Fantasy is a genre of fiction that uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of (pseudo-)scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction.

In popular culture, the genre of fantasy is dominated by its medievalist form, especially since the worldwide success of ''The Lord of the Rings'' books by J. R. R. Tolkien. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy comprises works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends to many recent works embraced by a wide audience today.

Fantasy is a vibrant area of academic study in a number of disciplines (English, cultural studies, comparative literature, history, medieval studies). Work in this area ranges widely, from the structuralist theory of Tzvetan Todorov, which emphasizes the fantastic as a liminal space, to work on the connections (political, historical, literary) between medievalism and popular culture.

Traits of fantasy

The identifying traits of fantasy are the inclusion of fantastic elements in a self-coherent (internally consistent) setting, where inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. Within such a structure, any location of the fantastical element is possible: it may be hidden in, or leak into the apparently real world setting, it may draw the characters into a world with such elements, or it may occur entirely in a fantasy world setting, where such elements are part of the world. Essentially, fantasy follows rules of its own making, allowing magic and other fantastic devices to be used and still be internally cohesive.

History

Beginning perhaps with the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the earliest written documents known to humankind, mythic and other elements that would eventually come to define fantasy and its various subgenres have been a part of some of the grandest and most celebrated works of literature. From ''The Odyssey'' to ''Beowulf'', from the ''Mahabharata'' to ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'', from the ''Ramayana'' to the ''Journey to the West'', and from the Arthurian legend and medieval romance to the epic poetry of the ''Divine Comedy'', fantastical adventures featuring brave heroes and heroines, deadly monsters, and secret arcane realms have inspired many audiences. In this sense, the history of fantasy and the history of literature are inextricably intertwined.

There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' or ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began.

Although pre-dated by John Ruskin's ''The King of the Golden River'' (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald, the Scottish author of such novels as ''The Princess and the Goblin'' and ''Phantastes'' (1858), the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, a popular English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including ''The Well at the World's End''.

Despite MacDonald's future influence with ''At the Back of the North Wind'' (1871), and Morris's popularity with his contemporaries, it wasn't until the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience. Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt, established what was known as the "lost world" sub-genre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as ''Peter Pan'' and ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', were also published around this time.

Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work in a work for children. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many early works verging on fantasy, but in ''A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys'', intended for children, wrote fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865), created the circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later ''The Lord of the Rings'', were therefore classified as children's literature.

In 1923 the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, ''Weird Tales'', was created. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, most noticeably ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. The pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity at this time and was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other.

By 1950 "sword and sorcery" fiction had begun to find a wide audience, with the success of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy, and most of all J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' which reached new heights of popularity in the late 1960s, that allowed fantasy to truly enter the mainstream. Several other series, such as C. S. Lewis's ''Chronicles of Narnia'' and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, helped cement the genre's popularity.

The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson.

Criticism of fantasy includes its being called "second rate" literature; but author Terry Brooks rebutted this when he answered a question on his official website:

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Media

Fantasy is a popular genre, having found a home for itself in almost every medium. While fantasy art and recently fantasy films have been increasingly popular, it is fantasy literature which has always been the genre's primary medium.

Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. The "pen & paper" role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' was the first and is the most successful and influential, and the science fantasy role-playing game series ''Final Fantasy'' has been an icon of the console RPG genre.

A Fantasy Webseries is a new medium to tell fantasy stories. One of the earliest made fantasy webseries is Spellfury a show that started in 2008 which uses classic sword and sorcery themes in the storytelling.

Subgenres

Modern fantasy, including early modern fantasy, has also spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterpart in mythology or folklore, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. Fantasy subgenres are numerous and diverse, frequently overlapping with other forms of speculative fiction in almost every medium in which they are produced. A couple of examples are the science fantasy and dark fantasy subgenres, which the fantasy genre shares with science fiction and horror, respectively.

Subculture

Professionals such as publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars within the fantasy genre get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the convention. The first WFC was held in 1975, and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year.

Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's FX Show and MegaCon, cater to fantasy and horror fans. Anime conventions, such as Ohayocon or Anime Expo frequently feature showings of fantasy, science fantasy, and dark fantasy series and films, such as ''Majutsushi Orphen'' (fantasy), ''Sailor Moon'' (urban fantasy), ''Berserk'' (dark fantasy), and ''Spirited Away'' (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of the several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make and/or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction and/or doujinshi in or related to those genres.

See also

Fantasy literature

Fantasy tropes and conventions

List of fantasy authors

List of fantasy worlds

List of fantasy novels

List of high fantasy fiction

List of genres

Fairy tale

Horror fiction

List of literary genres

Science fiction

Speculative fiction

Supernatural fiction

Worldbuilding

References

External links

The SF Page at Project Gutenberg of Australia

Taboos and Tropes in Fantasy Literature

Category:Literary genres Category:Speculative fiction

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Coordinates	14°05′0″N98°12′0″N
playername	Wayne Rooney
fullname	Wayne Mark Rooney
dateofbirth	October 24, 1985
cityofbirth	Croxteth, Liverpool
countryofbirth	England
height
position	Forward
currentclub	Manchester United
clubnumber	10
youthyears1	1996–2002 |youthclubs1 Everton
years1	2002–2004 |clubs1 Everton |caps1 67 |goals1 15
years2	2004– |clubs2 Manchester United |caps2 220 |goals2 107
nationalyears1	2000–2001 |nationalteam1 England U15 |nationalcaps1 4 |nationalgoals1 2
nationalyears2	2001–2002 |nationalteam2 England U17 |nationalcaps2 12 |nationalgoals2 7
nationalyears3	2002 |nationalteam3 England U19 |nationalcaps3 1 |nationalgoals3 0
nationalyears4	2003– |nationalteam4 England |nationalcaps4 70 |nationalgoals4 26
pcupdate	28 August 2011
ntupdate	26 March 2011 }}

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team.

Rooney made his senior international debut in 2003. He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals. He also briefly became the competition's youngest goalscorer. He is frequently selected for the England squad and also featured at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. Rooney has won the England Player of the Year award twice, in 2008 and 2009. As of March 2011, he has won 70 international caps and scored 26 goals.

Aged nine, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, for whom he made his professional debut in 2002. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window. Since then, United have won the Premier League four times, the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League and two League Cups with Rooney in the team. He also holds two runner-up medals from both the Premier League and the Champions League. In August of the 2011-12 season Rooney scored his 150th goal for United.

In 2009-10, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year. Rooney has won the Premier League 'Goal of the Season' award by the BBC's Match of the Day poll on three occasions. As of 2011, he is the third highest-paid footballer in the world after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with an annual income of €20.7m (£18m) including sponsorship deals.

Early life

Rooney was born in Croxteth, Liverpool to Thomas Wayne and Jeanette Marie Rooney (née Morrey). He is of Irish descent and was brought up Catholic in Croxteth with younger brothers Graeme and John; all three attended De La Salle School. He grew up supporting his local club Everton; his childhood hero was Duncan Ferguson.

