Robert Heath

# Robert Heath

## Abstract

Sir Robert Heath (20 May 1575 – 30 August 1649) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625.

## Early life

Heath was the son of Robert Heath, attorney, and Anne Posyer. He was educated at Tunbridge grammar school (Tonbridge School), St John's College, Cambridge from age 14 and Clifford's Inn from age 17. He became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1603.

By 1620, he was listed as one of the 40 patent holders for the Council for New England as the "Recorder of our Citie of London." In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for the City of London. He became solicitor-general in 1621, when he was knighted. In 1624 he was elected MP for East Grinstead and was re-elected in 1625.

## Family

He married Margaret Miller, daughter of John Miller of Kent, and had six children, including Robert, John and Mary, who married the Royalist politician Sir William Morley of Halnaker.

## Attorney general

Heath served King Charles I of England as Attorney General, from 1625. He owed his appointment to the influence of the Duke of Buckingham. Despite a reputation as a shadowy, opaque figure, records show him able to argue shrewdly and independently in order to reduce problems for the Crown.

Heath brought a 1625 case in the Exchequer Court for the High Peak lead miners against Francis Leke who claimed a tithe from them. Through the offices of Heath, the tithe right was eventually transferred, in a possibly corrupt way, to Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire. From 1629 he was taking an entrepreneurial interest in the lead mines of Derbyshire, engaging Sir Cornelius Vermuyden as a partner in a major drainage operation at Wirksworth, at the ore-rich Dovegang Rake.

Heath argued for the Crown in Darnel's Case (the Five Knights' Case) of 1627. The judges rejected his argument on absolute prerogative; and a scandal blighted his reputation the following year, when it was revealed, or alleged, by John Selden that he had interfered with the King's Bench records (a felony), in order to promote the decision in the case to a binding precedent (an interpretation that has recently been disputed by Mark Kishlansky). The agitation caused by the business was of major importance for the formulation of the Petition of Right.

Heath notionally founded both North Carolina and South Carolina. He was on a commission to consider the tobacco trade with Virginia in 1627–8. In 1629 he was awarded a patent for the Province of Carolina; but in fact he made no settlements there. The grant also mentioned the Bahamas, the beginning of their colonial history.

## Judge

Heath became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1631. He lost this position, however, in September 1634. One theory why is that his religious stance had led him to oppose William Laud. In religion he was a Calvinist and anti- Arminian; he had shown some leniency in the Star Chamber case against the iconoclast and extremist Henry Sherfield.

Another theory relates to corruption. On the other hand, this is not accepted by Thomas G. Barnes, who argues that Heath with Sir Richard Shelton had displeased the King, and on an old matter: plantations in Ulster and the obligations of the City of London in an agreement made under James I, as interpreted in a lax fashion by the law officers of the Crown (Heath as Attorney General, Shelton as Solicitor General). The matter surfaced in a Star Chamber case in mid-1634. The King dismissed Heath with conditions making sure he could not join the defence team in this case.

Heath returned to his practice as a barrister. His reputation as pro-Puritan, anti-Laudian did him no harm with the Long Parliament when Charles brought him back as a judge, making him Lord Chief Justice.

One of Heath's cases as Lord Chief Justice during the First English Civil War led to his downfall. In 1642 he tried Captain Turpin, a blockade runner, at Exeter. A year later, Sir John Berkeley, the royalist Governor of Exeter, carried out the death sentence on Turpin, as retaliation for the hanging of a Parliamentary commander who had defected to the King. Heath was impeached by Parliament for high treason in 1644. He fled England, and died on 30 August 1649 in Calais, France.

## Works

- Maxims and Rules of Pleading (1694)


Fernando Elizari

# Fernando Elizari

## Abstract

Fernando Gastón Elizari (born 5 April 1991) is an Argentine footballer who plays for América Mineiro as a midfielder.

## Honours

- Argentine Primera División: 2013 Inicial

- Copa Libertadores: 2014

- Malaysia Super League : 2018


Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

# Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

## Abstract

MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HI gh-definition tele VISION) was a Japanese analog high-definition television system, with design efforts going back to 1979.

It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU -R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as 1035i. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" an original 20 MHz bandwidth source signal into just 8.1 MHz.

Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony HDVS high-definition video system was used to create content for the MUSE system, but didn't record MUSE signals. By the time of its commercial launch in 1991, digital HDTV was already under development in the United States. Hi-Vision was mainly broadcast by NHK through their BShi satellite TV channel, although other channels such as WOWOW, TV Asahi, Fuji Television, TBS Television, Nippon Television, and TV Tokyo also broadcast in MUSE.

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were also a number of players available from other brands like Pioneer and Sony.

Hi-Vision continued broadcasting in analog until 2007.

## History

MUSE was developed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in the 1980s as a compression system for Hi-Vision HDTV signals.

- Japanese broadcast engineers immediately rejected conventional vestigial sideband broadcasting.

- It was decided early on that MUSE would be a satellite broadcast format as Japan economically supports satellite broadcasting. MUSE was transmitted at a frequency of 21 GHz or 12 GHz.

- Japanese broadcast engineers had been studying the various HDTV broadcast types for some time. It was initially thought that SHF, EHF or optic fiber would have to be used to transmit HDTV due to the high bandwidth of the signal, and HLO-PAL would be used for terrestrial broadcast. HLO-PAL is a conventionally constructed composite signal (based on Y {\displaystyle Y} for luminance and C {\displaystyle C} for chroma like NTSC and PAL) and uses a phase alternating by line with half-line offset carrier encoding of the wideband/narrowband chroma components. Only the very lowest part of the wideband chroma component overlapped the high-frequency chroma. The narrowband chroma was completely separated from luminance. PAF, or phase alternating by field (like the first NTSC color system trial) was also experimented with, and it gave much better decoding results, but NHK abandoned all composite encoding systems. Because of the use of satellite transmission, Frequency modulation (FM) should be used with power-limitation problem. FM incurs triangular noise, so if a sub-carrierred composite signal is used with FM, demodulated chroma signal has more noise than luminance. Because of this, they looked at other options, and decided to use Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} component emission for satellite. At one point, it seemed that FCFE (Frame Conversion Fineness Enhanced), I/P conversion compression system, would be chosen, but MUSE was ultimately picked.

- Separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C} components was explored. The MUSE format which is transmitted today, uses separated component signalling. The improvement in picture quality was so great, that the original test systems were recalled.

- One more power saving tweak was made: lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasised prior to modulation at the transmitter and de-emphasized at the receiver.

## Technical specifications

MUSE's "1125 lines" are an analog measurement, which includes non-video scan lines taking place while a CRT 's electron beam returns to the top of the screen to begin scanning the next field. Only 1035 lines have picture information. Digital signals count only the lines (rows of pixels) that have actual detail, so NTSC's 525 lines become 486i (rounded to 480 to be MPEG compatible), PAL's 625 lines become 576i, and MUSE would be 1035i. To convert the bandwidth of Hi-Vision MUSE into "conventional" lines-of-horizontal resolution (as is used in the NTSC world), multiply 29.9 lines per MHz of bandwidth. (NTSC and PAL/SECAM are 79.9 lines per MHz) - this calculation of 29.9 lines works for all current HD systems including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. So, for MUSE, during a still picture, the lines of resolution would be: 598-lines of luminance resolution per-picture-height. The chroma resolution is: 209-lines. The horizontal luminance measurement approximately matches the vertical resolution of a 1080 interlaced image when the Kell factor and interlace factor are taken into account. 1125 lines was selected as a compromise between the resolution in lines of NTSC and PAL and then doubling this number.

MUSE employs time-compression integration (TCI) which is another term for time-division multiplexing, which is used to carry luminance, chrominance, PCM audio and sync signals on one carrier signal/in one carrier frequency. However, TCI achieves multiplexing by compression of the contents in the time dimension, in other words transmitting frames of video that are divided into regions with chrominance compressed into the left of the frame and luminance compressed into the right of the frame, which must then be expanded and layered to create a visible image. This makes it different from NTSC which carries luminance, audio and chrominance simultaneously in several carrier frequencies. Hi-Vision signals are component video signals with 3 channels: they were RGB initially, and later YP P.

