Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Welcome
director	Anees Bazmee
producer	Firoz A. Nadiadwala
story	Praful ParikhRajiv KaulAnees Bazmee
screenplay	Praful ParikhRajiv KaulAnees Bazmee
narrator	Om Puri
starring	Akshay KumarKatrina KaifNana PatekarAnil KapoorMallika SherawatFeroz KhanParesh Rawal
music	Sajid-WajidAnand Raj AnandHimesh Reshammiya
cinematography	Sanjay F. Gupta
editing	Ashfaque Makrani
distributor	Base Industries Group
released	December 27, 2007
runtime	159 minutes
country	India
language	Hindi
gross	71 crore
followed by	Welcome Again! }}

Welcome (Hindi: वेलकम) is a 2007 Bollywood comedy film, directed by Anees Bazmee. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Feroz Khan, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Malika Sherawat and Paresh Rawal. The film also had cameos from actors such as Sunil Shetty, Asrani and Sherveer Vakil.

Plot

After the passing away of his dark-skinned wife, from who they sired Uday (Nana Patekar), Dubai-based criminal don, Shankar Shetty re-married a fair-skinned woman, who gave birth to fair-skinned Sanjana (Katrina Kaif). After the couple's passing, Uday takes over in his dad's footsteps, and takes it upon himself to try and get Sanjana married - in vain, as no one wants to be associated with a crime family. Then Uday's associate and brother, Sagar Pandey (Anil Kapoor), aspiring live-action painter, who had loved Iravati, got beat-up by her brothers, and was re-named Majnu, assists in finding a young man, Rajiv (Akshay Kumar), who lives with his maternal uncle, Dr. Ghunghroo (Paresh Rawal) and aunt. Dr. Ghunghroo still had one problematic condition that has thus far caused Rajiv to remain a bachelor. Ghunghroo has been searching only for a pure decent family, and anything less than that is immediately rejected. Dr. Ghunghroo has rejected 500 other families thus far. Meanwhile Rajiv had recently jumped into a burning building in order to save a woman inside. That woman turned out to be Sanjana, and Rajiv was immediately smitten. In his distraction he caught on fire prompting Sanjana to have to save both of them. Rajiv is now in love with Sanjana but has no idea who she is. Meanwhile, Uday and Majnu, in their hunt for Rajiv's alliance, hatch a plan where Majnu harasses Dr. Ghunghroo and demands 60 million rupees from him. Other actors in the ploy act as if they have been terribly wronged by Majnu, and convince Dr. Ghunghroo to go to Uday in order to save himself. Uday has dressed himself as a very respectable pundit, and when he is approached by Dr. Ghunghroo, he tells off Majnu for his behavior and Majnu immediately backs off. Dr. Ghunghroo in his complete gratitude realizes that Uday is a very decent man, and he hears from Uday that he is looking for a groom for his sister, Dr. Ghunghroo delightedly promises Uday that he will bring Rajiv to be wed to this sister. Little did he know that this sister was Sanjana. In a particular car ride however, a friend of Dr. Ghunghroo informs him that the two men are mobsters that have successfully conned him.

Horrified Dr. Ghunghroo, his wife, and Rajiv flee to Sun City in South Africa to find a way to escape this ordeal. Coincidentally Majnu and Sanjana, and a group of her friends, have all gone to Sun City to vacation. Dr. Ghunghroo meets Sanjana, not knowing that she is indeed the sister of Uday and Majnu, and he immediately comes up with a plan. Rajiv is to win this girl's heart, and then they are to marry, at which point Dr. Ghunghroo would go to Uday apologizing claiming that Rajiv had secretly married a long time ago and had deceived Dr. Ghunghroo. When Dr. Ghunghroo shows Rajiv a picture he took of Sanjana, Rajiv recognizes the girl from the burning building and immediately accepts this plan to try to impress Sanjana. While Rajiv and Sanjana meet and participate in a pranking competition in Sun City, Dr. Ghunghroo sees Majnu and immediately tries to avoid him. However, his plan is successful, and Rajiv and Sanjana are in love.

Returning home, Rajiv goes to meet Sanjana's brother, not knowing that Uday Shetty is the same mobster don that they had been trying to avoid, he makes good friends with Uday, and requests that Uday use his power and money to help get two gansters off of Rajiv's back. Uday gladly agrees, at which point Rajiv, joins Dr. Ghunghroo in the middle of consulting Majnu about breaking the original alliance. Majnu believes that Sanjana has found her perfect man, and therefore wish to break the alliance with Dr. Ghunghroo, while Dr. Ghunghroo enacts his plan to break off with Majnu. Little did Majnu know, that Sanjana's perfect man, and Dr. Ghunghroo's nephew, Rajiv, were the same person. Then Rajiv makes plans to go to a certain party of Uday's so that Sanjana and Uday can meet with Rajiv's family. Upon meeting the family, Dr. Ghunghroo recognizes Uday and passes out. In an ambulance ride to the hospital, Uday regains consciousness and makes it clear to his family that Sanjana is Uday Shetty's sister, and that the girl they found to get rid of the original alliance, was the same girl they made an alliance with in the first place. Meanwhile, Uday and Majnu realize that the perfect man Sanjana had found, was the same man they made an alliance with, and feeling tricked, they angrily go to Dr. Ghunghroo in the hospital in order to threaten him. Dr. Ghunghroo acts as if he is still unconscious and thus Majnu goes to Rajiv, and threatens him at gunpoint to marry Sanjana. Rajiv and Sanjana actually love each other, so while Rajiv really wants to marry her, he must convince his Uncle. Thus he goes to Uday and Majnu, and explains his feelings for Sanjana, and tells them he will not marry at gunpoint. Uday and Majnu immediately lighten up and together, they go to Dr. Ghunghroo to put on an act where Uday and Majnu beg forgiveness.

