title: Tim Kaine

text: Kaine is "generally pro-union" and has received a 96% lifetime Senate voting rating from the AFL–CIO, which praised his selection as Clinton's running mate. But Kaine supports Virginia's longstanding "right-to-work" law, which "frees union nonmembers from any legal obligation to pay fees to a union that bargains collectively on their behalf".


title: Tim Kaine

text: Kaine supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which expands the cases in which worker can sue against gender pay discrimination. After Clinton selected him as her running mate in 2016, Kaine was praised by the National Organization for Women.


title: Tim Kaine

text: In November 1984, Kaine married Anne Bright Holton, the daughter of A. Linwood Holton Jr., a Republican who served as the 61st governor of Virginia from 1970 to 1974. The couple met while they were both students at Harvard Law School. Holton has been a judge for the Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Richmond. After serving as first lady of Virginia during her husband's term, she was appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe in January 2014 to be Virginia's secretary of education, and held that position until July 2016, when she stepped down after her husband was named as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. The couple has three children, one of whom is a United States Marine. As of 2016, Kaine and his wife had been congregants of the St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Richmond, a mostly black congregation, for 30 years.


title: Tim Kaine

text: Kaine is fluent in Spanish as a result of his nine months in Honduras. During the 2016 campaign, he became the first member of a presidential ticket to deliver a speech in Spanish.


title: Tim Kaine

text: On May 28, 2020, Kaine announced that he and his wife had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. In March 2022, it was reported that he has Long Covid symptoms.


title: Tim Kaine

text: Kaine has received the Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, then the Virginia Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice (2000), the Virginia Council of Churches' Faith in Action Award (2009), the University of Richmond School of Law's William Green Award for Professional Excellence (2012), the Award for Public Service in the Americas from the Inter-American Dialogue (2014), the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Congressional Award (2015), and the Center for the National Interest's Distinguished Service Award (2016). He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 2017.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: Unorthodox is a German drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, "". The four-part miniseries was created and written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, and directed by Maria Schrader.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: The series received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series (Shira Haas), and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series (Anna Winger), winning for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series (Maria Schrader).


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: Esty, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, is living unhappily in an arranged marriage among the Satmar sect of the ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. She runs away to Berlin, where her estranged mother lives, and tries to navigate a secular life, discovering life outside her community and rejecting all of the beliefs she grew up with. Her husband, who learns that she is pregnant, travels to Berlin with his cousin, by order of their rabbi, to try to find her.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: The series was inspired by, and is loosely based on, the memoir "" by Deborah Feldman, who left the Satmar movement, a Hasidic community in New York City. The show has language switching from English to Yiddish to German. The show was written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, directed by Maria Schrader, produced by Karolinski, and filmed in Berlin. The music academy in "Unorthodox" is based on the Barenboim-Said Akademie. Anna Winger told "The Guardian": "There's a real music academy called the Barenboim-Said Akademie where Jews and Muslims play classical music together, like a whole utopia. We were inspired by this idea, as the sort of institution that could only begin in Berlin."


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: Feldman approached writers Winger and Karolinski to turn her autobiography into a television series. They took on the project in part because the story meshed with several topics of mutual interest, especially the challenges of being Jewish in Germany. Winger said that the story "has a kind of doubling back on history", portraying a Jewish character who escapes the "confines of her own life" by returning "to the source of her community's trauma". Because Feldman is a public figure, the writers veered from her life in the fictional Berlin sequences, but based the flashbacks on the book.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: An early hire was actor and Yiddish specialist Lili Rosen, who translated the scripts, coached the actors, helped with cultural details, and played the rabbi. The production team took two research trips to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, touring buildings and meeting with the community of Satmar Jews, where part of the story is set. Cast in Germany, Jeff Wilbusch was unique among the four lead actors in being a native Yiddish speaker from the Satmar community (via the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem).


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: Filming began in New York, then relocated to Berlin, where the production designer built interior sets at CCC Filmstudios that synced with the Brooklyn exteriors. Berlin locations include Potsdamer Platz, which served as the set for the music academy and surroundings, and the Wannsee lake ("Großer Wannsee"), where, as referenced in the story, the "Final Solution" was planned at a shoreline villa.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: For the production and costume designers, the project presented the challenge of creating a period film set in the present day, with the main character gradually transitioning between them. The two-day filming of the wedding was a complex undertaking, involving about a hundred extras that had to accurately depict a nuanced cultural celebration. "The joke on the show was that the men required way more hair and make-up than the women", Winger said. Costume designer Justine Seymour obtained some of the clothes in Williamsburg, but not the costly fur hats, "shtreimels", which were made by a Hamburg-based theater company, using fake fur, instead of minks.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: "Unorthodox" received widespread critical acclaim. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 96%, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""Unorthodox" adapts its source material with extreme care, crafting a series that is at once intimate and urgent, all centered around Shira Haas' captivating performance." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: The miniseries has also been criticized for badly portraying the Hasidic community by Leah Aharoni, who said that the show's depiction of Orthodox / Haredi / Hasidic Jews resembled that of "primitive tribes", and by Julie Joanes, who wrote that spiritual practices depicted in the show were taken out of context.


title: Unorthodox (miniseries)

text: Netflix released a 20-minute documentary, "Making Unorthodox", that chronicles the creative process and filming of the miniseries, and discussed the differences between the and the TV show.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: John Roy Van Zant (born February 27, 1959), also known as Johnny Van Zant, is an American singer and the current lead vocalist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the younger brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder and former lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, and of the 38 Special founder Donnie Van Zant.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: During the 1970s, Van Zant performed with his first band, the Austin Nickels Band. They later changed their name to The Johnny Van Zant Band releasing their debut solo album, "No More Dirty Deals", in 1980. Early members of the Johnny Van Zant Band consisted of Van Zant on lead vocals, Robbie Gay on guitar, Danny Clausman, on bass, Erik Lundgren on lead guitar, Robbie Morris, drums and Joan Hecht (previously Joan Cusimano) and Nancy Henderson on background vocals. Van Zant released three more solo albums between 1981 and 1985, before taking a break from the music business.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: He became lead vocalist and chief songwriter for the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987 and continues to record and perform with them today. He released another solo album, "Brickyard Road", in 1990, which featured the popular title track, which was a #1 hit on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for three weeks. He also records and performs with his brother, Donnie, as Van Zant since 1998. Zant and Lynyrd Skynyrd performed in Arizona on April 9, 2022, during Arizona Bike Week at WestWorld of Scottsdale. He stated that original member Gary Rossington was recovering and still needed prayers.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: In May 2006, less than one day before he was to perform at KSAN-FM 107.7 "The Bone's Bone Bash 7", Van Zant underwent emergency surgery to have his appendix removed. Treated at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, after reporting pain to a doctor earlier in the day. The incident forced the band to cancel three U.S. shows.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: Van Zant is a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He recorded a video, along with remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, that is played at every Jaguars home game on the EverBank Field video board.


title: Johnny Van Zant

text: According to Skynyrd's website, Van Zant was again hospitalized on August 6, 2011, at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, due to complications from a previous surgery. According to the website, Van Zant had a "surgical site" infected with cellulitus which required both hospitalization and IV/Antibiotic treatment. He began displaying signs of a staph infection and other symptoms related to the infection. His subsequent illness resulted in a number of scheduled performances being cancelled.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retcons are used by authors to increase their creative freedom, on the assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. Retcons can be diegetic or nondiegetic. For instance, by using time travel or parallel universes, an author may diegetically reintroduce a popular character they had previously killed off. More subtle and nondiegetic methods would be ignoring or expunging a minor plot points to remove narrative elements the author doesn't have interest in writing.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retcons are common in pulp fiction, and especially in comic books published by long-established publishers such as DC and Marvel. The long history of popular titles and the number of writers who contribute stories can often create situations that demand clarification or revision. Retcons also often appear in manga, soap operas, serial dramas, movie sequels, cartoons, professional wrestling angles, video games, radio series, and other forms of serial fiction.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: The first published use of the phrase "retroactive continuity" is found in theologian E. Frank Tupper's 1973 book "The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg": "Pannenberg's conception of retroactive continuity ultimately means that history flows fundamentally from the future into the past, that the future is not basically a product of the past."