Key features of the MUSE system:

- Scanlines (total/active): 1,125/1,035

- Pixels per line (fully interpolated): 1122 (still image)/748 (moving)

- Reference clock periods: 1920 per active line

- Interlaced ratio: 2:1

- Aspect ratio 16:9

- Refresh rate: 59.94 or 60 frames per second

- Sampling frequency for broadcast: 16.2 MHz

- Vector motion compensation: horizontal ± 16 samples (32.4 MHz clock) / frame, a vertical line ± 3 / Field

- Audio: "DANCE" discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system: 48 kHz/16 bit (2 channel stereo: 2 front channels)/32 kHz/12 bit (4 channel surround: 3 front channels + 1 back channel)

- DPCM Audio compression format: DPCM quasi-instantaneous companding

- Required bandwidth: 27 MHz

### Colorimetry

The MUSE luminance signal Y {\displaystyle Y} encodes Y M {\displaystyle YM}, specified as the following mix of the original RGB color channels:

The chrominance C {\displaystyle C} signal encodes B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM} difference signals. By using these three signals (Y M {\displaystyle YM}, B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM}), a MUSE receiver can retrieve the original RGB color components using the following matrix:

The system used a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M (with coefficients corresponding to the SMPTE RP 145 primaries, also known as SMPTE-C, in use at the time the standard was created). The chromaticity of the primary colors and white point are:

The luma (E Y {\displaystyle EY}) function is specified as:

The blue color difference (E P B {\displaystyle EPB}) is amplitude-scaled (E B − E Y {\displaystyle EB-EY}), according to:

The red color difference (E P R {\displaystyle EPR}) is amplitude-scaled (E R − E Y {\displaystyle ER-EY}), according to:

### Signal and Transmission

MUSE is a 1125 line system (1035 visible), and is not pulse and sync compatible with the digital 1080 line system used by modern HDTV. Originally, it was a 1125 line, interlaced, 60 Hz, system with a 5:3 (1.66:1) aspect ratio and an optimal viewing distance of roughly 3.3H. In 1989 this was changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For terrestrial MUSE transmission a bandwidth limited FM system was devised. A satellite transmission system uses uncompressed FM.

The pre-compression bandwidth for Y {\displaystyle Y} is 20 MHz, and the pre-compression bandwidth for chrominance is a 7.425 MHz carrier.

The Japanese initially explored the idea of frequency modulation of a conventionally constructed composite signal. This would create a signal similar in structure to the Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} composite video NTSC signal - with the Y {\displaystyle Y} (luminance) at the lower frequencies and the C {\displaystyle C} (chrominance) above. Approximately 3 kW of power would be required, in order to get 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a composite FM signal in the 22 GHz band. This was incompatible with satellite broadcast techniques and bandwidth.

To overcome this limitation, it was decided to use a separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C}. This reduces the effective frequency range and lowers the required power. Approximately 570 W (360 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 210 for C {\displaystyle C}) would be needed in order to get a 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a separate Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} FM signal in the 22 GHz satellite band. This was feasible.

There is one more power saving that appears from the character of the human eye. The lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasized prior to modulation at the transmitter and then de-emphasized at the receiver. This method was adopted, with crossover frequencies for the emphasis/de-emphasis at 5.2 MHz for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 1.6 MHz for C {\displaystyle C}. With this in place, the power requirements drop to 260 W of power (190 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 69 for C {\displaystyle C}).

## Sampling systems and ratios

The subsampling in a video system is usually expressed as a three part ratio. The three terms of the ratio are: the number of brightness (luma) Y {\displaystyle Y} samples, followed by the number of samples of the two color (chroma) components C b {\displaystyle Cb} and C r {\displaystyle Cr}, for each complete sample area. Traditionally the value for brightness is always 4, with the rest of the values scaled accordingly.

A sampling of 4:4:4 indicates that all three components are fully sampled. A sampling of 4:2:0, for example, indicated that the two chroma components are sampled at half the horizontal sample rate of luma - the horizontal chroma resolution is halved. This reduces the bandwidth of an uncompressed video signal by one-third.

MUSE implements a similar system as a means of reducing bandwidth, but instead of static sampling, the actual ratio varies according to the amount of motion on the screen. In practice, MUSE sampling will vary from approximately 4:2:1 to 4:0.5:0.25, depending on the amount of movement. Thus the red-green chroma component C r {\displaystyle Cr} has between one-half and one-eighth the sampling resolution of the luma component Y {\displaystyle Y}, and the blue-yellow chroma C b {\displaystyle Cb} has half the resolution of red-green.

## Audio subsystem

MUSE had a discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system called " DANCE ", which stood for Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion.

It used differential audio transmission (differential pulse-code modulation) that was not psychoacoustics-based like MPEG-1 Layer II. It used a fixed transmission rate of 1350 kbp/s. Like the PAL NICAM stereo system, it used near-instantaneous companding (as opposed to Syllabic-companding like the dbx system uses) and non-linear 13-bit digital encoding at a 32 kHz sample rate.

It could also operate in a 48 kHz 16-bit mode. The DANCE system was well documented in numerous NHK technical papers and in a NHK-published book issued in the USA called Hi-Vision Technology.

The DANCE audio codec was superseded by Dolby AC-3 (a.k.a. Dolby Digital), DTS Coherent Acoustics (a.k.a. DTS Zeta 6x20 or ARTEC), MPEG-1 Layer III (a.k.a. MP3), MPEG-2 Layer I, MPEG-4 AAC and many other audio coders. The methods of this codec are described in the IEEE paper:

## Real world performance issues

MUSE had a four-field dot-interlacing cycle, meaning it took four fields to complete a single MUSE frame. Thus, only stationary images were transmitted at full resolution. However, as MUSE lowers the horizontal and vertical resolution of material that varies greatly from frame to frame, moving images were blurred. Because MUSE used motion-compensation, whole camera pans maintained full resolution, but individual moving elements could be reduced to only a quarter of the full frame resolution. Because the mix between motion and non-motion was encoded on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it wasn't as visible as most would think. Later, NHK came up with backwards compatible methods of MUSE encoding/decoding that greatly increased resolution in moving areas of the image as well as increasing the chroma resolution during motion. This so-called MUSE-III system was used for broadcasts starting in 1995 and a very few of the last Hi-Vision MUSE LaserDiscs used it (A River Runs Through It is one Hi-Vision LD that used it). During early demonstrations of the MUSE system, complaints were common about the decoder's large size, which led to the creation of a miniaturized decoder.

Shadows and multipath still plague this analog frequency modulated transmission mode.

Japan has since switched to a digital HDTV system based on ISDB, but the original MUSE-based BS Satellite channel 9 (NHK BS Hi-vision) was broadcast until September 30, 2007.

## Cultural and geopolitical impacts

- (1940s): The NTSC standard (as a 525 line monochrome system) was imposed by the US occupation forces.

- (1950s-1960s): Unlike Canada (that could have switched to PAL), Japan was stuck with the US TV transmission standard regardless of circumstances.

- (1960s-1970s): By the late 1960s many parts of the modern Japanese electronics industry had gotten their start by fixing the transmission and storage problems inherent with NTSC's design.

- (1970s-1980s): By the 1980s there was spare engineering talent available in Japan that could design a better television system.

MUSE, as the US public came to know it, was initially covered in the magazine Popular Science in the mid-1980s. The US television networks did not provide much coverage of MUSE until the late 1980s, as there were few public demonstrations of the system outside Japan.

Because Japan had its own domestic frequency allocation tables (that were more open to the deployment of MUSE) it became possible for this television system to be transmitted by Ku Band satellite technology by the end of the 1980s.

The US FCC in the late 1980s began to issue directives that would allow MUSE to be tested in the US, providing it could be fit into a 6 MHz System-M channel.

The Europeans (in the form of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)) were impressed with MUSE, but could never adopt it because it is a 60 Hz TV system, not a 50 Hz system that is standard in Europe and the rest of the world (outside the Americas and Japan).

The EBU development and deployment of B-MAC, D-MAC and much later on HD-MAC were made possible by Hi-Vision's technical success. In many ways MAC transmission systems are better than MUSE because of the total separation of colour from brightness in the time domain within the MAC signal structure.

Like Hi-Vision, HD-MAC could not be transmitted in 8 MHz channels without substantial modification – and a severe loss of quality and frame rate. A 6 MHz version Hi-Vision was experimented with in the US, but it too had severe quality problems so the FCC never fully sanctioned its use as a domestic terrestrial television transmission standard.

