2020 in Guatemala

# 2020 in Guatemala

## Abstract

The following lists events in the year 2020 in Guatemala.

## Incumbents

- President: Jimmy Morales (until January 14) Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (from January 14)

- Vice-President: Jafeth Cabrera (until January 14) César Guillermo Castillo Reyes (from January 14)

## Events

### January and February

- January 14 – New President Alejandro Giammattei takes office after a five-hour delay due to protests. Outgoing president Morales is pelted with eggs.

- January 16 Guatemala breaks off diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Arrest warrants on corruption charges are issued for eight politicians; former congresswoman Aracely Chavarria and former mayor Angel Ren of Chiche, Quiché, are arrested.

- Guatemala breaks off diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

- Arrest warrants on corruption charges are issued for eight politicians; former congresswoman Aracely Chavarria and former mayor Angel Ren of Chiche, Quiché, are arrested.

- January 17 – 19 – Guatemalan Soccer League championship.

- January 18 The United States Border Patrol tries to deport a sick Honduran woman and her two sick children, ages six and one, to Guatemala. Mexico stops thousands of Honduran immigrants on the border with Guatemala.

- The United States Border Patrol tries to deport a sick Honduran woman and her two sick children, ages six and one, to Guatemala.

- Mexico stops thousands of Honduran immigrants on the border with Guatemala.

- January 20 Thousands of Honduran migrants and asylum-seekers battle with Mexican National Guard and try to force their way across the Suchiate River near Ayutla, San Marcos. The government seizes two farms belonging to former Minister of Communications, Infrastructure, and Housing, Alejandro Sinibaldi.

- Thousands of Honduran migrants and asylum-seekers battle with Mexican National Guard and try to force their way across the Suchiate River near Ayutla, San Marcos.

- The government seizes two farms belonging to former Minister of Communications, Infrastructure, and Housing, Alejandro Sinibaldi.

- January 22 – Guatemala is seen as the fifth most corrupt country in the world.

- January 24 – Calm returns to the Mexico-Guatemala border after 800 Honduran immigrants were arrested on January 23.

- January 27 – Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei offers El Salvador an opportunity to build and operate a port in Guatemalan waters in the Atlantic.

- January 30 – US Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) receives the Order of the Quetzal.

- February 1 The United States deported a record 4,171 Guatemalans (3,000 men, 692 women, 479 minors), a 2.27% increase over 2019, during the month of January, according to the Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración (Guatemalan Institute of Migration, IGM). More than 30,000 motorcyclists, many masked and costumed, rode from Guatemala City to Esquipulas, Chiquimula on the 59th pilgrimage to honor the Black Christ of Esquipulas.

- The United States deported a record 4,171 Guatemalans (3,000 men, 692 women, 479 minors), a 2.27% increase over 2019, during the month of January, according to the Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración (Guatemalan Institute of Migration, IGM).

- More than 30,000 motorcyclists, many masked and costumed, rode from Guatemala City to Esquipulas, Chiquimula on the 59th pilgrimage to honor the Black Christ of Esquipulas.

- February 4 200,000 people in an earthquake drill held on the 44th anniversary of the 1976 Guatemala earthquake in which 22,000 people died. Oscar Dávila, 44, is appointed to head the investigations into government corruption.

- 200,000 people in an earthquake drill held on the 44th anniversary of the 1976 Guatemala earthquake in which 22,000 people died.

- Oscar Dávila, 44, is appointed to head the investigations into government corruption.

- February 6 – In a visit to the Mexican Senate, President Alejandro Giammattei suggests the two countries construct Muros de Prosperidad ("Prosperity Walls") in the form of an investment bank in the Guatemalan departments of San Marcos, Quiché, and Huehuetenango and the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco in order to stem migration.

- February 7 – The United States offers thousands of H-2B visas to temporary agricultural workers from Guatemala.

- February 7 – 10 – Ultramarathon Xocomil in Lake Atitlán, Sololá Department

- February 15 – 16 – Thousands celebrate the 59th birthday of Trompito the elephant at La Aurora zoo in Guatemala City.

- February 18 – A campaign to reunite families separated by kidnapping and/or irregular adoption during the Guatemalan Civil War of 1960-96 has begun.

- February 22 – March 8 – Campeonato Femenino Sub-20 Concacaf 2020 (Concacaf 2020 Under-20 Women's Championship) in the Dominican Republic.

- February 24 – Thelma Aldana, the former chief prosecutor known for fighting corruption, is granted asylum in the United States after being charged with embezzlement in Guatemala.

- February 28 – Patricia Marroquín de Morales, the wife of former president Jimmy Morales, is wanted for questioning for possible fraud.

### March and April

- March 2 – Pedro Muadi, former president of the Congress of Guatemala, is sentenced to 30 years of prison for corruption.

- March 9 – Guatemala launches its first satellite, the Quetzal 1.

- March 15 – The government announces the first death from COVID-19, an 85-year-old man from San Pedro Sacatepéquez, San Marcos who returned from Spain on March 6.

- March 31 – A riot in a migrant detention center in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico, leaves a Guatemalan man dead and four people injured. The detainees were worried about a possible COVID-19 outbreak.

- April 3 – 2,250 people have been arrested for violating the curfew imposed since mid-March while 5,705 people have been detained for leaving their homes without justification.

- April 2 – Rodolfo Galdamez, the technical deputy minister of health, and Hector Marroquin, the administrative deputy minister of health, are fired amid revelations of an alleged corruption ring inside the ministry.

- April 23 Gilmer Barrios, a Guatemalan immigrant to the United States, was arrested on March 23 in southern California and deported to Tijuana, Mexico, on March 23. He spent 21 days in Mexico before Guatemalan Consul General was able to get him returned to his home in San Diego. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights calls on Mexican and Central American governments to halt deportations during the coronavirus pandemic. 2,500 migrants are stuck in Panama because Honduras has closed its border. Mexico has dumped migrants in Guatemala, but Guatemala has not let them in. On April 23 the organization helped 41 migrants return to El Salvador from Mexico.

- Gilmer Barrios, a Guatemalan immigrant to the United States, was arrested on March 23 in southern California and deported to Tijuana, Mexico, on March 23. He spent 21 days in Mexico before Guatemalan Consul General was able to get him returned to his home in San Diego.

- The United Nations Commission on Human Rights calls on Mexican and Central American governments to halt deportations during the coronavirus pandemic. 2,500 migrants are stuck in Panama because Honduras has closed its border. Mexico has dumped migrants in Guatemala, but Guatemala has not let them in. On April 23 the organization helped 41 migrants return to El Salvador from Mexico.

- April 23 – 26 – 2020 Pan Am Badminton Championships in Guatemala City.

- April 26 – Mexico′s National Institute of Migration (INM) empties the 65 migrant detention centers it has across the country by returning 3,653 people to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in the hope of preventing outbreaks of COVID-19.

### May and June

- May 1 – Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá Department, and other Maya communities spurn returned migrants, threatening some with burning their homes or lynching as fear spreads about more than 100 deportees from the United States who tested positive for the coronavirus. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has said deportees were screened for elevated temperatures and symptoms associated with COVID-19 before a plane with 89 Guatemalans, a dozen of them minors, arrived in the country on April 30.

- June 8 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that Gustavo Adolfo Alejos Cámbara, private secretary to former President Álvaro Colom (2008-2012) is ineligible for admission to the United States because of corruption. The ban also applies to Alejos Cámbara's family.

### July to September

- July 29, 2019 – May – 2019–20 Liga Nacional de Guatemala.

- July 13 – COVID-19 pandemic: A report by The New York Times and the Marshall Project indicates that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worsened the spread of the pandemic by deporting sick people to their countries of origin, including Guatemala. Guautemala is the only country that protested against the practice.

- July 21 – The Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) says that during the first six months of 2020, 262 minors have been murdered, 138 with firearms. Choking was the second cause of death with 66, and drowning was third with 24. There have been 1,638 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among minors.

- July 24 – August 9 – Guatemala at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

- August 16 – Forty Qʼeqchiʼ families were forced to leave the Cubilgüitz coffee farm, which they had been occupying in protest for fifteen years, after an armed group set fire to several residences.

- August 18 – A 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Escuintla Department with no reports of damages of or injuries.

- August 19 – The United States deports 127 Guatemalans, all certified as having recuperated from COVID-19. 100 Guatemalans had been deported from Mexico on August 16. 4,392 Guatemalans have been deported from the two countries since April 1.

- August 22 – Dozens of protesters demand the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei for mismanaging the response to the pandemic. Guatemala reports 67,856 cases of infection and 2,580 deaths.

- September 12 – COVID-19 pandemic: With nearly 3,000 deaths, more Guatemalans have died than in other counties in Central America. Guatemala is second in confirmed cases (81,909), behind Panama's 100,000. Overall, the public health situation seems to be improving, as La Aurora International Airport is due to open on September 18.