title: Retroactive continuity

text: The first known printed use of "retroactive continuity" referring to the altering of history in a fictional work is in "All-Star Squadron" #18 (February 1983) from DC Comics. The series was set on DC's Earth-Two, an alternate universe in which Golden Age comic characters age in real time. "All-Star Squadron" was set during World War II on Earth-Two; as it was in the past of an alternate universe, all its events had repercussions on the contemporary continuity of the DC multiverse. Each issue changed the history of the fictional world in which it was set. In the letters column, a reader remarked that the comic "must make you [the creators] feel at times as if you're painting yourself into a corner", and, "Your matching of Golden Age comics history with new plotlines has been an artistic (and I hope financial!) success." Writer Roy Thomas responded, "we like to think that an enthusiastic ALL-STAR booster at one of Adam Malin's Creation Conventions in San Diego came up with the best name for it a few months back: 'Retroactive Continuity'. Has kind of a ring to it, don't you think?" The term then became widely accepted by fans of American superhero comics.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: At some point, "retroactive continuity" was shortened to "retcon", reportedly by Damian Cugley in 1988 on Usenet. Hard evidence of Cugley's abbreviation has yet to surface, though in a Usenet posting on August 18, 1990, Cugley posted a reply in which he identified himself as "the originator of the word "retcon"". Cugley used the neologism to describe a development in the comic book "Saga of the Swamp Thing", which reinterprets the events of the title character's origin by revealing facts that previously were not part of the narrative and were not intended by earlier writers.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retcons sometimes add information that seemingly contradicts previous information. This frequently takes the form of a character who was shown to have died but is later revealed to have somehow survived. This is a common practice in horror films, which may end with the death of a monster that goes on to appear in one or more sequels. The technique is so common in superhero comics that the term "comic book death" has been coined for it. An early example of this type of retcon is the return of Sherlock Holmes, whom writer Arthur Conan Doyle apparently killed off in "The Final Problem" in 1893, only to bring him back, in large part because of readers' responses, with "The Empty House" in 1903.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In many of his detective novels, Rex Stout implies that his character Nero Wolfe was born in Montenegro, giving some details of his early life in the Balkans around World War I. But in 1939's "Over My Dead Body", Wolfe tells an FBI agent that he was born in the United States. Stout revealed the reason for the change in a letter obtained by his authorized biographer, John McAleer: "In the original draft of "Over My Dead Body" Nero was a Montenegrin by birth, and it all fitted previous hints as to his background; but violent protests from "The American Magazine", supported by Farrar & Rinehart, caused his cradle to be transported five thousand miles."


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In the 1940s and 1950s, Isaac Asimov placed the planet Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, at the "center of the galaxy", but later astronomical research indicated that the actual Galactic Center might be occupied by a supermassive black hole, making human life there impossible; in later works, Asimov adjusted his galaxy and Trantor's location in it.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: When E.E. "Doc" Smith wrote the original "The Skylark of Space", space flight was a completely theoretical proposition. However, the last book of the series, "Skylark DuQuesne", was written in 1963, when the United States and the Soviet Union were involved in the space race. Smith adjusted the past of his series accordingly, mentioning an American base and a Soviet one being established on the Moon prior to the protagonist Seaton discovering faster-than-light flight.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Alan Moore's retcons often involve false memories. He has used this technique in the "Marvelman" series, "Swamp Thing" and "".


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retconning can bring back characters who were initially killed off. An example of this occurs on the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men". The character Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) was killed in a train accident and briefly returns as a ghost (played by Kathy Bates) in the ninth season. Despite numerous instances that confirm his demise, including the fact that a mutilated body was in his coffin, in the season twelve series finale "Of Course He's Dead" it is revealed that Charlie survived the ordeal and has been held captive against his will for over four years. It is mentioned that there was no body, only random body parts. Bringing back dead characters is also common in soap operas. On "The Bold and the Beautiful", Taylor Forrester (Hunter Tylo) was shown to flatline and have a funeral. When Tylo reprised the character in 2005, a retcon explained that Taylor had actually gone into a coma.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: The TV series "Dallas" annulled its entire Season 9 as being just the dream of another character, Pam Ewing. Writers did this to offer a supposedly plausible reason for the major character of Bobby Ewing, who had died onscreen at the end of Season 8, to be still alive when actor Patrick Duffy wanted to return to the series. This season is sometimes referred to as the "Dream Season" and was referred to humorously in later TV series such as "Family Guy". Other series such as "St. Elsewhere", "Newhart", and "Roseanne" would notably employ the same technique.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In "Beverly Hills, 90210", Kelly Taylor starts out in the first season initially not knowing Dylan McKay. Later when Brenda Walsh is sent to Paris with Donna Martin, Kelly Taylor has suddenly known him since kindergarten. This apparent retooling of the storyline contradicted years of prior character development and was apparently done to prepare viewers for Shannen Doherty's exit from the series.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Marvel Comics' Beyonder was originally stated to be omnipotent and the most powerful being in Marvel Universe, coming from the Beyond Realm. However, after his creator, Jim Shooter, left Marvel, writer-editor Tom DeFalco re-tooled the Beyonder, diminishing his power greatly: he was no longer omnipotent, as certain other cosmic entities were retroactively vastly upgraded to transcend the scale of infinity on which the character worked. Even after this, Beyonder was still one of the most powerful beings in Marvel, with several characters exceeding him.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In 2003, in the title of DC Comics' Teen Titans, Geoff Johns changed the entire genetic code of Kon-El (the modern version of Superboy) from a genetically altered human clone that was designed to be as Kryptonian as possible into a hybrid clone of both Superman and Lex Luthor. This change contradicted years of continuity and various facts that proved that Kon-El was human and in the process mostly ignored his unique ability of tactile telekinesis that made his powers very different from those of Superman.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In "Boy Meets World", both Shawn Hunter and Topanga Lawrence have siblings in the first season but later in the series are retconned to be only children (though Shawn's half-brother Jack is introduced in later seasons). The ages of the characters of "Boy Meets World" are altered notably where Cory is age 11 in 6th grade during season 1 to age 13 and 7th grade in season 2. This happens again in high school skipping another grade. The age gap between Cory and Eric also narrows from 4 years apart in age to 2 years apart in age. Another prominent retcon during that series was that of the character of Morgan Matthews, who was portrayed by two actresses during the show's run; in the series finale of the sequel series "Girl Meets World", the continuity suggests that they were two separate people who both appeared together for the only time during that episode.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: In the "Metal Gear series", the "CQC" system was introduced in "" and was explained to be taught to Naked Snake (the playable protagonist of this game) by The Boss and was used very prominently in the game. When the feature then returned in 2008's as (an aging) Solid Snake's primary hand-to-hand combat style, it also marks as the first time Snake using CQC in terms of gameplay (as it was never shown him doing it in his appearances in "Metal Gear Solid" and "", both games were released before "Snake Eater") but also depicts his mastery in it. This will cause confusion to the fans about his sudden mastery, It was then explained by Snake that he was taught by Naked Snake (now called as Big Boss) about CQC but never used it up until the events of the game as it never felt right for him to do CQC that came from "a man who betrayed his unit".


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Unpopular stories are sometimes later ignored by publishers, and effectively erased from a series' continuity. Later stories may contradict the previous ones or explicitly establish that they never happened.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: A notable example of subtractive retconning is the "X-Men" film series. The film "" features the character Wolverine traveling in time to 1973 to prevent an assassination that, if carried out, would lead to planetary extinction. The time traveling events of this film retconned the events of two previous films in the series. "" featured the unceremonious deaths of several key characters in a loose adaptation of the Dark Phoenix saga. "Days of Future Past" erased these deaths, showing the characters surviving into the future. The Dark Phoenix saga would later be adapted again in "Dark Phoenix". "" featured a portrayal of the character Deadpool that was poorly received by fans. The events of "Days of Future Past" expunged this version from continuity and allowed a more faithful version of the character to be adapted in "Deadpool" and its 2018 sequel.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retroactive continuity is similar to, but not the same as, plot inconsistencies introduced accidentally or through lack of concern for continuity; retconning, by comparison, is done deliberately. For example, the ongoing continuity contradictions on episodic TV series such as "The Simpsons" (in which the timeline of the family's history must be continually shifted forward to explain why they are not getting any older) reflects intentionally lost continuity, not genuine retcons. However, in series with generally tight continuity, retcons are sometimes created after the fact to explain continuity errors. Such was the case in "The Flintstones", where Wilma Flintstone was mistakenly given two separate maiden names, "Pebble" and "Slaghoople", over the course of the series.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retconning is also generally distinct from replacing the actor who plays a part in an ongoing series, which is more commonly an example of "loose continuity" rather than retroactively changing past continuity. The different appearance of the character is either ignored (as was done with the characters of Darrin Stephens and Gladys Kravitz on the television series "Bewitched") or explained within the series, such as with "regeneration" in "Doctor Who", or the Oracle in "The Matrix Revolutions". Sometimes, there are referential, inside jokes on actor changes in the show, such as with "My Wife & Kids" and "Roseanne", where there was a change of actresses playing a role (characters Claire Kyle and Becky Conner, respectively). In the latter, another character observes that children can change as they reach adulthood, remarking that when Becky came back from college (played by a new actress), they could not even recognize her. When the actor playing Rory was replaced in "Mrs Brown's Boys", the new actor first appeared on set bandaged up, supposedly following cosmetic surgery on his face. When the bandages were removed, the other characters claimed not to notice any difference. A similar set up gag was used with the character of Herr Flick in the BBC sitcom "Allo Allo".