The US ATSC working group that had led to the creation of NTSC in the 1950s was reactivated in the early 1990s because of Hi-Vision's success. Many aspects of the DVB standard are based on work done by the ATSC working group, however most of the impact is in support for 60 Hz (as well as 24 Hz for film transmission) and uniform sampling rates and interoperable screen sizes.

## Device support for Hi-Vision

### Hi-Vision LaserDiscs

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were a number of MUSE LaserDisc players available in Japan: Pioneer HLD-XØ, HLD-X9, HLD-1000, HLD-V500, HLD-V700; Sony HIL-1000, HIL-C1 and HIL-C2EX; the last two of which have OEM versions made by Panasonic, LX-HD10 and LX-HD20. Players also supported standard NTSC LaserDiscs. Hi-Vision LaserDiscs are extremely rare and expensive.

The HDL-5800 Video Disc Recorder recorded both high definition still images and continuous video onto an optical disc and was part of the early analog wideband Sony HDVS high-definition video system which supported the MUSE system. Capable of recording HD still images and video onto either the WHD-3AL0 or the WHD-33A0 optical disc; WHD-3Al0 for CLV mode (up to 10 minute video or 18,000 still frames per side); WHD-33A0 for CAV mode (up to 3 minute video or 5400 still frames per side). These video discs were used for short video content such as advertisements and product demonstrations.

The HDL-2000 was a full band high definition video disc player.

### Reel to reel VTRs

For recording Hi-Vision signals, Three reel to reel analog VTRs were released, among them are the Sony HDV-1000, the NEC TT 8-1000 and the Toshiba TVR-1000. These analog VTRs had a head drum angular speed of 3600 RPM and are similar to Type C VTRs. They have a bandwidth of 30 Mhz for luma and 7 Mhz for both chroma channels each, with a signal to noise ratio of 41 dB. They accept luma and chroma signals with bandwidths of up to 30 Mhz for both. Signals are recorded onto the tape using FM modulation. Linear tape speed is 483.1 mm/s and writing speed at the heads is 25.9 m/s. The head drum is 134.5 mm wide and has 4 video record heads, 4 video playback heads and 1 erasing head. It could record for 45 minutes on 10.5 inch reels. The video heads are made of Mn-Zn ferrite material, those used for recording have a gap of 0.7 microns and a width of 80 microns and those for playback have a gap of 0.35 microns and a width of 70 microns. It records audio on 3 linear tracks, and control signals on a linear track. Unlike conventional type C videotape recorders, Vertical Blanking Intervals are not recorded on the tape. Helical tracks have groups of 4 signals length-wise with red chrominance, blue chrominance, and two green chrominance signals with luminance information. Two tracks for green chrominance plus luminance are used to increase the bandwidth of these signals that can be recorded on the tape.

In 1987, technical standards for digital recording of Hi-Vision signals were released by NHK, and Sony and Hitachi developed the HDD-1000 and the HV-1200 digital reel to reel VTRs respectively. Audio is recorded digitally similarly to a DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) digital audio recorder, but several changes were made to synchronize the audio to the video. These digital VTRs can record 8 channels of digital audio on linear tracks (horizontally along the entire length of the tape). According to the standards, these VTRs operate with a head drum speed of 7200 RPM, have a bit rate of 148.5 Mb/s per video head, a linear tape speed of 805.2 mm/s and a writing speed at the heads of 51.5 m/s, are similar to Type C VTRs, have a head drum 135mm wide, 8 playback, 8 recording and 2 erase heads, with 37 micron wide helical tracks. Bandwidth is 30 Mhz for luma (Y) and 15 Mhz for chroma (P, P). Audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48 kHz stored at 16 bits per sample in linear tape tracks, sampling rate for luma is 74.25 Mhz and 37.125 Mhz for chroma stored at 8 bits per sample. Signal to noise ratio is 56 dB for chroma and luma. Video fields are divided into 16 helical tracks on the tape. Total video bandwidth is 1.188 gigabits/s. Cue signals are recorded into 3 linear tape tracks. Video is recorded in groups of 4 tracks length-wise within each helical track, to allow for parallelization: high total data rates with relatively low data rates per head, and reduce the linear tape speed. Digital video signals are recorded line by line (1 row of pixels in every frame of video or 1 line of video at a time) with ECC (Error Correcting Code) at the end of each line and in between a number of vertical lines. Reed-Solomon code is used for ECC and each line also has an ID number for trick play such as slow motion and picture search/shuttle.

### Displays

Hi-Vision requires a display capable of handling 30 Mhz of video bandwidth simultaneously for each of the component video channels: Y, P and P. It was displayed on direct view color CRTs and CRT projectors, and plasma displays and Talaria projectors were explored to determine their ability to display Hi-Vision images.

### Cameras

Cameras based on Saticon tubes, Plumbicon tubes, Harpicon tubes and CCD image sensors were used to capture footage using the Hi-Vision format. A prototype based on Vidicon tubes was also created.

### MUSE decoders

A MUSE decoder is required for receiving MUSE broadcasts from satellites, and for viewing content in the MUSE format. The decoder converts MUSE format signals into Hi-Vision component video signals.

### Video cassettes

W-VHS allowed home recording of Hi-Vision programmes.

For recording Hi-Vision video, NHK and 10 Japanese companies ("NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo Electric, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon") in 1989 released UniHi, a professional videocassette format. Recorders for the format were manufactured by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba. These machines were less expensive than their Type C counterparts. Both studio and portable versions were made. The head drum spins at 5400 RPM and uses tape that is 12.65 mm wide. It has a luminance (Y) bandwidth of 20 MHz and a chrominance (P, P) bandwidth of 7 MHz. The head drum is 76mm wide. It uses two video heads with azimuth recording and records each frame of video into 12 helical tracks; only 6 tracks are necessary for each video field if recording interlaced video. Audio is recorded digitally as a PCM signal, as a section on the helical tracks. Writing speed at the heads is 21.4 m/s. The tape also has 3 linear tracks, one for audio, control and time code each. Signal to noise ratio for luminance is 41 dB and for chrominance it is 47 dB. The tape is wrapped 180° around the head drum. Development began in 1987. It uses metal particle tape. It could record video for 1 hour (63 minutes). Linear tape speed is 120 mm/s. The cassette measures 205mm (width) x 121mm (depth) x 25mm (height). Signals are recorded using time-compression integration, in groups of two signals length-wise on each helical track. Grouping is used to increase the bandwidth that can be recorded on the tape. The cassette is intented to be air-tight with two flaps in the cassette's opening to protect the tape.

This videocassette format was developed in order to reduce the size of HD recording equipment. The Sony version of the UniHi VTR, the HDV-10, had a price of over 90,000 US dollars.


Ghost Ship (2002 film)

# Ghost Ship (2002 film)

## Abstract

Ghost Ship is a 2002 American supernatural horror film directed by Steve Beck from a screenplay by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue. It follows a marine salvage crew in the Bering Sea who discover a mysterious ocean liner that disappeared in 1962 and stars an ensemble cast of Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades, and Karl Urban.

Shot in Australia and Canada, Ghost Ship is unrelated to the 1952 film of the same name. It was released theatrically in North America on October 25, 2002. It received generally negative reviews but was a commercial success, grossing $68.3 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

## Plot

In 1962, passengers aboard the Italian ocean liner MS Antonia Graza dance as a lounge singer named Francesca performs the song " Senza Fine ". A young girl named Katie sits alone until the ship's captain offers to dance with her. An unidentified person lifts a lever to tighten a metal cable which then snaps and rips through the stage and dancefloor, cutting everyone in half except Katie, who is spared due to her short stature forcing the wire to pass above her.

In 2002, a salvage crew — Sean Murphy, Maureen Epps, Greer, Dodge, Munder, and Santos — are approached by weather service pilot Jack Ferriman, who spotted a vessel adrift in the Bering Sea. It can be claimed by whoever brings it to port. They sets out on their salvage tug, the Arctic Warrior, and discover that the ship is the Antonia Graza. They find nine wooden boxes on the abandoned ship, each containing 28 gold bars. After a series of supernatural events and with the knowledge that the ship is sinking, the salvagers decide to leave with the gold. An invisible force sabotages the Arctic Warrior with a gas leak and causes it to explode, killing Santos.

