Volga Volga I. Introduction Volga , river in western Russia, longest and one of the most important rivers of Europe. The Volga River rises northwest of Moscow in the Valday Hills and flows 3,700 km (2,300 mi) to the southeast before emptying into the Caspian Sea near the city of Astrakhan'. It is navigable for about 3200 km (about 2000 mi), and large numbers of ships ply its waters with freight and passengers. The Volga is fed by more than 200 tributaries (about 70 of which are navigable), including the Kama, Samara, Oka, and Vetluga. Together, the Volga and its tributaries occupy a watershed covering about 1,450,000 sq km (about 560,000 sq mi), or about 40 percent of European Russia. II. Description From its headwaters in the Valday Hills, midway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the Volga flows southeast, toward Moscow, before bending northeast. Near the bend, the Volga is connected to the Moscow Canal, which flows south and joins the Moscow River north of the city of Moscow. From its intersection with the canal, the Volga continues northeast and meets the Rybinsk Reservoir. The reservoir is also served by the Volga-Baltic Waterway, which flows north and west before reaching the Baltic Sea at Saint Petersburg; and by the White Sea-Baltic Waterway, which flows north into Lake Onega and the White Sea. From the Rybinsk Reservoir, the Volga turns east and south through several more reservoirs; between the Oka River and the city of Kazan', it doubles in volume. At Kazan', west of the Ural Mountains, the Volga veers sharply south, narrowing at the city of Saratov. The river continues south until reaching Volgograd, where it turns southeast and empties into the Caspian Sea. At Volgograd, the river is connected with the Volga-Don Canal, which carries water and freight west to the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Before reservoirs were created, the upper Volga was 7 to 11 m (23 to 36 ft) deep, the middle Volga 12 to 14 m (39 to 46 ft) deep, and the lower Volga 3 to 15 m (10 to 49 ft) deep. At its widest point the river spans more than 1.6 km (1 mi). III. Economic Importance The Volga is an essential part of Russia's transportation complex, carrying more than two-thirds of all traffic on the country's inland waterways. Mechanized port facilities were first constructed along the Volga in the early 1930s; today more than 900 ports and 550 industrial docks line the river's banks. The most important port cities are Tver', Rybinsk, Yaroslavl', Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan', Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Kamyshin, Volgograd, and Astrakhan'. Eight complexes combining dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric facilities operate on the river; they are located at the cities of Uglich, Rybinsk, Gorodets, Nizhniy Novgorod, Cheboksary, Samara, Saratov, and Volgograd. Together with hydroelectric stations on a tributary, the Kama River, the Volga power facilities can produce 11 million kilowatts per hour. The Volga also supports about 70 species of fish, 40 of which have commercial value. These include the Caspian roach, herring, pike, and sturgeon. The Volga has long suffered from unregulated industrial and agricultural activities in its basin. Industrial wastes and runoff from cities and farmland have polluted it; and much of its watershed has been deforested, leading to increased erosion and silting. Irrigation extracts water in increasing amounts, which in turn lowers the Volga's flow and limits its ability to regenerate. Water extraction has also reduced the level of the Caspian Sea. Dams and hydroelectric plants have made it difficult for some of the river's fish to swim to their spawning grounds upstream. Beluga sturgeon and whitefish from the Caspian Sea in particular have suffered. In the early 1990s Russia began to address these problems through legislation and a newly created Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. Regulation of logging in the Volga watershed, restrictions on the disposal of industrial waste, and artificial breeding of endangered fish species are among the measures aimed at protecting and restoring the river. IV. History The


Which river originates in China and empties in the South China Sea?

Top 10 Rivers in China & Maps of Rivers in China Home » Top 10s in China » Top 10 Rivers in China Maps of rivers in China- Top 10 Rivers With more than 50,000 rivers, China abounds in rivers. Almost all large rivers in China belong to the exterior river system, which directly or indirectly emptying into the seas. Because China's terrain is high in the west and low in the east, most of its rivers flow east and empty into the Pacific Ocean, including the Yangtze , Yellow, Heilong, Pearl, Liaohe and Haihe rivers. The Biggest River in China: Yangtze River - 6,300km (3,915 miles) Yellow River - 5,464km (3,395 miles) Heilongjiang River - 4,370km (2,715 miles) Songhuajiang River - 1,927km (1,197 miles) Zhujiang River - 2,200km (1,367 miles) ...   1. Yangtze River (Changjiang, 长江) Any China tour cannot be complete without a Yangtze River cruise , which is a vacation within your fast-paced China land trip. The Yangtze River is the longest river in China, the third longest in the world. It originates from the snow-capped Geladandong—the main peak of Tanggula Mountains of the Qinghai and Tibet plateau, flows through Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan , Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, and finally enters into the East China Sea in Shanghai. The 6300-kilometer-long Yangtze River has eight major tributaries and a catchment area of 1.8 million square kilometers, which equivalent to 1/5 of the total land of China. Yangtze River Cruise  has become a must-do activity when visitors visit China. The Yangtze River winds its way through high mountains and deep valleys with many tributaries. The cruise always includes a variety of exciting shore excursions to local riverside villages and historic sites. The highlights of the Yangtze River are the magnificent Three Gorges and the famous Three Gorges Dam . 2. Yellow River (Huanghe, 黄河) The Yellow River, with a total length of 5,464 kilometers, is the second longest river in China. The Yellow River is the birthplace of ancient Chinese culture and the cradle of Chinese Civilization. It is originated from the Bayanhar Mountain Range in Qinghai Province, meandering across 9 provinces and finally emptying into the Bohai Sea at Kenli of Shandong Province. The unique scenery of the Loess Plateau is extremely attractive. Along the Yellow River, tourists can not only fully enjoy the breathtaking natural scenery of the Yellow River, but also explore the Chinese history and culture. The multiplying and growing sites of Chinese ancients can be found along the Yellow River, showing the rise and decline of China's history. 3. Heilongjiang River (Heilongjiang, 黑龙江) The Heilongjiang River (also called Amur), the Sino-Russian boundary river, runs eastwardly across the northern part of north China and finally empties into the Sea of Okhotsk. Its entire length is 4,370 kilometers, the 11th largest river in the world. Wherever the Heilongjiang River flows across, the forests are luxuriant and the aquatic grasses are verdant. The river is in the shape of a black dragon and the name of the Heilongjiang River was thus formed. 4. Songhuajiang River (Songhuajiang, 松花江) The Songhuajiang River (also known as the Sungari River in English) is a river in Northeast China, and it is the largest tributary of the Heilongjiang River, flowing about 1,927 km from Changbai Mountains through the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. In winter, the beautiful rime along the banks of the Songhuajiang River is the unique feature of the river. Experiencing the white fairytale land in winter is amazing. 5. Zhujiang River (the Pearl River, 珠江) The Zhujiang (the Pearl River) is the third longest river in China (2,200 km, after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River), and second largest by volume (after the Yangtze). It is the largest river in south China, flowing into the South China Sea between Hong Kong and Macau. Its lower reach forms the Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River is formed by convergence of three rivers---the Xijiang, Beijiang and Dongjaing. The river flows through the majority of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou Provin


Which river originates in British Columbia, Canada, and empties into the Bering Sea

Rivers in North America - North American Rivers, Major Rivers in Canada Us Mexico - Worldatlas.com Rivers in North America - North American Rivers, Major Rivers in Canada Us Mexico Ohio: Formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Ohio flows generally southwest. It forms the natural borders of Ohio and West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky, as well as parts of the borders of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. It empties into the Mississippi River at the Illinois border and is (975 miles) (1,569 km) long. Rio Grande: It is one of the longest rivers in North America at (1,885 miles) (3,034 km). It begins in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado, then flows south through New Mexico. It forms the natural border between Texas and the country of Mexico as it flows southeast to the Gulf of Mexico. In Mexico it is known as Rio Bravo del Norte. Used for drinking water by both countries, the river is becoming more polluted as population centers that dot the river grow in size, and then dump sewage and pesticides into the water. St. Lawrence: This river flows northeast out of Lake Ontario and on into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It's (760 miles) (1,225 km) in length and permits the passage of deep-water ships between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. It includes a series of man-made canals, locks and dams, and is considered one of the most vital shipping routes on the planet. Additional details on the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Yukon: It begins in the southwestern edge of the Yukon Territory of Canada, and then flows northwest across the border into Alaska. This massive river continues southwest across central Alaska, ending at the Bering Sea. Even at a length of (1,265 miles) (2.035 km), most of it is navigable, however, it remains frozen from October through mid-June.


In which Arnold Schwarzenegger movie does he fight an invisible alien creature?

Predator (1987) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 38 titles created 26 Mar 2011 a list of 21 titles created 17 Jun 2011 a list of 33 titles created 05 May 2013 a list of 21 titles created 20 Aug 2015 a list of 45 titles created 31 Aug 2015 Search for " Predator " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for     1     Oscar. Another    3 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards  » Videos Amidst a territorial gang war in 1997, a sophisticated alien hunter stalks the citizens of Los Angeles and the only man between him and his prey is veteran L.A.P.D. officer, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan. Director: Stephen Hopkins A group of elite warriors parachute into an unfamiliar jungle and are hunted by members of a merciless alien race. Director: Nimród Antal When a man goes for virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or does he? Director: Paul Verhoeven During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realize that only one species can win. Director: Paul W.S. Anderson In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories. Director: Paul Verhoeven The moon from Alien (1979) has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough? Director: James Cameron After her last encounter, Ripley crash-lands on Fiorina Fury 161, a maximum security prison. When a series of strange and deadly events occur shortly after her arrival, Ripley realizes that she brought along an unwelcome visitor. Director: David Fincher A retired elite Black Ops Commando launches a one man war against a group of South American criminals who have kidnapped his daughter . Director: Mark L. Lester A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used car salesman. Director: James Cameron Two centuries after her death, Ellen Ripley is revived as a powerful human/alien hybrid clone who must continue her war against the aliens. Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X   A seemingly indestructible humanoid cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. Director: James Cameron A wrongly convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a game show. Director: Paul Michael Glaser Edit Storyline A team of special force ops, led by a tough but fair soldier, Major "Dutch" Schaefer, are ordered in to assist CIA man, George Dillon, on a rescue mission for potential survivors of a Helicopter downed over remote South American jungle. Not long after they land, Dutch and his team discover that they have been sent in under false pretenses. This deception turns out to be the least of their worries though, when they find themselves being methodically hunted by something not of this world. Written by Laygz Nothing like it has ever been on earth before. See more  » Genres: 12 June 1987 (USA) See more  » Also Known As: 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)| Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) (4 channels) Color: Did You Know? Trivia Arnold Schwarzenegger lost over 25 pounds before filming began in order to better f


In which 2004 animated Pixar movie does Violet have powers of invisibility?