Club career

Everton

Youth squads

Rooney began playing for Liverpool Schoolboys and until May 2010 he held the record of 72 goals scored in one season. At age nine, Rooney played for Copplehouse boys' club in the local Walton and Kirkdale junior league and scored 99 goals in his final season before being spotted by Everton scout Bob Pendleton. Rooney joined Everton at age nine, and was the Everton mascot for the Merseyside derby against Liverpool as an 11-year-old. In the 1995–96 season he scored 114 goals in 29 games for Everton's under-10s and 11s, and by 15 years old he was playing for the under-19s. He scored eight goals in eight games during Everton's run to the FA Youth Cup final in 2002. This included one goal in the final defeat against Aston Villa and upon scoring he revealed a T-shirt that read, "Once a Blue, always a Blue." Rooney was included in the first team squad for their training camp in Austria in the summer of 2002 and scored his first senior goal in a 3-1 friendly victory over SC Weiz on 15 July.

First team breakthrough

Rooney was an unused substitute in Everton's 1–0 away win over Southampton in April 2002. His senior debut came the following season on 17 August in a 2–2 home draw against Tottenham, at this time he became the second youngest first-team player in Everton history behind Joe Royle. His first senior goals came on 2 October as he scored twice in a 3–0 away win over Wrexham in the League Cup. These goals meant that Rooney was Everton's youngest-ever goalscorer at the time. On 19 October, five days before his 17th birthday, Rooney scored a last-minute winning goal against Arsenal. This goal ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run, and also made Rooney the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, a record that has since been surpassed twice by both James Milner and James Vaughan. He scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win over Leeds United fifteen days later.

In December, Rooney was named 2002's BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. Six days on from claiming this award he scored the winning goal against Blackburn Rovers in a 2–1 home win. His first career red-card came on boxing day in a 1-1 away draw against Birmingham City for a late challenge on Steve Vickers. In January 2003, Rooney signed his first professional contract which made him one of world football's highest-paid teenagers. Rooney's first goal in 2003 came on 23 March, netting Everton's only goal in a 2–1 loss at Arsenal. In April, he scored a goal in Everton's 2–1 home win over Newcastle United, before hitting a last-minute winner against Aston Villa in another 2–1 home win. He ended his debut season with 8 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions for ''the Toffees''.

Rooney scored his first goal of the 2003-04 season in a 2–2 away draw against Charlton on 26 August 2003. He did not find the net again until December when he scored in a 2–1 away win over Portsmouth, and a 3–2 home win over Leicester City. His final goal of 2003 came on his 50th league appearance, netting the only goal in a 1–0 home win over Birmingham on 28 December. On 21 February 2004, Rooney netted his first Premier League brace in a 3–3 away draw against Southampton. He scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Portsmouth on 13 March, before scoring in a 1–1 away draw against Leicester City one week later. Rooney scored his final goal of the season in a 1–1 away draw against Leeds United on 13 April.

Manchester United

2004–05 season

Rooney's agent snubbed a three-year, £12,000-a-week contract offer from Everton in August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United to compete for his signature. Everton rejected a bid of £20 million from Newcastle, and Manchester United ultimately won the bidding war with Rooney signing for them at the end of the month after a £25.6 million deal with Everton was reached. It was the highest fee ever paid for a player under 20 years old; Rooney was still only 18 when he left Everton.

Rooney was given the number 8 shirt upon his arrival at Old Trafford. He made his United debut on 28 September in a 6–2 home win over Fenerbahçe in the Champions League, scoring a hat-trick and laying on an assist. These goals made Rooney the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League aged 18 years 335 days. However, his first season with Manchester United ended without winning a trophy as they could only manage a third place finish in the league, and failed to progress to the last eight of the Champions League. United had more success in the cup competitions, but were edged out of the League Cup in the semi finals by a Chelsea side who also won the Premier League title that season, and a goalless draw with Arsenal in the FA Cup final was followed by a penalty shoot-out defeat. However, Rooney was United's top league scorer that season with 11 goals, and was credited with the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

2005–07

In September 2005, Rooney was sent off in a Champions League clash with Villarreal of Spain (which ended in a goalless draw) for sarcastically clapping the referee who had booked him for an unintentional foul on an opponent. His first trophy with United came in the 2006 League Cup, and he was also named man of the match after scoring twice in United's 4–0 win over Wigan Athletic in the final. In the Premier League, however, an erratic start to the season left title glory looking unlikely for United and their title hopes were ended in late April when they lost 3–0 at home to champions Chelsea and had to settle for second place. Rooney sustained a broken metatarsal in that game after a tackle made by Paulo Ferreira. Rooney's goalscoring further improved in the 2005–06 season, as he managed 16 goals in 36 Premier League games.

Rooney was sent off in an Amsterdam Tournament match against Porto on 4 August 2006 after hitting Porto defender Pepe with an elbow. He was punished with a three-match ban by the FA, following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen that explained his decision. Rooney wrote a letter of protest to the FA, citing the lack of punishment handed down to other players who were sent off in friendlies. He also threatened to withdraw the FA's permission to use his image rights if they did not revoke the ban, but the FA had no power to make such a decision.

During the first half of the 2006–07 season, Rooney ended a ten-game scoreless streak with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers, and he signed a two-year contract extension the next month that tied him to United until 2012. By the end of April, a combination of two goals in an 8–3 aggregate quarter-final win over Roma and two more in a 3–2 semi-final first leg victory over Milan. By the end of that season, he had scored 14 league goals. Rooney collected his first Premier League title winner's medal at the end of the 2006–07 season.

2007–09

In June 2007, Rooney was handed number 10, last worn by Ruud van Nistelrooy. He fractured his left metatarsal in United's opening-day goalless draw against Reading on 12 August, the same injury he had suffered to his right foot in 2004. After being sidelined for six weeks, he returned for United's 1–0 Champions League group stage win over Roma on 2 October, scoring the match's only goal. However, barely a month into his return, Rooney injured his ankle during a training session on 9 November, and missed an additional two weeks. His first match back was against Fulham on 3 December, in which he played 70 minutes. Rooney missed a total of ten games and finished the 2007–08 season with 18 goals (12 of them in the league), as United clinched both the Premier League and the Champions League, in which they defeated league rivals Chelsea in the competition's first-ever all-English final.

On 4 October 2008 in an away win over Blackburn Rovers, Rooney became the youngest player in league history to make 200 appearances. On 14 January after scoring the only goal of the game 54 seconds into the 1–0 win over Wigan Athletic, Rooney limped off with a hamstring ailment in the eighth minute. His replacement, Carlos Tévez, was injured himself shortly after entering the game, but stayed on. Rooney was out for three weeks, missing one match apiece in the League Cup and FA Cup, along with four Premier League matches. On 25 April 2009, Rooney scored his final league goals of the season against Tottenham. United scored five goals in the second half to come from 2–0 down to win 5–2. Rooney grabbed two goals, set up two and provided the assist that led to the penalty for United's first goal. Rooney ended the season with 20 goals in all competitions. Once again, he managed 12 goals in the league.

2009–10 season

Rooney's start to the new campaign got off to great scoring ways, grabbing a goal in the 90th minute of the 2009 Community Shield, though United lost the game to Chelsea on penalties. He then scored the only goal of the opening game of the 2009–10 season against Birmingham City, taking his overall United tally to 99. He failed to score in the next game, a historic 1–0 defeat to the hands of newly promoted Burnley at Turf Moor. On 22 August, he became the 20th Manchester United player to have scored at least 100 goals for the club, when he found the net twice in a 5–0 away win at Wigan Athletic.