The salvagers realize that their only means of escape is repairing the Graza and returning to port. Greer encounters the ghost of Francesca, who seduces him into cheating on his fiancée and then tricks him into falling to his death down an elevator shaft. Sean enters the captain's cabin and encounters the ghost of the captain, who explains that the crew of the Graza had also recovered gold from a sinking cruise ship, the Lorelei, along with a sole survivor. Sean is shown a picture of the survivor, whom he recognizes. He rushes to tell the others but a hallucination makes him see Maureen as the ghost of Santos, who provokes him into a rage. The others think Sean has gone mad and lock him in the drained fish tank, where Maureen later finds him drowned after an invisible force opened a valve, filling the tank with water.

Maureen meets the ghost of Katie, who reveals what happened on the Graza. The sole survivor of the Lorelei convinced Graza crew members to murder their passengers, as well as the captain and officers, for the gold. After murdering the passengers, they turned on each other, and Francesca killed the officer who survived. The mastermind behind the massacre killed Francesca by releasing a hook that slashed her neck, then branded her palm with a hook-shaped symbol using only his hands. He is revealed to be Jack, who is actually the demonic spirit of a deceased sinner tasked with provoking people to sin before killing them and bringing their souls to Hell. Maureen deduces that Jack lured the salvage team to the Graza to repair it and decides to sink it to thwart his plan. Munder is crushed to death under the ship's gears while scuba diving in the flooded engine room. Maureen tells Dodge to keep Jack on the ship's bridge while she sets explosives.

Jack taunts Dodge, calling him a coward for never acting on his feelings for Maureen, then charges at him. Dodge shoots him with a shotgun and believes him to be dead. Maureen is setting explosives when Dodge appears. He claims that he killed Jack and that they can salvage the gold to start a life together, but Maureen wants to know why he has not asked where Munder is. Dodge morphs into Jack, who has already killed Dodge. Jack plans to use the Graza as a trap to continue collecting souls. As long as the Graza is kept afloat, the souls of everyone who died aboard the ship will be dragged down when Jack returns to Hell. Maureen detonates the explosives and Jack is blown to pieces, while Katie helps Maureen escape the sinking ship. Katie and the other trapped souls ascend to Heaven.

Maureen is later found by a cruise ship and returned to land. As she is put into an ambulance, she sees gold being loaded onto the cruise ship by crew members overseen by a resurrected Jack, who glares at her. She screams as the ambulance doors close.

## Cast

- Gabriel Byrne as Sean Murphy

- Julianna Margulies as Maureen Epps

- Ron Eldard as Dodge

- Desmond Harrington as Jack Ferriman

- Isaiah Washington as Greer

- Alex Dimitriades as Santos

- Karl Urban as Munder

- Emily Browning as Katie Harwood

- Francesca Rettondini as Francesca

- Monica Mancini as the singing voice of Francesca

- Boris Brkic as Chief Steward

- Bob Ruggiero as Captain Ruggiero

- Iain Gardiner as Purser

## Production

### Writing

Ghost Ship first emerged in January 1996 as Chimera, a spec script by Mark Hanlon. This script was a relatively bloodless psychological thriller rather than a vivid supernatural horror film. Most notably, much of the film's gore is absent from the screenplay. The film would have focused on four members of a salvage crew who end up stranded aboard the ghost vessel they are scuttling (the titular Chimera). Over the course of one night, each member — due to panic, cabin fever, or supernatural forces — goes insane and plots to kill the other three.

In Chimera, Murphy is the "main killer" and the ship runs onto some rocks and begins to sink. Murphy and Epps survive until nearly the end but as the ship sinks, Murphy goes off to retrieve gold ingots. The weight of the gold and the time he loses in getting to it leads to Murphy's demise. As in the film, Katie helps Epps escape. Over time, the script underwent rewrites, and the psychological aspects of the script were all jettisoned in favor of making the film a slasher. It has been suggested that "The cast signed on based on this (original) draft... and were sadly disappointed to find the script had been radically changed by Joel Silver and associates when they arrived to begin shooting." According to Beck in the newly released directors commentary he mentioned that the September 11 attacks in the United States inspired the studio to make the film a more definitive fight between good and evil instead of trying to be nuanced about the corruption of man.

### Scale modeling

The idea of filming on a real ship was continually brought up, and a few ships were scouted for the possibility of being used as the Antonia Graza. "The temptation was always to shoot on the real thing," Beck says. "We actually visited a few, but every time we thought, 'How are we ever going to get a dolly through this alley? Or down this hallway?' When you're shooting you often have to punch through a wall in order to get the shot you need, and on a steel ship that's impossible. We knew the real thing would be far too limiting."

Instead of using an actual ship, Australian visual effects company Photon VFX, who prior had worked on the 2002 film Scooby-Doo, was hired as the principal contractor for all visual effects. This allowed Warner Bros. to take full advantage of the wide spectrum of services offered including CGI, animation, miniatures, live-action, prosthetics, pyrotechnics and aerial, underwater and motion control cinematography.

The SS Andrea Doria served as the inspiration for the film's ship the Antonia Graza. Photon created a 35-foot 1/20th scale model of the ship, allowing the exterior shots to be a combination of CGI, miniature, and live-action footage. For certain exterior shots a miniature just wouldn't work, so instead a full-scale forecastle and bow were constructed. "It was a full-scale replica, so it wouldn't have fit into a studio," Walker explains. "It also needed to have sky backgrounds surrounding it, so we built it on a hill to achieve the desired effect."

### Filming

Principal photography for Ghost Ship began in January 2002 on location in Queensland, Australia.

The majority of the film was shot on sets built on a sound stage at Village Roadshow Studios. The only ship used in Ghost Ship was the tugboat Arctic Warrior used by the main protagonists. While filming the exterior shots on the tugboat, a feeding frenzy occurred in the water bringing 800-1000 sharks within 50 yards of the production and its stars.

In February 2002, the 35-foot-long model of the Antonia Graza, made by Photon VFX, was taken out to Moreton Bay to film establishing shots of the ship adrift. In early February, construction of the bow and foredeck of the full-scale replica of the Antonia Graza was getting underway at Newstead, Queensland. Construction, which lasted roughly six weeks, drew many curious residents and tourists that were hoping to get a look at the nearly 100-foot-tall (30m) massive hull that dominated the surrounding area.

The film was also shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Vancouver.

### Effects

Dale Duguid, the creative director of Photon VFX, wanted to push the boundaries. There was a lot of pride for Ghost Ship since it was the largest visual effect contract completely done in Australia to date. Photon VFX filmed a real ocean-liner at sea off the coast of New South Wales, digitally removed the ship, but kept all of its movements, leaving nothing but ocean and sky. Then the tracking data was taken and in-put into a robotic filming system, which then filmed the 35-foot-long (10 m) miniature ship. The digital effects team then added 300 digital extras, in addition to digital water and smoke to make the scene appear as realistic as possible.

The dramatic scene, which features the derelict ballroom reverting to its former grand self, posed a problem for the effects crew. "That was the most difficult shot I've ever worked on," says Duguid. Filming took place on two different sets, the first being the decrepit ballroom which had been adrift for forty years. The second set was the luxurious ballroom, used in the opening scene with happy party guests having a grand time. "We were filming on a derelict set and a new set, and we shot 80 layers of that scene on a circular motion control track, each time with different things going on. Some we shot forwards, some backwards, some fast, some slow."

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack album for Ghost Ship was released on November 5, 2002 on Varèse Sarabande. The songs " Not Falling " by Mudvayne and " Senza Fine " sung by Monica Mancini are not part of the soundtrack despite being featured in the film.

The score is described by Filmtracks.com as "tap around some old genre cliches while diving head first into others, producing a score with drama, fright, and a slight hint of elegance at times as well."

## Release

Ghost Ship was theatrically released on October 25, 2002. The theatrical poster for Ghost Ship is similar to that of the 1980 film Death Ship.

### Promotion

Warner Bros. in association with Hollywood.com sponsored a sweepstakes to promote the film beginning October 18, 2002, with the final drawing on November 1. Applicants could enter for the chance to win the grand prize dubbed the "Ghost Ship Prize Package" of promotional merchandise consisting of one Ghost Ship baseball hat, one spinning skull mug, one Ghost Ship shower CD player, and the Ghost Ship soundtrack. The runners up would receive just the baseball hat and mug.

### Home media

On March 28, 2003, Warner Home Video (currently known as Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment) released the film to VHS and DVD. On October 26, 2018, Official Charts Company revealed Ghost Ship was the United Kingdom 's 26th best-selling horror DVD/Blu-ray of all time.

