersey he previously wore at Deportivo, and which Titus Bramble last used at Newcastle.

His transfer from Deportivo to Newcastle is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns:

''"There remains inconsistencies in evidence provided by Graeme Souness – a former manager of the club"

"The inquiry still has unanswered questions relating to possible payments made by agent Francis Martin, who Newcastle officials believed was working for the selling club." At the end of the next month, AFC Ajax agreed a fee to sign Luque.

Ajax
On 25 August 2007, Ajax confirmed they had signed Luque until 2010. On 30 September, he scored his first two goals for the Amsterdam team, turning the scoreline around in two minutes against VVV-Venlo in an eventual 6–1 home win but coming out injured slightly afterwards.

Luque was fined after a game with Feyenoord in November 2007 for a half-time altercation in the changing rooms with teammate Luis Suárez, which caused manager Adrie Koster to substitute them both before the second half. It was reported in July 2008 that the former had no future at Ajax; technical director Danny Blind told Sportweek: "Ajax has told Luque that he has to leave the club. I told Albert myself that we don't want to go on with him and if I've told it to him, I really don't know who else I should inform."

Return to Málaga
Just before the 1 September transfer deadline of 2008–09, Luque signed a one-year loan deal with Málaga, returning to Andalusia nine years after his loan spell at the club. On 30 November 2008, he came from the bench to open his scoring account in his second spell, in a 4–2 home victory over CA Osasuna, and was a crucial attacking element as the club fought for UEFA Cup qualification until the final days of the season.

On 30 July 2009, after lengthy negotiations, Málaga signed Luque from Ajax on a free transfer. Under new coach Juan Ramón López Muñiz, he played mainly from the bench and scored only once in the first half of the campaign, thereafter being dropped for almost a month; after returning to first-team action, he replaced Duda in the 85th minute of a 3–0 win at Racing Santander.

In 2010–11, Luque continued to be absent from Málaga's lineups, both under Jesualdo Ferreira and his successor Manuel Pellegrini. In December 2010, he was deemed surplus to requirements alongside five other players, with his release confirmed on 4 January 2011.

International career
Luque represented Spain at the 2000 Summer Olympics, playing twice as the national team won silver in Sydney. After a successful season at Mallorca, still uncapped for the senior team, he was called up to the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, making his international debut in a 3–2 group stage win against South Africa on 12 June 2002, and also appeared in the round-of-16 victory over the Republic of Ireland.

Two years later, Luque played at UEFA Euro 2004, being used as a left winger in the 1–0 defeat to hosts Portugal. His last game was on 7 September 2005, in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Serbia and Montenegro.

International goals

 * Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Luque goal.

Managerial career
On 29 April 2019, Luque joined president Luis Rubiales' staff at the Royal Spanish Football Federation. In December 2022, he was appointed as its sporting director in place of José Francisco Molina, following a last-16 elimination at the 2022 World Cup.

In 2023, Luque was named as a defendant in the Rubiales affair case, as he was accused of being among those who coerce Jenni Hermoso to reduce her pressure on Rubiales following the controversial kiss she received from Rubiales after winning the 2023 Women's World Cup. Although he was not part of the coaching staff, it was determined that he sought to reduce pressure on Rubiales and his status in the case would be upgraded from witness to suspect on 27 September. Despite his denial, evidence was shown that he used his WhatsApp account to try to get a friend of the player to convince her to reduce pressure on the chairman.

Personal life
In November 2006, while driving to Newcastle International Airport for a UEFA Cup game away to Eintracht Frankfurt, Luque pulled his Porsche Cayenne over due to a puncture. Shortly after he got out the car to make a telephone call, the empty vehicle was struck by a lorry and destroyed. He managed to get a flight to Germany and played in the match.

Honours
Mallorca
 * Supercopa de España: 1998

Deportivo
 * Supercopa de España: 2002

Newcastle United
 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2006

Spain U23
 * Summer Olympic Games silver medal: 2000

title: Albert Luque


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United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was established by the United Nations Security Council in July 2000 to monitor a ceasefire in the border war that began in 1998 between Ethiopia and Eritrea. First military troops Netherlands - Canadian battalion 'NECBAT' arrived and established bases in the region in December 2000.

The mission was formally abandoned in July 2008 after experiencing serious difficulties in sustaining its troops due to fuel stoppages and after due consideration of remaining options.

History
On July 31, 2000, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1312 and established UNMEE. The mission was put in place in order to formally demarcate the border between the two countries. The border followed the route as declared by an international commission in The Hague but Ethiopia refused to accept the ruling, despite originally agreeing to binding arbitration.

The mission maintained headquarters in Asmara (Eritrea), and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and consisted of 1,676 military personnel, amid high tensions between the two countries. About 1,500 of these peacekeepers were from the Indian Army. In addition, there were about 147 international civilians, 202 local civilians and 67 UN Volunteers. Their area of responsibility was a buffer zone 25 kilometers (15 miles) wide on the Eritrean side of the Ethiopian-Eritrean border. There have been recorded 20 fatalities: 13 military personnel, 3 international civilian personnel and 4 local civilian personnel. The approved budget for the mission between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 was $118.99 million.

The border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has remained closed and thousands of people live in refugee camps while perhaps a million people remain displaced. In October 2005, the Eritrean government restricted UNMEE helicopter flights along the border and demanded the reduction of the UNMEE force by 300 staffers. Eritrea also restricted movement of ground patrols inside the buffer zone. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1640 in November 2005 threatened sanctions on both parties if there was no resolution.

In September 2007, United Nations special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Kjell Magne Bondevik, warned that war could resume between Ethiopia and Eritrea over their border conflict. In November, Eritrea accepted the border line demarcated by the international boundary commission, which was rejected by Ethiopia. In January 2008 the UN extended the mandate of peacekeepers on Ethiopia-Eritrea border for six months, and UN Security Council demanded Eritrea lift fuel restrictions imposed on UN peacekeepers at the Eritrea-Ethiopia border area. Eritrea declined, saying troops must leave border, and in February the UN began pulling out the 1,700-strong peacekeeper force due to lack of fuel supplies following Eritrean government restrictions. In April, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon warned of the likelihood of new war between Ethiopia and Eritrea if peacekeeping mission is withdrawn completely, and outlines options for the future of the UN mission in the two countries. In May, Eritrea called on UN to terminate the peacekeeping mission.

The mission was ended with effect from 31 July 2008 with a UNSC resolution adopted on 30 July 2008. Peacekeepers had been driven from the border zone by Eritrea by February 2008, and Ethiopia had refused to accept a binding International Court of Justice ruling on the border issue. There are fears that this may set a precedent to show that a country can force out UN peacekeepers. Analysts also fear a new war may erupt between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the border dispute. Eritrea has, however, tried to allay fears over a new war.

Staff and forces
On 30 November 2007, UNMEE had a total of 1,676 military personnel, including 1,464 troops and 212 military observers, supported by 147 international civilians, 202 local civilians and 67 UN Volunteers.
 * Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission:Azouz Ennifar (🇹🇳)
 * Deputy Special Representatives:
 * Force Commander: Major-General Mohammad Taisir Masadeh (🇯🇴)

Contributors of military personnel:
 * Africa

 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa

 * Americas

 * Asia

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


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Rowlands Castle railway station

Rowlands Castle railway station serves the village of Rowland's Castle, Hampshire, England. It is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line, 63 mi down the line from London Waterloo via Woking.

History
The main station building, dating to 1859, was designed by William Tite and is Grade II listed.

The station was once one of three between Petersfield and Havant, but is the only one to have enjoyed a regular service. Havant New, to the south, was a temporary station built during an inter-company dispute - the Battle of Havant; Woodcroft Halt, to the north, was open for a few years round World War 2, mainly for service personnel.

Formerly there were goods and coal sidings trailing off the Up Line at the Petersfield end of the station. There was only one crossover between the two running lines, which meant that goods trains that arrived from the Petersfield direction (usually on the 0450 Goods Woking to Rowland's Castle) had to "set-back" into the headshunt and "fly shunt" (i.e. run off) wagons into the sidings rather than propelling them. This was a skilled movement and not normally permitted by the Rule Book. There was also a siding trailing off the up line, Havant side of the station, serving a brickworks adjacent to the remains of the Castle.

Services
The station has two tracks, and two platforms, and the standard service is hourly to both Portsmouth and Waterloo. All services are operated by South Western Railway using and  EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
 * 1 tph to London Waterloo via Guildford
 * 1 tph to Portsmouth & Southsea

During the peak hours, there are additional services to London as well as services to Portsmouth Harbour. There is also one late evening service to Southampton Central.

The station is staffed from 6:30 - 9:30 in the morning. At all other times, people are served by ticket machines.

title: Rowlands Castle railway station


text:
1948–49 NHL season

The 1948–49 NHL season was the 32nd season of the National Hockey League. In a rematch of the previous season, Toronto defeated Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals to win the championship.

Rule changes
A new rule, often called the "Durnan Rule", was introduced for the start of the season stating that goalies cannot be the captain or an alternate captain and wear the "C" or "A". Specifically, NHL Rule 14-D (today's rule 6.1) read: No playing Coach or playing Manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain.