- September 15 – The Google Doodle is dedicated to Guatemala.

- September 18 – COVID-19 pandemic: President Alejandro Giammattei says he has tested positive for COVID-19. Guatemala reports 84,344 and 3,076 deaths.

### October to December

- October 19 – Day of the 1944 Revolution

- November 20 – Vice President Guillermo Castillo says he and President Giammattei should both resign in opposition to the 2021 budget that calls for large cuts in social benefits.

- November 1 – All Saints' Day

- November 21 – 2020 Guatemalan protests begin.

- December 5 – Protesters demand the resignation of President Giammattei, Vice President Castillo, and Congressional leaders.

- December 25 – Christmas

- December 28 – The U.S. cuts military aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

## Deaths

- January 2 – Ricardo Rosales Román, politician and guerrilla (b. 1934).

- April 18 – Erik Súñiga, politician (b. 1975).

- June 8 – Domingo Choc, Mayan spitirtual guide and natural medicine expert (b. 1934).

- June 14 – Haroldo Rodas, diplomat and politician, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1946).

- July 20 – Jorge Villavicencio, surgeon, former Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance (b. 1958).

- August 26 – Víctor Hugo Martínez Contreras, Roman Catholic prelate, former Archbishop of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán (b. 1930).

- August 30 – Rodolfo Abularach, painter (b. 1933).

- December 16 – Adela de Torrebiarte, 71, politician, Deputy (since 2020), President of the National Football Federation of Guatemala (2016–2017) and Minister of the Interior (2007–2008), lung cancer.


Bubba Wallace

# Bubba Wallace

## Abstract

William Darrell " Bubba " Wallace Jr. (born October 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing.

Wallace was previously a development driver in Toyota 's driver development program where he drove part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series and full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. He then moved over to Ford and their driver development program and competed full-time for Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series. After competing in select Cup Series races for Richard Petty Motorsports in their famous No. 43 as an injury replacement for Aric Almirola, Wallace became a full-time driver for RPM in the same car when Almirola left the team, which was his first full-time ride in the Cup Series.

Wallace has been the only full-time African American driver in NASCAR's three national series (Cup, Xfinity, and Truck) each year he has competed in them.

## Racing career

### Early career

Wallace started racing in the Bandolero and Legends car racing series, as well as local late model events, at the age of nine. In 2005, he won 35 of the Bandolero Series' 48 races held that year; in 2008 he became the youngest driver to win at Franklin County Speedway in Virginia.

### NASCAR K&N Pro Series/Drive for Diversity

In 2010, Wallace began competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, a regional and developmental series. Wallace drove for Rev Racing as part of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, and was signed as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. He won his very first race in the series, at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, becoming the youngest driver ever to win at the track, he was also the youngest, which began as the Busch North Series in 1987. He also won later in the year at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire, on his way to finishing third in series points and winning the series' Rookie of the Year award. He was the first African American to win the Rookie of the Year award in a NASCAR series. Wallace's 2011 season would see him winning three times, at Richmond International Raceway, Columbus Motor Speedway, and Dover International Speedway, and he finished second in points to Max Gresham.

Wallace moved to race directly for Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2012 season. Racing the entire K&N East Series season along with four to six selected races in the Nationwide Series, Wallace won the second East event of the year at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, his first win with JGR.

In 2018, Wallace returned to K&N East at Watkins Glen driving the No. 27 Chevrolet for Jefferson Pitts Racing to provide him with extra road course seat time before the Cup Series race later that weekend.

### Xfinity Series

#### 2012

Wallace made his national series debut in the Xfinity Series in late May, driving the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota for JGR at Iowa Speedway; he ran in the top ten for most of the event, finishing 9th. After posting further top ten finishes in his next two starts in the series, Wallace won his first career Nationwide Series pole at Dover International Speedway in late September.

#### 2014

In 2014, he returned to the Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 20, starting in May at Talladega Superspeedway where he would finish 34th after being involved in The Big One while running 13th. He ran only one more Nationwide race that year, at Daytona in July with Coca-Cola 's "Share a Coke" campaign sponsoring where he would finish a strong 7th.

#### 2015

Following the 2014 season, it was expected that Wallace would move up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing in a full-time ride, with the owner Joe Gibbs claiming they would have "a big program" for the young driver. After the team struggled to find sponsorship for more than 15 races, on December 8, 2014, Wallace announced he had been granted his request to leave JGR and seek other opportunities. Later, it was reported he had signed a deal to compete in the Xfinity Series for Roush Fenway Racing for 2015 with Chad Norris as his crew chief. On December 18, 2014, RFR officially announced that they had signed Wallace to compete full-time in the No. 6 Ford Mustang in 2015, with sponsors and crew members to be announced at a later date. On January 28, 2015, at NASCAR Media Day, it was announced that Wallace would drive the No. 6 Ford EcoBoost Mustang. Wallace started the season with a 12th-place finish at Daytona and earned 14 top-tens to finish 7th in the final point standings. He was beaten by Daniel Suárez for Rookie of the Year by a single top-ten finish.

#### 2016

Wallace finished 6th in the season opener at Daytona. He dropped to 11th in points but earned his best career finish at Dover International Speedway finishing 2nd to the dominant Erik Jones and making the inaugural Xfinity Series chase. He made it to the round of 8 before being eliminated after the penultimate race at Phoenix.

#### 2017

After finishing 33rd in the season-opening race at Daytona, Wallace finished in sixth place five consecutive times. However, at Bristol, Wallace struggled. After starting from last, Wallace was trapped a lap down throughout the race, eventually getting caught up in a late crash. Wallace would finish the race in 33rd. At Charlotte, Wallace would run upfront for a majority of the race, even leading for 3 laps, but a late-race pit stop relegated him behind the top ten. Wallace got loose and hit the wall with a few laps to go costing him a top ten and finishing 28th. However, despite being fourth in the Drivers' Championship standings, Roush Fenway announced that they would be suspending operations of Wallace's Xfinity Series team following the Pocono race weekend due to sponsorship issues.

Wallace signed with Biagi-DenBeste Racing to drive the No. 98 Ford at Chicagoland Speedway where he would score a 10th-place finish.

### NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

#### 2013

In February 2013, it was announced that Wallace would run a full season in the Camping World Truck Series in the No. 54 Toyota owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports. At Rockingham Speedway in April Wallace, following accidental contact with Ron Hornaday Jr., was turned by Hornaday under a caution flag, his truck hitting the outside wall. Hornaday was penalized for the contact by being sent to the rear of the field; after the race, Hornaday was penalized 25 championship points and assessed a $25,000 fine, in addition to being placed on probation for the remainder of the season. The situation was compared to an incident at the 2011 WinStar World Casino 350K where Kyle Busch deliberately wrecked Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway.

On October 26, 2013, Wallace became the first African-American driver to win in one of NASCAR's national series since 1963, winning the Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The only previous win by an African-American driver was by Wendell Scott in the Grand National Division on December 1, 1963. Wallace finished 8th in points in his rookie season.

#### 2014

In 2014, Wallace returned to the Camping World Truck Series full-time in the No. 54. In June, Wallace won the Drivin' for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park. Three weeks later, he battled Kyle Larson and Ron Hornaday Jr. for the win at Eldora Speedway. Wallace held off a hard charging Larson, who wrecked his car trying to catch him, and beat Hornaday by a 5.489-second margin to win the second annual Mudsummer Classic. Wallace switched to the No. 34 for the Kroger 200 at Martinsville in tribute to Wendell Scott, and led the most laps en route to his second straight victory in the race. Wallace won his final race with KBM, the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway, beating Larson again to earn his first non-short track victory. Wallace's four wins along with nine top fives and 14 top tens led to a third-place finish in points.

#### 2017

Wallace returned to the Camping World Truck Series at Michigan in August, driving the No. 99 Truck for MDM Motorsports, and ended up winning the race, holding off Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch who rounded out the top three. However, Wallace's truck was discovered to have had illegal vent holes, resulting in an L1-level penalty that suspended crew chief Shane Huffman for one race and penalized the No. 99 team ten points.

#### 2018

In May, Wallace once again returned to the Truck Series, driving the No. 20 for Young's Motorsports at Kansas. He finished 14th after running out of fuel from 5th with 4 laps to go.

#### 2019

In March, Wallace returned to the Truck Series for the TruNorth Global 250 at Martinsville and Vankor 350 at Texas, driving the No. 22 for AM Racing. He filled in for the team's driver/owner, Austin Wayne Self, following his suspension. Wallace would finish 10th and 20th, respectively, in these two races. Self would then be reinstated before the next race (at Dover) and he returned to his truck.

#### 2021

In March 2021, Wallace joined Spencer Davis Motorsports to drive their No. 11 in the Pinty's Dirt Truck Race on Bristol Motor Speedway 's dirt layout. For this race, the truck was fielded in a partnership with Hattori Racing Enterprises. He finished 11th in the race.