On 29 August, United played Arsenal at Old Trafford. Rooney scored the equaliser from the penalty spot after Andrei Arshavin had put the Gunners ahead. The game finished 2–1 to Manchester United after Abou Diaby scored an own goal. Five days later Rooney commented on his penalty against Arsenal: "Everyone who watches me play knows I am an honest player, I play the game as honestly as I can. If the referee gives a penalty there is nothing you can do." On 28 November 2009, Rooney scored his first hat-trick for three years in a 4–1 away victory against Portsmouth, with two of them being penalties. On 27 December 2009, he was awarded Man of the Match against Hull City. He was involved in all the goals scored in the game, hitting the opener and then giving away the ball for Hull's equalizing penalty. He then forced Andy Dawson into conceding an own goal and then set up Dimitar Berbatov for United's third goal which gave them a 3–1 victory. On 30 December 2009, three days on from their victory over Hull, he grabbed another goal in United's 5–0 thrashing of Wigan in their final game of the decade. On 23 January 2010, Rooney scored all four goals in Manchester United's 4–0 win over Hull City; three of the goals came in the last 10 minutes of the match. This was the first time in his career that he bagged four in one match. On 27 January 2010, he continued his scoring run by heading the winner in the second minute of stoppage time against derby rivals Manchester City. This gave United a 4–3 aggregate win, taking them into the final, it was his first League Cup goal since netting two in the 2006 final. On 31 January 2010, Rooney scored his 100th Premier League goal in a 3–1 win over Arsenal for the first time in the league at the Emirates, notably his first Premier League goal also came against Arsenal. On 16 February 2010, Rooney hit his first European goals of the season, scoring two headers in the 3–2 away win against Milan in Manchester United's first ever win against them at the San Siro. On 28 February 2010, he scored another header against Aston Villa (his fifth consecutive headed goal in a row) which resulted in Manchester United winning the League Cup final 2–1. In the second leg of United's European tie against Milan, Rooney scored a brace in a resounding 4–0 home victory, taking his tally of goals this season to 30. He then added two more to his tally five days later at Old Trafford, in a 3–0 league win over Fulham.

On 30 March 2010, during United's Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat against Bayern Munich at Munich's Allianz Arena, Rooney crumpled when he twisted his ankle in the last minute, hobbling off while Bayern were producing the build up that led to their second goal. There were fears that he had received serious ligament damage or even a broken ankle, but it was announced that the injury was only slight ligament damage, and that he would be out for 2 to 3 weeks, missing United's crunch match with Chelsea and the return leg against Munich the following week. The team list for second leg yielded a massive surprise when Rooney was given a starting place in the United lineup. Despite a 3–0 lead by the 41st minute, Munich snatched a goal back and United were later forced down to 10 men after Rafael da Silva was sent-off. Munich won the match after netting a second away-goal and Rooney was substituted after re-damaging his ankle. On 25 April, Rooney was named the 2010 PFA Players' Player of the Year.

2010–11 season

On 28 August 2010, Rooney scored his first goal of the season as he netted a penalty in a 3–0 home win over West Ham United. In October, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson stated at a press conference that Rooney wanted to quit the club. This came after a period of dispute as to the extent of Rooney's ankle injury, where Rooney had refuted Ferguson's claim that the injury was the reason Rooney had been dropped to the bench. Rooney and his representatives released a statement regarding his decision to leave the club, insisting it is not down to money but ambition. Following this statement, Rooney made a dramatic U-turn and agreed a new five-year contract at Manchester United until June 2015.

Rooney made his return to the first team as a substitute against Wigan on 20 November. Four days later he returned to the starting line-up and scored a penalty in a 1–0 away win over Rangers in the Champions League. He missed a penalty in a 1–0 home win over Arsenal on 13 December. His first goal of the season from open play came on 1 January 2011 in a 2–1 away win over West Bromwich Albion. On 1 February, Rooney scored twice and assisted Nemanja Vidic's goal in a 3–1 home win over Aston Villa. On 12 February, Rooney scored an overhead volley in the 78th minute of the Manchester derby, proving to be the winning goal in their 2–1 win over Manchester City. After the match, Rooney said it was the best goal of his career, before Sir Alex Ferguson described the strike as the best goal he has ever witnessed at Old Trafford. Two weeks later he scored the third goal in a 4–0 away win over Wigan, before opening the scoring in a 2–1 away loss to Chelsea on 1 March. Rooney scored the second goal in a 2–0 home win over Arsenal in an FA Cup tie on 12 March.

On 2 April, United came from two goals down as Rooney scored his first hat-trick of the season in a 4–2 away win over West Ham United. This was his fifth hat-trick for Manchester United, whilst the second goal was his 100th in the Premier League for the club. He is the third Manchester United player to score 100 Premier League goals, joining Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. During Rooney's celebrations following his third goal, he swore into a pitchside camera and was subsequently charged by the Football Association for using offensive language. Rooney accepted the charge, but not the automatic two-match ban which was handed to him. He appealed against the length of the suspension, calling it "excessive", but failed to overturn the two-match ban which ruled him out of the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on 16 April. The following game on 6 April saw Rooney scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final first leg. He followed this goal up with another strike in the semi-final first leg against German side Schalke on 26 April, scoring the second of a 2–0 away win. This was the first time Rooney had returned to the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen since his sending off during the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Portugal.

On 14 May 2011, Rooney successfully converted a penalty for United to equalise and give them a 1–1 draw against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the penultimate game of the Premier League season - enough to secure a record 19th top division title for United, and giving Rooney his fourth Premier League title winner's medal.

2011–12 season

Rooney started the season with a goal in the first league game at The Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion. Rooney played a cute one-two with Ashley Young before a sharp turn and finish from outside the box which found the bottom corner of the goal. In late August Rooney scored his 150th goal for United, the first of a hat-trick, helping to demolish Arsenal 8–2. Rooney won man of the match, putting away two free kicks, a penalty, and also setting up an assist for Luis Nani.

International career

Rooney became the youngest player to play for England when he earned his first cap in a friendly against Australia on 12 February 2003 at seventeen, the same age at which he also became the youngest player to score an England goal. Arsenal youngster Theo Walcott broke Rooney's appearance record by 36 days in May 2006.

His first tournament action was at Euro 2004, in which he became the youngest scorer in competition history on 17 June 2004, when he scored twice against Switzerland; however, this record was topped by Swiss midfielder Johan Vonlanthen four days later. Rooney suffered an injury in the quarter-final match against Portugal and England were eliminated on penalties.

Following a foot injury in an April 2006 Premier League match, Rooney faced a race to fitness for the 2006 World Cup. England attempted to hasten his recovery with the use of an oxygen tent, which allowed Rooney to enter a group match against Trinidad and Tobago and start the next match against Sweden. However, he never got back into game shape and went scoreless as England bowed out in the quarter-finals, again on penalty kicks.

Rooney was red-carded in the 62nd minute of the quarter-final for stamping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho as both attempted to gain possession of the ball, an incident that occurred right in front of referee Horacio Elizondo. Rooney's Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo openly protested his actions, and was in turn shoved by Rooney. Elizondo sent Rooney off, after which Ronaldo was seen winking at the Portugal bench. Rooney denied intentionally targeting Carvalho in a statement on 3 July, adding, ''"I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but I'm disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not teammates."'' Elizondo confirmed the next day that Rooney was dismissed solely for the infraction on Carvalho. Rooney was fined CHF5,000 for the incident.