Violet - The Incredibles - Pixar movie - Character Profile - Writeups.org Jump to the game stats Content Violet is one of the main characters of the 2004 Pixar animation movie The Incredibles. The movie encountered both critical and commercial success. The Incredibles deals with super-heroism, family life and emotions, violence, and being different. Background Real Name: Violet Parr Other Aliases: Violet. It is very obvious from the film’s plot that a secret ID is incredibly important to a super’s life, so it is thus unlikely that Violet will continue to adventure as “Violet”. I suggest “Invisigirl” because it follows the film’s naming tradition of simple, descriptive names. Marital Status: Single Known Relatives: Robert Parr (Aka Mr. Incredible, father), Helen Parr (Aka Elastigirl, mother), Dashiell Robert Parr (Aka Dash, brother), Jack-Jack (Possibly Jacob) Parr (brother). Group Affiliation: The Incredibles Base Of Operations: Metroville Height: 5’ (Note:Violet’s official height is listed at 4’ 6”. but that is clearly not accurate, by comparing her height to her mother’s and to her boyfriend’s. I went with 5’, which seems accurate, but is still on the short side for a girl her age. Weight: 90lbs Age: 14 Eyes: Dark Blue Hair: Black (probably dyed) Powers and Abilities A pretty much normal teenaged girl otherwise, Violet/Invisigirl can become invisible (partially or fully) and can erect force fields with a high degree of imperviousness to harm (One of her fields protected her family from Syndrome’s crashing plane). Violet has difficulty using her Force Field when she is under stress. Video HD version of the official trailer. History Mr Incredible was his world’s most famed and lauded super-hero (supers, as they are called popularly), until a mishap while preventing a potential suicide led to a lawsuit for damages. This triggered not only an avalanche of personal-injury lawsuits against Mr Incredible personally, but a public backlash of opinion against supers in general, and most of them were forced to go underground to keep from being sued to death. Mr. Incredible and his new wife, Elastigirl , retired and became simple Mr. and Mrs. Parr, and started raising a family. Cut to 15 years later. Bob Parr is an insurance claims specialist with a midlife crisis and a desire to go back to the “old days”. He’s fed up with his pushy boss and his immoral profession. He and his best buddy Lucius Best (aka Frozone ), spend Wednesday nights cruising the city in a car, listening to the police scanner, and saving people on the sly. Helen is trying hard to be a mom to 3 kids, two of whom have superpowers of their own and fight constantly. She has worked too hard to build a normal life for her family to abide his nostalgia for heroism. Violet, their daughter, is having problems relating to people and is withdrawn and moody. Dash , their son, is chafing at the restrictions placed on him, and getting into trouble at school. When Mr. Incredible is offered the chance to play the role of hero again by a mysterious informant, he jumps at the opportunity. But when it turns out to be a trap set by an old nemesis he had a hand in corrupting, the whole family must reveal themselves to save Mr. Incredible and countless innocents. The Incredibles discover that their real power comes from their unity, rather than their superpowers. Description Violet is a tall, skinny girl with a retiring demeanor. She wears a duplicate of her mother’s Iincredisuit in red & black, with the Incredible’s logo on the chest. Before she came to terms with her “differentness”, she wore her hair so that it fell over her face, a figurative shield to hide behind, and wore mostly drab colors. She now wears it pulled back, and wears more bright colors. Personality Violet is a shy, worried teen who wants nothing more then to be normal. She grew up being taught to repress her abilities. Violet wants to be normal so badly that she has difficulty calling on her force field in anything but absolutely safe conditions… ie, at home, in the presence of her family. Her invisibility, a pur


In which James Bond film does he drive an invisible car?

List of vehicles | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia American Motors AMC Hornet - Featured in The Man with the Golden Gun . Bond steals this car in Thailand , unknowing that Sheriff J.W. Pepper was in it looking to test drive it. It was used for the famous corkscrew jump, a computer-designed stunt that was captured in one take. AMC Matador - Featured in The Man with the Golden Gun. Francisco Scaramanga and Nick Nack use this car to kidnap Mary Goodnight and make their escape. The vehicle is converted into a 'car plane'; see Aircraft section below. Other passenger cars Sunbeam Alpine roadster - Featured in Dr. No . Bond drives to Miss Taro's home in the Blue Mountains; he is pursued by Dr. No's thugs driving a LaSalle hearse. In the novel version, Bond drives the car that formerly belonged to Commander Strangways, the murdered agent in Kingston. It is also driven by Quarrel . Toyota 2000GT convertible - Featured in You Only Live Twice . Owned by Aki . Two prototype convertibles were built especially for the film; no others were made. One 2000GT convertible was located in South Africa awaiting restoration into the Cars for the Stars museum. Triumph Stag - In Diamonds Are Forever , Connery is seen early in the movie driving a yellow Stag to Amsterdam, while posing as diamond smuggler Peter Franks . Studillac - Featured in the novel Diamonds Are Forever. A custom black Studebaker convertible with a Cadillac engine, plus special transmission, brakes and rear axle, owned by Felix Leiter . The combination of the aerodynamic Raymond Loewy designed body with the powerful Cadillac engine made it into a remarkable sports car. Studillacs were not fictional, but actually built by a Long Island, NY company called Bill Frick Motors from 1953 Studebaker Starlight bodies. Mini Moke - Featured briefly in Live and Let Die and later in The Spy Who Loved Me. In Live and Let Die, Bond and Rosie use this vehicle to drive to the harbour to meet Quarrel Jr. In The Spy Who Loved Me , the crew of the Liparus supertanker use a Mini Moke in their defence against a break out by the submarine crews. 1971 Cadillac Fleetwood - Featured in Live and Let Die. When Bond spots the white Superfly-esque pimpmobile (a Les Dunham Corvorado - a Chevrolet Corvette with Cadillac Eldorado body panels), Mr. Big, Solitaire , and Tee Hee leave their secret facility where a voodoo shop is actually one of Dr. Kananga's hideouts. The Cadillac is later seen outside a Fillet of Soul restaurant alongside a Dunham-converted Cadillac Eldorado coupe. Citroën 2CV - Featured in For Your Eyes Only . A tiny but seemingly indestructible (rental) car belonging to Melina Havelock that Bond uses to make a "fast" getaway after Melina assassinates Hector Gonzales , who murdered her parents. The car used in the movie was allegedly fitted with a Citroën GS 4-cylinder boxer engine (in place of the standard 2-cylinder boxer), to make it able to outrun the two Peugeot 504s in pursuit. Alfa Romeo GTV6 - Featured in Octopussy . After falling from Octopussy 's train and hitching a lift in a Volkswagen Beetle, Bond steals this car to make the last stage of his journey to the US Air Force Base. West German police BMW 5 Series pursue Bond after his theft of the vehicle. Interestingly, sharp eyes will spot that this is a GTV 6 Quadrifoglio, the highest specification Alfa Romeo available, and widely considered the finest of these cars, as well as the fastest. Bajaj RE taxi - Featured in Octopussy. Two of these basic auto rickshaws are used in a chase sequence through the streets of Udaipur - Bond and fellow MI6 agent Vijay being in one, with Gobinda and his henchmen in the pursuing vehicle. It is insinuated that the auto-wallah driven by Vijay has been modified by MI6 as the tone of the engine becomes more like a motorcycle and Vijay performs a wheelie, exclaiming "This is a company car!" Mercedes 250SE - Featured in Octopussy. Bond commandeers this Soviet Army staff car to pursue Octopussy's train. When the tires are shredded by a spikestrip, Bond turns onto the railway line and drives the c


Which race had a cloaking device in Star Trek?

Star Trek cloaking device Share Technology of Romulan origin, first described in 2266, that can generate an energy screen to render a target object — usually a spacecraft — relatively invisible to sensors. Due to their immense power drain, cloaking generators have usually prohibited simultaneous use of other major systems such as weaponry, shields or warp drive . Although common to Klingon ships as well since the short-lived alliance with Romulus in the 2260s, Federation vessels have agreed to forego use of cloaks under the Treaty of Algeron, except in the case of the U.S.S. Defiant , which utilizes such a device by special arrangement.


Alec Baldwin played which invisible superhero in a 1994 movie?

