Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli (About this soundpronunciation (help·info); born 5 November 1988) is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world.[3] He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and has been the team's captain since 2013. Since October 2017, he has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently the leading batsman in the Test rankings.[4] Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best ever Test rating (937 points), ODI rating (911 points) and T20I rating (897 points).

Kohli captained India Under-19s to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, and a few months later, made his ODI debut for India against Sri Lanka at the age of 19. Initially having played as a reserve batsman in the Indian team, he soon established himself as a regular in the ODI middle-order and was part of the squad that won the 2011 World Cup. He made his Test debut in 2011 and shrugged off the tag of "ODI specialist" by 2013 with Test hundreds in Australia and South Africa.[5] Having reached the number one spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in 2013,[6] Kohli also found success in the Twenty20 format, winning the Man of the Tournament twice at the ICC World Twenty20 (in 2014 and 2016).

Kohli was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and handed over the Test captaincy following Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Test retirement in 2014. In early 2017, he became the limited-overs captain as well after Dhoni stepped down from the position. In ODIs, Kohli has the second highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world. He holds the world record for being the fastest batsman to 10,000 and 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, reaching the milestones in 205 and 222 innings respectively.[7][8]

Kohli has been the recipient of many awards such as the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the Year 2018; ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012, 2017 and 2018 and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2016, 2017 and 2018.[9] He was given the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri under the sports category in 2017[10] and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India, in 2018.[11] Kohli is ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes by ESPN[12] and one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes.[13] In 2018, Time magazine named Kohli one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Early life
Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi into a Punjabi family.[15] His father, Prem Kohli, worked as a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, is a housewife.[16] He has an older brother, Vikas, and an older sister, Bhavna.[17] According to his family, when he was three-years old, Kohli would pick up a cricket bat, start swinging it and ask his father to bowl at him.[18]

Kohli was raised in Uttam Nagar[19] and started his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School. In 1998, the West Delhi Cricket Academy was created, and Kohli, a nine-year-old, was part of its first intake.[19] Kohli's father took him to the academy after their neighbours suggested that "Virat shouldn't waste his time in gully cricket and instead join a professional club".[16] Kohli trained at the academy under Rajkumar Sharma and also played matches at the Sumeet Dogra Academy at Vasundhara Enclave at the same time.[19] Sharma recounts Kohli's early days at his academy, "He oozed talent. It was so difficult to keep him quiet. He was a natural in whatever he did and I was most impressed with his attitude. He was ready to bat at any spot, and I had to literally push him home after the training sessions. He just wouldn’t leave."[20] In ninth grade, he shifted to Saviour Convent in Paschim Vihar to help his cricket practice.[16] Apart from sports, Kohli was good at academics as well, and his teachers remember him as "a bright and alert child".[21] Kohli's family lived in Meera Bagh until 2015 when they moved to Gurgaon.[22]

Kohli's father died on 18 December 2006 due to a stroke after being bed-ridden for a month.[16] Regarding his early life, Kohli has said in an interview, "I've seen a lot in life. Losing my father at a young age, the family business not doing too well, staying in a rented place. There were tough times for the family... It's all embedded in my memory."[23] According to Kohli, his father supported his cricket training during his childhood, "My father was my biggest support. He was the one who drove me to practice every day. I miss his presence sometimes."[24]

Youth and domestic career
Kohli first played for Delhi Under-15 team in October 2002 in the 2002–03 Polly Umrigar Trophy. He was the leading run-getter for his team in that tournament with 172 runs at an average of 34.40.[25] He became the captain of the team for the 2003–04 Polly Umrigar Trophy[26] and scored 390 runs in 5 innings at an average of 78 including two centuries and two fifties.[27] In late 2004, he was selected in the Delhi Under-17 team for the 2003–04 Vijay Merchant Trophy. He scored 470 runs in four matches at an average of 117.50 with two hundreds and top-score of 251*.[28] Delhi Under-17s won the 2004–05 Vijay Merchant Trophy in which Kohli finished as the highest run-scorer with 757 runs from 7 matches at an average of 84.11 with two centuries.[29] In February 2006, he made his List A debut for Delhi against Services but did not get to bat.[30]

In July 2006, Kohli was selected in the India Under-19 squad on its tour of England. He averaged 105 in the three-match ODI series against England Under-19s[31] and 49 in the three-match Test series.[32] India Under-19 went on to win both the series. At the conclusion of the tour, the India Under-19 coach Lalchand Rajput was impressed with Kohli and said, "Kohli showed strong technical skills against both pace and spin".[33] In September, the India Under-19 team toured Pakistan. Kohli averaged 58 in the Test series[34] and 41.66 in the ODI series against Pakistan Under-19s.[35]
Kohli made his first-class debut for Delhi against Tamil Nadu in November 2006, at the age of 18, and scored 10 in his debut innings. He came into the spotlight in December when he decided to play for his team against Karnataka on the day after his father's death and went on to score 90.[37] He went directly to the funeral after he was dismissed. Delhi captain Mithun Manhas said, "That is an act of great commitment to the team and his innings turned out to be crucial," while coach Chetan Chauhan lauded Kohli's "attitude and determination."[38] His mother noted that "Virat changed a bit after that day. Overnight he became a much more matured person. He took every match seriously. He hated being on the bench. It's as if his life hinged totally on cricket after that day. Now, he looked like he was chasing his father's dream which was his own too."[16] He scored a total of 257 runs from 6 matches at an average of 36.71 in that season.[39]

In April 2007, he made his Twenty20 debut and finished as the highest run-getter for his team in the Inter-State T20 Championship with 179 runs at an average of 35.80.[40] In July–August 2007, the India Under-19 team toured Sri Lanka. In the triangular series against Sri Lanka Under-19s and Bangladesh Under-19s, Kohli was the second highest run-getter with 146 runs from 5 matches.[41] In the two-match Test series that followed, he scored 244 runs at an average of 122 including a hundred and a fifty
n February–March 2008, Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. Batting at number 3, he scored 235 runs in 6 matches at an average of 47 and finished as the tournament's third-highest run-getter and one of the three batsmen to score a hundred in the tournament.[43] His century (100 runs from 74 balls) against the West Indies Under-19s in the group stage, which was called "the innings of the tournament" by ESPNcricinfo,[44] gave India a 50-run victory and earned Kohli the man of the match. Kohli picked up a leg injury during the match, but recovered in time to play the quarter-final match against England Under-19s.[45] He was instrumental in India's three-wicket semi-final win over New Zealand Under-19s in which he took 2/27 and scored 43 in the tense run-chase and was awarded the man of the match.[46] He scored 19 against South Africa Under-19s in the final which India won by 12 runs (D/L method). ESPNcricinfo commended him for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament.[44]

Following the Under-19 World Cup, Kohli was bought by the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for $30,000 on a youth contract.[47] In June 2008, Kohli and his Under-19 teammates Pradeep Sangwan and Tanmay Srivastava were awarded the Border-Gavaskar scholarship. The scholarship allowed the three players to train for six weeks at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.[43] In July 2008, he was included in India's 30-man probable squad for the ICC Champions Trophy which was to be held in Pakistan in September 2008.[48] He was also picked in the India Emerging Players squad for the four-team Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. He was in fine form in that tournament and scored 206 runs in six matches at an average of 41.20

Question Time

Question Time is a topical debate programme, typically broadcast on BBC One at 10:35 pm on Thursdays. It is usually repeated on BBC Two and on BBC Parliament, later in the week. Question Time is also available on BBC iPlayer.[6][7]

Mentorn has produced Question Time since 1998.[8]

Fiona Bruce succeeded David Dimbleby as presenter in January 2019.[
Origins
Question Time was first broadcast on Tuesday 25 September 1979, based on the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions?