During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, after England drew with Algeria, the England players were booed off the pitch by supporters. Rooney made a comment as he left the pitch to television cameras saying, "Nice to see your home fans boo you, that's loyal supporters". He later apologised for the comment made during a lacklustre tournament for England who were eliminated in the second round.

International goals

:''Updated to games played 7 September 2010.'' Philip II Arena 10 September 2003 16 November 2003 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 17 August 2005 12 November 2005 15 November 2006 13 October 2007 17 October 2007 10 September 2008 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 6 June 2009 rowspan="2" 9 September 2009 7 September 2010

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
align=center	1	6 September 2003	Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia ||		2–1	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Group 7>UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
align=center	2	|	Old Trafford, Manchester, England		2–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
align=center	3	|	Old Trafford, Manchester, England		3–2	Loss	Exhibition game>Friendly
align=center	4	5 June 2004 ||	Old Trafford, Manchester, England		6–1	Win	Friendly
align=center	5
	17 June 2004 ||	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal		3–0	Win	rowspan="2"
align=center	7
	21 June 2004 ||	Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal		4–2	Win	UEFA Euro 2004
align=center	9
	|	Parken Stadion, Copenhagen, Denmark		4–1	Loss	Friendly
align=center	11	|	Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland		3–2	Win	Friendly
align=center	12	|	Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands		1–1	Draw	Friendly
align=center	13	|	Wembley Stadium, London, England		3–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group E>UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	14	|	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia		2–1	Loss	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
align=center	15	|	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia		4–1	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6>2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	16	12 October 2008 ||	Wembley Stadium, London, England		5–1	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	17
	15 October 2008 || rowspan="2"|Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Belarus ||		3–1	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	19
	28 March 2009 ||	Wembley Stadium, London, England		4–0	Win	Friendly
align=center	21
	|	Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan		4–0	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	23	10 June 2009 ||	Wembley Stadium, London, England		6–0	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	24
	|	Wembley Stadium, London, England		5–1	Win	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
align=center	26	|	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland		3–1	Win	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group G>UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Career statistics

Club

6 9 11 16 14 12 12 26 11 5

Club	Season	League	Cup	League Cup	Continental	Other	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="3"	Everton		33	|	1	0	3	2	–		–		37	8
2003–04 FA Premier League	2003–04	34	|	3	0	3	0	–		–		40	9
!Total	!67!!15!!4!!0!!6!!2!!colspan="2"
rowspan="9"	Manchester United		29	|	6	3	2	0	6	3	0	0	43	17
2005–06 Manchester United F.C. season	2005–06	36	|	3	0	4	2	5	1	0	0	48	19
2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season	2006–07	35	|	7	5	1	0	12	4	0	0	55	23
2007–08 Manchester United F.C. season	2007–08	27	|	4	2	0	0	11	4	1	0	43	18
2008–09 Manchester United F.C. season	2008–09	30	|	2	1	1	0	13	4	3	3	49	20
2009–10 Manchester United F.C. season	2009–10	32	|	1	0	3	2	7	5	1	1	44	34
2010–11 Manchester United F.C. season	2010–11	28	|	2	1	0	0	9	4	1	0	40	16
2011–12 Manchester United F.C. season	2011–12	3	|	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	5
!Total	!220!!107!!25!!12!!11!!4!!63!!25!!7!!4!!326!!152
Career total	!287!!122!!29!!12!!17!!6!!63!!25!!7!!4!!403!!169

''Statistics accurate as of match played 28 August 2011''

International

|- |2003||9||3 |- |2004||11||6 |- |2005||8||2 |- |2006||8||1 |- |2007||4||2 |- |2008||8||5 |- |2009||9||6 |- |2010||11||1 |- |2011||2||0 |- !Total||70||26 |} ''Statistics accurate as of match played 26 March 2011''

Honours

Club

;Manchester United

Premier League (4): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11

Football League Cup (2): 2005–06, 2009–10

FA Community Shield (3): 2007, 2010, 2011

UEFA Champions League (1): 2007–08

FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008

Individual

PFA Players' Player of the Year (1): 2009–10

PFA Young Player of the Year (2): 2004–05, 2005–06

PFA Fans' Player of the Year (2): 2005–06, 2009–10

PFA Premier League Team of the Year (2): 2005–06, 2009–10

Goal of the Season (3): 2004–05, 2006–07, 2010–11

Goal of the Month (6): October 2003, January 2005, April 2005, January 2007, March 2007, February 2011

FWA Footballer of the Year (1): 2009–10

Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year (2): 2005–06, 2009–10

BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year (1): 2002

Bravo Award (1): 2003

UEFA Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament

FIFPro World Young Player of the Year (1): 2004–05

Premier League Player of the Month (5): February 2005, December 2005, March 2006, October 2007, January 2010

Barclays Player of the Season (1): 2009–10

FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball (1): 2008

England Player of the Year (2): 2008, 2009

Personal life

In addition to Everton, Rooney also supports Celtic.

In June 2011, he visited the Harley Street Hair Clinic and had a hair transplant.

Family

Rooney met his wife, Coleen Rooney (née McLoughlin), while both were at secondary school. They married on 12 June 2008 after six years of dating, during which Rooney admitted to soliciting prostitution in Liverpool in 2004. '"I was young and stupid. It was at a time when I was very young and immature and before I had settled down with Coleen." He has a tattoo of the words "Just Enough Education to Perform", the title of an album by his favorite band, the Stereophonics; Coleen arranged for the group to play at their wedding reception. The wedding ran into some controversy with the Catholic Church. The couple held a religious ceremony at La Cervara, a converted monastery near Genoa, despite being warned by the local bishop's office against the plan. The bishop's office told the Rooneys that La Cervara is deconsecrated and not suitable for a wedding. It suggested a different church, five miles away. Nevertheless, the couple ignored the advice and Father Edward Quinn, their local priest from Croxteth, presided over a ceremony in which rings were exchanged.

In April 2006, he was awarded £100,000 in libel damages from tabloids ''The Sun'' and ''News of the World'', who had claimed that he had assaulted Coleen in a nightclub. Rooney donated the money to charity.

The Rooneys reside in a £4.25 million mansion in the village of Prestbury, Cheshire, which was built by a company owned by Dawn Ward, the wife of former Sheffield United striker Ashley Ward. He also owns property in Port Charlotte, Florida. While Rooney was house hunting in Cheshire after signing with Manchester United, he spotted a pub sign that read ''"Admiral Rodney"'', which he misread as ''"Admiral Rooney."'' He nonetheless considered it a positive omen for his future home. Rooney owns a French mastiff dog, which was reportedly bought for £1,250.

Rooney's wife Coleen announced on 7 April 2009 that the couple were expecting their first baby. Coleen gave birth to their son, Kai Wayne Rooney, on 2 November 2009.

Rooney's younger brother, John Rooney, is also a professional footballer, who has played with Macclesfield Town, and in January 2011 signed a contract to play in Major League Soccer in the United States. John was selected by the New York Red Bulls in the second round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.

