who won the fifa world cup of 2006

Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title. They defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago, and Togo made their first appearances in the finals. It was also the first appearance of Serbia and Montenegro under that name; they had previously appeared in 1998 as Yugoslavia.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany, for the finals tournament. It was the second time that Germany staged the competition (the first was in 1974 as West Germany), and the tenth time that it was held in Europe.

The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion times viewed, compiled over the course of the tournament. The final attracted an estimated audience of 715.1 million people.[1]

The vote to choose the hosts of the 2006 tournament was held in July 2000 in Zürich, Switzerland. It involved four bidding nations after Brazil had withdrawn three days earlier: Germany, South Africa, England and Morocco.[2] Three rounds of voting were required, each round eliminating the nation with the least votes. The first two rounds were held on 6 July 2000, and the final round was held on 7 July 2000, which Germany won over South Africa.

Accusations of bribery and corruption had marred the success of Germany's bid from the very beginning. On the very day of the vote, a hoax bribery affair was made public, leading to calls for a re-vote.[4] On the night before the vote, German satirical magazine Titanic sent letters to FIFA representatives, offering joke gifts like cuckoo clocks and Black Forest ham in exchange for their vote for Germany. Oceania delegate Charlie Dempsey, who had initially backed England, had then been instructed to support South Africa following England's elimination. He abstained, citing "intolerable pressure" on the eve of the vote.[5] Had Dempsey voted as originally instructed, the vote would have resulted with a 12â€“12 tie, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who favoured the South African bid,[6] would have had to cast the deciding vote.[7]

More irregularities surfaced soon after, including, in the months leading up to the decision, the sudden interest of German politicians and major businesses in the four Asian countries whose delegates were decisive for the vote.[8] Just a week before the vote, the German government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder lifted their arms embargo on Saudi Arabia and agreed to send grenade launchers to the country. DaimlerChrysler invested several hundred million Euro in Hyundai, while one of the sons of the company's founders was a member of FIFA's executive committee. Both Volkswagen and Bayer announced investments in Thailand and South Korea, whose respective delegates Worawi Makudi and Chung Jong-Moon were possible votes for Germany.[8][9] Makudi additionally received a payment by a company of German media mogul Leo Kirch, who also paid millions for usually worthless TV rights for friendly matches of the German team and FC Bayern Munich.[8][9]

On 16 October 2015, the German news magazine Der Spiegel alleged that a slush fund with money from then-Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus was used to influence the vote of four Asian members of the FIFA executive committee.[10] The sum of 6.7 million Euro was later demanded back by Dreyfus. In order to retrieve the money, the Organizing Committee paid an equivalent sum to the FIFA, allegedly as a German share for the cost of a closing ceremony, which never materialized.[8] Wolfgang Niersbach, president of the German Football Association (DFB), denied the allegations on 17 October 2015, saying that "the World Cup was not bought" and that he could "absolutely and categorically rule out the existence of a slush fund". The DFB announced they would consider seeking legal action against Der Spiegel.[11] During a press conference on 22 October 2015, Nierbach repeated his stance, emphasizing that the 6,7 million were used in 2002 to secure a subsidy by FIFA.[12] According to Niersbach, the payment had been agreed upon during a meeting between Franz Beckenbauer and FIFA president Blatter, with the money being provided by Dreyfus. On the same day, FIFA contradicted Niersbach's statement, saying: "By our current state of knowledge, no such payment of 10 million Franks was registered by FIFA in 2002."[13] The following day, former DFB president Theo Zwanziger publicly accused Niersbach of lying, saying: "It is evident that there was a slush fund for the German World Cup application". According to Zwanziger, the 6.7 million Euros went to Mohamed Bin Hammam, who at the time was supporting Blatter's campaign for president against Issa Hayatou.[14]

On 22 March 2016 it was announced that the FIFA Ethics Committee was opening proceedings into the bid.[15][16][17]

198 teams attempted to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.[18] Germany, the host nation, was granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 31 finals places divided among the continental confederations. Thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), five by CAF teams (Africa), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), four by AFC teams (Asia), and three by CONCACAF teams (North and Central America and Caribbean). The remaining two places were decided by playoffs between AFC and CONCACAF and between CONMEBOL and OFC (Oceania).

Eight nations qualified for the finals for the first time: Angola, Czech Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and Serbia and Montenegro. Czech Republic and Ukraine were making their first appearance as independent nations, but had previously been represented as part of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union respectively; Serbia and Montenegro had competed as Yugoslavia in 1998, as well as making up part of Yugoslav teams from 1930 to 1990. As of 2018, this was the last time Togo, Angola, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Trinidad and Tobago qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals.

Australia qualified for the first time since 1974. Among the teams who failed to qualify were 2002 third-placed team Turkey, quarter-finalists Senegal, Euro 2004 winners Greece and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations winners Egypt. Additionally, Belgium failed to qualify for the first time since 1978 and Cameroon failed to qualify for the first time since 1986. The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Nigeria, who had made the previous three tournaments, and Denmark and South Africa, who had both qualified for the previous two. France had their first successful qualifying campaign since 1986, as they did not qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, in 1998 they were automatically qualified as hosts and in 2002 as defending champions.

For the first time since the 1982 World Cup, all six confederations were represented at the finals tournament.

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro dissolved prior to the start of the World Cup, on 3 June 2006, with Serbia and Montenegro becoming independent countries; their team competed at the World Cup unaffected. Their involvement in the competition became the first time since the Commonwealth of Independent States appeared at UEFA Euro 1992, a team formed to take the Soviet Union's place following dissolution, that multiple sovereign states had been represented in the finals of a major footballing tournament by a single team and the only occurrence in the World Cup finals to date.

The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings,[19] qualified for the final tournament:

AFC (4)

CAF (5)

CONCACAF (4)

CONMEBOL (4)

OFC (1)

UEFA (14)

In 2006, Germany had a plethora of football stadia that satisfied FIFA's minimum capacity of 40,000 seats for World Cup matches. The still-standing Olympiastadion in Munich (69,250), the venue for the 1974 final match was not used for the tournament, even though FIFA's regulations allow one city to use two stadia. Düsseldorf's LTU Arena (51,500), Bremen's Weserstadion (43,000) and Mönchengladbach's Borussia-Park (46,249) were also not used.

Twelve stadia were selected to host the World Cup matches. During the tournament, many of them were known by different names, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadia unless the stadium sponsors are also official FIFA sponsors.[20] For example, the Allianz Arena in Munich was known during the competition as FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich (German: FIFA WM-Stadion MÃ¼nchen), and even the letters of the company Allianz were removed or covered.[20] Some of the stadia also had a lower capacity for the World Cup, as FIFA regulations ban standing room; nonetheless, this was accommodated as several stadia had a UEFA five-star ranking. The stadia in Berlin, Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart hosted six matches each, while the other eight stadia hosted five matches each.

Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. FIFA announced the base camps for each participating team.[33]

Squads for the 2006 World Cup consisted of 23Â players, as in the previous tournament in 2002. Each participating national association had to confirm its 23-player squad by 15 May 2006.[34]

The eight seeded teams for the 2006 tournament were announced on 6 December 2005. The seeds comprised Pot A in the draw. Pot B contained the unseeded qualifiers from South America, Africa and Oceania; Pot C contained eight of the nine remaining European teams, excluding Serbia and Montenegro. Pot D contained unseeded teams from the CONCACAF region and Asia. A special pot contained Serbia and Montenegro: this was done to ensure that no group contained three European teams.[35] In the special pot, Serbia and Montenegro was drawn first, then their group was drawn from the three seeded non-European nations, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

It had been predetermined that, as the host, Germany would be placed in Group A, thus being assured of the venues of their group matches in advance of the draw. FIFA had also announced in advance that Brazil (the defending champion) would be allocated to Group F.

Argentina
 Brazil
 England
 France
 Germany
 Italy
 Mexico
 Spain

Angola
 Australia
 Ecuador
 Ghana
 Ivory Coast
 Paraguay
 Togo
 Tunisia

Croatia
 Czech Republic
 Netherlands
 Poland
 Portugal
 Sweden
  Switzerland
 Ukraine

Costa Rica
 Iran
 Japan
 Saudi Arabia
 South Korea
 Trinidad and Tobago
 United States

Â Serbia and Montenegro

On 9 December 2005 the draw was held, and the group assignments and order of matches were determined. After the draw was completed, commentators remarked that Group C appeared to be the group of death, while others suggested Group E.[36][37] Argentina and the Netherlands both qualified with a game to spare with wins over Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro respectively.

The first round, or group stage, saw the thirty-two teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group was a round-robin of three games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The teams coming first and second in each group qualified for the Round of 16.

If teams were level on points, they were ranked on the following criteria in order:

In the original version of the rules for the final tournament, the ranking criteria were in a different order, with head-to-head results taking precedence over total goal difference. The rules were changed to the above in advance of the tournament, but older versions were still available on the FIFA and UEFA websites, causing some confusion among those trying to identify the correct criteria.[38]
In any event, the final tournament saw only two pairs of teams level on points: Argentina and the Netherlands at 7 points in Group C; Tunisia and Saudi Arabia at 1 point in Group H. Both of these ties were resolved on total goal difference. Also, in both cases the teams had tied their match, so the order of ranking criteria made no difference.

The finals tournament of the 2006 World Cup began on 9 June. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four teams each, within which the teams competed in a round-robin tournament to determine which two of those four teams would advance to the sixteen-team knock-out stage, which started on 24 June. In total, 64 games were played.

Although Germany failed to win the Cup, the tournament was considered a great success for Germany in general. Germany also experienced a sudden increase in patriotic spirit with flag waving, traditionally frowned upon by German society since World War II, whenever the German team played.[39] For the closing ceremonies, Matthias Keller composed a work performed simultaneously by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra with conductors Christian Thielemann, Zubin Mehta, and Mariss Jansons, and soloists Diana Damrau, Plácido Domingo and Lang Lang.