The Shadow (1994) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error In 30's New York City, the Shadow battles his nemesis, Shiwan Khan, who is building an atomic bomb. Director: Walter B. Gibson (character The Shadow from stories), David Koepp Stars: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 38 titles created 20 Apr 2012 a list of 21 titles created 06 Jan 2013 a list of 40 titles created 19 Jul 2013 a list of 32 titles created 04 Jan 2015 a list of 39 titles created 2 months ago Search for " The Shadow " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Edit Storyline Based on the 1930's pulp fiction and radio drama series, the film pits the hero against his arch enemy, Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "The power to cloud men's minds", the Shadow comes blazing to the city's rescue with explosive results. Written by Michael Ross <M.I.Ross-iy1i9893@lmu.ac.uk> Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? See more  » Genres: Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence | See all certifications  » Parents Guide: 1 July 1994 (USA) See more  » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia The line "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit" is taken directly from the conclusion of episodes of the radio show. At the end of every episode, after the announcer has given the credits, The Shadow would say "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay! The Shadow knows," and then laughs See more » Goofs At the start of the fight on the balcony, when the Shadow lifts one of Khan's men by his helmet, you can see the wires pulling the guy off his feet. See more » Quotes Dr. Roy Tam : [confused] Who *are* you? Moe Shrevnitz : [holds up his hand with an identical ring on it] Somebody who owes him their life... somebody just like *you*. Whistled and sung by Ethan Phillips Later sung by John Lone while on top of the Empire State Building Walter Gibson Should Be Proud 23 April 2001 | by Falkeep (Texas) – See all my reviews This movie was the best effort to bring this unique hero to the big screen. Granted, although I like her in general, Penelope Ann Miller was not as strong a Margo as I would have liked, otherwise, I thought this was an outstanding achievement. The look and feel are perfect and I loved how they made sure many of The Shadow's regular crew made their appearances... Shrivey, Roy Tam, Burbank. The main reason I wanted to comment on this movie, however, was because of the question raised by Patrick in London about why Baldwin's nose changed shape when he became The Shadow. Lamont Cranston's hawk-nosed profile was one of the most famous trademarks of The Shadow. Alec Baldwin, however, does not naturally have that kind of look (to be honest, Lee Van Cleef may be the only movie actor in history with the correct look to have been able to portray The Shadow without resorting to make-up or special effects). Personally, I thought it was a brilliant touch to make that profile an illusion which Cranston utilizes when he becomes The Shadow. It makes it more believable that no one would be able to figure out he is The Shadow. A profile as distinct as Cranston's traditional look would make it difficult to believe that no one could put two and two together... kind of like believing that no one could figure out that Clark Kent is Superman just because he wears glasses. To me, it was just one more thing that elevated this movie above the usual superhero genre flick because it showed an appreciation and respect for the source material that Hollywood is not necessarily known for. 54 of 57 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you? Yes


Superhero Susan Storm had powers of invisibility. Of which group was she a member?

Invisible Woman (Character) - Comic Vine Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman wiki last edited by leandro_rab on 11/15/15 12:32PM View full history Origin Sue Storm and her younger brother Johnny had a pretty normal and happy childhood until their mother died in a car accident. Their father, Dr. Franklin Storm who was a famous and talented surgeon, could not save her life. Unfortunately, Franklin was unable to cope with the loss. As a result he became an alcoholic and a gambler. He got into a scuffle with a loan shark and accidentally killed him, and was later charged with murder, sending him to jail. Sue visited him in jail but her father asked her not to visit anymore and to tell Johnny that he was dead. He felt ashamed of his actions and believed he was not worthy of his children. At this point Sue was forced to become both mother and sister to Johnny. Caring for her brother throughout most their childhood caused Sue to mature far earlier than most children her age. Eventually, the Storm siblings moved in with their aunt who owned a boarding house, and it was there she met the man who would shape her life. Sue met and fell for Reed Richards , a tenant of her aunt's boarding house. Richards was a genius and a brilliant scientist. He was attending Columbia University at the time. Many years passed before Sue and Reed finally crossed paths again. In an attempt to become an actress, young Susan went to California to pursue acting and met up with Reed once again. Reed was taken by the woman Susan had become and shortly afterward they began dating. Fantastic Four 1 (1961) Around this time, Reed was trying to accomplish his lifelong dream of building a spaceship, which he funded with his own money along with government grants. The government threatened to cut off funding as it was tiring of what they considered to be Reed's overly fastidious preparations. Desperate to try out the ship, Reed took his best friend and test pilot Ben Grimm , Sue, and Johnny on an unauthorized trip into outer space. They had all helped in the design, but the ship did not have adequate shielding and they were bombarded by cosmic rays. The ship was forced back into Earth's atmosphere and crashed-landed. The four discovered that the cosmic rays had mutated them and given them superhuman abilities. They decided to use their powers to fight evil and became the Fantastic Four . Their first adventure was against the Mole Man and his monster allies. Creation Invisible Woman Sue Storm was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . She first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961 as a founding member of the Fantastic Four, Marvel's first superhero team. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four after seeing what a success their main competitor DC Comics' superhero team comic book " Justice League of America " was. It has also been rumored that Stan Lee got his inspiration to create the Fantastic Four from DC Comic 's Sea Devils team. If this is true, then Susan Storm was originally Marvel Comic's counterpart to Judy Walton of the Sea Devils. Due to the success of the Fantastic Four, DC Comics produced its own version of the Marvel team (called Challengers of the Unknown .) Thus a character such as June Robbins could be said to be based on Sue Storm (or alternately a DC character based on a Marvel character that was based on a DC character.) Character Evolution Silver Age Dorma almost drowns Sue - FF Annual 1 In the 1960s the silver age represented a significant step forward in the presentation and tone of comic books. While at DC the silver age had been introduced in the early 1960s with a more science-fiction based approach to some of its main characters ( the Flash , Hawkman , Green Lantern ) at Marvel the silver age was started anew as the company rose to prominence under Stan Lee. Thus Sue Storm alongside her teammates on the Fantastic Four served as one of the most prominent examples of silver age characters - those based more around the concepts of science as opposed to mysticism. Correspondingly early Fantastic Four stories features many e


The 1975 TV series The Invisible Man starred which actor, who also appeared in Colditz in the same year?

THE INVISIBLE MAN THE INVISIBLE MAN Yesterday's Heroes: Fantasy Heroes from a younger, less cynical age To most genre fans, David McCallum is best known as secret agent Illya Kuryakin from The Man from UNCLE. Others think of him with Joanna Lumley as elemental time detective Steel in ATV's bizarre Sapphire and Steel. Jon Abbott, however, remembers quite a different role, and one that--despite flopping badly in the US--was quite a success over here....  There have been a number of Invisible Man TV shows over the years, two of them British--a late '50's version (which had precious little to do with HG Wells' original novel, and has recently been shown on ITV and Bravo), and a stylish 1984 six-parter, which adapted the 1897 novel quite faithfully.  Neither, however, bear more than a passing resemblance to the forgotten version that come in-between--an action-adventure which, despite the presence of Brit star McCallum, was pure Hollywood through and through. Like the first TV version of the story, the McCallum show featured a sympathetic Invisible Man, who used his strange abilities for good--and was a far cry from Wells' bitter, destructive character. As with the Six Million Dollar man before it, the pilot was surprisingly dark in tone, the regular series that followed lightening things up considerably. It began with Doctor Daniel Westin (McCallum) accidentally rendering himself invisible in a lab accident, while working for the sinister KLAE corporation. Later, when he discovers KLAE wants to use his discovery for militaristic purposes, Westin destroys his equipment and the key to the process. Until he can return himself to normality, he decides to use his extraordinary powers for secret government missions he deems worthwhile, often aided by his wife, and all the time appearing in public under a lifelike rubber mask and gloves...  Invisible Men: A screen history Invisible men were nothing new on film or TV when Dr. Westin had his unfortunate accident. Back in 1933, for instances, horror veteran Claude Rains had portrayed the lead character in James Whale's The Invisible Man. The Invisible Man Returns followed in 1940, this time starring Vincent Price as the luckless scientist. It was the espionage thriller Invisible Agent, however, which pitted John Hall against the Axis forces in 1941, that most closely mirrors the format of the McCallum TV show. There was also an Invisible Woman in 1941, and an Invisible Boy in 1957, while everyone from Disney to Charles Band has had a go at exploiting the concept since. Invisible monsters abound in TV episodes (Lost in Space, The X-Files, etc.) and films (memorably Forbidden Planet and Predator) too, while the more obvious human delights of invisibility have been explored in various lame teen comedies (Zapped and The Invisible Maniac spring to mind). More restrained mischief-making is to be found in TV's Topper, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and Quantum Leap, or cinema's Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Ghost, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, among others. "Regular" TV heroes who've enjoyed brief spells of invisibility include the original Star Trek's William Shatner and three Next Generation crew members, Time Tunnel's James Darren, and--bizarrely!--Magnum's Tom Selleck.  Where are they now? For all the diversity of his roles on TV and occasionally--the cinema, David McCallum always seems to be playing David McCallum, and The Invisible Man was no exception. He's a likeable guy, all the same, and makes for a charismatic hero. There's no trouble finding him today, either--he's escaped the obvious typecasting as Illya Kuryakin of the Man From UNCLE by making many other TV and film appearances. In Britain, he's starred in shows like the serials Kidnapped and Colditz (recently reshown on UK Gold), as well as the oddball '80's Joanna Lumley co-starrer Sapphire and Steel, now reshowing on Bravo. More recently, he's been seen in Britain in the series Trainer, and in the US guested on Babylon 5 and co-starred in the cancelled VR5, soon to be shown on British TV. Cr


In which 2000 science fiction film did Kevin Bacon become invisible?