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retconning also differs from direct revision. For example, when George Lucas re-edited the original "Star Wars" trilogy, he made changes directly to the source material, rather than introducing new source material that contradicted the contents of previous material.


title: Retroactive continuity

text: Retconning is not the same as a reboot or reimagining which completely discards the original timeline, such as in "Battlestar Galactica". However, there have been partial reboots of franchises where the core of the franchise is still canonical, but the expanded universe is relegated to a secondary continuity which, while not completely invalid, is subject to revision and critical review. "Robotech" is an example of this. With the release of the 2006 sequel film "Robotech The Shadow Chronicles", Harmony Gold established that only the original 1985 animated series and the 2006 sequel film are considered canonical, relegating the aborted "", comics, and novels from the 1980s and 1990s to secondary continuity and, if elements are used from them, they are subject to selective revision and updating as appropriate to mesh with future canonical productions and to prevent conflict with the original animated series. While the Jack McKinney "Robotech" novel "End of the Circle" is evidently no longer canon, the prequel comic "" establishes that the general storyline of The Sentinels still occurred in some fashion, but various elements, including the timeline, specific unfolding of events, and some characterizations are different from what was previously depicted in earlier comics and novels. In such cases, the franchise producer may state that there is no intention to address the changes through remakes or direct retellings of such stories. It is essentially left to the viewer's imagination as to how differently the revised story unfolded.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was established in 1909 with active support from Jamsetji Tata and thus is also locally known as the ""Tata Institute"". It is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in India and has the highest citation per faculty among all the universities in the world. It was granted the deemed to be university status in 1958 and the Institute of Eminence status in 2018.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: After an accidental meeting between Jamsetji Tata and Swami Vivekananda, on a ship in 1893 where they discussed Tata's plan of bringing the steel industry to India, Tata wrote to Vivekananda five years later: "I trust, you remember me as a fellow-traveller on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India... I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read."


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Impressed by Vivekananda's views on science and leadership abilities, Tata wanted him to guide his campaign. Vivekananda endorsed the project with enthusiasm, and Tata, with the aim of advancing the scientific capabilities of the country, constituted a Provisional Committee to prepare a plan for setting up of an Institute of research and higher education. The committee presented a draft proposal to Lord Curzon on 31 December 1898. Subsequently, Sir William Ramsay, a Nobel Laureate, was called on to propose a suitable place for such an institution who suggested Bangalore as the best location.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The land and other facilities for the institution were donated on behalf of the State of Mysore by Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, and Tata himself. The State of Mysore donated about of land. Tata gave several buildings towards the creation of IISc. State of Mysore also contributed Rs 500000 towards capital expenditure and Rs 50000 for annual expense.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The constitution of the institute was approved by the Viceroy, Lord Minto, and the necessary Vesting Order to enable it to function was signed on 27 May 1909. Early in 1911, the Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the institute, and on 24 July, the first batch of students were admitted to the Departments of General and Applied Chemistry under Norman Rudolf and Electro-Technology under Alfred Hay. Within two months, the Department of Organic Chemistry was opened. In 1958 the institute was granted the deemed university status by the UGC.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: At the time of the inception of IISc in 1909, Morris Travers, Sir William Ramsay's co-worker in the discovery of the noble gases, became its first Director. For Travers, this was a natural continuation of his work on the institute, since he had played a role in its founding. The first Indian Director was the Nobel Laureate Sir C.V. Raman.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The institute was the first to introduce Masters programs in Engineering. It has also started integrated doctoral programs in Biological, Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences for natural science graduates.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: In 2018, IISc was one of the first six institutes to be awarded the Institute of Eminence status. In 2019, IISc launched its brand statement: "Discover and Innovate; Transform and Transcend; Serve and Lead".


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: In 2022, IISc received a private donation of 425 crore Indian Rupees, the largest in its history to establish a postgraduate medical institute.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The IISc campus is located in the north of Bangalore, about 6 kilometers from Bangalore City Railway Station and Kempegowda Bus Station, on the way to Yeshwantpur. The institute is about 35 kilometers from Kempegowda International Airport. A number of other research institutes, Raman Research Institute, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Wood Research Institute and Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), are close to IISc. Most of these institutes are connected to IISc by a regular shuttle bus service. The campus houses more than 40 departments marked by routes such as the Gulmohar Marga, the Mahogany Marga, the Badami Marga, the Tala Marga, the Ashoka Marga, the Nilgiri Marg, the Silver Oak Marg, the Amra Marga and the Arjuna Marga. The institute is fully residential and is spread over 400 acres of land in the heart of Bangalore city. The campus features six canteens (cafeterias), a gymkhana (gymnasium and sports complex), a football ground and a cricket ground, five dining messes (halls), one multi cuisine restaurant, nine men's and five women's hostels (dormitories), an air strip, a library, two shopping centers and residences of the faculty members and other staff, besides other amenities.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The IISc campus harbors both exotic and indigenous plant species with about 110 species of woody plants. The roads on the campus are named after the dominant avenue tree species.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The architecture of the main building, which today houses the administration and the Faculty Hall, is classical in style, fronted by a grey, handsome tower. In front of it stands the work of Gilbert Bayes, a monument erected in the memory of J. N. Tata. At its feet is an inscription that serves to remind future generations of the generosity of Jamsetji Tata and the persistence with which he worked for the welfare of India. The building, as one of the prominent landmarks of Bangalore, was designed by C. F. Stevens and Company of Bombay in 1912–13.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The buildings for the metallurgy and aerospace departments were designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1940.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: A second campus is in Challakere, on lot of land. Infrastructure developed here includes the Talent Development Centre, Skill Development Centre funded by HAL under CSR Act, Solar Power Research Center and a Climate Observatory. The Centre for Sustainable Technologies has commenced its activities here under the project "C-BELT" i.e., the Centre for Bio-energy and Low-Carbon Technologies.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Janardhana Swamy, then Member of Parliament from the Chitradurga Lok Sabha as well as a notable alumnus of IISc and Amalan Biswas, then DC of Chitradurga District played significant roles in setting up the IISc's new campus at Challakere. They were instrumental in identifying all the required 1500 acres of land for the new campus, getting the existing building leased from the Sheep Farm, obtaining the various needed approvals from the government, and having the initial funds released from the State.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: For academic purposes, departments and centres in the Institute are broadly assigned to either the Science Faculty or the Engineering Faculty. For administrative purposes (such as faculty recruitment, assessment and promotion), departments and centres are classified into six divisions, each headed by a chairperson. Each department or centre is administered by a chairperson.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Research students constitute more than 60% of the students on the campus. PhD degrees offered in 40 different disciplines. Research programs leading to doctoral degrees are the main thrust in many departments. The program has a limited amount of course work, essentially to prepare the student to carry out the research, but the main emphasis is on the thesis work. The annual intake of research students is approximately 575 with several candidates sponsored from educational institutions and industries ( through External Registration Programme) .


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The Integrated PhD program is designed to offer opportunities to 3-year BSc graduates for pursuing advanced research in areas of biological, chemical, mathematical, and physical Sciences, leading to the PhD degree.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The two-year MTech program is available in almost all engineering departments. Most MTech programs have a set of hard core courses specified as an essential requirement whereas students can take rest of the credits from many courses available in their parent or other departments and also do a dissertation work on the topic of their choice.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Master's degrees offered by the institute are classified into two categories: degrees by coursework (MTech, M.Mgt., and M.Des.) and degrees by research [MTech (research)].


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The Department of Management Studies offers a Master of Management program exclusively for engineering graduates. The Center for Product Design and Manufacturing offers the Master of Design (M.Des.) course. Started in 1996, the M.Des. program is a two-year, full-time postgraduate program.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: In keeping with India's recent National Education Policy (NEP 2020), IISc has launched the Master of Technology (Online) degree programme, a fully online programme, for practising engineers and scientists from academic year 2022–2023. The degree programme is for professionals who are sponsored by organisations, who already have a BE/BTech/Equivalent degree and wish to upskill or re-skill themselves in streams like Data Science and Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Electronics and Communication Engineering.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Institute has recently announced MSc programme in life sciences and chemical sciences starting from academic year of 2022–23. These 2 years master's degree programs consist of foundational and flexible coursework and hands-on laboratory training. The design is aimed to develop experimental skills in advanced techniques for research, leading to an independent thesis research project. Students enrolled in the M Sc programs can personalize their coursework and research projects.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: An undergraduate programme in science for students after Class XII was conceived during the Centenary Celebrations in 2009. The first batch of students was admitted in 2011. The program offers a four-year Bachelor of Science (Research) and a five-year integrated Master of Science course in six disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Material Science, Mathematics, and Physics. The course aims at exposing the students to the inter-disciplinary nature in which scientific research is done in many upcoming fields.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: A new undergraduate program BTech in Mathematics and Computing seeks to enter a niche area with the aim of producing future leaders who will be at the forefront of research, development, and innovation in futuristic disciplines and next generation technologies that require deep use of mathematics, computer science, and data science.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Apart from the main library, the institute also has independent departmental libraries. The library moved into the present premises in January 1965, built out of grants provided by University Grants Commission (UGC), in commemoration of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institute in 1959. In 1995, the library was renamed as "J. R. D. Tata Memorial Library". The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) has recognised this library as Regional Center for Mathematics for the south region and continued to award a special grant towards subscription of Journals in Mathematics.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The annual budget of the library is over Rs. 100 million (almost US$2,500,000) of which subscription towards periodicals alone is about Rs. 90 million. The library currently receives over 1,734 periodical titles, of which 1381 are subscribed, while the remaining titles are received as gratis or on an exchange basis. About 600 titles are accessible through the library subscription. In addition, over 10,000 journals are accessible online, thanks to INDEST subscription. The total holdings of the library exceed 411,000 documents.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The Computer Centre, established in 1970 as a central computing facility, became Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SERC) in 1990 to provide computing facility to the faculty and students of the institute. SERC was created and fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the institute. It houses India's first petascale supercomputer Cray XC40, the erstwhile fastest supercomputer in India.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Apart from functioning as a central computing facility of IISc, the SERC is engaged in education and research programs in areas relating to supercomputer development and application. The centre is also involved in several sponsored research projects in collaboration with several high-profile government and private agencies.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: The Indian Institute of Science collaborates with various government organisations like the Indian Ordnance Factories, DRDO, the ISRO, Bharat Electronics Limited, Aeronautical Development Agency, National Aerospace Laboratories, CSIR, Department of IT (Government of India), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, etc. IISc also works in collaboration with private industry and research labs. A few organisations have been incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) on campus, including Morphing Machines and SandI, while Gamma Porite is currently under incubation. IISc actively promotes and supports ventures by the faculty, the students and alumni. Strand Life Sciences and Ittiam are some success stories of this initiative. In March 2016, a science start-up, incubated at the IISc, built the world's first food-grade DNA/RNA stain. This might cut the time taken to diagnose conditions such as HIV to a day, from 45 days at present.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: IISc had ranked 1st in 2022 in terms of citations per faculty by QS World University Rankings, moreover IISc had ranked 2nd consistently for more than 5 years among all universities around the world in terms of citations per faculty. IISc was ranked 301–350 in the world by the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" in 2021, the top institute in India, as well as 36th in the 2020 Asia University Rankings. The 2021 "QS World University Rankings" ranked IISc 185th in the world, as well as 51 in Asia University Rankings and 10th among BRICS nations. In 2020, it is ranked 530th among the universities around the world by "SCImago Institutions Rankings".