Despite early success by Australia, Ecuador and Ghana, the tournament marked a return to dominance of the traditional football powers. Four years after a 2002 tournament in which teams from North America (United States), Africa (Senegal), and Asia (South Korea) made it deep into the knockout stages and Turkey finished third, all eight seeded teams progressed to the knockout stages, and none of the quarter-finalists were from outside Europe or South America. Six former champions took part in the quarter-final round, with Ukraine and Euro 2004 runners-up Portugal as the only relative outsiders.[40] Argentina and Brazil were eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving an all-European final four for only the fourth time (after the 1934, 1966 and 1982 tournaments).

Despite the early goals that flooded the group stages, the knock-out phase had a much lower goals per match ratio. A prime example of the dearth of goals was Portugal, which only scored in the 23rd minute of the Round of 16, and did not score again until the 88th minute of the third place play-off. No player managed to score a hat-trick in this tournament. Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and France were the only teams to score more than one goal in a knockout match. Germany was one of the exceptions, tending to play an attacking style of football throughout the knock-out stage, which was reflected by the fact that they scored the most number of goals (14), with players from all three outfield positions (defence, midfield and forward) making the scoresheet.

Germany's Miroslav Klose scored five goals to claim the Golden Boot, the lowest total to win the prize since 1962. No other player scored more than three goals. No player from the winning Italian squad scored more than two goals, though ten players had scored for the team, tying France's record in 1982 for the most goalscorers from any one team.

For the first time ever in the FIFA World Cup, the first and last goals of the tournament were scored by defenders. Philipp Lahm, the German left wingback, scored the opener against Costa Rica after only 5Â minutes of the opening match. In the final, Marco Materazzi, the Italian centre back, out-jumped Patrick Vieira and headed in the last goal of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The tournament had a record number of yellow and red cards, breaking the previous record set by the 1998 World Cup. Players received a record-breaking 345 yellow cards and 28 red cards, with Russian referee Valentin Ivanov handing out 16 yellow and 4 red cards in the round of 16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands, in a match known as the Battle of Nuremberg. Portugal had two players suspended for each of the quarter-final and semi-final matches, respectively. FIFA President Sepp Blatter hinted that he may allow some rule changes for future tournaments so that earlier accumulated bookings will not force players to miss the final, should their teams make it that far. The tournament also saw English referee Graham Poll mistakenly hand out three yellow cards to Croatia's Josip Šimunić in their match against Australia.

The high number of yellow and red cards shown also prompted discussion about the referees. FIFA Officials and President Sepp Blatter received criticism for allegedly making rules too rigid and taking discretion away from referees.[41]

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2).

In the following tables:

In the opening match of the tournament, Germany and Costa Rica played a game which ended 4–2 for the host in the highest scoring opening match in the tournament's history. Germany went on to win the Group A after edging Poland and breezing past Ecuador 3–0. Despite the defeat, Ecuador had already joined the host in the Round of 16 having beaten Poland and Costa Rica 2–0 and 3–0, respectively.

In Group B, England and Sweden pushed Paraguay into third place after narrow victories over the South Americans. Trinidad and Tobago earned some international respect after a draw with Sweden in their opening game and managing to hold England scoreless for 83 minutes, until goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard sealed a 2–0 win for the Three Lions. Sweden qualified for the knockout rounds after drawing 2–2 with England to maintain their 38-year unbeaten record against them.

Both Argentina and Netherlands qualified from Group C with a game remaining, Argentina topping the group on goal difference having hammered Serbia and Montenegro 6–0 and beating Ivory Coast 2–1. The Dutch picked up 1–0 and 2–1 victories over Serbia and Montenegro and Ivory Coast, respectively. Ivory Coast defeated Serbia and Montenegro 3–2 in their final game, in Serbia and Montenegro's last ever international as the country had dissolved 18 days earlier.

Portugal coasted through in Group D, picking up the maximum number of points, with Mexico qualifying in second. Iran missed chances against Mexico in their opening 1–3 defeat and were eliminated in their match against Portugal. They fought hard against the Portuguese, but went down 2–0. Their last game against Angola ended in 1–1 draw. The Africans had a respectable first World Cup tournament after earning draws with Mexico (0–0) and Iran.

In Group E, Italy went through to the Round of 16 conceding just one goal (an own goal) in the group phase against the United States. The US bowed out of the tournament after disappointing results against the Czech Republic and Ghana, 0–3 and 1–2, respectively, despite a 1–1 draw (finishing with 9 vs 10 men) against Italy. Tournament debutant Ghana joined Italy in the round of 16, following victories over the Czech Republic and the United States. Daniele De Rossi was suspended for 4 games following his sending-off against the United States.

Group F included the reigning World Champions Brazil, Croatia, Japan, and Australia. Playing in their first World Cup for 32 years, Australia came from behind to defeat Japan 3–1, and, despite losing 0–2 to Brazil, a 2–2 draw with Croatia was enough to give the Australians a place in the Round of 16 in a game where two players were sent-off for second bookings and one, erroneously, for a third booking by English referee Graham Poll. The Brazilians won all three games to qualify first in the group. Their 1–0 win against Croatia was through a goal late in the first-half by Kaká. Croatia and Japan went out of the tournament without a single win.

France only managed a scoreless draw against Switzerland and a 1–1 draw against South Korea. With captain Zinedine Zidane suspended, their 2–0 win against Togo was enough for them to advance to the knockout round. They were joined by the group winners, Switzerland, who defeated South Korea 2–0, and did not concede a goal in the tournament. South Korea won their first World Cup finals match outside their own country in defeating Togo, but four points were not enough to see them through to the round of 16 (the only team for which this was the case), while Togo exited without a point.

Spain dominated Group H, picking up the maximum number of points, scoring 8 goals, and conceding only 1. Ukraine, despite being beaten 4–0 by Spain in their first World Cup game, took advantage of the weaker opponents to beat Saudi Arabia 4–0 and scrape past Tunisia 1–0 thanks to a 70th-minute penalty by Andriy Shevchenko, to reach the Round of 16. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia went out of the tournament having 1 point each, thanks to a 2–2 draw against each other.

The knockout stage involved the sixteen teams that qualified from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were: round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. There was also a play-off to decide third/fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, a draw was followed by thirty minutes of extra time (two 15-minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a penalty shoot-out (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary) to determine who progressed to the next round. Scores after extra time are indicated by (aet), and penalty shoot-outs are indicated by (pen.).

In the second round, conceding two early goals in the first twelve minutes to Germany effectively ended the Swedes' hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals. Argentina struggled to get past Mexico until a Maxi Rodríguez goal in extra time put the Albiceleste in the quarter-finals. Australia's journey ended when Italians were awarded a controversial penalty, scored by Francesco Totti, deep into the remaining seconds of the match. The Italians had spent much of the game with only ten men on the field, following an equally controversial red card shown to centre back Marco Materazzi. In a 0–0 match, Switzerland failed to convert any of their three penalties in the penalty shoot-out against Ukraine to see them exit the competition with an unwanted new record in becoming the first team in a World Cup to fail to convert any penalties in a shootout. Their elimination also meant that they became the first nation to be eliminated from the World Cup without conceding any goals (and indeed the only nation ever to participate in a World Cup finals tournament without conceding a goal).

England struggled against Ecuador but won 1–0 thanks to a David Beckham free kick. Brazil won 3–0 against Ghana, in a game which included Ronaldo's record 15th World Cup goal. Der Spiegel reported that the match may have been influenced by an Asian betting syndicate.[42] Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1–0. The only goal came courtesy of a Maniche strike in an acrimonious match, which marked a new World Cup record with 16 yellow cards (Portugal: 9, the Netherlands: 7) and 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offence. France came from behind to defeat Spain 3–1 thanks to goals from Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira, and Zinedine Zidane.

Germany and Argentina ended 1–1 after extra time; the hosts edged out the Argentinians 4–2 on penalties to go through to the semifinals (this was the first time Argentina had lost a World Cup penalty shootout: up until this match, both Argentina and Germany had participated in three penalty shootouts, winning all of them). In Gelsenkirchen, when England faced Portugal, Wayne Rooney was sent off, and Portugal won the penalty shoot-out 3–1 after a 0–0 draw to reach their first World Cup semi-final since the days of Eusébio 40 years earlier, and ensure manager Luiz Felipe Scolari's third consecutive tournament quarter-final win over Sven-Göran Eriksson's England.[citation needed]

Italy defeated quarter-final debutants Ukraine 3–0. France eliminated Brazil 1–0 to advance into the semi-finals. Brazil only managed one shot on goal, while Zinedine Zidane's dribbling earned him Man of the Match and his free-kick to Thierry Henry resulted in the winning goal.

With Argentina and Brazil eliminated in the quarter-finals, an all-European semi-final line up was completed for only the fourth time (after the 1934, 1966 and 1982 tournaments).

The semi-final between Germany and Italy produced an extra time period that went scoreless until the 118th minute, when Italy scored twice through Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero, putting an end to Germany's undefeated record in Dortmund.

In the second semi-final, Portugal lost to France 1â€“0 in Munich. In a repeat of the Euro 1984 and Euro 2000 semi-finals, Portugal were defeated by France, with the decisive goal being a penalty scored by France captain Zinedine Zidane.

The hosts got three goals in 20 minutes in the second half with the help of 21-year-old left midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. His first goal beat the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo with pace over his head. Only 4 minutes later, Schweinsteiger's free kick 30 metres from the left of the penalty box, driven low across goal, was connected with Petit's knee to become an own goal for Portugal. The German did not stop, and netted his second goal, which swerved away to the keeper's left, in the 78th minute.