The first panel consisted of Labour MP Michael Foot, author Edna O'Brien, Conservative politician Teddy Taylor, and the Archbishop of Liverpool Derek Worlock.[10]

Format
Question Time panels are typically composed of five public figures, "nearly always [including] a representative from the UK government and the official opposition." The panel also features "representatives from other political parties across the series, taking as [the] guide the level of electoral support at national level which each party enjoys."[11]

High-profile journalists and authors, television and radio broadcasters, and comedians, join the panel, as do business leaders from well-known companies, and leading or expert academics, lawyers, police officers, and clerics.[12]

Audience members are selected based on age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, disability status, voting intention, voting history, and party membership.[13]

Audience members are "requested to come up with two questions, to be considered for the programme." The panel hears the questions for the first time, when the audience members ask them.

Applicants are contacted on the Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday before the programme. Although, due to a "high volume of requests," the team are unable to call everyone.[14]

Question Time is usually recorded "as-live," and in a single-take, shortly before transmission. The programme is only edited on "very rare" occasions for legal or taste reasons, or because it over-runs.[15] For example, The Observer newspaper reported in 1986 that "The BBC's lawyers ordered nine seconds of Question Time to be deleted by the old-fashioned method of simply cutting off the sound".[16]

Presenters
Sir Robin Day
Veteran news presenter Sir Robin Day was the programme's first chair, presenting it for nearly 10 years until June 1989.

Question Time soon gained popularity under Day's lead, with his quick wit and interrogation skills.[17]

His famous catchphrase when he had introduced the panel was: "There they are, and here we go."[18]

The programme was mainly filmed at the Greenwood Theatre in London on the south side of London Bridge.

Day's last programme as presenter was broadcast from Paris on 12 July 1989. He was allowed to choose his own guests.[19]

Peter Sissons
After Day retired, Peter Sissons took over and continued until 1993.

Following Day's departure, the BBC decided to widen the programme's appeal by moving it around the country. The programme also changed its London location from the Greenwood Theatre to the Barbican Centre.

Sissons' tenure as Question Time chair included three different editors. There were several problems during filming, including a bomb scare during a live recording, which resulted in the programme being taken off the air, and the death of an audience member who collapsed while recording.[19]

The programme continued to enjoy good ratings during this period, notably on the day of Margaret Thatcher's resignation on 22 November 1990, which featured two different panels over two editions.[19]

David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby succeeded Sissons as Question Time presenter in 1994, after the BBC held two pilot show auditions between Dimbleby and Jeremy Paxman, with two different audiences and two different panels.[20]

For a brief period under Dimbleby in the mid-1990s, there were a number of variations to the format, including the audience using voting keypads to take a poll of the audience at the end of the programme and Dimbleby getting out of his seat at intervals to question the audience.[21]

Dimbleby presented Question Time for 25 years, the programme's longest-serving presenter, until his final programme, aged 80, on 13 December 2018.[22]

Fiona Bruce
In December 2018, the BBC announced that Fiona Bruce would succeed Dimbleby as moderator.

Bruce—along with Samira Ahmed, Victoria Derbyshire, Emily Maitlis, Nick Robinson, and Kirsty Wark—attended October 2018 auditions at London's James Allen's Girls' School.

Bruce presented her first Question Time in January 2019.[23][24][25][26]

Guest presenters
Question Time has seen various presenters deputise for the main chair.

Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Sue Lawley, Bernard Levin, and Donald MacCormick, all moderated in Day's place.[27][28][29][30]

In November 2009, John Humphrys presented in lieu of Dimbleby. Dimbleby had been "injured by a bullock at his farm" causing him "briefly to be knocked out."[31]

In June 2017, Nick Robinson presented a "Leaders Special" edition of Question Time. The programme was moved for news coverage of the London Bridge attack. Dimbleby was preparing for the General Election coverage.[32]

Editors
Charlie Courtauld was editor from 1998 to 2000, leaving to join the Independent on Sunday as its comment editor.[33][34]

Nick Pisani was appointed in 2000, resigning abruptly in May 2005 after news was leaked that he had been offered a job as David Cameron's head of TV presentation.[34]

Ed Havard was made acting editor in May 2005 after Nick Pisani left. During his time in charge the BBC offered a seat on the panel to Nick Griffin in 2009. He left when the programme's production base moved to Glasgow.[34]

Gill Penlington, the ITV News political producer, was made interim editor in May 2008, when the BBC gave Ed Havard a year-long sabbatical.[34]

Interactivity
SMS contributions
Viewers of the show can submit comments to the show via SMS; until October 2012 a selection of those comments was posted on Ceefax. Comments were edited and put to air by a team of four journalists based at Television Centre in London. The system displayed one message at a time, and usually showed several tens of messages throughout each hour-long episode. The system's popularity sprang from its mix of serious and light-hearted comments.[citation needed]

On average, around 3,500 texts are received during each hour-long programme, although 12,000 texts were once recorded in one frantic programme in 2004. Quantity of texts is generally related to the composition of the panel.[citation needed]

Twitter
On 24 September 2009, the show launched its Twitter presence and the show's presenter has regularly announced its presence on Twitter since late 2009. Using the Twitter ID "@bbcquestiontime"[35] it tweeted using the #bbcqt hashtag. By early 2010, this had become one of the UK's most active "Twitter backchannels" to a TV show. @bbcquestiontime claimed 10,000 tweets had been sent around the show on 7 October 2010. The show had over 40,000 followers on Twitter by October 2010 and this exceeded 50,000 on the evening of 3 February 2011.

On 9 June 2011, Question Time became one of the most-tweeted about shows of the week in the UK, with 5,000 tweets during the programme, with tweeting continuing through to the next day.[36] In addition to the more sober analysis of the discussion, Question Time also has a parallel Twitter backchannel based on the spoof account Dimblebot - purportedly a robot version of Dimbleby - where the entire premise of the programme is claimed to be a demonstration of Dimbleby's ability to defeat the panel. It became clear during the riot special that David Dimbleby knows of the existence of Dimblebot and the associated Dimbledance.[37][38] The @bbcquestiontime account now[39] has over 500,000 followers.

