ISL

The Indian Super League is a football league in India. It is one among the two co-existing premier football leagues in India along with I-League. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is officially known as the Hero Indian Super League. The competition is contested by ten teams and is played in a span of six months from October to March. It is organized by the Football Sports Development (FSDL) and governed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).[1]

Founded on 21 October 2013 in partnership with IMG, Reliance Industries, and Star Sports, the Indian Super League was launched with the goal of growing the sport of football in India and increase its exposure in the country.[2] The competition's first season took place in 2014 with eight teams. During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, the competition operated without official recognition from the Asian Football Confederation, the governing body for the sport in Asia.[3] The competition also operated along the same lines of the Indian Premier League, the country's premier Twenty20 cricket competition, with the league campaign lasting for 2–3 months and matches held daily.[4] However, before the 2017–18 season, the competition earned recognition from the AFC, expanded to ten teams, and extended its schedule to five months.[5][6] In 2020–21 season, two I-League clubs will join Indian Super League by bidding process.[7]

Unlike most football leagues around the world, the Indian Super League does not use promotion and relegation, instead choosing to grow the league through expansion, similar to Major League Soccer in United States. However, a formal structure for promotion and relegation will be introduced by 2023-24.[4] During the league's first five seasons, three teams were crowned champions: ATK in 2014 and 2016, Chennaiyin in 2015 and 2017–2018 and Bengaluru FC in 2018–2019.
History
Origins
Football in India has existed in many forms since the game first arrived in the country during the 19th century with the first nationwide club competition, the Durand Cup, being founded in 1888.[8][9] Despite India's early history in the game, the country's first nationwide football league did not begin until the semi-professional National Football League commenced in 1996.[10] Prior to the creation of the National Football League, most clubs played in state leagues or select nationwide tournaments.[10]

Ten years after the formation of the National Football League, the All India Football Federation, the governing body for the sport in India, decided to reformat the league as the I-League in an effort to professionalise the game.[11] However, during the following seasons, the league would suffer from a lack of popularity due to poor marketing.[12]

In September 2005, the AIFF signed a 10-year television and media contract with Zee Sports. The deal would see Zee broadcast the National Football League and I-League, as well as other tournaments organized by the AIFF and select India international matches.[13] However, in October 2010, the deal between the AIFF and Zee Sports was terminated five years early after differences between both parties related to payment and how to grow the game in India.[14]

A couple of months later, on 9 December 2010, it was announced that the AIFF had signed a new 15-year, 700–crore deal with Reliance Industries and the International Management Group.[15]

Foundations
The Indian Super League was officially launched on 21 October 2013 by IMG–Reliance, Star Sports, and the All India Football Federation.[2] The competition was announced to take place from January 2014 to March 2014.[16] A few days later however, on 29 October 2013, it was announced that the ISL would be postponed to September 2014.[16]

At first, it was announced that bidding for the eight Indian Super League teams would be complete before the end of 2013 and that there was already high interest from big corporations, Indian Premier League teams, Bollywood stars, and other consortiums.[17] However, due to the rescheduling of the league, the bidding was moved to 3 March 2014.[18] It was also revealed around this time that not only would bidders need to comply with a financial requirement but they would also need to promote 'grassroots' development plans for football within their area.[19] Finally, in early April 2014, the winning bidders were announced.[20] The selected cities/state were Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.[20] Former India cricket player Sachin Tendulkar, along with PVP Ventures, won the bidding for the Kochi franchise. Another former Indian cricket player, Sourav Ganguly, along with a group of Indian businessmen and La Liga side Atlético Madrid, won the bid for the Kolkata franchise.[20] Meanwhile, Bollywood stars John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, and Salman Khan won the bid for the Guwahati, Mumbai, and Pune franchises respectively. Bangalore and Delhi were won by companies while Goa was won by a partnership between Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar, and I-League side, Dempo.[20]

The first team to be launched officially was the Kolkata franchise as Atlético de Kolkata on 7 May 2014.[21] On 7 July 2014, the team announced the first head coach in league history, Antonio López Habas.[22] The next day, Kolkata also announced the first official marquee signing in the Indian Super League, UEFA Champions League winner Luis García.[23]

Eventually, all eight teams were revealed as Atlético de Kolkata , Bangalore Titans, Delhi Dynamos, Goa, Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City, NorthEast United and Pune City.[24][25] However, on 21 August 2014, it was announced that due to Bangalore's owners dropping out, Chennai would be given a franchise instead.[26] The team was eventually named Chennaiyin FC.[27] At the same time, the original marquee players were Luis García, Elano, Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, David James, Freddie Ljungberg, Joan Capdevila, and David Trezeguet.[24]

The inaugural season began on 12 October 2014 at the Salt Lake Stadium when Atlético de Kolkata defeated Mumbai City, 3–0. The first goal was scored by Fikru Teferra.[28].The first Indian to score in the league was Balwant Singh for Chennaiyin FC. The inaugural final was held on 20 December 2014 with Atlético de Kolkata becoming champions after defeating Kerala Blasters 1–0 at the DY Patil Stadium.[29]

Recognition and expansion
For the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, the competition operated without official recognition from the governing body for football in Asia, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and FIFA, the world governing body.[5] In October 2014, then FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke stated that the world governing body only recognized the ISL as a tournament, not a league. The official league for football in India remained the I-League.[30] With no recognition from the AFC, the competition also couldn't participate in Asian club competitions, the AFC Champions League or AFC Cup.[30]

During the first three seasons of the Indian Super League, attendances across the competition had exceeded expectations of pundits and of the domestic I-League mainly due to the timings at which the matches took place especially on working days and needs no mention sheer promotion.[31] Television ratings were also strong for the competition,which is expected after better commentary,better telecasting,pre match post match shows as well as hourly reminders in various channels as well as social media interaction.[31] However, despite the general success off the pitch, the competition drew criticism in other areas. Due to the need to accommodate the ISL into the Indian football calendar, the I-League season was shortened and went from having an October to May schedule to January to May schedule.[32] Indian players would play for both an ISL team and an I-League club while the I-League continued to suffer from lack of visibility compared to the ISL.[33] India head coach Stephen Constantine had called for both the ISL and I-League to either run together at the same time or merge.[34]

On 18 May 2016, IMG–Reliance, along with the AIFF and I-League representatives met during a meeting in Mumbai. During the meeting it was proposed that, starting from the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League become the top tier football league in India while the I-League be reformed as League One and be relegated to the second division without any reason,further confirming the oppression of the business powerhouses in the country.The competition would also expand by two teams and continue to operate without promotion and relegation,as stated earlier due to the 15 crore attraction of the FSDL each year, but run for 5–7 months instead of 2–3.[35] The idea was not entertained by the I-League representatives.[35]

In June 2017, IMG–Reliance, the AIFF, I-League representatives, and the AFC met in Kuala Lumpur in order to find a new way forward for Indian football.[36] The AFC were against allowing the ISL as the main league in India while I-League clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan wanted a complete merger of the ISL and I-League.[36] A couple weeks later, the AIFF proposed that both the Indian Super League and I-League run simultaneously on a short–term basis with the I-League winner qualifying for the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup qualification spot going to the ISL champion.[37] The proposal from the AIFF was officially approved by the AFC on 25 July 2017, with the ISL replacing the domestic cup competition, the Federation Cup which was a true Knockout cup competition[38] It was also stated that the competition would now run for five months starting with the 2017–18 season and the competition would expand to 10 teams as more teams means more money, glamour and promotion.[37]

A month before, on 11 May 2017, the ISL organizers started to accept bids for 2–3 new franchises for the 2017–18 season.[39] The bids would be for ten cities, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Durgapur, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Ranchi, Siliguri and Thiruvanathapuram.[39] It was also clarified that if Kolkata were to win at least one bid that the new Kolkata side would have to play away from the city for only two seasons.[39] A month later, on 12 June, it was announced that I-League side, Bengaluru, and Tata Steel (for Jamshedpur) had won the bidding for the new teams.[40]

On 22 September 2017, the competition announced officially that it would be expanding its season by two months, thus making the league last for five months instead of three. The competition would also go from having matches played daily to being played between Wednesday and Sunday.[41]

The next year, prior to the 2018–19 season, it was reported that Reliance Industries had bought out IMG's shares in the league. IMG realising that the robust business model will soon be exposed, pulled out, thus giving Reliance Industries 65% ownership of the league while Star Sports retains 35%.[42]

Competition format
During the 2018–19 season, the Indian Super League will run from September to March.[1] All ten teams play each other twice, home and away, for eighteen matches each. At the end of the season, the top four sides qualify for the playoffs.[1] During the competition's first three seasons, the competition ran from October to December. The regular season would begin in October and end by early December while the playoffs would take place within the next two to three weeks.[43] The regular season would be fourteen matches long.[44] The top four sides at the end qualify for the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs sees the first placed team take on the fourth placed team while the second placed team faces the third.[44]

During the playoffs, the first round is played in a two-legged format with both teams playing each other at their home venues. At the end of the two matches, the team which leads on aggregate would move on to the final.[44] The final is a single-leg match which takes place in a neutral venue. If scores were tied on aggregate in the first round or in the final, 30 minutes of extra time would be used to determine the winner and finally, if still tied, penalties.[44]

Qualification for AFC Cup
In July 2017, it was proposed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that the Indian Super League champion be granted a spot in the AFC Cup, Asia's second-tier club competition.[37] On 25 July 2017, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) approved the AIFF's proposal. Thus, from the 2017–18 season, the Indian Super League champions were allowed to participate in the AFC Cup from the qualification stages of the competition.[37] Meanwhile, India's spot in the AFC Champions League, Asia's top club competition, was still kept by the I-League.[37]

During the 2018 AFC Cup, Bengaluru became the first ISL club to participate in Asian club competition. The club qualified by virtue of being the Federation Cup champions from the previous season as a I-league team before moving to ISL.[45] On 17 March 2018, Chennaiyin became the first club to qualify for the AFC Cup via becoming the Indian Super League champions after they defeated Bengaluru in the 2018 final.[46]

Teams
Just like the Indian Premier League, the Indian Super League has a similar ownership model where the teams are owned by prominent businessmen, as well as celebrity owners from bollywood and cricket.[59] The Indian Super League owners act as the competition's "League Partners". Now however they have literally taken over AIFF.[60] British professional services group, Ernst & Young, were hired to draw up a criteria for the team bidding process and they were required to approve the potential owners.[60] In April 2014 the owners were announced. Bollywood stars such as Ranbir Kapoor, John Abraham, and Salman Khan were bid winners, as well as cricket stars Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.[60] Football clubs such as Atlético Madrid and Shillong Lajong were also bid winners.[60]

Despite careful selection, the Indian Super League has had trouble in the past with team ownership. In August 2014, two months before the inaugural season, Sun Group, the owners of the Bangalore franchise, dropped out of the competition after the competition rejected their potential tie-up with then I-League club Bengaluru FC.[61] Later that month, it was announced that another Bollywood star, Abhishek Bachchan, would take over the last franchise spot and move the team from Bangalore to Chennai.[62]

The competition had its first ownership switch within a team on 1 June 2016 when the Kerala Blasters announced their new ownership structure. Along with Sachin Tendulkar, the team brought in businessman Nimmagadda Prasad and film stars Allu Aravind, Chiranjeevi, and Akkineni Nagarjuna after PVP Ventures withdrew their stake in the team.[63]

Stadiums

Dennis Nilsen

Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men between 1978 and 1983 in London, England. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of attempted murder,[1] Nilsen was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 November 1983, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years. In his later years, he was incarcerated at Full Sutton maximum security prison.