Portugal were strong in possession but lacked punch in attack; unable to convert 57% possession into goals. Pauleta had two clear chances from 15 metres, but both times hit tame shots that did not trouble keeper Oliver Kahn, who was playing in his last match for the German national team. Portugal got a consolation goal with the help of substitute Luís Figo (also playing the final international game of his career), who almost immediately provided the precise distribution needed to unlock the German defence. A cross from the right wing on 88 minutes found fellow substitute Nuno Gomes at the far post, who dived in for the goal. The game ended 3–1, a result which gave the tournament hosts the bronze medals and left Portugal in fourth place.

The final started with each side scoring within the first 20Â minutes. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring by converting a controversial seventh-minute penalty kick,[43] which glanced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced beyond the goal line before it spun back up, hit the crossbar again and rebounded out of the goal.[44] Marco Materazzi then levelled the scores in the 19th minute following an Andrea Pirlo corner. Both teams had chances to score the winning goal in normal time: Luca Toni hit the crossbar in the 35th minute for Italy (he later had a header disallowed for offside), while France were not awarded a possible second penalty in the 53rd minute when Florent Malouda went down in the box after a tackle from Gianluca Zambrotta.

At the end of the regulation 90 minutes, the score was still level at 1–1, and the match was forced into extra time. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made a potentially game-saving save in extra time when he tipped a Zidane header over the crossbar. Further controversy ensued near the end of extra time, when Zidane head-butted Materazzi in the chest in an off-the-ball incident and was sent off. Extra time produced no further goals and a penalty shootout followed, which Italy won 5–3. France's David Trezeguet, the man who scored the golden goal against Italy in Euro 2000, was the only player not to score his penalty; his spot kick hit the crossbar, landed on the goal line and went out. It was the first all-European final since Italy's triumph over West Germany in the 1982 World Cup, and the second final, after 1994, to be decided on penalties. It was also Italy's first world title in 24 years, and their fourth overall, making them the second most successful World Cup team ever. The victory also helped Italy top the FIFA World Rankings in February 2007 for the first time since November 1993.

Miroslav Klose received the Golden Boot for scoring five goals in the World Cup. In total, 147 goals were scored by 110 players, with four of them credited as own goals.

FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) also granted a Man of the Match award to one player in each match. Italy's Andrea Pirlo won the most Man of the Match awards, with three in total. Miroslav Klose, Agustin Delgado, Arjen Robben, Zé Roberto, Alexander Frei, Michael Ballack, and Patrick Vieira each received two awards.

The All-star team is a squad consisting of the 23 most impressive players at the 2006 World Cup, as selected by FIFA's Technical Study Group. The team was chosen from a shortlist of over 50Â players, and was selected based on performances from the second round onwards.[45][46]

Gianluigi Buffon
 Jens Lehmann
 Ricardo

Roberto Ayala
 John Terry
 Lilian Thuram
 Philipp Lahm
 Fabio Cannavaro
 Gianluca Zambrotta
 Ricardo Carvalho

Zé Roberto
 Patrick Vieira
 Zinedine Zidane
 Michael Ballack
 Andrea Pirlo
 Gennaro Gattuso
 Francesco Totti
 Luís Figo
 Maniche

Hernán Crespo
 Thierry Henry
 Miroslav Klose
 Luca Toni

A total of CHF332 million was awarded to the 32 teams participating in the tournament. Each team who entered the competition received CHF2 million, with the biggest prize being CHF24.5 million, awarded to the winner of the tournament.[47] Below is a complete list of the prize money allocated:[47][48]

All 32 teams are ranked based on criteria which have been used by FIFA.[49] A penalty shoot-out counts as a draw for both teams.

The sponsors of the 2006 World Cup consisted of 15 FIFA Partners.[50]


what type of business is enterprise rent a car

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an American car rental company headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, United States in Greater St. Louis. In addition to car rental, Enterprise also oversees commercial fleet management, used car sales, and commercial truck rental operations.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Enterprise Rent-A-Car was established in St. Louis, Missouri in 1957 by Jack C. Taylor. Originally known as "Executive Leasing Company," in 1969, Taylor renamed the company "Enterprise" after the aircraft carrier USSÂ Enterprise, on which he served during World War II. In 2009, Enterprise became a subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings, Inc., following the company's 2007 acquisition of Vanguard Automotive Group, the parent company of National Car Rental and Alamo Rent a Car.[2] The resulting company was 21st on the 2008 Forbes list of "Largest Private Companies in America."[3][4][5][6]

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is the largest rental car company in the United States,[7][8] and has more than 5,400 “home city” locations, and 419 airport locations.[citation needed]

Enterprise Rent-A-Carâ€™s primary focus is the local rental car market, specializing in car rentals to consumers who need a replacement car as the result of an accident, mechanical repair, theft, or who require a vehicle for a special occasion such as a short business or leisure trip. In the late 1990s,[citation needed] Enterprise Rent-A-Car also began expanding its operations to include the airport market, and now serves airports in the United States, Canada, the UK, Spain, Germany, and Ireland. The company's initial entry into Europe came in 1994.[9]

By 2005, Enterprise Rent-A-Car's customer service has been recognized seven times by J.D. Power and Associates as highest in customer satisfaction for rental car companies at or near airports.[10] The company was named ninth on Business Week's top 25 companies customer service list in 2007.[11][12]

In 2006, Business Week listed Enterprise among the top 10 places to begin a career.[13] Although the company's pay for management trainees was among the lowest on the list (at an average $34,000), "those who catch on"[13] quickly get a chance to run a branch office with the responsibility to generate a profit. Certain requirements and qualifications must be met to get promoted to an assistant manager, and many of these qualifications may depend on the employees' sales and their success in the company's management training program. According to BusinessWeek's list of "Best Places to Launch a Career", Enterprise was in the top 15. Within five years, a successful manager may take positions at headquarters or become an area manager responsible for multiple branches.[13] The ERAC system earns revenue through the "average car rate". The vehicles range from small vehicles reserved for insurance replacement, paid for at negotiated insured rates, to high end luxury vehicles that rent in upwards of 3 figures. The goal is to up-sell the customer into vehicles of higher perceived value even though the investment in the vehicle inventory is spread across all vehicles.

During model years 2006-2008, 66,000 of the Chevrolet Impalas the company ordered were purchased without side-curtain airbags, saving the company $11.5 million ($175 per vehicle), though the airbags were standard in retail models.[14] The practice, which the company notes does not "violate any federal mandate", came to national attention when cars being retired from their rental fleet were sold with claims that side-curtain air bags were included.[14] About 5,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Buick LaCrosses were also purchased with the side air bags omitted.[14] Enterprise admitted that it inaccurately advertised and sold 745 Chevrolet Impalas—model years 2006 through 2008—that were identified online as having side air bags, when in fact they did not. A company spokesman said that it would inform customers who had bought the cars, and offer to buy them back from the customers.[14] According to Safety Research and Strategies, a safety research firm that regularly works with the automotive industry, deleting safety features is a highly unusual practice. "I’ve never seen a standard safety feature removed from a vehicle. I’ve been doing this work for 17 years and, until now, had yet to see this happen,” said Sean Kane of Safety Research and Strategies.[14]

In 2008, Enterprise piloted its first on-campus carsharing program at Washington University in St. Louis.[15] The program, called WeCar, was introduced at the University of South Florida in July 2009.[15] As of September 2012[update], WeCar has 100 carsharing programs in more than 30 American states and Canada, and the service offers almost 100 electric cars and plug-in hybrids, including the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt.[16]

By September 2013, WeCar was rebranded as Enterprise CarShare.[17]

In April 2015 Enterprise acquired City Car Club in the United Kingdom, renaming it Enterprise Car Club.[18]


taxol is used to treat what type of cancer

Paclitaxel (PTX), sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer.[2] This includes ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi sarcoma, cervical cancer, and pancreatic cancer.[2] It is given by injection into a vein.[2] There is also an albumin bound formulation.[2]

Paclitaxel

Common side effects include hair loss, bone marrow suppression, numbness, allergic reactions, muscle pains, and diarrhea.[2] Other serious side effects include heart problems, increased risk of infection, and lung inflammation.[2] There are concerns that use during pregnancy may cause birth defects.[3][2] Paclitaxel is in the taxane family of medications.[4] It works by interference with the normal function of microtubules during cell division.[2]

Paclitaxel was first isolated in 1971 from the Pacific yew and approved for medical use in 1993.[5][6] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system.[7] The wholesale cost in the developing world is about 7.06 to 13.48 USD per 100Â mg vial.[8] This amount in the United Kingdom costs the NHS about 66.85 pounds.[9] It is now manufactured by cell culture.[6]

Paclitaxel is approved in the UK for ovarian, breast and lung, bladder, prostate, melanoma, esophageal, and other types of solid tumor cancers as well as Kaposi's sarcoma.[10] It is recommended in NICE guidance of June 2001 that it should be used for nonsmall cell lung cancer in patients unsuitable for curative treatment, and in first-line and second-line treatment of ovarian cancer. In September 2001, NICE recommended paclitaxel should be available for the treatment of advanced breast cancer after the failure of anthracyclic chemotherapy, but that its first-line use should be limited to clinical trials. In September 2006, NICE recommended paclitaxel should not be used in the adjuvant treatment of early node-positive breast cancer.[11] In 2005, its use in the United States for the treatment of breast, pancreatic, and non-small cell lung cancers was approved by the FDA.[12]

Albumin-bound paclitaxel (trade name Abraxane, also called nab-paclitaxel) is an alternative formulation where paclitaxel is bound to albumin nano-particles. Much of the clinical toxicity of paclitaxel is associated with the solvent Cremophor EL in which it is dissolved for delivery.[13] Abraxis BioScience developed Abraxane, in which paclitaxel is bonded to albumin as an alternative delivery agent to the often toxic solvent delivery method. This was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2005 for the treatment of breast cancer after failure of combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease or relapse within six months of adjuvant chemotherapy.[14]

Synthetic approaches to paclitaxel production led to the development of docetaxel. Docetaxel has a similar set of clinical uses to paclitaxel and is marketed under the name of Taxotere.

