A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment which is part of British, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand culture. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller villages no longer have a local pub. In many places, especially in villages, a pub can be the focal point of the community. The writings of Samuel Pepys describe the pub as the heart of England.

Public houses are socially and culturally different from places such as cafés, bars, bierkellers and brewpubs. Pubs are social places based on the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, and most public houses offer a range of beers, wines, spirits, alcopops and soft drinks. Many pubs are controlled by breweries, so beer is often better value than wines and spirits, while soft drinks can be almost as expensive. Beer served in a pub may be cask ale or keg beer. All pubs also have a range of non-alcoholic beverages available. Traditionally the windows of town pubs are of smoked or frosted glass so that the clientele is obscured from the street. In the last twenty years in the UK and other countries there has been a move away from frosted glass towards clear glass, a trend that fits in with brighter interior décors.

The owner, tenant or manager (licensee) of a public house is properly known as the "pub landlord". The term publican (in historical Roman usage a public contractor or tax farmer) has come into use since Victorian times to designate the pub landlord. Each pub generally has "locals" or ''regulars''; people who drink there regularly. The pub that people visit most often is called their ''local''. In many cases, this will be the pub nearest to their home, but some people choose their ''local'' for other reasons: proximity to work, a venue for their friends, the availability of a particular cask ale, non-smoking or formerly as a place to smoke freely, or maybe a darts team or pool table. Until the 1970s most of the larger public houses also featured an off-sales counter or attached shop for the sales of beers, wines and spirits for home consumption. In the 1970s the newly built supermarkets and high street chain stores or off-licences undercut the pub prices to such a degree that within ten years all but a handful of pubs had closed their off-sale counters. A society with a particular interest in British beers, ales and the preservation of the integrity of the public house is Campaign for Real Ale, (CAMRA).

The history of pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the modern tied house system in the 19th century.

History

The inhabitants of Great Britain have been drinking ale since the Bronze Age, but it was with the arrival of the Romans and the establishment of the Roman road network that the first Inns called tabernae, in which the traveller could obtain refreshment, began to appear. After the departure of Roman authority and the fall of the Romano-British kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxons established alehouses that grew out of domestic dwellings. The Anglo-Saxon alewife would put a green bush up on a pole to let people know her brew was ready. These alehouses formed meeting houses for the locals to meet and gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Here lie the beginnings of the modern pub. They became so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village.

A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, but later a demand for hostelries grew with the popularity of pilgrimages and travel. The Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders.

Inns

Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway. Found in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built their system of Roman roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places.

In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, that now separates inns from taverns, alehouses and pubs. The latter tend to supply alcohol (and, in the UK, usually soft drinks and sometimes food), but less commonly accommodation. Inns tend to be grander and more long-lived establishments; historically they provided not only food and lodging, but also stabling and fodder for the traveller's horse(s) and fresh horses for the mail coach. Famous London examples of inns include the George and The Tabard. There is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. Many pubs use the name "inn", either because they are long established and may have been formerly coaching inns, or to summon up a particular kind of image, or in many cases simply as a pun on the word "in" such as "The Welcome Inn" the name of many pubs in Scotland.

The original functions of an inn are now usually split among separate establishments, such as hotels, lodges, and motels, all of which might provide the traditional functions of an inn but which focus more on lodging customers than on other services; public houses, which are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns, which serve food and drink. (Hotels often contain restaurants and also often serve complimentary breakfast and meals, thus providing all of the functions of traditional inns.) In North America, the lodging aspect of the word "inn" lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn, and in some state laws that refer to lodging operators as innkeepers.

The Inns of Court in London were originally ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, but have become institutions of the legal profession in England and Wales.

Traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. The practice of adding hops to produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th century. Alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries.

The 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin. Gin was brought to England by the Dutch after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and started to become very popular after the government created a market for grain that was unfit to be used in brewing by allowing unlicensed gin production, whilst imposing a heavy duty on all imported spirits. As thousands of gin-shops sprang up all over England, brewers fought back by increasing the number of alehouses. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer and because of its cheapness it became popular with the poor, leading to the so-called Gin Craze. Over half of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London were gin-shops.

The drunkenness and lawlessness created by gin was seen to lead to ruination and degradation of the working classes. The distinction was illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings ''Beer Street'' and ''Gin Lane''. The Gin Act (1736) imposed high taxes on retailers but led to riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The 1751 Gin Act however was more successful. It forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin-shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates.

Beer Houses and the 1830 Beer Act

By the early 19th century and encouraged by a lowering of duties on gin, the gin houses or "Gin Palaces" had spread from London to most major cities and towns in Britain, with most of the new establishments illegal and unlicensed. These bawdy, loud and unruly drinking dens so often described by Charles Dickens in his ''Sketches by Boz'' (published 1835–6) increasingly came to be held as unbridled cesspits of immorality or crime and the source of much ill-health and alcoholism among the working classes.

Under a banner of "reducing public drunkenness" the Beer Act of 1830 introduced a new lower tier of premises permitted to sell alcohol, the Beer Houses. At the time beer was viewed as harmless, nutritious and even healthy. Young children were often given what was described as small beer, which was brewed to have a low alcohol content, to drink, as the local water was often unsafe. Even the evangelical church and temperance movements of the day viewed the drinking of beer very much as a secondary evil and a normal accompaniment to a meal. The freely available beer was thus intended to wean the drinkers off the evils of gin, or so the thinking went.

Under the 1830 Act any householder who paid rates could apply, with a one-off payment of two guineas (equal to £}} today), to sell beer or cider in his home (usually the front parlour) and even brew his own on his premises. The permission did not extend to the sale of spirits and fortified wines and any beer house discovered selling those items was closed down and the owner heavily fined. Beer houses were not permitted to open on Sundays. The beer was usually served in jugs or dispensed directly from tapped wooden barrels lying on a table in the corner of the room. Often profits were so high the owners were able to buy the house next door to live in, turning every room in their former home into bars and lounges for customers.

In the first year, four hundred beer houses opened and within eight years there were 46,000 opened across the country, far outnumbering the combined total of long-established taverns, public houses, inns and hotels. Because it was so easy to obtain permission and the profits could be huge compared to the low cost of gaining permission, the number of beer houses was continuing to rise and in some towns nearly every other house in a street could be a beer house. Finally in 1869 the growth had to be checked by magisterial control and new licensing laws were introduced. Only then was the ease by which permission could be obtained reduced and the licensing laws which operate today formulated.

Although the new licensing laws prevented any new beer houses from being created, those already in existence were allowed to continue and many did not fully die out until nearly the end of the 19th century. A very small number remained into the 21st century. A vast majority of the beer houses applied for the new licences and became full public houses. These usually small establishments can still be identified in many towns, seemingly oddly located in the middle of otherwise terraced housing part way up a street, unlike purpose-built pubs that are usually found on corners or road junctions. Many of today's respected real ale micro-brewers in the UK started as home based Beer House brewers under the 1830 Act.

The beer houses also tended to avoid the traditional public house names like ''The Crown'', ''The Red Lion'', ''The Royal Oak'' etc. and, if they did not simply name their place ''Smith's Beer House'', they would apply topical pub names in an effort to reflect the mood of the times.

Licensing laws

From the middle of the 19th century restrictions were placed on the opening hours of licensed premises in the UK. However licensing was gradually liberalised after the 1960s, until contested licensing applications became very rare, and the remaining administrative function was transferred to Local Authorities in 2005.

The Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 reintroduced the stricter controls of the previous century. The sale of beers, wines or spirits required a licence for the premises from the local magistrates. Further provisions regulated gaming, drunkenness, prostitution and undesirable conduct on licensed premises, enforceable by prosecution or more effectively by the landlord under threat of forfeiting his licence. Licences were only granted, transferred or renewed at special Licensing Sessions courts, and were limited to respectable individuals. Often these were ex-servicemen or ex-policemen; retiring to run a pub was popular amongst military officers at the end of their service. Licence conditions varied widely, according to local practice. They would specify permitted hours, which might require Sunday closing, or conversely permit all-night opening near a market. Typically they might require opening throughout the permitted hours, and the provision of food or lavatories. Once obtained, licences were jealously protected by the licensees (always persons expected to be generally present, not a remote owner or company), and even "Occasional Licences" to serve drinks at temporary premises such as fêtes would usually be granted only to existing licensees. Objections might be made by the police, rival landlords or anyone else on the grounds of infractions such as serving drunks, disorderly or dirty premises, or ignoring permitted hours.

Detailed records were kept on licensing, giving the Public House, its address, owner, licensee and misdemeanours of the licensees for periods often going back for hundreds of years. Many of these records survive and can be viewed, for example, at the London Metropolitan Archives centre.