Commercial interests

Rooney has endorsement deals with Nike, Nokia, Ford, Asda, and Coca-Cola. He has appeared on six straight UK-version covers of Electronic Arts' ''FIFA'' series from ''FIFA 06'' (2005) to ''FIFA 11'' (2010). In October 2010, Rooney was dropped by Coca-Cola from one of its advertising campaigns in the wake of allegations about his private life.

On 9 March 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal in publishing history with HarperCollins, who granted him a £5 million advance plus royalties for a minimum of five books to be published over a twelve-year period. The first, ''My Story So Far'', an autobiography ghostwritten by Hunter Davies, was published after the 2006 World Cup. The second publication, ''The Official Wayne Rooney Annual'', was aimed at the teenage market and edited by football journalist Chris Hunt.

In July 2006, Rooney's lawyers went to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organisation to gain ownership of the Internet domain names ''waynerooney.com'' and ''waynerooney.co.uk'', both of which Welsh actor Huw Marshall registered in 2002. Three months later, the WIPO awarded Rooney the rights to ''waynerooney.com.''

Paul Stretford controversy

In July 2002, while Rooney was with Everton, agent Paul Stretford encouraged Rooney and his parents to enter the player into an eight-year contract with Proactive Sports Management. However, Rooney was already with another representation firm at the time, while Stretford's transaction went unreported to the FA, and he was thus charged with improper conduct. Stretford alleged in his October 2004 trial that he had secretly recorded boxing promoter John Hyland (an associate of Rooney's first agent) and two other men threatening and attempting to blackmail him for an undisclosed percentage of Rooney's earnings.

Stretford's case collapsed due to evidence that conflicted with his insistence that he had not signed Rooney, and on 9 July 2008, he was found guilty of ''"making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police, and giving false and/or misleading testimony."'' In addition, the contract to which Stretford had signed Rooney was two years longer than the limit allowed by the FA. Stretford was fined £300,000 and banned from working as a football agent for eighteen months, a verdict he promptly appealed.

Stretford left Proactive in 2008 and took Rooney with him. Proactive later sued Rooney, claiming £4.3 million in withheld commissions. In July 2010, Proactive was awarded only £90,000 as restitution.

David Moyes

On 1 September 2006, Everton manager David Moyes sued Rooney for libel after the tabloid newspaper the ''Daily Mail'' published excerpts from Rooney's 2006 autobiography that accused the manager of leaking Rooney's reasons for leaving the club to the press. The case was settled out of court for £500,000 on 3 June 2008, and Rooney apologised to Moyes for ''"false claims"'' he had made in the book regarding the matter.

Allegations of infidelity

Rooney reportedly had sex with prostitute Jennifer Thompson on a number of occasions in 2009, while his wife Coleen was pregnant with son Kai. Prostitute Helen Wood says Rooney paid £1,000 for a threesome with her and Jennifer Thompson in a Manchester hotel whilst Coleen was five months pregnant. It was reported his solicitors tried to fight the allegations when they first surfaced in early August 2010, but he was unable to prevent the publication of the fresh allegations as he had previously spoken of his shame at paying for sex. Alex Ferguson has suggested Rooney's form for Manchester United had suffered as he struggled to cope with the intense media scrutiny surrounding his private life due to these allegations.

Notes

References

External links

Wayne Rooney profile ManUtd.com

European Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads RSSF

Premier League profile

Profile at SoccerSurfer.com

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:English footballers Category:England international footballers Category:Premier League players Category:Everton F.C. players Category:Manchester United F.C. players Category:Association football forwards Category:UEFA Euro 2004 players Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:Sportspeople from Liverpool Category:English people of Irish descent Category:England youth international footballers

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Coordinates	14°05′0″N98°12′0″N
Name	Lee Kuan Yew
Honorific-suffix	GCMG CH
Order	Minister Mentor
Term start	12 August 2004
Term end	21 May 2011
Primeminister	Lee Hsien Loong
Predecessor	''New title''
Successor	''Position abolished''
Order2	Senior Minister
Term start2	28 November 1990
Term end2	12 August 2004
Primeminister2	Goh Chok Tong
Predecessor2	''Position created''
Successor2	Goh Chok Tong
Order3	1st Prime Minister of Singapore Elections: 1959- 1988
Term start3	5 June 1959
Term end3	28 November 1990
President3	Yusof bin IshakBenjamin Henry ShearesC. V. Devan NairWee Kim Wee
Deputy3
Successor3	Goh Chok Tong
Order4	Secretary-General of the People's Action Party
Term start4	21 November 1954
Term end4	1 November 1992
Successor4	Goh Chok Tong
Constituency mp5	Tanjong Pagar GRCTanjong Pagar SMC (1955–1991)
Term start5	2 April 1955
Majority5	Walkover
Birth date	September 16, 1923
Birth place	Singapore
Spouse	Kwa Geok Choo (m. 1950–2010, her death)
Children	Lee Hsien LoongLee Wei LingLee Hsien Yang
Party	People's Action Party
Nationality	Singapore
Alma mater	Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Agnostic }}

|p=Lǐ Guāngyào|poj=Lí Kong-iāu}} Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH (|t=|p=Lǐ Guāngyào|poj=Lí Kong-iāu}}, English name: Harry, born 16 September 1923; also Lee Kwan-Yew) is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades. By the time he chose to step down to enable a stable leadership renewal, he had become the world's longest-serving Prime Minister.

As the co-founder and first secretary-general of the People's Action Party (PAP), he led the party to eight victories from 1959 to 1990, and oversaw the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 and its subsequent transformation from a relatively underdeveloped colonial outpost with no natural resources into a "First World" Asian Tiger. He has remained one of the most influential political figures in South-East Asia.

Singapore's second prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, appointed him as Senior Minister in 1990. He held the advisory post of Minister Mentor, created by his son, Lee Hsien Loong, when the latter became the nation's third prime minister in August 2004. With his successive ministerial positions spanning over 50 years, Lee is also one of history's longest serving ministers. On 14 May 2011, Lee and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong announced their retirement from the cabinet after a watershed General Election 2011.

Family background

In his memoirs, Lee refers to his immigrant background as a fourth-generation Chinese Singaporean: his Hakka great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon (born 1846), emigrated from the Dapu county of Guangdong province to the Straits Settlements in 1862. The eldest child of Lee Chin Koon and Chua Jim Neo, Lee Kuan Yew was born at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore, in a large and airy bungalow. As a child he was strongly influenced by British culture, due in part to his grandfather, Lee Hoon Leong, who had given his sons an English education. His grandfather gave him the name "Harry" in addition to his Chinese name (given by his father) Kuan Yew. He was mostly known as "Harry Lee" for his first 30 or so years, and still is to his friends in the West and to many close friends and family. He started using his Chinese name after entering politics. His name is sometimes cited as Harry Lee Kuan Yew, although this first name is seldom used in official settings. Lee and his wife Kwa Geok Choo were married on 30 September 1950. His wife passed away on 2 October 2010 in her sleep. They have two sons and one daughter.