### NASCAR Cup Series

#### 2017

On June 5, 2017, Richard Petty Motorsports announced plans to have Wallace drive the team's No. 43 Ford in place of injured Aric Almirola, making Wallace the first African-American to race in the Cup Series since Bill Lester in 2006. In qualifying for his Cup debut at the Pocono 400, he was able to advance to the second round and start 16th. During the race, Wallace suffered from speeding penalties on pit road, including one while he was serving an earlier pass-through penalty; at one point, he nearly missed his pit stall because he looked for his Xfinity pit sign instead of the No. 43. He went on to finish 26th and one lap down. After congratulating Ryan Blaney in Victory Lane, Wallace passed out and required medical attention. He later stated, "This is the third time this is happened. I get so pissed off at myself that I just pass out."

Wallace earned a finish of 11th at Kentucky after being involved in a last-lap wreck.

#### 2018

After Aric Almirola announced his departure from Richard Petty Motorsports, team owner Richard Petty announced in an interview that he and the team were working on hiring Wallace as the new driver of the No. 43 in 2018. Wallace was officially introduced to the team as their new driver on October 25, 2017. He is the first African-American driver to have a full-time Cup ride since Wendell Scott in 1971.

Prior to the season-opening Daytona 500, Wallace received support from National Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton. He drove the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro to finish second behind Austin Dillon, the highest finish by a full-time rookie driver in race history, after beating Denny Hamlin to the start/finish line by.002 seconds. Wallace, however, scored only two additional top-10 finishes at the spring Texas race and the fall Phoenix race. He finished 28th place in the final point standings.

In October 2018, Wallace was named in Ebony magazine 's Power 100 list, joining the ranks of Stephen Curry, Antonio Brown, Venus Williams and former president and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama.

#### 2019

Despite continuing to have mediocre finishes in the 2019 season, Wallace displayed his full potential with RPM at the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race by winning the second stage of the Monster Energy Open and finishing fifth in the All-Star Race. His other highlight of the early-to-mid summer was at Watkins Glen, when he spun Kyle Busch off the track on lap 61.

At the Brickyard 400, Wallace had one of the best runs of his career by finishing third after running top 10 all day long. He continued to show improvements to his finishes during the season, notably at Richmond, where he started 37th and finished 12th.

At the Charlotte Roval, Wallace finished 24th after Alex Bowman spun him out on lap 42 after Wallace gave Bowman the middle finger gesture on several laps. Wallace retaliated after the race by splashing water on Bowman's face. NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell said on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that officials plan to have a conversation with Wallace about the altercation. On October 5, 2019, Wallace apologized to Jeff Gordon, AMR NASCAR Safety medical director Dr. Angela Fiege, and Hendrick Motorsports executive Jeff Andrews for getting them splashed during the incident, but stated that he does not regret what he did to Bowman.

On November 9, 2019, Wallace was fined $50,000 and docked 50 points for intentionally manipulating competition at Texas when he spun his car on the track after experiencing a tire failure. He once again finished 28th in the final points standings.

#### 2020

For the 2020 season, Wallace was reunited with crew chief Jerry Baxter, who worked with him in the Truck Series. In the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas, Wallace finished sixth for his best finish on a 1.5-mile track. When the season was halted after four races due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was 18th in points.

During the stoppage, he participated in the NASCAR-sanctioned eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, where he made headlines at the sim racing league's Bristol event for quitting early by choice after wrecking on the 11th lap. Wallace responded to fan criticism by mocking how easily they got offended over a video game. In response, his main sponsor Blue-Emu dropped its sponsorship of the virtual No. 43 car. Blue-Emu executive vice president Ben Blessing said that Wallace's outburst would have been unacceptable during a physical race. As Blessing saw it, Wallace's outburst was not the act of a NASCAR driver, but of "someone like my 13-year-old son who broke his controller playing some game where he builds houses." Later in the Pro Invitational season, after initially posting a tweet seeking a spotter for the event at Talladega, Wallace announced that he would "opt-out," stating that practicing for the iRacing events was too difficult: "I simply get burnt out after a day. Not the games fault, just been like that for years."

Wallace scored a second top ten in the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol after starting 36th. Further top tens came in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis and FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan with ninth-place finishes in both. In the regular season-ending Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, he recorded a fifth-place finish despite being involved in a late-race wreck.

On September 10, 2020, Wallace announced he would leave RPM at the end of the 2020 season. He finished 22nd in the points standings.

#### 2021: 23XI racing and first career win

On September 21, 2020, Michael Jordan announced he and NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin had created a NASCAR team, named 23XI Racing with Wallace serving as the first driver in the No. 23. Wallace was replaced by Ty Dillon in the 2021 Busch Clash as Wallace was not eligible to compete in the race. After qualifying fourth for the Daytona 500, he finished second in his Bluegreen Vacations Duel to Austin Dillon. He was classified 17th in the Daytona 500 after being involved in a fiery last-lap wreck. Wallace scored a second-place finish at the August Daytona Race. He originally placed third, but due to a post-race car inspection failure on the No. 17 car of Chris Buescher, his result was increased to second, equaling his best ever Cup Series result at the 2018 Daytona 500. On October 4, 2021, Wallace earned his first career Cup win at Talladega after the race was shortened due to rain. Wallace is the first African-American driver to win a Cup Series race since Wendell Scott in 1963. Wallace also scored the first win for a McDonald's -sponsored car since Jimmy Spencer in 1994.

#### 2022: Second career win and race suspension

Wallace continued with 23XI Racing alongside new teammate Kurt Busch. He raced at the 2022 Daytona 500 with a full McDonald's sponsored paint scheme, finishing runner-up to Austin Cindric by 0.036 seconds. Wallace was in contention late in the race at Atlanta, but would finish 13th after being involved in a wreck on the last lap. On March 29, 2022, crew chief Bootie Barker was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the 2022 Texas Grand Prix at COTA. Dave Rogers was announced as Wallace's crew chief for Richmond, Martinsville, Bristol, and Talladega. At Michigan, Wallace won his first career pole and finished second to Kevin Harvick. Following the final regular season race at Daytona Wallace, in a must-win situation, failed to qualify for the Playoffs. However, on August 31, 2022, it was announced that Bubba, along with crew chief Barker, would switch rides at 23XI for the remainder of the season, as they move over to the No. 45 car as it seeks the owner's championship. On September 11, Wallace scored his second win at Kansas after leading the final 67 laps and holding off Hamlin. At Las Vegas, Kyle Larson charged aggressively past Kevin Harvick and Wallace, causing Wallace to scrape the outside wall. Wallace retaliated with a right rear hook on Larson, wrecking both cars down the frontstretch and severely damaging Christopher Bell 's car in the process. During the caution, Wallace engaged in a shoving match with Larson. Wallace was suspended for one race for the incident; John Hunter Nemechek was assigned to drive the No. 45 at Homestead. He ended the campaign 19th in the drivers' standings.

#### 2023: Making the playoffs

Wallace started the 2023 season with a 20th-place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. He improved his finishes enough to make the playoffs for the first time in his career. Although improving in overall points, achieving 5 top 5 finishes, and 10 top10 finishes, 2023 was the first winless season for Wallace since his first win at Talladega in 2021. Wallace advanced to the Round of 12 following the Bristol night race after Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick were eliminated due to issues late in the race. He was eliminated from the Round of 12 at the conclusion of the Charlotte Roval race.

#### 2024: Playoff challenges

Bubba Wallace had an impressive start to 2024 achieving two fifth place finishes in the first two races of the season. However, following a 35th place finish at Las Vegas, Wallace struggled to regain competitiveness for the next five races until a fourth place finish at Martinsville Since Martinsville, Wallace has finished three times in the top 10 at Texas, Darlington, and Nashville. At the Chicago Street Race on July 7, Wallace was involved in a spin after he got turned by Alex Bowman, who would later go on to win that very same race. After the race, Wallace intentionally collided with Bowman's car during the cool-down lap. Per NASCAR, Wallace, "driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, was fined $50,000 for violating Sections 4.4.B & D: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct, and finished the race in 13th and currently sits 17th in the playoff standings, 45 points underneath the elimination line for the 16-driver field."

After a challenging 2024 regular season, Bubba Wallace failed to make the cut of 16 for the NASCAR Cup Playoffs. At the last race of the regular season held at Darlington Raceway on September 2, 2024, Bubba started in the pole position, and was in contention throughout the race to gain enough points to qualify for the playoffs. However, his hopes were dashed by a late crash and ultimately a new winner (Chase Briscoe).