All of Nilsen's murders were committed in the two North London addresses in which he resided between 1978 and 1983. His victims would be lured to these addresses through guile and killed by strangulation, sometimes accompanied by drowning. Following each murder, Nilsen would observe a ritual in which he bathed and dressed the victim's body, which he retained for extended periods of time, before dissecting and disposing of the remains by burning on a bonfire or flushing down a lavatory.

Nilsen became known as the Muswell Hill Murderer, as he committed his later murders in the Muswell Hill district of North London. He died in prison on 12 May 2018.
Early life
Childhood
Dennis Andrew Nilsen was born on 23 November 1945 in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, the second of three children born to Elizabeth Duthie Whyte, and Olav Magnus Moksheim (who had adopted the surname Nilsen).[2] His father was a Norwegian soldier who had travelled to Scotland in 1940 as part of the Free Norwegian Forces, following the German occupation of Norway. After a brief courtship, he married Elizabeth Whyte in May 1942 and the newlyweds moved into her parents' house.

The marriage between Nilsen's parents was difficult. Olav Nilsen did not view married life with any seriousness, being preoccupied with his duties with the Free Norwegian Forces, and making little attempt to spend much time with or find a new home for his wife.[3] After the birth of her third child, Nilsen's mother concluded she had "rushed into marriage without thinking". The couple divorced in 1948.[4] All three of the couple's children — Olav Jr., Dennis and Sylvia — had been conceived on their father's brief visits to the mother's household. Her parents, Andrew and Lily (née Duthie) Whyte (who had never approved of their daughter's choice of husband), were supportive of their daughter following her divorce, and considerate of their grandchildren.

Nilsen was a quiet yet adventurous child. His earliest childhood memories were of family picnics in the Scottish countryside with his mother and siblings, of his grandparents' pious lifestyle (which he later described as "cold and dour"[5]), and of being taken on long countryside walks carried on the shoulders of his maternal grandfather, to whom he was particularly close. Olav Jr. and Sylvia occasionally accompanied Dennis and his grandfather on these walks. Despite only being 5 years old, Nilsen vividly recalled these walks as being "very long ... along the harbour, across the wide stretch of beach, up to the sand-dunes, which rise thirty feet behind the beach ... and on to Inverallochy".[6] He later described this stage of his childhood as one of contentment,[7] and his grandfather being his "great hero and protector", adding that whenever his grandfather (who was a fisherman) was at sea, "Life would be empty [for me] until he returned".

By 1951, Nilsen's grandfather's health was in decline, but he continued to work. On 31 October 1951, while fishing in the North Sea, he died of a heart attack at the age of 62.[8] His body was brought ashore and returned to the Nilsen family home prior to burial. In what Nilsen later described as his most vivid childhood recollection, his mother, weeping, asked him whether he wanted to see his grandfather.[8][9] When he replied that he did, he was taken into the room where his grandfather lay in an open coffin. As he gazed upon the body, his heart beat strongly as his mother told him his grandfather was sleeping.[10]

In the years following the death of his grandfather, Nilsen became more quiet and withdrawn, often standing alone at the harbour watching the herring boats. At home, he seldom participated in family activities and retreated from any attempts by adult family members to demonstrate any affection towards him. He grew to resent what he saw as the unfair amount of attention his mother, grandmother and later, stepfather displayed towards his older brother and younger sister. Nilsen envied Olav's popularity. He often talked to or played games with his younger sister, Sylvia, to whom he was closer than any other family member.

On one of his solo excursions to the beach at Inverallochy, in 1954 or 1955, Nilsen became submerged beneath the water and was almost dragged out to sea. Nilsen initially panicked, flailing his arms and shouting. As he "gasped for air which wasn't there"[11] he recalled believing that his grandfather was about to arrive and pull him out, before experiencing a sense of tranquillity. His life was saved by another youth who dragged him ashore.

Shortly after this incident, Nilsen's mother moved out of his grandparents' home and into a flat with her three children. She later married a builder named Andrew Scott, with whom she had four more children in as many years. Although Nilsen initially resented his stepfather (whom he viewed as an unfair disciplinarian), he gradually came to grudgingly respect him.[12] The family moved to Strichen in 1955.

At the onset of puberty, Nilsen discovered he was homosexual, which initially confused and shamed him. He kept his sexuality hidden from his family and his few friends. Because many of the boys to whom he was attracted had similar facial features as his younger sister, Sylvia, on one occasion he sexually fondled her, believing that his attraction towards boys might be a manifestation of the care he felt for her.[13] He made no efforts to seek sexual contact with any of the peers to whom he was sexually attracted, although he later said he had been fondled by an older youth and did not find the experience unpleasant.[14] On one occasion, he also caressed and fondled the body of his older brother as he slept.[15] As a result of this, Olav Jr. began to suspect his brother was homosexual and regularly belittled him in public — referring to Dennis as "hen" (Scottish slang for "girl").[16] Nilsen initially believed that his fondling of his sister may have been evidence that he was bisexual.

As Nilsen progressed into adolescence, he found life in Strichen increasingly stifling, with limited entertainment amenities or career opportunities. He respected his parents' efforts to provide and care for their children, but began to resent the fact that his family was poorer than most of his peers, with his mother and stepfather making no effort to better their lifestyles; thus, Nilsen seldom invited his friends to the family home.[12] At the age of 14, he joined the Army Cadet Force, viewing the British Army as a potential avenue for escaping his rural origins.[17]

Army service
Nilsen's scholastic record was above average.[18] He displayed a flair for both history and art, but shunned sports. He finished his schooling in 1961 and briefly worked in a canning factory as he considered which career path he should choose.[19] After three weeks at the factory, Nilsen informed his mother that he intended to join the army, where he intended to train as a chef. Nilsen passed the entrance examinations and received official notification he was to enlist for nine years' service in September 1961, commencing his training with the Army Catering Corps at St. Omer Barracks in Aldershot. Within weeks, Nilsen began to excel in his army duties; he later described his three years of training at Aldershot as "the happiest of my life".[20] He relished the travel opportunities afforded him in his training, and recalled as a highlight his regiment taking part in a ceremonial parade attended by both The Queen and Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein.

While stationed at Aldershot, Nilsen's latent homosexual feelings began to stir, but he kept his sexual orientation well hidden from his colleagues. Nilsen never showered in the company of his fellow soldiers for fear of developing an erection in their presence; instead opting to bathe alone in the bathroom, which also afforded him the privacy to masturbate without discovery.[21]

In mid-1964, Nilsen passed his initial catering exam and was officially assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in Osnabrück, West Germany, where he served as a private. In this deployment, Nilsen began to increase his intake of alcohol. He described himself and his colleagues as a "hard-working, boozy lot"; his colleagues recalled he often drank to excess in order to ease his shyness. On one occasion, Nilsen and a German youth drank themselves into a stupor. When Nilsen awoke, he found himself on the floor of the German youth's flat. No sexual activity had occurred, but this incident fuelled Nilsen's sexual fantasies, which initially involved his sexual partner — invariably a young, slender male — being completely passive. These fantasies gradually evolved into his partner being unconscious[22] or dead. On several occasions, Nilsen also made tentative efforts to have his own prone body sexually interfered with by one of his colleagues. In these instances, whenever he and his colleagues drank to excess, Nilsen would pretend he was inebriated in the hope one of his colleagues would make sexual use of his supposedly unconscious body.[23]

Following two years of service in Osnabrück, Nilsen returned to Aldershot, where he passed his official catering exam before being deployed to serve as a cook for the British Army in Norway. In 1967, he was deployed to the State of Aden (formerly Aden Colony), where he again served as a cook at the Al Mansoura Prison. This posting was more dangerous than his previous postings in West Germany or Norway, and Nilsen later recalled his regiment losing several men, often in ambushes en route to the army barracks. Nilsen was kidnapped by an Arab taxi driver, who beat him unconscious and placed him in the boot of his car. Upon being dragged out of the boot of the taxi, Nilsen grabbed a jack-handle and knocked the taxi driver to the floor before beating him unconscious. He then locked the man in the boot of the taxi.[24]