Recently the presence of taxanes including paclitaxel, 10-deacetylbaccatin III, baccatin III, paclitaxel C, and 7-epipaclitaxel in the shells and leaves of hazel plants has been reported.[15] The finding of these compounds in shells, which are considered discarded material and are mass-produced by many food industries, is of interest for the future availability of paclitaxel.

Paclitaxel is used as an antiproliferative agent for the prevention of restenosis (recurrent narrowing) of coronary and peripheral stents; locally delivered to the wall of the artery, a paclitaxel coating limits the growth of neointima (scar tissue) within stents.[16] Paclitaxel drug eluting coated stents for coronary artery placement are sold under the trade name Taxus by Boston Scientific in the United States. Paclitaxel drug eluting coated stents for femoropopliteal artery placement are sold under the trade name Zilver PTX by Cook Medical, Inc.

Common side effects include nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, change in taste, thinned or brittle hair, pain in the joints of the arms or legs lasting two to three days, changes in the color of the nails, and tingling in the hands or toes.[citation needed] More serious side effects such as unusual bruising or bleeding, pain/redness/swelling at the injection site, hand-foot syndrome, change in normal bowel habits for more than two days, fever, chills, cough, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, dizziness, shortness of breath, severe exhaustion, skin rash, facial flushing, female infertility by ovarian damage, and chest pain can also occur.[citation needed]

Dexamethasone is given prior to beginning paclitaxel treatment to mitigate some of the side effects.[citation needed]

A number of these side effects are associated with the excipient used, Cremophor EL, a polyoxyethylated castor oil, and allergies to cyclosporine, teniposide, and other drugs containing polyoxyethylated castor oil may indicate increased risk of adverse reactions to paclitaxel.[17]

Leuprolide, a GnRH analog, has been suggested on the basis of studies in mice, as a potential future avenue to prevent ovarian damage.[18][non-primary source needed]

Paclitaxel is one of several cytoskeletal drugs that target tubulin. Paclitaxel-treated cells have defects in mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome segregation, and cell division. Unlike other tubulin-targeting drugs such as colchicine that inhibit microtubule assembly, paclitaxel stabilizes the microtubule polymer and protects it from disassembly. Chromosomes are thus unable to achieve a metaphase spindle configuration. This blocks the progression of mitosis and prolonged activation of the mitotic checkpoint triggers apoptosis or reversion to the G-phase of the cell cycle without cell division.[19][20]

The ability of paclitaxel to inhibit spindle function is generally attributed to its suppression of microtubule dynamics,[21] but recent studies have demonstrated that suppression of dynamics occurs at concentrations lower than those needed to block mitosis. At the higher therapeutic concentrations, paclitaxel appears to suppress microtubule detachment from centrosomes, a process normally activated during mitosis.[22] Paclitaxel binds to beta-tubulin subunits of microtubules.[23]

From 1967 to 1993, almost all paclitaxel produced was derived from bark from the Pacific yew, the harvesting of which kills the tree in the process.[24] The processes used were descendants of the original isolation method of Monroe Wall and Mansukh Wani; by 1987, the NCI had contracted Hauser Chemical Research of Boulder, Colorado, to handle bark on the scale needed for Phase II and III trials.[citation needed] While both the size of the wild population of Taxus brevifola and the magnitude of the eventual demand for taxol were uncertain, it was clear for many years[vague] that an alternative, sustainable source of supply of the natural product would be needed. Initial attempts to broaden its sourcing used needles from the tree, or material from other related Taxus species, including cultivated ones,[citation needed] but these attempts were challenged by the relatively low and often highly variable yields obtained. Early in the 1990s, coincident with increased sensitivity to the ecology of the forests of the Pacific Northwest, paclitaxel was successfully extracted on a clinically useful scale from these sources.[25]

Concurrently, synthetic chemists in the US and France had been interested in taxol, beginning in the late 1970s.[citation needed] As noted, by 1992 extensive efforts were underway to accomplish the total synthesis of paclitaxel, efforts motivated by the desire to generate new chemical understanding rather than to achieve practical commercial production. In contrast, the French group of Pierre Potier at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) addressed the matter of overall process yield, showing that it was feasible to isolate relatively large quantities of the compound 10-deacetylbaccatin from the European yew, Taxus baccata, which grew on the CNRS campus and whose needles were available in large quantity.[citation needed] By virtue of its structure, 10-deacetylbaccatin was seen as a viable starting material for a short semisynthesis to produce taxol. By 1988 Poitier and collaborators had published a semisynthetic route from needles of T. baccata to taxol.[26]

The view of the NCI, however, was even this route was not practical.[citation needed] The group of Robert A. Holton had also pursued a practical semisynthetic production route; by late 1989, Holton's group had developed a semisynthetic route to paclitaxel with twice the yield of the Potier process.[citation needed] Florida State University, where Holton worked, signed a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb to license their semisynthesis and future patents.[citation needed] In 1992, Holton patented an improved process with an 80% yield, and BMS took the process in-house and started to manufacture paclitaxel in Ireland from 10-deacetylbaccatin isolated from the needles of the European yew.[citation needed] In early 1993, BMS announced that it would cease reliance on Pacific yew bark by the end of 1995, effectively terminating ecological controversy over its use.[citation needed] This announcement also made good their commitment to develop an alternative supply route, made to the NCI in their CRADA application of 1989.

As of 2013, paclitaxel production for BMS is sourced using a semi-synthetic method from Taxus baccata (European yew).[27] Another company which worked with BMS until 2012,[28] Phyton Biotech, Inc uses plant cell fermentation (PCF) technology which eliminates the need for yew tree plantation sourcing.[29] The process uses a specific Taxus cell line propagated in aqueous medium in large fermentation tanks with the endophytic fungus Penicillium raistrickii. Paclitaxel is then extracted directly, purified by chromatography and isolated by crystallization.[citation needed] Compared to the semisynthesis, PCF eliminates the need for many hazardous chemicals and saves a considerable amount of energy.[30]

In 1993, taxol was discovered as a natural product in a newly described endophytic fungus living in the yew tree.[31] It has since been reported in a number of other endophytic fungi, including Nodulisporium sylviforme,[32] Alternaria taxi, Cladosporium cladosporioides MD2, Metarhizium anisopliae, Aspergillus candidus MD3, Mucor rouxianus sp., Chaetomella raphigera, Phyllosticta tabernaemontanae, Phomopsis, Pestalotiopsis pauciseta, Phyllosticta citricarpa, Podocarpus, Fusarium solani, Pestalotiopsis terminaliae, Pestalotiopsis breviseta, Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat., Gliocladium sp., Alternaria alternata var. monosporus, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Nigrospora sp., Pestalotiopsis versicolor, and Taxomyces andreanae. However, there has been contradictory evidence for its production by endophytes, with other studies finding independent production is unlikely.[33][34]

The core synthetic route is via a terpenoid pathway, parts of which having been successfully transplanted into production strains of E.coli[35] and yeast.[36]

By 1992, at least thirty academic research teams globally were working to achieve a total synthesis of this natural product, with the synthesis proceeding from simple natural products and other readily available starting materials.[37] This total synthesis effort was motivated primarily by the desire to generate new chemical understanding, rather than with an expectation of the practical commercial production of paclitaxel. The first laboratories to complete the total synthesis from much less complex starting materials were the research groups of Robert A. Holton, who had the first article to be accepted for publication, and of K. C. Nicolaou who had the first article to appear in print (by a week, on 7 February 1994). Though the Holton submission preceded the Nicolaou by a month (21 December 1993 versus 24 January 1994),[38] the near coincidence of the publications arising from each of these massive, multiyear efforts—11–18 authors appearing on each of the February 1994 publications—has led the ending of the race to be termed a "tie"[39] or a "photo finish",[37] though each group has argued that their synthetic strategy and tactics were superior.[39]

As of 2006, five additional research groups had reported successful total syntheses of paclitaxel: Wender et al. in 1997, and Kuwajima et al. and Mukaiyama et al. in 1998 with further linear syntheses, and Danishefsky et al. in 1996 and Takahashi et al. in 2006 with further convergent syntheses.[needs update] As of that date, all strategies had aimed to prepare a 10-Deacetylbaccatin-type core containing the ABCD ring system, followed generally by last stage addition of the "tail" to the 13-hydroxyl group.[37]

While the "political climate surrounding taxol and Taxus brevifolia in the early 1990sâ€¦ helped bolster [a] link between total synthesis and the [taxol] supply problem", and though total synthesis activities were a requisite to explore the structure-activity relationships of taxol via generation of analogs for testing, the total synthesis efforts were never seen "as a serious commercial route" to provide significant quantities of the natural product for medical testing or therapeutic use.[40]

The discovery of paclitaxel began in 1962 as a result of a U.S. National Cancer Institute-funded screening program.[6] A number of years later it was isolated from the bark of the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia, hence its name "taxol".[6]

The discovery was made by Monroe E. Wall and Mansukh C. Wani at the Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, in 1971.[41] These scientists isolated the natural product from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, determined its structure and named it "taxol", and arranged for its first biological testing.[citation needed] The compound was then developed commercially by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), who had the generic name assigned as "paclitaxel".[citation needed]

In 1955, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States set up the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center (CCNSC) to act as a public screening center for anticancer activity in compounds submitted by external institutions and companies.[42] Although the majority of compounds screened were of synthetic origin, one chemist, Jonathan Hartwell, who was employed there from 1958 onwards, had experience with natural product derived compounds, and began a plant screening operation.[43] After some years of informal arrangements, in July 1960, the NCI commissioned USDA botanists to collect samples from about 1,000 plant species per year.[44] On 21 August 1962, one of those botanists, Arthur S. Barclay, collected bark from a single Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, in a forest north of the town of Packwood, Washington as part of a four-month trip to collect material from over 200 different species. The material was then processed by a number of specialist CCNSC subcontractors, and one of the Taxus samples was found to be cytotoxic in a cellular assay on 22 May 1964.[45]

Accordingly, in late 1964 or early 1965, the fractionation and isolation laboratory run by Monroe E. Wall in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, began work on fresh Taxus samples, isolating the active ingredient in September 1966 and announcing their findings at an April 1967 American Chemical Society meeting in Miami Beach.[46] They named the pure compound taxol in June 1967.[45] Wall and his colleague Wani published their results, including the chemical structure, in 1971.[47]

The NCI continued to commission work to collect more Taxus bark and to isolate increasing quantities of taxol. By 1969, 28 kg of crude extract had been isolated from almost 1,200 kg of bark, although this ultimately yielded only 10 g of pure material,[48] but for several years, no use was made of the compound by the NCI. In 1975, it was shown to be active in another in vitro system; two years later, a new department head reviewed the data and finally recommended taxol be moved on to the next stage in the discovery process.[49] This required increasing quantities of purified taxol, up to 600 g, and in 1977 a further request for 7,000 lbs of bark was made.