## Noose investigation

On June 21, 2020, a member of Wallace's team reported to NASCAR that a noose had been placed in Wallace's garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway, which NASCAR president Steve Phelps relayed to Wallace in the evening. The organization condemned the act as "heinous" and said they would consult with law enforcement. Wallace stated that he was "incredibly saddened" by the "painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism," but also praising his fellow drivers that are "driving real change and championing a community that is accepting and welcoming of everyone." Before the GEICO 500 race the next day, the drivers and crews pushed Wallace's car to the front of pit road in a show of solidarity, a gesture that drivers Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick proposed.

A day after the race, an investigation by the FBI concluded that Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime: the alleged noose was a pull-down rope with a loop, in the style of a hangman's knot, that was located on an overhead door, and had been in the garage since the fall Talladega race in 2019. The FBI's determination led to people criticizing Wallace on social media as fake and questioning his integrity. Wallace stated in interviews that although he was relieved that he was not specifically targeted, he was frustrated by the backlash he received. He nonetheless vowed not to let the incident or the subsequent "hoax" allegations "break" him. He added that regardless of "whether tied in 2019" or "wasn't directed at me... somebody tied a noose."

On June 25, 2020, NASCAR released a photo of the noose taken by security. In a teleconference later that day, Phelps explained NASCAR had inspected every garage at the sanctioning body's 29 tracks, with 11 garages containing pull-down ropes tied in knots but only Wallace's being tied into a noose. Although the individual responsible was not identified, Phelps announced that NASCAR would require sensitivity and unconscious bias training for its personnel and that "Bubba Wallace and the 43 team had nothing to do with this."

Two weeks after the GEICO 500, on July 6, 2020, President Donald Trump tweeted that Wallace should apologize for the investigation, branding it a hoax while adding it and NASCAR's Confederate flag ban "has caused lowest ratings EVER!" Trump's ratings claim was refuted by Fox Sports executive vice president Michael Mulvihill, who said the ratings had increased by eight percent since the 2020 season resumed in May, while Wallace received support from figures like Johnson, driver Tyler Reddick, and basketball player LeBron James.

## Activism

### Philanthropy

Wallace founded and runs the Live to be Different Foundation. He was also the National Motorsports Press Association's Pocono Spirit Award winner for the second quarter of 2020, and the recipient of the Comcast Community Champion of the Year award for 2020.

### Black Lives Matter

In May 2020, after the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Wallace began to speak out about the abuse of African Americans by the police, becoming the face of stock car racing's involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement. On June 8, 2020, he called on NASCAR to prohibit displays of the Confederate battle flag at NASCAR races. In 2015, after the publication of photographs showing the white man who killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, posing with the flag, the organization began asking fans not to display the flag at its races. However, many fans in the South continued to hoist the Confederate flag at races. On June 10, 2020, NASCAR officially banned the display of the flag at its events.

In the 2020 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway, Wallace's car had a special paint scheme to honor Black Lives Matter when no other sponsor could be found for that race. The car featured an illustration of black and white hands interlocking together on the hood of the car, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on the side, and the phrase "Compassion, Love, Understanding" on both the hood and the back bumper. Richard Petty, owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, contributed to the livery by adding a peace symbol on the rear quarter-panel of the car that features hands of all colors circling inside the peace symbol. The livery was made after Richard Petty Motorsports failed to secure a primary sponsorship for the race. The team later suggested the idea to Wallace to run an all-black car to honor the movement. Wallace finished 11th after securing top-ten finishes in both stages, his career-best at Martinsville in the Cup Series.

## Personal life

Wallace was born in Mobile, Alabama, and raised in Concord, North Carolina.

Born to a black mother and a white father, Wallace is the son of Darrell Wallace Sr. and Desiree Wallace. His father is the owner of an industrial cleaning company, and his mother is a social worker who ran track at the University of Tennessee.

Wallace is best friends with fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney. The two first met when they raced Bandoleros in their youth.

In 2019, Wallace revealed that he dealt with and continues to deal with depression for most of his racing career. After others reached out to him to thank him for bringing awareness to depression, Wallace said he did not know it was such a widespread problem; for him, being depressed was an honest answer to a media question.

On July 23, 2019, Wallace posted photos of Richard Petty autographing his left forearm. He vowed to have Petty's signature tattooed if the photos were retweeted 43,000 times. The goal was made by the morning of July 25. Less than a month later, Wallace had Petty's signature tattooed on the back of his right thigh.

Wallace married Amanda Carter on December 31, 2022. The two became engaged on July 30, 2021.

Wallace is a Christian. In an interview with Esquire in 2020, Wallace clarified that his criticism of Michael McDowell after an incident at that year's All-Star Race was not meant as an attack on McDowell's Christian faith as some had perceived. "A lot of people took that as attacking his faith and it definitely wasn't that. I have nothing against that. I'm a Christian myself. When you go disrespectful, then that shows the character that you are. That's what I was getting at." Wallace's wrecked front bumper from the incident was put up for auction and raised $20,034 for the Christian non-profit organization Motor Racing Outreach.

### In media

In 2017, Wallace voiced the character Bubba Wheelhouse in the 2017 Pixar film Cars 3.

Leading up to the 2018 Daytona 500, he starred in the Facebook Watch series Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace.

Wallace and 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin appear in the music video for Post Malone 's 2021 song " Motley Crew ".

In 2021, Wallace participated virtually in the 2021 Pro Bowl after the event was cancelled and hosted on Madden NFL 21.

In 2022, he was the subject of the Netflix docu-series Race: Bubba Wallace. The six-episode series follows Wallace's career during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, including his off-track life and activism.

## Motorsports career results

### Stock car career summary

As Wallace was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

### NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

#### Cup Series

#### Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points

### ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)


Miss Grand Taiwan

# Miss Grand Taiwan

## Abstract

Miss Grand Taiwan is a national beauty pageant title awarded to Taiwan representatives competing at the Miss Grand International contest. The title was first awarded in 2014 to a Taipei -based model, Chen Szu Yu (陳思妤), who then competed internationally at the parent stage held in Thailand, but was unplaced. The following titleholders were all appointed; no national pageant was organized.

In 2023, the license of Miss Grand International for Taiwan was purchased by the International Celebrity Pageant Group, a Kuala Lumpur -based pageant organizer headed by Lennard Tan and the owner of another international pageant, Miss & Mister Celebrity International.

Since the establishment of Miss Grand International, Taiwan has participated four times: in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, but all its representatives received non-placements.

## International competition

The following is a list of Taiwanese representatives at the Miss Grand International contest.


Albert Goldbeter

# Albert Goldbeter

## Abstract

Albert Goldbeter is a Belgian theoretical biologist who is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium.

## Biography

Goldbeter was born May 18, 1947, in Uccle, Belgium. After completing his studies in chemistry, including a doctorate in the group of Prof. Ilya Prigogine at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, he was an EMBO postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel where he worked with Profs. Roy Caplan and Lee Segel (1973–1975) before returning to the ULB. He then spent another period (1979–1980) working with Prof. Daniel Koshland at the University of California (Berkeley). He was a professor at ULB until his retirement in 2012 and is currently an emeritus Professor at ULB. During his career he has held visiting Professorships at the University of California (Berkeley), Paris VI and Paris XI (Université Paris-Sud, Orsay), and in China at Fudan University in Shanghai, Nanjing Agricultural University, and Soochow University in Suzhou.

## Research

Goldbeter's research has focused primarily on modeling a variety of biological oscillations at the cellular level.

He proposed experimentally based molecular models for the circadian clock in Drosophila and mammals, and for the mammalian cell cycle. In collaboration with Daniel Koshland he analyzed the phenomenon of zero-order ultrasensitivity in biochemical systems regulated through phosphorylation-dephosphorylation.

For his work on the mathematical modeling of biological processes, he was awarded the 2010 Quinquennial Prize for Exact Fundamental Sciences from the Belgian National Science Foundation (FNRS). He is a member (2001) and former Director (2009–2010) of the Classe des Sciences (Science Division) of the Académie Royale de Belgique.

## Books

- Goldbeter, A (1990). Rythmes et chaos dans les systèmes biochimiques et cellulaires” (Masson, Paris, 1990),. Paris: Masson.

- Goldbeter, A (1996). Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms. The Molecular Bases of Periodic and Chaotic Behavior. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

- Goldbeter, A. (2018). Au cœur des rythmes du vivant. La Vie oscillatoire. Paris: Odile Jacob.


Emmanuël Sérusiaux

# Emmanuël Sérusiaux

## Abstract

Emmanuël Sérusiaux (born 3 October 1953) is a Belgian lichenologist. His career, spanning more than four decades, has combined both lichenology research and political aspects of nature conservation. He spent several periods working as a researcher at the National Fund for Scientific Research and the University of Liège, the latter in which he accepted a faculty position as professor and head of the Plant Taxonomy and Conservation Biology unit. Sérusiaux also served for three non-consecutive appointments as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Government of Wallonia. He retired from both his academic and political positions in 2019.