Unlike his previous postings, Nilsen had his own room while stationed in Aden. This afforded him the privacy to masturbate without discovery. His developed fantasies of sex with an unresistant or deceased partner unfulfilled, Nilsen compensated by imagining sexual encounters with an unconscious body as he masturbated while looking at his own prone, nude body in a mirror.[25] On one occasion, Nilsen discovered that, by using a free-standing mirror, he could create an effect whereby if positioning the mirror so his head was out of view, he could visualise himself engaged in a sexual act with another man. To Nilsen, this ruse created the ideal circumstance in which he could visually "split" his personality: in these masturbatory fantasies, Nilsen alternately envisaged himself as being both the domineering and the passive partner.[26] These fantasies gradually evolved to incorporate his own near-death experience with the Arab taxi driver, the dead bodies he had seen in Aden, and imagery within a 19th-century oil painting entitled The Raft of the Medusa, which depicts an old man holding the limp, nude body of a dead youth as he sits aside the dismembered body of another young male.[27] In his most vividly recalled fantasy, a slender, attractive young blonde soldier who had been recently killed in battle is dominated by a faceless "dirty, grey-haired old man" who washed this body before engaging in intercourse with the spreadeagled corpse
When Nilsen completed his deployment in Aden he returned to Britain and was assigned to serve with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Seaton Barracks in Plymouth. Throughout his service with this regiment, Nilsen was required to cook for thirty soldiers and two officers on a daily basis. He served at these barracks for one year before being transferred with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to Cyprus in 1969. Months later, the regiment was transferred to Berlin, where, the same year, Nilsen had his first sexual experience with a female: a prostitute whose services he solicited. He bragged of this sexual encounter to his colleagues, but later stated he found intercourse with a female both "over-rated" and "depressing".[n 1]

Following a brief period with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Inverness, Nilsen was selected to cook for the Queen's Royal Guard before, in January 1971, being reassigned to serve as a cook for a different regiment in the Shetland Islands, where he ended his 11-year military career at the rank of corporal in October 1972.[30][n 2]

Between October and December 1972, Nilsen lived with his family as he considered his next career move. On more than one occasion in the three months Nilsen lived in Strichen, his mother voiced her opinion as to her being more concerned with Nilsen's lack of female companionship than his career path, and of her desire to see him marry and start a family. On one occasion, Nilsen joined his older brother Olav Jr., his sister-in-law, and another couple to watch a documentary about male homosexuality. All present viewed the topic with derision, except Dennis, who ardently spoke in defence of gay rights. A fight ensued, after which Olav Jr. informed his mother that Dennis was homosexual.[32] Dennis never spoke to his older brother again, and maintained only sporadic written contact with his mother, stepfather and younger siblings. He decided to join the Metropolitan Police, and moved to London in December to begin the training course.[33]

Move to London
Employment
In April 1973 Nilsen completed his training and was posted to Willesden Green. As a junior constable, Nilsen performed several arrests but never had to physically subdue a member of the public. Nilsen enjoyed the work, but missed the comradeship of the army.[34] He began to drink alone in the evenings. During the summer and autumn of 1973, Nilsen began frequenting gay pubs and engaged in several casual liaisons with men. He viewed these encounters as "soul-destroying" and a "vain search for inner peace"[35] as he sought a lasting relationship. In August, following a failed relationship, Nilsen came to the conclusion that his personal lifestyle was at odds with his professional life. His birth father died the same month, leaving each of his three children £1,000. In December, Nilsen resigned from the police.[35]

Between December 1973 and May 1974, Nilsen worked as a security guard. The work was intermittent, and he resolved to find more stable, secure employment. He found work as a civil servant in May 1974.[36] Nilsen was initially posted to a Jobcentre in Denmark Street, where his primary role was to find employment for unskilled labourers.[37] At his workplace, Nilsen was known to be a quiet, conscientious employee, who was active in the trade union movement. His attendance record was mediocre, although he frequently volunteered to work overtime. In 1979, Nilsen was appointed acting executive officer.[38] He was officially promoted to the position of executive officer, with additional supervisory responsibilities, in June 1982, and transferred to another Jobcentre in Kentish Town, continuing in this job until his arrest.[38]

Melrose Avenue
In November 1975, Nilsen encountered a 20-year-old man named David Gallichan being threatened outside a pub by two other men. Nilsen intervened in the altercation and took Gallichan to his room at 80 Teignmouth Road in the Cricklewood district of London. The two men spent the evening drinking and talking; Nilsen learned that Gallichan had recently moved to London from Weston-super-Mare, was homosexual, unemployed and resided in a hostel. The following morning, both men agreed to live together in a larger residence and Nilsen — using part of the inheritance bequeathed to him by his father[39] — immediately resolved to find a larger property. Several days later, the pair viewed a vacant ground floor flat at 195 Melrose Avenue, also in Cricklewood, and they decided to move into the property. Prior to moving in, Nilsen negotiated a deal with the landlord whereby he and Gallichan had exclusive use of the garden at the rear of the property.[40]

The flat was supposed to be furnished, but upon moving in, Nilsen and Gallichan found it to be largely threadbare. Over the following months, Nilsen and Gallichan redecorated and furnished the entire flat. Much of this work was performed by Gallichan, as Nilsen — having discovered Gallichan's lack of employment ambitions — began to view himself as the breadwinner in their relationship. Nilsen later recollected that he was sexually attracted to Gallichan, but the pair seldom had intercourse.[n 3]

Initially, Nilsen experienced domestic contentment with Gallichan; within a year of their moving to Melrose Avenue, the superficial relationship between the two men began to strain. They slept in separate beds, and both began to bring home casual sexual partners.[41] Gallichan insisted Nilsen had never been violent towards him, but he was regularly berated by Nilsen, and by early 1976, the pair began arguing with increasing frequency. Nilsen later stated that, following a heated argument in May 1977, he had demanded Gallichan leave the residence. (Gallichan later informed investigators that he had chosen to end the relationship.)[42] Nilsen formed brief relationships with several other young men over the following eighteen months; none of these relationships lasted more than a few weeks, and none of the men expressed any intention of living with Nilsen on a permanent basis.

By late 1978, Nilsen was living a solitary existence; he had had a minimum of three failed relationships in the previous eighteen months, and he later confessed to having developed an increasing conviction that he was unfit to live with. Throughout 1978, he devoted an ever-increasing amount of his time, effort and assiduity to his work,[43] and most evenings he spent consuming spirits and/or lager as he listened to music.

Murders
Between 1978 and 1983, Nilsen is known to have killed a minimum of twelve men and boys, and to have attempted to kill seven others (he initially confessed in 1983 to having killed fifteen victims). The majority of Nilsen's victims were homeless or homosexual men; others were heterosexual people he typically met in bars, on public transport or — on one occasion — outside his own home.[44] All of Nilsen's murders were committed inside the North London addresses where he alternately resided in the years he is known to have killed. His victims were lured to these addresses through guile — typically the offer of alcohol and/or shelter.[45]

Inside Nilsen's home, the victims were usually given food and alcohol, then strangled — usually with a ligature — either to death or until they had become unconscious. If the victim had been strangled into unconsciousness, Nilsen then drowned him in his bathtub, his sink or a bucket of water before observing a ritual in which he bathed, clothed and retained the bodies inside his residences for several weeks or, occasionally, months before he dismembered them. Each victim killed between 1978 and 1981 at his Cricklewood residence was disposed of via burning upon a bonfire. Prior to their dissection, Nilsen removed their internal organs,[46] which he disposed of either beside a fence behind his flat, or close to Gladstone Park.[47] The victims killed in 1982 and 1983 at his Muswell Hill residence were retained at his flat, with their flesh and smaller bones flushed down the lavatory.

Nilsen admitted to engaging in masturbation as he viewed the nude bodies of several of his victims, and to have engaged in sexual acts with six of his victims' bodies,[48] but was adamant he had never penetrated any of his victims.[49]

195 Melrose Avenue
Nilsen killed his first victim, 14-year-old Stephen Holmes, on 30 December 1978. Holmes encountered Nilsen in the Cricklewood Arms pub, where Holmes had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase alcohol. According to Nilsen, he had been drinking heavily alone on the day he met Holmes, before deciding in the evening he must "at all costs" leave his flat and seek company.[50] He invited Holmes to his house with the promise of the two drinking alcohol and listening to music,[51] believing him to be approximately 17 years old. At Nilsen's home, both Nilsen and Holmes drank heavily before they fell asleep. The following morning, Nilsen awoke to find Holmes asleep on his bed. In his subsequent written confessions, Nilsen stated he was "afraid to wake him in case he left me". After caressing the sleeping youth, Nilsen decided Holmes was to "stay with me over the New Year whether he wanted to or not".[52] Reaching for a necktie, Nilsen straddled Holmes as he strangled him into unconsciousness, before drowning the youth in a bucket filled with water. Nilsen twice masturbated over the body, before stowing the youth's corpse beneath his floorboards. Holmes' bound corpse remained beneath the floorboards for almost eight months, before Nilsen built a bonfire in the garden behind his flat and burned it on 11 August 1979
Reflecting on his killing spree in 1983, Nilsen stated that, having killed Holmes: "I caused dreams which caused death ... this is my crime",[55] adding that he had "started down the avenue of death and possession of a new kind of flatmate".[56]

On 11 October 1979, Nilsen attempted to murder a student from Hong Kong named Andrew Ho, whom he had met in a St Martin's Lane pub and lured to his flat on the promise of sex. Nilsen attempted to strangle Ho, who managed to flee from his flat and reported the incident to police. Nilsen was questioned in relation to the incident, but Ho decided not to press charges.[57]

Two months after the attempted murder of Ho, on 3 December 1979, Nilsen encountered a 23-year-old Canadian student named Kenneth Ockenden,[58] who had been on a tour of England visiting relatives.[59] Nilsen encountered Ockenden as they both drank in a West End pub. Upon learning the youth was a tourist, Nilsen offered to show Ockenden several London landmarks, an offer which Ockenden accepted. Nilsen then invited the youth to his house on the promise of a meal and further drinks. The pair stopped at an off licence en route to Nilsen's Melrose Avenue residence and purchased whisky, rum and beer, with Ockenden insisting on sharing the bill.[59] Nilsen was adamant he could not recall the precise moment he strangled Ockenden, but recalled that he strangled the youth with the cord of his (Nilsen's) headphones as Ockenden listened to music. He also recalled dragging the youth across his floor with the wire wrapped around his neck as he strangled him, before pouring himself half a glass of rum and continuing to listen to music upon the headphones with which he had strangled Ockenden.[60]

The following day, Nilsen purchased a Polaroid camera and photographed Ockenden's body in various suggestive positions. He then lay Ockenden's corpse spreadeagled above him on his bed as he watched television for several hours, before wrapping the body in plastic bags and stowing the corpse beneath the floorboards. On approximately four occasions over the following fortnight, Nilsen disinterred Ockenden's body from beneath his floorboards and seated the body upon his armchair alongside him as he himself watched television and drank alcohol.[49]

Nilsen killed his third victim, 16-year-old Martyn Duffey, on 17 May 1980. Duffey was a catering student from Birkenhead, who had hitchhiked to London without his parents' knowledge on 13 May after being questioned by the British Transport Police for evading his train fare. For four days, Duffey had slept rough near Euston railway station before Nilsen encountered the youth as he returned from a union conference in Southport.[61] Duffey, Nilsen recollected, was both exhausted and hungry, and happily accepted Nilsen's offer of a meal and a bed for the evening. After the youth had fallen asleep in Nilsen's bed, Nilsen fashioned a ligature around his neck, then simultaneously sat on Duffey's chest and tightened the ligature with a "great force". Nilsen held this grip until Duffey became unconscious; he then dragged the youth into his kitchen and drowned him in his sink[62] before bathing with the body — which he recollected as being "the youngest-looking I had ever seen."