Abid Ali

Abid Ali (29 March 1952 - 5 September 2019)[1] was a Pakistani actor, director and producer, who had acted in numerous television and film productions in Pakistan but is best known for his role as Dilawar khan in the PTV classic drama Waris (1979)
Family
He had 2 wives. From his former marriage to actress and singer Humaira Ali (née Chaudhrain),[3] he has three daughters, including the supermodel-turned-actress Iman Ali as well as the actress and singer Rahma Ali.[4][3]

Early life and career
Born and educated in Quetta, Abid Ali was attracted to the arts from early age, writing stories and painting in his childhood and teenage years, and first entered Radio Pakistan before going to Lahore after some struggle and launching his successful TV career with PTV's drama serial Jhok Sial in 1973.[2]

He launched himself as a director and producer with the 1993-hit drama Dasht, also the first private production for Pakistan, while the same year, for PTV this time, he directed the drama Doosra Aasman, the first drama shot abroad, followed by other projects for many channels, including Saheli in 2007, or Massi aur Malka, a family based-drama, in 2009, usually acting in these serials as well.

Death
He died on 5 September 2019 due to liver failure.[1]

Awards and recognition

Roy Keane

Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football manager and former professional player. He is the joint-most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies, 17 of which came at Manchester United, in his club career.[3] He served as the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national team from 2013 until 2018.[4]

In his 18-year playing career, Keane played for Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, before ending his career at Celtic. Keane was a dominating box-to-box midfielder, noted for his aggressive and highly competitive style of play, an attitude that helped him excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005. Keane helped United achieve a sustained period of success during his 12 years at the club. He then signed for Celtic, but retired as a player less than a year later.

Keane played at international level for the Republic of Ireland over a period of 14 years, most of which he spent as captain. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he played in every Republic of Ireland game. He was sent home from the 2002 World Cup after a dispute with national coach Mick McCarthy over the team's training facilities.

Regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, in 2004 Keane was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.[5] In 2007, The Times placed him at number 11 in their list of the 50 "hardest" footballers in history.[6]

Keane was appointed manager of Sunderland shortly after his retirement as a player and took the club from 23rd position in the Football League Championship, in late August, to win the division title and gain promotion to the Premier League.[7] He resigned in December 2008,[8] and from April 2009 to January 2011, he was manager of Championship club Ipswich Town.[9] In November 2013, he was appointed assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national team by manager Martin O'Neill. Keane has also worked as a studio analyst for British channel ITV's football coverage.
Early life
Keane was born into a working class family in Ballinderry Park, Mayfield, Cork. His father, Maurice, took work wherever he could find, which led to jobs at a local knitwear company and at Murphy's Irish Stout brewery, among others. His family were keen on sport, football especially, and many of his relatives had played for junior clubs in Cork, including Rockmount. Keane took up boxing at the age of nine and trained for a number of years, winning all of his four bouts in the novice league. During this period he was developing as a much more promising footballer at Rockmount, and his potential was highlighted when he was voted Player of the Year in his first season. Many of his teammates were offered trials abroad with English football teams, but Keane was not.

Keane supported Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur as a child, citing Liam Brady and Glenn Hoddle as his favourite players, but as time progressed, Manchester United's Bryan Robson became the footballer he most admired.[10]

Club career
Cobh Ramblers
Initially, Keane was turned down from the Ireland schoolboys squad after a trial in Dublin; one explanation from former Ireland coach and scout Ronan Scally was that the 14-year-old Keane was "just too small" to make it at the required level.[10] Undeterred, he began applying for trials with English clubs, but he was turned down by each one. As his childhood years passed, he took up temporary jobs involving manual work while waiting for a breakthrough in his football prospects. In 1989, he eventually signed for the semi-professional Irish club Cobh Ramblers after persuasion from Ramblers' youth team manager Eddie O'Rourke. Keane was one of two Ramblers representatives in the inaugural FAI/FAS scheme in Dublin, and it was through this initiative that he got his first taste of full-time training. His rapid progression into a promising footballer was reflected by the fact that he would regularly turn out for Ramblers' youth side as well as the actual first team, often playing twice in the same weekend as a result.

In an FAI Youth Cup match against Belvedere, Keane's performance attracted the attention of watching Nottingham Forest scout Noel McCabe, who asked him to travel over to England for a trial. Keane impressed Forest manager Brian Clough, and eventually a deal for Keane worth £47,000 was struck with Cobh Ramblers in the summer of 1990.[11]

Nottingham Forest
Keane initially found life in Nottingham difficult due to the long periods away from his family, and he would often ask the club for a few days' home leave in order to return to Cork. Keane expressed his gratitude at Clough's generosity when considering his requests, as it helped him get through his early days at the club.[10] Keane's first games at Forest came in the Under-21s team during a pre-season tournament in the Netherlands. In the final against Haarlem, he scored the winning penalty in a shootout to decide the competition, and he was soon playing regularly for the reserve team. His professional league debut came against Liverpool at the start of the 1990–91 season, and the resulting performance encouraged Clough to use him more and more as the season progressed.
Keane eventually scored his first professional goal against Sheffield United, and by 1991 he was a regular starter in the side, displacing the England international Steve Hodge. Keane scored three goals during a run to the 1991 FA Cup final, which Forest ultimately lost to Tottenham Hotspur. In the third round, however, he made a costly error against Crystal Palace, gifting a goal to the opposition and allowing them to draw the game. On returning to the dressing room after the game, Clough punched Keane in the face in anger, knocking him to the floor.[13] Despite this incident, Keane bore no hard feelings against his manager, later claiming that he sympathised with Clough due to the pressures of management[14] and that he was too grateful to him for giving him his chance in English football. A year later, Keane returned to Wembley with Forest for the Football League Cup final, but again finished on the losing side as Manchester United secured a 1–0 win.

Keane was beginning to attract attention from the top clubs in the Premier League, and in 1992, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish spoke to Keane about the possibility of a move to the Lancashire club at the end of the season. With Forest struggling in the league and looking increasingly likely to be relegated, Keane negotiated a new contract with a relegation escape clause. The lengthy negotiations had been much talked about in public, not least by Brian Clough, who described Keane as a "greedy child"[10] due to the high wages demanded by the Irishman. "Keane is the hottest prospect in football right now, but he is not going to bankrupt this club", Clough stated. Despite the extended contract negotiations, Forest fans voted him the club's Player of the Season.[15] Despite his best efforts, Keane could not save Forest from relegation, and the clause in his contract became activated. Blackburn agreed a £4 million fee for Keane, who soon after agreed a contract with the club.