Several members of Lee's family hold prominent positions in Singaporean society, and his sons and daughter hold high government or government-linked posts. His elder son Lee Hsien Loong, a former Brigadier General, has been the Prime Minister since 2004. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), of which Lee himself is the chairman. Lee's younger son, Lee Hsien Yang, is also a former Brigadier General and is a former President and Chief Executive Officer of SingTel, a pan-Asian telecommunications giant and Singapore's largest company by market capitalisation (listed on the Singapore Exchange, SGX). Fifty-six percent of SingTel is owned by Temasek Holdings, a prominent government holding company with controlling stakes in a variety of very large government-linked companies such as Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank. Temasek Holdings, in turn, is run by Executive Director and C.E.O. Ho Ching, the wife of Lee Hsien Loong. Lee's daughter, Lee Wei Ling, runs the National Neuroscience Institute. Lee's wife, Kwa Geok Choo, used to be a partner of the prominent legal firm Lee & Lee.

Early life

Lee was educated at Telok Kurau Primary School, Raffles Institution (where he was a member of the 01 Raffles Scout Group), and Raffles College (now National University of Singapore). His university education was delayed by World War II and the 1942–1945 Japanese occupation of Singapore. During the occupation, he operated a successful black market business selling tapioca-based glue called ''Stikfas''. Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, he was able to find work transcribing Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese ''Hodobu'' (報道部 – an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 1944. After the war, he briefly attended the London School of Economics before moving to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he studied law, graduating with Double Starred First Class Honours. (He was subsequently made an honorary fellow of Fitzwilliam College.) He returned to Singapore in 1949 to practise as a lawyer in Laycock and Ong, the legal practice of John Laycock, a pioneer of multiracialism who, together with A.P. Rajah and C.C. Tan, had founded Singapore's first multiracial club open to Asians.

Early political career – 1951 to 1959

Pre-People's Action Party (PAP)

Lee's first experience with politics in Singapore was his role as election agent for John Laycock under the banner of the pro-British Progressive Party in the 1951 legislative council elections. However, Lee eventually realised the party was unlikely to win mass support, especially from the Chinese-speaking working class. This was especially important when the 1953 Rendel Constitution expanded the electoral rolls to include all local-born as voters, resulting in a significant increase in Chinese voters. His big break came when he was engaged as a legal advisor to the trade and students' unions, which provided Lee with a link to the Chinese-speaking, working-class world. Later on in his career, his People's Action Party (PAP) would use these historical links to unions as a negotiating tool in industrial disputes.

Formation of the PAP

On 12 November 1954, Lee, together with a group of fellow English-educated middle-class men whom he himself described as "beer-swilling bourgeois", formed the "socialist" PAP in an expedient alliance with the pro-communist trade unionists. This alliance was described by Lee as a marriage of convenience, since the English-educated group needed the pro-communists' mass support base while the communists needed a non-communist party leadership as a smoke screen because the Malayan Communist Party was illegal. Their common aims were to agitate for self-government and put an end to British colonial rule. An inaugural conference was held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, attended by over 1,500 supporters and trade unionists. Lee became secretary-general, a post he held until 1992, save for a brief period in 1957.

In opposition

Lee comprehensively won the Tanjong Pagar seat in the 1955 elections . He became the opposition leader against David Saul Marshall's Labour Front-led coalition government. He was also one of PAP's representatives to the two constitutional discussions held in London over the future status of Singapore, the first led by Marshall and the second by Lim Yew Hock, Marshall's hardline successor. It was during this period that Lee had to contend with rivals from both within and outside the PAP.

Lee's position in the PAP was seriously under threat in 1957 when pro-communists took over the leadership posts, following a party conference which the party's left wing had stacked with fake members. Fortunately for Lee and the party's moderate faction, Lim Yew Hock ordered a mass arrest of the pro-communists and Lee was reinstated as secretary-general. After the communist 'scare', Lee subsequently received a new, stronger mandate from his Tanjong Pagar constituents in a by-election in 1957. The communist threat within the party was temporarily removed as Lee prepared for the next round of elections.

Prime Minister, pre-independence – 1959 to 1965

Self-government administration – 1959 to 1963

In the national elections held on 1 June 1959, the PAP won 43 of the 51 seats in the legislative assembly. Singapore gained self-government with autonomy in all state matters except defence and foreign affairs, and Lee became the first Prime Minister of Singapore on 5 June 1959, taking over from Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock. Before he took office, Lee demanded and secured the release of Lim Chin Siong and Devan Nair, who had been arrested earlier by Lim Yew Hock's government. Lee faced many problems after gaining self-rule for Singapore from the British, including education, housing, and unemployment.

A key event was the motion of confidence of the government in which 13 PAP assemblymen crossed party lines and abstained from voting on 21 July 1961. Together with six prominent left-leaning leaders from trade unions, the breakaway members established a new party, the pro-communist Barisan Sosialis. At its inception it had popular support rivalling that of the PAP. 35 of the 51 branches of PAP and 19 of its 23 organising secretaries went to the Barisan Sosialis. This event was known as ''The Big Split of 1961''. The PAP's majority was now 26-25 in the legislative assembly.

In 1961, the PAP faced two by-election defeats as well as the defections and labour unrest by leftists. Lee's government was near collapse until the 1962 referendum on the issue of merger, which was a test of public confidence in the government.

Merger with Malaysia, then separation – 1963 to 1965

After Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman proposed the formation of a federation which would include Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak in 1961, Lee began to campaign for a merger with Malaysia to end British colonial rule. He used the results of a referendum held on 1 September 1962, in which 70% of the votes were cast in support of his proposal, to demonstrate that the people supported his plan.

On 16 September 1963, Singapore became part of Malaysia. However, the union was short-lived. The Malaysian Central Government, ruled by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), became worried by the inclusion of Singapore's Chinese majority and the political challenge of the PAP in Malaysia. Lee openly opposed the bumiputra policy and used the Malaysian Solidarity Convention's famous cry of "Malaysian Malaysia!", a nation serving the Malaysian nationality, as opposed to the Malay race.

The 1964 race riots in Singapore followed, such as that on Muhammad's birthday (21 July 1964), near Kallang Gasworks, in which 23 people were killed and hundreds injured as Chinese and Malays attacked each other. It is still disputed how the riots started, and theories include a bottle being thrown into a Muslim rally by a Chinese, while others have argued that it was started by a Malay. More riots broke out in September 1964, as rioters looted cars and shops, forcing both Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew to make public appearances in order to calm the situation.

Unable to resolve the crisis, the Tunku decided to expel Singapore from Malaysia, choosing to "sever all ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty to its Central Government". Lee was adamant and tried to work out a compromise, but without success. He was later convinced by Goh Keng Swee that the secession was inevitable. Lee signed a separation agreement on 7 August 1965, which discussed Singapore's post-separation relations with Malaysia in order to continue co-operation in areas such as trade and mutual defence.

The failure of the merger was a heavy blow to Lee, who believed that it was crucial for Singapore’s survival. In a televised press conference on television that day, he broke down emotionally as he formally announced the separation and the full independence of Singapore:

"For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I... I believed in Malaysian merger and unity of the two territories. You know that we, as a people are connected by geography, economics, by ties of kinship... It literally broke everything that we stood for.... Now, I, Lee Kuan Yew, as Prime Minister of Singapore, in this current capacity of mine do hereby proclaim and declare on behalf on the people and the Government of Singapore that as from today, the ninth day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-five, Singapore shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation, founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of the people in a most and just equal society."