Dr. Ghunghroo finally agrees and Uday and Majnu invite a close friend, and a more powerful mob don, Ranvir Dhanraj alias RDX (Feroz Khan). As the Engagement party continues a girl named Ishika (Malika Sherawat) crashes the party claiming to be Rajiv's childhood betrothed. Ishika was an old childhood friend that Dr. Ghunghroo asked to come and try to break off the arrangement. Ishika, appealing to RDX, manages to successfully annul the engagement. Rajiv and Sanjana are deeply saddened by the situation, and Dr. Ghunghroo, seeing this, reveals to Rajiv that Dr. Ghunghroo's behavior is due to Rajiv's mother's last few wishes. Rajiv's mother had married into a crime family and was harassed and tortured while in it. Thus when Rajiv was born she gave him to Dr. Ghunghroo and told him to raise Rajiv away from crime. Then Dr. Ghunghroo says he will agree to the engagement on one condition, that Uday give up his life of crime. Rajiv and Sanjana go about doing this by trying to reawaken Uday's love for acting. They appoint a few friends to act as a director, who hires Uday Shetty, and gets him into acting again. However Majnu, upon visiting the set, hears the Director mouth off to Uday, and in his anger, destroys the set. Then Ishika steps in to help by acting as the film's heroine meeting Uday and saving the film. Meanwhile Rajiv and Sanjana turn to Majnu and encourage him to push forward in his love for painting. He has one of Majnu's painting sell at an auction claiming that a girl like Iravati would appear and that a love relationship would form between her and Majnu. Indeed Ishika poses as this girl and intentionally catches the heart of Majnu, now going once again by Sagar Pandey. Meanwhile acting as the heroine on the set, she accidentally catches the heart of Uday Shetty as well. Seeing as both of them are pursuing what they love and have no time for criminal activities. However, Rajiv's actions anger RDX's son, Lucky, who then attempts to Kill Rajiv. However in the fighting, Sanjana gets ahold of the gun and fires a shot into the air. The shot ricochets off the ceiling and hits lucky in the shoulder causing him to fall unconscious. Dr. Ghunghroo, Rajiv, and Sanjana see this as a good opportunity to get rid of Lucky and after getting Uday and Sagar in on the plan, they try to drive Lucky to a crematorium. RDX is told of his son's death and in agony comes to attend the cremation. However lucky gets up and runs away trying to find his father and show him that he's alive. RDX shows up to the crematorium where there is no body to be burned, so Dr. Ghunghroo jumps onto the stand and acts as the dead body. Lucky gets to the crematorium and hides under a pile of wood, Rajiv, in hot pursuit arrives at the crematorium to see his uncle's body on the alter and breaks down into agony believing Dr. Ghunghroo to actually be dead. He is however quietly told that it's an act and starts trying to get him out of there without RDX seeing. Then Ghunghroo's wife arrives and believing him to be dead, also cries over his body. Rajiv, Sagar, Sanjana, and Uday realize that Lucky is hiding under a pile of wood and finds this the perfect chance. Then a whole bunch of men pick up the body covered in sheets taking it to the wood pile slowly allowing Dr. Ghunghroo to jump out of the sheets, which are then placed over the pile of wood. Then RDX sets the pile of wood on fire believing he is cremating his dead son's body. However Lucky, realizing that his hiding place is on fire, jumps out and is saved by RDX and his men.

Rajiv, Ghunghroo, his wife, Ishika, Uday, Sagar, Sanjana, and their men all flee but are eventually captured and brought to a certain home of RDX set next to a cliff. There, the group is forced to play a version of hot potato with the end result being the holder of RDX's globe must jump off the cliff. The music stops first on Dr. Ghunghroo who quickly tosses the globe behind him only to be caught by one of RDX's henchmen. Claiming that rules are rules, RDX orders his man to jump off, which he obediently does so. The game continues and Rajiv, in his love for Sanjana, Takes the globe and refuses to pass it to her. RDX has his back turned so he doesn' see this, but Lucky does. Lucky goes up to Rajiv, yanks the globe out of his hands and is about to give it to Sanjana, when the music stops leaving Lucky with the globe, putting RDX in a tough position. RDX figures the only way he can maintain his image is by shooting everyone in the cabin, however before he does so, a team of government brokers, sneak up to the cabin, and cut it's footings causing it to start to fall over the cliff, with everyone trapped inside. However the cabin is suspended by only one column and as the group tries to balance the cabin in the turmoil, Lucky attempts to shoot Rajiv, and the bullet flies out the window and strikes a nearby bee hive. More chaos ensues as the group is now trying to balance the house while fending off bees. A certain spray gets rid of them, and then Rajiv manages to find a rope, attaches a hook to the end of it, and Throws it to the clifftop. Then the group uses the rope to travel over the column onto stable ground. Meanwhile the Column is starting to lose it's hold. Suddenly the floor breaks out from the bottom of the cabin, and Lucky is left hanging on for dear life. Rajiv uses the rope to go back and rescue Lucky allowing him to reach stable ground before the column collapses causing the house to fall over the cliff with Rajiv still on it. Everyone mourns over Rajiv's apparent death, however Rajiv managed to use the rope to save himself and climbs back up the cliff to be reunited with Sanjana. Lucky is grateful to Rajiv claiming that RDX and Lucky are indebted to him, at which point Rajiv requests that even RDX discontinue his life of crime, and RDX decides he will make wedding arrangements for Rajiv and Sanjana himself. The final scene ends in a comic turn as Sagar and Uday both realize they were in love with the same woman, Ishika, and so Rajiv, Sanjana, and Ishika flee while the rest of the group laughs at Uday and Sagar who had been pranked.

Cast

Akshay Kumar as Rajiv

Katrina Kaif as Sanjana S. Shetty

Anil Kapoor as Majnu Bhai

Nana Patekar as Uday Shetty

Paresh Rawal as Dr. Ghunghroo

Mallika Sherawat as Ishika/Isha

Feroz Khan as RDX

Supriya Karnik as Mrs. Ghunghroo

Vijay Raaz as a Bollywood Director

Mushtaq Khan as Ballu

Adi Irani as Uday's lawyer

Snehal Dhabi

Shereveer Vakil as Lucky

Swatantra Bharat

Rakesh Shrivastav

Ranjeet as Kapoor

Sanjay Mishra as The Pandit

Asrani as a Bollywood Producer

Harry Josh

Malaika Arora in a Special Appearance in Song, 'Hoth Rasiley'

Suniel Shetty in a Guest Appearance (As Himself)

Paresh Ganatra in a Special Appearance

Soundtrack

The song listing is as follows.

! Song !! Singer(s) !! Music Director
Hoth Rasiley	Shankar Mahadevan, Anand Raj Anand, Shreya Ghosal	Anand Raj Anand and Aadesh Shrivastava
Insha Allah		Himesh Reshammiya
Kola Laka Vellari	Himesh Reshammiya	Himesh Reshammiya
Kiya Kiya	Anand Raj Anand, Shweta Pandit	Anand Raj Anand
Uncha Lamba Kad	Anand Raj Anand, Kalpana	Anand Raj Anand
Welcome		Sajid-Wajid

Box office

According to boxofficeindia.com, Welcome opened to a massive response locally, it grossed Rs. 335 million in its first week Welcome grossed around Rs. 71 crores, despite facing competition from the highly successful, Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par and was declared a blockbuster.

Welcome became the second highest grossing film of 2007, just behind Om Shanti Om.

Trivia

Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor were reunited after a 18 year gap when both actors were seen in Parinda.

This is one of five films that Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif have starred in. Film producers and directors are keen on having this on-screen "jodi" since they have produced hits every time they are together.

This film is somewhat similar to the American film "Mickey Blue Eyes" starring Hugh Grant.

This is the last film that Feroz Khan starred in before he died in 2009.