This rule was introduced because Bill Durnan, Montreal Canadiens goalie and captain, would frequently leave his crease to dispute calls with the referees. Opposing teams claimed that this would give the Canadiens unscheduled timeouts during strategic points in games. It would be another sixty years before another goalie would be captain. From 2008 until 2010, the Vancouver Canucks had Roberto Luongo as their captain, the seventh goalie to serve as a captain in the NHL. The rule remained in place, however, and Luongo could not 'act' as captain during games.

Regular season
Don Gallinger of the Boston Bruins, hopeful he could win an appeal of his suspension in the gambling scandal, finally admitted to gambling and was expelled from the NHL for life in September.

On October 8, 1948, the New York Rangers were due to start their season against the Montreal Canadiens, when the team suffered misfortune. Buddy O'Connor, Frank Eddolls, Edgar Laprade, Bill Moe, and Tony Leswick were travelling in their car from Montreal to Saranac Lake, New York when their car was struck by a truck near Rouses Point. O'Connor suffered several broken ribs, Eddolls a severed tendon in his knee, Laprade suffered a broken nose, Moe had a cut in the head requiring several stitches and Leswick escaped with a few bruises.

On November 10, 1948, unseasonably warm temperatures caused a fog bank to occur inside the Boston Garden during a game between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. Referee Bill Chadwick abandoned the game after only 9 minutes of the first period due to poor visibility. The game was replayed the following night, with Boston winning 4–1.

A league record of ten major penalties was set November 25, 1948, when 11,000 fans at the Montreal Forum witnessed a donnybrook. It started when the Habs' Ken Mosdell elbowed Maple Leaf Gus Mortson. Mortson retaliated by knocking Elliot de Grey down with his stick. Montreal's Maurice Richard then sprang onto Mortson's back and they fought, and then all hands joined in. Mortson, Richard, Toronto's Howie Meeker and Mosdell were banished with majors. Play had scarcely begun when Ken Reardon (Montreal) and Joe Klukay (Toronto) began fencing and Bill Barilko went at Reardon, while Klukay got into it with Billy Reay, and Hal Laycoe fought Garth Boesch. In the game itself, Turk Broda picked up his first shutout of the year as the Leafs won, 2–0.

Both Detroit and Montreal lost key players to injury this year. Montreal lost Elmer Lach with a fractured jaw when he collided with Toronto defenceman Bob Goldham, and Emile "Butch" Bouchard injured a knee. Detroit lost Gordie Howe, who underwent knee surgery.

Bill Durnan got hot in the second half of the season and recorded four consecutive shutouts, going 309 minutes and 21 seconds without giving up a goal. In all, Durnan had 10 shutouts and won his fifth Vezina Trophy in six years.

Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Coaches

 * Boston Bruins: Dit Clapper
 * Chicago Black Hawks: Charlie Conacher
 * Detroit Red Wings: Tommy Ivan
 * Montreal Canadiens: Dick Irvin
 * New York Rangers: Lynn Patrick
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: Hap Day

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1948–49 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
 * Jack Gelineau, Boston Bruins
 * Dave Creighton, Boston Bruins

Last games
The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1948–49 (listed with their last team):
 * Neil Colville, New York Rangers

title: 1948–49 NHL season


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Elizabethan literature

Elizabethan literature refers to bodies of work produced during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), and is one of the most splendid ages of English literature. In addition to drama and the theatre, it saw a flowering of poetry, with new forms like the sonnet, the Spenserian stanza, and dramatic blank verse, as well as prose, including historical chronicles, pamphlets, and the first English novels. Major writers include William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Hooker, Ben Jonson, Philip Sidney and Thomas Kyd.

Historical context
Elizabeth I presided over a vigorous culture that saw notable accomplishments in the arts, voyages of discovery, the "Elizabethan Settlement" that created the Church of England, and the defeat of military threats from Spain.

During her reign, a London-centred culture, both courtly and popular, produced great poetry and drama. English playwrights combined the influence of the Medieval theatre with the Renaissance's rediscovery of the Roman dramatists, Seneca, for tragedy, and Plautus and Terence, for comedy. Italy was an important source for Renaissance ideas in England and the linguist and lexicographer John Florio (1553–1625), whose father was Italian, a royal language tutor at the Court of James I, who had furthermore brought much of the Italian language and culture to England. He also translated the works of Montaigne from French into English.

Prose
Two of the most important Elizabethan prose writers were John Lyly (1553 or 1554–1606) and Thomas Nashe (November 1567 – c. 1601). Lyly is an English writer, poet, dramatist, playwright, and politician, best known for his books Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580). Lyly's mannered literary style, originating in his first books, is known as euphuism. Lyly must also be considered and remembered as a primary influence on the plays of William Shakespeare, and in particular the romantic comedies. Lyly's play Love's Metamorphosis is a large influence on Love's Labour's Lost, and Gallathea is a possible source for other plays. Nashe is considered the greatest of the English Elizabethan pamphleteers. He was a playwright, poet and satirist, who is best known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller.

George Puttenham (1529–1590) was a 16th-century English writer and literary critic. He is generally considered to be the author of the influential handbook on poetry and rhetoric, The Arte of English Poesie (1589).

Poetry
Italian literature was an important influence on the poetry of Thomas Wyatt (1503–42), one of the earliest English Renaissance poets. He was responsible for many innovations in English poetry, and alongside Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/1517–47), introduced the sonnet from Italy into England in the early 16th century. Wyatt's professed object was to experiment with the English tongue, to civilise it, to raise its powers to those of its neighbours. While a significant amount of his literary output consists of translations and imitations of sonnets by the Italian poet Petrarch, he also wrote sonnets of his own. Wyatt took subject matter from Petrarch's sonnets, but his rhyme schemes make a significant departure. Petrarchan sonnets start with an octave (eight lines), rhyming ABBA ABBA. A (volta) occurs (a dramatic turn in the sense), and the next lines are a sestet with various rhyme schemes. Petrarch's poems never ended in a rhyming couplet. Wyatt employs the Petrarchan octave, but his most common sestet rhyme scheme is CDDC EE. This marks the beginnings of the English sonnet with three quatrains and a closing couplet.

In the later 16th century, English poetry was characterised by elaboration of language and extensive allusion to classical myths. The most important poets of this era include Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney. Elizabeth herself, a product of Renaissance humanism, produced occasional poems such as "On Monsieur's Departure" and "The Doubt of Future Foes".

Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–99) was one of the most important poets of this period, author of The Faerie Queene (1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. Another major figure, Sir Philip Sidney (1554–86), was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. His works include Astrophel and Stella, An Apology for Poetry, and The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Poems intended to be set to music as songs, such as by Thomas Campion (1567–1620), became popular as printed literature was disseminated more widely in households. See English Madrigal School.

Shakespeare also popularised the English sonnet, which made significant changes to Petrarch's model.

Changes to the canon
While the canon of Renaissance English poetry of the 16th century has always been in some form of flux, it is only towards the late 20th century that concerted efforts were made to challenge the canon. Questions that once did not even have to be made, such as where to put the limitations of periods, what geographical areas to include, what genres to include, what writers and what kinds of writers to include, are now central.

The central figures of the Elizabethan canon are Spenser, Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson. There have been few attempts to change this long established list because the cultural importance of these five is so great that even re-evaluations on grounds of literary merit have not dared to dislodge them from the curriculum. Spenser, for example, had a significant influence on 17th-century poetry and was the primary English influence on John Milton.

In the 18th century, interest in Elizabethan poetry was rekindled through the scholarship of Thomas Warton and others.

The Lake Poets and other Romantics, at the beginning of the 19th century, were well-read in Renaissance poetry. However, the canon of Renaissance poetry was formed only in the Victorian period, with anthologies like Palgrave's Golden Treasury. A fairly representative idea of the "Victorian canon" is also given by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch's Oxford Book of English Verse (1919). The poems from this period are largely songs and apart from the major names, one sees the two pioneers Wyatt and Surrey, and a scattering of poems by other writers of the period. However, the authors of many poems are anonymous. Some poems, such as Thomas Sackville's Induction to The Mirror for Magistrates, were highly regarded (and therefore "in the canon") but they were omitted from the anthology as non-lyric.

In the 20th century T. S. Eliot's many essays on Elizabethan subjects were mainly concerned with Elizabethan theatre, but he also attempted to bring back long-forgotten poets to general attention, like Sir John Davies, whose cause he championed in an article in The Times Literary Supplement in 1926 (republished in On Poetry and Poets in 1957).

In 1939, American critic Yvor Winters suggested an alternative canon of Elizabethan poetry, in which he excluded the famous representatives of the Petrarchan school of poetry, represented by Sidney and Spenser. Instead, he focused on the "native or plain-style" anti-Petrarchan movement, which he argued had been overlooked and undervalued. The most underrated member of this movement he deems to have been George Gascoigne (1525–1577), who "deserves to be ranked ... among the six or seven greatest lyric poets of the century, and perhaps higher". Other members were Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618), Thomas Nashe (1567–1601), Barnabe Googe (1540–1594), and George Turberville (1540–1610). Winters characterised such anti-Petrarchan poems as having "broad, simple, and obvious" themes that border on "proverbial" as well as a restrained, aphoristic style; such a poet would "stat[e] his matter as economically as possible, and not, as are the Petrarchans, in the pleasures of rhetoric for its own sake".