These culminated in the Defence of the Realm Act of August 1914, which, along with the introduction of rationing and the censorship of the press for wartime purposes, also restricted the opening hours of public houses to 12 noon–2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Opening for the full licensed hours was compulsory, and closing time was equally firmly enforced by the police; a landlord might lose his licence for infractions. There was a special case established under the State Management Scheme where the brewery and licensed premises were bought and run by the state until 1973, most notably in the Carlisle District. During the 20th century elsewhere, both the licensing laws and enforcement were progressively relaxed, and there were differences between parishes; in the 1960s, at closing time in Kensington at 10:30 p.m., drinkers would rush over the parish boundary to be in good time for "Last Orders" in Knightsbridge before 11 p.m., a practice observed in many pubs adjoining licensing area boundaries. Some Scottish and Welsh parishes remained officially "dry" on Sundays (although often this merely required knocking at the back door of the pub). These restricted opening hours led to the tradition of lock-ins.

However, closing times were increasingly disregarded in the country pubs. In England and Wales by 2000 pubs could legally open from 11 a.m. (12 noon on Sundays) through to 11 p.m. (10:30 p.m. on Sundays). That year was also the first to allow continuous opening for 36 hours from 11 a.m. on New Year's Eve to 11 p.m. on New Year's Day. In addition, many cities had by-laws to allow some pubs to extend opening hours to midnight or 1 a.m., whilst nightclubs had long been granted late licences to serve alcohol into the morning. Pubs in the immediate vicinity of London's Smithfield market, Billingsgate fish market and Covent Garden fruit and flower market were permitted to stay open 24 hours a day since Victorian era times to provide a service to the shift working employees of the markets.

Scotland's and Northern Ireland's licensing laws have long been more flexible, allowing local authorities to set pub opening and closing times. In Scotland, this stemmed out of a late repeal of the wartime licensing laws, which stayed in force until 1976.

The Licensing Act 2003, which came into force on 24 November 2005, aimed to consolidate the many laws into a single act. This allowed pubs in England and Wales to apply to the local authority for the opening hours of their choice. Supporters at the time argued that it would end the concentration of violence around half past 11, when people had to leave the pub, making policing easier. In practice, alcohol-related hospital admissions rose following the change in the law, with alcohol involved in 207,800 admissions in 2006/7. Critics claimed that these laws would lead to "24-hour drinking". By the time the law came into effect, 60,326 establishments had applied for longer hours and 1,121 had applied for a licence to sell alcohol 24 hours a day. However, nine months after the act, many pubs had not changed their hours, although there was a tendency for some to be open longer at the weekend but rarely beyond 1:00 a.m..

Indoor smoking ban

In March 2006, a law was introduced to forbid smoking in all enclosed public places in Scotland. Wales followed suit in April 2007, with England introducing the ban in July 2007. Pub landlords had raised concerns prior to the implementation of the law that a smoking ban would have a negative impact on sales. After two years, the impact of the ban was mixed; some pubs suffered declining sales, while others developed their food sales. The Wetherspoons pub chain reported in June 2009 that profits are at the top end of expectations, however, Scottish & Newcastle's takeover by Carlsberg and Heineken was reported in January 2008 as partly the result of its weakness following falling sales due to the ban.

Lock-in

A "lock-in" is when the owner of a public house allows a number of patrons to continue staying in the pub after the legal closing time, the idea being that once the doors are locked, it becomes a private party rather than a pub. Patrons may put money behind the bar before official closing time, and redeem their drinks during the lock-in so no drinks are technically sold after closing time. The origin of the lock-in in Britain was a reaction to changes in the licensing laws in England and Wales in 1915, which curtailed opening hours to stop factory workers from turning up drunk and harming the war effort. Since 1915 the licensing laws changed very little, leaving the United Kingdom with comparatively early closing times. The tradition of the lock-in therefore remained. Since the Licensing Act 2003 premises in England and Wales may apply to extend their opening hours beyond 11 p.m., allowing round-the-clock drinking and removing much of the need for lock-ins. Since the smoking ban, some establishments have operated a lock-in during which the remaining patrons can illicitly smoke without repercussions.

Pub architecture

Saloon or lounge

By the end of the 18th century a new room in the pub was established: the saloon. Beer establishments had always provided entertainment of some sort—singing, gaming or a sport. Balls Pond Road in Islington was named after an establishment run by a Mr. Ball that had a pond at the rear filled with ducks, where drinkers could, for a certain fee, go out and take a potshot at shooting the fowl. More common, however, was a card room or a billiards room. The saloon was a room where for an admission fee or a higher price of drinks, singing, dancing, drama or comedy was performed and drinks would be served at the table. From this came the popular music hall form of entertainment—a show consisting of a variety of acts. A most famous London saloon was the Grecian Saloon in The Eagle, City Road, which is still famous these days because of an English nursery rhyme: "Up and down the City Road / In and out The Eagle / That's the way the money goes / Pop goes the weasel." The implication being that, having frequented the Eagle public house, the customer spent all his money, and thus needed to 'pawn' his 'weasel' to get some more. The exact definition of the 'weasel' is unclear but the two most likely definitions are: that a weasel is a flat iron used for finishing clothing; or that 'weasel' is rhyming slang for a coat (''weasel and stoat'').

A few pubs have stage performances such as serious drama, stand-up comedy, musical bands or striptease; however juke boxes and other forms of pre-recorded music have otherwise replaced the musical tradition of a piano and singing.

Public bar

By the 20th century, the saloon, or lounge bar, had settled into a middle-class room—carpets on the floor, cushions on the seats, and a penny or two on the prices, while the public bar, or tap room, remained working class with bare boards, sometimes with sawdust to absorb the spitting and spillages, hard bench seats, and cheap beer.

Later, the public bars gradually improved until sometimes almost the only difference was in the prices, so that customers could choose between economy and exclusivity (or youth and age, or a jukebox or dartboard). During the blurring of the class divisions in the 1960s and 1970s, the distinction between the saloon and the public bar was often seen as archaic, and was frequently abolished, usually by the removal of the dividing wall or partition itself. While the names of saloon and public bar may still be seen on the doors of pubs, the prices (and often the standard of furnishings and decoration) are the same throughout the premises, and many pubs now comprise one large room. However, the modern importance of dining in pubs encourages some establishments to maintain distinct rooms or areas, especially where the building has the right characteristics for this. Yet, in a few pubs there still remain rooms or seats that, by local custom, "belong" to particular customers.

However there still remain a few, mainly city centre pubs, that retain a public bar mainly for working men that call in for a drink while still dressed in working clothes and dirty boots. They are now very much in a minority, but some landlords prefer to separate the manual workers from the better dressed white collar workers or diners in the lounge or restaurant.

Snug

The "snug", also sometimes called the ''Smoke room'', was typically a small, very private room with access to the bar that had a frosted glass external window, set above head height. A higher price was paid for beer in the snug and nobody could look in and see the drinkers. It was not only the well off visitors who would use these rooms, the snug was for patrons who preferred not to be seen in the public bar. Ladies would often enjoy a private drink in the snug in a time when it was frowned upon for ladies to be in a pub. The local police officer would nip in for a quiet pint, the parish priest for his evening whisky, and lovers would use the snug for their rendezvous.

Counter

It was the public house that first introduced the concept of the bar counter being used to serve the beer. Until that time beer establishments used to bring the beer out to the table or benches. A bar might be provided for the manager to do his paperwork whilst keeping an eye on his customers, but the casks of ale were kept in a separate taproom. When the first public houses were built, the main room was the public room with a large serving bar copied from the gin houses, the idea being to serve the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time. It became known as the public bar. The other, more private, rooms had no serving bar—they had the beer brought to them from the public bar. There are a number of pubs in the Midlands or the North which still retain this set up but these days the beer is fetched by the customer from the taproom or public bar. One of these is The Vine, known locally as The Bull and Bladder, in Brierley Hill near Birmingham. In the Manchester district the public bar was known as the "vault", other rooms being the lounge and snug as usual elsewhere. By the early 1970s there was a tendency to change to one large drinking room and breweries were eager to invest in interior design and theming.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the British engineer and railway builder, introduced the idea of a circular bar into the Swindon station pub in order that customers were served quickly and did not delay his trains. These island bars became popular as they also allowed staff to serve customers in several different rooms surrounding the bar.

Beer engine

A "beer engine" is a device for pumping beer, originally manually operated and typically used to dispense beer from a cask or container in a pub's basement or cellar. It was invented by the locksmith and hydraulic engineer Joseph Bramah. Strictly the term refers to the pump itself, which is normally manually operated, though electrically powered and gas powered pumps are occasionally used; when manually powered, the term "handpump" is often used to refer to both the pump and the associated handle.

Pub companies

After the development of the large London Porter breweries in the 18th century, the trend grew for pubs to become tied houses which could only sell beer from one brewery (a pub not tied in this way was called a Free house). The usual arrangement for a tied house was that the pub was owned by the brewery but rented out to a private individual (landlord) who ran it as a separate business (even though contracted to buy the beer from the brewery). Another very common arrangement was (and is) for the landlord to own the premises (whether freehold or leasehold) independently of the brewer, but then to take a mortgage loan from a brewery, either to finance the purchase of the pub initially, or to refurbish it, and be required as a term of the loan to observe the solus tie.