In 1978, two NCI researchers published a report showing taxol was mildly effective in leukaemic mice.[50] In November 1978, taxol was shown to be effective in xenograft studies.[51] Meanwhile, taxol began to be well known in the cell biology, as well as the cancer community, with a publication in early 1979 by Susan B. Horwitz, a molecular pharmacologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, showing taxol had a previously unknown mechanism of action involving the stabilization of microtubules. Together with formulation problems, this increased interest from researchers meant that, by 1980, the NCI envisaged needing to collect 20,000Â lbs of bark.[52] Animal toxicology studies were complete by June 1982, and in November NCI applied for the IND necessary to begin clinical trials in humans.[52]

Phase I clinical trials began in April 1984, and the decision to start Phase II trials was made a year later.[53] These larger trials needed more bark and collection of a further 12,000 pounds was commissioned, which enabled some phase II trials to begin by the end of 1986. But by then it was recognized that the demand for taxol might be substantial and that more than 60,000 pounds of bark might be needed as a minimum. This unprecedentedly large amount brought ecological concerns about the impact on yew populations into focus for the first time, as local politicians and foresters expressed unease at the program.[54]

The first public report from a phase II trial in May 1988 showed an effect in melanoma patients and a remarkable response rate of 30% in patients with refractory ovarian cancer.[55] At this point, Gordon Cragg of the NCI's Natural Product Branch calculated the synthesis of enough taxol to treat all the ovarian cancer and melanoma cases in the US would require the destruction of 360,000 trees annually. For the first time, serious consideration was given to the problem of supply.[54] Because of the practical and, in particular, the financial scale of the program needed, the NCI decided to seek association with a pharmaceutical company, and in August 1989, it published a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) offering its current stock and supply from current bark stocks, and proprietary access to the data so far collected, to a company willing to commit to providing the funds to collect further raw material, isolate taxol, and fund a large proportion of clinical trials. In the words of Goodman and Welsh, authors of a substantial scholarly book on taxol, "The NCI was thinking, not of collaboration,... but of a hand-over of taxol (and its problems)".[54]

Although the offer was widely advertised, only four companies responded to the CRADA, including the American firm Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), which was selected as the partner in December 1989. The choice of BMS later became controversial and was the subject of Congressional hearings in 1991 and 1992. While it seems clear the NCI had little choice but to seek a commercial partner, there was also controversy about the terms of the deal, eventually leading to a report by the General Accounting Office in 2003, which concluded the NIH had failed to ensure value for money.[56] In related CRADAs with the USDA and Department of the Interior, Bristol-Myers Squibb was given exclusive first refusal on all Federal supplies of Taxus brevifolia. This exclusive contract lead to some criticism for giving BMS a "cancer monopoly".[57] Eighteen months after the CRADA, BMS filed a new drug application (NDA), which was given FDA approval at the very end of 1992. [54] Although there was no patent on the compound, the provisions of the Waxman-Hatch Act gave Bristol-Myers Squibb five years exclusive marketing rights.

In 1990, BMS applied to trademark the name taxol as Taxol(R). This was controversially approved in 1992. At the same time, paclitaxel replaced taxol as the generic (INN) name of the compound. Critics, including the journal Nature, argued the name taxol had been used for more than two decades and in more than 600 scientific articles and suggested the trademark should not have been awarded and the BMS should renounce its rights to it.[58] BMS argued changing the name would cause confusion among oncologists and possibly endanger the health of patients. BMS has continued to defend its rights to the name in the courts.[59] BMS has also been criticized for misrepresentation by Goodman and Walsh, who quote from a company report saying "It was not until 1971 that... testing... enabled the isolation of paclitaxel, initially described as 'compound 17".[60] This quote is, strictly speaking, accurate: the objection seems to be that this misleadingly neglects to explain that it was the scientist doing the isolation who named the compound taxol and it was not referred to in any other way for more than twenty years.

Annual sales peaked in 2000, reaching US$1.6 billion; paclitaxel is now available in generic form. In October 2007 it was approved by Drug controller General of India for the treatment of breast cancer and launched by collaboration with Biocon.[61]

The nomenclature for paclitaxel is structured on a tetracyclic 17-carbon (heptadecane) skeleton. There are a total of 11 stereocenters. The active stereoisomer is (âˆ’)-paclitaxel (shown here).

As of 2006[update], the cost to the NHS per patient in early breast cancer, assuming four cycles of treatment, was about Â£4000 (approx. $6000).[62]

A recent study suggested that caffeine may inhibit paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells.[63]

Aside from its direct clinical use, paclitaxel is used extensively in biological and biomedical research as a microtubule stabilizer. In general, in vitro assays involving microtubules, such as motility assays, rely on paclitaxel to maintain microtubule integrity in the absence of the various nucleating factors and other stabilizing elements found in the cell. For example, it is used for in vitro tests of drugs that aim to alter the behavior of microtubule motor proteins, or for studies of mutant motor proteins. Moreover, Paclitaxel has been used in vitro to inhibit insulin fibrillation; in a molar ratio of 10:1 (insulin:paclitaxel), it hindered insulin fibrillation near 70%. Iso-thermal titration calorimetry (ITC) findings indicated a spontaneous tendency of paclitaxel to interact with insulin through hydrogen bonds and van der Waalâ€™s forces.[64] Paclitaxel is sometimes used for in vivo studies as well; it can be fed to test organisms, such as fruit flies, or injected into individual cells, to inhibit microtubule disassembly or to increase the number of microtubules in the cell. Paclitaxel induces remyelination in a demyelinating mouse in vivo[65] and inhibits hPAD2 in vitro though its methyl ester side chain.[66] Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. began phase II clinical trials in 1999[67] as a multiple sclerosis treatment but in 2002, reported that the results showed no statistical significance.[68]

In 2016 in vitro multi-drug resistant mouse tumor cells were treated with paclitaxel encased in exosomes. Doses 98% less than common dosing had the same effect. Also, dye-marked exosomes were able to mark tumor cells, potentially aiding in diagnosis.[69][70]

Space-filling model of paclitaxel

Rotating paclitaxel molecule model

Crystal structure of paclitaxel


the san francisco general strike of 1934 was initiated by

The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted eighty-three days, and began on May 9, 1934 when longshoremen in every West Coast port walked out. The strike peaked with "Bloody Thursday" and the San Francisco General Strike which stopped all work in the major port city for four days and led ultimately to the settlement of the West Coast Longshoremen's Strike.

1934 West Coast waterfront strike

The result of the strike was the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States. The San Francisco General Strike of 1934, along with the Toledo Auto-Lite Strike of 1934 led by the American Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 led by the Communist League of America, were important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations.[3]

Longshoremen on the West Coast ports had either been unorganized or represented by company unions since the years immediately after World War I, when the shipping companies and stevedoring firms had imposed the open shop after a series of failed strikes.[4] Longshoremen in San Francisco, then the major port on the coast, were required to go through a hiring hall operated by a company union, known as the "blue book" system for the color of the membership book.[5]

The Industrial Workers of the World had attempted to organize longshoremen, sailors and fishermen in the 1920s through their Marine Transport Workers Union.[6] Their largest strike, the 1923 San Pedro Maritime Strike, bottled up shipping in that harbor, but was crushed by a combination of injunctions, mass arrests and vigilantism by the American Legion. While the IWW was a spent force after that strike, syndicalist thinking remained popular on the docks.[7] Longshoremen and sailors on the West Coast also had contacts with an Australian syndicalist movement that called itself the "One Big Union" formed after the defeat of a general strike there in 1917.[8]

The Communist Party had also been active in the area in the late 1920s, seeking to organize all categories of maritime workers into a single union, the Maritime Workers Industrial Union (MWIU), as part of the drive during the Third Period to create revolutionary unions.[9][10] The MWIU never made much headway on the West Coast, but it did attract a number of former IWW members and foreign-born militants.[11] Harry Bridges, an Australian-born sailor who became a longshoreman after coming to the United States, would be accused over and over for his acknowledged Communist party membership.[12][13]

Militants published a newspaper, The Waterfront Worker, which focused on longshoremen's most pressing demands: more men on each gang, lighter loads and an independent union.[14][15] While a number of the individuals in this group were Communist Party members, the group as a whole was independent of the party: although it criticized the International Seamen's Union (ISU) as weak and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which had its base on the East Coast, as corrupt, it did not embrace the MWIU, but called instead for creation of small knots of activists at each port to serve as the first step in a slow, careful movement to unionize the industry.[16]

Events soon made the MWIU wholly irrelevant. Just as the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act had led to a spontaneous explosion in union membership among coal miners in 1933, thousands of longshoremen now joined the fledgling ILA locals that reappeared on the West Coast.[17] The MWIU faded away as party activists followed the mass of West Coast longshoremen into the ILA.[16]