When Feroz Khan's character is seen for the first time, he is introduced by an remixed instrumental of the song "Laila O Laila", from the film Qurbani, in which he starred in.

References

External links

Welcome at Yahoo! India Movies

Category:Indian films Category:2007 films Category:Hindi-language films Category:2000s comedy films Category:Films set in Dubai Category:Films shot in Dubai

it:Welcome (film 2007) pl:Welcome (film)

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
playername	Nicolas Anelka
fullname	Nicolas Sébastien Anelka
dateofbirth	March 14, 1979
cityofbirth	Versailles
countryofbirth	France
height
position	Striker / Winger
currentclub	Chelsea
clubnumber	39
youthyears1	1983–1993 |youthclubs1 Trappes Saint-Quentin
youthyears2	1993–1995 |youthclubs2 Clairefontaine
youthyears3	1995–1996 |youthclubs3 Paris Saint-Germain
years1	1996–1997 |clubs1 Paris Saint-Germain |caps1 10 |goals1 1
years2	1997–1999 |clubs2 Arsenal |caps2 65 |goals2 23
years3	1999–2000 |clubs3 Real Madrid |caps3 19 |goals3 2
years4	2000–2002 |clubs4 Paris Saint-Germain |caps4 39 |goals4 10
years5	2002 |clubs5 → Liverpool (loan) |caps5 20 |goals5 4
years6	2002–2005 |clubs6 Manchester City |caps6 89 |goals6 37
years7	2005–2006 |clubs7 Fenerbahçe |caps7 39 |goals7 14
years8	2006–2008 |clubs8 Bolton Wanderers |caps8 53 |goals8 21
years9	2008– |clubs9 Chelsea |caps9 119 |goals9 49
nationalyears1	1997 |nationalteam1 France U20 |nationalcaps1 3 |nationalgoals1 0
nationalyears2	1998–2010 |nationalteam2 France |nationalcaps2 68 |nationalgoals2 13
pcupdate	21:09, 22 May 2011 (UTC) }}

Nicolas Sebastien Anelka (; (Abdul-Salam Bilal after conversion to Islam) born 14 March 1979) is a French international footballer who plays as a striker for English Premier League club Chelsea. Anelka was also a regular starter for the French national team. Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has described him as a quick player with good aerial ability, technique, shooting, and movement off the ball.

Anelka began his career at Paris Saint-Germain, but soon moved to Arsenal. He became a first team regular and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award the following season. Real Madrid signed him for £22.3 million in 1999, a record fee at the time, but he did not settle in well and returned to Paris Saint-Germain in a £20 million deal. Despite regular first team football in Paris, Anelka set his eyes upon the Premier League once more; he went on loan to Liverpool in January 2002 but joined Manchester City for £13 million at the start of the 2002–03 season.

After three seasons in Manchester, he moved to Fenerbahçe for two seasons before returning to England to join Bolton Wanderers – in deals worth £7 million and £8 million, respectively. He transferred to Chelsea from Bolton for a reported £15 million in January 2008. During his transfers over the years, he has built an aggregate transfer cost of just under £90 million. He is one of only three players to have won the Premier League with two different clubs.

Anelka has played many times at international level and won his first international honours with France at Euro 2000, and won the Confederations Cup the following year. His failure to settle at club level limited his international appearances, but he returned to the national team for the Euro 2008 competition.

On 19 June 2010, Anelka was excluded by the French Football Federation from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa for "comments directed against the national coach, Raymond Domenech, unacceptable to the FFF, French football, and the principles they uphold." Two months later, having failing to turn up to his disciplinary hearing, he was banned for France's next eighteen games by the FFF, effectively ending his international career.

Club career

Paris Saint-Germain

Anelka started his career at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player at age 16 and was said to have great potential for scoring goals.

Arsenal

In February 1997, at the age of 17, Anelka joined Premier League club Arsenal for a fee of £500,000 under newly appointed manager Arsène Wenger. Anelka scored his first goal for Arsenal against Manchester United in a 3–2 home win. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996–97 season, but in the 1997–98 season, he broke into the first team, after a long-term injury to striker Ian Wright. Anelka was a key player in Arsenal's "Double" win, of both the Premier League championship and the FA Cup trophy that season. Anelka scored the second goal in Arsenal's 2–0 win over Newcastle United in that season's FA Cup final.

A player with exceptional pace, he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award in the 1998–99 season, but Arsenal failed to defend their Premier League title and made little progress in the UEFA Champions League, while Anelka wanted a better salary. Fans turned on the striker amid transfer speculation and a perceived lack of enthusiasm, giving him the nickname "Le Sulk." In all he made 72 first team appearances and 17 appearances as a sub for Arsenal, scoring 27 goals.

Real Madrid

Anelka transferred to Real Madrid in the summer of 1999 for £22.3 million. Anelka began brightly, arriving as a record signing to the Madrid side. He had initial success, but soon fell out of favour with fans, fellow players, and new coach Vicente del Bosque, at one point receiving a 45-day suspension for refusing to train. Despite eventually returning to favour and figuring in the successful capture of the 1999-00 Champions League campaign (he scored vital goals in both legs of the semi-finals against Bayern Munich and started in the final), he was surplus to the requirements to the club.

Return to Paris-Saint Germain

Anelka signed a professional contract at Paris Saint-Germain, a return to the club at which he used to play as a youth player, in a transfer deal worth £20 million. Once again Anelka developed issues with the team coach, Luis Fernandez (who was already under pressure for benching Ronaldinho due to his work ethic) and became unsettled despite good form on the pitch.

Loan to Liverpool

After 30 months, Anelka returned to the Premier League in December 2001 with Liverpool on a short term loan deal until the end of the season. He contributed to Liverpool's late push to come second in the league, scoring goals against Everton, Fulham, Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, and in the FA Cup against Birmingham City, but manager Gérard Houllier decided not to offer him a permanent deal after the end of the season in favour of signing his future Bolton teammate, El Hadji Diouf.

Fenerbahçe

In January 2005, Manchester City announced that Anelka had completed a £7 million transfer to Turkish team Fenerbahçe. Anelka helped the Turkish club win the league title in 2005, and played with them in the UEFA Champions League.

Bolton Wanderers

On 25 August 2006, Bolton Wanderers signed Anelka on a four-year deal for a club record of £8 million. Anelka made his debut for Bolton against Watford on 9 September 2006. He finished the 2006–07 season as Bolton's top scorer with 11 goals.

During January 2007, Anelka stated that he would be willing to leave Bolton for a return to former club Arsenal. However, Anelka pledged his future to Bolton in July 2007, following talks with manager Sammy Lee. Anelka later said he would reluctantly consider leaving the club if Bolton's poor start to the 2007–08 season continued, but later signed a new four-year contract until 2011 on 30 August.