On that same day, 9 August 1965, just as the press conference ended, the Malaysian Parliament passed the required resolution that would sever Singapore's ties to Malaysia as a state, and thus the Republic of Singapore was created. Singapore's lack of natural resources, a water supply that was beholden primarily to Malaysia and a very limited defensive capability were the major challenges that Lee and the Singaporean Government faced.

Prime Minister, post-independence – 1965 to 1990

In his autobiography, Lee stated that he did not sleep well, and fell sick days after Singapore's independence. Upon learning of Lee's condition from the British High Commissioner to Singapore, John Robb, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson expressed concern, in response to which Lee replied:

"Do not worry about Singapore. My colleagues and I are sane, rational people even in our moments of anguish. We will weigh all possible consequences before we make any move on the political chessboard..."

Lee began to seek international recognition of Singapore's independence. Singapore joined the United Nations on 21 September 1965, and founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 8 August 1967 with four other South-East Asian countries. Lee made his first official visit to Indonesia on 25 May 1973, just a few years after the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation under Sukarno's regime. Relations between Singapore and Indonesia substantially improved as subsequent visits were made between Singapore and Indonesia.

Singapore has never had a dominant culture to which immigrants could assimilate even though Malay was the dominant language at that time. Together with efforts from the government and ruling party, Lee tried to create a unique Singaporean identity in the 1970s and 1980s—one which heavily recognised racial consciousness within the umbrella of multiculturalism.

Lee and his government stressed the importance of maintaining religious tolerance and racial harmony, and they were ready to use the law to counter any threat that might incite ethnic and religious violence. For example, Lee warned against "insensitive evangelisation", by which he referred to instances of Christian proselytising directed at Malays. In 1974 the government advised the Bible Society of Singapore to stop publishing religious materials in Malay.

Decisions and policies

Lee Kuan Yew had three main concerns – national security, the economy, and social issues – during his post-independence administration.

National security

The vulnerability of Singapore was deeply felt, with threats from multiple sources including the communists and Indonesia with its Confrontation stance. As Singapore gained admission to the UN, Lee quickly sought international recognition of Singapore's independence. He declared a policy of neutrality and non-alignment, following Switzerland's model. At the same time, he asked Goh Keng Swee to build up the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and requested help from other countries, particularly Israel, for advice, training and facilities.

Government policies

Like many countries, Singapore had problems with political corruption. Lee introduced legislation giving the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) greater power to conduct arrests, search, call up witnesses, and investigate bank accounts and income-tax returns of suspected persons and their families.

Lee believed that ministers should be well paid in order to maintain a clean and honest government. In 1994, he proposed to link the salaries of ministers, judges, and top civil servants to the salaries of top professionals in the private sector, arguing that this would help recruit and retain talent to serve in the public sector.

In the late 1960s, fearing that Singapore's growing population might overburden the developing economy, Lee started a vigorous ''Stop at Two'' family planning campaign. Couples were urged to undergo sterilisation after their second child. Third or fourth children were given lower priorities in education and such families received fewer economic rebates.

In 1983, Lee sparked the 'Great Marriage Debate' when he encouraged Singapore men to choose highly-educated women as wives. He was concerned that a large number of graduate women were unmarried. Some sections of the population, including graduate women, were upset by his views. Nevertheless, a match-making agency Social Development Unit (SDU) was set up to promote socialising among men and women graduates. In the Graduate Mothers Scheme, Lee also introduced incentives such as tax rebates, schooling, and housing priorities for graduate mothers who had three or four children, in a reversal of the over-successful 'Stop-at-Two' family planning campaign in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 1990s, the birth rate had fallen so low that Lee's successor Goh Chok Tong extended these incentives to all married women, and gave even more incentives, such as the 'baby bonus' scheme.

Corporal punishment

One of Lee Kuan Yew's abiding beliefs has been in the efficacy of corporal punishment in the form of caning. In his autobiography ''The Singapore Story'' he described his time at Raffles Institution in the 1930s, mentioning that he was caned there for chronic lateness by the then headmaster, D. W. McLeod. He wrote: "I bent over a chair and was given three of the best with my trousers on. I did not think he lightened his strokes. I have never understood why Western educationists are so much against corporal punishment. It did my fellow students and me no harm."

Lee's government inherited judicial corporal punishment from British rule, but greatly expanded its scope. Under the British, it had been used as a penalty for offences involving personal violence, amounting to a handful of caning sentences per year. The PAP government under Lee extended its use to an ever-expanding range of crimes. By 1993 it was mandatory for 42 offences and optional for a further 42. Those routinely ordered by the courts to be caned now include drug addicts and illegal immigrants. From 602 canings in 1987, the figure rose to 3,244 in 1993 and to 6,404 in 2007.

It was in 1994, with the intensely publicised caning, under that vandalism legislation, of the American teenager Michael Fay, that judicial caning came to the notice of the rest of the world.

School corporal punishment (for male students only) was likewise inherited from the British, and this is in widespread use to discipline disobedient schoolboys, still under 1957 legislation. Lee also introduced caning in the Singapore Armed Forces, and Singapore is one of few countries in the world where corporal punishment is an official penalty in military discipline.

Relations with Malaysia

Mahathir bin Mohamad

Lee looked forward to improving relationships with Mahathir bin Mohamad upon the latter's promotion to Deputy Prime Minister. Knowing that Mahathir was in line to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia, Lee invited Mahathir (through the then President of Singapore Devan Nair) to visit Singapore in 1978. The first and subsequent visits improved both personal and diplomatic relationships between them. Mahathir asked Lee to cut off links with the Chinese leaders of the Democratic Action Party; in exchange, Mahathir undertook not to interfere in the affairs of Malay Singaporeans.

In June 1988, Lee and Mahathir reached an agreement in Kuala Lumpur to build the Linggui dam on the Johor River.

Senior Minister – 1990 to 2004

After leading the PAP to victory in seven elections, Lee stepped down on 28 November 1990, handing over the prime ministership to Goh Chok Tong. He was then the world's longest-serving Prime Minister.

This was the first leadership transition since independence.

When Goh Chok Tong became head of government, Lee remained in the cabinet with a non-executive position of Senior Minister and played a role he described as advisory. In public, Lee would refer to Goh as "my Prime Minister", in deference to Goh's authority. He has said in a 1988 National Day rally:

"Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up."

Lee subsequently stepped down as the Secretary-General of the PAP and was succeeded by Goh Chok Tong in November 1992.

Minister Mentor – 2004 to 2011

Since the early 2000s, Lee has expressed concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Chinese Singaporeans. In one of his parliamentary speeches, he said: "Singaporeans must learn to juggle English and Mandarin". Subsequently, in December 2004, a one-year long campaign called ''华语 Cool!'' (Huayu Cool!) was launched, in an attempt to attract young viewers to learn and speak Mandarin.

In June 2005, Lee published a book, ''Keeping My Mandarin Alive'', documenting his decades of effort to master Mandarin, a language which he said he had to re-learn due to disuse:

"...because I don't use it so much, therefore it gets disused and there's language loss. Then I have to revive it. It's a terrible problem because learning it in adult life, it hasn't got the same roots in your memory."