A collectors edition of Ghost Ship was produced by Shout! Factory and released on Blu-ray September 29, 2020. It featured a new interview with actor Isaiah Washington, and a new Audio commentary by director Steve Beck.

## Reception

### Box office

With a reported budget of $20 million, the film opened at no. 3 at the box office with $11,503,423 in ticket sales as Jackass: The Movie dominated the cinema releases. The film grossed $30,113,491 in North America and had an international gross of $38,236,393, earning a total of $68,349,884.

### Critical response

According to internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Ghost Ship has an approval rating of 15% based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With a plot as creaky as the boat, Ghost Ship fails to deliver the scares." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 28 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

The film received varied critical reception in the United States: The New York Times ' s Stephen Holden criticized its preoccupation with special effects, and while praising its establishment of mood, ultimately deemed it "an incoherent supernatural thriller that would like to think of itself as a Halloween-ready horror fusion of The Perfect Storm and Titanic." Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle praised the performance of Isaiah Washington, but deemed the film "a stupid, derivative horror film that substitutes extreme gore for suspense. Granted, there are only so many ways to kill people in these pictures, but lingering on a woman on a meat hook doesn't make a movie scary. It makes it gross."

Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times was critical of the script's lack of character development, writing: "With its minor shivers and modest Grand Guignol showmanship, Ghost Ship is the sort of flimflam that would have filled eight paneled pages in the great horror comic book Tales From the Crypt or consumed about 30 minutes on the latter-day HBO spinoff." Roger Ebert said the film is "better than you expect but not as good as you hope," while Joel Siegel of Good Morning America awarded the film a B− rating, writing: "After a very brutal and bloody beginning, Ghost Ship plays like an old-fashioned ghost story, the kind that kept you awake when you were a kid." In a review published by IGN, the reviewer awarded the film one-and-a-half out of five stars, stating: "as a horror fan, I applaud what Silver and Zemeckis are trying to do with Dark Castle, Ghost Ship just isn't a cruise worth taking."

Upon the film's release in the United Kingdom in January 2003, The Guardian ' s Peter Bradshaw praised its set design, but added "it's the same old tired stuff we've seen a hundred times before in various permutations." Jamie Russell of the BBC awarded the film two out of five stars, but praised its opening sequence.

While critical response to Ghost Ship was varied upon its theatrical release, many contemporary critics and film fans alike praised its elaborate opening murder sequence. Website Bloody Disgusting listed Ghost Ship ' s opening massacre as #13 in their list of "The Top 13 Kills in Horror Movie History," while ComingSoon named the scene one of the greatest opening sequences in horror film history.


Chester County Library System

# Chester County Library System

## Abstract

The Chester County Library System (CCLS) in Chester County, Pennsylvania is a library system in southeastern Pennsylvania that was organized in 1965. It is a federated system composed of a District Center Library in Exton, Pennsylvania and seventeen member libraries. The system provides materials and information for life, work and pleasure.

## History

The library system has its history starting in West Chester, Pennsylvania where it was once housed in a new county building on West Market Street and New Street, replacing the old Chester County Prison situated in the same location only 3 years earlier in 1959.

The county building was dedicated to honor Congressman Paul Dague in 1971. In 1980, the Chester County Library moved to its current location in Exton (next to the Exton Square Mall). In 1982, the library in Exton received a National Association of Counties Award for its Library Literacy Program, the first in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania handling 30,000 illiterate and 15,000 non-English speaking residents.

## Libraries

- Atglen Public Library

- Avon Grove Library

- Chester Springs Library

- Chester County Library and District Center

- Coatesville Area Public Library

- Downingtown Library

- Easttown Library and Information Center

- Henrietta Hankin Branch In West Vincent Township

- In West Vincent Township

- Honey Brook Community Library

- Kennett Library

- Malvern Public Library

- Oxford Public Library

- Paoli Library

- Parkesburg Free Library

- Phoenixville Public Library

- Spring City Free Library

- Tredyffrin Public Library

- West Chester Public Library


Downtime (Doctor Who)

# Downtime (Doctor Who)

## Abstract

Downtime is a direct-to-video spin-off of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced by the independent production company Reeltime Pictures. It is a sequel to the Second Doctor serials The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968).

Downtime stars Nicholas Courtney, Deborah Watling, Jack Watling and Elisabeth Sladen reprising their roles as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Victoria Waterfield, Professor Edward Travers and Sarah Jane Smith, respectively. It introduces the character of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart

The film received overall mixed reviews from critics, but was successful enough to get a sequel, Dæmos Rising, in 2004.

## Synopsis

Sometime after Victoria had parted company with the Doctor on 20th century Earth (Fury from the Deep), she is lured back to the Detsen Monastery in Tibet (The Abominable Snowmen) by a dream telling her she'll find her late father there. Instead, she finds the Great Intelligence, which still possessed the mind of Professor Travers (The Web of Fear).

15 years later, Victoria is the vice chancellor of New World University. New World is an institution that claims to offer spiritual guidance to distraught youth. In reality, New World is the headquarters for the Intelligence's new plan to conquer the world by infecting all of the computers. Both the administration and students await the coming of a "new world" that will be heralded by the chancellor, the Intelligence-possessed Travers.

Victoria's motives are well-meaning but misguided, having been manipulated with a promised "light of truth". The students themselves have been brainwashed through their computer courses and are slaves of the Intelligence. Outsiders refer to them as "chillys".

The Intelligence needs a final missing Locus to attain its goal. It believes the Brigadier has it, but the locus (a small wooden carving of a yeti) is actually with his daughter Kate and grandson Gordon on their narrowboat.

New World attempts to gather information on the Brigadier by asking Sarah Jane Smith to investigate him. Sarah lies about knowing the Brigadier and later warns both him and UNIT. The Intelligence then arranges a meeting between the Brigadier and a corrupt UNIT captain named Cavendish.

Throughout the story the Brigadier is aided by a New World student named Daniel Hinton, a former student of his from the Brendon School. The Intelligence's conditioning failed on Hinton, though at times he is still under its influence and at one point becomes a Yeti. He can communicate with the Brigadier through the bardo or astral plane.

## Cast

- Nicholas Courtney – Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The hero of the story, the Brigadier is targeted by the Great Intelligence in revenge for their defeat in the previous story The Web of Fear. Now living by himself, the Brigadier is initially distant from his daughter Kate (and it is implied that he is separated from Doris). At the story's conclusion, Lethbridge-Stewart learns that he is grandfather to Gordon James, his daughter's only child. Courtney was recruited by producer Keith Barnfather in early 1993 and was keen to take part in the production, although he later admitted to finding it a challenge due to his age (being 65 when production started) as well as differences in single camera filming compared to the more traditional multi-camera setup previously used on Doctor Who. Production on Downtime needed to be delayed a few months as Courtney was committed to a part in a West End production of The Mousetrap.

- Elisabeth Sladen – Sarah Jane Smith. A journalist working for Metropolitan Magazine, Sarah-Jane is initially contacted by Victoria Waterfield to provide information on UNIT Personnel, including the Brigadier. Suspicious of their motives, Sarah-Jane attempts to contact the Brigadier and, at the story's conclusion, allies herself with his daughter Kate. Director Chris Barry had been reunited with Sladen at a Doctor Who convention in Chicago and felt that she would fit the role of the 'female journalist' in the script well. As with other characters originally from Doctor Who, producer Barnfather was required to negotiate with the BBC in order to make use of Sarah Jane in his script.

- Deborah Watling – Victoria Waterfield. A former companion of the Doctor, Victoria feels alone and stranded in the 20th century. Using money that her father has left her, she has built the New World Campus and is, naïvely, trying to locate her father using the locus. The Great Intelligence takes advantage of her naivete and her position as Vice-Chancellor but she eventually sees through their deception. At the end of the story, with the Great Intelligence defeated she disappears with no known trace. Watling was pleased to take part in the production, not as a young, naive Victoria but as a 'power woman' of the 1990s. Like Courtney, she was also committed to a West End production (Don't Dress Down For Dinner), but had the advantage that her role attracted the interest of her father Jack.

- Jack Watling – Professor Edward Travers. A former adversary of the Great Intelligence who has faced them twice before (in the stories The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, Travers is now their pawn and seeks freedom through finding the last locus. Watling had appeared twice as Travers previously in Doctor Who (The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear) and, after seeing his daughter cast in the production, was keen to take part himself. The addition of both Watlings caused the budget of the production to grow more than initially planned.