Chelsea

On 11 January 2008, it was confirmed that Anelka would join Chelsea for £15 million. Anelka made his début against Tottenham Hotspur on 12 January 2008, and scored his first goal two weeks later in the FA Cup against Wigan Athletic. He scored his first league goal on 2 February against Portsmouth, but failed to score again for Chelsea during the 2007–08 season.

In the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final, Anelka's seventh and decisive penalty was saved by Edwin van der Sar, ultimately resulting in Manchester United winning the Champions League. Anelka later blamed manager Avram Grant for his penalty miss, claiming he was not given enough time on the pitch, neither was he given enough time to properly warm up before coming on as a late substitute. On 3 August 2008, Anelka scored four goals in a 5–0 friendly win against AC Milan.

With Didier Drogba injured at the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Anelka made a very impressive start to the campaign. He scored 25 times – 19 of which in the Premier League, making the Frenchman the first player to reach 10 goals in the competition that season. For this, he was awarded with a Golden Boot Award on 14 November 2008 and was in the running for the end of season Golden Boot accolade. Anelka scored his first competitive hat-trick for Chelsea against Sunderland, in a 5–0 home win on 1 November 2008, and followed this up with two braces against Blackburn Rovers, then West Bromwich Albion. He established himself as an important member of the squad and maintained his place in the team despite the return to fitness of Drogba. After the arrival of Guus Hiddink, Anelka was more often played on the wing. Furthermore, he was ranked among the top goalscorers in the league for the season. He scored another hat-trick against Watford in the FA Cup to earn Chelsea a 3–1 victory at Vicarage Road. On 10 May, he scored one goal and set up another in a 4–1 away win against former club Arsenal. A goal in Chelsea's final Premier League game of the season at Sunderland put him as top goal scorer for the season in the Premier League, earning him the Golden Boot with 19 goals in total.

thumb|100px|left|Anelka warming up for ChelseaAnelka scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against West London rivals Fulham in a 2–0 win at Craven Cottage, before continuing his fine form with the opening goal in Chelsea's 3–0 win over Burnley the following weekend. He netted his third goal of the season in the opening game of the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 1–0 victory over FC Porto. Anelka scored one of the best goals of his season against APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League with the ball being passed in to the net from outside the box. Anelka scored his third league goal of the season against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in a 2–0 win with the second goal coming from French team-mate Florent Malouda. Anelka continued his fine scoring run in the Champions League with the winner in the 1–0 victory over FC Porto at the Estadio Dragao, making Chelsea only the second ever English side to win at Porto's home ground. He continued his scoring in the season by scoring Chelsea's first goal in a 3–3 draw against Everton in the Premier League, his first goal in the competition since October. He followed that up with another goal in Chelsea's 2–1 victory over Portsmouth. On 16 January 2010 on his return from injury, Anelka scored twice in an astonishing 7–2 victory over Sunderland. He continued this fine form into the next match scoring in an FA Cup tie against Preston North End bringing his tally in the previous 4 matches to 5 goals. Talks over his contract have stalled leading to rumours of yet another move to another club. After the return of Drogba from the African Cup of Nations, Anelka had been playing on the wing to support him. Anelka scored his first goal since January in a 1–0 win over his old team Bolton Wanderers in April 2010 putting Chelsea four points ahead of second place Manchester United. On the final day of the season Anelka scored two goals against Wigan Athletic, including the first Chelsea goal in the sixth minute, to help Chelsea win their third Premier League title and their first in four years. Anelka (along with Ashley Cole) joined Henning Berg in the exclusive band of players who have won the Premier League title with two different clubs. On 24 June 2010, Chelsea Football Club announced that Anelka had signed a new one-year extension to his existing contract that will keep him at the club until 2012.

Anelka started the 2010–11 campaign in fine form for Chelsea. He assisted Florent Malouda's last goal against West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of the season, scored a double in the next game against Wigan Athletic, and won a penalty against Stoke City in Chelsea's third game of the season. He continued this fine form in Chelsea's first Champions League game, scoring a first half brace against MSK Zilina. Further goals against Marseille and Spartak Moscow ensured that this was the first season since playing for that he had scored at least four goals in a UEFA Champions League Season. On 19 October, during Chelsea's Champions League group-stage match against Spartak Moscow, Anelka continued his impressive goal scoring form in the Champions League, netting the second goal of the match and his 50th goal for Chelsea in the 43rd minute of the game. Anelka scored Chelsea's first goal of the 2011-12 season against West Bromwich Albion.

International career

At youth level, Anelka played for the French under-20 team at the 1997 World Youth Championship, and made his senior team debut for France in a goal-less draw with Sweden on 22 April 1998. Anelka was not selected for the 1998 World Cup winning squad but quickly became France's first choice centre forward during the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign, scoring the opening goal in France's 3–2 win over Russia on his first international start and scoring both goals in a comfortable 2–0 win over England at Wembley in February 1999. Anelka made his first appearance in a major tournament at Euro 2000; France went on to win the competition. He also formed part of the squad which won the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. Despite a promising start, Anelka lost his place in the national team from 2001–2007 as he was not playing much first team football at club level, mainly because he was frequently transferred between clubs. When striker Djibril Cissé was forced out of 2006 World Cup due to injury, Olympique Lyonnais' striker Sidney Govou was called up as Cissé's replacement rather than Anelka, who described the decision as a "real shame... I was completely available and ready to play in this World Cup. I think I could have helped France."

Anelka came on as a substitute in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Lithuania on 24 March 2007, and scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory. Following his performance, Anelka was praised by Raymond Domenech: "It is the Nicolas I like to see... when he shows these qualities, he is a candidate for a permanent place." He also scored in the 2–0 victory against Ukraine on 2 June 2007.

Anelka featured in the France squad for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. Anelka started France's first group game against Romania, but was substituted after 72 minutes. He did not start either of France's remaining two games in the tournament against the Netherlands and Italy, coming on as a substitute in both games.

Anelka played a key role in France's FIFA World Cup playoff against the Republic of Ireland. He scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute that put France in a good position with one away goal.

During the 2010 World Cup, Anelka was sent home after reportedly abusing coach Raymond Domenech at half-time during the 2–0 defeat to Mexico. Following criticism of his positioning by Domenech, Anelka is reported to have said, “Va te faire enculer, sale fils de pute” meaning "Go and get yourself fucked, dirty son of a whore." The incident was later reported by the media, and the player refused to publicly apologise when asked to by French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes. The next day, the squad refused to get to training in protest against Anelka's expulsion. Anelka was subsequently hit by an 18-game suspension from international football by the FFF as punishment for his actions, effectively ending his international career. Anelka later claimed to be "dying with laughter" at the 18-match ban, as he had already decided to retire from international play.