In an interview with CCTV on 12 June 2005, Lee stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country's leadership, saying:

"In a different world we need to find a niche for ourselves, little corners where in spite of our small size we can perform a role which will be useful to the world. To do that, you will need people at the top, decision-makers who have got foresight, good minds, who are open to ideas, who can seize opportunities like we did... My job really was to find my successors. I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it's gone."

In November 2010, Lee's private conversations with US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on 30 May 2009 were among the US Embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks. In a US Embassy report classified as 'Secret', Lee gave his assessment of a number of Asian leaders and views on political developments in North Asia, including implications for nuclear proliferation. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern about the leaks, especially when read out of context, and the need to protect confidentiality of diplomatic correspondence.

In January 2011, Straits Times Press published the book ''Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going''. Targeted at younger Singaporeans, it was based on 16 interviews with the Minister Mentor by seven local journalists in 2008–2009. The first print run of 45,000 copies sold out in less than a month after it was launched in January 2011. Another batch of 55,000 copies was made available shortly after.

After Singapore General Elections 2011 in which the Opposition made unprecedented gains by winning a Group Representative Constituency, Lee announced that he has decided to leave the Cabinet for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his team to have a fresh clean slate.

Legacy and memoirs

Legacy

During the three decades in which Lee held office, Singapore grew from being a developing country to one of the most developed nations in Asia, despite its small population, limited land space and lack of natural resources. Lee has often stated that Singapore's only natural resources are its people and their strong work ethic. He is widely respected by many Singaporeans, particularly the older generation, who remember his inspiring leadership during independence and the separation from Malaysia.

On the other hand, many Singaporeans have criticized Lee as being authoritarian and intolerant of dissent, citing his numerous mostly successful attempts to sue political opponents and newspapers who express an unfavorable opinion. International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has asked Lee, and other senior Singaporean officials, to stop taking libel actions against journalists. Lee has also used the Internal Security Act on numerous occasions to arrest and detain opposing politicians and activists without trial.

In 2004 the National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy was named after him, one of the first cases of an institution in Singapore doing so.

Memoirs

Lee wrote a two-volume set of memoirs: ''The Singapore Story'' (ISBN 0-13-020803-5), which covers his view of Singapore's history until its separation from Malaysia in 1965, and ''From Third World to First: The Singapore Story'' (ISBN 0060197765), which gives his account of Singapore's subsequent transformation into a developed nation.

Awards

Lee has received a number of state decorations, including the Order of the Companions of Honour (1970), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1972), the Freedom of the City of London (1982), the Seri Paduka Mahkota Johor (1984), the Order of Great Leader (1988) and the Order of the Rising Sun (1967). Lee was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in 1994. In 2002, Lee was formally admitted to the Fellowship of Imperial College London in recognition of his promotion of international trade and industry, and development of science and engineering study initiatives with the UK.

In 2006, Lee was presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

In 2007, Lee was conferred an honorary Doctorate in Law at the Australian National University in Canberra, albeit amid protest from students and staff. In October 2009, Lee was conferred the first Lifetime Achievement award by the U.S.-Asean Business Council at its 25th anniversary gala dinner in Washington, D.C.. In his tribute, former United States Secretary of State and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr Henry Kissinger said:

"He has become a seminal figure for all of us. I've not learned as much from anybody as I have from Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He made himself an indispensable friend of the United States, not primarily by the power he represented but by the quality of his thinking.

:Meeting the U.S. President at the White House Oval Office a day later, President Barack Obama introduced him as:

"... one of the legendary figures of Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries. He is somebody who helped to trigger the Asian economic miracle."

On 15 November 2009, Lee was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of APEC Singapore 2009. On 29 April 2010, Lee was named to the TIME 100 list as one of the people who most affect our world. On 14 January 2011, Lee received the inaugural Gryphon Award from his alma mater, Raffles Institution, given to illustrious Rafflesians who have made exceptional contributions to the nation.

Health

On 13 September 2008, Lee, then 84, underwent successful treatment for abnormal heart rhythm (atrial flutter) at Singapore General Hospital, but he was still able to address a philanthropy forum via video link from hospital. On 28 September 2010, he was hospitalized for a chest infection, cancelling plans to attend the wake of Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Balaji Sadasivan.

Controversies

Devan Nair

Devan Nair, the third President of Singapore and who was living in exile in Canada, remarked in a 1999 interview with the Toronto ''The Globe and Mail'' that Lee's technique of suing his opponents into bankruptcy or oblivion was an abrogation of political rights. He also remarked that Lee is "an increasingly self-righteous know-all", surrounded by "department store dummies". In response to these remarks, Lee sued Devan Nair in a Canadian court and Nair countersued. Lee then brought a motion to have Nair's counterclaim thrown out of court. Lee argued that Nair's counterclaim disclosed no reasonable cause of action and constituted an inflammatory attack on the integrity of the government of Singapore. However, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused to throw out Nair's counterclaim, holding that Lee had abused the litigating process and therefore Nair has a reasonable cause of action.

Defamation judgment

On 24 September 2008 the High Court of Singapore, in a summary judgment by Justice Woo Bih Li, ruled that the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (FEER) magazine (Hugo Restall, editor), defamed Lee and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The court found the 2006 article "Singapore's 'Martyr': Chee Soon Juan" meant that Lee Kuan Yew "has been running and continues to run Singapore in the same corrupt manner as T. T. Durai operated the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and he has been using libel actions to suppress those who would question to avoid exposure of his corruption." The court sentenced FEER, owned by Dow Jones & Company (in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp), to pay damages to the complainants. FEER appealed but lost the case when the Court of Appeal ruled in October 2009 that the ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' defamed the country's founder Lee Kuan Yew and his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Notes

References

Han Fook Kwang, Zuraidah Ibrahim, Chua Mui Hoong, Lydia Lim, Ignatius Low, Rachel Lin, Robin Chan. 2011. ''Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going''. Singapore: Straits Times Press Books.

Barr, Michael D. 2000. ''Lee Kuan Yew: The Beliefs Behind the Man''. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Datta-Ray, Sunanda K. 2009. ''Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India''

Gordon, Uri. 2000. Machiavelli's Tiger: Lee Kwan Yew and Singapore's Authoritarian regime

Josey, Alex. 1980. ''Lee Kuan Yew – The Crucial Years''. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International.

King, Rodney. 2008. ''The Singapore Miracle, Myth and Reality''. 2nd Edition, Insight Press.

Kwang, Han Fook, Warren Fernandez and Sumiko Tan. 1998. ''Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas''. Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings.

Minchin, James. 1986. ''No Man is an Island. A Study of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew''. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

External links

Lee Kuan Yew

;Interviews and articles

A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew, Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, March–April 1994

War of Words Alejandro Reyes, ''Time'', 25 September 1998

Lee Kuan Yew: A Chronology, 1923–1965 Largely based on Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore: Times, 1998. Retrieved 8 December 2004

Part 1, Part 2: ''CNN'', Fareed Zakaria talks with Lee Kuan Yew about his life as prime minister of Singapore, 22 September 2008

Daddy knows best: The Lee Kuan Yew story, Tom Plate, ''Sify.com'', 2010(?)

Lee Kuan Yew Watch

Official Profile at the Parliament of Singapore (archived)

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