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: It was ranked top university in India by the "National Institutional Ranking Framework" university ranking for 2021. It was also ranked first in India in the newly introduced research category for 2021.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Pravega is the annual science, technology and cultural festival of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Started in 2013 by the undergraduates of IISc, the fest is usually held on the third weekend of January.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Vijyoshi, an annual national science camp for secondary school and undergraduate students, is hosted by IISc.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: IISc also has active sports teams, major ones being in cricket, football, badminton and volleyball. They participate each year in the IISM (inter IISER sports meet) and a number of other tournaments and events.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: IISc has a parent alumni association (AA) in Bangalore and several branches elsewhere including USA (IISCAANA). Of recent parent association is involved in several disputes. One of the reasons appears to be efforts by some to allow Non-IISc degree holders to become a part of the AA. Similar situation is created in IISCAANA


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: by allowing several non-IISc members to be active in the team. IIScAANA allows those who did not complete degree to become members by adding a clause


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: On 28 December 2005, two terrorists started firing indiscriminately inside the IISc campus. Munish Chander Puri, a professor from IIT Delhi, died in the attack. Four others were injured.


title: Indian Institute of Science

text: Two former directors, C. V. Raman and C. N. R. Rao, have been awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna. Four former directors, Sir A. G. Bourne, Sir Martin O. Forster, C. V. Raman and J. C. Ghosh, have been knighted. Among the IISc alumni, there are three Rhodes Scholars, several Fellows of the Royal Society, and thousands of members of Indian and foreign Academy of Sciences. Hundreds of IISc faculty members have also received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology awarded to Indians who have made outstanding contributions under 45 years of age. In spite of these achievements, no alumnus or serving faculty member of IISc has won either a Nobel Prize or a Fields Medal, although C. V. Raman did win a Nobel Prize before becoming the institute's first Indian director.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (grazier), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The original lyrics were written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that it has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, in the Queensland outback, where Paterson wrote the lyrics. In 2012, to remind Australians of the song's significance, Winton organised the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day to be held on 6 April, the anniversary of its first performance.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The song was first recorded in 1926 as performed by John Collinson and Russell Callow. In 2008, this recording of "Waltzing Matilda" was added to the Sounds of Australia registry in the National Film and Sound Archive, which says that there are more recordings of "Waltzing Matilda" than any other Australian song.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The Australian poet Banjo Paterson wrote the words to "Waltzing Matilda" in August 1895 while staying at Dagworth Station, a sheep and cattle station near Winton in Central West Queensland owned by the Macpherson family. The words were written to a tune played on a zither or autoharp by 31‑year‑old Christina Macpherson (1864–1936), one of the family members at the station.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Macpherson heard the tune, "The Craigielee March", played by a military band while attending Warrnambool steeplechase horse racing in Victoria in April 1894, and played it back by ear at Dagworth. Paterson decided that the music would be a good piece to set lyrics. He produced the original version during the rest of his stay at the station and in Winton.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The march was based on the music the Scottish composer James Barr composed in 1818 for Robert Tannahill's 1806 poem "Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielee". In the early 1890s it was arranged as "The Craigielee" march music for brass band by Australian composer Thomas Bulch.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In Queensland in 1891 the Great Shearers' Strike brought the colony close to civil war and was broken only after the Premier of Queensland, Samuel Griffith, called in the military. In September 1894, some shearers at Dagworth Station were again on strike. The situation turned violent with the striking shearers firing their rifles and pistols in the air and setting fire to the woolshed at Dagworth, killing dozens of sheep. The owner of Dagworth Station and three policemen gave chase to a man named Samuel Hoffmeister, an immigrant said to have been born in Batavia also known as "Frenchy". Rather than be captured, Hoffmeister shot and killed himself at the 4 Mile Creek south of Kynuna at 12.30 pm on 2 September 1894.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Bob Macpherson (the brother of Christina) and Paterson are said to have taken rides together at Dagworth. Here they would probably have passed the Combo Waterhole, where Macpherson is purported to have told this story to Paterson. Although not remaining in close contact, Paterson and Christina Macpherson had different recollections of where the song was first composed- Christina said it was composed "in Winton" while Paterson said it was at "Dick's Creek" on the road to Winton. Amongst Macpherson's belongings, found after her death in 1936, was an unopened letter to a music researcher that read "... one day I played (from ear) a tune, which I had heard played by a band at the Races in Warrnambool ... he [Paterson] then said he thought he could write some words to it. He then and there wrote the first verse. We tried it and thought it went well, so he then wrote the other verses." Similarly, in the early 1930s on ABC radio Paterson said: "The shearers staged a strike and Macpherson's woolshed at Dagworth was burnt down and a man was picked up dead ... Miss Macpherson used to play a little Scottish tune on a zither and I put words to it and called it "Waltzing Matilda"."


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The song itself was first performed on 6 April 1895 by Sir Herbert Ramsay, 5th Bart., at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland. The occasion was a banquet for the Premier of Queensland. The song did not very quickly spread: an electronic search of hundreds of Australian newspaper titles between 1895 and 1901 reveals only one report of it being sung. However, the cultural critic, A.A. Phillips, born in 1900, recalled being taught it in his childhood.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In February 2010, ABC News reported an investigation by barrister Trevor Monti that the death of Hoffmeister was more akin to a gangland assassination than to suicide. The same report asserts, "Writer Matthew Richardson says the song was most likely written as a carefully worded political allegory to record and comment on the events of the shearers' strike."


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Several alternative theories for the origins or meaning of "Waltzing Matilda" have been proposed since the time it was written. Still, most experts now essentially agree on the details outlined above. Some oral stories collected during the twentieth century claimed that Paterson had merely modified a pre-existing bush song, but there is no evidence for this. In 1905, Paterson himself published a book of bush ballads he had collected from around Australia entitled "Old Bush Songs", with nothing resembling "Waltzing Matilda" in it. Nor do any other publications or recordings of bush ballads include anything to suggest it preceded Paterson. Meanwhile, manuscripts from the time the song originated indicate the song's origins with Paterson and Christina Macpherson, as do their own recollections and other pieces of evidence.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: There has been speculation about the relationship "Waltzing Matilda" bears to a British song, "The Bold Fusilier" or "The Gay Fusilier" (also known as "Marching through Rochester", referring to Rochester in Kent and the Duke of Marlborough), a song sung to the same tune and dated by some back to the 18th century but first printed in 1900. There is, however, no documentary proof that "The Bold Fusilier" existed before 1900, and evidence suggests that this song was in fact written as a parody of "Waltzing Matilda" by English soldiers during the Boer War where Australian soldiers are known to have sung "Waltzing Matilda" as a theme. The first verse of "The Bold Fusilier" is:


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In 2008, Australian amateur historian Peter Forrest claimed that the widespread belief that Paterson had penned the ballad as a socialist anthem, inspired by the Great Shearers' Strike, was false and a "misappropriation" by political groups. Forrest asserted that Paterson had in fact written the self-described "ditty" as part of his flirtation with Macpherson, despite his engagement to someone else. This theory was not shared by other historians like Ross Fitzgerald, emeritus professor in history and politics at Griffith University, who argued that the defeat of the strike in the area that Paterson was visiting only several months before the song's creation would have been in his mind, most likely consciously but at least "unconsciously", and thus was likely to have been an inspiration for the song. Fitzgerald stated, "the two things aren't mutually exclusive"a view shared by others who, while not denying the significance of Paterson's relationship with Macpherson, nonetheless recognise the underlying story of the shearers' strike and Hoffmeister's death in the lyrics of the song.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Paterson sold the rights to "Waltzing Matilda" and "some other pieces" to Angus & Robertson for five Australian pounds. In 1903, tea trader James Inglis hired Marie Cowan, who was married to Inglis's accountant, to alter the song lyrics for use as an advertising jingle for the Billy Tea company, making it nationally famous. Cowan adapted the lyrics and set them to music in 1903.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Although no copyright applied to the song in Australia and many other countries, the Australian Olympic organisers had to pay royalties to an American publisher, Carl Fischer Music, following the song being played at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta. According to some reports, the song was copyrighted by Carl Fischer Music in 1941 as an original composition. However, "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported that Carl Fischer Music had collected the royalties on behalf of Messrs Allan & Co, an Australian publisher that claimed to have bought the original copyright, though Allan's claim "remains unclear". Arrangements such as those claimed by Richard D. Magoffin remain in copyright in America.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: There are no "official" lyrics to "Waltzing Matilda" and slight variations can be found in different sources. Paterson's original lyrics referred to the swagman "drowning himself 'neath the Coolibah Tree". The following lyrics are the Cowan version.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The lyrics contain many distinctively Australian English words, some now rarely used outside the song. These include:


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The lyrics of "Waltzing Matilda" have been changed since it was written. The following version, considered to be the 'original', was published by Paterson himself in "Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses" in 1917, and appears as follows:


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In a facsimile of the first part of the original manuscript, included in "Singer of the Bush", a collection of Paterson's works published by Lansdowne Press in 1983, the first two verses appear as follows:


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: It has been suggested that these changes were from an even earlier version and that Paterson was talked out of using this text, but the manuscript does not bear this out. In particular, the first line of the chorus was corrected before it had been finished, so the original version is incomplete.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: By contrast with the original, and also with subsequent versions, the chorus of all the verses was the same in this version. This is also apparently the only version that uses "billabongs" instead of "billabong".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Current variations of the third line of the first verse are "And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong" or "And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled". Another variation is that the third line of each chorus is kept unchanged from the first chorus, or is changed to the third line of the preceding verse.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: There is also the very popular so-called Queensland version that has a different chorus, one very similar to that used by Paterson:


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In May 1988 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) chief executive, John Sturman, presented five platinum awards, "which recognised writers who had created enduring works which have become a major part of the Australian culture", at the annual APRA Awards ceremony as part of their celebrations for the Australian Bicentenary. One of the platinum awards was for Paterson and Cowan's version of "Waltzing Matilda".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The song has never been the officially recognised national anthem in Australia. Unofficially, however, it is often used in similar circumstances. The song was one of four included in a national plebiscite to choose Australia's national song held on 21 May 1977 by the Fraser Government to determine which song was preferred as Australia's national anthem. "Waltzing Matilda" received 28% of the vote compared with 43% for "Advance Australia Fair", 19% for "God Save the Queen" and 10% for "Song of Australia".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Australian passports issued from 2003 have had the lyrics of "Waltzing Matilda" hidden microscopically in the background pattern of most of the pages for visas and arrival/departure stamps.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: "Waltzing Matilda" was used at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976 and, as a response to the New Zealand All Blacks haka, it has gained popularity as a sporting anthem for the Australia national rugby union team. It is also performed, along with "Advance Australia Fair", at the annual AFL Grand Final.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Matilda the Kangaroo was the mascot at the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Queensland. Matilda was a cartoon kangaroo, who appeared as a high mechanical kangaroo at the opening ceremony, accompanied by Rolf Harris singing "Waltzing Matilda".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker recorded a version of "Waltzing Matilda" to promote the 2012 Summer Olympics in Australia. It was released as a single on 3 August 2012.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: It is used as the quick march of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and as the official song of the US 1st Marine Division, commemorating the time the unit spent in Australia during the Second World War. Partly also used in the British Royal Tank Regiment's slow march of "Royal Tank Regiment", because an early British tank model was called "Matilda".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: In 1995, it was reported that at least 500 artists in Australia and overseas had released recordings of "Waltzing Matilda", and according to Peter Burgis of the National Film and Sound Archive, it is "one of the most recorded songs in the world". Artists and bands who have covered the song range from rock stars to children's performers such as Burl Ives; to choirs, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Jimmie Rodgers had a US#41 pop hit with the song in 1959.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: On 14 April 1981, on Space Shuttle "Columbia"'s first mission, country singer Slim Dusty's rendition was broadcast to Earth.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: Versions of the song have been used as the title of, or been prominently featured in, a number of films and television programs.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: "Waltzing Matilda" is a 1933 Australian film directed by and starring Pat Hanna. It features a young Coral Browne.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The introduction of the song was the title of "Once a Jolly Swagman", a 1949 British film starring Dirk Bogarde.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The 2017 short film "Waltzing Tilda" features various versions of the song and it is also sung by the main character.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The song is featured in the 2019 film "" despite the film being set in 1889, six years before the song was written.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The theme song of the 1980 Australian television series "Secret Valley" is sung to a faster version of the tune of "Waltzing Matilda".


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: The song is the basis for a side-quest in , developed by 2K Australia named The Empty Billabong. The player is instructed to search for a man known only as "the Jolly Swagman" at his camp under a coolibah tree where they find his billabong and an audiolog where the Jolly Swagman recounts events identical to the song.


title: Waltzing Matilda

text: On the occasion of Queensland's 150-year celebrations in 2009, Opera Queensland produced the revue "Waltzing Our Matilda", staged at the Conservatorium Theatre and subsequently touring twelve regional centres in Queensland. The show was created by Jason and Leisa Barry-Smith and Narelle French. The story line used the fictional process of Banjo Paterson writing the poem when he visited Queensland in 1895 to present episodes of four famous Australians: bass-baritone Peter Dawson (1882–1961), soprano Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931), Bundaberg-born tenor Donald Smith (1922–1998), and soprano Gladys Moncrieff, also from Bundaberg. The performers were Jason Barry-Smith as Banjo Paterson, Guy Booth as Dawson, David Kidd as Smith, Emily Burke as Melba, Zoe Traylor as Moncrieff, and Donna Balson (piano, voice). The production toured subsequently again in several years.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Alyssa Sutherland (born 23 September 1982) is an Australian actress and model best known for her role as Queen Aslaug in the History Channel television series "Vikings" (2013–2016).


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Sutherland was born in Brisbane. Sutherland attended Craigslea State High School on the northside of Brisbane.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Sutherland's modeling career began when she won the 1997 annual Bonne Belle model search of "Girlfriend", a teen magazine in Australia. Following her win, she signed a contract with "Vogue" Australia.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Sutherland has had an extensive runway, print and television modeling career, appearing in campaigns for Bulgari, Ralph Lauren, Garnier, Calvin Klein, Chanel, John Frieda, Kerastase, Hugo Boss and Abercrombie & Fitch.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Sutherland has appeared on the cover of magazines for "Vogue" Australia, "Harper's Bazaar" Singapore and Japan, "Elle" Germany, Australian "Style", "Glamour" Italy and "Black and White". Sutherland has also shot extensive editorial for "Vogue" (Germany, Australia, Italy, Greece and U.S.), "Elle" (Australia and U.S.), "Marie-Claire" (UK), "Harper's Bazaar" (Australia), "Glamour" Italy, "I.D.", "Wallpaper*" and "The Face and Scene". Sutherland has worked with renowned fashion photographers, including Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Ellen von Unwerth and Steven Meisel.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: In 2007, Sutherland became the newest Flake Girl when Cadbury revived its iconic TV advertisements after a five-year hiatus. The advertisement shows her, in reverse time, eating a Flake bar in a convertible during a rain shower. She is one of several former Cadbury advert actors to speak out in favour of the "Keep Cadbury British" campaign in opposition to the sale of Cadbury to a non-British owner.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Since transitioning away from modeling, Sutherland has expressed guilt about having contributed to the "unrealistic standards" of beauty set by the fashion industry and has been critical of its "strict" and damaging size requirements.