Both Eliot and Winters were much in favour of the established canon. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, the established canon was criticised, especially by those who wished to expand it to include, for example, more women writers.

Theatre
The Italian Renaissance had rediscovered the ancient Greek and Roman theatre. This revival of interest was instrumental in the development of the new drama, which was then beginning to make apart from the old mystery and miracle plays of the Middle Ages. The Italians were inspired by Seneca (a major tragic playwright and philosopher, the tutor of Nero) and by Plautus (whose comic clichés, especially that of the boasting soldier, had a powerful influence during the Renaissance and thereafter). However, the Italian tragedies embraced a principle contrary to Seneca's ethics: showing blood and violence on the stage. In Seneca's plays such scenes were only acted by the characters.

During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and then James I (1603–25), in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a London-centred culture, that was both courtly and popular, produced great poetry and drama. The English playwrights were intrigued by the Italian model: a conspicuous community of Italian actors had settled in London. The linguist and lexicographer John Florio (1553–1625), whose father was Italian, was a royal language tutor at the Court of James I, and a possible friend and influence on William Shakespeare, had brought much of the Italian language and culture to England. He was also the translator of Montaigne into English. The earliest Elizabethan plays include Gorboduc (1561), by Sackville and Norton, and Thomas Kyd's (1558–94) revenge tragedy The Spanish Tragedy (1592). Highly popular and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy established a new genre in English literature theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains several violent murders and includes as one of its characters a personification of Revenge. The Spanish Tragedy was often referred to, or parodied, in works written by other Elizabethan playwrights, including William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. Many elements of The Spanish Tragedy, such as the play-within-a-play used to trap a murderer and a ghost intent on vengeance, appear in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Thomas Kyd is frequently proposed as the author of the hypothetical Ur-Hamlet that may have been one of Shakespeare's primary sources for Hamlet.

Jane Lumley (1537–1578) was the first person to translate Euripides into English. Her translation of Iphigeneia at Aulis is the first known dramatic work by a woman in English.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) stands out in this period both as a poet and playwright. Shakespeare wrote plays in a variety of genres, including histories, tragedies, comedies and the late romances, or tragicomedies. His early classical and Italianate comedies, like A Comedy of Errors, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. After the lyrical Richard II, written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives, which introduced a new kind of drama.

Shakespeare's career continued into the Jacobean period, and in the early 17th century Shakespeare wrote the so-called "problem plays", Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and All's Well That Ends Well, as well as a number of his best known tragedies, including Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and Anthony and Cleopatra. The plots of Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy the hero and those he loves. In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completed three more major plays: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, as well as the collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, probably with John Fletcher.

Other important figures in the Elizabethan theatre include Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Dekker.

Marlowe's (1564–1593) subject matter is different from Shakespeare's as it focuses more on the moral drama of the Renaissance man than any other thing. Drawing on German folklore, Marlowe introduced the story of Faust to England in his play Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), about a scientist and magician who, obsessed by the thirst of knowledge and the desire to push man's technological power to its limits, sells his soul to the Devil. Faustus makes use of "the dramatic framework of the morality plays in its presentation of a story of temptation, fall, and damnation, and its free use of morality figures such as the good angel and the bad angel and the seven deadly sins, along with the devils Lucifer and Mephistopheles."

Thomas Dekker (c. 1570–1632) was, between 1598 and 1602, involved in about forty plays, usually in collaboration. He is particularly remembered for The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599), a work where he appears to be the sole author. Dekker is noted for his "realistic portrayal of daily London life" and for "his sympathy for the poor and oppressed".

Robert Greene (c. 1558–1592) was another popular dramatist but he is now best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greenes, Groats-worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance, widely believed to contain an attack on William Shakespeare.

List of other writers
List of other of the writers born in this period:

 * John Donne (1572–1631)
 * Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
 * Thomas Middleton (1580–1627)
 * John Webster (c. 1580–c. 1634)

title: Elizabethan literature


text:
Zzap!

Zzap! may refer to:

 * Zzap!64, a British computer game magazine
 * ZZZap!, a British children's television comedy programme

title: Zzap!


text:
Paramanuchitchinorot

Paramanuchitchinorot (ปรมานุชิตชิโนรส, or Poramanuchitchinorot; also spelt Paramanujita Jinorasa, Paramanujit Jinoros, etc.; 11 December 1790 – 9 December 1853) was a Buddhist writer and a prince of the Chakri dynasty. One of his well-known epic poems is Lilit Taleng Phai. In 1851 he was appointed the Supreme Patriarch of the Rattanakosin kingdom and remained in that position until his death.

Life
Prince Wasukri (วาสุกรี) was a child of King Rama I and royal concubine Lady Chui (จุ้ย), a Vietnamese noblewoman. Lady Chui was the daughter of Ong Wang-tai (Phraya Phakdinuchit), a man of high-ranking royal blood who fled Vietnam after the Tay Son rebellion of 1778. He was born at the Grand Palace he was the king's twenty-eight child. In 1802, he became a Samanera or novice monk at the age of 12 years old, eight years later he was ordained a Bhikkhu monk. As a monk he resided at Wat Pho and studied to become a religious scholar there. He was also learned in the Khmer and Pali languages. In 1812 he was made the abbot of the temple.

King Rama III, who was his nephew, frequently called upon him to write, translate, and compile books. During his reign the king gave his uncle the ecclesiastical rank equivalent to that of a deputy patriarch, in which he was put in charge of all the temples within Bangkok. The prince abbot was also a prolific poet and composed many religious and sacred verses. Many of these verse were made into inscriptions which can be found all over Wat Pho today, making the temple a place of worship and a place of learning.

In 1851, the new monarch, King Rama IV, appointed the abbot as the Supreme Patriarch of the kingdom, and he was given the official title Phra Chao Boromawong Ther Krom Phra Paramanuchitchinorot. Unfortunately, this honour was briefly held, as he died on 9 December 1853. His body lay in state for a full year before his cremation.

His residence at Wat Pho, Tamnak Wasukri, also called the poet's house, was built by Rama III as a gift, it is open once a year on his birthday.

On 12 April 1921, in the reign of King Rama VI an additional title was created to denote his status as both a royal prince and patriarch of the kingdom. From then on he was known posthumously as Somdet Phra Maha Samana Chao Krom Phra Paramanuchitchinorot.

title: Paramanuchitchinorot


text:
Wild in the Streets

Wild in the Streets is a 1968 American dystopian comedy-drama film directed by Barry Shear and starring Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook, and Shelley Winters. Based on the short story "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" by Robert Thom, it was distributed by American International Pictures. The film, described as both "ludicrous" and "cautionary", was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing and became a cult classic of the 1960s counterculture.

Plot
Popular rock singer and aspiring revolutionary, Max Frost, was born Max Jacob Flatow Jr. His first public act of violence was blowing up his family's new car. Frost's band, the Troopers, live together with him, their women, and others, in a sprawling Beverly Hills mansion. The band includes his 15-year-old genius attorney, Billy Cage, on lead guitar, ex-child actor and girlfriend, Sally LeRoy, on keyboards, hook-handed Abraham Salteen on bass guitar and trumpet, and anthropologist Stanley X on drums. Max's band performs a song noting that 52% of the population is 25 or younger, making young people the majority in the country.

When Max is asked to sing at a televised political rally by Kennedyesque Senate candidate Johnny Fergus, who is running on a platform to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, he and the Troopers appear – but Max stuns everyone by calling instead for the voting age to become 14, then finishes the show with an improvised song, "Fourteen or Fight!", and a call for a demonstration. Max's fans – and other young people, by the thousands – stir to action, and within 24 hours protests have begun in cities around the United States. Fergus's advisors want him to denounce Max, but instead he agrees to support the demonstrations, and change his campaign – if Max and his group will compromise, accept a voting age of 15 instead, abide by the law, and appeal to the demonstrators to go home peaceably. Max agrees, and the two appear together on television – and in person the next day, using the less offensive mantra "Fifteen and Ready".

Most states agree to lower the voting age within days, in the wake of the demonstrations, and Max Frost and the Troopers campaign for Johnny Fergus until the election, which he wins by a landslide. Taking his place in the Senate, Fergus wishes Frost and his people would now just go away, but instead they get involved with Washington politics. When a Congressman from Sally LeRoy's home district dies suddenly, the band enters her in the special election that follows, and Sally – the eldest of the group, and the only one of majority age to run for office – is voted into Congress by the new teen bloc.

The first bill Sally introduces is a constitutional amendment to lower the age requirements for national political office to 14, and "Fourteen or Fight!" enters a new phase. A joint session of Congress is called, and the Troopers – now joined by Fergus's son, Jimmy – swing the vote their way by spiking the Washington, D.C., water supply with LSD, and providing all the Senators and Representatives with teenage escorts.