Duffey's body was first placed upon a kitchen chair, then upon the bed on which he had been strangled. The body was repeatedly kissed, complimented and caressed by Nilsen, both before and after he had masturbated while sitting upon the stomach of the corpse. For two days, Duffey's body was stowed in a cupboard,[63] before Nilsen noted signs of bloating; therefore, "he went straight under the floorboards".

Following Duffey's murder, Nilsen began to kill with increasing frequency. Before the end of 1980, he killed a further five victims and attempted to murder one other; only one of these victims whom Nilsen murdered, 26-year-old William David Sutherland, has ever been identified. Nilsen's recollections of the unidentified victims were vague, but he graphically recalled how each victim had been murdered and just how long the body had been retained before dissection. One unidentified victim killed in November had moved his legs in a cycling motion as he was strangled (Nilsen is known to have absented himself from work between 11 and 18 November,[64] likely due to this particular murder); another unidentified victim Nilsen had unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate, before sinking to his knees and sobbing, before standing to expressly spit at his own image as he looked at himself in the mirror.[65] On another occasion, he had lain in bed alongside the body of an unidentified victim as he listened to the classical theme Fanfare for the Common Man[66] before bursting into tears.

Inevitably, the accumulated bodies beneath his floorboards attracted insects and created a foul odour — particularly throughout summer months. On occasions when Nilsen disinterred victims from beneath the floorboards, he noted that the bodies were covered with pupae and infested with maggots; some victims' heads had maggots crawling out of eye sockets and mouths.[67] Nilsen placed deodorants beneath the floorboards and sprayed insecticide about the flat twice daily, but the odour of decay and the presence of flies remained.[68]

In late 1980, Nilsen removed and dissected the bodies of each victim killed since December 1979 and burned them upon a communal bonfire he had constructed on waste ground behind his flat.[69] To disguise the smell of the burning flesh of the six dissected bodies placed upon this pyre, Nilsen crowned the bonfire with an old car tyre. Three neighbourhood children stood to watch this particular bonfire, and Nilsen later wrote in his memoirs that he felt it would have seemed "in order" if he had seen these three children "dancing around a mass funeral pyre".[70] When the bonfire had been reduced to ashes and cinders, Nilsen used a rake to search the debris for any recognisable bones. Noting a skull was still intact,[70] he smashed it to pieces with his rake.
On or about 4 January 1981, Nilsen encountered an unidentified man whom he described for investigators as an "18-year-old, blue-eyed" young Scot[72] at the Golden Lion pub in Soho; he was lured to Melrose Avenue upon the promise of partaking in a drinking contest. After Nilsen and this victim had consumed several beverages, Nilsen strangled him with a tie, and subsequently placed the body beneath the floorboards. Nilsen is known to have informed his employers he was ill and unable to attend work on 12 January in order that he could dissect both this victim and another unidentified victim he had killed approximately one month earlier.[73] By April, Nilsen had killed two further unidentified victims: one of whom he described as an English skinhead whom he had met in Leicester Square; the other he described as "Belfast boy"; a man in his early 20s, approximately 5 ft. 9 in height. In relation to the first of these three unidentified victims, Nilsen later casually reflected: "End of the day, end of the drink, end of a person ... floorboards back, carpet replaced, and back to work at Denmark Street".[74]

The final victim to be murdered at Melrose Avenue was 23-year-old Malcolm Barlow, whom Nilsen discovered slumped against a wall outside his home on 17 September 1981. When Nilsen enquired as to Barlow's welfare, he was informed the medication Barlow was prescribed for his epilepsy had caused his legs to weaken. Nilsen suggested that Barlow should be in hospital and, supporting him, walked him into his residence before phoning for an ambulance.[75] The following day, Barlow was released from hospital and returned to Nilsen's home, apparently to thank him. He was invited in and, after eating a meal, began drinking rum and coke before falling asleep on the sofa. Nilsen manually strangled Barlow as he slept, before stowing his body beneath his kitchen sink the following morning.[76]

In mid-1981, Nilsen's landlord decided to renovate 195 Melrose Avenue,[77] and asked Nilsen to vacate the property. Nilsen was initially resistant to the proposal, but accepted an offer of £1,000 from his landlord to vacate the residence. He moved into an attic flat at 23D Cranley Gardens[78] in the Muswell Hill district of north London on 5 October 1981.[77] The day before he vacated the property, Nilsen burned the dissected bodies of the last five victims he had killed at this address upon a third and final bonfire he constructed in the garden behind his flat. Again, Nilsen ensured the bonfire was crowned with an old car tyre to disguise the smell of burning flesh (Nilsen had already dissected the bodies of four of these victims in January and August,[79] and only needed to complete the dissection of Barlow for this third bonfire).

23 Cranley Gardens
At Cranley Gardens, Nilsen had no access to a garden, and as he resided in an attic flat, he was unable to stow any bodies beneath his floorboards. For almost two months, any acquaintances Nilsen encountered and lured to his flat were not assaulted in any manner,[37] although he did attempt to strangle a 19-year-old student named Paul Nobbs on 23 November 1981,[80] but himself refrained from completing the act.[81][n 4]

In March 1982, Nilsen encountered 23-year-old John Howlett while drinking in a pub near Leicester Square. Howlett was lured to Nilsen's flat on the promise of continuing drinking with Nilsen.[82] There, both Nilsen and Howlett drank as they watched a film, before Howlett walked into Nilsen's front room and fell asleep in the bed (which was located in the front room at this time). One hour later, Nilsen unsuccessfully attempted to rouse Howlett, then sat on the edge of the bed drinking rum as he stared at Howlett, before deciding to kill him.[83] Following a ferocious struggle (in which Howlett himself attempted to strangle his attacker), Nilsen strangled Howlett into unconsciousness with an upholstery strap before returning to his living room, shaking from the "stress of the struggle" in which he had believed he would be overpowered. On three occasions over the following ten minutes, Nilsen unsuccessfully attempted to kill this victim after noting he had resumed breathing, before deciding to fill his bathtub with water and drown him.[84] For over a week following Howlett's murder, Nilsen's own neck bore the victim's finger impressions.
In May 1982, Nilsen encountered Carl Stottor, a 21-year-old homosexual, as the youth drank at the Black Cap pub in Camden.[38] Nilsen engaged Stottor in conversation, discovering the youth was depressed following a failed relationship. After plying the youth with alcohol,[86] Nilsen invited Stottor to his flat, assuring his guest he had no intention of sexual activity. At the flat, Stottor consumed further alcohol before falling asleep upon an open sleeping bag; he later awoke to find himself being strangled with Nilsen loudly whispering, "Stay still".[87]

In his subsequent testimony at Nilsen's trial, Stottor stated he initially believed Nilsen was trying to free him from the zip of the sleeping bag, before he returned to a state of unconsciousness. He then vaguely recalled hearing "water running" before realising he was immersed in the water and that Nilsen was attempting to drown him. After briefly succeeding in raising his head above the water, Stottor gasped the words, "No more, please! No more!" before Nilsen again submerged Stottor's head beneath the water.[87]

Believing he had killed Stottor, Nilsen seated the youth in his armchair, then noted his mongrel dog, Bleep, licking Stottor's face. Nilsen realised the tiniest thread of life still clung in the youth: he rubbed Stottor's limbs and heart to increase circulation, covered the youth's body in blankets, then lay him upon his bed. When Stottor regained consciousness, Nilsen embraced him; he then explained to Stottor he had almost strangled himself on the zip of the sleeping bag, and that he had resuscitated him. Over the following two days, Stottor repeatedly lapsed in and out of consciousness. When Stottor had regained enough strength to question Nilsen as to his recollections of being strangled and immersed in cold water, Nilsen explained he had become caught in the zip of the sleeping bag following a nightmare, and that he had placed him in cold water as "you were in shock". Nilsen then led Stottor to a nearby railway station, where he informed the youth he hoped they might meet again before he bade him farewell.

Three months after Nilsen's June 1982 promotion to the position of executive officer in his employment, he encountered a 27-year-old named Graham Allen attempting to hail a taxi in Shaftesbury Avenue. Allen accepted Nilsen's offer to accompany him to Cranley Gardens for a meal. As had been the case with several previous victims, Nilsen stated he could not recall the precise moment he had strangled Allen, but recalled approaching him as he sat eating an omelette with the full intention of murdering him.[85] Allen's body was retained in the bathtub for a total of three days before Nilsen began the task of dissecting his body upon the kitchen floor. Nilsen is again known to have informed his employers he was ill and unable to attend work on 9 October 1982 — likely in order that he could complete the dissection of Allen's body.[88]

On 26 January 1983, Nilsen killed his final victim, 20-year-old Stephen Sinclair. Sinclair was last seen by acquaintances in the company of Nilsen, walking in the direction of a tube station. At Nilsen's flat, Sinclair fell asleep in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor in an armchair as Nilsen sat listening to the rock opera Tommy.[89] Nilsen approached Sinclair, knelt before him and said to himself, "Oh Stephen, here I go again",[90] before strangling Sinclair with a ligature constructed with a necktie and a rope. Noting crepe bandages upon each of Sinclair's wrists, Nilsen removed these to discover several deep slash marks from where Sinclair had recently tried to kill himself.