A mistake, however, prevented the move to the club: when the contract had been agreed, Dalglish realised they did not have the correct paperwork needed to complete the transfer. This was on a Friday afternoon, and the office had been locked up for the weekend. With a verbal agreement in place, they agreed to meet on Monday morning to complete the transfer officially. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, hearing about the move, phoned Keane and asked whether he would like to join them instead of Blackburn. Ferguson ensured they had the paperwork ready and met up with Keane on the Saturday and signed for Manchester United for £3.75 million, a British transfer record at the time.[16]

Manchester United
Early years: 1993–97
Despite the then-record transfer fee, there was no guarantee that Keane would go straight into the first team. Paul Ince and Bryan Robson had established a formidable partnership in the centre of midfield, having just inspired Manchester United to their first league title since 1967. Robson, however, was 36 years old and in the final stages of his playing career, and a series of injuries kept him out of action for most of the 1992–93 season and into the 1993–94 season. As a result Keane had an extended run in the team, scoring twice on his home debut in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United,[17] and grabbing the winner in the Manchester derby three months later when United overturned a 2–0 deficit at Maine Road to beat Manchester City 3–2.[18]

Keane had soon established himself as a first choice selection, and by the end of the season he had won his first trophy as a professional as United retained their Premier League title. Two weeks later, Keane broke his Wembley losing streak by helping United to a 4–0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, sealing the club's first ever "double".[19]

The following season was less successful, as United were beaten to the league title by Blackburn Rovers and beaten 1–0 in the FA Cup final by Everton.[20][21] He received his first red card as a Manchester United player in a 2–0 FA Cup semi-final replay win against Crystal Palace, after stamping on Gareth Southgate,[22] and was suspended for three matches[23] and fined £5,000.[24] This incident was the first of 11 red cards Keane would accumulate in his United career, and one of the first signs of his indiscipline on the field.

The summer of 1995 saw a period of change at United, with Ince leaving for Internazionale,[25] Mark Hughes moving to Chelsea[26] and Andrei Kanchelskis being sold to Everton.[27] Younger players such as David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were brought into the team, which left Keane as the most experienced player in midfield. Despite a slow start to the 1995–96 campaign, United pegged back title challengers Newcastle United, who had built a commanding 12-point championship lead by Christmas, to secure another Premier League title. Keane's second double in three years was confirmed with a 1–0 win over Liverpool to win the FA Cup for a record ninth time.[28]

The next season saw Keane in and out of the side due to a series of knee injuries and frequent suspensions. He picked up a costly yellow card in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund,[29] which ruled him out of the return leg at Old Trafford.[29] United lost both legs 1–0,[30] but this was compensated for by winning another league title a few days later.[31]

Captaincy: 1997–2001
After Eric Cantona's unexpected retirement, Keane took over as club captain, although he missed most of the 1997–98 season because of a cruciate ligament injury caused by an attempt to tackle Leeds United player Alf-Inge Håland in the ninth Premier League game of the season. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Håland stood over Keane, accusing the injured United captain of having tried to hurt him and of feigning injury to escape punishment, an allegation which would lead to an infamous incident between the two players four years later.

Keane did not return to competitive football that campaign, and could only watch from the sidelines as United squandered an 11-point lead over Arsenal to miss out on the Premier League title. Many pundits cited Keane's absence as a crucial factor in the team's surrender of the league trophy
Keane returned as captain the side the following season, and guided them to a treble of the FA Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League. In an inspirational display against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, he helped haul his team back from two goals down to win 3–2, scoring the first United goal. His performance in this game has been described as his finest hour as a footballer.[34][35] Keane, however, received a yellow card after a trip on Zinedine Zidane that ruled him out of the final. United defeated Bayern Munich 2–1 in the final, but Keane had mixed emotions about the victory due to his suspension. Recalling his thoughts before the game, Keane said, "Although I was putting a brave face on it, this was just about the worst experience I'd had in football." Keane sustained an ankle injury during the 1999 FA Cup Final, four days before the Champions League Final, which ruled him out until the following season.[36] Later that year, Keane scored the only goal in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, as United defeated Palmeiras in Tokyo.

The following season saw prolonged contract negotiations between Keane and Manchester United, with Keane turning down an initial £2 million-a-year offer amid rumours of a move to Italy.[37] His higher demands were eventually met midway through the 1999–2000 season, committing him to United until 2004. Keane was angered when club officials explained an increase in season ticket prices was a result of his improved contract and asked for an apology from the club.[38] Days after the contract was signed, Keane celebrated by scoring the winning goal against Valencia in the Champions League, although United's defence of the Champions League was ended by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, partly due to an unfortunate Keane own goal in the second leg. He was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year at the end of the season after leading United to their sixth Premier League title in eight years.

Keane caused controversy in November 2000, when he criticised sections of United supporters after the Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv at Old Trafford. He complained about the lack of vocal support given by some fans when Dynamo were dominating the game, stating, "Away from home our fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell 'football', never mind understand it."[38] Keane's comments started a debate in England about the changing atmosphere in football grounds,[39] and the term "prawn sandwich brigade" is now part of the English football vocabulary, referring to people who attend football games or claim to be fans of football because it is fashionable rather than due to any genuine interest in the game.

Alf-Inge Håland incident
Keane made headlines again in the 2001 Manchester derby, when five minutes from the final whistle, he was sent off for a blatant knee-high foul on Alf-Inge Håland in what was seen by many as an act of revenge.[40] He initially received a three-match suspension and a £5,000 fine from The Football Association (FA), but further punishment was to follow after the release of Keane's autobiography in August 2002, in which he stated that he intended "to hurt" Håland. Keane's account of the incident was as follows:

I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.[41]

An admission that the tackle was in fact a premeditated assault, it left the FA with no choice but to charge Keane with bringing the game into disrepute.[42] He was banned for a further five matches and fined £150,000 in the ensuing investigation. Despite widespread condemnation,[43] he later maintained in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident: "My attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye", and said he would probably do the same thing again.[44]

Håland later implied that the tackle effectively finished his playing career as he never played a full game afterwards.[45] However, Håland did complete the match and played 68 minutes of the following game.[46] He also played a friendly for Norway in between both matches.[47] It was, in fact, a long-standing injury to his left knee that ended his career rather than his right.[48]

Later career: 2001–2005
United finished the 2001–02 season trophyless for the first time in four years. Domestically, they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Middlesbrough in the fourth round and finished third in the Premier League, their lowest final position in the league since 1991. Progress was made in Europe, however, as United reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, their furthest advance since their successful campaign of 1999. They were eventually knocked out on away goals after a 3–3 aggregate draw with Bayer Leverkusen, despite Keane putting United 3–2 up.

After the defeat, Keane blamed United's loss of form on some of his teammates' fixation with wealth, claiming that they had "forgot about the game, lost the hunger that got you the Rolex, the cars, the mansion".[10] Earlier in the season, Keane had publicly advocated the breakup of the treble-winning team[49] as he believed the team-mates who had played in United's victorious 1999 Champions League final no longer had the motivation to work as hard.[50]

In August 2002, Keane was fined £150,000 by Sir Alex Ferguson and suspended for three matches for elbowing Sunderland's Jason McAteer, and this was compounded by an added five-match suspension for the controversial comments about Håland. Keane used the break to undergo an operation on his hip, which had caused him to take painkillers for a year beforehand. Despite early fears that the injury was career-threatening,[51] and suggestions of a future hip-replacement from his surgeon,[52] he was back in the United team by December

NFL

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and the highest professional level of American football in the world.[3] The NFL's 17-week regular season runs from early September to late December, with each team playing 16 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference (four division winners and two wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held on the first Sunday in February and is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC.