Personal life

Anelka is married to Barbara Tausia, a Belgian choreographer. Together, they have two sons, Kais born in 2008 and Kahil born in 2010. He acted in the 2002 film Le Boulet as a footballer named Nicolas. He has stated that, when he retires from football, he would like to work in the film industry because he has a friend in the business. He said: "I have a friend who's a producer, who makes lots of films. He recently did Asterix. So it's already agreed that I'm going to do other films. It helps to know actors and producers. It's different to football and it's something I enjoy very much because there's no ball. I like pretending to be somebody else, it's fun."

After discussing religion with some childhood friends, Anelka converted to Islam in 2004 in the United Arab Emirates, taking the Muslim name of Abdul-Salam Bilal. Initially, Anelka considered leaving European football to play in the UAE: "I am ready to stay here and to play for a club in the Emirates. I am not keen to go back to England or France." However, this did not come to pass and he briefly moved to Turkey instead.

Anelka has two brothers, Claude and Didier. He has mentioned that his grandmother was of Albanian Heritage, he dedicated a goal to her by symbolizing the double-headed eagle as a celebration.

Statistics

Club performance

|- |1995–96||rowspan="2"|Paris Saint-Germain||rowspan="2"|Division 1||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||2||0 |- |1996–97||8||1||0||0||1||0||1||0||10||1 |- |1996–97||rowspan="3"|Arsenal||rowspan="3"|Premier League||4||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||4||0 |- |1997–98||26||6||9||3||3||0||2||0||40||9 |- |1998–99||35||17||5||0||0||0||5||1||45||18 |- |1999-00||Real Madrid||La Liga||19||2||0||0||colspan="2"|––||9||2||28||4 |- |2000–01||rowspan="2"|Paris Saint-Germain||rowspan="2"|Division 1||27||8||0||0||1||0||9||5||37||13 |- |2001–02||12||2||0||0||0||0||7||3||19||5 |- |2001–02||Liverpool||Premier League||20||4||2||1||0||0||0||0||22||5 |- |2002–03||rowspan="3"|Manchester City||rowspan="3"|Premier League||38||14||1||0||2||0||0||0||41||14 |- |2003–04||32||16||4||4||2||0||5||4||43||25 |- |2004–05||19||7||0||0||0||0||0||0||19||7 |- |2004–05||rowspan="3"|Fenerbahçe||rowspan="3"|Süper Lig||14||4||2||0||colspan="2"|––||2||0||18||4 |- |2005–06||25||10||6||2||colspan="2"|––||6||0||37||12 |- |2006–07||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|––||2||0||2||0 |- |2006–07||rowspan="2"|Bolton Wanderers||rowspan="2"|Premier League||35||11||3||0||1||1||0||0||39||12 |- |2007–08||18||10||0||0||0||0||4||1||22||11 |- |2007–08||rowspan="5"|Chelsea||rowspan="5"|Premier League||14||1||3||1||2||0||5||0||24||2 |- |2008–09|||37||19||5||4||0||0||12||2||54||25 |- |2009–10|||33||11||4||1||0||0||7||3||44||15 |- |2010–11|||32||6||3||1||1||2||9||7||45||16 |- |2011–12|||2||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||1 49||11||0||0||2||0||17||8||68||21 344||123||39||15||13||3||49||18||443||146 19||2||0||0||colspan="2"|––||9||2||28||4 39||14||8||2||colspan="2"|––||10||0||57||16 451||150||47||17||15||3||85||28||598||198

International statistics

|- |1998||3||2 |- |1999||7||2 |- |2000||9||1 |- |2001||7||1 |- |2002||1||0 |- |2003||0||0 |- |2004||0||0 |- |2005||2||1 |- |2006||3||1 |- |2007||10||3 |- |2008||11||1 |- |2009||9||2 |- |2010||6||0 |- !Total||68||13 |}

International goals

Scores and results list France's goal tally first: Moscow, Russia 10 February 1999 10 February 1999 6 June 2000 16 August 2000 30 May 2001 9 November 2005 11 October 2006 24 March 2007 2 June 2007 13 October 2007 1 September 2008 10 October 2009 14 November 2009

Anelka – goals for France
# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
align=center	1	10 October 1998	|	Russia national football team>Russia	1–0	3–2	2000 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying>Euro 2000 qualification
align=center	2	|	London, England	England national football team>England	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
align=center	3	|	London, England	England national football team>England	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
align=center	4	|	Casablanca, Morocco	Morocco national football team>Morocco	4–1	5–1	Friendly match
–	|	Marseille, France	FIFA XI	5–0	5–1	Unofficial friendly
align=center	5	|	Daegu, Korea	South Korea national football team>South Korea	3–0	5–0	2001 Confederations Cup
align=center	6	|	Fort-de-France, France	Costa Rica national football team>Costa Rica	1–2	3–2	Friendly match
align=center	7	|	Sochaux, France	Faroe Islands national football team>Faroe Islands	3–0	5–0	2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying>Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	8	|	Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania national football team>Lithuania	1–0	1–0	2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying>Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	9	|	Saint-Denis, France	Ukraine national football team>Ukraine	2–0	2–0	2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying>Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	10	|	Torshavn, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands national football team>Faroe Islands	1–0	6–0	2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying>Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	11	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	Serbia national football team>Serbia	2–0	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup>2010 World Cup Qualifying
align=center	12	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	Faroe Islands national football team>Faroe Islands	3–0	5–0	2010 FIFA World Cup>2010 World Cup Qualifying
align=center	13	|	Croke Park, Dublin	Ireland national football team>Ireland	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup>2010 World Cup Qualifying

Career honours

Club

;Arsenal

FA Premier League: 1998

FA Cup: 1998

FA Charity Shield: 1998

;Real Madrid

UEFA Champions League: 2000

;PSG

UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001

;Fenerbahçe

Turkish Premier Super League: 2005

;Chelsea

FA Premier League: 2010

FA Cup (2): 2009, 2010

FA Community Shield: 2009

Country

;France

UEFA U-18 European Football Championship: 1997

UEFA European Football Championship: 2000

FIFA Confederations Cup: 2001

Individual

Premier League Player of the Month (2): February 1999, November 2008

PFA Team of the Year (2): 1999, 2009

Barclays Golden Boot: 2008–09

PFA Young Player of the Year: 1999

FA Cup Top Scorer: 2009

References

External links

Premier League profile

BBC Sport profile

ANELKA Nicolas Fédération Française de Football (FFF)