Following his usual ritual of bathing the body, Nilsen lay Sinclair's body upon his bed, applied talcum powder to the body, then arranged three mirrors around the bed before himself lying naked alongside the dead youth. Several hours later, he turned Stephen's head towards him, before kissing the youth's body on the forehead and saying, "Goodnight, Stephen". Nilsen then fell asleep alongside the body.[91] As had been the case with both Howlett and Allen, Sinclair's body was subsequently dissected, with various dismembered parts wrapped in plastic bags and stored in either a wardrobe, a tea chest or within a drawer located beneath the bathtub. The bags used to seal Sinclair's remains were sealed with the same crepe bandages Nilsen had found upon Sinclair's wrists.[92] Nilsen attempted to dispose of the flesh, internal organs and smaller bones of all three victims killed at Cranley Gardens by flushing their dissected remains down his toilet. In a practice which he had conducted upon several victims killed at Melrose Avenue, he also boiled the heads, hands and feet to remove the flesh off these sections of the victims' bodies.

On 4 February 1983, Nilsen wrote a letter of complaint to estate agents complaining that the drains at Cranley Gardens were blocked, and that the situation for both himself and the other tenants at the property was intolerable.[93] The following day, he refused to allow an acquaintance to enter his property (the reason being he had begun to dismember Sinclair's body on the floor of his kitchen).

Discovery and arrest
Nilsen's murders were first discovered by a Dyno-Rod employee, Michael Cattran, who responded to the plumbing complaints made by both Nilsen and other tenants of 23 Cranley Gardens on 8 February 1983.[94] Opening a drain cover at the side of the house, Cattran discovered the drain was packed with a flesh-like substance and numerous small bones of unknown origin. Cattran reported his suspicions to his supervisor, Gary Wheeler. As Cattran had arrived at the property at dusk, he and Wheeler agreed to postpone further investigation into the blockage until the following morning. Prior to leaving the property, Nilsen and a fellow tenant named Jim Allcock convened with Cattran to discuss the source of the substance. Upon hearing Cattran exclaim how similar the substance was in appearance to human flesh, Nilsen replied: "It looks to me like someone has been flushing down their Kentucky Fried Chicken."[95]

At 7:30 a.m. the following morning, Cattran and Wheeler returned to 23 Cranley Gardens, by which time the drain had been cleared. This aroused the suspicions of both men. Cattran discovered some scraps of flesh and four bones in a pipe leading from the drain which linked to the top flat of the house. To both Cattran and Wheeler, the bones looked as if they originated from a human hand. Both men immediately called the police who, upon closer inspection, discovered further small bones and scraps of what looked to the naked eye like either human or animal flesh in the same pipe. These remains were taken to the mortuary at Hornsey, where pathologist Professor David Bowen advised police that the remains were human,[96] and that one particular piece of flesh he concluded had been from a human neck bore a ligature mark.

Upon learning from fellow tenants that the top floor flat from where the human remains had been flushed belonged to Nilsen, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay and two colleagues opted to wait outside the house until Nilsen returned home from work. When Nilsen returned home, DCI Jay introduced himself and his colleagues; explaining they had come to enquire about the blockage in the drains from his flat. Nilsen asked why the police were interested in his drains and also if the two officers present with Jay were health inspectors. In response, Jay informed Nilsen the other two were also police officers and requested access to his flat to discuss the matter further.

The three officers followed Nilsen into his flat, where they immediately noted the odour of rotting flesh.[97] Nilsen queried further as to why the police were interested in his drains, to which he was informed the blockage had been caused by human remains. Nilsen feigned shock and bewilderment, stating, "Good grief, how awful!" In response, Jay replied: "Don't mess about, where's the rest of the body?" Nilsen responded calmly, admitting that the remainder of the body could be found in two plastic bags in a nearby wardrobe, from which DCI Jay and his colleagues noted the overpowering smell of decomposition emanated. The officers did not open the cupboard, but asked Nilsen if there were any other body parts to be found, to which Nilsen replied: "It's a long story; it goes back a long time. I'll tell you everything. I want to get it off my chest. Not here — at the police station". He was then arrested and cautioned on suspicion of murder, before being taken to Hornsey police station. As he was escorted to the police station, Nilsen was asked whether the remains in his flat belonged to one person or two. Staring out of the window of the police car, he replied, "Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978".[97]

That evening, a Detective Superintendent Chambers accompanied DCI Jay and Professor Bowen to Cranley Gardens, where the plastic bags were removed from the wardrobe and taken to Hornsey mortuary. One bag was found to contain two dissected torsos, one of which had been vertically dissected, and a shopping bag containing various internal organs. The second bag contained a human skull almost completely devoid of flesh, a severed head, and a torso with arms attached but hands missing. Both heads were found to have been subjected to moist heat.[98]

Confession
In an interview conducted on 10 February, Nilsen confessed there were further human remains stowed in a tea chest in his living room, with other remains inside an upturned drawer in his bathroom. The dismembered body parts were the bodies of three men, all of whom he had killed by strangulation — usually with a necktie. One victim he could not name; another he knew only as "John the Guardsman",[99] and the third he identified as Stephen Sinclair. He also stated that, beginning in December 1978, he had killed "twelve or thirteen" men at his former address, 195 Melrose Avenue. Nilsen also admitted to having unsuccessfully attempted to kill approximately seven other people, who had either escaped or, on one occasion, had been at the brink of death but had been revived and allowed to leave his residence.

A further search for additional remains at 23 Cranley Gardens on 10 February revealed the lower section of a torso and two legs stowed in a bag in the bathroom, and a skull, a section of a torso, and various bones in the tea chest.[100] The same day, Nilsen accompanied police to Melrose Avenue, where he indicated the three locations in the rear garden where he had burned the remains of his victims (investigators discovered over 1,000 fragments of bone from the garden at Melrose Avenue, many of them blackened and charred by fire).[101]

Michael Cattran contacted the Daily Mirror on 10 February,[102] informing the newspaper of the ongoing search for human remains at Cranley Gardens, leading the newspaper to break the story and spark intense national media interest.[102][103] By 11 February, reporters from the Mirror had obtained photographs from Nilsen's mother in Aberdeenshire,[104] which appeared on their front page the following day
Under English law, the police had 48 hours in which to charge Nilsen or release him. Assembling the remains of the victims killed at Cranley Gardens on the floor of Hornsey mortuary, Professor Bowen was able to confirm the fingerprints on one body matched those on police files of Sinclair. At 5:40 pm on 11 February, Nilsen was charged with Sinclair's murder, and a statement revealing this was released to the press. Formal questioning of Nilsen began the same evening,[106] with Nilsen agreeing to be represented by a solicitor (a facility he had earlier declined). Police interviewed Nilsen on sixteen separate occasions over the following days, in interviews which totaled over 30 hours.

Nilsen was adamant he was uncertain as to why he had killed, simply saying, "I'm hoping you will tell me that" when asked his motive for the murders. He was adamant the decision to kill was not made until moments before the act of murder. Most victims had died by strangulation;[107] on several occasions, he had drowned the victims once they had been strangled into unconsciousness. Once the victim had been killed, he typically bathed the victim's body, shaved any hair from the torso to conform it to his physical ideal,[108] then applied makeup to any obvious blemishes upon the skin. The body was usually dressed in socks and underpants, before Nilsen draped the victims' around him as he talked to the corpse.[109] With most victims, Nilsen masturbated as he stood alongside or knelt above the body, and Nilsen confessed to having occasionally engaged in intercrural sex with his victims' bodies, but repeatedly stressed to investigators he had never actually penetrated his victims — explaining that his victims were "too perfect and beautiful for the pathetic ritual of commonplace sex".[110]

All the victims' personal possessions were destroyed following the ritual of bathing their bodies in an effort to obliterate their identity prior to their murder and their now becoming what Nilsen described as a "prop" in his fantasies.[60] In several instances, Nilsen talked to the victim's body as it remained seated in a chair or prone on his bed, and he recalled being emotional as he marvelled at the beauty of their bodies. With reference to one victim, Kenneth Ockenden, Nilsen noted that Ockenden's "body and skin were very beautiful", adding the sight "almost brought me to tears".[109] Another, unidentified victim had been so emaciated that he had simply been discarded under the floorboards.

The bodies of the victims killed at his previous address were kept for as long as decomposition would allow: upon noting any major signs of decomposition, Nilsen stowed it beneath his floorboards. If a body did not display any signs of decomposition, he occasionally alternately stowed it beneath the floorboards and retrieved it before again masturbating as he stood over or lay alongside the body. Make-up was again applied to "enhance its appearance" and to obscure blemishes.

When questioned as to why the heads found at Cranley Gardens had been subjected to moist heat, Nilsen stated that he had frequently boiled the heads of his victims in a large cooking pot on his stove in order that the internal contents evaporated, thus removing the need to dispose of the brain and flesh. The torsos and limbs of the three victims killed at this address were dissected within a week or so of their murder before being wrapped in plastic bags and stowed in the three locations he had indicated to police; the internal organs and smaller bones he flushed down the toilet. This practice — which had led to his arrest — had been the only method he could consider to dispose of the internal organs and soft tissue as, unlike at Melrose Avenue, he had no exclusive use of the garden of the property.

At Melrose Avenue, Nilsen typically retained the victims' bodies for a much longer period before disposing of the remains. He kept "three or four" bodies stowed beneath the floorboards before he dissected the remains, which he would wrap inside plastic bags and either return under the floorboards or, in two instances, place inside suitcases which had been left at the property by a previous tenant. The remains stowed inside suitcases — those of Ockenden and Duffey — were placed inside a shed in the rear garden, and were disposed of upon the second bonfire Nilsen had constructed at Melrose Avenue.[67] Other dissected remains — minus the internal organs — were returned beneath the floorboards or placed upon a bonfire he had constructed in the garden.