Sérusiaux published several phylogenies of lichen genera and described more than 200 new species, 20 genera, and the family Lepidostromataceae. This information was conveyed through his 145 authored or co-authored scientific publications from the period 1976 to 2020. He has had a strong research interest in the systematics of lichens that grow on leaves, the lichen flora of tropical Africa, the genus Parmelia (in the broad sense), and the order Peltigerales. Three lichen genera, several species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi, and a plant have been named in honour of Sérusiaux.

## Biography

Emmanuël Sérusiaux was born in Dinant, Belgium, on 3 October 1953. He obtained a master's degree in botany at the University of Liège in 1975 before spending a year at Harvard University on a fellowship from Rotary International. He earned a doctorate in botanical sciences, also from the University of Liège, in 1982 while working under the supervision of Professor Jacques Lambinon.

Sérusiaux's career has merged both lichenology research and the political aspects of nature conservation. His research career began as an associate at the National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) (1982–1984), then at the University of Liège (1984–1986). After this he took a position as Deputy Chief of Staff to Daniel Ducarme, the Minister of Agriculture and Environment of Wallonia (1986–88). He was a research fellow at NFSR from 1989 to 1999, and a professor at the University of Liège in the Department of Biology, Ecology and Evolution from 2004 to 2019. At the university, he was head of the Plant Taxonomy and Conservation Biology unit, which was later renamed Evolution and Conservation Biology. Interspersed, he had a second term as Chief of Staff (1999–2004) to Michel Foret, Minister of Territory Development, Urbanism and Environment of Wallonia, and third (2017–2019) term as Chief of Staff to Willy Borsus, the Minister-President of Wallonia. Sérusiaux retired from his academic and political positions in 2019.

As a professor, Sérusiaux taught courses about botany, plant systematics, lichenology, biogeography, biodiversity, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology. To help his students understand biodiversity in its natural habitats, he organised field courses for many of his classes, including to Tenerife (Canary Islands), Romania, Rwanda, and various locations in France (Vosges, Alsace, and Brittany). Sérusiaux has mentored several master's and doctorate post-graduate students. Worried that students in the master's degree program in biological sciences would not gain the expertise needed for successful employment in field biologist positions, in 2014 he founded a new master's degree program in conservation biology and biodiversity management.

During his professorship at the University of Liège, Sérusiaux established the aCREA (Conseils et recherchesen écologie appliquée), a research and consulting firm with ties to the university. Its work and research focuses on taking ecology into account in the fields of safeguarding and managing natural resources, biodiversity, and landscapes. Other administrative positions that Sérusiaux held relating to environmental organisations include: president of Aquapole, a research centre within the Liège University campus dedicated to water science, from 2002 to 2019; member of the Research Council of the University of Liège from 2005 to 2009; and member of the Administrative Board of LEPUR (Centre de recherche sur la ville, le territoireet le milieu rural) from 2004 to 2019. He has also served administratively for Natagora, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to biodiversity and conservation in Wallonia, from 2012 to 2017, and as the president of the Société wallonne des eaux from 2001 to 2007.

## Research

Sérusiaux helped to develop a molecular biology facility at the University of Liège where DNA was extracted and prepared from thousands of lichen specimens. This has enabled him and his colleagues to publish phylogenies for several lichen genera, including Nephroma, Peltigera, Niebla, Sticta, and the family Pannariaceae. Sérusiaux has a broad range of interests in lichenology, as is shown by the variety of different taxa covered in his publications. In addition to circumscribing a new family (Lepidostromataceae) and twenty new genera (Aplanocalenia, Bapalmuia, Brasilicia, Bryogomphus, Eugeniella, Fellhaneropsis, Ferraroa, Gallaicolichen, Hippocrepidea, Isalonactis, Jamesiella, Kantvilasia, Lambinonia, Lilliputeana, Lithogyalideopsis, Nyungwea, Phyllocratera, Rubrotricha, Savoronala, Sporopodiopsis), he has also formally described 206 new species. He has had a strong interest in the systematics of foliicolous lichens, the lichen flora of tropical Africa (in particular, the countries Burundi, Réunion, Rwanda, Zaire, and Zimbabwe), the genus Parmelia (in the broad sense), and the lichen order Peltigerales.

Throughout his career, Sérusiaux has organized many field trips, mostly to tropical locations, to study the local lichen flora. These have been quite productive and have help further the knowledge of lichenology in these areas. For example, an expedition to Papua New Guinea in 1992 with friends and colleagues resulted in the collection of almost 10,000 specimens, and the publication of 6 new genera and 89 new species.

The reproductive structures of foliicolous lichens were a particular research focus for Sérusiaux in the 1980s. He investigated campylidia, unusual helmet-shaped structures containing conidia. He defined the term goniocystangium —a concave, hollow, cup-like structure producing goniocysts that are found in the genera Catillaria and Opegrapha. His 2009 work "Liste rouge des macrolichens dans la Communauté Européenne" ("Red list of macrolichens in the European Community") was the first Regional Red List of lichens for the European Community (later the European Union), which was prepared as part of the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora).

## Recognition

After his retirement, a Festschrift in the scientific journal Plant and Fungal Systematics (volume 65, issue 1, 2020) was dedicated to Sérusiaux. In this volume of 16 publications, several new taxa were named after him.

### Eponymy

Sérusiaux has had three lichen genera and several species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi named in his honour: Serusiauxiella S.H.Jiang, Lücking & J.C.Wei (2020); Emmanuelia Ant.Simon, Lücking & Goffinet (2020) and Serusiauxia Ertz & Diederich (2020); Echinoplaca serusiauxii Lücking (1997); Badimiella serusiauxii Malcolm & Vězda (1994); Bapalmuia serusiauxiana Van den Broeck, Lücking & Ertz (2014); Opegrapha serusiauxii Lücking (2008); Plectocarpon serusiauxii Ertz & Diederich (2005); Polycoccum serusiauxii Matzer (1996); Pseudopyrenula serusiauxii Aptroot (1998); Sclerococcum serusiauxii Boqueras & Diederich (1993); Taeniolella serusiauxii Diederich (1992); Xanthoparmelia serusiauxii Hale (1986); Enterographa serusiauxii Lebreton & Aptroot (2020); Fulvophyton serusiauxii Sparrius & Tehler (2020); Ikaeria serusiauxii Sipman (2020); Impatiens serusiauxii Eb.Fisch., Raheliv. & Killmann (2020); Peltigera serusiauxii Magain, Miadl., Goffinet & Ant.Simon (2020); and Sticta emmanueliana Moncada, Lücking & Lumbsch (2020).

## Selected publications

A comprehensive list of Sérusiaux's publication is given in Magain and colleagues' 2020 tribute. His first scientific publication, in 1975, was about the water birds of the upper Meuse, a river in Belgium; this was followed a year later by a study of the foliicolous lichen specimens held at the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany. As of 2020, Sérusiaux had authored or co-authored 145 publications relating to lichenology. Some representative publications include:


The One Show

# The One Show

## Abstract

The One Show is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weekdays at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Roman Kemp and Lauren Laverne. Various reporters also assist with subject-specific presenting, both in the studio and on location, or through filmed segments. Originally produced in Birmingham and then in the BBC Media Village in White City, London, since 2014 the studio has been based in Broadcasting House, the BBC's headquarters in London.

Launched with a pilot series in 2006, leading to a full series from 2007, it has had various previous permanent and temporary hosts. After initial low ratings, the partnership of Adrian Chiles and Christine Lampard from 2007 to 2010 has been credited with boosting ratings and establishing the show as a popular staple of British viewing. The longest-serving partnership was between Jones and Matt Baker, who hosted together between 2011 and 2020.

The programme is usually 30 minutes long, although it is occasionally extended to an hour. It runs all year round, apart from a two-week break at Christmas and a four-week summer holiday, with the summer slot filled with a highlights show, The One Show: Best of British, presented by Matt Allwright and Lucy Siegle. In 2020 the consumer affairs programme Watchdog became a slot on the One Show, on Wednesdays at 19:00.

Launching the full series represented a major financial commitment for the BBC, and was seen by it as a first test of a wide-ranging restructuring of the BBC's production arm into a more flexible and creative organisation, with the show seen as a potential platform for piloting other programme ideas.

## Format

As a topical magazine programme, The One Show covers a variety of stories, ranging from light-hearted humour to serious issues or tragic current events. The broadcast features a mix of in-studio presenting, outside live broadcasting, and pre-recorded segments. Reporters and other experts are included to provide contributions on various topics, both in the studio and as part of segments. Special guests are usually introduced at the top of the show, and remain throughout, often being encouraged to interact with it in various ways, as opposed to simply answering questions.

Inside the studio, videotaping is done in front of a small standing audience, and focuses on two sofas (one for the two presenters, one for guests and contributors) arranged around a coffee table, often serving a practical use, e.g. during food tasting. Use of the forecourt of Broadcasting House for outside live broadcasts is common, allowing for a larger audience and/or a bigger stage for a performance or demonstration.