These newly emboldened workers first went after the "blue book" union, refusing to pay dues to it and tearing up their membership books. The militants who had published "The Waterfront Worker", now known as the "Albion Hall group" after their usual meeting place, continued organizing dock committees that soon began launching slowdowns and other types of job actions in order to win better working conditions.[16] While the official leadership of the ILA remained in the hands of conservatives sent to the West Coast by President Joseph Ryan of the ILA, the Albion Hall group started in March, 1934 to press demands for a coastwide contract, a union-run hiring hall and an industry wide waterfront federation.[18] When the conservative ILA leadership negotiated a weak "gentlemen's agreement" with the employers that had been brokered by the mediation board created by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bridges led the membership in rejecting it.[19]

The sticking point in the strike was recognition: the union demanded a closed shop, a coastwide contract and a union hiring hall. The employers offered to arbitrate the dispute, but insisted that the union agree to an open shop as a condition of any agreement to arbitrate. The longshoremen rejected the proposal to arbitrate.[20]

The strike began on May 9, 1934, as longshoremen in every West Coast port walked out; sailors joined them several days later.[21] The employers recruited strikebreakers, housing them on moored ships or in walled compounds and bringing them to and from work under police protection.[22] Strikers attacked the stockade housing strikebreakers in San Pedro on May 15; police fired into the strikers and killed one and injured scores. The killing of Dick Parker created resentment up and down the coast.[23] Daily similar smaller clashes broke out in San Francisco and Oakland, California, Portland, Oregon,[24] and Seattle, Washington.[23]  Strikers also succeeded in slowing down or stopping the movement of goods by rail out of the ports.[25]

The Roosevelt administration tried again to broker a deal to end the strike, but the membership twice rejected the agreements their leadership brought to them and continued the strike.[26] The employers then decided to make a show of force to reopen the port in San Francisco.[27] On Tuesday, July 3, fights broke out along the Embarcadero in San Francisco between police and strikers while a handful of trucks driven by young businessmen made it through the picket line.[28]

Some Teamsters supported the strikers by refusing to handle "hot cargo" â€“ goods which had been unloaded by strikebreakers, although the Teamsters' leadership was not as supportive.[29]  By the end of May Dave Beck, president of the Seattle Teamsters, and Mike Casey, president of those in San Francisco, thought the maritime strike had lasted too long.[30] They encouraged the strikers to take what they could get from the employers and threatened to use Teamsters as strikebreakers if the ILA did not return to work.[31]

After a quiet Fourth of July the employers' organization, the Industrial Association, tried to open the port even further on Thursday, July 5.[32] As spectators watched from Rincon Hill, the police shot tear gas canisters into the crowd, then followed with a charge by mounted police.[33] Picketers threw the canisters and rocks back at the police, who charged again, sending the picketers into retreat.[34] Each side then refortified and took stock.[35]

The events took a violent turn that afternoon, as hostilities resumed outside of the ILA strike kitchen.[36] Eyewitness accounts differ on the exact events that transpired next. According to some witnesses, a group of strikers first surrounded a police car and attempted to tip it over, prompting the police to fire shotguns in the air, and then revolvers at the crowd.[16]  Other eyewitness accounts claim that police officers started shooting in the direction of the strikers, provoking strikers to defend themselves. Policemen fired a shotgun into the crowd, striking three men in intersection of Steuart and Mission streets. One of the men, Howard Sperry, a striking longshoreman, later died of his wounds. Another man, Charles Olsen, was also shot but later recovered from his wounds. A third man, Nick Bordoise – a Greek by birth (originally named Nick Counderakis) who was an out of work  member of the cook's union volunteering at the ILA strike kitchen – was shot but managed to make his way around the corner onto Spear Street, where he was found several hours later. Like Sperry, he died at the hospital.[37]

Strikers immediately cordoned off the area where the two picketers had been shot, laying flowers and wreaths around it. Police arrived to remove the flowers and drive off the picketers minutes later. Once the police left, the strikers returned, replaced the flowers and stood guard over the spot. Though Sperry and Bordoise had been shot several blocks apart, this spot became synonymous with the memory of the two slain men and "Bloody Thursday."[38]

As strikers carried wounded picketers into the ILA union hall police fired on the hall and lobbed tear gas canisters at nearby hotels. At this point someone reportedly called the union hall to ask "Are you willing to arbitrate now?"[39]

Under orders from California Governor Frank Merriam, the California National Guard moved in that evening to patrol the waterfront.[40] Similarly, federal soldiers of the United States Army stationed at the Presidio were placed on alert. The picketers pulled back, unwilling to take on armed soldiers in an uneven fight, and trucks and trains began moving without interference. Bridges asked the San Francisco Labor Council to meet that Saturday, July 7, to authorize a general strike.[41] The Alameda County Central Labor Council in Oakland considered the same action. Teamsters in both San Francisco and Oakland voted to strike, over the objections of their leaders, on Sunday, July 8.[42]

The following day, several thousand strikers, families and sympathizers took part in a funeral procession down Market Street, stretching more than a mile and a half, for Nicholas Bordois and Howard Sperry, the two persons killed on "Bloody Thursday".[43] The police were wholly absent from the scene. The march made an enormous impact on San Franciscans, making a general strike, which had formerly been "the visionary dream of a small group of the most radical workers, became... a practical and realizable objective."[44]  After dozens of Bay Area unions voted for a general strike over the next few days, the San Francisco Labor Council voted on July 14 to call a general strike.[45] The Teamsters had already been out for two days by that point.[46]

San Francisco Mayor Angelo Rossi declared a state of emergency.[47] Some federal officials, particularly Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, were more skeptical.[48] Roosevelt later recalled that some persons were urging him to steer the USS Houston, which was carrying him to Hawaii, "into San Francisco Bay, all flags flying and guns double-shotted, and end the strike." Roosevelt rejected the suggestion.[49]

The general strike began on the 16th, involving some 150,000 workers.[16] On the 17th the police arrested more than 300 "radicals, subversives, and communists" while systematically smashing furniture and equipment of organizations related to the strike; the same day, General Hugh S. Johnson as head of the National Recovery Administration spoke at UC Berkeley to denounce the general strike as "a menace to the government."[50]

The strike lasted four days. Non-union truck drivers joined the first day; the movie theaters and night clubs closed down. While food deliveries continued with the permission of the strike committee, many small businesses closed, posting signs in support of the strikers.[51] Reports that unions in Portland and Seattle would also begin general strikes picked up currency.[52]

The calling of a general strike had an unexpected result: it gave the General Strike Committee, whose makeup was far less militant than the longshoremen's strike committee, effective control over the maritime strike itself.[53] When the Labor Council voted to terminate the general strike it also recommended that the unions accept arbitration of all disputed issues.[54] When the National Longshore Board put the employer's proposal to arbitrate to a vote of striking longshoremen, it passed in every port except Everett, Washington.

That, however, left the striking seamen in the lurch: the employers had refused to arbitrate with the ISU unless it first won elections on the fleets on strike. While Bridges, who had preached solidarity among all maritime workers and scorned arbitration, apologized to the seamen for the longshoremen's vote, the President of the ISU urged them to hold out and to burn their "fink books", the membership records of the company union to which they had been forced to pay dues.[55]

On July 17, 1934, the California National Guard blocked both ends of Jackson Street from Drumm to Front with machine gun mounted trucks to assist vigilante raids, protected by SFPD, on the headquarters of the Marine Workers' Industrial Union and the ILA soup kitchen at 84 Embarcadero. Moving on, the Workers' Ex-Servicemen's League's headquarters on Howard between Third and Fourth was raided, leading to 150 arrests and the complete destruction of the facilities. The employer's group, the Industrial Association, had agents riding with the police.[56] Further raids were carried out at the Workers' Open Forum at 1223 Fillmore street and the Western Worker building opposite City Hall that contained a bookstore and the main offices of the Communist Party, which was thoroughly destroyed.[57] Attacks were also perpetrated on the 121 Haight Street Workers' School and the Mission Workers' Neighborhood House at 741 Valencia Street.[58]  A police spokesperson suggested that "maybe the Communists staged the raids themselves for publicity".[59]

General Hugh S. Johnson, then head of the National Recovery Administration, gave a speech urging responsible labor leaders to "run these subversive influences out from its ranks like rats".[60] A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union was kidnapped and beaten, while vigilantes seized thirteen radicals in San Jose and turned them over to the sheriff of an adjoining county, who transported them to another county.[61] In Hayward in Alameda County someone erected a scaffold in front of the city hall with a noose and a sign stating "Reds beware".[62] In Piedmont, an upscale community surrounded by Oakland on all sides, the chief of police prepared for a reported attack by strikers on the homes of wealthy ship-owners.[63]

While some of the most powerful people in San Francisco considered the strike's denouement to be a victory for the employers, many longshoremen and seamen did not. Spontaneous strikes over grievances and workplace conditions broke out as strikers returned to their jobs, with longshoremen and teamsters supporting their demands.[64] Employers conceded many of these battles, giving workers even more confidence in demanding that employers lighten unbearably heavy loads.[65] Longshoremen also began dictating other terms, fining members who worked more than the ceiling of 120 hours per month, filing charges against a gang boss for "slandering colored brothers" and forcing employers to fire strikebreakers.[66] Other unions went further: the Marine Firemen proposed to punish any member who bought a Hearst newspaper.[67]

The arbitration award issued on October 12, 1934, cemented the ILA's power.[68] While the award put the operation of the hall in the hands of a committee of union and employer representatives, the union was given the power to select the dispatcher. Since longshoremen were prepared to walk out if an employer did not hire a worker dispatched from the hall, the ILA soon controlled hiring on the docks. The employers complained that the union wanted to "sovietize" the waterfront.[69] Workers complained that the employers were exploiting them for cheap labor and forcing them to work in unsafe conditions without reasonable safety measures.