Nilsen confirmed that on four occasions, he had removed the accumulated bodies from beneath his floorboards and dissected the remains, and on three of these occasions, he had then disposed of the accumulated remains upon an assembled bonfire. On more than one occasion, he had removed the internal organs from the victims' bodies and placed them in bags, which he then typically dumped behind a fence to be eaten by wildlife. All the bodies of the victims killed at Melrose Avenue were dismembered after several weeks or months of internment beneath the floorboards. Nilsen recalled that the putrefaction of these victims' bodies made this task exceedingly vile; he recalled having to fortify his nerves with whisky and having to grab handfuls of salt with which to brush aside maggots from the remains. Often, he vomited as he dissected the bodies,[70] before wrapping the dismembered limbs inside plastic bags and carrying the remains to the bonfires. Nonetheless, immediately prior to his dissecting the victims' bodies, Nilsen masturbated as he knelt or sat alongside the corpse.[111] This, he stated, was his symbolic gesture of saying goodbye to his victims.[67]

When questioned as to whether he had any remorse for his crimes, Nilsen replied: "I wished I could stop, but I couldn't. I had no other thrill or happiness".[107] He also emphasised that he took no pleasure from the act of killing, but "worshipped the art and the act of death".[112]

Formal charges
On 11 February 1983, Nilsen was officially charged with the murder of Stephen Sinclair.[113] He was transferred to Brixton Prison to be held on remand until his trial.

According to Nilsen, upon being transferred to Brixton Prison to await trial, his mood was one of "resignation and relief", with his belief being that he would be viewed, in accordance with law, as innocent until proven guilty. Nilsen objected to wearing a prison uniform while on remand. In protest at having to wear a prison uniform and what he interpreted to be breaches of prison rules, Nilsen threatened to protest against his remand conditions by refusing to wear any clothes; as a result of this threat, he was not allowed to leave his cell. On 1 August, Nilsen threw the contents of his chamber pot out of his cell, hitting several prison officers.[114] This incident resulted in Nilsen being found guilty on 9 August of assaulting prison officers and subsequently spending 56 days in solitary confinement.[113]

On 26 May, Nilsen was committed to stand trial at the Old Bailey on five counts of murder and two of attempted murder (a sixth murder charge was later added). Throughout this committal hearing, Nilsen was represented by a solicitor named Ronald Moss, whom he had previously dismissed as his legal representation on 21 April,[115] before Moss was again reappointed as Nilsen's legal representative after Nilsen had complained to magistrates he had been afforded no facilities with which he could mount his own defence. Moss was to remain Nilsen's legal representative until July 1983, when Nilsen — again expressing his intention to defend himself — discharged his legal aid, until 5 August when Nilsen once again reappointed Ronald Moss as his legal representative.

Initially, Nilsen had intended to plead guilty to each charge of murder at his upcoming trial.[116] With Nilsen's full consent, Ronald Moss had fully prepared Nilsen's defence; five weeks before his trial, Nilsen again dismissed the legal services of Ronald Moss, and opted instead to be represented by Ralph Haeems, upon whose advice Nilsen agreed to plead not guilty by diminished responsibility.[117]

Trial and sentence
Nilsen was brought to trial on 24 October 1983, charged with six counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Croom-Johnson.[118] The trial began with Nilsen being asked by the chief administrator of the court whether he entered a plea of guilty or not guilty in relation to each charge. In response to each charge, Nilsen entered a plea of not guilty. Upon completion of his pleas, the jury was sworn into the courtroom.

The primary dispute between the prosecuting and defence counsel was not whether Nilsen had committed murder, but his state of mind before, during and after the murders. The prosecuting counsel, Allan Green, argued that Nilsen was sane, in full control of his actions, and had killed with premeditation. The defence counsel, Ivan Lawrence, argued that Nilsen suffered from diminished responsibility, rendering him incapable of forming the actual intention to commit murder, and should therefore be convicted of manslaughter as opposed to murder.[119][116]

The prosecution counsel opened the case for the Crown by describing the events of February 1983 leading to the identification of human remains in the drains at Cranley Gardens and Nilsen's subsequent arrest, the discovery of three dismembered bodies in Nilsen's property, his detailed confession, his leading investigators to the charred bone fragments of twelve further victims killed at Melrose Avenue, and the efforts he had taken to conceal his crimes. In a tactful reference to the primary dispute between opposing counsels at the trial, Green closed his opening speech with a reply Nilsen had given to police in response to a question as to whether he needed to kill: "At the precise moment of the act [of murder], I believe I am right in doing the act". To counteract this argument, Green added: "The Crown says that even if there was mental abnormality, that was not sufficient to diminish substantially his responsibility for these killings".

The first witness to testify for the prosecution was Douglas Stewart, who testified that in November 1980, he had awoken in Nilsen's flat to find his ankles bound and Nilsen strangling him as Nilsen straddled him. Successfully overpowering Nilsen, Stewart testified that Nilsen had then shouted, "Take my money!" This, the prosecution attested, reflected Nilsen's rational, cool presence of mind in that he hoped to be overheard by other tenants. Upon leaving Nilsen's residence, Stewart had reported the attack to police, who in turn questioned Nilsen. Noting conflicting details in accounts given by both men, police had dismissed the incident as a lovers' quarrel.[120] Upon cross-examination, the defence counsel sought to undermine Stewart's credibility, pointing to minor inconsistencies in the testimony, the fact he had consumed much alcohol on the night in question, and suggesting his memory had been selectively magnified as he had previously sold his story to the press.

On 25 October the court heard testimony from two further men who had survived attempts by Nilsen to strangle them. The first of these, Paul Nobbs, provided testimony which the prosecution asserted was evidence of Nilsen's self-control and ability to refrain from homicidal impulses. A university student, Nobbs testified that he accompanied Nilsen to Cranley Gardens for alcohol and sex and woke in the early hours of the morning with "a terrible headache". Upon washing his face in Nilsen's bathroom, as Nobbs noted his eyes were bloodshot and his face completely red, Nilsen had exclaimed, "God! You look bloody awful!" Nilsen then advised the youth to see a doctor. Nobbs had not reported the attack to police for fear of his sexuality being discovered. Contrary to the prosecution claims, the defence counsel asserted that Nobbs' testimony reflected Nilsen's rational self being unable to control his impulses. The fact Nilsen had selected a university student as a potential victim was at odds with the prosecution's claim that Nilsen intentionally selected rootless males whose disappearance was unlikely to be noted.

Immediately after the testimony of Nobbs had concluded, Carl Stottor took the stand to recount how, in May 1982, Nilsen had attempted to strangle and drown him, before bringing him "back to life". Stottor's voice frequently quavered with emotion as he recounted how Nilsen had repeatedly attempted to drown him in his bathtub as he pleaded in vain for his life to be spared, and how he later awoke to find Nilsen's mongrel dog licking his face; on several occasions, the judge had to allow Stottor time to regain his composure. (The evidence provided by Stottor was not included as part of the indictment against Nilsen as his whereabouts were not known until after the indictment had been completed.)

Emily Atack

Emily Jane Atack (born 18 December 1989) is an English actress, television presenter, and author. She played as Charlotte Hinchcliffe on the E4 comedy series The Inbetweeners.
Early life
Emily Jane Atack was born on 18 December 1989[1] in Luton, Bedfordshire,[2] the daughter of actress Kate Robbins and musician Keith Atack (formerly of pop band Child).[3][4] She was the niece of actor Simon Shelton.[5]

Career
Atack has starred in films such as the remake of Dad's Army opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bill Nighy. She starred alongside Harvey Keitel and Gabriel Byrne in British film Lies We Tell. She has also starred in television programmes such as Rock and Chips (BBC), Little Crackers (Sky One), I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (ITV), The Keith Lemon Sketch Show (ITV2) and Tracey Ullman's Show (BBC).she was also in inbetweeners

Atack was a contestant on Dancing on Ice in 2010. She was partnered with professional ice skater Fred Palascak; they were voted off in the eighth week.[6] In 2011, Atack presented a stylised public service announcement titled Ready, Steady, Drink, showing the dangers of drinking alcohol.[7]

On 12 November 2018, Atack was confirmed to be participating in that year's series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[8] She eventually finished in second place behind Harry Redknapp.[9] She released her first book, Are We There Yet?: To indignity ... and beyond!, on 31 October 2019.[10] That November, she began co-hosting I'm a Celebrity: Extra Camp alongside Joel Dommett and Adam Thomas

لويس هاملتون

لويس كارل دافيدسون هاملتون (بالإنجليزية: Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton) ولد في 5 يناير عام 1985 في ستيفنيدج بإنجلترا هو بطل سباق سيارات فورميولا 1, ويقوم بالتسابق حالياً لصالح فريق مرسيدي أي ام جي كان البطل الأصغر في تاريخ سباق الفورميولا 1 قبل تحقيق السائق الألماني سيباستيان فيتل لقب موسم 2010. كما يعتبر أول شخص أسود يشارك في هذا السباق.ليتوج بأول بطولة في تاريخه القصير الذي لم يتجاوز العامين وقت تحقيق البطولة . و حقق لويس هاميلتون بطولة العالم للفورمولا 1 ، 5 مرات اعوام 2008 و 2014 و 2015 و 2017 و 2018 .

و في هذا الموسم 2019 حقق لويس هاميلتون 6 انتصارات في أول 8 سباقات و يبدو بانه في الطريق لتحقيق لقب بطولة العالم للمرة السادسة و بذلك يقترب من معادلة الرقم القياسي المسجل بأسم الأسطورة مايكل شوماخر الذي حقق بطولة العالم 7 مرات .

كما ان لويس هاميلتون يعد صاحب الرقم القياسي كأكثر من حقق البول بوزيشن و كان أول المنطلقين في سباق جائزة بول ريكارد في فرنسا و هي المرة 86 له كأول المنطلقين كما ان لويس هاميلتون يقترب من الرقم القياسي مسجل بأسم مايكل شوماخر بعدد مرات الفوز برصيد 91 فوز مقابل 79 فوز لهاميلتون و متبقي 13 سباق في هذا الموسم .