The show often takes an active part in events such as Comic Relief / Sport Relief and Children in Need. Cross-promotion of other BBC shows is common, although under BBC rules the show cannot give the BBC preferential coverage.

Typically the show airs in a 7pm timeslot on BBC One; however, it is occasionally moved later in the evening or to BBC Two to allow BBC One to broadcast extended breaking news coverage or due to overrunning sports events such as Wimbledon. Non England BBC regions such as Wales or Northern Ireland show the programme on BBC2 slightly more than English transmitters due to regional programmes being shown on BBC1 in those areas.

## History

The One Show was initially commissioned for a four-week trial run. It was broadcast on weeknights at 6:55 pm between 14 August and 8 September 2006. The programme was billed as a topical magazine show that was to showcase stories of interest from around the United Kingdom. The trial was hosted by Adrian Chiles and Nadia Sawalha, featuring reports from a variety of people across the UK. The show was intended to be an updated version of the BBC news magazine show Nationwide (1969–83).

After favourable viewing figures for the pilot, the show returned for a full series after being revamped on 9 July 2007. Team members were Adrian Chiles, studio presenter, Hardeep Singh Kohli, head roving reporter, and 13 other reporters or contributors. A number of changes were made to the format. The show was moved from Birmingham to London. Sawalha was replaced by Myleene Klass. Klass then left in August to give birth to her first child, and was replaced by Christine Bleakley. The line-up was completed by the addition of a new team of reporters. The show replaced Real Story, and Holiday.

The show's 400th episode aired on 18 March 2009; this was an hour in length instead of the usual 30 minutes. From September 2009, The One Show included a 60-minute episode every week, after successfully trying the format in May 2009. The hour-long format continued until December 2009, and was revived in April 2011.

On 13 April 2010, it was announced the show was being revamped with an hour-long Friday episode, to be hosted by Chris Evans. He was not due to start until after the summer break, but prior to this, both Chiles and Bleakley left the show. Chiles departed first, this being announced on 19 April, his last appearance being on 30 April. His replacement was announced on 26 May as Jason Manford, to begin in July. Bleakley continued alongside stand-ins until the last show before the break, on 10 June 2010, with her departure confirmed during the break, on 8 July. The BBC had also confirmed that following the break, The One Show would be broadcast in high-definition, with the set updated to HD standards.

The show returned on 12 July with stand-in presenters. On 26 July, S4C presenter Alex Jones was announced as the new female co-host. The new lineup of Jones and Manford on Monday to Thursday, and Jones and Evans on Friday, did not debut until the week beginning 16 August, Evans' first show being Friday 20 August.

On Friday 19 November, it was announced Manford was resigning due to his involvement in a “sexting” scandal; his last show had aired that Wednesday, for – owing to the Children in Need telethon being on Friday – Chris Evans had presented the end-of-week episode on Thursday. Filling in, Jones was joined by guest presenters including Matt Baker, Alexander Armstrong, and Matt Allwright on Monday to Thursday, with Evans also presenting extra episodes on occasion.

The show began broadcasting from New Broadcasting House on 6 January 2014 with revamped opening title sequence graphics. The opening sequence is also enhanced for the run-up to Christmas each year with extra vocals and visual sparkle.

On 25 January 2011, Matt Baker was announced as Manford's replacement. On 19 June 2015 it was announced Evans would be leaving, his last show being 10 July 2015. Following the departure of Evans, the Friday show has been presented by Jones alongside various guest presenters, the first being Patrick Kielty on 17 July.

On 26 January 2015, an FA Cup draw was performed on the show for the first time, for the 2014–15 FA Cup fifth round proper. The BBC regained the broadcasting rights for the Cup from that season and since then, draws have been a semi-regular occurrence on the programme.

On 1 February 2016, the show broadcast an extended one-hour tribute to TV and radio host Sir Terry Wogan, who had died the previous day. This format was repeated (albeit for the usual 30-minute duration) on 31 March 2016 as a tribute to comedian Ronnie Corbett who had died earlier in the day.

On 17 May 2016, the show broadcast a 25-minute EastEnders special, EastEnders: Last Orders, to mark the end of the era of the character Peggy Mitchell, who was to be leaving the soap for the final time; the show went out live from Albert Square, with cast members talking about Peggy and the show itself.

On 6 January 2017, Jones presented her last show before going on maternity leave; guest presenters Angela Scanlon and Michelle Ackerley began to take over for Jones effective 9 January. Jones called into the show on 26 January to announce that she had given birth to a baby boy.

In April 2019, Jones went on maternity leave for a second time. Jones' maternity cover was provided by: Michelle Ackerley, Angellica Bell, and Angela Scanlon, among others.

On 4 December 2019, Matt Baker announced he would leave the show in spring 2020 to spend more time with his family, but reassured viewers that he would continue to work with the BBC. Baker left on 31 March 2020, and the BBC confirmed that he would not be replaced, with the programme instead relying on guest hosts to present alongside Jones on a permanent basis.

In February 2020, the BBC Watchdog consumer affairs series was discontinued as a standalone programme after 35 years, becoming a segment on The One Show to be presented by Matt Allwright and Nikki Fox on Wednesdays at 19:00.

In July 2020, The One Show aired its 3,000th edition. It aired on 3 July, and was presented by Alex Jones and Alex Scott. In April 2021, the BBC announced Jermaine Jenas and Ronan Keating as "new permanent co-presenters." Jenas presents Mondays to Wednesdays and Keating on Thursdays and Fridays. Speaking on The One Show that evening, Jones said: "we'll still have Amol, and Alex Scott, and Rylan, and the lovely Michael Ball popping in now and again, as well."

In August 2021, Jones went on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her third child.

In August 2023, ahead of the show's return from its summer break, it was announced Roman Kemp would be joining the show as an official presenter alongside Jones and Jenas. He had been guest-presenting the show for a year. Keating, it was announced, would be stepping back as a main presenter but would be "continuing to host shows". It was also announced that Lauren Laverne had also officially joined the presenting team, having been a guest presenter since 2021. On 22 August 2024, it was announced that Jermaine Jenas who had been a The One Show co-host since 2021 alongside his work as a football pundit for the network had been sacked by the BBC following allegations of 'inappropriate behaviour', thus ending his role on the The One Show and in BBC Sport's football output.

## Production

The pilot show was transmitted from a temporary studio built at The Mailbox complex in Birmingham. It was produced by BBC Birmingham, with production input from various BBC regions. When The One Show returned for a full series, it was moved to BBC Media Village in White City, London, in 2007. It moved again to Broadcasting House in January 2014.

On 23 February 2011, the fire alarm at the BBC White City studios went off, causing the programme to be taken off air and the remainder of the show was replaced with a recording of Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers.

## Ratings

In 2014, the show was attracting an average daily audience of 5 million viewers. It received its lowest ever audience on Friday 24 June 2011, with just 1.92 million tuning in; the reason for this unusually low figure was because the show was unexpectedly moved to BBC Two after a Wimbledon match overran. The trend to a Friday ratings slump coincided with Evans' being handed the role of co-host for the pre-weekend edition in early 2011. The show shed two million viewers for the Friday edition after Evans joined the programme.

The show reached a 12-month-high audience on 18 January 2013 of 5.83 million viewers.

## Popular culture

A popular unofficial companion podcast The The One Show Show launched in 2018. Presented by writer and comedian Jon Holmes with co-host Marc Haynes and guests, it "takes a deep dive into TV's shallowest programme". The weekly show (in two parts) analyses The One Show in forensic detail with presenters, segues, film items and studio guests being mined for laughs. A live version of the podcast sold out the London Podcast Festival in 2019 with guest Fi Glover. Other notable guests have included Jane Garvey and Jay Rayner, who resigned from his One Show presenting job on the podcast.

## Presenters

### Weekly presenter schedule

Guest presenters are indicated in bold.