Profile SoccerSurfer.com

Nicolas Anelka Free Sporting

Nicolas Anelka FootballDatabase.eu – Comprehensive match-by-match history

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:People from Versailles Category:2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Category:Arsenal F.C. players Category:Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Category:Chelsea F.C. players Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain Category:Expatriate footballers in Turkey Category:Fenerbahçe footballers Category:FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Category:Association football forwards Category:France international footballers Category:French expatriate footballers Category:French expatriates in Spain Category:French expatriates in Turkey Category:French expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:French footballers Category:La Liga footballers Category:Ligue 1 players Category:Liverpool F.C. players Category:Manchester City F.C. players Category:Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Category:Premier League players Category:First Division/Premier League topscorers Category:Real Madrid C.F. players Category:Süper Lig players Category:UEFA Euro 2000 players Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players Category:UEFA European Football Championship-winning players Category:People of Martiniquais descent Category:INF Clairefontaine players Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players

ar:نيكولا أنيلكا az:Nikolas Anelka be-x-old:Нікаля Анэлька br:Nicolas Anelka bg:Никола Анелка ca:Nicolas Anelka cs:Nicolas Anelka cy:Nicolas Anelka da:Nicolas Anelka de:Nicolas Anelka et:Nicolas Anelka el:Νικολά Ανελκά es:Nicolas Anelka fa:نیکولا آنلکا fr:Nicolas Anelka ga:Nicolas Anelka ko:니콜라 아넬카 hr:Nicolas Anelka id:Nicolas Anelka it:Nicolas Anelka he:ניקולא אנלקה jv:Nicolas Anelka sw:Nicolas Anelka lv:Nikolā Anelka lt:Nicolas Anelka hu:Nicolas Anelka mr:निकोलस अनेल्का ms:Nicolas Anelka nl:Nicolas Anelka ja:ニコラ・アネルカ no:Nicolas Anelka nn:Nicolas Anelka pl:Nicolas Anelka pt:Nicolas Anelka ro:Nicolas Anelka ru:Анелька, Николя simple:Nicolas Anelka sk:Nicolas Anelka sr:Никола Анелка fi:Nicolas Anelka sv:Nicolas Anelka th:นีกอลา อาแนลกา tr:Nicolas Anelka uk:Ніколя Анелька vi:Nicolas Anelka zh:尼古拉·阿内尔卡

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Jamie Thomas
residence	Encinitas, California
birth date	October 11, 1974
birth place	Dothan, Alabama
occupation	Professional skateboarder }}

Jamie Thomas (born October 11, 1974), is an American professional skateboarder and skateboard industry magnate from Dothan, Alabama. He is the co-owner of Zero Skateboards and Fallen Footwear.

Skateboarding career

Thomas started skateboarding at the age of eleven. He was first sponsored in 1992 by Deluxe (Thunder trucks, Spitfire wheels and as a flow rider for Real Skateboards). This prompted him to move to San Francisco with his friends Sean Young and Hurley. While living in San Francisco, Thomas turned pro for a short-lived company, Experience Skateboards. Thomas then went on to ride for the San Diego based Invisible Skateboards. After relocating to Southern California in 1994, Thomas was featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboard magazine and had video parts in the Spitfire and Invisible videos. In 1995 Thomas joined Ed Templeton's Toy Machine. He filmed and directed two Toy Machine videos, the second one being Welcome To Hell. His section in "Welcome To Hell" is arguably the biggest milestone of his career.

Business career

In 1996 Thomas started a small clothing company through Toy Machine's distributor Tum Yeto. This company later became Zero Skateboards. Thomas is the owner and president of Black Box Distribution, which was created in 2000 and is the parent company of Mystery Skateboards, $lave Skateboards, Zero Skateboards, Threat By Zero, Insight Clothing, and Fallen Footwear. In 2006 he won a regional "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from Ernst & Young.

Personal life

Thomas is married to Joanne and has three children (Julien Tiger born October 30, 2003, James Ruby born March 30, 2006, and Maximus Trey born June 11, 2008). They reside in Encinitas, California. Thomas is also a Christian, with several board graphics featuring Christian imagery and scripture.

Select videography

The Zero video Thrill Of It All featured Thomas' attempt at what would be coined "The Leap of Faith", an ollie melon down an 18-foot, 8-inch drop over a handrail at Point Loma High School in San Diego, California. Although Thomas never successfully landed the trick, his attempt garnered him notoriety.

Invisible Skateboards Invisible (1994)

Spitfire Wheels (1994)

Toy Machine Heavy Metal (1995)

Etnies High Five (1995)

Toy Machine Welcome to Hell (1996)

Emerica Yellow (1996)

Zero Thrill of it All (1997)

Zero Misled Youth (1999)

Landspeed:cKy (1999)

Transworld VideoRadio (2001)

Chomp on This (2002)

Zero Dying to Live (2002)

Zero New Blood (2005)

Reason to Believe (2005)

Thrasher King of the Road (2004)

Thrasher King of the Road (2005)

Thrasher King of the Road (2006)

Zero Promo Video (2007)

Fallen: Ride The Sky (2008)

Zero Strange World (2009)

Zero Cold War (2011) In progress

External links

Black Box Distribution

References

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JSE/is_284/ai_n6095631

Category:American skateboarders Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:American Christians

bg:Джейми Томас de:Jamie Thomas fr:Jamie Thomas it:Jamie Thomas nl:Jamie Thomas no:Jamie Thomas pt:Jamie Thomas sl:Jamie Thomas uk:Джейм Томас

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
birth name	Rowan Sebastian Atkinson
birth date	January 06, 1955
birth place	Consett, County Durham, England, United Kingdom
current location	Ipsden, Oxfordshire
medium	Stand-up, Television, Film
genre	Physical comedy, Satire, Black comedy
influences	Peter Sellers, Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Tati
influenced	Steve Pemberton, David Walliams, Matt Lucas
active	1978–present
notable work	Not the Nine O'Clock NewsBlackadderMr. Bean
spouse
child	Ben Atkinson, Lily Atkinson, Gemma Atkinson, David Atkinson
baftaawards	Best Light Entertainment Performance1981 Not the Nine O'Clock News1990 Blackadder Goes Forth
olivierawards	Best Comedy Performance1981 Rowan Atkinson in Revue }}

}} Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy actors ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.

Early life and education

John Clark, the youngest of the two brothers, was born in Consett, County Durham, England. His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and Ella May (née Bainbridge), who married on 29 June 1945. His three older brothers were Paul, who died as an infant, Rodney, a Eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000, and Rupert. Atkinson was brought up Anglican, and was educated at Durham Choristers School, St. Bees School, and Newcastle University. In 1975, he continued for the degree of MSc in Electrical Engineering at The Queen's College, Oxford, the same college his father matriculated at in 1935, which made Atkinson an Honorary Fellow in 2006. First achieving notice at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976, while at Oxford, he also acted and performed early sketches for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), the Oxford Revue and the Experimental Theatre Club (ETC), meeting writer Richard Curtis and composer Howard Goodall, with whom he would continue to collaborate during his career.

Career

Radio

Atkinson starred in a series of comedy shows for BBC Radio 3 in 1978 called "The Atkinson People". It consisted of a series of satirical interviews with fictional great men, who were played by Atkinson himself. The series was written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, and produced by Griff Rhys Jones.