نشاته
ولد لويس كارل ديفيدسون هاميلتون في الخامس من يناير كانون الثاني 1985 بإنجلترا. من أب اسمر وام شقراء وانفصل والده عن والدته عندما كان يبلغ عامين من العمر.هاجر جده لابيه لبريطانيا من جزيرة غرينادا الواقع في البحر الكاريبي في الخمسينات وعمل في نظام مترو أنفاق لندن. وعمل والده انطوني في شركة السكك الحديدية البريطانية.

مسيرته الرياضية
بدأت مسيرة هاميلتون في عالم سباقات السيارات في سن الثامنة وفاز بأول بطولة كارتينغ في بريطانيا عندما كان في سن العاشرة. وسجل هاميلتون اسمه ضمن برنامج السائقين الشبان في مكلارين في عقد تنشئة في عام 1998. في عام 2003 بات هاميلتون بطلا لبطولة رينو لسباقات السيارات في بريطانيا بعد فوزه بعشرة سباقات.كما فاز هاميلتون بلقب السلسلة الأوروبية (الفئة الثالثة) في عام 2005 بعد أن حقق 15 انتصارا وبعد تسجيل اسرع زمن عشر مرات وانطلق من موقع أول المنطلقين في 13 سباقا. كما فاز أيضا بسباق جائزة موناكو الكبرى لسباقات (الفئة الثالثة). فاز هاميلتون ببطولة جي.بي.2 في عام 2006 في أول موسم في سلسلة البطولات المغذية لسباقات الفورمولا 1. وحقق هاميلتون الفوز بخمسة سباقات وسجل اسرع زمن ست مرات بما في ذلك الفوز في موناكو والفوز مرتين في سيلفرستون.

حقق أول فوز بسباق للفورمولا 1 في كندا في يونيو عام 2008 وأصبح أول سائق أسود يفوز بسباق للجائزة الكبرى. يعد هاميلتون السائق الوحيد في عالم سباقات الفورمولا 1 الذي ينهي تاسع سباق له على منصة التتويج. في عام 2007 فاز هاميلتون باربعة سباقات مع انطلاقه ست مرات من موقع أول المنطلقين وكاد يفوز باللقب لولا الحظ العاثر ووقوف زميله الأسباني فرناندو ألونسو في وجه انجازه باعاقته أكثر من مره اشهرها حادثة وقفة الصيانة في المجر.

ورغم أن عمر لويس هاميلتون في سباقات الفورميلا وان لايتعدى العامين حيث أن بدايته الفعليه كانت في موسم 2006 الا انه كسب الاضواء من جميع المنافسين وكان قاب قوسين أو أدنى من لقب بطولة العالم في عام 2007 في أول مواسمه لولا سوء الحظ الذي رافقه في الجوله الأخيرة من سباق سان باولو حيث حل في المركز السابع بعد أن كان يحتاج فقط لان يتواجد في أحد المراكز الثلاثة المتقدمة ليذهب اللقب إلى سائق فيراري الفنلندي كيمي رايكونين وفي 2008 كاد التعثر ان يعود من جديد وعبر حلبة البرازيل لكن هذه المرة الحظ وقف مع هاميلتون في آخر لفة السباق بعد أن تعثر سائق تويوتا تيمو غلوك ليحقق هامليتون المركز الخامس ويتفوق على البرازيلي فيليبي ماسا بفارق نقطة واحدة.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE HonFREng (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who races in Formula One for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. A six-time Formula One World Champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport, and considered by some to be the greatest of all time.[note 2] He won his first drivers' title with McLaren in 2008, before moving to Mercedes in 2013, with whom he has won a further five titles. One of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, Hamilton's six World Championship titles is the second-most of all time, as is his tally of 83 race victories and 150 podium finishes. He currently holds the records for the all-time most career points (3405), the all-time most pole positions (87), the most grand slams in a season (3) and the most points in a season (408).[note 3]

Born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Hamilton's interest in racing started when his father bought him a radio-controlled car when he was six. He was signed to McLaren's young driver support programme in 1998, after he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony three years earlier and said "one day I want to be racing your cars". After winning the British Formula Renault, Formula 3 Euro Series, and GP2 championships on his way up the racing career ladder, he made his Formula One debut twelve years after his initial encounter with Dennis, driving for McLaren in 2007. Coming from a mixed background, with a black father and white mother, Hamilton is the first and only black driver to race in Formula One.[note 4]

In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner-up in the 2007 season to Kimi Räikkönen by just one point, including those for the most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), the joint most wins in a debut season (4) and the most points in a debut season (109). The following season, he won his first title in dramatic fashion; on the last corner of the last lap in the last race of the season, becoming the then-youngest Formula One World Champion in history. After four more years with McLaren without finishing higher than fourth in the drivers' standings, Hamilton signed with Mercedes in 2013, reuniting with his childhood karting teammate, Nico Rosberg. In his first season, he finished 4th once again, the third time in five years.

Changes to regulations ahead of the 2014 season, which mandated the use of turbo-hybrid engines, contributed to the start of a highly successful era for Hamilton and Mercedes, during which he has won a further five World Championship titles. Hamilton won consecutive titles in 2014 and 2015 during an intense and sometimes volatile rivalry with teammate Nico Rosberg, to match his hero Ayrton Senna's three World Championships. Following Rosberg's retirement, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton's closest rival as the pair engaged in two intense championship battles, but Hamilton prevailed to claim consecutive titles for the second time in his career in 2017 and 2018. A third World Drivers' Championship followed in 2019 to complete a hat-trick of consecutive titles, bringing his tally to six overall, second only to seven-time World Drivers' Champion Michael Schumacher
Early life and education
Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England.[2] Hamilton's mother, Carmen (Larbalestier), is white British, while his father, Anthony Hamilton, is black British, making him mixed-race;[7] he self-identifies as black.[8] Lewis's parents separated when he was two and, as a result of this, he lived with his mother and half-sisters until he was twelve.[9] He then moved to live with his father, stepmother Linda and half-brother Nicolas, who is also a professional racing driver and has cerebral palsy.[10] Hamilton was raised a Roman Catholic.[11]

At the age of five Hamilton took up karate to defend himself as a result of bullying at school;[12] later, he learned to ride a unicycle, as part of his karting rivalry with future Formula One Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, who could already ride one.[13] Hamilton's father bought him a radio-controlled car in 1991, which gave him his first taste of racing competition before finishing second in the national BRCA championship the following year. He said of the time: "I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults".[14] His father bought him a go-kart for Christmas when Hamilton was six[15] and promised to support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school. To support his son, Anthony took redundancy from his position as an information technology manager and became a contractor; sometimes working up to three jobs at a time, while still attending all his son's races. Anthony later set up his own computer company, still managing Lewis;[16] Hamilton would later end his working relationship with his father in early 2010.[17]

Lewis Hamilton was educated at The John Henry Newman School, a voluntary aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.[18] In addition to racing, he played association football for his school team with eventual England international, Ashley Young.[16] Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if Formula One had not worked for him he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams.[19] In February 2001 he began studies at Cambridge Arts and Sciences (CATS), a private sixth-form college in Cambridge
Early career
1993–2000: Karting
Hamilton began karting in 1993, when he was eight,[21] at the Rye House Kart Circuit[22] and quickly began winning races and Cadet class championships. Two years later, he approached McLaren Formula One team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph, and told him, "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars." Dennis wrote in his autograph book, "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then." Hamilton drove for Martin Hines's Zip Young Guns Karting Team.[23] By the age of 12, his driving skill was high enough that Ladbrokes took a bet, at 40/1 odds, that Hamilton would win a Formula One Grand Prix race before the age of 23; another predicted, at 150/1 odds, that he would win the World Drivers' Championship before he was 25.[24] He progressed through to Junior Yamaha in 1997, and in 1998, Dennis called Hamilton after he won an additional Super One series and his second British championship.[14] Dennis delivered on his promise and signed Hamilton to the McLaren driver development programme.[7] This contract included an option of a future Formula One seat, which would make Hamilton the youngest driver to secure a contract which later resulted in a Formula One drive
Hamilton continued his progress in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with maximum points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his teammate was Nico Rosberg, who would later drive for the Williams and Mercedes teams in Formula One; they would later team up again for Mercedes in 2013. Following his karting successes the British Racing Drivers' Club made him a "Rising Star" Member in 2000.[26] In 2001, Michael Schumacher made a one-off return to karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future Formula One drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final in seventh, four places behind Schumacher. Although the two saw little of each other on the track, Schumacher praised the young Briton (see quote box).[27]

2001–2005: Formula Renault and Formula Three
Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. Despite crashing on his third lap in the car in testing, he finished fifth overall in the winter series.[14] This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK campaign with Manor Motorsport in which he finished third overall with three wins and three pole positions.[28] He remained with Manor for another year and won the championship with ten wins and 419 points to the two wins and 377 points of his nearest rival, Alex Lloyd.[29] Having clinched the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season to make his debut in the season finale of the British Formula 3 Championship.[30] In his first race he was forced out with a puncture,[31] and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with teammate Tor Graves.[32]

Asked in 2002 about the prospect of becoming one of the youngest ever Formula One drivers, Hamilton replied that his goal was "not to be the youngest in Formula One" but rather "to be experienced and then show what I can do in Formula One".[33] Later in 2004, Williams would announce that they had come close to signing Hamilton but did not because BMW, their engine supplier at the time, would not fund him.[34] He eventually re-signed with McLaren, and made his debut with Manor in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series. They won one race and Hamilton ended the year fifth in the championship.[35] He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix[36] and raced one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix.[37]

Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.[38] Hamilton moved to the reigning Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season and dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds. This would have been 16 but for being disqualified from one win at Spa-Francorchamps on a technical infringement that caught out several other drivers.[14] He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.[39] After the season British magazine Autosport featured him in their "Top 50 Drivers of 2005" issue, ranking Hamilton 24th.[40]