As teens either take over or threaten the reins of government, the "Old Guard" (those over 40) turn to Max to run for president, and assert his (their) control over the changing tide. Max again agrees, running as a Republican to his chagrin, but once in office, he turns the tide on his older supporters. Thirty becomes a mandatory retirement age, while those over 35 are rounded up, sent to "re-education camps", and permanently dosed on LSD. Fergus unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade Max by contacting his estranged parents, and tries to assassinate him. Failing at this, he flees Washington, D.C., with his remaining family, but they are soon rounded up.

With youth now in control of the United States, politically as well as economically, similar revolutions break out in all the world's major countries. Max withdraws the military from around the world (turning them instead into de facto "age police"), puts computers and prodigies in charge of the gross national product, ships surplus grain for free to Third World nations, disbands the FBI and Secret Service, and becomes the leader of "the most truly hedonistic society the world has ever known".

Ultimately however, Max and his cohorts may face future intergenerational warfare from an unexpected source: pre-teen children. When a young girl finds out Max's age (which is now 24), she sneers, "That's old!" Later, after Max kills a crawdad that was a pet to several young kids, then mocks their youth and powerlessness, one of the kids resolves, "We're gonna put everybody over 10 out of business".

Cast

 * Shelley Winters as Mrs. Max Flatow (Frost)
 * Christopher Jones as Max Jacob Flatow Jr., a.k.a. Max Frost
 * Diane Varsi as Sally LeRoy
 * Hal Holbrook as Senator Fergus
 * Millie Perkins as Mrs. Fergus
 * Richard Pryor as Stanley X
 * Bert Freed as Max Jacob Flatow Sr.
 * Kevin Coughlin as Billy Cage
 * Larry Bishop as the Hook
 * Michael Margotta as Jimmy Fergus
 * Ed Begley as Senator Allbright
 * May Ishihara as Fuji Elly
 * Salli Sachse as hippie mother
 * Kellie Flanagan as young Mary Fergus
 * Don Wyndham as Joseph Fergus

Production notes
The film was completed in 20 days.

Lowering the voting age was a genuine issue in 1968 and was not passed until 1970 with Oregon v. Mitchell lowering the presidential minimum voting age to 18 and 1971 with the 26th Amendment lowering local and state election minimum voting ages to 18.

The movie features cameos from several media personalities, including Melvin Belli, Dick Clark, Pamela Mason, Army Archerd, and Walter Winchell. Millie Perkins and Ed Begley have supporting roles, and Bobby Sherman interviews Max as president. In a pre-Brady Bunch role, Barry Williams plays the teenage Max Frost at the beginning of the movie. Child actress Kellie Flanagan, who plays Johnny Fergus's daughter Mary appeared in director Barry Shear's television special All Things Bright and Beautiful in the same year. She discussed filming Wild in the Streets in a 2014 interview with Adam Gerace, telling him "I get a huge kick out of Wild in the Streets and always have."

According to filmmaker Kenneth Bowser, the part eventually played by Christopher Jones was offered to folk singer Phil Ochs. After reading the screenplay, Ochs rejected the offer, claiming the story distorted the actual nature of the youth counterculture of the period.

Music
A soundtrack album was released on Tower Records and became successful, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard charts. Taken from the soundtrack and film, "Shape of Things to Come" (written by songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil) and performed by the fictional band Max Frost and the Troopers, was released as a single (backed with "Free Lovin' ") and became a hit, reaching No. 22 on Billboard.

Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Wild in the Streets holds an approval rating of 67%, based on 21 critic reviews with an average rating of 5.8 out of 10.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times unfavorably compared Wild in the Streets to Privilege (1967), another film that dealt with politics driving the worship of pop idols. Despite the two-star rating, he admitted that the former was the more effective of the two because it has a greater understanding of its teenage audience. He added, "It's a silly film, but it does communicate in the simplest, most direct terms."

Renata Adler of The New York Times raved about the movie, declaring it "by far the best American film of the year so far" and compared it to The Battle of Algiers (1967).

Release
Wild in the Streets was released in theaters in 1968. Its plot was a reductio ad absurdum projection of contemporary issues of the time, taken to extremes, and played poignantly during 1968 – an election year with many controversies (the Vietnam War, the draft, civil rights, the population explosion, rioting and assassinations, and the baby boomer generation coming of age). The original magazine short story, titled "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" was expanded by its author to book length, and was published as a paperback novel by Pyramid Books.

In 1969, Fred R. Feitshans Jr. and Eve Newman were both nominated for the Oscar for Best Film Editing for their work on this film.

Wild in the Streets was released on VHS in the late 1980s, and in 2005 appeared on DVD, on a Midnite Movies disc with 1971's Gas-s-s-s.

title: Wild in the Streets


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Poklonnaya Hill

Poklonnaya Gora (Покло́нная гора́, literally "Bow-Down Hill"; metaphorically "Worshipful Submission Hill"') is, at 171.5 m, one of the highest natural spots in Moscow. Its two summits were separated by the Setun River until one of the summits was razed in 1987. Since 1936, the area has been part of Moscow, and it now contains the Victory Park, with many tanks and other vehicles that were used during World War II on display.

Historically, the hill had great strategic importance, as it commanded the best view of the capital of Russia. Its name is derived from the Russian for "to bow down" since everyone approaching the capital from the west was expected to do homage here. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, it was the spot in which Napoleon in vain expected the keys to the Kremlin to be brought to him by Russians.

Victory Park
In the 1960s, the Soviet authorities decided to put the area to use as an open-air museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The New Triumphal Arch, erected in wood in 1814 and in marble in 1827 to a design by Osip Bove, was relocated and reconstructed here in 1968. A loghouse in which Mikhail Kutuzov presided over the Fili Conference, which decided to abandon Moscow, to the enemy, was designated a national monument. The huge panorama "Battle of Borodino" by Franz Roubaud (1910–1912) was installed here in 1962.

The and the Square of Victors are important parts of the outdoor museum. In 1987, the hill was levelled to the ground, and in the 1990s an obelisk was added with a statue of Nike, and a monument of Saint George slaying the dragon, both of which were designed by Zurab Tsereteli. The obelisk's height is exactly 141.8 m, which is 10 cm for every day of the war. A golden-domed Orthodox church was erected on the hilltop in 1993-1995, followed by a memorial mosque and the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue.

At the 60th V-Day celebrations in 2005, Russia President Vladimir Putin inaugurated 15 extravagant bronze columns, symbolizing the main fronts and navies of the Red Army during World War II.

War museum
Since the 1980s, the hill also includes the monumental museum to the Soviet victory during the Great Patriotic War. The main building of the museum was constructed between 1983 and 1995. The Hall of Glory holds reliefs of the 12 Soviet Hero Cities, and on its marmor walls are inscribed the names of several thousand Heroes of the Soviet Union that were awarded during the war. The Hall of Remembrance downstairs contains books of remembrance with the names of more than 26 million Soviet war dead.

title: Poklonnaya Hill


text:
American National Rugby League

The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was the national governing body for rugby league in the United States from 1997 to 2014.

The organization was responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United States national rugby league team in addition to other responsibilities during its time of operation

The organization was founded by Australian former professional player David Niu and throughout its existence gained recognition from the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) as the governing body for the sport in the United States.

The domestic competition began with six teams competing and grew to eleven teams by 2010, with plans for westward expansion.

On January 12, 2011, a schism occurred with seven teams departing the AMNRL to form the USA Rugby League (USARL), a rival governing body.

In the years that followed, the AMNRL suffered from competition with the USARL, and did not host a domestic competition after the 2013 season, though it continued to organize international team games.

The organization folded in 2014, with USARL becoming the recognized body for rugby league in the USA.

Origins
The roots of the American National Rugby League date to 1997, when Super League America was formed to organize a national team, establish an amateur domestic competition, and build the sport in the United States. The organization was initially established by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in an attempt to spread rugby league to the United States. The organization was run by former professional player David Niu, who had come to Philadelphia in 1992 and had been active in promoting the sport there. Super League America's domestic competition began its inaugural season in 1998, and was contested by six teams all in the Northeastern United States: the Glen Mills Bulls (later the Aston Bulls), the New Jersey Sharks (now the Bucks County Sharks in the USARL), the New York Broncos (now the New York Knights in the USARL), the Philadelphia Bulldogs (now the Philadelphia Fight in the USARL), the Boston Storm, and the Pennsylvania Raiders. The Boston and Pennsylvania teams soon dropped out; the others later formed the core of the AMNRL. Super League America organized the domestic competition in 1998 and 1999; the Glen Mills Bulls were declared league champions in both years.

In December 1999, Super League America announced a reorganization. The league headquarters moved to Jacksonville, Florida, with Jacksonville marketing executive Steve Gormley made the organization's new president; David Niu would serve as CEO and maintain the northeastern branch. The organization was renamed the United States Rugby League, and set its sights on expanding into the Southeastern United States and attracting British rugby league teams to Florida for training camps and international competitions. The USRL was successful in attracting foreign teams and advanced the U.S. national team to the Rugby League World Cup qualifiers for the first time; however, it was soon beset by internal strife.