Hollow Man (2000) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Scientists discover how to make people invisible, but their test subject becomes an insane killer who stalks them. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 34 titles created 19 Sep 2012 a list of 34 titles created 22 Jun 2014 a list of 45 titles created 13 Apr 2015 a list of 21 titles created 9 months ago a list of 32 titles created 5 months ago Search for " Hollow Man " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for     1     Oscar. Another    7 wins & 9 nominations. See more awards  » Videos A Seattle detective and a biologist are on the run from a dangerous invisible assassin gone rogue. Director: Claudio Fäh Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back. Director: Renny Harlin A group of scientists try to track down and trap a killer alien seductress before she successfully mates with a human. Director: Roger Donaldson A "National Geographic" film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who takes them along on his quest to capture the world's largest - and deadliest - snake. Director: Luis Llosa Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one. Director: Ron Underwood Three people attempt to stop a gigantic crocodile, who is terrorizing residents in Black Lake, Maine. Director: Steve Miner Humans in a fascistic, militaristic future do battle with giant alien bugs in a fight for survival. Director: Paul Verhoeven A species of South American killer spider hitches a lift to the U.S. in a coffin and starts to breed and kill. Director: Frank Marshall When an army of Graboids - giant, carnivorous underground worms - threaten the Petromaya oil refinery in Mexico, its owners call on Earl Bassett, who once helped kill four of the creatures ... See full summary  » Director: S.S. Wilson A violent, suspended police detective investigates a brutal murder, in which a manipulative and seductive woman could be involved. Director: Paul Verhoeven During his 50th birthday party thrown by his wife, Remco's life takes a turn for the worse. His business partners are scheming behind his back to sell him out and his former mistress shows up pregnant. Director: Paul Verhoeven Nomi, a young drifter, arrives in Las Vegas to become a dancer and soon sets about clawing and pushing her way to become the top of the Vegas showgirls. Director: Paul Verhoeven Edit Storyline Having discovered they could turn animals invisible, a group of scientists test the subject on a human. Head of research, Dr. Sebastian Caine decides to use himself as the subject. After the experiment can't be reversed, it takes a toll on Caine's personality, causing him to hunt down and kill his colleagues Open your eyes See more  » Genres: Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity | See all certifications  » Parents Guide: 4 August 2000 (USA) See more  » Also Known As: El hombre sin sombra See more  » Filming Locations: $26,414,386        (USA) (4 August 2000) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia Director Paul Verhoeven was dissatisfied with the film. In 2013, he remarked to The Hollywood Reporter: "I decided after Hollow Man, this is a movie, the first movie that I made that I thought I should not have made. It made money and this and that, but it really is not me anymore. I think many other people could have done that. I don't think many people could have made RoboCop that way, or either Starship Troopers. But Hollow Man, I thought there might have been 20 directors in Hollywood who could have done that. I felt depressed with myself after 2002." In earlier interviews, V


Rodney Skinner was an invisible thief in which 2003 superhero movie?

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film) | League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Wiki The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film) 375pages on Share The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 superhero film, loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series of the same name. It was released on July 11, 2003 in the United States, was distributed by 20th Century Fox, directed by Stephen Norrington, and starred Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng and Richard Roxburgh. It is an action adventure film set late in the late 19th Century, featuring an assortment of fictional literary characters appropriate to the period, who act as Victorian Era superheroes. The film adaptation's plot and general atmosphere, however, is very far from the original comic book. The characters draw from creations by H. R. Haggard, Bram Stoker, Iam Fleming, H. G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Robert Lewis Stevenson, among many others. The film was intended to spawn a Film Franchie based on further titles in the original comic book series, and this first film was indeed financially successful. It was however critically panned, and a lack of enthusiasm for a sequel resulted in the film franchise idea being dropped. Contents Edit In 1899, an attack on the Bank of England in London is committed by a group of men who appear to be German soldiers using advanced explosives and automatic weapons, and even the first ever tank. This is followed by an attack on a German Zeppelin factory in Berlin by the same men, this time dressed as British soldiers, that leads Europe to the brink of war. An emissary of the British government, Sanderson Reed , arrives in a gentlemen's club in British East Africa , hoping to recruit the legendary, but now aged, hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery) to investigate the situation. Though Quatermain's sense of patriotism has waned, he wishes to protect his beloved Africa from war and agrees, especially after his lodge is attacked and destroyed by a band of assassins. In London, Quatermain meets with the mysterious " M ", who explains his plan to assemble a modern version of a group of talented individuals known as the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", which aids the world in times of need, in this case to combat the threat of the " Fantom ", who is the true mastermind of the current crisis, and ensure world peace, by stopping him from destroying Venice . Quatermain is introduced to the Indian Captain Nemo , Commander of the world's only submersible vessel Nautilus ; invisible gentleman thief Rodney Skinner , who works for the government in hopes of an antidote for the invisibility serum he stole; and Mina Harker , a vampire and well-regarded chemical scientist. The group also recruits the mysterious immortal Dorian Gray , Dr. Henry Jekyll (who can transform into the superhumanly strong Edward Hyde under the effects of a special elixir), and American Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer ; in Hyde's case, he has to be hunted down by Quatermain and Sawyer before Jekyll offers his services for reprieve in London for his crimes as Hyde. With the team complete, the group takes off on Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus, and set off for Venice. The group worry there is a traitor in their midst when flash powder is found in the wheel room of the Nautilus, and a vial of Jekyll's transformation serum is determined to be missing. Naturally, all think that the invisible thief, Skinner, is the culprit, but nothing can be done about it since Skinner is nowhere to be found. Though the group reaches Venice in time, a series of bombs that has been planted under the city start to detonate shortly after, toppling buildings in a domino effect. The team decides that knocking one of the buildings out of the sequence is the only way to stop the chain of explosions. Nemo has a missile that can be fired from the Nautilus at the building in question, but only if a beacon can be s


What is the name of Charlie Brown's dog?

Charlie Brown and Snoopy's relationship | Peanuts Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Charlie Brown and Snoopy's relationship Charlie Brown and Snoopy's relationship 1,327pages on Share Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Snoopy is Charlie Brown 's dog, and they have a strange but strong relationship. Despite them not being from the same species, they are still very close friends, although sometimes they become annoyed with each other. Charlie Brown does many things for Snoopy, and Snoopy normally appreciates these things, but sometimes he does not. In the end, they both need each other, and on many occasions they are shown hugging each other, implying they do love each other. Charlie Brown's opinion of Snoopy Charlie Brown loves Snoopy and cares for him deeply, and thinks he is a great dog. In early strips, Charlie Brown seems to miss Snoopy when they go to sleep, even though he knows that they will see each other first thing the next morning. In strips from later years, Charlie Brown gets a little annoyed by Snoopy's laziness. All Snoopy ever seems to do is sleep on his doghouse , and wait for Charlie Brown to bring his dog food out . However, even when Charlie Brown is annoyed at Snoopy, he still brings out his food. He even sometimes plays pranks on Snoopy when he brings his supper out (for example, he tells Snoopy he has decided that Snoopy should become a vegetarian, to which Snoopy replies: "What a rotten joke! My heart is still pounding!"). Charlie Brown also seems to be annoyed by Snoopy's fantasy life . A famous quote often said by Charlie Brown when he sees Snoopy in his fantasies, is, "Why can't I have a normal, ordinary dog like everyone else?". Sometimes Charlie Brown gets so fed up with the beagle's imagination and imitations that he drags Snoopy inside. However, even though Snoopy can be a pain sometimes, Charlie Brown still loves him, and especially loves when he greets him when he comes home from school (On one occasion, Charlie Brown even convinces Snoopy to greet him on Sunday, even though there was no school). They are often shown hugging, particularly after they have been reunited after a separation, and Charlie Brown has implied that he enjoys the fact he is depended on by someone. Charlie Brown has even, on one occasion, decided to quit school and devote the rest of his life to making Snoopy happy. He even helps Snoopy rebuild his doghouse in a storyline where it gets destroyed. In June 1989, Charlie Brown leaves camp early, because he missed Snoopy too much. Snoopy's opinion of Charlie Brown Snoopy first calls Charlie Brown "that round-headed kid" in the April 14, 1969 comic strip. Snoopy is Charlie Brown's dog, and likes Charlie Brown. However, Snoopy helps Charlie Brown retrieve a autographed baseball, in a comic strip on July 11, 1975. since April 1969 , he has been unable to remember Charlie Brown's name, and just calls him "that round-headed kid". It sometimes seems that Snoopy does not appreciate Charlie Brown, but rather, just likes the fact he feeds him every night. Snoopy can become very upset if Charlie Brown brings him supper just a few minutes later than usual, even though Charlie Brown brings it every single day. In one storyline, when Charlie Brown has to go to the hospital, Snoopy does not really care very much until he finds out he will not be getting supper. Snoopy does not really appreciate the jokes that Charlie Brown sometimes makes when bringing him his food, and at one point, he shows this by throwing his supper dish at the boy. However, there are many moments when Snoopy shows his love for Charlie Brown. On one occasion, when Charlie Brown returns from camp, Snoopy makes him a welcome home sign (Although it says "Welcome home 'Round Headed Kid'"). He also gets very excited when Charlie Brown returns from school, and sometimes does a dance and hugs Charlie Brown when he gets home. In one storyline, when Charlie Brown and his family go on vacation, and have to leave Snoopy with Linus and Lucy's family , Snoopy cries the whole time until Charlie Brown returns. In the strip from October 9, 19


What is the name of the dog in The Simpsons?