The union soon utilized the "quickie strike" tactic to force many concessions from employers such as safer working conditions and better pay.[70] Similarly, even though an arbitrator held that the 1935 Agreement prohibited sympathy strikes, the union's members nonetheless refused to cross other unions' picket lines. Longshoremen also refused to handle "hot cargo" destined for non-union warehouses that the union was attempting to organize.[71] The ISU acquired similar authority over hiring, despite the philosophical objection of the union's own officers to hiring halls. The ISU used this power to drive strikebreakers out of the industry.[72]

The rift between the seamen's and longshoremen's unions deepened and became more complex in the succeeding years, as Bridges continually fought with the Sailors' Union of the Pacific over labor and political issues. The West Coast district of the ILA broke off from the International in 1937 to form the International Longshoremen's Union, later renamed the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union after the union's "march inland" to organize warehouse workers, then renamed the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in recognition of the number of women members.

The arbitration award also gave longshoremen a raise to ninety-five cents an hour for straight time work, just shy of the dollar an hour it demanded during the strike. It was also awarded a contract that applied up and down the West Coast.[73] The strike also prompted union organizer Carmen Lucia to organize the Department Store Workers Union and the Retail Clerks Association in San Francisco.[74]

The ILWU continues to recognize "Bloody Thursday" by shutting down all West Coast ports every July 5 and honoring Nick Bordoise,  Howard Sperry and all of the other workers killed by police during the strike.[75] The ILWU has frequently stopped work for political protests against, among other things, Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, fascist intervention in Spain's civil war, South Africa's system of apartheid and the Iraq War.[16][76]

Sam Kagel, the last surviving member of the original union steering committee, died on May 21, 2007 at the age of 98.[77]


who said it's all done in the best possible taste

Thames Television claimed copyright on Everett's characters and tried to prevent their use by the BBC. Whilst this action failed, it led to the creation of new characters such as Gizzard Puke (intended to replace Sid Snot) and the spooneristically named Cupid Stunt, a blonde American B-film actress with pneumatic breasts, and played with no attempt to disguise Everett's beard, who told a cardboard cutout of Michael Parkinson lurid tales of life on set with Burt Reynolds and other male stars of the era. Her original name, Mary Hinge, was vetoed by the Corporation as too obvious and announcers were encouraged to refer to her as Cupid to prevent mispronunciation. Her final action in each sketch was to uncross her legs then swing them wildly to recross them (brazenly giving viewers an eyeful of her racy red lingerie) as she uttered the catchphrase "It's all done in the best possible taste!" Inept TV handyman Reg Prescott became another firm viewers' favourite, as each week he managed graphically and bloodily to injure himself with tools whilst attempting to demonstrate DIY tips.

Kenny Everett

Maurice James Christopher Cole (25 December 1944 â€“ 4 April 1995), known professionally as Kenny Everett, was a British comedian, radio DJ, and television entertainer. Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for The Kenny Everett Video Show.[1]

Everett was born in Seaforth, into a Catholic family as Maurice James Christopher Cole.[2] Everett attended the local secondary modern school, St Bede's Secondary Modern School in Crosby, now part of Sacred Heart Catholic College. He attended a junior seminary at Stillington, North Yorkshire near York with an Italian missionary order, the Verona Fathers, where he was a choirboy.[3] After he left school, he worked in a bakery and in the Advertising Department of The Journal of Commerce and Shipping Telegraph.

While working at a pirate radio station Radio London he was advised to change his name to avoid legal problems. He adopted the name "Everett" from American film comic actor Edward Everett Horton, a childhood hero.[2]

Everett married the singer and psychic Audrey "Lady Lee" Middleton at Kensington Register Office on 2 June 1969. By September 1979, they had separated, and in the mid-1980s, he publicly acknowledged his bisexuality. One of his first boyfriends, a waiter called Jay Pitt, was a match found for Everett by his ex-wife.[4]

During the 1983 general election campaign, the Young Conservatives invited Everett to their conference in an attempt to attract the youth vote. Egged on by film director Michael Winner, Everett bounded onto the stage, wearing the enormously oversized foam rubber hands familiar from his mock-evangelical character Brother Lee Love. He shouted slogans like "Let's bomb Russia!" and "Let's kick Michael Foot's stick away!" to loud applause.[5] (Michael Foot was the ageing leader of the Labour Party at the time.) Everett later said he regretted the incident and that he had taken the foam hands to the rally because the Tories "asked me first".[6]

In an interview on Ireland's The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne and Sinéad O'Connor in February 1989, Everett was challenged by O'Connor about his support for the Tory Party in the light of his homosexuality and the Conservative's Section 28 addition to the Local Government Act. Everett clarified that he was not a "full Tory", but that he had been appalled by the actions of Arthur Scargill, whom he saw as "inciting violence" and "rabble rousing" [sic] and who he thought looked like "Hitler reborn". He had consequently supported the actions of Margaret Thatcher in opposing Scargill. He said he would stand up for gay rights if he were asked providing "it was a jolly occasion", but he also felt that being in a minority and in the public eye, he could do more for gay rights by showing that he was funny and human rather than by marching in the streets.[7]

Freddie Mercury and Everett became close friends after meeting in 1974 on Everett's breakfast radio show on Capital FM. Though the pair were never lovers, Mercury and Everett were a staple of the London nightlife throughout the 1970s. By 1985, the pair had fallen out over a disagreement over drugs.

In 1988 Audrey "Lady Lee" Middleton published an autobiography with a foreword from Everett. Shortly after the publication and newspaper serialisation, Everett denounced the book for outing him. The fallout resulted in Middleton and Everett communicating only via lawyers; Mercury reportedly sided with Middleton.

Everett and Mercury reconciled their differences in 1989, when both were suffering with failing health.[8]

Everett was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1987, and he made his condition known to the public in 1993.[9] He died from an AIDS-related illness on 4 April 1995, aged 50. A traditional requiem mass was held at Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair, and Everett was later cremated at Mortlake Crematorium.[10]

Everett's first break (as Maurice Cole) came when he sent a tape to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1962. He was interviewed at the BBC by Charles Fletcher and offered a job as a presenter on the Light Programme, the forerunner to BBC Radio 2.[3] He declined, however, in favour of the less constrained world of pirate radio, where he began his career as a DJ for Radio London.

He teamed up with Dave Cash for the Kenny & Cash Show, one of the most popular pirate radio programmes. His offbeat style and likeable personality quickly gained him attention, but in 1965 he was sacked after some outspoken remarks about religion on air. Like most of the pirate stations, Radio London carried sponsored American evangelical shows and Everett's disparaging remarks about The World Tomorrow caused its producers to threaten to withdraw their lucrative contract with the station. Everett returned six months later, however, before being given his own show by Radio Luxembourg in 1966.

Johnny Beerling, a BBC producer, secretly visited Radio London at this time and observed Everett at work: "I saw this man Everett doing everything. In the old way of doing things, the DJ sat in one room with a script. Someone else played the records and somebody else controlled the sound. Yet I see this man who has control of everything."[11] An audition tape submitted to the BBC was assessed in March 1967 by a panel:

"Member one (Hackitt Wilcox): 'A pseudo-American voice. Sounds experienced and seems to fancy his luck. Yes.'
Member two (Urvine Bitterman): 'By far the most original of the young DJs. I found the stilted bits in bad taste but with suitable restraint and encouragement, Kenny Everett could be one of the BBC's best DJs. Yes.'
Member three (Nathalie Quale): 'Without the hard sell and the occasional phoney American accent, a good pop DJ. Must be made to curb the funnies and the voices. Yes.'
Member four (Ulekee Fitzgerald): 'I found the continuous changes of voices irritating and his personality supercilious but he certainly has some talent. Should be available but would need very firm production. Yes.'"[12]

He was heard in May 1967 on the BBC's soon to be discontinued Light Programme previewing the Beatles' forthcoming album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and was one of the DJs on the new pop music station Radio 1 from its launch at the end of September 1967.[13] Everett had struck up a friendship with the Beatles and accompanied them on their August 1966 tour of the United States, sending back daily reports for Radio London. He also produced their 1968 and 1969 Christmas records.

At Radio 1 Everett continued to develop his own unique presentation style, encouraged by producer Angela Bond, who had persuaded her superiors to give him his first programme,[14] although he later reacted against her as a representative of the BBC.[11] Everett's Radio 1 show featured zany voices, surreal characters, multi-tracked jingles and trailers, all of his own creation and compilation. It was Everett who had persuaded Johnny Beerling and station controller Robin Scott, at a lunch meeting before his appointment, of the importance of the new station having jingles.[11] Everett's shows on BBC Radio 1 included Midday Spin, and in 1968 he took over a Saturday show from 10 am to 12 noon.

In 1970, Everett again found himself sacked, this time after suggesting on air that Mary Peyton, the British Transport Minister's wife, had bribed her driving test examiner. The remark was a spontaneous quip, following a news item describing how Peyton had finally passed after many attempts. The BBC thought the comment "indefensible",[14] although shortly before the incident Everett had given a controversial interview with Melody Maker contrary to a BBC embargo[3] preventing him from giving interviews. In negotiations with the record companies and the Musicians' Union over needle time, a limit on the playing on air of commercially recorded music, the MU representatives would complain about Everett, the one BBC broadcaster who persistently mocked them.[11] In fact, in the year after Everett's death, it was stated that the bribery quip was merely the excuse for his canning and that the real reason was because he threatened to go public on the restrictive practices and deals with the Musicians Union that were not only frustrating him and his listeners, but also making Radio One much less popular than the pirate stations it had been set up to displace.[15]

Following an interview on the BBC Radio Solent children's show Albert's Gang, Everett submitted weekly shows to the station that he had pre-recorded at home. This afforded the BBC the opportunity to vet the shows before broadcast. Everett was then heard on various BBC local radio stations before being reinstated at Radio 1 in April 1973.[16] Here he recorded a weekly show from his home in Wales and it went out on a Sunday afternoon at 1Â pm.