A growing trend in the late 20th century was for breweries to run their pubs directly, using managers rather than tenants. Most such breweries, such as the regional brewery Shepherd Neame in Kent and Young's and Fuller's in London, control hundreds of pubs in a particular region of the UK, whilst a few, such as Greene King, are spread nationally. The landlord of a tied pub may be an employee of the brewery—in which case he/she would be a manager of a managed house, or a self-employed tenant who has entered into a lease agreement with a brewery, a condition of which is the legal obligation (trade tie) only to purchase that brewery's beer. This tied agreement provides tenants with trade premises at a below market rent providing people with a low-cost entry into self-employment. The beer selection is mainly limited to beers brewed by that particular company. A Supply of Beer law, passed in 1989, was aimed at getting tied houses to offer at least one alternative beer, known as a guest beer, from another brewery. This law has now been repealed but while in force it dramatically altered the industry. Some pubs still offer a regularly changing selection of guest beers.

The period since the 1980s saw many breweries absorbed by, or becoming by take-overs larger companies in the food, hotel or property sectors. The low returns of a pub-owning business led to many breweries selling their pub estates, especially those in cities, often to a new generation of small companies, many of which have now grown considerably and have a national presence. Other pub chains, such as ''All Bar One'' and ''Slug and Lettuce'' offer youth-orientated atmospheres, often in premises larger than traditional pubs.

Organisations such as Wetherspoons, Punch Taverns and O'Neill's were formed in the UK since changes in legislation in the 1980s necessitated the break-up of many larger tied estates. A PubCo is a company involved in the retailing but not the manufacture of beverages, while a Pub chain may be run either by a PubCo or by a brewery.

Pubs within a chain will usually have items in common, such as fittings, promotions, ambience and range of food and drink on offer. A pub chain will position itself in the marketplace for a target audience. One company may run several pub chains aimed at different segments of the market. Pubs for use in a chain are bought and sold in large units, often from regional breweries which are then closed down. Newly acquired pubs are often renamed by the new owners, and many people resent the loss of traditional names, especially if their favourite regional beer disappears at the same time.

Brewery tap

A brewery tap is the nearest outlet for a brewery's beers. This is usually a room or bar in the brewery itself, though the name may be applied to the nearest pub. The term is not applied to a brewpub which brews and sells its beer on the same premises.

Particular kinds of pubs

Country pubs

A "country pub" by tradition is a rural public house. However, the distinctive culture surrounding country pubs, that of functioning as a social centre for a village and rural community, has been changing over the last thirty or so years. In the past, many rural pubs provided opportunities for country folk to meet and exchange (often local) news, while others—especially those away from village centres—existed for the general purpose, before the advent of motor transport, of serving travellers as coaching inns.

In more recent years, however, many country pubs have either closed down, or have been converted to establishments intent on providing seating facilities for the consumption of food, rather than a venue for members of the local community meeting and convivially drinking.

Theme pubs

Pubs that cater for a niche clientele, such as sports fans or people of certain nationalities are known as theme pubs. Examples of theme pubs include sports bars, rock pubs, biker pubs, Goth pubs, strip pubs, karaoke bars and Irish pubs (see below).

In Canada and some other locations the majority of theme pubs are referred to as bars, such as 'biker bar', 'sports bar', 'gay bar', 'strip bar', 'Irish bar' etc. Pubs centred on dance floors featuring DJs or, less often, live music, are usually referred to as 'dance clubs'.

Signs

In 1393 King Richard II compelled landlords to erect signs outside their premises. The legislation stated "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale." This was in order to make alehouses easily visible to passing inspectors, borough ale tasters, who would decide the quality of the ale they provided. William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare was one such inspector.

Another important factor was that during the Middle Ages a large proportion of the population would have been illiterate and so pictures on a sign were more useful than words as a means of identifying a public house. For this reason there was often no reason to write the establishment's name on the sign and inns opened without a formal written name, the name being derived later from the illustration on the public house's sign.

The earliest signs were often not painted but consisted, for example, of paraphernalia connected with the brewing process such as bunches of hops or brewing implements, which were suspended above the door of the public house. In some cases local nicknames, farming terms and puns were also used. Local events were also often commemorated in pub signs. Simple natural or religious symbols such as 'The Sun', 'The Star' and 'The Cross' were also incorporated into pub signs, sometimes being adapted to incorporate elements of the heraldry (e.g. the coat of arms) of the local lords who owned the lands upon which the public house stood. Some pubs also have Latin inscriptions.

Other subjects that lent themselves to visual depiction included the name of battles (e.g. Trafalgar), explorers, local notables, discoveries, sporting heroes and members of the royal family. Some pub signs are in the form of a pictorial pun or rebus. For example, a pub in Crowborough, East Sussex called ''The Crow and Gate'' has an image of a crow with gates as wings.

A British Pathe News film of 1956 shows artist Michael Farrar-Bell at work producing inn signs.

Most British pubs still have decorated signs hanging over their doors, and these retain their original function of enabling the identification of the public house. Today's pub signs almost always bear the name of the pub, both in words and in pictorial representation. The more remote country pubs often have stand-alone signs directing potential customers to their door.

For a short history of how one of the finest English pub sign studios hand painted its pub/inn signs see http://www.breweryartists.co.uk

Names

Pub names are used to identify and differentiate each public house. Modern names are sometimes a marketing ploy or attempt to create 'brand awareness', frequently using a comic theme thought to be memorable, ''Slug and Lettuce'' for a pub chain being an example. Interesting origins are not confined to old or traditional names, however. Names and their origins can be broken up into a relatively small number of categories.

As many public houses are centuries old, many of their early customers were unable to read, and pictorial signs could be readily recognised when lettering and words could not be read.

Pubs often have traditional names. A common name is the "Marquis of Granby". These pubs were named after John Manners, Marquess of Granby, who was the son of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland and a general in the 18th century British Army. He showed a great concern for the welfare of his men, and on their retirement, provided funds for many of them to establish taverns, which were subsequently named after him. All public houses granted their license in 1780 were called the Royal George, after King George III, and the twentieth anniversary of his coronation.

Many names for pubs that appear nonsensical may have come from corruptions of old slogans or phrases, such as "The Bag o'Nails" (Bacchanals), "The Cat and the Fiddle" (Caton Fidèle) and "The Bull and Bush", which purportedly celebrates the victory of Henry VIII at "Boulogne Bouche" or Boulogne-sur-Mer Harbour.

Entertainment

Traditional games are played in pubs, ranging from the well-known darts, skittles, dominoes, cards and bar billiards, to the more obscure Aunt Sally, Nine Men's Morris and ringing the bull. In the UK betting is legally limited to certain games such as cribbage or dominoes, played for small stakes. In recent decades the game of pool (both the British and American versions) has increased in popularity as well as other table based games such as snooker or Table Football also becoming common.

Increasingly, more modern games such as video games and slot machines are provided. Many pubs also hold special events, from tournaments of the aforementioned games to karaoke nights to pub quizzes. Some play pop music and hip-hop (dance bar), or show football and rugby union on big screen televisions (sports bar). Shove ha'penny and Bat and trap were also popular in pubs south of London.

Many pubs in the UK also have football teams composed of regular customers. Many of these teams are in leagues that play matches on Sundays, hence the term "Sunday League Football". Bowling is also found in association with pubs in some parts of the country and the local team will play matches against teams invited from elsewhere on the pub's bowling green.

Pubs may be venues for pub songs and live music. During the 1970s pubs provided an outlet for a number of bands, such as Kilburn and the High Roads, Dr. Feelgood and The Kursaal Flyers, who formed a musical genre called Pub rock that was a precursor to Punk music.

Food

Pub grub

Traditionally pubs in England were drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food, other than "bar snacks", such as pork scratchings, and pickled eggs, along with salted crisps and peanuts which helped to increase beer sales. If a pub served meals they were usually basic cold dishes such as a ploughman's lunch. In South East England (especially London) it was common until recent times for vendors selling cockles, whelks, mussels and other shellfish, to sell to customers during the evening and at closing time. Many mobile shellfish stalls would set up near pubs, a practice that continues in London's East End. In the 1950s some British pubs would offer "a pie and a pint", with hot individual steak and ale pies made easily on the premises by the landlord's wife. In the 1960s and 1970s this developed into the then-fashionable "chicken in a basket", a portion of roast chicken with chips, served on a napkin, in a wicker basket. Quality dropped but variety increased with the introduction of microwave ovens and freezer food. "Pub grub" expanded to include British food items such as steak and ale pie, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, Sunday roast, ploughman's lunch, and pasties. In addition, dishes such as burgers, lasagne and chilli con carne are often served.

Since the 1990s food has become more important as part of a pub's trade, and today most pubs serve lunches and dinners at the table in addition to (or instead of) snacks consumed at the bar. They may have a separate dining room. Some pubs serve meals to a higher standard, to match good restaurant standards; these are sometimes termed gastropubs.