Santa's Little Helper | Simpsons Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Santa's Little Helper races at the Springfield Downs . History Homer was relying on a Christmas bonus to buy presents, but didn't get it. He was relying on this bonus because the jar of Christmas money that Marge accumulates for the family's Christmas treats was disposed of to pay for the removal of a tattoo that Bart got on his arm. Homer took the small amount of Christmas money he made working as Santa Claus at the Springfield Mall and bet it at the dog track. He had inside information on what dog was going to win, but instead bet on the "long shot," Santa's Little Helper, believing his name to be a sign. Santa's Little Helper finished last (apparently, it was the latest in a long string of last-place finishes), and his frustrated owner abandoned him. Homer and Bart brought him home, and everyone was so happy with him that it was a merry Christmas after all. [1] Snowball II , Maggie and Santa's Little Helper together for a picture Sometimes, Santa's Little Helper can be seen chewing on the newspaper and other objects in the Simpson's household (sometimes ignored or tolerated by the family), tearing up the furniture, digging holes in the backyard and eating food from the living room table. It is stated that Homer and Santa's Little Helper's birthdays are on the same day. [2] With a few exceptions, Santa's Little Helper doesn't make any sound that resembles a bark. However, he does have an ability to think just like a person. Once, he made a sound similar to "chewy", and Homer writes it down in his review, amazed that the dog spoke English. [3] He is also shown to have ridden a circus ball on his hind legs and speak the phrase 'We love... you!' in an attempt to be given some attention from the Simpson family. [4] In addition, he was mascot of Duff Beer , and was known as Suds McDuff (a reference to a similar, real life mascot Spuds MacKenzie). [5] Santa's Little Helper licking Bart Santa's Little Helper's life with the Simpsons is not always easy. Due to his disobedience and destructive behavior nearly caused the Simpson family to give him away, but he passed an obedience class, thus he could stay. [6] Santa's Little Helper almost passed away from gastric torsion (referred to in the show as a "twisting of the stomach") because Homer initially couldn't afford $750 for the required operation. [7] He also broke two legs when Bart's treehouse was demolished by Mr. Burns ' slanted oil well drill (The latter of which caused Bart Simpson to hate Mr. Burns immensely). [8] Santa's Little Helper is sometimes a bad dog. At one time, Santa's Little Helper was shortly abandoned by Bart for Laddie , a purebred and very well-trained dog he bought from a mail-order catalog together with various other expensive gifts and gadgets. To do that, Bart used a credit card he applied for under the name of his dog, yet the credit card company misread the form and issued a card to Mr. "Santos L. Halper". Laddie learned many tricks that Santa's Little Helper was completely unable to perform (most notably a back flip, CPR and using a toilet). The Simpson family nearly forgot about their old pet, and Bart eventually gave him away instead of Laddie when repo men take back everything he fraudulently purchased. Feeling guilty about this disloyalty and bored with his too perfect new dog, Bart tried to get Santa's Little Helper back. When he finally found him, Santa's Little Helper was serving as a guide dog for a blind man named Mr. Mitchell, but eventually chose to return to his former owner, Bart. [9] Santa's Little Helper growling at the family Santa's Little Helper has also shown aptitude in other areas. When neglected by the Simpson family, he ran away, and was adopted by Mr. Burns, and made into a very fearsome guard dog. When Bart was searching for Santa's Little Helper, Bart managed to reawaken Santa's Little Helper's good memories of him. It shown that while the Simpson family sleeps in the night, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II both watch old episodes of "Lassie" on TV. [10]


What was the name of the 1963 Disney live action movie, where 3 animals ventured to get themselves home?

Disney’s History of Remaking Old Animated and Live-Action Films | Deja Reviewer Disney’s History of Remaking Old Animated and Live-Action Films Posted on April 6, 2016 by Robert Lockard, the Deja Reviewer Disney is about to debut its second attempt at a live-action Jungle Book remake next week. So I figured now is a good time to look back at Disney’s numerous tries at remaking their old animated and live-action films into modern live-action films. They’ve been doing this since the early 1990s with varying levels of success. As I went through all of these remakes and adaptations, I noticed that they seem to fall into four categories or eras. So let’s go through them and see how Disney is building its future by mining its rich past. Remaking Their Own Movies (1993 – 2006) The modern idea of a Disney remake didn’t begin with 1994’s The Jungle Book. Actually, it started a year earlier with Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. You probably didn’t realize that this beloved kids film is a remake of 1963’s The Incredible Journey. That first film had a narrator provide all of the exposition the audience needs throughout the film. Homeward Bound added dialogue for the animals themselves. It made a little over $40 million at the box office, earning a healthy profit. And three years later it led to a sequel about the animals getting lost in San Francisco. After that modestly successful beginning came 1994’s The Jungle Book. I saw that movie shortly after it came out and I remember being surprised to see Cary Elwes playing the villain and Bruce Lee playing Mowgli. I know it’s not actually Bruce Lee, but that’s how I’ll always think of that actor. The film came across as more Tarzan than Jungle Book, especially with the love story and the villain. It managed to break even with a little over $40 million, again. 1996 was a game-changing year. That year saw the debut of 101 Dalmatians. They got a lot of top talent for this project: actors Glenn Close and Jeff Daniels in leading roles, Stephen Herek (director of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure ) to direct, and John Hughes to write the screenplay, which is probably why it feels at times more like Home Alone than a remake of the 1961 animated film. This film made $320 million worldwide, which guaranteed plenty more remakes to follow. It even got its own sequel, 102 Dalmatians, in 2000. In quick succession, we got 1997’s That Darn Cat and Flubber. Those also had some impressive talent with the likes of Christina Ricci and Robin Williams starring in them. Then came the Lindsey Lohan trio: 1998’s amazing The Parent Trap , 2003’s solid Freaky Friday, and 2005’s so-so Herbie: Fully Loaded. The first two are definitely superior to the originals, but there’s just no beating Herbie’s first adventure in 1969’s The Love Bug. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Disney’s foray into straight remakes ended in 2006 with the Tim Allen vehicle The Shaggy Dog. The 1959 original has a certain charm to it, but the remake’s off-putting use of CGI and phoned-in performances didn’t exactly leave me begging for more. This era started with a howl and ended on a whimper. Remaking Others’ TV Shows and Films (1994 – 2004) At the same time as Disney was raiding its own library of old films, it was also doing its best to capitalize on other studios’ works. This led to much less success than they would have hoped for, starting with the 1994 film Angels in the Outfield. While this film focuses on the Anaheim Angels, the original 1951 film focused on the Pittsburgh Pirates. It got overshadowed by The Lion King’s success, but it still proved to be a hit, earning about $50 million. 1997 started surprisingly well with George of the Jungle. Based on a 1967 cartoon that only lasted for 17 episodes, this Brendan Fraser vehicle earned more than three times its $55 million budget. And it spawned a direct-to-video sequel a few years later. Mr. Magoo came next, and that film proved to be a total embarrassment. It failed to earn back its modest $30 million budget, and it proved to be the beginning of the end


What was the name of Robbie Jackson's dog in Eastenders?

Robbie Jackson | EastEnders Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Robbie Jackson is a fictional character from EastEnders . He is the son of Carol Jackson and her ex partner Gary Bolton . Storylines Backstory Robbie was the product of a whirlwind romance between teenagers Gary Bolton and Carol Branning . Carol already had a daughter, Bianca, from a previous relationship and upon discovering that she was pregnant again she and Gary got engaged and began living together before she gave birth to their son at just 16. They were happy for a while, but Gary soon began to feel tied down at such a young age and walked out on Carol and her two children just months after their son's birth. Robbie and his half sister Bianca saw many surrogate father figures during their childhood, one of which led to the birth of their half sister Sonia before Carol entered a relationship with the steady and reliable Alan Jackson in 1987. They became parents to Billie in 1988 and not long afterwards Alan adopted Robbie and his sisters, resulting in them all taking on the name Jackson. 1993–2010 Robbie arrives in the Square in 1993 with the rest of the Jackson clan. Initially a troublesome teen, Robbie has little success at school and is frequently in trouble for his behaviour, along with his friend Kevin. In November 1994, the pair find a dog which Robbie names Wellard. Robbie manages to persuade the dog's owner to relinquish care to him, after he discovers that Wellard was being neglected, and Wellard then becomes Robbies's pet. As he ages, Robbie becomes more responsible, but has little success in anything he chooses to do. He has several careers in Albert Square including radio control for the Evans' mini cab company, waiter, a job as manager in the local video rental store, and later as the market road sweeper. Robbie is generally unsuccessful with women. He has a crush on Sarah Hills and is responsible for taking her virginity in 1997. Although Sarah initiated the intercourse, she is unable to cope with what has occurred and runs away, leaving her father Ted Hills to assume that Robbie has raped his daughter. Ted assaults Robbie; he is hospitalised and has to undergo a spleenectomy, before Sarah returns to reveal the truth. Robbie forms a more serious relationship with Kerry Skinner in 2000. They get engaged; however, when Robbie discovers that Kerry has cheated on him, the engagement ends. Robbie decides to track down his birth father, Gary Bolton in 2001. He finds him in Portsmouth, and discovers he has a half brother, Kevin. The meeting ends up being a disappointment for Robbie, when he discovers Gary had left his own mother to be with his half-brother's mother. He leaves angrily, but Gary later traces Robbie to Walford and gives him a large cheque which allows him to travel around India, and pay for sister Sonia's nursing training. When Robbie returns to Walford and meets young widow Nita Mistry, they begin a slow-burning relationship, despite Nita's initial reticence. Eventually they move in together with Nita's son Anish, but Nita decides to return to India in 2003 to live with her parents, who can provide for Anish better than she can. Robbie goes with her and Anish to live in Mumbai, and he leaves Wellard in the care of his friend, Gus Smith . Robbie returns briefly for Sonia and Martin Fowler's wedding in 2004. He returns again for Bianca's wedding to Ricky Butcher in February 2010, and is upset to hear that Wellard has died. When asked about Nita he reveals that she cannot attend the wedding as she is six months pregnant. Robbie walks Bianca down the aisle on her wedding day and returns to India after the wedding. When Robbie's half brother Billie suddenly dies several months later, Robbie, Nita and Sonia are unable to attend his funeral due to the flight costs, their newborn baby and the fact that Sonia is visiting Robbie and Nita in Mumbai. He was mentioned 20 April 2015 by Carol Jackson when Max Branning asks about her family coming to Jim's funeral, Carol replying "Robbie's not going to fly back from India, is he?". Gallery


What was the name of the dog in Enid Blighton's Famous Five books?