Complications over a deal with the British Rugby Football League led to a dispute that bankrupted the USRL. In the midst of the dispute, in May 2001 the five domestic teams announced they would form a new organization, the American National Rugby League, with Niu as its head. Later that year Gormley sold the USRL's assets to the Rugby Football League, leaving the AMNRL as the sole rugby league body in the United States.

Growth
The AMNRL was affiliated with the Rugby League International Federation, the sport's world governing body, through Super League America. Expansion of the domestic league became a major goal for the organization, and new teams were added every few years. The Wilmington Vikings (later the New York Raiders) joined the competition in 2002, bringing the number of teams back up to six. The following year the Connecticut Wildcats of Norwalk, Connecticut and the Washington D.C. Slayers joined.

In 2006 the league expanded once again to include the Jacksonville Axemen, the New Haven Warriors, and the Boston Braves. After the end of the season, however, the Boston Braves folded, and two charter teams, the Media Mantarays and the Philadelphia Fight, announced they were merging. The Fairfax Eagles joined the competition in 2007, and the Boston Thirteens joined in 2009. Another charter franchise, the Bucks County Sharks, suspended operations in 2010, while the Pittsburgh Vipers were added.

In 2010, the AMNRL entered into a relationship with the Star Group to rebrand the league, its assets, and its teams. In 2012, the AMNRL entered into a partnership arrangement with Grand Prix Entertainment to promote and grow the game in the USA, in return for ownership of the league and TV rights to World Cup matches in 2013. This led to complications regarding the ownership of the league.

Expansion plans
The AMNRL announced various plans for future expansion at different times. Beginning in 2001 the league announced plans for a Western American National Rugby League (WAMNRL) to develop the sport on the West Coast of the United States. The AMNRL has revisited these plans several times since.

In 2009 league officials announced the creation of a new, fully professional league, the National Rugby League USA (NRLUS), which originally hoped to launch in 2010. The AMNRL would serve as an amateur and semi-professional feeder league for the new competition. However, the new league never got off the ground, with officials blaming the Great Recession.

AMNRL/USARL split and collapse
On January 12, 2011, seven teams announced they were breaking with the AMNRL to form a new league, the USA Rugby League (USARL). Officials cited the lack of club involvement in the AMNRL's decision-making as the reason for the split; the USA Rugby League implemented a constituency which involved member clubs in its administration. The departing teams were the Boston 13s, the D.C. Slayers, the Fairfax Eagles, the Jacksonville Axemen, the New Haven Warriors, the Philadelphia Fight, and the Pittsburgh Vipers (later the Pittsburgh Sledgehammers). Five of these teams (all except Fairfax and Pittsburgh), along with three new teams, participated in the USARL's inaugural 2011 season.

The AMNRL struggled over the next few years due to the competition from the USARL. The RLIF stepped in to work with the leagues toward an ultimate goal of reunification, but were unable to find a solution. The AMNRL put its domestic competition on hiatus after the 2013 season, though it continued to organize games for the national team, including the U.S.'s first ever appearance at the Rugby League World Cup in 2013, in which the Tomahawks reached the quarter-finals. The split between the leagues cost the U.S. its automatic qualification to the 2017 World Cup. In August 2014, the AMNRL announced it would cease operations to end the rift and allow the USARL to seek status as the national governing body.

Commissioners and presidents

 * David Niu (1998–2012), President
 * Curtis Cunz (2013–2014), President

Season structure
From 1998 through 2013, member teams of the domestic competition competed in a Grand Final for the league championship. The winning team received the "Ferrainola Cup", named for American rugby league promoter Sam Ferrainola. Beginning in 2011, the AMNRL season consisted of an eight-round, seven-game regular season followed by a playoffs series culminating in the Grand Final. All six teams advanced to the playoffs, which consisted of a three-round single-elimination tournament, with the Grand Final winners receiving the championship title.

One of signature events in the AMNRL's domestic schedule was the War at the Shore. The event, held annually in Sea Isle City, New Jersey, generally consisted of full 13-a-side and rugby league sevens games between AMNRL teams, local and national representative sides, and developmental teams.

Teams

Six teams played in the 2011 season. Four of these teams, the Aston Bulls, the Connecticut Wildcats, the New York Knights, and the New York Raiders, played in the AMNRL the previous season. The Bucks County Sharks, who did not compete in the 2010 season, also rejoined the league in 2011. A sixth team, the Delaware Vipers, were announced in April 2011 and played during the season. Ostensibly based in Wilmington, Delaware, the AMNRL considered them successors to the Media Mantarays, who played in the competition from 2000–2006.

In 2011 the AMNRL launched a Hawaii-based competition in partnership with the Hawaii Rugby League. The AMNRL dubbed this the "Pacific Conference", while the East Coast-based competition was named the "Atlantic Conference". Teams listed in the Pacific Conference as of July 16, 2011 are the Hawaii Islanders, Honolulu Titans, Kalihi Raiders, Marist Marauders, Maui Voyagers, and Tama Suma Ie. However, as of that time, only the Marist, Maui, Tama Sulu, and Kalihi teams had played games, and had not played consistently.

In addition, other teams competed in AMNRL-sponsored tournaments. The Chicago Stockyarders played two rugby league nines games in 2010. On June 10, 2011, the Utah Avalanche of Salt Lake City, Utah, announced they were joining the AMNRL as a developing team. The Avalanche were formed in early 2011 and were previously aligned with the USARL, playing in a USARL rugby league nines tournament in Philadelphia in May. In June 2011 they announced they were re-aligning with the AMNRL.

On November 26, 2011 the AMNRL announced that the Northern Virginia Eagles, formerly the Fairfax Eagles, would be reforming and joining the competition. In the new year the AMNRL released its 2011 review and announced its "Road to the 2013 Rugby League World Cup" which includes launching teams and competitions in the East, Midwest, West and Southwest. A further two teams were announced to be joining the league on January 13 – the Las Vegas Warriors and Colorado Blizzard were announced to be part of a Western Conference as well as new teams forming from Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Former teams
Note Delaware Valley Mantarays merged with Philadelphia Bulldogs in 2006. The AMNRL considers the Delaware Vipers to be successors to the Mantarays.

League records
Largest victory: Jacksonville Axemen 90 – 8 Philadelphia Fight (2006)

Most Valuable Player Winners
At the conclusion of each season, the title of Most Valuable Player is awarded to the individual who accumulates the most points via a voting system that is undertaken after every game. Each official at the conclusion of a regular-season fixture awards either three, two or one points for the most deserving players on game day; these points are then added up to determine the MVP. Performance is not only measured by individual feats but also the influence that player has had on the performance of his respective team. Every season to date has seen an individual awarded the MVP excluding the 2005 season where both Andrew Webster and Erik Hollingsworth were awarded the Most Valuable player after they finished with equal points.

title: American National Rugby League


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Judy Norton

Judy Norton (born January 29, 1958) is an American actress and theater director who is best known for her role as Mary Ellen Walton on The Waltons television series and subsequent Waltons TV movies.

Personal life
She was born in Santa Monica, California, to parents Harry and Constance (née Glazebrook) Norton. She began practicing Scientology at age 13, and became a minister in the Church. She married Douglas Taylor in 1976 at the age of 18; the marriage ended in divorce in 1978. She then married former football player Lynn Hughes whom she later divorced.

Norton posed nude for a 1985 issue of Playboy in a bid to shed her "goody-goody Waltons image". She has one son, Devin.

Norton is married to Robert Graves. Norton has been writing, directing and starring in movies and theater. She also is a singer. An avid athlete, Norton has participated in competitive horse jumping and skydiving, in addition to skiing and tennis. Norton frequently showcased her athletic skills on Battle of the Network Stars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her CD Reflections was released in August 2016.

title: Judy Norton


text:
User talk:Mattwilk

Norden Farm Centre for the Arts
If there have been newspaper or magazine articles about the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, could you please add them under "References" to the article Norden Farm Centre for the Arts? Another editor thought that the article was spam, so I added some references to keep the article from being deleted. --TruthbringerToronto (Talk | contribs) 22:10, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Image tagging for Image:Piers2.jpg
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Fair use rationale for Image:Maryprankster.gif
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title: User talk:Mattwilk


text:
Pigeon Forge High School

Pigeon Forge High School is a public, coeducational high school located in Sevier County, Tennessee. Part of the Sevier County Board of Education, the school is administrated by a Director of Schools (Stephanie Huskey) who oversees the school's Principal (Benjamin Clabo) who conducts school operations. As of 2021, the school had a total student body of 442 pupils across grades 10 through 12.

Campus & structure
Pigeon Forge High School is located at 414 Tiger Drive, near the Parkway that serves as the main transportation artery of the city of Pigeon Forge. The high school was established in 1999 in a building that had previously been the Pigeon Forge Middle School. Beginning with only the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, Pigeon Forge High School added one grade per year, graduating its first class in the 2002-2003 academic year.

Located on a campus of some 22 acre, PFHS has added a number of athletic and scholastic facilities since its first year. Its proximity to facilities maintained by the city of Pigeon Forge, such as the city park and community center and library complex, make a variety of services available to students.

In August 2020, in compliance with a district-wide restructuring transition to an intermediate school system, PFHS discontinued the enrollment of students in the ninth grade, converting from a 4-year to a 3-year high school.