Gastropub

A gastropub concentrates on quality food. The name is a blend of pub and gastronomy and was coined in 1991 when David Eyre and Mike Belben took over The Eagle pub in Clerkenwell, London. The concept of a restaurant in a pub reinvigorated both pub culture and British dining, though has occasionally attracted criticism for potentially removing the character of traditional pubs.

Listed

CAMRA maintains a "National Inventory" of historical notability and of architecturally and decoratively notable pubs. The National Trust owns thirty-six public houses of historic interest including the George Inn, Southwark, London and The Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Records

;Highest The highest pub in the United Kingdom is the Tan Hill Inn, Yorkshire, at above sea level. The remotest pub on the British mainland is The Old Forge in the village of Inverie, Lochaber, Scotland. There is no road access and it may only be reached by an walk over mountains, or a sea crossing. Likewise, the Berney Arms in Norfolk has no road access. It may be reached by foot or by boat, and also by train as it is served by the nearby Berney Arms railway station which likewise has no road access and serves no other settlement.

;Smallest Contenders for the smallest public house in the UK include:

The Nutshell, Bury St Edmunds

The Lakeside Inn, Southport

The Little Gem, Aylesford, Kent

The Smiths Arms, Godmanstone, Dorset

The Signal Box Inn, Cleethorpes

The list includes a small number of parlour pubs, one of which is the Sun Inn, in Herefordshire.

;Largest The largest public house in the UK is The Moon Under Water, Manchester; as with many Wetherspoons it is in a converted cinema.

;Oldest A number of pubs claim to be the oldest surviving establishment in the United Kingdom, although in several cases original buildings have been demolished and replaced on the same site. Others are ancient buildings that saw uses other than as a pub during their history. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans, Hertfordshire, holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest pub in England, as it is an 11th century structure on an 8th century site. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham is claimed to be the "oldest inn in England". It has a claimed date of 1189, based on the fact it is constructed on the site of the Nottingham Castle brewhouse; the present building dates from around 1650. Likewise, The Nags Head, Burntwood only dates back to the 16th century, but there has been a pub on the site since at least 1086, as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book. There is archaeological evidence that parts of the foundations of 'The Old Ferryboat Inn', Holywell, Cambridgeshire, may date to AD 460, and there is evidence of ale being served as early as AD 560.

The Bingley Arms, Leeds, is claimed to date to 905 AD. Ye Olde Salutation Inn in Nottingham dates from 1240, although the building served as a tannery and a private residence before becoming an inn sometime before the English Civil War. The Adam and Eve in Norwich was first recorded in 1249, when it was an alehouse for the workers constructing nearby Norwich Cathedral. Ye Olde Man & Scythe in Bolton is mentioned by name in a charter of 1251, but the current building is dated 1631. Its cellars are the only surviving part of the older structure.

Cultural associations

Inns and taverns feature throughout English literature and poetry, from The Tabard Inn in Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'' onwards.

The highwayman Dick Turpin used the Swan Inn at Wroughton-on-the-Green in Buckinghamshire as his base. In the 1920s John Fothergill (1876–1957) was the innkeeper of the Spread Eagle in Thame, Berkshire, and published his autobiography: ''An Innkeeper's Diary'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1931). During his idiosyncratic occupancy many famous people came to stay, such as H. G. Wells. United States president George W. Bush fulfilled his lifetime ambition of visiting a 'genuine British pub' during his November 2003 state visit to the UK when he had lunch and a pint of non-alcoholic lager with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Dun Cow pub in Sedgefield, County Durham.

;London Many of London's pubs are known to have been used by famous people, but in some cases, such as the association between Samuel Johnson and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, this is speculative, based on little more than the fact that the person is known to have lived nearby. However, Charles Dickens is known to have visited the Cheshire Cheese, the Prospect of Whitby, Ye Olde Cock Tavern and many others. Samuel Pepys is also associated with the Prospect of Whitby and the Cock Tavern.

The Fitzroy Tavern is a public house situated at 16 Charlotte Street in the Fitzrovia district, to which it gives its name. It became famous (or according to others, infamous) during a period spanning the 1920s to the mid 1950s as a meeting place for many of London's artists, intellectuals and bohemians such as Dylan Thomas, Augustus John, and George Orwell. Several establishments in Soho, London, have associations with well-known, post-war literary and artistic figures, including the Pillars of Hercules, The Colony Room and the Coach and Horses. The Canonbury Tavern, Canonbury, was the prototype for Orwell's ideal English pub, ''The Moon Under Water''.

The Red Lion in Parliament Square is close to the Palace of Westminster and is consequently used by political journalists and Members of Parliament. The pub is equipped with a Division bell that summons MPs back to the chamber when they are required to take part in a vote. The Punch Bowl, Mayfair was at one time jointly owned by Madonna and Guy Ritchie and is known for the number of present-day celebrities that have patronised it. The Coleherne public house in Earls Court was a well-known gay pub from the 1950s. It attracted many well-known patrons, such as Freddie Mercury, Kenny Everett and Rudolph Nureyev. It was also used by the serial-killer Colin Ireland to pick-up victims.

In 1966 The Blind Beggar in Whitechapel became infamous as the scene of a murder committed by gangster Reggie Kray. The Ten Bells is associated with several of the victims of Jack the Ripper. In 1955, Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, shot David Blakely as he emerged from ''The Magdala'' in South Hill Park, Hampstead, the bullet holes can still be seen in the walls outside. It is said that Vladimir Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin met in the ''Crown and Anchor'' pub (now known as ''The Crown Tavern'') on Clerkenwell Green when the latter was visiting London in 1903.

The Angel, Islington was formerly a coaching inn, the first on the route northwards out of London, where Thomas Paine is believed to have written much of ''The Rights of Man''. It was mentioned by Charles Dickens, became a Lyons Corner House, and is now a Co-operative Bank. It is also on the board in the British version of the board game Monopoly.

;Oxford and Cambridge The Eagle and Child and the Lamb and Flag, Oxford, were regular meeting places of the Inklings, a writers' group which included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The Eagle in Cambridge is where Francis Crick interrupted patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that he and James Watson had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of DNA. The anecdote is related in Watson's book ''The Double Helix''.

;Television soap operas The major soap operas on British television each feature a pub, and these pubs have become household names. The Rovers Return is the pub in ''Coronation Street'', the British soap broadcast on ITV. The Queen Vic (short for the Queen Victoria) is the pub in ''EastEnders'', the major soap on BBC One, while The Bull in the Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'' and the Woolpack in ITV's ''Emmerdale'' are also important meeting points. The sets of each of the three major television soap operas have been visited by some of the members of the royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II. The centrepiece of each visit was a trip into the Rovers, the Queen Vic, or the Woolpack to be offered a drink.

Pubs outside Great Britain

Although "British" or "Irish" pubs found outside of Britain and its former colonies are often themed bars owing little to the original British public house, a number of "true" pubs may be found around the world.

In Denmark—a country, like Britain, with a long tradition of brewing—a number of pubs have opened which eschew "theming", and which instead focus on the business of providing carefully conditioned beer, often independent of any particular brewery or chain, in an environment which would not be unfamiliar to a British pub-goer. Some import British cask ale, rather than beer in kegs, in order to provide the full British real ale experience to their customers. This newly established Danish interest in British cask beer and the British pub tradition is reflected by the fact that some 56 British cask beers were available at the 2008 European Beer Festival in Copenhagen, which was attended by more than 20,000 people.

In Ireland pubs are known for their atmosphere or "craic". In Irish, a pub is referred to as ''teach tábhairne'' ("tavernhouse") or ''teach óil'' ("drinkinghouse"). Live music, either sessions of traditional Irish music or varieties of modern popular music, is frequently featured in the pubs of Ireland. Pubs in Northern Ireland are largely identical to their counterparts in the Republic except for the lack of spirit grocers. A side effect of the 'Troubles' was that the lack of a tourist industry meant that a higher proportion of traditional bars have survived the wholesale refitting of Irish pub interiors in the English style in the 1950s and 1960s. This refitting was driven by the need to expand seating areas to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists, and was a direct consequence of the growing dependence of the Irish economy on tourism.