Enid Blyton - The Famous Five The Famous Five Buy all the Famous Five books with free worldwide shipping The Famous Five are a group of children who have the sort of adventures most kids dream about, in a world where ginger beer flows and ham rolls are a staple diet. Julian, Dick and Anne get together with their cousin George in the first adventure, Five On A Treasure Island. George is actually a girl who wants so desperately to be a boy she crops her hair and struts about doing boy things. She hates it when people call her by her correct name, Georgina. She has a dog called Timmyï¿½oh yes, and an island. Most kids just have a dog, but George's parents own Kirrin Island and let her run around on it as if it were her play-thing. Her parents are known to Julian, Dick and Anne as Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny. 1. Five On a Treasure Island (1942) The very first Famous Five adventure featuring Julian, Dick, Anne, and tomboy George along with her beloved dog, Timmy. There's a shipwreck off Kirrin Island, but where's the treasure? The Five are on the trail, looking for clues... but they're not alone and time is running out. 2. Five Go Adventuring Again (1943) There's a thief at Kirrin Cottage! The Famous Five think they know who it is, but they need to prove it! Where can they find evidence? The discovery of an old map and very unusual hiding place is all they need to get to the bottom of this mystery and uncover the true culprit! 4. Five Go To Smuggler's Top (1945) Can there still be smugglers at Smuggler's Top? The Famous Five go to stay at the large old house, and discover lots of brilliant hiding places, even underground tunnels! Then they catch people signalling out to seaï¿½who are they? 6. Five On Kirrin Island Again (1947) What is Uncle Quentin up to, all alone on Kirrin Island? He won't let anyone visit, not even George and the rest of the famous Five. But Uncle Quentin isn't really alone on the islandï¿½someone is watching his every move. 7. Five Go Off to Camp (1948) Spook trains in the middle of the night! And they seem to vanish into thin airï¿½but where do they go? The Famous Five are on to it. But the discovery of an unusual underground tunnel system, and a train-service, has them puzzled. If they follow the tracks, will they solve the mystery? 8. Five Get Into Trouble (1949) The Famous Five are distraught! Dick has been kidnappedï¿½mistaken for somebody else! The gang finally track him downï¿½to a lonely, abandoned houseï¿½but then they too are seized and held captive. How will the intrepid Five get themselves out of this mess? 9. Five Fall Into Adventure (1950) Julian, Dick and Anne are really worriedï¿½George and her devoted Timmy have just disappeared! Not only that, somebody has broken in to Kirrin Cottage. Could there be a connection? The Famous Five think so, but it's going to be tough getting to the bottom of this mystery. 10. Five On a Hike Together (1951) Dick is puzzled when he's woken by a light flashing through his window. Is someone trying to send him a coded message? And when the Famous Five hear of an escaped convict in the area, they are on red alert. The police won't help, so the Five have no choice but to solve the mystery alone. 11. Five Have a Wonderful Time (1952) The Famous Five are having a brilliant timeï¿½on holiday in horse-drawn caravansï¿½and they've discovered a ruined castle nearby! The castle looked deserted from a distance, but is that a face at the window? Or is it a trick of the light? Just who is hiding in the castle? 13. Five Go to Mystery Moor (1954) Mystery Moor is aptly named, as the Five discover! There's something dangerous out there, but gang need help to find out what it is. The travellers camped on the moor are unfriendly, so the Famous Five have no other choice but to risk the treacherous mists and follow the trail. 14. Five Have Plenty of Fun (1955) George is not pleased when Berta, a spoilt American girl, turns up at Kirrin Cottage in the middle of the night dressed in disguise! But George hasn't got time to be jealous. Berta is in hiding from kidnappers, and she nee


In 1992 Neil Kinnock lost the general election and was replaced as leader of the Labour party by whom?

History of the Labour Party – The Labour Party History of the Labour Party Kinnock and the policy review With Labour heavily defeated in the 1979 election, the party began a new period of soul-searching. Internal debates about the party constitution dominated, and led eventually to the forming of a breakaway group, the Social Democratic Party, in 1981. Michael Foot, the veteran left-winger, was elected leader but he was hampered by divisions within the party and proved unable to reverse Labour's decline in support. With Labour moving further to the left, the 1983 election resulted in a crushing defeat. Labour gained 27.6 per cent, its lowest showing since 1918 and not much above the Liberal/SDP Alliance.   Hope for a revival in Labour's fortunes came from Welsh MP Neil Kinnock, who replaced Michael Foot as leader in 1983. Kinnock first sought to sideline the extreme left within the party, such as the group Militant, and then to restore Labour's image with the general public. His speech to the 1985 Party Conference, where he attacked Militant from the platform, was seen as a sign of the new Labour leader's courage and commitment to change. This was followed by changes to Labour's image, headed by a new Campaigns and Communications directorate under Peter Mandelson. A visible sign of the changes afoot was the replacement of the party's emblem - the red flag - by a red rose at the 1986 conference. Even with such changes, Kinnock was unable to recover much ground and Labour still lost the 1987 election heavily. More thorough-going reform was necessary and therefore the party began a process of policy review. The outcome, Meet the Challenge, Make the Change, ended Labour's commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament, high taxation and old-style nationalisation. Labour's fourth successive election defeat was a major shock to the party. Kinnock's successor, Scottish lawyer John Smith, promised to continue the process of reform, including tackling the trade union block. At the 1993 Party Conference Smith won the vote on One Member One Vote (OMOV), removing direct union representation in parliamentary selections, by the smallest of margins, and largely due to the last-minute speech by John Prescott. If he was careful in his dealings with the party, in the Commons Smith was less restrained. Immediately after the election the Tories were wrong-footed by the crisis in sterling and exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism. Black Wednesday as 16 September 1992 became known, was a gift to Smith, who used his considerable parliamentary skills to attack the Conservatives. With record-breaking (for the time) local election results in 1994, John Smith was rightly optimistic about the future of the Party. "A chance to serve, that is all we ask", Smith told a gathering of Labour supporters on 11 May 1994. The event was to be his last. Early the next morning he suffered a massive heart attack. Just as with Gaitskell in 1963, Labour had lost a leader on the verge of power. New Labour The ensuing leadership contest saw the election of Tony Blair, the youngest-ever leader of the Labour Party. Blair was widely known to be a moderniser and his leadership election statement was clear that Labour must be reformed radically if it was to win office again. Yet for any still in doubt, Blair showed his true intentions in his first speech to party conference as leader, when he called for the updating of Clause IV of the party's constitution. While opposed by some traditionalists, the proposed change won overwhelming support at a special conference in April 1995. This was followed in 1996 by the publication of New Labour, New Life for Britain, the draft manifesto that was discussed and voted upon by party members across the country. Labour's agenda was fully costed, to avoid the arguments over tax that had dogged them in 1992, and centred on five pledges: education; crime; health; jobs and economic stability. Party members gave the proposals clear endorsement - with 95 per cent backing the plans. The 1997 election campaign saw the Tories in decline - over sl


Having returned from a four nation summit in Guadeloupe during the winter of January 1979, who was responsible for the Sun headline 'Crisis, what crisis?'?

Trident: the British question | Ian Jack | UK news | The Guardian The long read Trident: the British question The debate is not simply about submarines and missiles. It touches almost every anxiety about the identity of the United Kingdom. The decision may tell us what kind of country – or countries – we will become Share on Messenger Close At this moment, a British submarine armed with nuclear missiles is somewhere at sea, ready to retaliate if the United Kingdom comes under nuclear assault from an enemy. The boat – which is how the Royal Navy likes to talk about submarines – is one of four in the Vanguard class: it might be Vengeance or Victorious or Vigilant but not Vanguard herself, which is presently docked in Devonport for a four-year-long refit. The Vanguards are defined as ballistic missile submarines or SSBNs, an initialism that means they are doubly nuclear. Powered by steam generated by nuclear reactors, they carry ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. The location of the submarine – both as I write and you, the reader, read – is one of several unknowns. Somewhere in the North Atlantic or the Arctic would have been a reasonable guess when the Soviet Union was the enemy, but today nobody could be confident of naming even those large neighbourhoods. Another unknown is the number of missiles and warheads on board. Each submarine has the capacity to carry 16 missiles, each of them armed with as many as 12 independently targetable warheads; but those numbers started to shrink in the 1990s, and today’s upper limit is eight missiles and 40 warheads per submarine. Even so, those 40 warheads contain 266 times the destructive power of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Vickers (now BAE Systems) built the submarine hulls at Barrow; Rolls-Royce made the reactors in Derby; the Atomic Weapons Establishment produces the warheads at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire. All these inputs are more or less British (less in the case of the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which is run by a consortium of two American companies and Serco), but the missile that they were built to serve and without which they would not exist is American: the Trident D5 or Trident II, also deployed by the US navy, comes out of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems factory in Sunnyvale, California. Trident: the British question Read more According to the Ministry of Defence, a British ballistic missile submarine has been patrolling the oceans prepared to do its worst at every minute of every day since 14 June 1969, when the responsibility for Britain’s strategic nuclear weapons passed from the Royal Air Force to the Royal Navy. Over the course of 46 years, many things have changed. Resolution-class submarines with Polaris missiles were replaced with Vanguards and Tridents nearly 20 years ago. The submarines are far bigger – a Vanguard submarine is twice as long as a jumbo jet – while the missiles have enormously increased their range and the warheads their precision. But the system, known as continuous-at-sea-deterrence or CASD, is essentially the same: four submarines work a rota which has one submarine on a three-month-long patrol, another undergoing refit or repair, a third on exercises, and a fourth preparing to relieve the first. The navy’s code name is Operation Relentless. This is an epic vigil, born in the cold war and not abandoned by its passing, and the government intends that it continues into a third generation of ballistic missile submarines – the provisionally-named Successor class – that will work to the same pattern as the Vanguards and carry a new version of the Trident D5, now under development. In the end, a military strategy devised to deter attack by the Soviet Union will have outlived its original enemy by at least half a century. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, few weapons systems have survived so long. The modern battleship, devised under the empty blue skies of Edwardian Britain, demonstrated its vulnerability to air attack even before Pearl Harbor; its useful career lasted hardly 40 years. Britain’s submar


Churchill went to the country in the summer of 1945 but was defeated by which Labour leader?