- Beverley Cressman – Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. The only daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Kate lives with her only son Gordon James ('Gordy') on a houseboat. Unbeknownst to her, she possesses the last remaining locus in a toy chest, which has taken the form of a wooden yeti carving. Kate is initially resentful of her father, blaming his work for the disintegration of their family, although they make their peace at the story's conclusion. Cressman was, at the time, married to Miles Richardson and became involved in the production when her husband was cast as Captain Cavendish. Despite being a newcomer to the team of already established Doctor Who actors, she quickly became admired by Nicholas Courtney who felt she performed her role 'admirably'. The character of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart would return in another direct-to-video production (2004's Daemos Rising) before becoming a recurring character in later series of the revived Doctor Who (although the role would be recast to Jemma Redgrave).

- Mark Trotman – Daniel Hinton. A former student of the Brigadier's at Brendon School, the rebellious Hinton is initially immune to the influence of the Great Intelligence, although her later comes into contact with one of the yeti control spheres and is transformed into one. A computer hacker, he is friends with the university's DJ Anthony and attempts to warn the Brigadier about the Great Intelligence's plot before he is revealed as the trap designed to capture him. It is implied at the end of the story that Hinton has died and entered the astral plane, through which he communicates with the Brigadier's grandson. Trotman had appeared in an earlier direct-to-DVD Doctor Who spinoff, More Than A Messiah, which was the second film in The Stranger series with Colin Baker. Christopher Barry cast him due to him looking relatively younger than his age.

- Geoffrey Beevers – Harrod Haroldson. A former RAF officer, Flight Sergeant Haroldson is now homeless and has earned the nickname 'Harrod's' because he is fussy about where he sleeps as a vagrant. Harrods is loyal to the Brigadier and attempts to help him mount a defence against the Great Intelligence. Beevers was the husband of former Doctor Who companion Caroline John and had previously appeared in a small role in The Ambassadors of Death and as the reincarnated Master in Tom Baker's penultimate story The Keeper of Traken.

- Peter Silverleef – Christopher Rice. The marketing manager at New World University, Rice is a pawn of the Great Intelligence and attempts to seize power for himself at the story's conclusion but is destroyed in the crossfire. The role was Silverleef's only appearance in a Doctor Who-related production — he would later go on to smaller roles in shows like Doctors and The Bill.

- John Leeson – Anthony. The DJ of New World University, Anthony is antagonistic towards Victoria and Christopher Rice, resentful of having to transmit propaganda; after he attempts to broadcast the truth, he is consumed by the Great Intelligence. Leeson was most famous for being the voice of K-9 but also had experience as a voiceover announcer, making him suitable for this role.

- Miles Richardson – Captain Douglas Cavendish. A UNIT captain who is, in reality controlled by the Great Intelligence, he attempts to extract information about the final locus from Lethbridge-Stewart. Cavendish survives the conflict and resigns from UNIT, his story is continued in the follow-up drama Daemos Rising. Richardson was married to Kate Lethbridge-Stewart actor Beverly Cressman at the time of the production, although they would later be separated when filming the follow-up Daemos Rising.

- James Bree – Lama. The Lama at the Det-Sen Monastery, he appears at the beginning of the story attempting to warn Victoria away from the Great Intelligence. Bree had featured in Doctor Who previously, most notably as the Security Chief in Patrick Troughton's final story The War Games, Nefred in Full Circle and The Keeper of the Matrix in Colin Baker's final story The Trial of a Timelord.

- Kathy Coutler – Receptionist.

- Alexander Landen – Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

## Production notes

The initial script read through took place in March 1995, with filming beginning on Friday 24 March in South-West London with the scenes set at the Brigadier's home.

The university campus scenes were shot at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. DWB Editor Anthony Brown, who had attended UEA, suggested the location after another had fallen through, as the distinctive Ziggurat-shaped student residences Norfolk and Suffolk Terrace echoed pyramid motifs in the script. UEA students were recruited as 'Chillys' (extras) through the campus newspaper Concrete. Filming at the university was delayed slightly when the fire alarm sounded during the recording of some internal scenes.

Production of some external scenes had to be rescheduled thanks to unseasonal spring snow storms — ironically, snow was conspicuously absent from the first Yeti story, The Abominable Snowmen.

The later Reeltime production Dæmos Rising followed up on some of the elements of this story, specifically with the characters of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Captain Cavendish.

A clip from one of the scenes with Sarah and the Brigadier was planned to be shown as a flashback in The Sarah Jane Adventures. However, when the BBC requested permission from the owners of the Downtime copyright, it was refused and the clip was not shown.

Daniel Hinton is named after Craig Hinton, the Doctor Who fan and novelist.

## Soundtrack release

Music from this video composed by Ian Levine, Nigel Stock, and Erwin Keiles was released on CD by Silva Screen Records in December 1995. The 'Monastic chant' heard in the opening and closing themes was the same chant that was used in the Doctor Who story Planet of the Spiders.

### Track listing

All tracks are written by Ian Levine, Nigel Stock, and Erwin Keiles

## Novelisation

In 1996 a novelisation of Downtime by Marc Platt was published by Virgin Publishing as part of their Missing Adventures line. It expands greatly on the original story and features many differences in plot. It is the only Missing Adventure not to centre on the Doctor, although the Second Doctor makes a cameo at the start of the novel, and the Third Doctor makes a cameo at the end.

The novelisation included an 8-page photo insert of behind-the-scenes images taken by photographer Robin Prichard during the film production.

## Release

The film was a direct to video VHS release in 1995. A substantial amount of behind-the-scenes material was also intended to be released as a separate VHS entitled The Making of Downtime and was even advertised as such on later video releases but did not materialize. The twenty year gap between the VHS and DVD releases was due to rights issues between the three main parties who had funded the initial production.

Then, in 2015 One Media iP Limited acquired the drama and re-released it as a 2-DVD boxset in November 2015. The second disc contains two behind-the-scenes documentaries showing the filming of the drama and the post-production process.

The release of the DVD edition was met with some controversy when the granddaughter of Mervyn Haisman, who had co-created the Yeti and Brigadier with Henry Lincoln attempted to take legal action to block the release of the DVD, rationalizing that permission had not been sought or renegotiated for the DVD release. Additional controversy presented itself in 2012 when Ian Levine attempted to make his own re-edit of Downtime, entitled Downtime Redux which sought to bookend the film with a cameo from 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy in order to show that it was in fact the Doctor who had been manipulating events the whole time. The new edit remains unreleased to this day, primarily due to rights issues with the BBC.

## Reception

The film received overall mixed reviews from critics. Dave Owen of Doctor Who Magazine praised the performance of Nicholas Courtney, stating that he was, "the undeniable star of the show". Similarly, Dylan Rees reviewed the film in his book Downtime - The Lost Years of Doctor Who, praising the character arcs of the Brigadier and Victoria, but criticized the Yeti costumes, although he stated the production was "incredibly high for a film of this nature.


Nigel Ng

# Nigel Ng

## Abstract

Nigel Ng (/ ʌ ŋ / UNG; born 15 March 1991) is a Malaysian comedian and YouTube-personality. He is best known for co-creating (alongside Evelyn Mok) and portraying Uncle Roger, a character representing a middle-aged Asian uncle with an exaggerated Cantonese accent who is often seen critiquing people's attempts at cooking Asian food.

## Early life

Nigel Ng was born in Kuala Lumpur on 15 March 1991, the son of Chinese-Malaysian parents who also have Hokkien ancestry. His mother is a homemaker, while his father is a car salesman. He has a sister and a brother. After graduating from Chong Hwa Independent High School in 2009, he moved to the U.S. to study at Northwestern University. He majored in engineering and minored in philosophy, graduating in 2014.

## Career

### Early work

Ng previously worked as a data scientist at Monzo and maintained a GitHub account. Inspired to pursue a comedy career in part by the work of Hong Kong comedy actor Stephen Chow, he made his TV debut in 2018 on Comedy Central 's Stand Up Central. He hosted the comedy podcasts Rice to Meet You with UK-based Swedish comedian Evelyn Mok. and HAIYAA with Nigel Ng with his producer Matt. On 2 January 2021, he uploaded his first video on the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili. In 2021, he appeared on the 19th season premiere episode of the British comedy show Mock the Week.