### Other guest presenters

The following have guest presented episodes of The One Show

- Leslie Ash

- Gabby Logan (2009–2010, 2013–)

- Chris Hollins (2010, 2016)

- Matt Allwright (2010–present)

- Louise Minchin (2010–2014)

- Paul Merton (2010)

- Anita Rani (2011–12, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023–; 16 episodes)

- Aled Jones (2011; 1 episode)

- Joe Crowley (2011–12; 2016, 9 episodes)

- Zoe Ball (2012–13, 2016–17, 2021–present; 17 episodes)

- Jake Humphrey (2012–13; 5 episodes)

- Sarah Millican (2013; 2 episodes)

- Julia Bradbury (2013; 4 episodes)

- Michael Ball (2013, 2016–present; 63 episodes)

- Tess Daly (2013; 1 episode)

- Fearne Cotton (2013, 2014, 2016; 8 episodes)

- Jo Brand (2014; 2 episodes)

- Vernon Kay (2014, 2016; 2024–present; 10 episodes)

- Richard Madeley (2014, 2016; 2 episodes)

- Eddie Mair (2014; 4 episodes)

- Angellica Bell (2014–present; 103 episodes)

- Richard Osman (2014–17; 9 episodes)

- Terry Wogan (2014; 1 episode)

- Patrick Kielty (2014–present; 56 episodes)

- Nick Grimshaw (2014–present; 7 episodes)

- Mel Giedroyc (2014–present; 11 episodes)

- Denise Lewis (2015–16; 3 episodes)

- Shane Richie (2015–20; 7 episodes)

- James Martin (2015; 2 episodes)

- Dan Walker (2015, 2018; 3 episodes)

- Ore Oduba (2015–present; 32 episodes)

- Richard Blackwood (2015; 2 episodes)

- Adil Ray (2015–16; 5 episodes)

- Chris Evans (2015; 1 episode)

- Warwick Davis (2015; 2 episodes)

- Ed Byrne (2015; 1 episode)

- Geri Halliwell (2015; 1 episode)

- Paul Hollywood (2015; 1 episode)

- Will Young (2015; 1 episode)

- Ricky Wilson (2015–17; 4 episodes)

- Jasper Carrott (2015; 1 episode)

- Nina Wadia (2016; 4 episodes)

- Rory Bremner (2016; 1 episode)

- Anton du Beke (2016; 1 episode)

- Omid Djalili (2016; 1 episode)

- Jeremy Vine (2016–18; 5 episodes)

- Dermot O'Leary (2016; 2 episodes)

- Konnie Huq (2016; 1 episode)

- Greg James (2016–19; 7 episodes)

- Craig Charles (2016; 2 episodes)

- Bradley Walsh (2016; 1 episode)

- Josh Groban (2016, 2018; 2 episodes)

- Gyles Brandreth (2016–present; 9 episodes)

- Angela Scanlon (2016–present; 98 episodes)

- Jerry Springer (2016–18; 3 episodes)

- Ade Adepitan (2016, 2018–19; 4 episodes)

- Brenda Emmanus (2016; 1 episode)

- Jack Docherty (2016; 2 episodes)

- Bill Turnbull (2016; 3 episodes)

- Michelle Ackerley (2016–present; 109 episodes)

- Steve Davis (2016; 1 episode)

- John Barrowman (2016; 1 episode)

- Al Murray (2016–18; 5 episodes)

- Fay Ripley (2016–17; 3 episodes)

- Caroline Quentin (2016; 1 episode)

- Jon Richardson (2016–18; 5 episodes)

- Katherine Ryan (2017; 1 episode)

- Si King (2017; 1 episode)

- Dave Myers (2017; 1 episode)

- Amol Rajan (2017–present; 84 episodes)

- Ronan Keating (2017, 2020–2021; 29 episodes)

- Sally Phillips (2017–18; 4 episodes)

- Kevin Duala (2017–18; 2 episodes)

- Rob Beckett (2017–2020; 3 episodes)

- Dev Griffin (2018–20; 4 episodes)

- Sandi Toksvig (2018; 2 episodes)

- Rory Reid (2018; 1 episode)

- Joe Lycett (2018–19; 2 episodes)

- Sara Cox (2018; 2 episodes)

- Angela Griffin (2018–present; 5 episodes)

- Susan Calman (2018; 2 episodes)

- Marvin Humes (2018–19; 5 episodes)

- Rylan (2019–present; 42 episodes)

- Joe Sugg (2019; 1 episode)

- Oti Mabuse (2019, 2021; 2 episodes)

- Ashley Banjo (2019; 1 episode)

- Peter Andre (2019; 1 episode)

- Stacey Dooley (2019; 5 episodes)

- Alex Scott (2019–present; 78 episodes)

- Emma Willis (2019, 2021–present; 36 episodes)

- Jo Whiley (2019; 1 episode)

- Sue Perkins (2019; 1 episode)

- Frank Skinner (2019; 1 episode)

- Clara Amfo (2019, 2021–present; 15 episodes)

- Jamie Cullum (2019; 1 episode)

- Ashley John-Baptiste (2019; 1 episode)

- Chris Kamara (2019, 1 episode)

- Gethin Jones (2009, 2019–present; 73 episodes)

- Chris Ramsey (2020–present; 18 episodes)

- Iain Stirling (2019–present; 4 episodes)

- Huw Edwards (2020; 1 episode)

- Kym Marsh (2020; 6 episodes)

- Jermaine Jenas (2020–2021; 31 episodes)

- Riyadh Khalaf (2020; 1 episode)

- Carl Hutchinson (2020; 1 episode)

- Harry Judd (2020–present; 28 episodes)

- Jordan Banjo (2021; 1 episode)

- Martin Clunes (2021; 1 episode)

- Sam Quek (2021; 18 episodes)

- Michelle Visage (2021; 1 episode)

- Lauren Laverne (2021–2023; 46 episodes)

- Tom Daley (2021, 2022; 3 episodes)

- JJ Chalmers (2021; 1 episode)

- Roman Kemp (2022–2023; 49 episodes)

- Craig Revel Horwood (2022; 1 episode)

- Vick Hope (2023–present; 3 episodes)

- Paddy McGuinness (2024; 1 episode)

## Reporters

### Current

### Former

## Controversies

### Carol Thatcher

Carol Thatcher did not have her short-term contract as a One Show roving reporter renewed after the BBC refused to accept her apology following an allegedly racist comment made in January 2009 following filming. It was made during a private conversation between her, presenter Adrian Chiles and a guest, comedian Jo Brand, but the comment was subsequently reported to BBC staff. Thatcher argued that the comment had been meant in jest, and that she considered the way the incident had been handled to be a breach of trust, for which she expected an apology from the BBC.

### Jordan Shelley

On 15 September 2011, The One Show presenters introduced what they described as a new member of The One Show family, dog trainer Jordan Shelley. The following day, he was shown treating a problem of food guarding by a Jack Russell Terrier. Using confrontational methods, he forced the dog away from the bowl, stepping on its foot and getting bitten in the process. Presenter Alex Jones remarked that "some people out there might argue that some of your techniques were a little aggressive".

The harm caused was condemned by dog welfare professionals and organisations.

### Jeremy Clarkson

On 30 November 2011, over 21,000 complaints were received because Jeremy Clarkson made two allegedly offensive comments on the show, one in relation to the recent public sector strikes (that striking public sector workers should be "executed in front of their families"), and another on suicide. The One Show apologised for the suicide comment. The incident registered 763 complaints to regulator Ofcom, the third highest recorded in 2011.

### Jimmy Carr

Two jokes told by comedian Jimmy Carr on 4 November 2015 episode were referred to regulator Ofcom for investigation regarding their potentially discriminatory nature. The jokes were found to be in breach of their broadcasting code, leading the BBC to alter its existing arrangements for ensuring guests do not swear or use offensive language to also explicitly discourage jokes made at the expense of minorities.

### Paul O'Grady

The BBC received complaints that while being interviewed in January 2014 about the issue of benefit reform, the Labour Party supporter and television presenter Paul O'Grady was not adequately challenged on his views, described as forthright in their condemnation of the Channel 4 documentary Benefits Street. The BBC responded by arguing that a variety of opinions had been heard, and that balance need not be addressed simply through a single programme.

### Rita Ora

Singer Rita Ora generated hundreds of complaints to the BBC over her choice of clothing for a 5 January 2015 appearance on the show, in which she wore a trouser suit with nothing underneath the jacket, the fit of which exposed her full cleavage. The BBC defended her clothing as being broadly in line with most viewers' expectations of a pop star's choice of attire, while also making clear it would have requested a more modest outfit had she consulted with them first.

### Jermaine Jenas

On 22 August 2024, it was announced that The BBC had sacked Jermaine Jenas as presenter, due to "inappropriate behaviour".


Employee of the Month (2006 film)

# Employee of the Month (2006 film)

## Abstract

Employee of the Month is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Greg Coolidge, who co-wrote it with Don Calame and Chris Conroy, and starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The film's plot revolves around two "super store" employees who compete for the affection of their newest co-worker. The film was shot primarily at the Costco store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film was released on October 6, 2006 and grossed $38 million.

## Plot

For years, Zack Bradley has been working at the local " Super Club " as a box boy. He lives with his grandmother and spends his free time with co-workers Lon Neilson, Iqbal Raji, and Russell Porpis-Gunders.

Despite his slacker -like ways, Zack is kind-hearted, popular, and supportive. His rival co-worker and head cashier, Vince Downey, earns Employee of the Month for the 17th time in a row. Vince comes off as charming, but is egotistical and rude towards his co-workers, including his box boy Jorge Mecico, whom he berates constantly in spite of Jorge always showing him loyalty and admiration.