BBC - History -   World Wars: Why Churchill Lost in 1945 Why Churchill Lost in 1945 By Dr Paul Addison Last updated 2011-02-17 Labour's landslide in the 1945 general election remains one of the greatest shocks in British political history. How did Winston Churchill, a hugely popular national hero, fail to win? On this page Print this page Politics in peacetime Between 1940 and 1945 Winston Churchill was probably the most popular British prime minister of all time. In May 1945 his approval rating in the opinion polls, which had never fallen below 78 per cent, stood at 83 per cent. With few exceptions, politicians and commentators confidently predicted that he would lead the Conservatives to victory at the forthcoming general election. ... it is hard to imagine anyone who could have played the role of national leader with greater success than Churchill ... In the event, he led them to one of their greatest ever defeats. It was also one for which he was partly responsible, because the very qualities that had made him a great leader in war were ill-suited to domestic politics in peacetime. Politicians are often rejected by voters because they have failed in office. But one of the reasons why Churchill lost the general election in 1945 was because he had succeeded in completing the almost superhuman task he had taken on in 1940, and in a way this made him redundant. His first act as prime minister in 1940 was to invite the leaders of the Labour, Liberal and Conservative parties - Attlee, Sinclair and Chamberlain - to serve in a Coalition Government. This became the administration, robustly surviving external shocks and internal quarrels, that mobilised the British for total war, and it is hard to imagine anyone who could have played the role of national leader with greater success than Churchill did at that time. The conduct of the war, however, was his overriding passion, and military victory was by far the most important of his goals - thus everything else, including party politics, was secondary. As a result, when the war came to an end and party politics resumed, Churchill suddenly found himself without a clear sense of purpose or direction. Top Competing claims Winston Churchill addressing crowd during General Election, July 1945    © It was not from a commitment to party, but in order to consolidate his authority as a war leader, that Churchill had assumed the leadership of the Conservatives in succession to Neville Chamberlain in October 1940. He thought of the party much as a knight in medieval times thought of his horse, as a mount on which to go into battle. Never was a party so leaderless as the Conservative Party is today ... This single-mindedness could, of course, be seen as a great asset in a period of national emergency, but there is no doubt that Churchill neglected Conservative interests during the war years. 'Never was a party so leaderless as the Conservative Party is today', wrote one Conservative backbench MP in October 1944. Meanwhile the Labour Party and its allies in the media ran an effective propaganda war on the home front. They vilified members of the pre-war Conservative party as having been appeasers of Hitler, and of having been responsible for the failure to re-arm Britain. And they painted the 1930s in dismal colours as an era of poverty and mass unemployment. At the same time, they held out the prospect of a new social order that would ensure better housing, free medical services and employment for all. Top Beveridge and reform Holloway County School, London, 1945 - woman voting by proxy for husband stationed overseas    © The movement for social reform reached a climax in December 1942, with the publication of the Beveridge Report. The author of this, Sir William Beveridge, was an ambitious man, whose report went far beyond the terms of reference he had been given by the government. He produced what amounted to a comprehensive manifesto of social reform, including social security, a National Health Service, a full employment policy and other advances. In his early years as a politici


Satchi and Satchi were responsible for the 1979 Conservative advertising campaign. The most famous poster being of a line of people queing at the job centre, with what famous strap line?

Citizen Arcane : Design Citizen Arcane If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough. All the Web that's fit to blog. Price: Free Tricked-Out Bikes Just about everything at the Mermaid Parade is dressed up, even the bikes. And this concludes my photos from last year's Mermaid Parade. I'll put up this year's photos when they come back from developing. Posted by Citizen Arcane on July 3rd, 2005 Foot Fetish Continuing excerpts from my photos taken at last year's Mermaid Parade. Some costumes had pretty fancy footwear. The woman below is wearing, if not PowerSkip shoes, something amazingly close. These spring-loaded leg extensions amplifying the human ability to run, hop, and skip. (I'm amazed the Mexican Government isn't giving these to its citizens to more easily cross into the United States in violation of our immigration laws. Hey, if Mexico's government is publishing a guide on how to cross the border, it's fair game for political commentary like this.) Neither works well on sand, though. Posted by Citizen Arcane on July 2nd, 2005 Pharoah Ratner Some Brooklyn residents created their "Shark of the Covenant" political piece to call attention to Bruce Ratner's plan to raze a large Brooklyn neighborhood — isn't eminent domain wonderful when it benefits private interests? — in order to build, at public expense, a basketball stadium for the Nets. (And you thought Bloomberg's stadium for the Jets was unique in the annals of New York City corruption?) Posted by Citizen Arcane on June 30th, 2005 Another political statement from someone who clearly remembers Sigmund the Sea Monster. It isn't easy, smoking green. Posted by Citizen Arcane on June 29th, 2005 Octopus’s Garden Not all women went as mermaids, though. This one is an octopus. (Not gonna say it. I'm not gonna say it.) Ok, I couldn't help myself. Here's the obligatory octopus comment, but done slightly more cleverly than quoting from a James Bond movie (would you expect any less?): I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade He'd let us in, knows where we've been In his octopus' garden in the shade I'd ask my friends to come and see An octopus' garden with me I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade. "Octopus's Garden," The Beatles, Abbey Road, 1969 Posted by Citizen Arcane on June 28th, 2005 Many of the costumes had political themes, such as Enron or how King George Bush II was corrupt. (When it comes to booty, I much prefer the mermaid variety.) Posted by Citizen Arcane on June 27th, 2005 Burning Rubber This entry continues photos from last year's parade. I don't know what it is about muscle cars, but the owners feel continually obliged to prove they've got something in their pants, I mean, under the hood, by destroying tires and innundating bystanders with the heady perfume of incinerated petroleum products. Mmmmmm. Burning tire! The official cologne of testosterone and machismo. (Or, as Troma Films so succinctly put it, "Macheesmo: real cheese for real men.") But, in all fairness, it is in keeping with muscle car etiquette. How else can one show off a huge, throbbing, uh, engine. The Mermaid Parade is, of course, no different. Here's a purple monster proving that, yes, if you stand on the brake, pop the clutch, and floor it that the wheels will, indeed, spin. Once spinning, our friend friction does the rest. And the crowd is obscured by the proof that $1.87 per gallon gasoline is no barrier to fun. I don't know why Officer Friendly has his hand on his gun, but it may be related to proving that he, too, has a penis substitute. Posted by Citizen Arcane on June 26th, 2005 Flexing a Little Muscle You can get to the beach via the subway, but Americans do love their cars. Especially muscle cars. And they were well represented, including just about every gas guzzling, unsafe hunk of Detroit iron designed to go fast and corner like a brick. (Well, I don't know if engineers intended these land yachts to be about as maneuverable as a Mack truck, but that's the way they turned out.) All lovingly restored, pa


Before going on to win the 1964 election, who made the 'white heat of technology' speech to their party conference?

Harold Wilson's 'white heat' speech was aimed at the 'squeezed middle' | Steven Fielding | Science | The Guardian Political science Harold Wilson's 'white heat' speech was aimed at the 'squeezed middle' When Harold Wilson sat down after a speech opening the 1963 Labour conference debate on science, he probably didn't realise he had just delivered one of post-war British politics' most cited pieces of rhetoric. He just wanted to win a general election Harold Wilson arriving at 10 Downing Street on 17 October 1964 after Labour won power. Previously the party had lost three general elections in a row. Photograph: Roger Jackson/Getty Images Political science Harold Wilson's 'white heat' speech was aimed at the 'squeezed middle' When Harold Wilson sat down after a speech opening the 1963 Labour conference debate on science, he probably didn't realise he had just delivered one of post-war British politics' most cited pieces of rhetoric. He just wanted to win a general election Friday 20 September 2013 02.00 EDT First published on Friday 20 September 2013 02.00 EDT Share on Messenger Close Contemporaries hailed Wilson's invocation of the promise of "the scientific and technological revolution" and of the need for government to plan Britain's response to "the white heat of technological change" as outlining a new vision of socialism. Many historians have also subsequently praised the Labour leader's evocation of a spirit of optimism in a Britain emerging from austerity into affluence, albeit with an economy starting to lag behind the likes of West Germany and France. As I have pointed out elsewhere , Wilson's speech was designed to address more than the country's alleged failure to apply science to industry. It formed part of Labour's attempt to make itself relevant to what its leaders were assured was a new electoral landscape, one in which the "traditional" working class was in decline and nationalisation outmoded. That at least is what Labour leader Hugh Gaistkell told his party's conference in 1959 a few weeks after it had lost its third general election in a row. Those who accepted Gaitskell's revisionist analysis believed Labour had to focus its appeal on those "intermediate voters" found in the skilled working class and lower middle class who were enjoying rising real incomes on an unprecedented scale. They believed this group had rejected the party in 1959 because they thought it out of date and only standing for the lowest in society. Labour's leaders and officials also accepted the view that: "Elections are won by the picture the party … has presented over a period of time prior to the election." The intermediate voters were deemed to be uninterested in the substance of policy and only reachable through catchy slogans and images. With that in mind, in 1961 the party launched a competition to improve the appearance of its local offices. Constituency agents were asked of voters: "Do they, from looking at YOUR premises, get the idea that Labour is finished, down-at-heel, out of date, or do they get the impression of a modern forward looking Party, clean, efficient and belonging to the space age?" 'Let's Go with Labour' campaign poster, 1963. Photograph: Labour Party/James Boswell In the summer of 1963 Labour also launched an expensive national campaign based around the slogan "Let's Go With Labour and we'll get things done", one accompanied – as in the poster illustrated above – by a thumbs-up symbol, as well as the promise to make Britain "Dynamic and Prosperous Again". By this point, however, Gaitskell was dead. Wilson's "white heat" speech – the first he made to Labour's conference as leader – was nonetheless part of the effort begun under his late predecessor. So, Wilson's invocation of science was meant to appeal to the intermediate groups and impress them that Labour was "modern" and able to address their own material concerns. As Wilson confirmed in subsequent speeches, which expanded on the "white heat" theme, the full exploitation of the possibilities of science would only take place if Britain could unlock the t