Finance and budget
In the year 2020, total expenditures at Pigeon Forge High School totaled $8,039,697. Considering a total enrollment of 442 students in that year, the expenditures per student were $18,189.35.

Curriculum & extracurricular activities
A three-tier system of tracking is in place to allow learning in the skills, standard, and honors venues in order to best meet the needs of students at varying ability levels. To supplement all these offerings, the student body is also able to participate in a variety of extracurricular sports ranging from wrestling to biking and an array of intellectual pursuits including a Beta Club as well as many others.

title: Pigeon Forge High School


text:
Parangaba

Parangaba is a neighborhood of Fortaleza in Ceará, Brazil. It was an independent city, but Fortaleza developed, expanded and Parangaba has become to a part of that city. There is a lake with the same name and since 1993 a big famous flea market, called "Feira dos Pássaros", which means "Bird Market", in a free translation.

title: Parangaba


text:
Talk:Joby Talbot

Untitled

 * Didn't Joby Talbot win the young musician of the year one year? Does anybody know which year?
 * I don't think so. He's known more as a composer than a musician, and I don't even know what instrument(s) he plays. Matve 10:29, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

mbhv — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.190.178.1 (talk) 16:54, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Name
According to the soundtrack to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the composer's name is actually Jolby Talbot. Anyone know anything about this discrepancy? It's pronounce Joby, certainly, but I've only seen it written Jolby. SamBC(talk) 18:33, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

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Does Talbot's opera Everest warrant its own page?
I started a rough translation of an exisitng page (de: Everest (Oper)) and it was rejected. An editor suggested I post here to determine whether this page (Draft:Everest_(opera)) is considered necessary. What say you Wiki hive mind?

148.75.165.78 (talk) 19:40, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Joby Talbot


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Philie T

 This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the debate was delete. - Mailer Diablo 17:34, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

Philie T
Self promotion, even going so far as to call himself an "accomplished internet troll", giving away a drop of motive. 123 hits for "Philie T" and 12 for "Philie T" + Rap makes me think nn. Delete Usrnme h8er 12:38, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete per submitter. Can't find anything that verifies any of the rave reviews supposedly received from popular music magazines. --GraemeL 13:11, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep He was mentioned on the Respect List of Aphex Twin's "51/13 Aphex Singles Collection", and is known to be associated with the Jenkinson brothers (notably Squarepusher and Ceephax).  --Easterlingman 13:15, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Note - Easterlingman has a total of about 30 edits. -- BD2412 talk 14:04, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * Does my number of edits make the information I post less factual?
 * Delete I'm not really convinced he passes WP:MUSIC or any other test for notability. CanadianCaesar 13:17, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Non-notability, probably self-promotion. Can't find any links to his music and suspect "rave reviews" don't exist. "Known to be associated with" relatively unknown people doesn't mean anything. My mom went to school with Catherine O'Hara but she doesn't get an entry because of it... Marskell 13:24, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep He actively worked with (Squarepusher and Ceephax) as a filmmaker. Not self promotion. This article wasn't written by the subject. The motivation is expansion on the Ceephax Acid Crew article (notable Acid house producer) as he has acted in movies by Phil Thompson. Thanks for criticism, article revised. Please don't shoot down articles because you never heard of someone well known in his genre. WP:MUSIC is merely a guide to strengthen the quality of articles, not a reason to delete something. Thanks! Joyrex 13:59, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Note - Joyrex's third edit. -- BD2412 talk 14:01, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * Like Easterlingman says: Does my number of edits make the information I post less factual?Joyrex 14:11, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Philie T is known to the IDM community (WATMM is a good example). He worked with people like Squarepusher and Ceephax as a filmmaker, and other Chelmsford artists included Cassette Boy. He'll never be in the top 100 music chart, because he's an underground artist, and he gives his art away for free on www.philiet.co.uk I don't believe for a second that wikipedia's hard drives will crash and burn by adding an article about an underground artist who is well known in IDM circles. This article is an expansion from the Ceephax Acid Crew article. Had to mention his starring in Philie T's films, Philie T is well known to the IDM community. Why not add an article about him? Because he's not Britney Spears or AC/DC. Pff. Joyrex 15:24, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. -- BD2412 talk 14:05, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * He made films with famous artists from Warp Records. This is notable to the IDM community. Of course you and your granny never heard of Aphex Twin. Joyrex 14:11, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep Philie T's short films are among the best I have seen in recent years, and his work with Cassette Boy was outstanding. A vital and respected member of the underground IDM scene, his popularity will only grow. Keep your eye on him for sure. chaosmachine 14:27, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * - CanadianCaesar 14:35, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * User chaosmachine has two edits, both to this vfd. Usrnme h8er 14:37, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, in fact I signed up just vote on this. As a member of the IDM community, and someone who's enjoyed Philie T's work over the years, I felt I'd show my support. Thanks for the welcome. Chaosmachine 14:40, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Amount of edits is irrelevant to his words. Your rhetorical technique exposed. Knock it off. Joyrex 14:42, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete until more information about this guy appears. "Philie T"+"Aphex Twin" garners a few google hits, all from either wiki mirrors or newsgroup posts by "Philie T" himself. He may be mad awesome, but the information in the article is currently 100% unverifiable. If we include him as someone garnering shoutouts from Aphex Twin, we will also have to include "Gentle John, Cylob Industries, Grant and Jen, Mike D, ...???... Captain ???, Lorna and Derek, Tennyson and Dali, ??? and Deanne, The Gentle People, Steve and Jen. Special thanks to Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish, Leila, TAN one hundred and nine, Debbie, Rob and Steve, Stuart, Mike and Neil, ??? and his dogs next door. ...???... Vulva, Rhysa, Philie-T, Maurice and Gwen." Sdedeo 14:42, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually several of those already have articles... they're just the real names of people who put out media under made up names. Mike P is mu-ziq, Mike D is Mike Dred or Kosmik Kommando, cylob is chris jeffs on aphex twin's rephlex label, lorna and derek are his siblings I believe, the gentle people have releases on rephlex, etc--Easterlingman 15:10, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Hmm... We do have articles for Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish but I think they are famous for other reasons... Usrnme h8er 15:12, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete Clear delete; please ignore puppets from the voting! (amended to incl. my signature. oops.) Dottore So 14:56, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * and women, and blacks for that matter. and anyone left handed, or shorter than 5 foot 4.
 * Last charming remark by User:Chaosmachine, defending the rights of sockpuppets everywhere. CanadianCaesar 14:52, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * thanks for the insult, friend. it's ok, i understand what kind of a community this is now. enjoy yourselves, and goodbye. Chaosmachine 14:55, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * It's similar to alt.config, shooting things down, unhelpful to newbies. Also it's different in reality to the friendly spirit shown on the front page and in press articles.Joyrex 15:03, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep - seems legitimate. Trollderella 15:43, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, nn, more trolling from Trollderella. Zoe 19:42, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - for all the reasons already stated above. -Satori 15:46, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * So it's okay to make an inappropriate comment towards a new user, but not one that has a few edits under his or her belt? --Easterlingman 16:03, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete; non-notable. Jaxl | talk 17:08, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete and I've heard, let alone heard of Aphex Twin. Sorry. Tonywalton | Talk 17:25, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Abstain (I haven't a clue about this fellow) but comment. For those who don't know: the VfD procedure theoretically involves the WikiPedia community taking a look at a page which may be borderline (clear deletes are marked as "speedy"), and voting on whether it should remain in an encyclopædia or not.  As such, the votes of anonymous users who happened to breeze in, or fans of the subject of an article recruited to WikiPedia solely so that they can vote against its deletion, are naturally not considered as important as those of regular 'pedians.  Indeed, the practice of rounding up one's friends and getting them to cast a vote on a website that otherwise holds no interest for them is considered quite rude; it's called "sock puppeteering", a term that originated on USENET, associated with fraudulent or anti-social behaviour.  That is why all y'all new users haven't been greeted in the warmest of terms.  That said, um ... welcome!  I hope you stick around and make a greater contribution to this encyclopædia than a single, discountable vote.  If you do, believe me, your opinion will start to matter at last. --fuddlemark 17:28, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment Joyrex et al do have a point. Remember WP:Bite and let's keep this at least minimally civil. Tonywalton  | Talk 17:33, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete unless some verifiable evidence of compliance with WP:Music such as the release of albums, touring etc. The stuff we have been told would establish him as an interesting person but not a notable person as yet. Capitalistroadster 21:38, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. —Charles O'Rourke 23:13, August 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable. Nandesuka 23:57, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable. --*drew 07:09, 20 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not notable, sockpuppets galore. Xoloz 20:05, 20 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment I asked forum.watmm.com to come here and comment. Easterlingman uses Wikipedia since before, and is a genuine guy. Chaosmachine is a seperate guy, but still classed as sockpuppet. Apologies for ruding Wikipedia from me. Sorry about that. I edited the article now to make it a bit better. Can't improve it much more myself. Philie T's notability comes from his link to Ceephax (by making films with him) and his high up friends in British IDM. He will never be in the top 100 pop chart, because his ethic is to give away music for free in mp3. There is too much about sockpuppets now to change anyone's mind, but I will try and make the article again in the future (coupled of months), because I think the present edit is not so bad as the original, and it shows Philie T's link to Ceephax Acid Crew, which is my motivation for writing the article (expanding knowledge of Ceephax's career, and noting things from the IDM community. Thanks, and sorry for the sockpuppet, it was wrong to do that. Joyrex 11:24, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.


text:
Talk:Bog snorkelling

WRT Votes_for_deletion/Bog_Snorkelling, I'm dying to know who I'm a sock puppet for... — ciphergoth 12:39, August 19, 2005 (UTC)

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World Championship Results
There seems to be one editor ( 1 person) who keeps deleting our wonderful historical results of the World Championship. Lets all have a say here as to whether you think that Bog Snorkelling World Championship Results do have a place in history, and should be documented in Wikipedia for as long as it lasts. Just make a comment YES (we should have them), or NO (omit them from history), do note that we only kept a record of the winner each year. Anyone who reinstates them, find some good sources to back it up.