During this time, legislation had been passed allowing the licensing of commercial radio stations in the UK. One of the first, Capital Radio, began broadcasting to London and the Home Counties in October 1973. Everett joined the station and was given a weekend show,(recorded) where he further developed his distinctive ideas. From January 1974, following poor audience figures which in turn followed a difficult start for Capital during a time of industrial strife, the station changed to a more pop based, rather than light music, format, with Everett presenting the breakfast show with his former colleague and friend from the pirate station Radio London (Big L) days, Dave Cash, and so re-activating the 'Kenny and Cash' show. When Dave Cash moved to the lunchtime slot in 1975, Everett continued alone on the breakfast show. Everett had a great love of sound recording equipment, in particular using reel-to-reel tape recorders and mixing equipment, often adding sound-on-sound to his recordings and stereo/multi-track recordings of his pseudo-singing voice. These were broadcast on air regularly and he often created his own radio jingles. Everett created many comedy characters on The Breakfast Show with Dave Cash on Capital.

In May 1975 Everett found early mornings too much for his lifestyle and he vacated the breakfast show to Graham Dene and moved to less high-pressure weekend timeslots at Capital on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes. Here he further developed his style and his cult following, and featured both what he thought the best in music (Queen, Chris Rainbow) and the worst, which led to the popular Kenny Everett's World's Worst Record Show programmes, later released as an album in 1978, with slightly different tracks. Several shows featured the "Bottom 30": compilations (from listeners' votes) of the world's worst records during this period, including some tracks by well-known personalities not known for their singing, notably William Shatner (Captain Kirk of Star Trek) with his version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "The Shifting Whispering Sands" by Eamonn Andrews.

In 1975 Everett played a pivotal role in getting Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" released as a single.[17][18][19][20] In 1976 he also presented a pre-recorded programme on Saturday lunch-time for Radio Victory in Portsmouth, later providing Captain Kremmen to the station for transmission in Dave Christian's late show.

On 5 February 1980 Everett made his only appearance on the BBC Radio 4 show Just a Minute where he spoke on the subject of marbles for 90 seconds. The extended improvisation was imposed by Nicholas Parsons as a practical joke.[21]

In October 1981, Everett returned to BBC Radio, this time on Radio 2, on Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm. During this time, the BBC received a large number of complaints after Everett told the following joke while live on air.
'When Britain was an Empire we were ruled by an emperor. When we became a kingdom we were ruled by a king. And now we're a country we're ruled by Margaret Thatcher.'[22] The show continued until 1983, when he was sacked by Radio 2.

Everett returned to Capital Radio in June 1984, reviving his Saturday lunchtime show. In May 1985, he was called in to replace Graeme Garden for one episode of the Radio 4 game show, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. After Capital split its frequencies in 1988, he returned to daily broadcasting on Capital Gold, as part of a strong presenting line-up including Tony Blackburn and David Hamilton. Everett presented daytime shows on weekdays until 1994, when his health deteriorated to the point that he was unable to continue. During that same year, he was awarded the Gold Award at Sony's Radio Academy Awards for his contribution to radio.[23][24]

Everett's first screen appearance was in the 1965 film Dateline Diamonds which had a plot based around the pirate ship MV Galaxy. He also appeared in several television series, beginning in 1968 with a production for Granada Television called Nice Time which was co-presented by Germaine Greer and Jonathan Routh. In 1970 he made three series for London Weekend Television (LWT): The Kenny Everett Explosion, Making Whoopee and Ev; and he also took part (along with such talents as Willie Rushton and John Wells) in the 1972 BBC TV series Up Sunday.

In 1973, Everett provided the voice of the cat 'Charley' in the Charley Says animated series of public information films.[25]

Everett was the announcer on the original version of ATV's "big box game" Celebrity Squares which ran on ITV from 1975 to 1979.

In 1978, London's Thames Television offered him a new venture, which became the Kenny Everett Video Show. This was a vehicle for Everett's characters and sketches (his fellow writers were Ray Cameron, Barry Cryer and Dick Vosburgh), interspersed with the latest pop hits, either performed by the artists themselves, or as backing tracks to dance routines by Arlene Phillips' risquÃ© dance troupe Hot Gossip (which featured Sarah Brightman).

Various pop and TV stars made cameo appearances on the show, including Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly, Kate Bush, Cliff Richard, Freddie Mercury, Terry Wogan and Suzi Quatro (see also "Friends" section below) and classical musicians such as Julian Lloyd Webber.

There were also the stories of Captain Kremmen, a science fiction hero voiced by Everett and originally developed for his Capital Radio shows, who travelled the galaxy battling fictional alien menaces, along with his assistant Dr Gitfinger and his voluptuous sidekick Carla. In the first three series these segments were animations created by the Cosgrove-Hall partnership (responsible for the successful children's cartoon series Danger Mouse, among many others). In the fourth series (Video Cassette) Kremmen was featured as live action, with Anna Dawson playing Carla; the segments were comedy shorts, rather than the earlier stories.

Other characters included: ageing rock-and-roller Sid Snot, unsuccessfully flipping cigarettes into his mouth – at one point Everett managed to catch one in his mouth, to the amusement of the studio crew; Marcel Wave, a lecherous Frenchman played by Everett wearing an absurdly false latex chin; and "Angry of Mayfair", an upper middle class City gent complaining of the risqué content of the show, banging the camera's lens hood with his umbrella, and then storming off, turning his back to us, only then to be revealed as wearing women's underwear in lieu of the entire back half of his suit.

He also created the never-seen character of 'Lord Thames', supposedly the owner of Thames Television (the company was actually owned by two conglomerates). The character was often the butt of Everett's rants and was said to symbolise his contempt for senior management at the company, claiming they lived behind an ancient, cobweb-covered door marked as the "Office of Saying 'No'". Thames never disciplined him for these comments, unlike prior employers such as the BBC.

The series ran for four seasons on ITV. The last episode of Series 3 ended with Everett giving a farewell speech as the set and scenery was being stripped down by the crew. The final shot before the closing credits was Everett himself being picked up and placed inside an oversized dustbin.

The fourth series was retitled The Kenny Everett Video Cassette and was more of a comedy programme than the previous three series, which relied more on music acts.

Everett fell out with Thames regarding the management of his show, including the scheduling against the BBC's top-rated Top of the Pops on Thursday evenings. The BBC offered him a live-audience sketch-format comedy programme, starting with a Christmas special on BBC1 in 1981, followed by five primetime series. The writing team was bolstered by the addition of Andrew Marshall, David Renwick and Neil Shand and the production standards were raised by the heavier investment from the Corporation.

Brazilian-born Cleo Rocos co-starred in the BBC series. She often appeared in nothing more than frilly underwear and high heels.

Everett hosted two short-lived quiz shows late in his career, Brainstorm,[26] and Gibberish.[27][28] He was also a team captain on That's Showbusiness.

Everett was very popular with his peers, and many major stars of television, radio and pop music counted him as a friend. This led to many celebrity guest appearances across all his television work. Terry Wogan – a long-time colleague from the early days at Radio 1 – made numerous appearances on both Thames and the BBC shows, as did Billy Connolly and Lennie Bennett. Other stars who parodied themselves included Rod Stewart, Kate Bush, ABBA, the Police, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.

Everett is known to have made at least one series of commercials â€“ he voiced Beeper the Frog for National Express from 1980.

Everett made one foray into film with 1984's Bloodbath at the House of Death, a spoof of Hammer horror films, which was penned by Everett's usual writing partners Barry Cryer and Ray Cameron (who also directed the film). Vincent Price was featured as the villain, credited only as the "Sinister Man", and a number of other popular comedians and actors also appeared, including Pamela Stephenson, Gareth Hunt and Don Warrington. Several regulars from Everett's television series also appeared. The film was not a great success, despite winning "Best Science-Fiction Film" at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film (tied with Videodrome).[citation needed]

The following is a list of the main shows Everett presented.

In 1977, Everett collaborated with Mike Vickers to release the single Captain Kremmen, based on one of his comedy characters. It peaked at number 32 in the UK charts on 12 November.[29]
In 1983 Kenny Everett released the single Snot Rap, ostensibly sung by two of his tv characters, Sid Snot and Cupid Stunt. This would peak at number 9 in the UK charts for the week ending 16 April.[30]

In 1981, Everett co-wrote a semi-fictitious autobiography entitled The Custard Stops at Hatfield. It was published by Willow Books, William Collins, Sons, in September 1982.

Everett is the subject of a 1997 episode of the Thames Television series Heroes of Comedy which covered his life and career from his beginnings on pirate radio up until his death. Celebrities such as Steve Wright, Cliff Richard, Cleo Rocos, Barry Cryer, Jeremy Beadle, Terry Wogan and Barry Took appear and talk about their experiences, collaborations and friendships with Everett and his influence on them.

On 18 November 2007, ITV1 broadcast a tribute show to Everett entitled Licence to Laugh. This celebrated the 30 years since he first appeared on ITV with the Kenny Everett Video Show (Thames Television). Friends and colleagues revealed what it was like to know and work with the man they affectionately dubbed "Cuddly Ken". Additionally, contemporary celebrities such as Chris Moyles and Chris Tarrant talked about their love for the outrageous entertainer and discussed the ways in which Everett had influenced them and their work. It also featured archive footage.

The documentary When Freddie Mercury Met Kenny Everett, broadcast on Channel 4, tells the story of the relationship between the two men from the moment they met in 1974 when Mercury was a guest on Everett's radio show, through gay lovers and drug taking to when both died of AIDS. It features affectionate interviews by many people who were close to him.

In March 2010, the BBC confirmed that it was producing a 90-minute TV biographical film called Number One in Heaven, to be written by Tim Whitnall and focusing on Everett's unhappiness at secondary school.[31]

On 3 October 2012, the BBC broadcast a 90-minute TV biopic called The Best Possible Taste which focused on the performer's relationship with his wife, singer Lee Middleton. Oliver Lansley played the part of Everett and Katherine Kelly that of Middleton.[32]