Which olympic cyclist was nicknamed The Flying Scotsman

Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree targets new world record - BBC Sport BBC Sport Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree targets new world record 17 Dec 2011 Read more about sharing. Obree was nicknamed the Flying Scotsman after breaking the hour time trial record Scots cyclist Graeme Obree has set his sights on a new world record, aiming to break the human-powered vehicle land speed time by a considerable margin. Obree, 46, famed for his unusual bike designs and unorthodox cycling positions, is hoping to break the current 83mph record on a new vehicle. "I don't want to curse it, but I would like to do 100mph," said Obree. "If everything was perfect, with the power output and aerodynamic drag then 100mph might be possible." Obree was nicknamed 'The Flying Scotsman' after he broke the hour time-trial record on a bicycle he built himself from washing machine parts, but retired from top-level cycling in 2001. I'm always thinking what the limits are - I take everything to a limit where it can be - and that's what sport is all about; taking everything to its possible limit Graeme Obree He was depicted by actor Jonny Lee Miller in a film in 2006 and was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame last March, but now he wants to take cycling to its ultimate limit. "I am setting out to attack the world land speed record, which is on a bicycle, but there's no rules," Obree told BBC Scotland. "It's a branch of the sport called human powered vehicles. The record is set as under the same conditions as cars - it's on a flat road, not wind assisted, and with no other vehicle assistance. "It'll be on a straight, flat road, probably in Colorado at Battle Mountain." The trial will see Obree gather speed in a rocket-like transporter that contains a flat bike and a protective membrane which he has been working on for 15 years. The Scot believes his own determination and refusal to accept limitations has inspired him to seek goals that seem impossible or unattainable. "I'm building the bike myself with some help," added Obree. "The whole thing is no more than three feet off the ground - it's basically a human torpedo - you pedal it like fury. "I've kept my fitness over the past few years and I've kept it going which means I have good shout of getting the power up. "I've been thinking about this for 15 years - but when it comes to the skin, it's not my area of expertise. "The skin is a vitally important combination of carbon and Kevlar in case you fall off at 100mph. If that happens, then you're going to lose some of your own skin, which is not worth thinking about. "I'm always thinking what the limits are - I take everything to a limit where it can be - and that's what sport is all about: taking everything to its possible limit." Share this page


Which former World Darts Champion was given the nickname 'The Bronze Adonis'?

BBC SPORT | Other Sport | World Darts 2004 | All in the name of darts All in the name of darts Ted 'The Count' Hankey gets to grips with the world title trophy Ted 'The Count' Hankey and Andy 'The Viking' Fordham - they are figures that seem to have been lifted straight from the pages of history. But darts are their only weapons of choice and it seems you have not arrived on the oche until you have acquired a nickname. Two-time finalist Hankey's tag only starts to make sense when you see him and realise he is the spitting image of a Hammer House of Horror Dracula - a younger version of snooker's Ray Reardon. The 2000 champion suffered in 2001 when he lost in the final to John 'Boy' Walton, named after the popular 1970s TV character. A triumph of good over evil if ever there was one. All three will be in action when the biggest names in darts reconvene at the Lakeside in 2004, as will the man with the shortest name in darts, Co Stompe. In a world stereotyped by big-bellied beer guzzlers, the Dutchman also happens to be the thinnest player and not surprisingly goes by the names 'Pencil' or 'Matchstick' due to his thin-as-a-rake appearance. Orange-clad fans will be hoping he is feeling sharp and lights up his first round meeting against Norway's Austrian-born Robert Wagner, a magician in his spare time who is known as 'The Meat Eater'. If Wagner comes up against England captain Martin 'Wolfie' Adams, there can be but one winner - at least in the name steaks - sorry, stakes. But as well as the inspired, there is the predictable. Triple world champion and number one seed Raymond van Barneveld clearly spent more time on the practice board than the chalkboard in coming up with 'Barney'. Steve Beaton - The Bronze Adonis - sports his golden mullett And Mervyn 'The King' King liked his name so much he used it twice. At least they are not just plain awful, a dubious list that must be topped by kilt-wearing 1997 champion Les Wallace, transformed into 'McDanger', while Richie Burnett is the 'Prince of Wales'. Check out the world title honours board and you can see darts has always been a name game, the list of former champions including the likes of Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Dennis 'The Menace' Priestley and the legend that is 'The Crafty Cockney', five-time winner Eric Bristow. They played with the likes of Rod 'Prince of Style' Harrington and, most bizarrely, Bob 'Limestone Cowboy' Anderson - a reference to his vaguely country-and-western get-up and roots. Anderson's 1988 win shows darts is no follower of fashion, a fact confirmed by Steve Beaton - 'The Bronze Adonis'. Beaton was anything but when he took the title in 1996 sporting the footballers' favourite 1980s haircut, the mullett, long past its sell-by date. Whatever you think of the tags, it all adds to the fun.


Which Golfer is known as 'Mrs Doubtfire'?

Golf Today's A to Z of Golf: Nicknames of golfers, past and present Nicknames of golfers, past and present A Aquaman Woody Austin: he fell in a lake on the follow-through from a difficult lie on the bank during the 2007 Presidents Cup B Babe Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias: hugely gifted all-round sportwoman, called 'Babe' (from Babe Ruth) after hitting five home runs in a baseball game. 41 LPGA wins, including ten majors (four of them won as an amateur). Big Easy Ernie Els: because he's big, and makes it look so easy. Big Fijian Tough one, this. It's Vijay Singh. Because he's big (1m88, 94kg) too, and he's from Fiji. Big Mama JoAnne Carner: winner of 43 LPGA titles, including two US Women's Opens - a tall, powerful woman. Big Wiesy Michelle Wie: tall, willowy and with effortless length, ie a sort of female Ernie Els. Black Knight, The Gary Player: South African legend, famous for wearing black, supposedly to help him absorb the sun's energy. Boo Thomas Brent Weekley, a keen hunter and woodsman (from Boo Boo Bear, cartoon character friend of Yogi Bear) Boom Boom Fred Couples: a reference to his immense power off the tee. Boss of the Moss Loren Roberts: one of the finest putters in the game. Buffalo Bill Billy Casper: prolific winner of tournaments from the 50's to early 70s, including two US Opens and a Masters. Fought a lifelong battle with his weight, and ate buffalo meat and organic vegetables to try and keep it down. Bulldog Corey Pavin : a reference to his gritty, determined, never-give-up playing style, rather than his slight, short-hitting physique. Won the 1995 US Open with a memorable 4-wood to 5 feet on the final hole. C Champagne Tony Tony Lema: winner of the 1964 Open Championship. Aquired the name after promising champagne to the press if he won the Orange County Open in 1962 (he did). Died aged 32 in 1966 when his plane ran out of fuel and crashed onto a golf course. Chippie Paul Lawrie: 1999 Open Champion, for his enviable short game, developed as a child by chipping balls into a small gravel circle in which stood the rotating clothes line on which his mother hung the washing. Chocolate Soldier Henry Picard: American winner of the Masters and US PGA, contemporary of Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. "Pick" to his friends, he was head pro at the Hershey Country Club in the 1930s, whence the nickname. Also called the "Hershey Hurricane". Choke, The Scott Hoch: unforgiving reference to his habit of challenging for, but losing major titles, including missing two 2-3 foot putts in the 1989 Masters which ultimately gave Nick Faldo the title. Chucky Three Sticks Charles Gordon Howell III: as in I, I and I... D Doc Gil Morgan: successful US pro (7 PGA and 25 Champuions Tour wins, who is also a qualified Doctor of Optometry. Double D Former world number one David Duval. Duffy James Joseph Waldorf, Jr: four-time PGA Tour winner and wine connaisseur, with a taste in flamboyant shirts and golf balls decorated by his children. El Gato Eduardo Romero: Spanish for cat - the Argentine has a feline way of stalking around his shots. El Niño Sergio Garcia : first came on tour as a brash teenager and had a 'whirlwind' style on the course. F Frank Urban Zoeller: from his initials F.U.Z. Winner of the Masters amd the US Open. G Ben Crenshaw: ironic reference to his fierce temper, despite angelic looks. Giant, The Craig Smith: to date, his main claim to fame is being the world's tallest touring professional at 6ft 8in (2m.03). Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus - from his blond hair, large frame, aggressive golf and large fortune earned in golf and business. Goose, The Retief Goosen - enough said, although strictly speaking the nickname is linguistically incorrect, as his name is pronounced 'Hersen' in his native Afrikaans. Great White Shark Greg Norman, big, blond, Australian former world no. 1. Ironically, despite the nickname and his prodigious number of tournament victories around the world, he is arguably more famous for the major championships he failed to win than for those (2 Open Championships) he won. H Haig, The Walter Hagen : also cal