When new cashier Amy Renfro is hired, Zack and Vince fall for her and compete for her affection. Zack learns that she slept with the Employee of the Month at her last job, so he decides to win the title. Amy has dinner with Vince but is repulsed when he makes a move on her. Oblivious to how Amy feels, he thinks it went well and continues pursuing her. Zack begins putting more effort into work.

Within a few days, Zack realizes getting Employee of the Month is not so easy. However, he gets a date with Amy. When one of the cashiers suddenly passes away, Zack volunteers to take her place, which earns him an official promotion to cashier. Zack and Amy continue to grow closer.

Vince tries everything he can to derail Zack's efforts, even breaking into his house one night to reset the clocks; the sabotage causes him to arrive a minute late the following day, but the plan fails when Iqbal punches Zack's timecard before the former's arrival. Zack retaliates by putting Vince's car up for sale for a cheap price, which is purchased by a customer. Vince concedes to give up his car in order to avoid getting a complaint. Jorge, who was promised Vince's car when Vince won the Employee of the Month prize car, severs their friendship as a result.

Zack takes Iqbal's shift on the day of a softball game against rival chain Maxi-Mart. However, he leaves to play in the game, and Iqbal is fired. Frustrated at Zack's new attitude, his friends tell him he is turning into Vince and feel his attempt at getting the title is a result of trying to have sex with Amy. She overhears and is disgusted at Zack for his true intentions, prompting her to reveal that she did sleep with the Employee of the Month at her previous location, but that she was already dating him and she broke up with him over his attitude, which was why she requested a transfer.

At month's end, Zack and Vince are tied. On the day of the tie-breaking competition, Zack quits, gets Iqbal his job back, and tells him he took responsibility for what happened. Iqbal accepts the apology, admitting that he doesn't need his job back because the news of his termination resulted in his wife asking for a promotion at her work successfully, so he is now a stay-at-home father for their kids. Zack tells them he plans to win the competition, not for recognition or to make an impression, but for pride. Meanwhile, Vince and Jorge make amends.

When store manager Glen Garry is about to announce Zack's resignation, Zack, Lon, Iqbal, and Russell show up saying Zack never filed the resignation papers. (Russell bribed the human resources manager with a Butterfinger.) Zack tries to reconcile with Amy, giving a heartfelt apology and telling her that no matter what, he is a better man thanks to her. Despite Vince's protests, the competition for the fastest checkout is held. The Employee of the Month Award will be granted to whoever finishes the task first.

Vince beats Zack only by a few seconds but, during the award ceremony, Semi, the security guard, brings a surveillance video of the competition that shows Vince throwing store products behind his back and onto the conveyor belt without scanning them. Assistant manager Dirk Dittman gets the receipts for the scanned items in the competition, and Vince's is not only way shorter in length, but the total cost is also less than it should be. Semi adds that videos show that Vince has been failing to ring up items all year, which has cost the store thousands of dollars. Vince is fired and Zack ends up winning the competition and rekindling his relationship with Amy.

Six weeks after being fired from Super Club, Vince is on probation, working at Maxi-Mart. Jorge now treats Vince the same as he treated him. However, while they are both sitting in Jorge's new car, when Vince asks for a ride to the bus stop, Jorge agrees. He agrees to drive Vince to the bus stop, but he deliberately moves outside the range of Vince's court-ordered ankle monitor, causing the device to shock him.

## Cast

- Dane Cook as Zack Bradley

- Jessica Simpson as Amy Renfro

- Dax Shepard as Vince Downey

- Tim Bagley as Glen Garry

- Andy Dick as Lon Neilson

- Brian George as Iqbal Raji

- Harland Williams as Russell Porpis-Gunders

- Efren Ramirez as Jorge Mecico

- Sean Whalen as Dirk Dittman

- Marcello Thedford as Semi

- Danny Woodburn as Glen Ross

- Barbara Dodd as Granny

## Release

The film became the #1 requested film on AOL. The film opened to $11.4 million opening weekend at #4 just behind Open Season. The film was made on a $12 million budget and earned $28.4 million in the United States and $38.4 million worldwide.

In the United Kingdom the film debuted at #4 opening with over £1,000,000 in returns.

### Home media

The DVD was released on January 26, 2007 and opened at #2 at the sales chart, selling 603,711 units which translates to $10.2m. As per the latest figures, 1,315,439 DVD units have been sold, bringing in more than $61 Million in revenue, exceeding its budget. This does not include Blu-ray sales or DVD rentals.

The 2007 region one DVD release of the film contains two commentaries: one featuring the director (Greg Coolidge) on his own, giving more technical information about the film; the second commentary features the director and star Dane Cook, who spends more time pointing out the origins of gags and actors throughout the film. The disc also contains extra improv scenes by actors Andy Dick and Harland Williams, an alternate opening with Eva Longoria showing Vince and Zack's first day on the job watching a video tape for new employees, an "At Work with Lon" feature showing Dick in character attempting to help to customers at Super Club, plus trailers for other Lionsgate films.

## Reception

No laughs whatsoever in this Clerks / Office Space slapstick wannabe, and the performances are awful. Shot in New Mexico; too bad they didn't bury it there.

— Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2008)

Employee of the Month was poorly received by both critics and audiences. The film was considered by Screen Daily and Ann Hornaday derivative of 1999's Office Space and the TV series The Office sans the wit and "cutting satire " of either, but The Hollywood Reporter said that even though it was not as strong as its Mike Judge predecessor, it "manages to retain a certain goofy appeal thanks to the stand-up efforts of its comically adept cast members". Nathan Rabin and the Los Angeles Times were critical that the film made no attempts to tackle the drudgery of employment, nor deliver a plausible comedy film. As such, Slant Magazine deemed it a wasted opportunity to comment on consumer culture using its warehouse club location (a sentiment also shared by a TV Guide reviewer), as well as juvenile and offensive that "rat boys and KKK members will surely love it." Screen Daily found the film uninteresting and its plot contrived and formulaic, but IGN described it as "a surprisingly amusing – albeit formulaic – piece of fluff". Although the Miami Herald said the film was indifferently directed by Greg Coolidge, they felt he had done so with "the same eye for detail that made Office Space great" despite lacking Judge's knack for creating fully-developed characters. Ultimately, Rabin called it dumb, mean-spirited, and a "colossal time-waster", and Claudia Puig felt that "you're bound to have more fun working overtime than watching Employee of the Month ". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Many critics felt that the well-endowed Simpson gave a dull and wooden performance offset by her physical attractiveness, finding her facial expressions on camera amateurish and ungainly. On that basis, Hornaday "emphatically" suggested that Simpson provided an example of a ditzy blonde, comparing her poorly with blonde actresses she cited for possessing not only sex appeal but also "warmth, goofy accessibility and superior comic timing": Doris Day, Goldie Hawn, and Cameron Diaz, among others. Of Cook's performance, Screen Daily and LAT felt that since he was constrained to play an affable lead role, this inevitably caused deviations in the comedic style he came to be known for: the raw humor and loose-limbed physicality. The result, they lamented, was a dull performance in stark contrast to one he exuded onstage. Conversely, Puig said that while Cook managed to adjust to "the kind of story that would befit Adam Sandler ", he should have aimed for material that matched his comedic sensibilities. In addition, IGN and Screen Daily praised Shepard in an antagonistic role that harks back to that of Tom Cruise in 1988's Cocktail, with TV Guide going as far as to say he was "the star of the show" who should have been cast in Cook's role. IGN found the futility of his onscreen rivalry with Cook hilarious, while Puig said the feud itself was only mildly so. Rabin felt that Shepard could reprise his role as a dimwitted lawyer from Idiocracy in Employee of the Month, positing the latter film as "a symptom of cinematic de-evolution run amok", as prophesized by Judge's 2006 sleeper hit on society's devolution.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 20% of 92 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The website's consensus reads: " Employee of the Month features mediocre performances, few laughs, and a lack of satiric bite." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Simpson earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress, but lost out to Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct 2.


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.


Florentina Mosora

# Florentina Mosora

## Abstract

Florentina Ioana Mosora or Florentina Stan-Mosora (7 January 1940 in Cluj, Romania – 2 February 1996 in Liège, Belgium) was a Romanian and Belgian biophysicist. In her earlier years, before 1964, she was a film actress in the Romanian film industry.

## Biography

Mosora initially had a career in acting and was noted for her role in Dragoste la zero grade ("Love at Zero Degrees", 1964). She also starred in Sub cupola albastră ("Under the Blue Arch", 1962), Post-restant (" Poste Restante ", 1961), and Băieţii noştri ("Our Boys", 1959). She was a graduate of the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Physics. Later she moved to Belgium, where she worked on the use of stable isotopes in medicine. She was awarded the 1979-1981 Prix Agathon de Potter for outstanding research work in physics by the Agathon de Potter Foundation and the Belgian Royal Academy. In 1989 she was one of three scientists co-organizing a NATO workshop on Biomechanical Transport Processes. She died aged 56 in Liège.

## Selected works

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