See also

Boteco

Botequim

Cider house

List of award-winning pubs in London

Pub crawl

Violence in bars and pubs

People

Evan Lewis (Los Angeles), city councilman who disfavored the painting of beer parlor windows to block the view from the street, 1934

References

;Bibliography

Cornell, Martyn (2003) ''Beer: the story of the pint''. London: Headline

Haydon, Peter (2001) ''Beer and Britannia: an inebriated history of Britain''. Stroud: Sutton

Jackson, Michael & Smyth, Frank (1976) ''The English Pub''. London: Collins ISBN 0002162105

Further reading

Burke, Thomas (1927) ''The Book of the Inn: being two hundred pictures of the English inn from the earliest times to the coming of the railway hotel''; selected and edited by Thomas Burke. London: Constable

Douch, H. L. (1966) ''Old Cornish Inns and their place in the social history of the County''. Truro: D. Bradford Barton

Martin, John (1993) ''Stanley Chew's Pub Signs: a celebration of the art and heritage of British pub signs''. Worcester: John Martin ISBN 1 85421 225 7

Monson-Fitzjohn, G. J. (1926) ''Quaint Signs of Olde Inns''. London: H. Jenkins (reissued by Senate, London, 1994 ISBN 1-85958-028-9)

Richardson, A. E. (1934) ''The Old Inns of England''. London: B. T. Batsford

External links

15 drunk foods/bar foods from around the world

A selection of beer related material including Licensing Acts of (1552) (1553) (1606-c. 4) (1606-c. 5) (1604) (1625) (1828 c. 46) (1828 c. 61) (1830) (1834) (1840) (1842) (1869) (1870) (1872) (1902) (1904) and more

A Brief History of the British Pub

Pubs

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Bartending Category:Types of drinking establishment Category:Public houses in the United Kingdom Category:Types of restaurants

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Snoop Dogg
Birth name	Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr.
Born	October 20, 1971
Origin	Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Rapper, entrepreneur, lyricist, actor, record producer, entertainer film producer, businessman, television producer
Religion	Islam
Genre	Hip hop, gangsta rap, g-funk, R&B;
Years active	1991–present
Label	Priority, EMI Records, Capitol Records, Doggystyle
Associated acts	Tha Eastsidaz, Dr. Dre, Cypress Hill, 2Pac, Akon, Bow Wow, 213, 50 Cent, Xzibit, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, Game
Website
Background	solo_singer }}

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, marijuana activist, actor and entertainer. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school. Shortly after graduation, he was arrested for cocaine possession and spent six months in Wayside County Jail. His music career began in 1992 after his release when he was discovered by Dr. Dre. He collaborated on several tracks on Dre's solo debut, ''The Chronic'' and on the titular theme song to the film ''Deep Cover''.

Snoop's debut album ''Doggystyle'', was released in 1993 under Death Row Records debuting at No.1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B; charts. Selling almost a million copies in the first week of its release, ''Doggystyle'' quickly became certified quadruple platinum in 1994 and spawned several hit singles, including "What's My Name" and "Gin & Juice". In 1994, Snoop released a soundtrack on Death Row Records for the short film ''Murder Was The Case'', starring himself. In early 1996, Snoop Dogg was cleared of charges over his bodyguard's 1993 murder of Philip Woldemariam. His second album, late 1996's ''Tha Doggfather'', also debuted at No.1 on both charts with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head" as the lead single. The album sold only half as well, being certified double platinum in 1997.

''Tha Doggfather'' was his last release for Death Row before he signed with No Limit Records, where he recorded his next three albums. ''Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told'' in 1998, ''No Limit Top Dogg'' in 1999 (making it his last album of the 90s), and ''Tha Last Meal'' in 2000, which was his last No Limit Records album. Snoop then signed with Priority/Capitol/EMI Records in 2002, where he released his album ''Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss''. Then he signed with Geffen Records in 2004 for his next three albums ''R&G; (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece'', ''Tha Blue Carpet Treatment'', ''Ego Trippin''', and ''Malice 'n Wonderland''. His most recent release, which was on Priority, was ''Doggumentary'' in March 2011.

In addition to music, Snoop Dogg has starred in motion pictures and hosted several television shows: ''Doggy Fizzle Televizzle'', ''Snoop Dogg's Father Hood'' and ''Dogg After Dark''. He also coaches a youth football league and high school football team. He has run into many legal troubles, some of which caused him to be legally banned from the UK and Australia, although the UK ban was later reversed after a long legal battle. He is the cousin of emcees Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger, RBX and Lil' ½ Dead and the cousin of R&B; singers Brandy and Ray J. Starting September 2009, Snoop was hired by EMI as the chairman of a reactivated Priority Records. His eleventh studio album, ''Doggumentary'', was released March 29, 2011.

Life and career

Early life

Named after his stepfather, Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Sr. (December 10, 1948 – November 9, 1985, Los Angeles), Calvin Broadus was born October 20, 1971 at the Los Altos Hospital in Long Beach, California, the second of three sons of Beverly Broadus (née Tate; born April 27, 1951, McComb, Mississippi). His father, Vernall Varnado (born December 13, 1949, Magnolia, Mississippi), was a Vietnam veteran, singer, and mail carrier who was said to be frequently absent from his life. Broadus' parents nicknamed him "Snoopy" as a child because of his appearance, but usually addressed him as Calvin at home. His mother and stepfather divorced in 1975. At an early age, Broadus began singing in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church and playing piano; when he was in sixth grade, he began rapping. He attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and was convicted for cocaine trafficking, serving six months at the Wayside County Jail.

As a teenager, Snoop Dogg frequently ran into trouble with the law. Snoop Dogg was a member of the Rollin' 20 Crips gang in the Eastside of Long Beach, although he stated in 1993 that he never joined a gang. Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine. Snoop Dogg's conviction caused him to be frequently in and out of prison for the first three years after he graduated from high school. Snoop, along with his cousins Nate Dogg and Lil' ½ Dead and friend Warren G, recorded home made tapes as a group called 213, named after the Long Beach area code at the time. One of his early solo freestyles over En Vogue's "Hold On" had made it to a mixtape which was heard by influential producer Dr. Dre, who phoned to invite him to an audition. Former N.W.A member The D.O.C. taught him how to structure his lyrics and separate the thematics into verses, hooks and chorus.

1992–93: Career beginnings and ''Doggystyle''

When he began recording, Broadus took the stage name Snoop Doggy Dogg. Dr. Dre began working with Snoop Dogg, first on the theme song of the 1992 film ''Deep Cover'', and then on Dr. Dre's debut solo album ''The Chronic'' with the other members of his former starting group, Tha Dogg Pound. The huge success of Snoop Dogg's debut ''Doggystyle'' was partially because of this intense exposure.

To fuel the ascendance of West Coast G-funk hip hop, the singles "Who Am I (What's My Name)?" and "Gin and Juice" reached the top ten most-played songs in the United States, and the album stayed on the Billboard charts for several months. Gangsta rap became the center of arguments for censorship and labeling, with Snoop Dogg often used as an example of violent and misogynistic musicians. ''Doggystyle'', much like ''The Chronic'', featured a host of rappers signed to or affiliated with the Death Row label including Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and others. ''Rolling Stone'' music critic Touré asserted that Snoop had a relatively soft vocal delivery compared to other rappers: "Snoop's vocal style is part of what distinguishes him: where many rappers scream, figuratively and literally, he speaks softly."

A short film about Snoop Dogg's murder trial called ''Murder Was The Case'', was released in 1994, along with an accompanying soundtrack. On July 6, 1995, Doggy Style Records, Inc., a record label founded by Snoop Dogg, was registered with the California Secretary of State as business entity number C1923139.

1996–97: ''Tha Doggfather''

After Snoop Dogg was acquitted of murder charges on February 20, 1996, he and the mother of his son and their kennel of 20 pit bulls moved into a home in the hills of Claremont, California and by August 1996 Doggy Style Records, a subsidiary of Death Row Records, signed The Gap Band's Charlie Wilson as one of the record label's first artists.

However, by the time Snoop Dogg's second album, ''Tha Doggfather'', was released in November 1996, the price of living (or sometimes just imitating) the gangsta life had become very evident. Among the many notable hip hop industry deaths and convictions were the death of Snoop Dogg's friend and labelmate 2Pac and the racketeering indictment of Death Row co-founder Suge Knight. Dr. Dre had left Death Row earlier in 1996 because of a contract dispute, so Snoop Dogg co-produced ''Tha Doggfather'' with Daz Dillinger and DJ Pooh.

This album featured a distinct change of style as compared to ''Doggystyle'', and the leadoff single, "Snoop's Upside Ya Head", featured a collaboration with Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson. While the album sold reasonably well, it was not as successful as its predecessor. However, ''Tha Doggfather'' had a somewhat softer approach to the G-funk style. The immediate aftermath of Dr. Dre's withdrawal from Death Row Records, realizing that he was subject to an iron-clad time-based contract (i.e., that Death Row practically owned anything he produced for a number of years), Snoop Dogg refused to produce any more tracks for Suge Knight, other than the insulting "Fuck Death Row", until his contract expired. In an interview with Neil Strauss in 1998, Snoop Dogg stated that though he had been given lavish gifts by his former label they had withheld royalty payments to the artist.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that after ''Tha Doggfather'', Snoop Dogg began "moving away from his gangsta roots toward a calmer lyrical aesthetic": for instance, Snoop participated in the 1997 Lollapalooza concert tour, which featured mainly alternative rock music. Troy J. Augusto of ''Variety'' noticed that Snoop's set at Lollapalooza attracted "much dancing, and, strangely, even a small mosh pit" in the audience.