Television

After university, Atkinson toured with Angus Deayton as his straight man in an act that was eventually filmed for a television show. After the success of the show, he did a one-off pilot for London Weekend Television in 1979 called Canned Laughter. Atkinson then went on to do Not the Nine O'Clock News for the BBC, produced by his friend John Lloyd. He starred on the show along with Pamela Stephenson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, and was one of the main sketch writers.

The success of Not the Nine O'Clock News led to his starring in the medieval sitcom The Black Adder, which he also co-wrote with Richard Curtis, in 1983. After a three-year gap, in part due to budgetary concerns, a second series was written, this time by Curtis and Ben Elton, and first screened in 1986. Blackadder II followed the fortunes of one of the descendants of Atkinson's original character, this time in the Elizabethan era. The same pattern was repeated in the two sequels Blackadder the Third (1987) (set in the Regency era), and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) (set in World War I). The Blackadder series went on to become one of the most successful BBC situation comedies of all time, spawning television specials including Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) and Blackadder: The Cavalier Years (1988).

Atkinson's other famous creation, the hapless Mr. Bean, first appeared on New Years Day in 1990 in a half-hour special for Thames Television. The character of Mr. Bean has been likened somewhat to a modern-day Buster Keaton. During this time, Atkinson appeared at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal in 1987 and 1989. Several sequels to Mr. Bean appeared on television in the 1990s, and it eventually made into a major motion picture in 1997. Entitled Bean, it was directed by Mel Smith, his former co-star from Not the Nine O'Clock News. A second movie was released in 2007 entitled Mr. Bean's Holiday.

In 1995 and 1997, Atkinson portrayed Inspector Raymond Fowler in the popular The Thin Blue Line television series, written by Ben Elton, which takes place in a police station located in fictitious Gasforth.

Atkinson has fronted campaigns for Kronenbourg, Hitachi electrical goods, Fujifilm, and Give Blood. Atkinson appeared as a hapless and error-prone espionage agent in a long-running series for Barclaycard, on which character his title role in Johnny English and Johnny English Reborn was based.

He also starred in a comedy spoof of Doctor Who as the Doctor, for a red nose day benefit.

Atkinson has also starred as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car in the motoring show, Top Gear in July 2011, where he recorded the fastest lap in the Kia Cee'd with a time of 1:42.2.

Film

Atkinson's film career began in 1983 with a supporting part in the 'unofficial' James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and a leading role in Dead on Time with Nigel Hawthorne. He appeared in former Not the Nine O'Clock News co-star Mel Smith's directorial debut The Tall Guy in 1989. He also appeared alongside Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling in Roald Dahl's The Witches in 1990. In 1993 he played the part of Dexter Hayman in Hot Shots! Part Deux, a parody of Rambo III, starring Charlie Sheen.

Atkinson gained further recognition with his turn as a verbally bumbling vicar in the 1994 hit Four Weddings and a Funeral. That same year he was featured in Walt Disney's The Lion King as Zazu the Red-billed Hornbill. Atkinson continued to appear in supporting roles in successful comedies, including Rat Race (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and ''Love Actually (2003).

In 2005, he acted in the crime/comedy Keeping Mum, which also starred Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Patrick Swayze.

In addition to his supporting roles, Atkinson has also had success as a leading man. His television character Mr. Bean debuted on the big screen in 1997 with Bean to international success. A sequel, Mr. Bean's Holiday, was released in March 2007 and may be the last time he plays the character. He has also starred in the James Bond parody Johnny English in 2003. Its sequel, Johnny English Reborn will be released in 2011.

Theatre

Rowan Atkinson did live on-stage skits – also appearing with members of Monty Python – in The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979).

Rowan Atkinson appeared in the 2009 revival of the West End musical Oliver! as Fagin. The production was directed by Rupert Goold. A year prior he starred in a pre-West End run of the show in Oxford, directed by Jez Bond.

Comedic style

Best known for his use of physical comedy in his trademark character of Mr. Bean, Atkinson's other characters rely more heavily on language. Atkinson often plays authority figures (especially priests or vicars) speaking absurd lines with a completely deadpan delivery.

One of his better-known trademark comic devices is over-articulation of the "B" sound, such as his pronunciation of "Bob" in a Blackadder episode. Atkinson suffers from stuttering, and the over-articulation is a technique to overcome problematic consonants.

Atkinson's often visually based style, which has been compared to Buster Keaton, sets him apart from most modern television and film comedies, which rely heavily on dialogue, as well as stand-up comedy which is mostly based on monologues. This talent for visual comedy has led to Atkinson being called "the man with the rubber face": comedic reference was made to this in an episode of Blackadder the Third, in which Baldrick (Tony Robinson) refers to his master, Mr. E. Blackadder, as a "lazy, big nosed, rubber-faced bastard".

Personal life

Marriage and children

Atkinson first met Sunetra Sastry in the 1980s, when she was working as a make-up artist with the BBC. Sastry is of mixed descent, being the daughter of an Indian father and a British mother. The couple married at the Russian Tea Room in New York City on 5 February 1990. They have two children and live in Oundle, Northamptonshire as well as in Ipsden, Oxfordshire and in Highbury, London. In October 2010, his Blackadder co-star Stephen Fry confessed on The Rob Brydon Show and in his second autobiography (The Fry Chronicles) that, although he was already openly homosexual at the time, he had considered asking Sastry (who was his make-up artist) out. However, when Rowan came to him one day and asked if he could swap make-up artists because he wanted to ask Sastry out, 'all idea of [his] asking out Sunetra left [him]'. Fry was best man at Atkinson's wedding in 1990. Atkinson was formerly in a relationship with actress Leslie Ash.

Politics

In June 2005, Atkinson led a coalition of the UK's most prominent actors and writers, including Nicholas Hytner, Stephen Fry, and Ian McEwan, to the British Parliament in an attempt to force a review of the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, which they felt would give overwhelming power to religious groups to impose censorship on the arts.

In 2009, he criticised homophobic speech legislation, saying that the House of Lords must vote against a government attempt to remove a free speech clause in an anti-gay hate law.

Cars

With an estimated wealth of £100 million, Atkinson is able to indulge his passion for cars that began with driving his mother's Morris Minor around the family farm. He has written for the British magazines Car, Octane, Evo, and "SuperClassics", a short-lived UK magazine, in which he reviewed the McLaren F1 in 1995.

Atkinson holds a category C+E (formerly 'Class 1') lorry driving licence, gained in 1981, because lorries held a fascination for him, and to ensure employment as a young actor. He has also used this skill when filming comedy material.