2006 season: GP2
Due to his success in Formula Three, he moved to ASM's sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix for 2006.[41] Like their sister team in F3, ART were the leaders of the field and reigning champions having taken the 2005 GP2 crown with Nico Rosberg.[42] Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Timo Glock.[43] His performances included a dominant win at the Nürburgring, despite a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.[44] At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British Grand Prix, Hamilton overtook two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed bends where overtaking is rare.[45] In Istanbul he recovered from a spin that left him in eighteenth place to take second.[46] Hamilton won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race. In the sprint race, though he finished second with Piquet sixth, he was 12 points clear of his rival.[47] His success in the GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari.[48][49] After months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa or Gary Paffett would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for 2007, Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver.[50] He was told of McLaren's decision at the end of September, but the news was not made public for almost two months, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's retirement announcement.[51]

Formula One career
Hamilton's first season in Formula One saw him partner two-time and defending World Champion Fernando Alonso. After finishing on the podium in his debut, Hamilton went on to set several records as he finished runner-up in the 2007 World Drivers' Championship to Kimi Räikkönen by one point, including those for the most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), the joint most wins in a debut season (4) and the most points in a debut season (109). Throughout the season, Hamilton and Alonso were involved in a number of incidents which resulted in tensions between both drivers and the team, culminating in Alonso and McLaren terminating their contract by mutual consent in November. Following a successful first season at McLaren, Hamilton signed a multi-million-pound contract to stay with the team until 2012
Hamilton's success continued in 2008. He amassed five victories and ten podium finishes, but was also accused of arrogance and dangerous driving, though he argued that his self-belief was wrongly interpreted and that his driving was firm but fair. As the season reached its conclusion in Brazil, it became a clear two-way fight for the title between the home-favourite Felipe Massa and the young Briton. Hamilton won his first title in dramatic fashion; on the last corner of the last lap in the last race of the season, becoming the then-youngest Formula One World Champion in history as he denied race-winner Massa the title by one point.[53][54] This made Hamilton the first British driver to win the World Championship since Damon Hill in 1996.[55]

2009–2012: Unsuccessful championship campaigns with McLaren
In his last four years with McLaren, Hamilton continued to score podium finishes and race victories, but a culmination of less competitive machinery and a self-confessed loss of focus saw him fail to finish higher than fourth in the drivers' standings. Hamilton entered the final round of the 2010 season with a chance of winning the title, but ultimately finished fourth as Sebastian Vettel won the race to take his maiden drivers' crown. The following year was the first season he had been out-scored by a teammate, as Jenson Button finished runner-up to champion Sebastian Vettel, during a year in which distractions in his private life and run-ins with FIA officials saw Hamilton finish a lowly fifth in the standings, after which he vowed he would return to form for 2012. Keeping to his word, Hamilton achieved four race-wins in the 2012 season as he finished fourth in the standings. Before the end of the year, Hamilton announced, to much surprise, that he would be joining Mercedes for the 2013 season, replacing the retiring Michael Schumacher.[56]

Mercedes

Hamilton (right) and Rosberg (left) endured a tense rivalry in their time as teammates.
2013–2016: Teammates with Rosberg; back-to-back titles
Upon signing with Mercedes in 2013, Hamilton was reunited with his childhood karting teammate, Nico Rosberg. The move was met with surprise by pundits and the public, with some describing the move to Mercedes, a team with no recent history of success, as a gamble.[57][58] In his first season with the silver arrows, Hamilton secured a sole race victory, winning the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he converted an unexpected pole position into a winning margin of over 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kimi Räikkönen,[59] alongside a number of podium finishes and pole positions, finishing fourth in the standings once again, the third time in five years.[56]

Changes to regulations ahead of the 2014 season, which mandated the use of turbo-hybrid engines, contributed to the start of a highly successful era for Hamilton as he found himself in the most dominant car on the grid. That year saw Mercedes win 16 of the 19 races that season, 11 of those secured by Hamilton as he prevailed in a season-long duel for the title against teammate Rosberg. Clinching his second drivers' title, and eclipsing the victory tally of all British drivers before him, Hamilton declared over team-radio after the final race in Abu Dhabi, "This is the greatest day of my life".[56]


Hamilton's engine failure in Malaysia in 2016 was a key moment in the Drivers' Championship fight.
Ahead of the 2015 season, Hamilton announced he would not be exercising his option of switching his car number to 1, as was his prerogative as reigning World Champion, and would instead continue to race with his career number 44. It was the first season since 1994, when Alain Prost retired from the sport following his fourth and final World Drivers' Championship title in 1993, that the field would not contain car bearing the number 1.[60] Hamilton dominated the 2015 season, winning ten races finishing on the podium a record seventeen times as he matched his hero, Ayrton Senna's three World Championships titles. The rivalry between him and Rosberg intensified, climaxing in a heated battle at the US Grand Prix where Hamilton won in an action-packed, wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate to clinch the title with three races to spare.[56] That year, Hamilton extended his contract with Mercedes for three additional years in a deal reportedly worth more than £100 million, making him one of the best-paid drivers in Formula One,[61][62] as well as allowing Hamilton to retain his own image rights, which is considered unusual in the sport, and keep his championship winning cars and trophies.[63]


Hamilton achieved his fifth career Grand Slam and his third of the season at the 2017 British Grand Prix.
Despite recording more pole positions and race wins than any other driver in 2016, Hamilton lost the drivers' title by five points to his teammate, Rosberg. The team's policy of letting the pair fight freely led to a number of acrimonious exchanges both on and off the track, culminating in Hamilton defying team-orders at the season finale in Abu Dhabi and deliberately slowing to back Rosberg into the chasing pack at end of the race in an unsuccessful bid to encourage other drivers to overtake his teammate, which would have allowed him to win the title.[64] Ultimately, a lack of reliability and a handful of driving errors from Hamilton helped Rosberg get closer than in previous years, and a crucial engine blowout in Malaysia allowed the title to fall into Rosberg's hands, which he successfully secured before announcing his shock retirement from the sport immediately after beating his rival.[56][65]

2017–2019: Three titles in a row; most pole positions
Following Rosberg's retirement, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton's closest rival as the pair exchanged the championship lead throughout 2017 in a tense title fight. Hamilton registered 11 pole positions that season as he took the record for the all-time most pole positions, and his consistency (finishing every race in the points), as well as a lack of a serious challenge from his new teammate Valtteri Bottas, saw him record nine race victories and secure his fourth World Drivers' title as he overturned a points deficit to Vettel in the first half of the season, ultimately wrapping the title up in Mexico with two races to spare.[56]


The 2018 season was the first time in the sport that two four-time World Champions—Hamilton and Vettel—would be competing for a fifth title.
The 2018 season was the first time that two four-time World Champions, Hamilton and Vettel, would be competing for a fifth title and was billed as the Fight for Five by journalists and fans.[66][67][68] As with the season before, Ferrari and Vettel appeared to have the upper hand for much of the season, topping the standings until the half-way point. However, Vettel's season unravelled with a number of driver and mechanical errors, while Hamilton's run of six wins in seven in the latter half of the season saw Hamilton clinch the title in Mexico for a second year running as he set a new record for the most points scored in a season (408).[56][65] During the season, Hamilton signed a two-year contract with Mercedes, reported to be worth up to £40 million, making him the best-paid Formula One driver in history.[69]

Having signed a contract with Mercedes that lasts until 2020, it was confirmed Hamilton would defend his title in 2019.[3] Hamilton clinched his sixth World Drivers' Championship at the 2019 United States Grand Prix,[70][71] and with two rounds remaining, has recorded 10 wins, 16 podiums and 4 pole positions in the season thus far.[72]

Driver profile
Driving style

Hamilton won by over a minute from second-place Nick Heidfeld at the 2008 British Grand Prix.
Hamilton is regarded as one of the most complete drivers on the grid. The all-time record holder for most pole positions, Hamilton is considered one of the fastest qualifiers in the history of the sport, and has received praise for his ability to produce fast laps at crucial moments.[73] Also a tenacious racer, he excels across a wide range of areas.[74] He has been described as having an aggressive driving style,[75] which at times results in a tendency to lock up the front wheels.[76] Hamilton has been praised for his ability to adapt to variances in the car set-up and changing track conditions; throughout his career, he has typically used less fuel than his teammates as a result of his ability to carry momentum through corners despite instability in the car.[77] Hamilton has been praised for his consistency, especially later in his career, finishing 33 consecutive races in point-scoring positions; a run only brought to an end as a result of mechanical issues as opposed to driver error.[78][79] Ross Brawn wrote that "over the course of [2018], Hamilton hardly put a foot wrong, winning not only the races he should have, but also some where the opposition was stronger, and that is the true mark of a champion".[80]


Hamilton won the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in torrential rain, and compared the conditions to his victory at the 2008 British Grand Prix.
Ayrton Senna was a major influence on Hamilton's driving style. "I think it's partly because I watched [him] when I was young and I thought 'this is how I want to drive when I get the opportunity' and I went out there and tried it on the kart track. My whole approach to racing has developed from there".[81] He has been compared to Senna in raw speed.[82] In 2010, Hamilton drove Ayrton Senna's original title winning McLaren MP4/4 as part of a tribute documentary by the BBC motoring show, Top Gear. In the documentary, Hamilton, along with fellow racing drivers, name Senna as the number one driver ever.[83][84]


Hamilton is the most successful British driver in Formula One history, and has won the British Grand Prix a record six times.
Hamilton is regarded as one of the best wet-weather drivers in the sport, with some of his best performances occurring in those conditions. In the 2008 British Grand Prix, Hamilton bested second-place Nick Heidfeld by over a minute, the largest margin of victory recorded since the 1995 Australian Grand Prix.[85][86] During the turbo-hybrid era, Hamilton remained unbeaten in every race affected by wet weather from the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix up to the 2019 German Grand Prix, where his almost five-year streak was broken by Max Verstappen.[87]

Earlier in his career, Hamilton was criticised for being hot-headed at times, as demonstrated when he was disqualified in Imola in the GP2 Series for overtaking the safety car, something he would go on to repeat four years later in Formula One at the 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia.[88] Later in his career, however, Hamilton demonstrated greater maturity, while maintaining his ruthlessness and aggression. He divided public and former drivers' opinions in the final race of the 2016 season, where from the lead, he defied team-orders and deliberately slowed to back Nico Rosberg into the chasing pack at end of the race in a bid to encourage their rivals to overtake his teammate, which would have allowed him to win the World Championship.[89]

Reception