1998–2000: ''Tha Doggfather'', ''No Limit'', ''Top Dogg'' and ''Tha Last Meal''

Snoop signed with Master P's No Limit Records (distributed by Priority/EMI Records) in 1998 and debuted on the label with ''Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told'' that year. His other albums from No Limit were ''No Limit Top Dogg'' in 1999 (selling over 1,503,865 copies) and ''Tha Last Meal'' in 2000 (selling over 1,000,000). In 2001, his autobiography, ''Tha Doggfather'', was published.

2002: ''Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$''

In 2002 he released the album ''Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$'', on Priority/Capitol/EMI Records, selling over 1,300,000 copies. The album featured the hit singles "From tha Chuuuch to da Palace" and "Beautiful", featuring guest vocals by Pharrell. By this stage in his career, Snoop Dogg had left behind his "gangster" image and embraced a "pimp" image.

2004–05: ''R&G; (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece''

In 2004, Snoop signed to Geffen Records/Star Trak Entertainment both of which are distributed through Interscope Records; Star Trak is headed by producer duo The Neptunes, which produced several tracks for Snoop's 2004 release ''R&G; (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece''. "Drop It Like It's Hot" (featuring Pharrell), the first single released from the album, was a hit and became Snoop Dogg's first single to reach number one. His third release was "Signs", featuring Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson, which entered the UK chart at #2. This was his highest entry ever in the UK chart. The album sold 1,724,000 copies in the U.S. alone, and most of its singles were heavily played on radio and television. Snoop Dogg joined Warren G and Nate Dogg to form the group 213 and released album ''The Hard Way'' in 2004. Debuting at No.4 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No.1 on the Top R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums, it included single "Groupie Luv". Together with fellow rappers Lil' Jon, Xzibit and David Banner, Snoop Dogg appeared in the music video for Korn's "Twisted Transistor".

2006: ''Tha Blue Carpet Treatment''

Snoop Dogg's appeared on two tracks from Ice Cube's 2006 album ''Laugh Now, Cry Later'', including the single "Go to Church", and on several tracks on Tha Dogg Pound's ''Cali Iz Active'' the same year. Also, his latest song, "Real Talk", was leaked over the Internet in the summer of 2006 and a video was later released on the Internet. "Real Talk" was a dedication to former Crips leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams and a diss to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California. Two other singles on which Snoop made a guest performance were "Keep Bouncing" by Too $hort (also with will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas) and "Gangsta Walk" by Coolio.

Snoop's 2006 album, ''Tha Blue Carpet Treatment'', debuted on the Billboard 200 at No.5 and has sold over 850,000 copies. The album and the second single "That's That Shit" featuring R. Kelly were well received by critics. In the album, he collaborated in a video with E-40 and other West Coast rappers for his single "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)".

2007–08: ''Ego Trippin'''

In July 2007, Snoop Dogg also made history by becoming the first artist to release a track as a ringtone prior to its release as a single, which was "It's the D.O.G." On July 7, 2007, Snoop Dogg performed at the Live Earth concert, Hamburg. Snoop Dogg has ventured into singing for Bollywood with his first ever rap for an Indian movie ''Singh Is Kinng''; the title of the song is also "Singh is Kinng". He also appears in the movie as himself. The album featuring the song was released on June 8, 2008 on Junglee Music Records. He released his ninth studio album, ''Ego Trippin''' (selling 400,000 copies in the U.S.), along with the first single, "Sexual Eruption". The single peaked at No.7 on the Billboard 100, featuring Snoop using autotune. The album featured production from QDT (Quik-Dogg-Teddy).

2009–10: ''Malice n Wonderland'' and ''More Malice''

Snoop was appointed an executive position at Priority Records. His tenth studio album, ''Malice n Wonderland'', was released on December 8, 2009. The first single from the album, "Gangsta Luv", featuring The-Dream, peaked at No.35 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album debuted at No.23 on the Billboard 200, selling 61,000 copies its first week, making it his lowest charting album. His third single, "I Wanna Rock", peaked at No.41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Snoop features on the latest Gorillaz album, ''Plastic Beach''. The fourth single from ''Malice n Wonderland'', titled "Pronto", featuring Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, was released on iTunes on December 1, 2009. Snoop re-released the album under the name ''More Malice''.

2011-present: Doggumentary

Snoop collaborated with Katy Perry on the first single from her second mainstream album, "California Gurls", which was released on May 11, 2010. Snoop can also be heard on the track "Flashing" by Dr. Dre and on Curren$y's song "Seat Change". He was also featured on a new single from Australian singer Jessica Mauboy, titled "Get 'em Girls" (released September 2010). Snoop's latest effort was backing American recording artist, Emii, on her second single entitled "Mr. Romeo" (released October 26, 2010 as a follow-up to "Magic"). Snoop also collaborated with American comedy troupe The Lonely Island in their song "Turtleneck & Chain", in their 2011 album ''Turtleneck & Chain''.

Snoop Dogg's newest studio album is ''Doggumentary'', The album was renamed to ''Doggumentary'' and was released during March 2011. Snoop was featured on Gorillaz' latest album ''Plastic Beach'' on a track called: "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" with the The Hypnotic Brass, he also completed another track with them entitled "Sumthing Like this Night" which does not appear on ''Plastic Beach'', yet does appear on ''Doggumentary''. He also appears on the latest Tech N9ne album ''All 6's And 7's'' (released June 7, 2011) on a track called "Pornographic" which also features E-40 and Krizz Kaliko.

Other ventures

Media appearances

Snoop Dogg has appeared on television and in films throughout his career. In 1998, Snoop had a cameo appearance in the film ''Half Baked'' as the "Scavenger Smoker". In 2000, Snoop (as "Michael J. Corleone") directed ''Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle'', a pornographic film produced by Hustler. The film, combining hip hop with x-rated material, was a huge success and won "Top Selling Release of the Year" at the 2002 AVN Awards. Snoop then directed ''Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp'' in 2002 (using the nickname "Snoop Scorsese").

In 2001, Snoop lent his voice to the animated show ''King of the Hill'', in which he played a white pimp named Alabaster Jones. He played a lead character in the movie ''The Wash'' with Dr. Dre. He portrayed a drug dealer in a wheelchair in the film ''Training Day'', featuring Denzel Washington. In 2001, Snoop starred in the horror film ''Bones'', with him playing a murdered mobster who returns from the dead to exact his revenge against those who murdered him.

In 2002, Snoop hosted, starred in, and produced his own MTV sketch comedy show entitled Doggy Fizzle Televizzle. Snoop was filmed for a brief cameo appearance in the television movie ''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'' (2002), but his performance was omitted from the final cut of the movie. On November 8, 2004, Snoop Dogg was starred in the episode "Two of a Kind" of NBC's series ''Las Vegas''.

In 2004, Snoop appeared on the Showtime series ''The L Word'' as the character "Slim Daddy". He also notably played the drug dealer-turned-informant character of Huggy Bear, in the 2004 remake film of the 1970s TV-series of the same name, ''Starsky & Hutch''. He appeared as himself in the episode "MILF Money" of ''Weeds'', and made an appearance on the TV shows ''Entourage'' and ''Monk'', for which he recorded a version of the theme, in July 2007.

Snoop founded his own production company, Snoopadelic Films, in 2005. Their debut film was ''Boss'n Up'', a film inspired by Snoop Dogg's album ''R&G;'', starring Lil Jon and Trina.

In December 2007, his reality show ''Snoop Dogg's Father Hood'' premiered on the E! channel. Snoop Dogg joined the NBA's Entertainment League. On March 30, 2008 he appeared at WrestleMania XXIV as a ''Master of Ceremonies'' for a tag team match between Maria and Ashley Massaro as they took on Beth Phoenix and Melina.

On May 8 and May 9, 2008, Snoop appeared as himself on the ABC soap opera ''One Life to Live'', with a new opening theme recorded by the artist presented for both episodes. In the episodes, Snoop performs at the bachelorette party for character Adriana Cramer, and credits Bo Buchanan with helping him get his start in show business. On February 24, 2010, Snoop Dogg reprised his role, performing his song "I Wanna Rock" from his new album, ''Malice n Wonderland'', as well as once again performing a special remixed, vocal rendition of the show's opening theme. In recent interviews he has explained that, as a child, ''One Life to Live'' was one of his favorite shows, and he still regards the show fondly. He has also stated that he has always been a particular fan of Robert S. Woods, who has portrayed the character of Bo Buchanan since 1979.

In 2009, Snoop Dogg appeared in Sacha Baron Cohen's film ''Brüno'' as himself performing a rap addition to the song "Dove Of Peace". On October 19, 2009, Snoop Dogg was the guest host of ''WWE Raw''.

In July 2009, Snoop revealed his desire to appear in the popular soap opera Coronation Street while touring in the UK. However ITV bosses were said to be less keen.

In 2010, Snoop Dogg appeared in an episode of I Get That a Lot on CBS as a parking-lot attendant.