A lover of and participant in car racing, he appeared as racing driver Henry Birkin in the television play Full Throttle in 1995. In 1991, he starred in the self-penned The Driven Man, a series of sketches featuring Atkinson driving around London trying to solve his car-fetish, and discussing it with taxi drivers, policemen, used-car salesmen and psychotherapists.

Atkinson has raced in other cars, including a Renault 5 GT Turbo for two seasons for its one make series. He owns a McLaren F1, which was involved in an accident in Cabus, near Garstang, Lancashire with an Austin Metro. It was damaged again in a serious crash in August 2011 when it caught fire after Atkinson reportedly lost control and hit a tree. He also owns a Honda NSX. Other cars he owns include an Audi A8, and a Honda Civic Hybrid.

The Conservative Party politician Alan Clark, himself a devotee of classic motor cars, recorded in his published Diaries this chance meeting with a man he later realised was Atkinson while driving through Oxfordshire in May 1984: "Just after leaving the motorway at Thame I noticed a dark red DBS V8 Aston Martin on the slip road with the bonnet up, a man unhappily bending over it. I told Jane to pull in and walked back. A DV8 in trouble is always good for a gloat." Clark writes that he gave Atkinson a lift in his Rolls Royce to the nearest telephone box, but was disappointed in his bland reaction to being recognised, noting that: "he didn't sparkle, was rather disappointing and chétif."

One car Atkinson has said he will not own is a Porsche: "I have a problem with Porsches. They're wonderful cars, but I know I could never live with one. Somehow, the typical Porsche people—and I wish them no ill—are not, I feel, my kind of people. I don't go around saying that Porsches are a pile of dung, but I do know that psychologically I couldn't handle owning one."

He appeared in episode 4, season 17 of Top Gear in the "Star in a reasonably priced car" section, where he drove the Kia Cee'd on the test track in 1"42.2, replacing John Bishop (1"42.8) as the leader of the board.

On 4 August 2011, Atkinson was involved in a single car collision in his McLaren F1 on the A605 at Haddon, Cambridgeshire. Atkinson reportedly lost control of the car which crashed into a tree and then a lampost before catching fire. Atkinson suffered only a minor injury to his shoulder. This was the second time that Atkinson had crashed his McLaren, the first time being in October 1999, in Lancashire, where he rear-ended a Rover Metro.

Television appearances

Canned Laughter (1979), an experimental sitcom pilot for LWT

The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), a charity special for Amnesty International

Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982)

Peter Cook & Co (1980)

The Innes Book of Records (1980), guest appearance

Blackadder as Prince Edmund (The Black Adder), Lord Blackadder (Blackadder II), Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder III), Ebenezer Blackadder (Blackadder's Christmas Carol) & Captain Blackadder (Blackadder Goes Forth) (1983–1989)

Saturday Live as guest host (1986)

Mr. Bean as Mr. Bean (1990–2009 various times)

Rowan Atkinson Live as assorted characters (1992) (VHS of live sketches)

Bernard and the Genie as Bernard's Boss (1991) (TV movie)

Funny Business (1992), a documentary about the craft of comedy

A Bit Of Fry And Laurie (1992), guest appearance

The Thin Blue Line as Inspector Raymond Fowler (1995–1996)

Blackadder: Back and Forth as Blackadder (2000)

Mr. Bean (animated TV series) as Mr Bean, voice (2002)

The Comic Relief Red Nose Day telecasts, including appearing in:

* Blackadder: The Cavalier Years as Edmund Blackadder (1988)

* Nosenight sketches (1989)

* Mr Bean's Red Nose Day as Mr Bean (1991)

* (I Wanna Be) Elected as Mr Bean (1992)

* Blind Date with Mr Bean as Mr Bean (1993)

* Torvill and Bean as Mr Bean (1995)

* Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death as The Doctor (1999)

* Popsters as Nasty Neville (2001)

* Lying to Michael Jackson as Martin Bashir (2003)

* Spider-Plant Man as Peter Piper and Spider-Plant Man (2005)

* Mr Bean's Wedding as Mr Bean (2007)

* The Greatest Worst Bits of Comic Relief as Himself (2007)

We Are Most Amused (2008), a special show to celebrate Prince Charles' 60th birthday

Blackadder Rides Again as himself (2008)

Guest appearances

Wogan (1988, 1991)

Children in Need (1988), guest appearance as Mr E. Blackadder

Noel's House Party, guest appearance as Blackadder

Going Live, guest appearance as Mr Bean

This Morning (1995), guest appearance as Mr Bean

Big Breakfast

Parkinson (2003)

Blue Peter (2004, 2007), guest appearance as Mr Bean

London Tonight (2005)

BBC Breakfast (2007)

Richard & Judy (2007)

The Dame Edna Treatment (2007), guest appearance as Mr Bean

Top Gear (2011)

Filmography

!Year The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)Fundamental Frolics The Secret Policeman's Other Ball Dead on Time (1983 film)The Appointments of Dennis Jennings The Witches (1990 film)The Driven Man (1991) (TV)Hot ShotsFour Weddings and a Funeral Bean (1997 film)Maybe Baby (2000 film)Rat Race (2001 film)Scooby-Doo (film)Johnny English Keeping Mum Mr. Bean's Holiday Johnny English Reborn

|	Title	Role	Notes
1979	The Secret Policeman's Ball ||	Various roles	Solo skits, plus with Monty Python
1981	|	Himself
1982	|	Himself & Various Roles
rowspan=2	1983	Dead on Time ||	Bernard Fripp
Never Say Never Again	Nigel Small-Fawcett
rowspan=2	1989	|	Dr. Schooner	Short Film
The Tall Guy	Ron Anderson
1990	The Witches ||	Mr. Stringer
1991	The Driven Man ||	Himself	TVAlso Writer
1993	Part Deux	Dexter Hayman
rowspan=2	1994	|	Father Gerald
The Lion King	Zazu
1997	Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie ||	Mr. Bean	Also Writer/Executive Producer
2000	Maybe Baby ||	Mr. James
2001	Rat Race ||	Enrico Pollini
2002	Scooby-Doo ||	Emile Mondavarious
rowspan=2	2003	|	Johnny English
Love Actually	Rufus
2005	|	Reverend Walter Goodfellow
2007	|	Mr. Bean	Also Writer
2011	|	Johnny English	Also Executive Producer

Live comedy albums

Live in Belfast (1980)

Not Just a Pretty Face (1987)

Awards

Atkinson has won the following awards: Variety Club Award for BBC Personality of the Year – 1980 BAFTA Best Light Entertainment Performance – 1989

Whatsonstage Award for Oliver! – 2010

Nomination for Laurence Olivier Award for Oliver! – 2010

References

External links

Rowan Atkinson biography at BFI Screenonline

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Newcastle University Category:Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Car collectors Category:English comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:English film actors Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Mr. Bean Category:Old St. Beghians Category:People from Consett Category:People from County Durham Category:People educated at the Chorister School, Durham

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