I will start the vote. YES Thank you Dickie-bow-tie (talk) 22:33, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Wikipedia does not decide content by voting, see WP:NOTAVOTE. Wikipedia is also not a webhost or a place to store unsourced information. If you want to keep off-mission content online, do so on your own web site. We all have to follow the Wikipedia's content policies here, even if a vocal minority doesn't like them. MrOllie (talk) 00:37, 1 March 2024 (UTC)
 * , when I advised you at the Teahouse to discuss this issue on this talk page, I also told you that you would need to address the core content policy of Verifiability. You have not done so. You cannot hold a mock "election" here that leads to an illegitimate local consensus to disregard a core content policy. That is simply not going to happen. What you need to do is address the specific issue of verifiability policy in this case, and improve the referencing of the content you want to add, so that other editors will agree that it belongs in the article. As for, which historian describes the results as wonderful, and where was that published? Please also familiarize yourself with another core content policy, the Neutral point of view. Boosterism is not permitted on Wikipedia, and we make content decisions based on policies and guidelines, not on personal enthusiasm for the topic. Cullen328 (talk) 07:20, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bog snorkelling


text: Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Rhode Island


text:
Barry Legg

Barry Charles Legg (born 30 May 1949) is a British politician. A former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West from 1992 until the 1997 general election, he was defeated by Labour's Phyllis Starkey. Legg is the chairman of the Eurosceptic Bruges Group.

Directorship
Prior to becoming an MP Legg was a director of Hillsdown Holdings, one of Britain's biggest food groups at that time and owner of leading brands such as Typhoo tea, Hartley's jam and Buxted chickens, having joined the firm in 1978. He became company secretary in 1982 and a director in 1986. He left Hillsdown "by mutual consent" in September 1992 with a 'golden handshake' of £200,000 "after it was decided to replace him with someone who could devote their full energies to the job."

Career in local government
Legg – an accountant and tax specialist – entered politics in 1978 as a Conservative councillor for the Regent's Park ward on Westminster City Council. He became the Conservative Chief Whip on the council during Dame Shirley Porter's leadership. He was later linked with the 'homes for votes scandal' in which council homes in eight key marginal wards were sold instead of being re-let to council tenants or used to alleviate homelessness. Believing that council tenants were more likely to vote Labour, the Conservative council intended that this strategy would result in "a pattern of tenure which is more likely to translate into Conservative votes."

A second independent inquiry identified Legg as the chairman of a secret Westminster council committee meeting that took the decision in 1989 to place 100 homeless families, including 150 children, in two dilapidated tower blocks already known to be full of asbestos. A report from 1983 had warned: "It is considered that these two tower blocks... may provide the greatest potential for asbestos release within residential accommodation in Britain." The official inquiry found that it was "abundantly clear" that the committee knew that the tower blocks, Chantry Point and Hermes Point in Paddington, had asbestos problems and were in a terrible condition. The District Auditor also found that the decision, "leaving aside the serious ethical concerns that it raised, was unlawful because it was taken by a secret and unaccountable group." The scandal was the subject of an exposé by social affairs programme Public Eye, broadcast on 30 November 1995 on BBC Two.

Legg's time as a councillor and his conduct in public life and business were the subject of a joint investigation by The Guardian newspaper and the BBC Radio 4 Today programme in May 2003.

Career in Parliament
After being defeated by Labour's Derek Foster at Bishop Auckland in 1983, Legg gained election for Milton Keynes South West at the 1992 General Election. He was unseated at the 1997 General Election.

Described as an 'unreconstructed' Thatcherite, Legg is a co-founder of the Conservative Way Forward campaigning group and was a member of the No Turning Back Group (NTBG) and one of the Maastricht Rebels.

Tax reform
In 1992 Legg co-authored Maintaining Momentum: a Radical Tax Agenda for the 1990s which proposed a reduction in the basic rate of income tax to 20%, the abolition of Inheritance Tax and temporarily raising the threshold for higher rate income tax to £100,000, followed by its abolition.

Welfare reform
In 1993 Legg was the co-author, with Iain Duncan Smith and 3 other members of the NTBG, of a report which proposed cutting £8 billion from the social security budget. The report made a number of recommendations:
 * Merging all means-tested and other non-contributory benefits into a single benefit called "whole person benefit" (WPB)
 * Privatisation of the National Insurance "pay-as-you-go" benefit system and introduction of private pensions and private insurance against unemployment, long-term sickness and invalidity
 * Abolition of child benefit
 * Introduction of smart card technology to reduce fraud
 * Equalisation of retirement ages for men and women at 67
 * Abolition of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme
 * Cutting the entitlement to unemployment benefit from 12 months to 6 months
 * Abolition of mortgage tax relief, rent rebates and housing benefits.

Chief Executive of the Conservative Party
On 14 February 2003 Legg was controversially appointed by Iain Duncan Smith to be the new Conservative Party Chief Executive – "against the wishes of the party's ruling board" – and Chief of Staff of Duncan Smith's private office. The appointment was vetoed by the board and Legg, described as Duncan Smith's "right wing ally unpopular with many MPs", resigned on 7 May 2003 with a six-figure severance package. Conservative Party peer Lord Spicer later reported that Duncan Smith was "almost in tears" and threatened to resign if the Conservative Party board would not let him keep Legg.

title: Barry Legg


text:
Rail transport in Sweden

Rail transport in Sweden uses a network of 10,912 km, the 24th largest in the world. Construction of the first railway line in Sweden began in 1855. The major operator of passenger trains has traditionally been the state-owned SJ, though today around 70% of all rail traffic consists of subsidised local and regional trains for which the regional public transport authorities bear responsibility. Passenger traffic has increased significantly since the turn of the millennium, and in 2019 Sweden ranked number five in the world (as measured in passenger kilometres per capita) and number three in the European union, as well as number six in the world when measured by passenger share. In 1988, driven by significant deficits at Swedish State Railways, the Swedish parliament pursued a separation strategy that involved partitioning the ownership of rail infrastructure from train operations. This move, which made Sweden the first European country to undertake such a separation, also involved opening the railway system to private train operators, including open-access operators, and introducing competitive bidding for regional service contracts.

Sweden is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Sweden is 74.

Operators
Passenger traffic on Swedish railways consists of commercial long-distance lines as well as regional and local trains, which are always subsidised by the regional public transport authorities. As measured by train kilometres, the commercial lines correspond to 28% of the traffic (in 2016), the rest being subsidised local and regional rail traffic.

The major national commercial passenger train operator is state-owned SJ, which has a comprehensive network of commercially operated routes between the major cities with few, if any, stops in smaller towns. Between the major cities in southern Sweden, SJ operates the high-speed train X 2000 (200 km/h) on an hourly basis. MTRX operates high-speed trains (200 km/h) between Stockholm and Gothenburg, around every second hour. FlixTrain operates the same route with around three trains a day. Snälltåget operates the route Stockholm-Malmö-Copenhagen (Høje Taastrup)-Hamburg-Berlin. Tågab operates services Gothenburg-Skövde-Karlstad, Gothenburg-Trollhättan-Karlstad-Stockholm, Gothenburg-Falun and Karlstad-Alvesta. Fares in the commercial traffic can be complex and usually vary depending on demand.

The subsidised traffic covering most Swedish railway routes are handled and marketed by the different regional transport authorities, such as Skånetrafiken, Västtrafik and Storstockholms lokaltrafik. Usually, tickets to these trains are sold by the regional public transport authority also holding full responsibility for the trains despite contracting SJ or a private operator, sometimes from another country, to actually run the trains. Many regional train systems, such as Øresundståg, Krösatågen, Västtågen, Norrtåg and Mälartåg are joint ventures where different regional public authorities are involved. Tram systems are used in Gothenburg, Norrköping, Stockholm and, since 2020, Lund. There is a metro system in Stockholm, the Stockholm Metro.