The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world[4] and is the most popular sports league in the United States.[5] The Super Bowl is also among the biggest club sporting events in the world,[6] with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in American history and all occupying the Nielsen's Top 5 tally of the all-time most watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015.[7]

The Green Bay Packers hold the most combined NFL championships with 13, winning nine titles before the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards. Since the creation of the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots both have the most championship titles at six. The Patriots are the NFL's current champions following their victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio.[8] This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), a group who, according to the Canton Evening Repository, intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules".[9]

Another meeting was held on September 17, 1920 with representatives from teams from four states: Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and Racine (Chicago) Cardinals from Illinois.[10] The league was renamed to the American Professional Football Association (APFA).[9] The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams (the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles, and Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year). The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was also at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), remain
Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 (8 wins, 0 losses, and 3 ties) record.[12] The first event occurred on September 26, 1920 when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park.[8][13] On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred.[14][15] The following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans.[16] On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).[17][18]

In 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears (6–1–6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6–1–4) tied for first in the league standings.[19] At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage (not including ties, which were not counted towards the standings) at the end of the season was declared the champion; the only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie, if two teams played twice in a season, the result of the second game determined the title (the source of the 1921 controversy). This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion. The teams were originally scheduled to play the playoff game, officially a regular season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won the championship. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions.[20] The 1934 season also marked the first of 12 seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure and coinciding with the removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball.[21]

The NFL was always the foremost professional football league in the United States; it nevertheless faced a large number of rival professional leagues through the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), on top of various regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these rival leagues, including the Los Angeles Rams (who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League), the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers (the last two of which came from the AAFC). By the 1950s, the NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States; its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit, which formally became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958. With Canadian football being a different football code than the American game, the CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league.

A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced a merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV.[22] After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC), consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams.[23]

Today, the NFL is considered[clarification needed] the most popular sports league in North America; much of its growth is attributed to former Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who led the league from 1960 to 1989. Overall annual attendance increased from three million at the beginning of his tenure to seventeen million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII.[24] The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way.[24] Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his seventeen-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams,[25] as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles.[26] The league's current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules.[27] These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety.[28]

Season and playoff development
Main article: List of National Football League seasons
From 1920 to 1934, the NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum. The league mandated a 12-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935, later shortening this to 11 games in 1937 and 10 games in 1943, mainly due to World War II. After the war ended, the number of games returned to 11 games in 1946 and to 12 in 1947. The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961, which it retained until switching to the current 16-game schedule in 1978.[29] Proposals to increase the regular season to 18 games have been made, but have been rejected in labor negotiations with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).[30]

The NFL operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966, where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Championship Game. If two teams tied for the conference lead, they would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion. In 1967, the NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams. Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference, the NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions. The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs, a two-round playoff.[31] The NFL also operated the Playoff Bowl (officially the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) from 1960 to 1969. Effectively a third-place game, pitting the two conference runners-up against each other, the league considers Playoff Bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games. The league discontinued the Playoff Bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers.[32]

Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970, the NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each. The expanded league, now with twenty-six teams,[23] would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff, the participants being the three division champions from each conference as well as one 'wild card' team (the team with the best win percentage) from each conference. In 1978, the league added a second wild card team from each conference, bringing the total number of playoff teams to ten, and a further two wild card teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to twelve. When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, the league realigned, changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference to four divisions in each conference. As each division champion gets a playoff bid, the number of wild card teams from each conference dropped from three to two.
At the corporate level, the National Football League considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams.[34] Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association.[35] Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.".[36] In contrast, each individual team (except the non-profit Green Bay Packers[37]) is subject to tax because they make a profit.[38]

The NFL gave up the tax exempt status in 2015 following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years... Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers.[39]

The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties (such as awarding the conference championship trophy).

The commissioner is elected by affirmative vote of two-thirds or 18 (whichever is greater) of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or ten of the conference members.[40] The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer"[41] of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league bylaws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football".[41] The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks.[41]

In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's Executive Committee up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture"[41] of a club's franchise or any other action he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games.[41] The current Commissioner of the National Football League is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue, the previous commissioner, retired.[42]

Financials
NFL revenue is from three primary sources: NFL Ventures (merchandising), NFL Enterprises (NFL Network and NFL Sunday Ticket, which the league controls), and the television contract. The league distributes such revenue equally among teams, regardless of performance. As of February 2019 each team receives $255 million annually from the league's television contract, up 150% from $99.9 million in 2010.[43]

Most NFL teams' financial statements are secret. The Kansas City Star obtained the Kansas City Chiefs' tax returns for 2008-2010. According to the Star, the team's revenue rose from $231 million in 2008 to $302 million in 2010. In 2010, two thirds of revenue came from the league: $99.8 million from NFL Ventures ($55.3 million) and NFL Enterprises ($44.6 million), and the $99.9 million share of the television contract. The remaining one third was from tickets ($42.4 million), corporate sponsorships ($6.6 million), food sales ($5 million), parking passes ($4.7 million), in-stadium advertising ($3.7 million), radio contract ($2.7 million), and miscellaneous sources.[43]

The largest Chiefs expense in 2010 was $148 million for players, coaches, and other employees. Of the $38 million in operating income, Clark, Lamar Jr., two other children, and widow of former team owner Lamar Hunt divided $17.6 million, and reinvested the remaining $20 million into the team.[43]

According to economist Richard D. Wolff, the NFL's revenue model is in contravention of the typical corporate structure. By redistributing profits to all teams the NFL is ensuring that one team will not dominate the league through excessive earnings.[44] Roger Noll described the revenue sharing as the league's "most important structural weakness", however, as there is no disincentive against a team playing badly and the largest cost item, player salaries, is capped.[43]

Teams
The NFL consists of 32 clubs divided into two conferences of 16 teams in each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four clubs in each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 53 players on its roster;[45] only 46 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days.[46] Each team can also have a 10-player practice squad separate from its main roster, but the practice squad may only be composed of players who were not active for at least nine games in any of their seasons in the league. A player can only be on a practice squad for a maximum of three seasons.[47]

Each NFL club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city. This franchise covers 'Home Territory' (the 75 miles surrounding the city limits, or, if the team is within 100 miles of another league city, half the distance between the two cities) and 'Home Marketing Area' (Home Territory plus the rest of the state the club operates in, as well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp). Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area. There are several exceptions to this rule, mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other: the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders only have exclusive rights in their cities and share rights outside of it; and teams that operate in the same city (e.g. New York City and Los Angeles) or the same state (e.g. California, Florida, and Texas) share the rights to the city's Home Territory and the state's Home Marketing Area, respectively.[48]

Every NFL team is based in the contiguous United States. Although no team is based in a foreign country, the Jacksonville Jaguars began playing one home game a year at Wembley Stadium in London, England, in 2013 as part of the NFL International Series.[49] The Jaguars' agreement with Wembley was originally set to expire in 2016, but has since been extended through 2020.[50] The Buffalo Bills played one home game every season at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. Mexico also hosted an NFL regular-season game, a 2005 game between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals known as "Fútbol Americano",[51] and 39 international preseason games were played from 1986 to 2005 as part of the American Bowl series.[52] The Raiders and Houston Texans played a game in Mexico City at Estadio Azteca on November 21, 2016.[53]

According to Forbes, the Dallas Cowboys, at approximately US$4 billion, are the most valuable NFL franchise and the most valuable sports team in the world.[54] Also, all 32 NFL teams rank among the Top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world;[55] and 14 of the NFL's owners are listed on the Forbes 400, the most of any sports league or organization.[56]

The 32 teams are organized into eight geographic divisions of four teams each. These divisions are further organized into two conferences, the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. The two-conference structure has its origins in a time when major American professional football was organized into two independent leagues, the National Football League and its younger rival, the American Football League. The leagues merged in the late 1960s, adopting the older league's name and reorganizing slightly to ensure the same number of teams in both conferences.