In June 2010, Snoop created a music video for True Blood accompanying a song he wrote for one of the main characters of the show entitled "Oh Sookie."

In March 2011, Snoop participated in Comedy Central's Roast of Donald Trump with other comedians and media personalities.

Endorsements

St. Ides

Snoop Dogg 40 Oz Malt liquor

Adidas Originals

Boost Mobile cell phone

Chrysler 300

Colt 45 Blast

Metro PCS Samsung Galaxy 4G

Orbit Gum

Cal Worthington's Ford dealership in Long Beach, California

"Snoop Doggs" – foot-long hot dogs manufactured in Massachusetts, a joint venture with Platinum One Media

"Snoop Dogg Board Company (SDBC)" – skateboards and Luggage fabrication company (with Pentagon Distribution)

"Snooperbowl" and "Snoop Youth Football league"

"Chronic Candy" – candy that tastes like marijuana (from Switzerland and is currently banned in some cities of US)

''Love Don't Live Here No More, Doggy Tales Vol.1'' – love novel (co-written by David E. Talbert, published by Atria and Snoopadelic Films) ISBN 0-7432-7363-X ''Tha Doggfather : The Times, Trials, And Hardcore Truths Of Snoop Dogg'' – autobiography (published by William Morrow) Hardcover ISBN 0-688-17158-3, Paperback ISBN 0-06-107607-4

''Fear & Respect'' (project cancelled as of March 1, 2006) – PlayStation 2 video game (developed by Midway Games)

"Doggy Biscuitz" – shoe brand (in partnership with Pony International)

"Snoop Dogg Clothing" – streetwear (distributed at Macy's)

"WRFF" – unique design scooters (in cooperation with Salton, Inc.) "Hip Hop Gaming League" – a celebrity online gaming competition (hosted by Global Gaming League) "Snoop Dogg figures" (Vital Toys, SOTA Toys)

"Snoop Dogg Boxing" – mobile phone game (Sony Pictures Mobile)

"Snoop Dogg Pet Accessory Line" (in conjunction with Jakks Pacific) Snoop Dogg is a celebrity voice of a TomTom GPS navigation system. He stated on George Lopez's talk show Lopez Tonight that he is tired of hearing directions from the same woman. In August 2008, Snoop Dogg announced the launch of a new streetwear line called Rich & Infamous, via a partnership with Robert Thorne Co. The line was unveiled during the Magic Tradeshow in Las Vegas. "Hack is Wack" – Promoting Norton AntiVirus. "Coffee Cup With A Cause" with 7 Eleven. "Serious Pimp" clothing line. "iFizzle" iPhone Application. "Vybe Mobile" "Pepsi Max" – Zero Calories

Style and rap skills

Kool Moe Dee ranks Snoop at No.33 in his book ''There's a God on the Mic'', and says he has "an ultra-smooth, laidback delivery", and "flavor-filled melodic rhyming". Peter Shapiro describes Snoop's delivery as a "molasses drawl" and Allmusic notes his "drawled, laconic rhyming" style. Kool Moe Dee refers to Snoop's use of vocabulary, saying he "keeps it real simple...he simplifies it and he's effective in his simplicity".

Snoop is known to freestyle some of his lyrics on the spot for some songs – in the book ''How to Rap'', Lady of Rage says, "Snoop Dogg, when I worked with him earlier in his career, that's how created his stuff... he would freestyle, he wasn't a writer then, he was a freestyler," and The D.O.C. states, "Snoop's [rap] was a one take willy, but his shit was all freestyle. He hadn't written nothing down. He just came in and started busting. The song was "The Shiznit" – [that was all freestyle]. He started busting and when we got to the break, Dre cut the machine off, did the chorus and told Snoop to come back in. He did that throughout the record. That's when Snoop was in the zone then."

Peter Shapiro says that Snoop debuted on "Deep Cover" with a "shockingly original flow – which sounded like a Slick Rick born in South Carolina instead of South London" and adds that he "showed where his style came from by covering Slick Rick's 'La Di Da Di'". as well as 'linking with rhythm' in his compound rhymes, using alliteration, and employing a "sparse" flow with good use of pauses.

Snoop re-popularized the use of ''-izzle speak'', particularly in the pop and hip hop music industry.

Personal life

Broadus's father left the family when Broadus was three months old. Snoop married his high school sweetheart, Shante Taylor, on June 12, 1997. On May 21, 2004, he filed for divorce from Shante, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple renewed their wedding vows on January 12, 2008. R&B; singers Brandy and Ray J are his first cousins. In 2002, the rapper announced he was giving up marijuana, one of his image trademarks, for good. According to his IMDb biography, Snoop is a fan of the thrash metal band Metallica and performed their song "Sad But True" on the band's 2003 MTV Icon Special which is available on YouTube. A DNA test read by George Lopez on ''Lopez Tonight'' revealed Snoop Dogg to be of 0% East Asian, 23% Native American, 6% European, and 71% African descent.

Snoop is an avid fan of hometown teams Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers. Snoop is also an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan. and is often seen wearing Pittsburgh Steelers apparel. Snoop has mentioned that his love for the Steelers began in the 1970s during the team's dynasty years while watching the team with his grandfather growing up in L.A. In the 2005 offseason, Snoop mentioned that he wanted to be an NFL head coach, "probably for the Steelers". The following year, he was in attendance for the Steelers' victory in Super Bowl XL and later in Super Bowl XLIII. He is also a fan of the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, often wearing a No.5 jersey, and has been seen in Raiders training camps. He did his own free style rap based on his similarities with Tony Romo. He is also a fan of the USC Trojans Football team. He has also shown affection for the New England Patriots, as he has been seen performing at the Gillette Stadium and picked the Patriots as the favorite to win Super Bowl XXXIX against the Eagles. On August 6, 2009, Snoop visited the training camp of the Baltimore Ravens at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He was invited by Ray Lewis the day after his concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

A certified football coach, Snoop Dogg has been head coach for his son's youth football teams and the John A. Rowland High School team.

Snoop Dogg is an avid hockey fan; he sported a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey (with the name and number 'GIN AND JUICE' 94 on the back) and a jersey of the now-defunct Springfield (MA) Indians of the American Hockey League in his 1994 music video, "Gin And Juice". On the E! show, ''Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood'', Snoop Dogg and his family received lessons on playing hockey from the Anaheim Ducks, then returning to the Honda Center to cheer on the Ducks against the Vancouver Canucks in the episode ''Snow in da Hood''.

In 2009, it was revealed that Snoop Dogg was a member of the Nation of Islam. On March 1, 2009, he made an appearance at the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day holiday, where he praised minister Louis Farrakhan. Snoop claimed to be a member of the Nation of Islam, but he declined to give the date on which he joined. He also donated $1,000 to the organization.

Snoop claimed in a 2006 interview with ''Rolling Stone'' magazine that unlike other hip hop artists who've superficially adopted the pimp persona, he was an actual professional pimp in 2003 and 2004, saying "That shit was my natural calling and once I got involved with it, it became fun. It was like shootin' layups for me. I was makin' 'em every time." He goes on to say that upon the advice on some of the other pimps he knew, he eventually gave up pimping to spend more time with his family.

Legal issues

Shortly after graduating from high school, he was arrested for possession of cocaine.

While recording ''Doggystyle'' in August 1993, Snoop Dogg was arrested in connection with the death of Phillip Woldermarian, a member of a rival gang who was shot and killed by Snoop's bodyguard, McKinley Lee; Snoop was charged with murder along with Lee as he was driving the vehicle from which the shooting had commenced. Snoop and Lee were defended by Johnnie Cochran. Both Snoop and Lee were acquitted; Lee was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but Snoop Dogg remained entangled in the legal battles around the case for three years.

In July 1993, Snoop was stopped for a traffic violation and a firearm was found by police while conducting a search of his car. In February 1997, he pleaded guilty to one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a handgun and was ordered to record three public service announcements, pay a $1,000 fine, and serve three years' probation.

In May 1998, Snoop Dogg was fined and arrested for a misdemeanor of marijuana possession.

In October 2001, Snoop Dogg was arrested again for a misdemeanor of marijuana possession. In 2002 he pleaded no contest and was fined a total of $398.30 and received a suspended 30-day jail sentence.

Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and The Game were sued for assaulting a fan on stage at a May 2005 concert at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington. The accuser, Richard Monroe, Jr., claimed he was beaten by the artists' entourage while mounting the stage. He alleged that he reacted to an "open invite" to come on stage. Before he could, Snoop’s bodyguards grabbed him and he was beaten unconscious by crewmembers, including the rapper and producer Soopafly; Snoop and The Game were included in the suit for not intervening. The lawsuit focuses on a pecuniary claim of $22 million in punitive and compensatory damages, battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The concerned parties appeared in court in April 2009.