While most current railway lines of Sweden were determined and built by the state, and receive their technical upkeep from the public as well, SJ no longer holds a monopoly on operating and owning passenger trains where such can be run profitably on a commercial basis. Large parts of the rail network serve parts of the country which don't generate enough passenger or cargo traffic to make a profit, and on some of these stretches SJ has held a de facto monopoly until recently (2010, see below in this section). Average speed is an important factor regarding profitability (more distance per hour means more income per hour). All subsidised and commercial traffic is operated on state-owned tracks, except Inlandsbanan, Roslagsbanan and Saltsjöbanan which are locally or regionally owned and Arlandabanan which is owned by private interests.

A decision was made in March 2009 to cancel the monopoly for SJ. By autumn 2009, free competition was allowed on Saturdays and Sundays when there is more room on the tracks, and competition was allowed to a full extent by autumn of 2010. In 2019, the Swedish railways were called 'the most deregulated railways in the world'.

Rail traffic is supervised by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), a government agency.

History
The first Swedish railroad for public transport using horse-drawn carriages, the Frykstads railroad in Värmland opened in 1849.

In 1853 the Riksdag of the Estates (a parliament chamber) decided that the State would build main line railways, but that other lines would be built by private enterprises (often with cities as main owners), and in 1856 the first stretch, between Örebro and Nora (a private railroad), was opened for traffic.

The main line railways were of major importance for the development of the Swedish industry. The first two main line railways were the Southern, stretching from Stockholm to Malmö in the south, and the Western, to Gothenburg in the west. These line railways were finished between 1860 and 1864. The Northern railway runs parallel to the Baltic coast (but not along it) up to Boden in northern Sweden, and was finished in 1894. The Inland Railway runs from Gällivare in the north to Kristinehamn in the center of the country, through the central parts of northern Sweden, and was built between 1908 and 1937. It was a part of the 1853 decision that the railways should avoid coasts, and not make detours to pass medium size cities along the route. The reason for avoiding coasts (most evident for the railway to northern Sweden) was to protect it from military attacks, and because steam boats were already established along the coasts as a much faster transport method than before. Railways built by private companies, e.g. Västkustbanan (1888), were however sometimes built very close to the coast.

The construction of the early main lines provided a fast and safe connection from the mines in the north to the rest of Sweden. It also facilitated business (and private) travel, which had earlier required horse-drawn carriages. Roslagsbanan is the oldest electrified railway line for personnel transportation in northern Europe. Malmbanan, the railway line between Luleå, Sweden, and Narvik, Norway was inaugurated on July 14, 1903. The stretch between Kiruna and Riksgränsen was the first major railway line in Sweden to be electrified in 1915.

Network

 * Total: 15006.25 km (includes 3,600 km of privately owned railways)
 * Standard gauge: 15006.25 km of gauge (8100 km electrified and 4925.75 km double track (2008)
 * Narrow gauge: 221 km of (Swedish three foot) gauge (2001), but narrow gauge is now dismantled and converted to standard gauge, except for Roslagsbanan and a few heritage railways. (2019).

Unlike the roads, railways in Sweden use left-handed traffic for trains (the same as the metro) because Sweden drove on the left until 1967. Railways did not switch because the engines of the time had the driver's seat on the left side and the signals are normally located to the left and hence are easier to see. Only railways in Malmö and further south have planned right-hand traffic due to their connection with Denmark. However, as signals are placed in both directions on all tracks, it is possible to drive both left- and right-sided at the traffic controller's discretion.

Main lines
There used to be six main lines (stambanor), all nationally owned:

Some lines were upgraded to main lines but have since been downgraded:
 * Västra stambanan (Western main line), 453 km, Stockholm-Gothenburg through Katrineholm-Hallsberg-Laxå-Falköping
 * Södra stambanan (Southern main line), 381 km, Malmö-Falköping through Nässjö-Jönköping
 * Östra stambanan (Eastern main line), 216 km, Nässjö-Katrineholm through Mjölby-Linköping-Norrköping)
 * Norra stambanan (Northern main line), 484 km, Stockholm-Ånge through Uppsala-Avesta Krylbo
 * Stambanan genom övre Norrland (Main line through upper Norrland), 629 km, Bräcke-Boden through Långsele-Vännäs
 * Nordvästra stambanan (Northwestern main line), 209 km, Laxå-Norwegian border through Karlstad-Kil-Charlottenberg
 * Mittbanan (Norrland cross line), about 500 km, Sundsvall-Norwegian border through Ånge-Östersund
 * Inlandsbanan, about 1300 km, Kristinehamn-Gällivare through Mora-Östersund

The naming rationale was that lines built by the state were main lines, but others, such as by private companies, were not. Mainly 1940–1952, most lines were purchased by the state, making the term main line less well-defined.

Today, changes have been made in the terminology reducing the number of main lines to four. The northwestern main line is not considered a main line anymore and has been renamed Värmlandsbanan. The southern main line between Nässjö and Falköping has also been downgraded since what was once part of the Eastern main line (Nässjö - Katrineholm) is now considered a part of the southern one. The Norrland cross line is not a main line anymore, but a regional railway. The northern main line south of Ockelbo refers to a shorter way than the line through Avesta. The East Coast Line (Ostkustbanan) Stockholm-Sundsvall is now considered a main line, since it has the majority of the passenger traffic into Norrland. The Inlandsbanan was considered a main line for a few decades, but is now a tourist railway only. The main lines are still owned by the state, except Inlandsbanan, which is owned by the counties it runs through.

Other lines

 * Ådalsbanan
 * Älmhult-Olofström railway
 * Älvsborgsbanan
 * Bastuträsk-Skelleftehamn railway
 * Bergslagsbanan
 * Bergslagspendeln
 * Blekinge kustbana
 * Bofors-Strömtorp railway
 * Bohusbanan
 * Bollnäs-Furudal
 * Botniabanan
 * Dalabanan
 * Forsmo-Hoting railway
 * Fryksdalsbanan
 * Godsstråket genom Bergslagen
 * Godsstråket genom Skåne
 * Göteborgs hamnbana
 * Halmstad-Nässjö railway
 * Haparandabanan
 * Jönköpingsbanan

 * Kinnekullebanan
 * Kontinentalbanan
 * Kristinehamn-Persberg railway
 * Kust till kust-banan
 * Lilla Edet-Alvhem railway
 * Lysekilsbanan
 * Malmbanan
 * Markarydsbanan
 * Mellansel-Örnsköldsvik railway
 * Mora-Märbäck railway
 * Morjärv-Karlborgsbruk railway
 * Mälarbanan
 * Nässjö-Åseda railway
 * Nässjö-Oskarshamn railway
 * Norbergsbanan
 * Norge-/Vänerbanan
 * Nynäsbanan
 * Örbyhus-Hallstavik railway
 * Öresundsbanan

 * Österlenbanan
 * Ostkustbanan
 * Piteåbanan
 * Roslagsbanan
 * Rååbanan
 * Sala-Oxelösund railway
 * Skånebanan
 * Storuman-Hällnäs railway
 * Stångådalsbanan
 * Svealandsbanan
 * Söderhamn-Kilafors railway
 * Södra stambanan
 * Tjustbanan
 * Viskadalsbanan
 * Vännäs-Holmsund railway
 * Västerdalsbanan
 * Västkustbanan
 * Ystadbanan

Railway links with adjacent countries

 * Denmark: same gauge, voltage change 15 kV AC / 25 kV AC - Øresund Bridge and train ferry Göteborg - Frederikshavn.
 * Finland: break-of-gauge / (short dual gauge track between the two stations closest to the border, overhead lines to be added in 2025.
 * Germany: train ferry, same gauge, no electric propulsion on board. Train ferry Malmö - Travemünde, Trelleborg - Sassnitz (Mukran) and Trelleborg - Rostock.
 * Norway: same gauge, same voltage (three electric lines and one non-electric)
 * Poland: same gauge, train ferry Ystad - Świnoujście, no electric propulsion on board.

Sweden and Norway have the same Automatic Train Control (ATC) system and the same voltage, meaning that trains can generally cross the border without being specially modified. Sweden and Denmark have different ATC systems and different voltage, so only specially modified trains can cross the border. The X31K Öresund trains and some of the SJ X2 (branded X2000) trains and some freight and night train locomotives can do that. Such vehicles are needed for border crossing traffic because the Øresund Bridge is not adopted for change between purely Swedish and purely Danish locomotive, or passengers changing between two such trains.

These train ferries never have electric overhead lines on board, so diesel must be used to get trains onboard/offboard. Generally locomotives are not transported on these ferries, only train cars.

International passenger trains today (2023) operate on these lines:

 * Norway
 * From Oslo to Gothenburg and to Stockholm
 * From Narvik to Stockholm via Kiruna
 * From Trondheim to Storlien
 * Denmark
 * From Copenhagen via Øresund bridge to Malmö, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Kalmar, and Karlskrona.
 * Germany
 * From Berlin and Hamburg via Denmark to Malmö and Stockholm

No passenger trains operate between Finland and Sweden, neither through Haparanda/Tornio nor train ferry to Turku. However trains at Haparanda are planned in 2025. Passenger trains are not allowed on the train ferries.

title: Rail transport in Sweden


text:
User:Pcpp

Hi, I'm a somewhat active Wikipedian currently living in Brisbane, Australia.

Interests:

 * Rugby League

title: User:Pcpp