Ed

Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE (/ˈʃɪərən/; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor. He attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford as an undergraduate from the age of 18 in 2009. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced "plus"), was released in September 2011. It topped the UK and Australian charts, reached number five in the US, and has since been certified eight-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.

His second studio album, x (pronounced "multiply"), was released in June 2014. It peaked at number one in the UK and the US, and was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. His single from x, "Thinking Out Loud", earned him two Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Sheeran's third album, ÷ (pronounced "divide"), was released in March 2017. The album debuted at number one in the UK, the US and other major markets, and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill", were released in January 2017 and broke records in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and Germany, by debuting in the top two positions of the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week. By March 2017, Sheeran had accumulated ten top 10 singles from ÷ on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for most top 10 UK singles from one album. His fourth single from ÷, "Perfect", reached number one in the US, Australia and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one in 2017. Released in 2019, his fourth studio album, No.6 Collaborations Project, debuted atop the UK and US charts.

Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.[6] Two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history: x at number 20, and ÷ at number 34. Beginning in March 2017, his ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing of all time in August 2019. An alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, as an actor Sheeran has portrayed a recurring role on The Bastard Executioner, and in 2019, he appeared in the Richard Curtis/Danny Boyle film Yesterday
Early life
Edward Christopher Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire,[7] on 17 February 1991.[3] When he was a child, he moved with his family from Hebden Bridge to Framlingham in Suffolk.[8] He has an older brother named Matthew, who works as a composer.[9] Sheeran's parents, John and Imogen, are from London. His paternal grandparents are Irish,[10][11][12] and Sheeran has stated that his father is from a "very large" Catholic family.[13] John is an art curator and lecturer, and Imogen is a culture publicist turned jewellery designer.[11][14] His parents ran Sheeran Lock, an independent art consultancy, from 1990 to 2010.[15]

Sheeran sang in a local church choir from the age of four, learned to play the guitar during his time at Rishworth School,[16] and began writing songs while at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham.[17][18] A 2004 school report described him as a "natural performer", and his classmates also voted him "most likely to be famous".[19] He was accepted at the National Youth Theatre in London as a teenager.[20][21] He successfully auditioned for Youth Music Theatre UK in 2007 and joined their production of Frankenstein in Plymouth.[22] He is a patron of Youth Music Theatre UK (now renamed British Youth Music Theatre)[23] and of Access to Music, where he studied Artist Development.[24][25] Sheeran is a second cousin of Northern Irish broadcaster Gordon Burns,[26] who hosted the British game show The Krypton Factor.[11]

Music career
Sheeran began recording music in 2004 and independently released his first collection of work, Spinning Man.[A] He has been friends with fellow English singer, Passenger, since he was 15, with the two playing the same gig in Cambridge.[28] He moved to London in 2008 and began playing in small venues. In 2008, he auditioned for the ITV series, Britannia High.[29] He also opened for Nizlopi in Norwich in April 2008, after being one of their guitar technicians.[18] He released another EP in 2009, You Need Me, just before going on tour with Just Jack. He also collaborated several times with Essex singer Leddra Chapman, including CeeLo Green's "Fuck You". In February 2010, Sheeran posted a video through SB.TV, and rapper Example invited Sheeran to tour with him. In the same month, he also released his critically acclaimed Loose Change EP, which featured his future debut single, "The A Team".[30] In the autumn of 2009, Sheeran began studying music at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey as an undergraduate,[31] though it is not clear how long he remained at the college.

Sheeran began to be seen by more people over the internet through YouTube and his fan-base grew, with him also receiving praise from The Independent newspaper and Elton John.[32] He played a Station Session in St. Pancras International in June 2010.[33][34] The episode is unavailable from the official Station Sessions channel.[35] Sheeran also self-released two other EPs in 2010, Ed Sheeran: Live at the Bedford and Songs I Wrote with Amy, which is a collection of love songs he wrote in Wales with Amy Wadge.[36] When in Los Angeles in 2010, he was invited to perform at The Foxxhole, a club run by actor Jamie Foxx, which ended with an invitation to stay at Foxx's home.[37]

On 8 January 2011, Sheeran released another independent EP, No. 5 Collaborations Project, featuring grime artists such as Wiley, Jme, Devlin, Sway and Ghetts.[38] With this EP, Sheeran gained mainstream attention for having reached number 2 in the iTunes chart without any promotion or label, selling over 7,000 copies in the first week.[39] Three months later, Sheeran put on a free show to fans at the Barfly in Camden Town. Over 1,000 fans turned up, so Sheeran played four different shows to ensure everyone saw a gig, including a gig outside on the street after the venue had closed. Later that month, Sheeran was signed to Asylum Records.[39]

2011–2013: + and international success
On 26 April 2011, Sheeran appeared on the TV music show Later... with Jools Holland, where he performed his debut single "The A Team". Six weeks later, "The A Team" was released as a digital download in the UK. The release served as the lead single from Sheeran's debut studio album, + (pronounced "plus").[40] "The A Team" entered the UK Singles Chart at number three, selling over 58,000 copies in the first week. It was the best selling debut single and the overall eighth-best selling single of 2011, selling 801,000 copies.[41] The lead single also became a top ten hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands. During a headline set in the BBC Introducing tent at Glastonbury Festival 2011, Sheeran announced that "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" would be released on 26 August as the second single from the album. The second single peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart.[42] "Lego House" was released as the third single, reaching the top ten on the Australian, Irish and New Zealand Singles Charts.[43] The music video for “Lego House” features Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint, as a play on their similar appearance.[44] "Drunk", released on 19 February 2012, became Sheeran's fourth consecutive top ten single in the UK, peaking at number nine.
Sheeran released + on 12 September 2011. The album received generally favourable reviews from music critics.[46] + debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart for sales of 102,000 copies.[47] By end of 2011, sales of the album in the UK stand at 791,000; it became the second best-selling debut album and the ninth biggest-selling album there.[48] The album has been certified platinum six times by the British Phonographic Industry, denoting shipments of 1,800,000 copies.[49] As of March 2012, the album had sold 1,021,072 copies in the UK.[50] The album also reached the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the US.[51][52][53]