### Uncle Roger

Ng is best known for his comedic alter ego Uncle Roger, representing a middle-aged Asian uncle who speaks with a pronounced and exaggerated Cantonese accent and prides himself on various East and Southeast Asian stereotypes. His podcast partner Evelyn Mok came up with the middle-aged Asian uncle character for a sitcom with Ng in mind, and Ng further developed the character on TikTok and Instagram sketches before moving the character onto YouTube.

In July 2020, Ng attracted attention for an Uncle Roger video critiquing Hersha Patel's BBC Food video on cooking egg-fried rice. After the video went viral, Ng and Patel appeared on BBC Food together and collaborated on a YouTube video. In August, he spent a day working in Elizabeth Haigh 's restaurant, Mei Mei. The following month, he posted a critique video with regards to Gordon Ramsay 's fried rice and praised Ramsay for having correct technique. He has released numerous videos critiquing Jamie Oliver 's versions of popular Asian dishes like egg fried rice, Thai green curry, and ramen.

Ng was a special guest on second season of MasterChef Singapore in 2021, and a guest judge on the third season of Junior MasterChef Indonesia in 2022. That same year, he was a guest diner on the 21st season of Hell's Kitchen.

On 22 May 2023, it was reported that Ng's Chinese social media accounts (Bilibili and Weibo) had been closed down in response to perceived criticism of China's government in his stand-up comedy special for the phrase "this Nephew using Huawei phone, they all listening", implying that the Chinese government eavesdrops on civilian phone calls.

On 11 September 2024, Nigel opened his first restaurant “Fuiyoh! It’s Uncle Roger” at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. He mentioned that he had plans to expand in Asia and then further into Western countries e.g. Australia, UK and US.

## Reception

### Positive

Ng won the Amused Moose Laugh-Off 2016 and was runner-up in the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2015. He was also a finalist in the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (2016) and Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year (2015). He was nominated for the "Best Newcomer Award" for his stand-up comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019.

### Negative

The accent Ng uses for the Uncle Roger character has received criticism for perpetuating negative stereotypes about Asians. Chef J. Kenji López-Alt (who is of Japanese descent) said, "I don't like that schtick seems to give a free pass to people to imitate stereotypical Asian speech patterns and pronunciation, especially as it's almost always non-Asians doing the imitating. It's ugly, it's yellowface, it's not funny, and it promotes anti-Asian racism at a time when Asians are already being heavily discriminated against." In response, Ng has said that it highlights the difference in the perception of Asian stereotypes between Asians living in Asia and Asian-Americans. His critique video of Patel's egg-fried rice has been described as making the viewers "fall for every cultural 'trap' his character sets", overlooking the differences of rice cooking methods in Indian cuisine, and turning East and Southeast Asians into "rice-cooking supremacists" with his "faux encouragement".

On 12 January 2021, Ng apologized on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and deleted a video featuring fellow YouTuber Mike Chen, who had been critical of the Chinese Communist Party and had also been associated with the ultra-conservative movement Falun Gong. He stated, "This video has made a bad social impact... I wasn't aware of his political thoughts and his past incorrect remarks about China. I hope you can give Uncle Roger, who has just entered China, a chance to improve!" His response attracted criticism on Twitter. In his first subsequent video as Uncle Roger, he said he would "keep making funny videos no politics, no drama".

On 30 July 2023, Ng stated in an Uncle Roger video, "Not all Southeast Asia has good food. You don't want food from Laos and Cambodia." He also jokingly called Laotian food an inferior version of Thai food, causing criticism and backlash from both Laotian and Cambodian communities. In a response video to Laotian chef Ae Southammavong challenging him to try Laotian food she had cooked, Ng accepted the challenge and explained his comments by saying, "All the Laos food I had so far... not my favourite. Asian people criticizing other Asian people is just a way of life." Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism issued a statement condemning Ng's remarks as damaging to the image of its cuisine and demanding an apology. The Embassy of Malaysia in Phnom Penh distanced Malaysia from Ng's remarks, saying that "hey do not in any way reflect our view".

Ng has stated that he does not want any of his viewers to spread hate towards anyone.

## Personal life

Ng lived in the Hammersmith district of London. In 2020, he discussed being the victim of an anti-Asian assault while living there.


Together (Serbia)

# Together (Serbia)

## Abstract

Together (Serbian: Заједно, romanized: Zajedno) is a green political party in Serbia. Biljana Stojković and Nebojša Zelenović serve as its co-presidents.

The party was formed in June 2022 as a merger of Together for Serbia, Ecological Uprising, and Assembly of Free Serbia, which were member parties of the We Must electoral alliance that took part in the April 2022 general elections. During 2023, it was an organiser of mass anti-government protests, which were held between May and November. Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, one of the original co-presidents, left Together with other Ecological Uprising members due to internal disagreements in September 2023. Despite the Serbia Against Violence coalition winning 65 seats in the National Assembly in the 2023 parliamentary election, Together did not win any and thus lost representation.

Together serves in opposition to the Serbian Progressive Party. A left-wing party, Together has declared its support for workers' rights, social justice, environmental protection, and direct democracy. It supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union and sanctioning Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since its inception, Together has cooperated with the European Greens, including its members and affiliates.

## History

### Formation

We Must (Moramo) was an electoral alliance that participated in the April 2022 general elections and won 13 seats in the National Assembly of Serbia and 13 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade. Its members were Do not let Belgrade drown (NDB), Together for Serbia (ZZS), and Ecological Uprising (EU). After the elections, Nebojša Zelenović and Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, who led ZZS and EU, respectively, announced the creation of a joint political party, which would also include the Assembly of Free Serbia of Biljana Stojković. They first signed a cooperation agreement on 1 June 2022.

Ćuta said that they would continue cooperating with NDB but that they would form separate parliamentary groups in the National Assembly. Zelenović announced that the party would be led by three co-presidents and that its members of the City Assembly of Belgrade would also have influence on how the party would work. Its founding assembly was held on 11 June 2022, at which its members and co-presidents announced their political ambitions and the name of the party, Together (Zajedno).

### 2022–present

After Together's establishment, Zelenović announced that it would begin a "green campaign" (zelena kampanja) somewhere in June. The campaign, named "Green Wave" (zeleni talas), began on 23 June 2022. A week later, Together organised a meeting at which it invited former members of the Moramo and United for the Victory of Serbia (UZPS) electoral alliances. Zdravko Ponoš, who was the presidential candidate of the UZPS alliance, Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), and Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) eventually participated in the meeting, at which they discussed establishing closer parliamentary connections. In July, Together stated its support for an environmental protest that was organised in Novi Sad. The protest turned violent when an unnamed group of people beat demonstrators with batons; Together condemned the violence.

Along with NDB and People's Party, Together co-nominated Zoran Lutovac of the Democratic Party (DS) for the post of the vice-president of the National Assembly; Lutovac was elected during its first session on 2 August. A month later, its offices in Novi Sad were attacked by an unknown man; a group of masked men attacked members of Together at Petrovaradin in April 2023. In December 2022, Together announced that it would organise an internal election to elect its ballot representative for a potential snap election and ultimately the candidate for the position of mayor of Belgrade, to be held from 27 February to 4 March 2023. Together also demanded early elections for the City Assembly to be held in Belgrade. In total, seven candidates registered themselves; Đorđe Miketić, a member of the National Assembly, won the competition.

Together signed an agreement with Solidarity in January 2023, after which Solidarity became a part of Together. Later in April 2023, Together also established connections with Serbia Centre (SRCE), led by Ponoš. Following the Belgrade school shooting and Mladenovac and Smederevo shootings in May 2023, Together has taken part in the mass anti-government protests as one of its organisers. In August 2023, Together, DS, and SRCE signed a cooperation agreement. Ćuta and other EU members left Together in September 2023, citing their internal disagreements with Miketić and Zelenović. Together became part of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in October 2023, a coalition of political parties organising the 2023 protests. SPN announced that it would contest the parliamentary, Vojvodina provincial, and Belgrade City Assembly elections, all scheduled for 17 December 2023. In the parliamentary election, SPN won 65 seats, though considering that the first Together candidate was placed in the 70th position, Together lost all of its representation in the National Assembly.

After the 2023 elections, SPN organised anti-government protests until 30 December. Although Together won representation in the City Assembly of Belgrade, the Assembly was not constituted because quorum was not met during the constitutive session. A new election for 2 June was then called. Together opposed participation in the new election on the grounds that electoral conditions have not changed. This position was also held by SRCE and SSP. This ultimately led to the dissolution of SPN in April 2024, while local boards of Together in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, and Pančevo disassociated themselves from the party due to the decision to boycott the election. The Novi Sad board joined PSG in June 2024. In the same month, Stojković announced that Together would form new local boards, due to reports that the party would go extinct.