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: Sutherland's acting career includes roles in the films "The Devil Wears Prada", "Day on Fire", "Don't Look Up", and "Arbitrage". In May 2021, Sutherland was cast in the film "Evil Dead Rise".


title: Alyssa Sutherland

text: She also starred in the television series "New Amsterdam", "Vikings", "The Mist", "Timeless" and "New Gold Mountain".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for "Panorama" in 1989, and has since become the first female newsreader on the "BBC News at Ten", as well as presenting many flagship programmes for the corporation, including "BBC News at Six", "Crimewatch", "Real Story", "Antiques Roadshow", and "Fake or Fortune?" Since 10 January 2019, she has been the presenter of the BBC One television programme "Question Time".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce was born on 25 April 1964 in what was then the State of Singapore, Malaysia to an English mother and a Scottish father, who had a long career at Unilever, becoming a regional managing director. Before that, the Bruce family had lived for several generations in the fishing village of Hopeman in Scotland. Bruce has two elder brothers. She was educated at Gayton Primary School in Wirral, the International School of Milan, and then from the age of 14 until 18 attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in New Cross, London. During the latter period she modelled for the stories in the teenage girls' magazine "Jackie".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce read French and Italian at Hertford College, Oxford. During this period, she was briefly a punk, singing in rock bands and, at one point, colouring her hair blue for one week. She attended the University of London Institute in Paris and is a fluent speaker of French and Italian.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: After leaving university, Bruce joined a management consulting firm for a year, but found the experience depressingly dull:


title: Fiona Bruce

text: After this, she worked at a number of advertising agencies including Boase Massimi Pollitt (where she met her future husband, a company director). She then went on to meet Tim Gardam – at that time the editor of the BBC's "Panorama" – at a wedding, and in 1989 he gave her a job as a researcher on the programme.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: After becoming an assistant producer on "Panorama", she made the change to reporting in 1992 on "Breakfast News". She then moved to BBC South East, appearing as an occasional presenter and reporter on "Newsroom South East" and a weekly current affairs programme, "First Sight". From 1994 to 1995, she was a reporter on the BBC2 current affairs programme "Public Eye". She then reported for "Panorama" and "Newsnight".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In 1999, as part of a major relaunch of the BBC's news output, Bruce was named secondary presenter of the "BBC Six O'Clock News". She presented the programme as a cover for the main presenter Huw Edwards, as well as regularly on Fridays, until a presenter reshuffle in January 2003 to coincide with the retirement of Michael Buerk and the move of Peter Sissons to the BBC News channel.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Both Edwards and Bruce moved to the "BBC Ten O'Clock News" and continue to present the programme. Bruce was the first female presenter of the bulletin. In 2007, Bruce returned to presenting the "BBC News at Six". After an eleven-year tenure, she stepped down in January 2019.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: After the murder of Jill Dando, Bruce took over the position of co-presenter on "Crimewatch" alongside Nick Ross, until both were replaced by Kirsty Young towards the end of 2007. In 2001, Bruce became one of the presenters of the BBC general election results programme.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In 2006, following a court case whereby British Airways requested that a Christian employee conceal her cross, because it infringed the airline's dress code, the BBC disclosed it had some concerns over the fact that Bruce often wore a cross necklace, although she was not banned from doing so.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: On 10 January 2019 Bruce, as the first full-time female host, succeeded long-time host David Dimbleby on the BBC's debate programme "Question Time". Her tenure as host was almost immediately embroiled in controversy, and in May 2020, Bruce stated "QT is without doubt the hardest job I’ve ever done."


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In September 1998, Bruce became the presenter for BBC Two's "Antiques Show", which was in its fourth series. She presented it for a further two series, showing her interest in presenting antiques programmes nearly a decade before presenting "Antiques Roadshow". On 22 June 2007 it was announced that Bruce was to replace the retiring Michael Aspel as presenter of "Antiques Roadshow" the following spring; this initially caused some controversy. However, average viewership increased during Bruce's first year as presenter.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce also occasionally presented special editions of "The Money Programme". In one, she profiled the entrepreneur Alan Sugar. She said of the experience: "It was a bit like being in front of a hair dryer at very close quarters. He's not backwards in coming forward in his opinions." During the documentary, Bruce – who has always publicly identified herself as a feminist – challenged Sugar's view that women should openly disclose their childcare commitments to a potential employer. Her point was that if men were not required to declare their ability to meet the demands of their job, it was not right that women should do so.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: "Victoria: A Royal Love Story" (2010) is a BBC documentary, written and presented by Bruce, charting the story of the love affair between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and documenting the collection of paintings, sculptures, and jewellery they gave each other.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Since 2011, she has co-hosted the BBC television series "Fake or Fortune?" alongside Philip Mould, which examines the process of establishing the authenticity of works of art, including the use of modern techniques.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In 2011, Bruce wrote and presented "The Queen's Palaces", a three-part BBC documentary telling the story of Queen Elizabeth II's three official residences, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Holyrood Palace. In 2012, Bruce wrote and presented a BBC documentary about Leonardo da Vinci.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In 2017, it was reported that Bruce was paid between £350,000 and £400,000 as a BBC presenter. In early 2019 she stated that she did not keep track of her salary which for 2018 was reportedly £170,000, an amount that did not include her earnings from "Antiques Roadshow".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce was featured in an episode of "Top Gear" (series 10, episode 3), sharing a lift with one of its presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, and then having to push him out (as he was stuck in a Peel P50, which has no reverse gear). As she walked away, Clarkson commented, without her knowledge until the programme was aired, "She has got quite a nice bottom... I said that out loud, didn't I?" Bruce returned to "Top Gear" in the next series (series 11, episode 4), alongside fellow newsreader Kate Silverton, for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car feature. As a comeback to the "nice bottom" comment, she slapped Jeremy's and declared that it "needs a bit of work". Since then, she has also occasionally stood in for a holidaying Clarkson in his "Sunday Times" car review column, which she referred to as the ultimate revenge: "perching my bottom – nice or otherwise – on his patch."


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In the BBC Two version of the satirical impressions show "Dead Ringers", Bruce is parodied by Jan Ravens, who ruthlessly exaggerates her mannerisms through sexual innuendo. For example, "Hello, my name is Fiona Bruce sitting on the luckiest chair in Britain", and "Hello, I'm Fiona Bruce; don't touch what you can't afford."


title: Fiona Bruce

text: She appeared in a tongue-in-cheek BBC HD advert in 2008, featuring the "Antiques Roadshow" show where she drove a car through a wall, before running towards a falling vase; the car explodes as she jumps to save the vase from crashing.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: A less serious side of Bruce has been shown in the BBC's "Children in Need" telethon for several years, in the regular section where newsreaders break out from behind their desks to take part in a song and dance number. Having a better singing voice than most of her colleagues, her turn in the 2007 performance, as Velma Kelly – with a rendition of "All That Jazz" – so impressed the makers of the revival production of "Chicago" that they invited her to the London performance of the 10th-anniversary gala, where she appeared on stage in a parade of Velmas.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Referring to Jeremy Clarkson's adoration of her – he once described her as "agonisingly gorgeous" – she remarked, "In my twenties I was virulently opposed to anyone commenting on my appearance, lest it come at the expense of my ability. But it's not an issue for me now. If Jeremy Clarkson pays me a compliment, then fine, how nice, 'Thanks Jeremy'."


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce has often been outspoken regarding her commitment to feminism, expressing concern at a 2006 poll that suggested almost three-quarters of women no longer saw feminism as necessary; "The contradictions are still there [in society] which is why I think feminism is still very relevant for me and it's just such a shame that it's become a byword for mustachioed, man-hating women from Lebanon." Despite her firm views on the subject – including a "disappointment" in women who dislike working with other women – she claims to have softened her feminist views from her university days, where she once ran an anti-pornography campaign.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce was criticised for showing "blatant bias" when interviewing Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers 4 Justice, for a BBC programme in 2004. Bruce, who had featured in advertising campaigns for the charity Women's Aid, was accused of having an axe to grind on the issue of domestic violence. Many, including O'Connor, felt she let her own personal view on domestic violence as an issue of gender take over the programme. There were also concerns that O'Connor had originally been invited to speak about CAFCASS and the Family Courts, yet the programme was changed to focus on domestic violence.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Later, a BBC committee, investigating on behalf of the BBC Governors, concluded that there were "some weaknesses" in the programme when considered against the BBC's journalistic values of "Truth and Accuracy, Serving the Public Interest, Impartiality and Diversity of Opinion, Independence and Accountability" but that the programme "still made a valuable contribution to the debate on parental rights". Overall the committee "did not think that these matters were sufficient to constitute a serious breach of editorial standards" and found that "the programme had provided appropriate and balanced information around the allegation that violent men had infiltrated F4J".


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce is an honorary vice president of optical charity Vision Aid Overseas (VAO), alongside fellow newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald. In February 2005, Bruce did the voice-over for VAO's Lifeline Appeal. In 2007 Bruce launched VAO's Annual Review. Later that year she was one of nine prominent women to take part in the "What's it going to take?" campaign for the charity Women's Aid.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: In 2009, the NSPCC inducted her into its Hall of Fame in honour of her continued work on their behalf. In accepting the honour, she said, "The work of the NSPCC and ChildLine is desperately important and I do little compared to what needs to be done. But I'm very honoured to be included in the Hall of Fame."


title: Fiona Bruce

text: Bruce met Nigel Sharrocks (born 1956) when he was director of the advertising agency where she worked. He is non-executive chairman of Digital Cinema Media. They married in July 1994 in Islington, London. The couple have two children, a son born in January 1998 and a daughter born in November 2001. Bruce encountered much adverse publicity for her decision to return to work with "Crimewatch" 16 days after the birth of her daughter. In 2014, Bruce stated that she does not use social media because of the misogynistic abuse directed towards female celebrities.


title: Fiona Bruce

text: She was awarded the female Rear of the Year title in 2010, and accepted it in person. The following year, however, she declared that her acceptance of it had been "hypocritical" and that the award was "demeaning".


title: Aether (mythology)

text: In Greek mythology, Aether, Æther, Aither, or Ether (; (Brightness) ) is the personification of the bright upper sky. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the brother of Hemera (Day). In Orphic cosmogony Aether was the offspring of Chronus (Time), and the brother of Chaos and Erebus.


title: Aether (mythology)

text: According to Hesiod's "Theogony", which contained the "standard" Greek genealogy of the gods, Aether was the offspring of Erebus and Nyx, and the brother of Hemera. However, other early sources give other genealogies. According to one, the union of Erebus and Nyx resulted in Aether, Eros, and Metis (rather than Aether and Hemera), while according to another, Aether and Nyx were the parents of Eros (in Hesiod, the fourth god to come into existence after Chaos, Gaia (Earth), and Tartarus). Others tell us that Uranus (Sky) (in Hesiod, the son of Gaia) was Aether's son, and that "everything came from" Aether.


title: Aether (mythology)

text: In Orphic cosmogony Aether was the offspring of Chronus (Time), the first primordial deity, and the brother of Chaos and Erebus. And made from (or placed in) Aether was the cosmic egg, from which hatched Phanes/Protogonus, so Aether was sometimes said to be his father. The "Orphic Argonautica" gives a theogony that begins with Chaos and Chronus, and has Chronus producing Aether and Eros.