The song, "Moments", on the debut album by boy band One Direction, released in November 2011, was co-written by Sheeran.[54] At the 2012 Brit Awards on 21 February, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough Act of the Year.[55][56] On 10 January 2012, it was announced that Sheeran would support Snow Patrol on their US tour from late March until May.[57] His song, "Give Me Love", was featured in the episode "Dangerous Liaisons" of The Vampire Diaries.[58] At the Ivor Novello Awards in May 2012, Sheeran's "The A Team" bested Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and Florence and the Machine's "Shake It Out" for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[59] Sheeran performed "The A Team" at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II concert held on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace on 4 June 2012 and a cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on 12 August 2012
Taylor Swift contacted Sheeran after hearing his music while touring Australia in March 2012.[61] He later co-wrote and provided vocals for "Everything Has Changed", a single featured on Swift's fourth studio album, Red. Sheeran also contributed two songs to One Direction's second studio album, Take Me Home, released in November 2012; the single "Little Things" became the group's second number-one in the UK.[62] Sheeran's album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, while "The A Team" reached No. 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[61] In late 2012 and early 2013, he headlined a US tour of 6,000–9,000 capacity venues.[61] "The A Team" received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards.[63] Elton John, who runs Sheeran's management company, canvassed the award organisers to get Sheeran a performance slot at the ceremony but was told that Sheeran alone was not high-profile enough. John decided to appear with Sheeran to circumvent this problem.[64] Sheeran was also featured on some tracks from Irish singer Foy Vance's fourth album Joy of Nothing.[65]

From March to September 2013, Sheeran played at arenas and stadiums across North America as the opening act for Swift's The Red Tour.[66][67] According to Sheeran, it was then his biggest tour, and he added a scarlet RED tattoo to commemorate it.[68] In October 2013, Sheeran headlined three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden.[67][69][70] At the concert, Sheeran debuted new songs, including "Tenerife Sea",[71] a future track on his second studio album. Sheeran released "I See Fire" on 5 November 2013. The song is featured in the end credits of the film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the film's soundtrack, and on the deluxe version of his second album.[72] Sheeran was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2014 Grammy Awards

Honda

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (Japanese: 本田技研工業株式会社 Hepburn: Honda Giken Kōgyō KK, IPA: [honda] (About this soundlisten); /ˈhɒndə/) is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment.

Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959,[2][3] as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.[4] Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001.[5][6] Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world in 2015.[7]

Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, and other products. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which began production in 2012. Honda has three joint-ventures in China (Honda China, Dongfeng Honda, and Guangqi Honda).

In 2013, Honda invested about 5.7% (US$6.8 billion) of its revenues in research and development.[8] Also in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to be a net exporter from the United States, exporting 108,705 HonThroughout his life, Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda, had an interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. In 1937, with financing from his acquaintance Kato Shichirō, Honda founded Tōkai Seiki (Eastern Sea Precision Machine Company) to make piston rings working out of the Art Shokai garage.[10] After initial failures, Tōkai Seiki won a contract to supply piston rings to Toyota, but lost the contract due to the poor quality of their products.[10] After attending engineering school without graduating, and visiting factories around Japan to better understand Toyota's quality control processes, by 1941 Honda was able to mass-produce piston rings acceptable to Toyota, using an automated process that could employ even unskilled wartime laborers.[10][11]:16–19

Tōkai Seiki was placed under control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (called the Ministry of Munitions after 1943) at the start of World War II, and Soichiro Honda was demoted from president to senior managing director after Toyota took a 40% stake in the company.[10] Honda also aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of military aircraft propellers.[10] The relationships Honda cultivated with personnel at Toyota, Nakajima Aircraft Company and the Imperial Japanese Navy would be instrumental in the postwar period.[10] A US B-29 bomber attack destroyed Tōkai Seiki's Yamashita plant in 1944, and the Itawa plant collapsed in 13 January 1945 Mikawa earthquake. Soichiro Honda sold the salvageable remains of the company to Toyota after the war for ¥450,000, and used the proceeds to found the Honda Technical Research Institute in October 1946.[10][12]

With a staff of 12 men working in a 16 m2 (170 sq ft) shack, they built and sold improvised motorized bicycles, using a supply of 500 two-stroke 50 cc Tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines.[10][11]:19[13] When the engines ran out, Honda began building their own copy of the Tohatsu engine, and supplying these to customers to attach to their bicycles.[10][13] This was the Honda A-Type, nicknamed the Bata Bata for the sound the engine made.[10] In 1949, the Honda Technical Research Institute was liquidated for ¥1,000,000, or about US$5,000 today; these funds were used to incorporate Honda Motor Co., Ltd.[11]:21 At about the same time Honda hired engineer Kihachiro Kawashima, and Takeo Fujisawa who provided indispensable business and marketing expertise to complement Soichiro Honda's technical bent.[11]:21 The close partnership between Soichiro Honda and Fujisawa lasted until they stepped down together in October 1973.[11]:21

The first complete motorcycle, with both the frame and engine made by Honda, was the 1949 D-Type, the first Honda to go by the name Dream.[12][14] Honda Motor Company grew in a short time to become the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964.[citation needed]

The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck, which went on sale in August 1963.[15] Powered by a small 356-cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket.[16] The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which followed the T360 into production in October 1963. Its chain-driven rear wheels pointed to Honda's motorcycle origins.[17]

Over the next few decades, Honda worked to expand its product line and expanded operations and exports to numerous countries around the world. In 1986, Honda introduced the successful Acura brand to the American market in an attempt to gain ground in the luxury vehicle market. The year 1991 saw the introduction of the Honda NSX supercar, the first all-aluminum monocoque vehicle that incorporated a mid-engine V6 with variable-valve timing.[18]

CEO Tadashi Kume was succeeded by Nobuhiko Kawamoto in 1990. Kawamoto was selected over Shoichiro Irimajiri, who oversaw the successful establishment of Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc. in Marysville, Ohio. Irimajiri and Kawamoto shared a friendly rivalry within Honda; owing to health issues, Irimajiri would resign in 1992.

Following the death of Soichiro Honda and the departure of Irimajiri, Honda found itself quickly being outpaced in product development by other Japanese automakers and was caught off-guard by the truck and sport utility vehicle boom of the 1990s, all which took a toll on the profitability of the company. Japanese media reported in 1992 and 1993 that Honda was at serious risk of an unwanted and hostile takeover by Mitsubishi Motors, which at the time was a larger automaker by volume and was flush with profits from its successful Pajero and Diamante models.[19]

Kawamoto acted quickly to change Honda's corporate culture, rushing through market-driven product development that resulted in recreational vehicles such as the first-generation Odyssey and the CR-V, and a refocusing away from some of the numerous sedans and coupes that were popular with the company's engineers but not with the buying public. The most shocking change to Honda came when Kawamoto ended the company's successful participation in Formula One after the 1992 season, citing costs in light of the takeover threat from Mitsubishi as well as the desire to create a more environmentally friendly company image.[20]

The Honda Aircraft Company was established in 1995, as a wholly owned subsidiary; its goal was to produce jet aircraft under Honda's name.[21]

On 23 February 2015, Honda announced that CEO and President Takanobu Ito would step down and be replaced by Takahiro Hachigo by June; additional retirements by senior managers and directors were expected.[22]

Corporate profile and divisions
Honda is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland.