## Ideology and platform

At its founding assembly, Together defined itself as a green-left party that would insist on the promotion of left-wing politics, workers' rights, social justice, environmental protection, and direct democracy. It is also supportive of the energy transition. Together served in parliamentary opposition to the Serbian Progressive Party.

Together is a green and regionalist political party. Jovana Gec, a journalist from the Associated Press, and Dušan Komarčević, a journalist from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have described Together as a left-wing party. Dušan Spasojević, a Faculty of Political Sciences professor, has also placed Together on the left-wing of the political spectrum. Together supported the manifestation of 2022 EuroPride event in Belgrade. Stojković has criticised the government's attempt to cancel the event. Together supported the initiative to forbid lithium mining.

Together expressed its support for the Fiat Serbia workers who protested in June 2022. The workers roadblocked and demanded higher salaries. While attending the protest, Stojković accused the government of not supporting workers rights. A month later, Together came in support of a protest in Krčedin where demonstrators demanded the local government provide them water. In August 2022, Together supported a farmers protest in Kragujevac and started an initiative to increase the agricultural budget.

An anti-corruption party, Together has said that "Serbia needs prosecutorial courage like that of Laura Kövesi " (je Srbiji potrebna "tužilaška hrabrost" poput rumunske tužiteljke Laure Koveši). It is supportive of the accession of Serbia to the European Union. Although it supports the introduction of sanctions on Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, Ćuta has distanced himself from the statement since Zelenović announced it in October 2022. Zelenović has also said that "Serbia needs to form a strategic agreement with the West" and has criticised military neutrality. Together has condemned the spraying of the Z military symbol graffiti in Novi Sad in July 2022, saying that the city government should instead "provide all available institutional material assistance to refugees and victims of the " (treba da pruži svaku raspoloživu institucionalnu materijalnu pomoć izbeglicama i žrtvama).

In August 2022, Together demanded the removal of a Chetnik mural that was drawn in an elementary school backyard in Šabac. Later in April 2023, Together expressed its support for banning Leviathan Movement, a neo-fascist organisation.

## Organisation

Together is led by two co-presidents, this being Stojković and Zelenović. During its time in the National Assembly, Zelenović served as the president of its parliamentary group, which had eight members, while Ćuta served as deputy president. In the City Assembly of Belgrade until 2024, three members were affiliated, them being Dejan Atanacković, Miloš Baković Jadžić, and Milica Marušić Jablanović. Together has a youth wing named Together Youth.

Its headquarters is located at Nušićeva 6, Belgrade.

### International cooperation

Shortly before Together was formalised, its representatives took part at the European Green Party congress in Riga. At the European Greens congress in Copenhagen in December 2022, Zelenović proposed the creation of a regional Balkan Green Party. In March 2023, Together established cooperation with green parties like Green Alternative – Sustainable Development of Croatia, United Reform Action, and Democratic Renewal of Macedonia. In the same month, Stojković was featured as one of the speakers at the Alliance 90/The Greens congress. In June 2023, its representatives again took part in a European Greens congress in Vienna.

Solidarity, which merged into Together in January 2023, became a partner of the Party of the European Left in December 2022. Its representatives took part in a European Left gathering in June 2023. Solidarity left Together in February 2024.

## Electoral performance


2012 in Guinea-Bissau

# 2012 in Guinea-Bissau

## Abstract

The following lists events that happened during 2012 in Guinea-Bissau.

## Incumbents

- President: until 9 January: Malam Bacai Sanhá 9 January-12 April: Adiato Djaló Nandigna (acting) 12 April-11 May: Mamadu Ture Kuruma starting 11 May: Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo

- until 9 January: Malam Bacai Sanhá

- 9 January-12 April: Adiato Djaló Nandigna (acting)

- 12 April-11 May: Mamadu Ture Kuruma

- starting 11 May: Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo

- Prime Minister: until 10 February: Carlos Gomes Júnior 10 February-12 April: Adiato Djaló Nandigna 12 April-16 May: vacant starting 16 May: Rui Duarte de Barros

- until 10 February: Carlos Gomes Júnior

- 10 February-12 April: Adiato Djaló Nandigna

- 12 April-16 May: vacant

- starting 16 May: Rui Duarte de Barros

## Events

### January

- January 9 - President Malam Bacai Sanhá dies at the age of 64 while undergoing treatment for an unknown ailment in Paris.

### March

- March 18 - Voters in Guinea-Bissau go to the polls for a presidential election following the death of President Malam Bacai Sanhá in January.

### April

- April 13 - The Economic Community of West African States condemns an apparent coup d'état in Guinea-Bissau.

- April 16 - Military leaders and a group of political parties in Guinea-Bissau announce the formation of a Transitional National Council after the recent coup; the acting president and prime minister remain in detention.

- April 17 - Guinea-Bissau is suspended from the African Union one week after a coup d'état.

- April 20 - The Economic Community of West African States condemns the election plan of the military junta which seized power in Guinea-Bissau.

### October

- October 21 - A firefight in Guinea-Bissau kills six people.


Ethan Nwaneri

# Ethan Nwaneri

## Abstract

Ethan Chidiebere Nwaneri (born 21 March 2007) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal.

Nwaneri made his Premier League debut against Brentford in September 2022, becoming the youngest ever Arsenal player, and the youngest player to appear in the top flight of English football aged just 15.

## Early life

Ethan Chidiebere Nwaneri was born on 21 March 2007 in Enfield, London, and attended St John's Senior School in Enfield. He is of Igbo Nigerian descent.

## Club career

Nwaneri joined Arsenal at nine years-old. By the age of 14, he was already playing for their under-18 side. Predominantly, he plays as a midfielder.

Nwaneri started the 2022–23 season playing for Arsenal under-18s, but he was quickly advanced to the club's under-21 side. Having made a sole appearance in the 2022–23 Premier League 2, he joined the first team for training in September, and made his first senior matchday squad on 18 September when he was named as a substitute for the Premier League match against Brentford. Coming off the bench to replace Fábio Vieira in second-half stoppage time, he became the youngest player to ever appear in the Premier League at the age of 15 years and 181 days – breaking the record previously held by Harvey Elliott, and the all-time English top-flight record held since August 1964 by former Sunderland goalkeeper Derek Forster, by three days. He also became Arsenal's youngest-ever player in any competition, breaking the previous record of 16 years and 177 days, set by Cesc Fàbregas in the 2003–04 League Cup. In the post-match press conference, manager Mikel Arteta explained that they had to name Nwaneri and two other under-21 players on the bench because the first team had several injuries, especially the injury of midfielder and captain Martin Ødegaard, and a "gut feeling" was behind his decision to send Nwaneri on.

In June 2023, with his schoolboy terms ending, Nwaneri agreed to a new deal with Arsenal on scholarship terms with an agreement for a professional contract upon his seventeenth birthday on 21 March 2024.

Nwaneri played as a substitute in the 2023–24 season in the Premier League in Arsenal's 6–0 win away against West Ham United, coming on in the 77th minute. In the post-match press conference, Arteta mentioned "the players on the bench whispering to bring Ethan on, which is a great thing to hear".

## International career

After starring in qualifying, Nwaneri was named in the England squad for the 2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship on 17 May 2023. He scored the winner in the opening match against Croatia at Balmazújvárosi Városi Sportpálya.

On 2 November 2023, Nwaneri was included in the England squad for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup. He scored his only goal of the tournament in their opening group game against New Caledonia in Jakarta. Nwaneri also played in the other group fixtures against Iran and Brazil. He came off the bench as a substitute during their round of sixteen defeat against Uzbekistan.

On 20 May 2024, Nwaneri was included in the England squad for the 2024 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He once again scored in the opening game of the tournament, this time a 4-0 win over France in Larnaca. Nwaneri also scored in a group stage victory over Spain. His third and last goal of the competition came in their quarter-final elimination against Italy.

## Style of play

Nwaneri has been labelled as a player who can operate as a " number 10 " but can play every attacking position, with an innate capacity to receive and dribble with the ball at his feet while also contributing defensively. He is comfortable in both wide and central roles.

## Honours

Arsenal U21

- FA Youth Cup runner-up: 2022–23