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Aether also played a role in Roman genealogies of the gods. Cicero says that Aether and Dies (Day) were the parents of Caelus (Sky), and reports that according to the "so called theologians" Aether was the father of one of the "three Jupiters". According to Hyginus's (possibly confused) genealogy, Nox (Night), Dies, Erebus, and Aether were the offspring of Chaos and Caligo (Mist), and Aether and Dies were the parents of Terra (Earth), Caelus (Sky) and Mare (Sea), and Aether and Terra were the parents of:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: For the ancient Greeks, the word aether (unpersonified), referred to the upper atmosphere, a material element of the cosmos. For example Homer has Sleep climb:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Aether perhaps also figured in the lost epic poem the "Titanomachy" (late seventh century BC?). Two ancient sources report statements about Aether, which they attribute to the "author of the "Titanomachy"". The "Homeric Parsings" (from Methodius), reports that Uranus was Aether's son, while Philodemus, in his "De Pietate" ("On Piety"), reports that "everything came from Aither".


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Aether also appears in genealogies attributed to the sixth-century BC logographer and mythographer Acusilaus. According to the Neoplatonist Damascius (c. early sixth century), Acusilaus said that Aether was, along with Eros and Metis, the offspring Erebus and Nyx. However, a scholion to Theocritus reports that, according to Acusilaus, Aether and Nyx were the parents of Eros.


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Aether played a significant role in Orphic cosmogony. There are a large number of ancient texts which have been called "Orphic", a few are extant, such as the "Orphic Hymns", but most are not. Several important Orphic texts, which exist now only in fragments, have been called theogonies, since they contained material, similar to Hesiod's "Theogony", which described the origin of the gods. At least three of these, the so called "Derveni Theogony", the "Hieronyman Theogony", and the "Rhapsodic Theogony" or Rhapsodies, contained references to Aether the personification as well as aether the material element.


title: Aether (mythology)

text: The oldest of these theogonies, the Derveni Theogony, is a text which is extensively quoted in the Derveni papyrus (fourth century BC), One of these quotes contains a reference to aether the material element:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Also possibly from the Derveni Theogony is the idea, from a fragment of Chrysippus (preserved in Philodemus, "De Pietate" ("On Piety")), that "everywhere is aither, which itself is both father and son".


title: Aether (mythology)

text: The early 6th-century Neoplatonist Damascius, in his "De principiis" ("On First Principles") comments on an Orphic text, which he describes as "under the names of Hieronymus and Hellanicus, if indeed this is not the same". This text is called the "Hieronyman Theogony" (second century BC). Damascius says that the Hieronyman Theogony had "serpent Time" as the father of three offspring, "moist Aether", "limitless Chaos" and "misty Erebos".


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Also in his "De principiis", Damascius briefly summarizes the "standard Orphic theology" as found in another text, which he refers to as "these Orphic "Rhapsodies" currently circulating". According to Damascius, the Rhapsodies (first century BC/AD?), began with Chronus from which came two offspring, Aether and Chaos:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: The 5th-century Greek Neoplatonist Proclus, in his "Commentary on Plato's Republic", quotes the following verses from the Rhapsodies:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Here Chasm is another name for Chaos. In another passage from the "De principiis", Damascius quotes other verses from the Rhapsodies:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Aether, the material element is also mentioned twice in a thirty-two line hymn-like passage to Zeus which was apparently part of the Rhapsodies in which various parts of the physical cosmos are associated with parts of Zeus' body. Line 8 lists things contained in Zeus' body:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Also possibly drawn from the Rhapsodies is an account of the creation of the world attributed to "Orpheus" by the sixth century AD chronographer John Malalas:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: Another Orphic verse fragment, also possibly from the Rhapsodies, is quoted in the "Etymologicum Magnum"'s entry on the name Phanes:


title: Aether (mythology)

text: The "Orphic Hymns" (3rd century AD?) are a collection of eighty-seven poems addressed to various deities or abstractions. The fifth "Orphic Hymn" was addressed to Aether:


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Strike Back is a British/American action-adventure/spy-drama television series based on the 2007 novel of the same name by novelist and former Special Air Service soldier Chris Ryan. The series follows the actions of Section 20, a secretive branch of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6), who operate several high risk, priority missions around the world. The six-part first series began broadcasting on Sky One on 5 May 2010.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: After a second series was commissioned, it was announced that Cinemax would co-produce the franchise. The first episode of the ten-part second series, under the banner title "" in the United Kingdom, first aired on Cinemax on 12 August 2011. The ten-part third series, under the title "", began airing on Cinemax on 17 August 2012. On 3 October 2012, Cinemax and Sky commissioned a fourth series, "", which was broadcast on Cinemax beginning 9 August 2013. A ten-episode, fifth series titled "" aired in 2015, with the last episode airing on 29 July, and at that point, this was to be final series for the show.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: On 8 December 2016, Cinemax and Sky announced they would revive the show for a sixth series, "" which debuted on 31 October 2017 on Sky One in the UK, and in the US on Cinemax on 2 February 2018. On 27 March 2018, "Strike Back" was renewed for a seventh series titled "". Filming commenced in late 2018, with a release date of 25 January 2019 on Cinemax and 28 February 2019 on Sky One. On 27 February 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for an eighth and final series titled "", which premiered on 14 February 2020.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Ratings for "Strike Back" were relatively high for the original networks. The Sky One premiere was viewed by almost 400,000 viewers (according to overnight figures), tripling the average audience share for the channel's time slot after three months. "Project Dawn" premiered to over 600,000. The Cinemax premiere saw the network's best ratings since 2005.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: John Porter (Richard Armitage) led an SAS rescue mission in Iraq, on the eve of the invasion in 2003. During the operation, Porter spared the life of a thirteen-year-old suicide bomber. Shortly after, the boy apparently killed two of Porter’s team. Porter was held responsible by his commanders and forced to resign.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Seven years later, Porter is "reactivated" following the kidnap of journalist Katie Dartmouth (Orla Brady), daughter of a former government minister, by the same terrorists whom he had fought in 2003, including the same boy, As'ad. Porter succeeds in rescuing Dartmouth and joins Section 20, headed by Hugh Collinson (Andrew Lincoln), who had also taken part in the fateful mission. By the end of the series, it is revealed that Collinson was the one who killed the two soldiers, and covered this up. Section 20 officer Layla Thompson (Jodhi May) discovers his guilt, and blackmails Collinson into saving Porter's life in Afghanistan. There, Porter learns that during the mission, Collinson panicked and mistook the soldiers for terrorists. Taliban members raid their location, and Collinson is mortally wounded while aiding Porter's escape.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Porter is captured by a Pakistani terrorist called Latif (Jimi Mistry) while investigating Project Dawn, one of Latif's planned operations. Sergeant Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) finds Damian Scott (Sullivan Stapleton), a disgraced ex-Delta Force operative who cannot even find work with private military contractors. Scott had previously worked with Porter to track Latif. After Porter is executed, Section 20 discover that Porter left the team clues to a hotel in New Delhi, India, where a group of terrorists attempt to capture a weapons scientist with knowledge of hidden weapons of mass destruction originally used to plant in Iraq, which serves as a part of Project Dawn. The weapon, namely VX nerve gas, was kept in storage, and Latif knew of its existence.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Section 20's worldwide search for Latif ends in Budapest, Hungary, where they learn he is implanting explosives inside suicide bombers' bodies, which in turn will release the VX. The attempted attacks against a World Summit were actually a diversion to capture former Pakistani general Akmal Ramiz (Silas Carson), whom Latif fears will make Pakistan more accessible to the west. He also captures Section 20 head Colonel Eleanor Grant (Amanda Mealing) in an attempt to confess to "Operation Trojan Horse", which planned to plant VX in Iraq, while also exposing Porter and framing Scott; Grant attempted to cover up the operation in shame. In the end, Grant forces Latif to shoot an empty VX canister, with the explosives still intact, killing them both. Although Scott gains the file that would clear his name, he decides to burn the file and remain in Section 20. Meanwhile, Stonebridge leaves the organisation to be with his pregnant wife.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Former military intelligence operative Major Rachel Dalton (Rhona Mitra) takes charge of Section 20. Its operatives work throughout Africa to recover four nuclear triggers which have fallen into the wrong hands after a mission in Somalia. The triggers were originally sold to Conrad Knox (Charles Dance), an English billionaire and philanthropist based in South Africa, who runs the Knox Foundation. The Foundation has been set up with the aim of disarming unstable regions, but it becomes apparent that Knox is arming his own militia with the weapons and is building nuclear weapons containing the triggers. He intends to liberate Africa "to a point where its voice is not just heard but listened to." Due to Knox's influence, Section 20 is forced to go dark to stop him.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: In the meantime, Stonebridge seeks revenge on Craig Hanson (Shane Taylor) for murdering his wife and returns to Section 20, while Scott has to contend with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Christy Bryant (Stephanie Vogt), with whom he used to carry out contract killings. Scott also has a relationship with Rebecca, a Mossad contract assassin (Lyne Renée). By the conclusion of the series, two of the bombs are recovered, and the remaining two are disarmed before they can destroy Johannesburg. Stonebridge fulfills his revenge and Knox, fleeing the failed attempt, dies by accidentally shooting himself in a street altercation with the very South Africans he hoped to empower.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Scott and Stonebridge are recalled from holiday in California to capture Leo Kamali (Zubin Varla), a high-ranking member of a terrorist cell led by al-Zuhari, an elusive terrorist. After capturing him in Colombia, it is revealed that Kamali is working deep cover with the CIA to stop al-Zuhari. As Kamali is pressured to work with Section 20, Dalton is suspended by Lt. Colonel Philip Locke (Robson Green), who takes charge. Dalton is later killed by the Real Irish Republican Army (IRA), who have joined forces with al-Zuhari's group. In the meantime, Scott and Stonebridge are wanted by the Russian mafia after killing the son of mob boss Arkady Ulyanov (Marcel Iureș) in Colombia. Scott learns he fathered a child from one of his past relationships, while Stonebridge is infected with a neurotoxin during one of Section 20's missions in Beirut, which affects his combat abilities.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: After attacking the British Embassy in Budapest, the IRA and al-Zuhari's group steal a NATO hard drive and send it to a prison in Russia where a Swedish hacker and prisoner, Erik Andersson, is forced to decrypt it. While on mission in Russia, Section 20 also become aware of a secretive facility where al-Zuhari's scientists are weaponising smallpox to be used to attack NATO bases. After the mission, Stonebridge is given the antidote to the toxin, and Kamali is executed by al-Zuhari's men for being a double agent. Section 20 learn that al-Zuhari's group intends to attack a NATO base in Berlin, Germany, where it is revealed that Kamali faked his death, having been behind the operation the entire time (it is revealed that the Israelis killed al-Zuhari six months before). After the terrorists successfully infect a train and the NATO base's hospital, Section 20 thwart Kamali's plot to fly a plane over Berlin to infect the city. Both Kamali and Ulyanov are killed by 20 during an exchange arranged by Locke. In his last moments, Kamali reveals that his daughter Ester has a pendant that contains the cure to the smallpox, though only enough to save those infected at the hospital.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: "Strike Back" returned to Cinemax on 31 July 2015 for the final series of ten new episodes. Initially scheduled for summer 2014, the series had to be pushed back due to an off-set injury to series star Sullivan Stapleton.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Scott and Stonebridge are sent on a mission to rescue Chloe Foster, the kidnapped daughter of Robin Foster, a British diplomat negotiating North Korea's nuclear disarmament. Robin is forced to carry a bomb into the chambers of the North Korean delegation, killing a general. Section 20 investigates Office 39, a clandestine branch of the North Korean army, and identifies Robin's wife, Mei Foster, as an Office 39 deep-cover agent. Mei has spent her life trying to advance North Korea's nuclear programme and has used her position to broker a deal with the yakuza to acquire key components for long-range missiles. Section 20 are unsuccessful in intercepting a shipment of vanadium, leading Scott and Stonebridge to infiltrate North Korea and sabotage their missile production, setting the programme back decades. Mei is blamed for the failure—despite repeatedly warning her government about Section 20—and turns rogue, activating a network of sleeper agents across Europe. They build an improvised nuclear device and plan to set it off at a summit in Geneva. Section 20 operatives disarm the bomb but the diplomatic fallout sees Whitehall disavow them. Scott and Stonebridge are ambushed by a CIA kill team and go on the run.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Terrorist leader Omair Idrisi (Don Hany) is captured by British special forces, only to be freed by his wife Jane Lowry (Katherine Kelly) during a prisoner transfer on the Syrian-Jordanian border. Colonel Adeena Donovan (Nina Sosanya) recruits Sergeant Thomas 'Mac' McAllister (Warren Brown), Sergeant Samuel Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson), Lance Corporal Gracie Novin (Alin Sumarwata) and Captain Natalie Reynolds (Roxanne McKee) into the revived Section 20 to capture Idrisi and Lowry. Section 20's mission takes them across North Africa where Idrisi is seemingly killed in an airstrike. The team pursue Lowry into Hungary where they learn that she is trying to locate a rogue Russian biochemist in order to acquire a sample of the nerve agent Novichok. Idrisi is revealed to have survived the airstrike where he was captured by Octagon, a private military contractor running a secret and illegal extraordinary rendition program. Lowry intends to use the Novichok to break her husband out of a black site in Poland. When Section 20 thwart her plans by destroying the Novichok laboratory, Lowry attacks the black site directly and succeeds in freeing Idrisi. Section 20 follow them to Croatia where Reynolds and Novin learn that Donovan recruited Lowry, at the time a prostitute, for "Project Tenebrae". Lowry infiltrated Idrisi's terrorist cell and convinced Donovan and the British government to fund a symbolic terror attack designed to further her cover. However, Lowry was radicalised by Idrisi and attacked a civilian target instead, killing an American diplomat. With British Intelligence complicit in a terror attack, Lowry stole a copy of "the Atlas", a database of British and American operations which she intended to give to Russia. Idrisi was subsequently captured, prompting Lowry to hide the Atlas on an island off the Croatian coast. Reynolds and Novin are forced to kill Donovan when it becomes apparent that Section 20 was reactivated to kill Lowry, recover the Atlas and cover up Project Tenebrae. McAllister and Wyatt are unable to prevent the Russians from securing the Atlas, leading Section 20 to raid a Russian intelligence bunker and steal a database of their own. Disavowed by their governments, Section 20 trade the database server for the Atlas and the series ends with the four trying to escape pursuit by the Russians.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: The seventh series was announced in 2018 and premiered in 2019. Brown, MacPherson and Sumarwata all reprise their roles from "Retribution" and are joined by Jamie Bamber as Section 20's new commanding officer Colonel Alexander Coltrane and Yasemin Kay Allen as Katrina Zarkova, a Russian agent in South-East Asia. Between the announcement of the new series and its broadcast, the UK title was changed to "Silent War".


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: The story sees Section 20 investigating the downing of a Russian bomber in the South China Sea and the disappearance of its nuclear payload. The team cross paths with Katrina Zarkova, the leader of a Russian Alpha Group unit tasked with discreetly locating the bomb which is believed to be in the possession of someone named "Kingfisher". With her unit dead, Zarkova forms an uneasy alliance with Section 20 to the frustration of her handler Pavel Kuragin. Together they track the bomb to India where it is dismantled and reassembled as two portable nuclear devices before being smuggled into Myanmar, camoflauging its Russian origins. Kuragin reveals to Zarkova that Kingfisher is not a person, but the code-name of a clandestine operation that he is a part of.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: Kuragin and Zarkova take the bombs to Indonesia and provide one to a dormant Islamist terror network. Kuragin arranges to have them caught by a rogue special forces team, intending to use the incident to instigate a military coup and install a new government that is friendly to Russian interests. This will restore Russia's political influence and bolster its flagging economy in the wake of Western sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea. Section 20 intervene and thwart Kuragin's plans, prompting him to go rogue. The Russian government disavow him and enlist Section 20's aid in finding him. The search leads them to the Philippines, where Kuragin brings down a Cold War-era satellite containing the launch keys to a chemical weapons facility in Azerbaijan. Kuragin intends to launch missiles carrying VX nerve gas at London to force Russia and the West into a war. He rationalises the inevitable destruction of Russia as necessary to restore its dignity. Novin kills Kuragin before Zarkova can force him to stop the launch, leading Section 20 to risk their lives destroying the facility.


title: Strike Back (TV series)

text: The final season, "Vendetta", was announced in December 2019 and premiered on 14 February 2020. The series was announced without a subtitle. Brown, MacPherson, Sumarwata and Bamber all reprise their roles from "Retribution" and are joined by Varada Sethu as Lance Corporal Manisha Chetri. Sethu had appeared as a supporting character in "Retribution" before she was promoted to the main cast. When an Albanian crime family kidnaps a scientist responsible for the development of a top-secret British bio weapon, the covert special-ops soldiers of Section 20 are sent on a mission to secure the virus and take down its potential black-market buyers. But what starts as a relatively straightforward mission quickly escalates into a race against the clock to neutralize an even deadlier weapon of mass destruction pursued by a pair of jihadist brothers, whose terrifying ambitions threaten global conflict. Along the way, Section 20 reunites with rogue Russian operative Katrina Zarkova to form a tenuous alliance that raises questions of friendship, loyalty and duty.