The company has assembly plants around the globe. These plants are located in China, the United States, Pakistan, Canada, England, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, México, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Taiwan, Perú and Argentina. As of July 2010, 89 percent of Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the United States were built in North American plants, up from 82.2 percent a year earlier. This shields profits from the yen's advance to a 15-year high against the dollar.
da and Acura models, while importing only 88,357
American Honda Motor Company is based in Torrance, California. Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is Honda's motorcycle racing division. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in Markham, Ontario,[25] it was originally planned to be located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, but delays led them to look elsewhere. Their manufacturing division, Honda of Canada Manufacturing, is based in Alliston, Ontario. Honda has also created joint ventures around the world, such as Honda Siel Cars and Hero Honda Motorcycles in India,[26] Guangzhou Honda and Dongfeng Honda in China, Boon Siew Honda in Malaysia and Honda Atlas in Pakistan.

Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 Honda announced plans to halve production at its UK plants.[27] The decision was made to put staff at the Swindon plant on a 2-day week until the end of May as the manufacturer struggled to source supplies from Japan. It's thought around 22,500 cars were produced during this period.

For the fiscal year 2018, Honda reported earnings of US$9.534 billion, with an annual revenue of US$138.250 billion, an increase of 6.2% over the previous fiscal cycle. Honda's shares traded at over $32 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at US$50.4 billion in October 2018.[
Honda's global lineup consists of the Fit, Civic, Accord, Insight, CR-V, CR-Z, Legend and two versions of the Odyssey, one for North America, and a smaller vehicle sold internationally. An early proponent of developing vehicles to cater to different needs and markets worldwide, Honda's lineup varies by country and may have vehicles exclusive to that region. A few examples are the latest Honda Odyssey minivan and the Ridgeline, Honda's first light-duty uni-body pickup truck. Both were designed and engineered primarily in North America and are produced there. Other example of exclusive models includes the Honda Civic five-door hatchback sold in Europe.

Honda's automotive manufacturing ambitions can be traced back to 1963, with the Honda T360, a kei car truck built for the Japanese market.[29] This was followed by the two-door roadster, the Honda S500 also introduced in 1963. In 1965, Honda built a two-door commercial delivery van, called the Honda L700. Honda's first four-door sedan was not the Accord, but the air-cooled, four-cylinder, gasoline-powered Honda 1300 in 1969. The Civic was a hatchback that gained wide popularity internationally, but it wasn't the first two-door hatchback built. That was the Honda N360, another Kei car that was adapted for international sale as the N600. The Civic, which appeared in 1972 and replaced the N600 also had a smaller sibling that replaced the air-cooled N360, called the Honda Life that was water-cooled.

The Honda Life represented Honda's efforts in competing in the kei car segment, offering sedan, delivery van and small pick-up platforms on a shared chassis. The Life StepVan had a novel approach that, while not initially a commercial success, appears to be an influence in vehicles with the front passengers sitting behind the engine, a large cargo area with a flat roof and a liftgate installed in back, and utilizing a transversely installed engine with a front-wheel-drive powertrain.

As Honda entered into automobile manufacturing in the late 1960s, where Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan had been making cars since before WWII, it appears that Honda instilled a sense of doing things a little differently than its Japanese competitors. Its mainstay products, like the Accord and Civic (with the exception of its USA-market 1993–97 Passport which was part of a vehicle exchange program with Isuzu (part of the Subaru-Isuzu joint venture)), have always employed front-wheel-drive powertrain implementation, which is currently a long-held Honda tradition. Honda also installed new technologies into their products, first as optional equipment, then later standard, like anti lock brakes, speed sensitive power steering, and multi-port fuel injection in the early 1980s. This desire to be the first to try new approaches is evident with the creation of the first Japanese luxury chain Acura, and was also evident with the all aluminum, mid-engined sports car, the Honda NSX, which also introduced variable valve timing technology, Honda calls VTEC.

The Civic is a line of compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. In North America, the Civic is the second-longest continuously running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer; only its perennial rival, the Toyota Corolla, introduced in 1968, has been in production longer.[30] The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded. Having gone through several generational changes, the Civic has become larger and more upmarket, and it currently slots between the Fit and Accord.

Honda produces Civic hybrid, a hybrid electric vehicle that competes with the Toyota Prius, and also produces the Insight and CR-Z.

In 2008, Honda increased global production to meet demand for small cars and hybrids in the U.S. and emerging markets. The company shuffled U.S. production to keep factories busy and boost car output, while building fewer minivans and sport utility vehicles as light truck sales fell.[31]

Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the light duty Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year from Motor Trend magazine in 2006. Also in 2006, the redesigned Civic won Car of the Year from the magazine, giving Honda a rare double win of Motor Trend honors.

It is reported that Honda plans to increase hybrid sales in Japan to more than 20% of its total sales in fiscal year 2011, from 14.8% in previous year.[32]

Five of United States Environmental Protection Agency's top ten most fuel-efficient cars from 1984 to 2010 comes from Honda, more than any other automakers. The five models are: 2000–2006 Honda Insight (53 mpg‑US or 4.4 L/100 km or 64 mpg‑imp combined), 1986–1987 Honda Civic Coupe HF (46 mpg‑US or 5.1 L/100 km or 55 mpg‑imp combined), 1994–1995 Honda Civic hatchback VX (43 mpg‑US or 5.5 L/100 km or 52 mpg‑imp combined), 2006– Honda Civic Hybrid (42 mpg‑US or 5.6 L/100 km or 50 mpg‑imp combined), and 2010– Honda Insight (41 mpg‑US or 5.7 L/100 km or 49 mpg‑imp combined).[33] The ACEEE has also rated the Civic GX as the greenest car in America for seven consecutive years.[34]

Motorcycles
For a list of motorcycle products, see List of Honda motorcycles.
Honda is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and has been since it started production in 1955.[10] At its peak in 1982, Honda manufactured almost three million motorcycles annually. By 2006 this figure had reduced to around 550,000 but was still higher than its three domestic competitors.[10]

In 2017, India became the largest motorcycle market of Honda.[35] In India, Honda is leading in the scooters segment, with 59 percent market share.[36]

During the 1960s, when it was a small manufacturer, Honda broke out of the Japanese motorcycle market and began exporting to the U.S. Working with the advertising agency Grey Advertising, Honda created an innovative marketing campaign, using the slogan "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." In contrast to the prevailing negative stereotypes of motorcyclists in America as tough, antisocial rebels, this campaign suggested that Honda motorcycles were made for the everyman. The campaign was hugely successful; the ads ran for three years, and by the end of 1963 alone, Honda had sold 90,000 motorcycles.[11]:{{{1}}}

Taking Honda's story as an archetype of the smaller manufacturer entering a new market already occupied by highly dominant competitors, the story of their market entry, and their subsequent huge success in the U.S. and around the world, has been the subject of some academic controversy. Competing explanations have been advanced to explain Honda's strategy and the reasons for their success.[37]

The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by the UK government to write a report explaining why and how the British motorcycle industry had been out-competed by its Japanese competitors. The report concluded that the Japanese firms, including Honda, had sought a very high scale of production (they had made a large number of motorbikes) in order to benefit from economies of scale and learning curve effects. It blamed the decline of the British motorcycle industry on the failure of British managers to invest enough in their businesses to profit from economies of scale and scope