On April 26, 2006, Snoop Dogg and members of his entourage were arrested after being turned away from British Airways' first class lounge at Heathrow Airport. Snoop and his party were not allowed to enter the lounge because some of the entourage were flying first class, other members in economy class. After the group was escorted outside, they vandalized a duty-free shop by throwing whiskey bottles. Seven police officers were injured in the midst of the disturbance. After a night in prison, Snoop and the other men were released on bail on April 27, but he was unable to perform at the Premier Foods People's Concert in Johannesburg on the same day. As part of his bail conditions, he had to return to the police station in May. The group has been banned by British Airways for "the foreseeable future." When Snoop Dogg appeared at a London police station on May 11, he was cautioned for affray under Section 4 of the Public Order Act for use of threatening words or behavior. On May 15, the Home Office decided that Snoop Dogg should be denied entry to the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future due to the incident at Heathrow as well as his previous convictions in the United States for drugs and firearms offenses. Snoop Dogg's visa card was rejected by local authorities on March 24, 2007 because of the Heathrow incident. A concert at London's Wembley Arena on March 27 went ahead with Diddy (with whom he toured Europe) and the rest of the show. However the decision affected four more British performances in Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow and Budapest (due to rescheduling). As of March 2010, Snoop Dogg has been allowed back into the UK.

On September 27, 2006, Snoop Dogg was detained at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California by airport security, after airport screeners found a collapsible police baton in Snoop's carry-on bag. The baton was confiscated but Snoop was allowed to board the flight. He has been charged with various weapons violations stemming from this incident. Donald Etra, Snoop's lawyer, told deputies the baton was a prop for a musical sketch. Snoop was sentenced to three years' probation and 160 hours of community service starting on September 20, 2007.

Snoop Dogg was arrested again on October 26, 2006 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California while parked in a passenger loading zone. Approached by airport security for a traffic infraction, he was found in possession of marijuana and a firearm, according to a police statement. He was transported to Burbank Police Department Jail, booked, and released on $35,000 bond. He faced firearm and drug possession charges on December 12 at Burbank Superior Court.

He was again arrested on November 29, 2006, after performing on ''The Tonight Show'', for possession of marijuana and a firearm.

Snoop was arrested again on March 12, 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden after performing in a concert with P. Diddy in Stockholm's Globe Arena after he and a female companion reportedly "reeked" of marijuana. They were released four hours later after providing a urine sample. The results on urine determined whether charges would be pressed. However the rapper denied all charges.

On April 26, 2007, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship banned him from entering the country on character grounds, citing his prior criminal convictions. He had been scheduled to appear at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards on April 29, 2007. Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship lifted the ban in September 2008 and had granted him visa to tour Australia. DIAC said "In making this decision, the department weighed his criminal convictions against his previous behaviour while in Australia, recent conduct – including charity work – and any likely risk to the Australian community ... We took into account all relevant factors and, on balance, the department decided to grant the visa."

Snoop Dogg's many legal issues forced San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to withdraw his plan to issue a proclamation to the rapper.

Snoop Dogg was banned from Parkpop, a festival in the Netherlands on June 27, 2010 which he was scheduled to perform at. The mayor and law enforcement officials asked organizers of the festival to find an artist more “open and friendly” to play the event.

Discography

''Doggystyle'' (1993)

''Tha Doggfather'' (1996)

''Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told'' (1998)

''No Limit Top Dogg'' (1999)

''Tha Last Meal'' (2000)

''Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss'' (2002)

''R&G; (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece'' (2004)

''Tha Blue Carpet Treatment'' (2006)

''Ego Trippin''' (2008)

''Malice n Wonderland'' (2009)

''Doggumentary'' (2011)

Filmography

1994: ''Murder Was the Case'' (Platinum)

1998: ''Caught Up''

1998: ''Half Baked'' (cameo appearance)

1998: ''Da Game of Life''

1998: ''Hot Boyz''

1998: ''Ride''

1999: ''Whiteboyz''

1999: ''Urban Menace''

2000: ''Tha Eastsidaz''

2000: ''Up in Smoke Tour

2001: ''Baby Boy''

2001: ''Training Day''

2001: ''King of the Hill'' (voice)

2001: ''Bones''

2001: ''The Wash''

2003: ''Malibu's Most Wanted''

2003: ''Old School''

2004: ''Starsky & Hutch''

2004: ''Soul Plane''

2004: ''Volcano High''

2005: ''Boss'n Up''

2005: ''Racing Stripes'' (voice)

2006: ''The Tenants''

2006: ''''Weeds'''': Himself

2006: ''Hood of Horror''

2007: ''Arthur and the Invisibles'' (voice)

2007: ''Monk''

* During the opening credits, he covered the title song by Randy Newman "It's a Jungle out There".

2007: ''The Boondocks''

2008: ''Singh Is Kinng'' (as Himself)

2008: ''Snoop Dogg's Father Hood'' (as Himself)

2009: ''Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder'' (voice)

2009: ''Dogg After Dark'': Himself

2009: ''Xavier: Renegade Angel'' (voice)

2009: ''Brüno'' (cameo appearance)

2009: ''Falling Up''

2010: ''Down for Life

2010: ''One Life to Live as Calvin Broadus

2010: ''Straight Outta L.A.'' (as Himself)

2010: ''Freaknik: The Musical''

2010: ''Malice n Wonderland'' as Malice

2010: ''Big Time Christmas'' as Himself

2011: ''Roast of Donald Trump''

Awards

Snoop Dogg was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Further reading

References

External links

Official website

Snoop Dogg at Geffen Records

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:African American film actors Category:African American rappers Category:American film producers Category:American voice actors Category:Crips Category:Death Row Records artists Category:G-funk Category:Members of the Nation of Islam Category:No Limit Records artists Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People acquitted of murder Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:People from Long Beach, California Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:Priority Records artists Category:Pseudonymous rappers Category:Rappers from Los Angeles, California

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Hrithik Roshan
birth name	Hrithik Roshan
birth date	January 10, 1974
birth place	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
yearsactive	1980–1986 ''(child artist)'' 2000–present
spouse	Suzanne Khan (2000 – present)
children	Hrehaan Roshan, Hridhaan Roshan
occupation	Actor }}

Hrithik Roshan (Hindi: ऋतिक रोशन ; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.

After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' (2000) for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut. In 2001, he went on to appear in the melodrama ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'', which became India's highest-grossing film in the overseas market and his biggest commercial success to date.

Following through with several unnoticed performances from 2002–03, he starred in the commercially successful ''Koi... Mil Gaya'' and its sequel ''Krrish'', both of which won him numerous ''Best Actor'' awards. Roshan received his third Filmfare Award for Best Actor in 2006 for his performance in the action film ''Dhoom 2''. He later received critical acclaim for his performance in ''Jodhaa Akbar'', for which he received his first international award at the Golden Minbar International Film Festival. These accomplishments have established him as a leading contemporary actor of Hindi cinema.

Biography

Early career, until 1999

Roshan's first movie role was as a child artist when he was six years old in the 1980s movie ''Aasha'', where he appeared in a dance sequence as an extra. Roshan went on to play minor roles in ''Aap Ke Deewane'' (1980) and ''Bhagwan Dada'' (1986) both of which starred his father Rakesh Roshan in the leading role. He then became an assistant director assisting in the production of his father's films ''Karan Arjun'' (1995) and ''Koyla'' (1997).

Breakthrough, 2000–2002

In 2000, Roshan made his film debut as the leading man in the film ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' opposite another debutante actress Amisha Patel. The film, which was directed by his father and saw him playing a double role, proved to be very successful at the box office, becoming the highest grossing film of 2000 and winner of the Filmfare Best Movie Award. Roshan's performance was well-received, and the film made him an overnight star. He eventually received both the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award and the Filmfare Best Actor Award for the role. The film entered the Limca Book of Records in 2003 for the most number of awards won by a Bollywood film – 102 awards.

Later that year, Roshan starred in Khalid Mohammed's ''Fiza''. Although the film did poorly at the box office, his performance was praised, earning him another nomination for ''Best Actor'' at the Filmfare ceremony. Taran Adarsh from ''indiaFM'' noted, "The mainstay of the film is undoubtedly Hrithik Roshan. His body language, his diction, his expressions, his overall persona deserves great praise. With this film, Hrithik proves that there is more to him than just being a fashionable rage, a Mills & Boon lover-boy and a sex symbol. His talent comes to the fore in several scenes, especially those with Karisma. All said and done, the show belongs to Hrithik, who saves ''Fiza'' to a major extent. A brilliant performance undoubtedly!"

Roshan's last release of the year, ''Mission Kashmir'', became the third highest grossing film of the year. His performance was once again acclaimed with one critic praising him, "Hrithik once again cuts a splendid performance as a youngster sucked in the vortex of terrorism. He is portrayed as anti-government in the early part of the film-- a bold role to play for even a seasoned actor, leave alone a budding superstar." All these achievements promoted him as one of the biggest stars in the industry.

Subhash Ghai's ''Yaadein'' was his first release in 2001. This was followed by Karan Johar's melodramatic ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham'', which did extremely well at the box office, becoming the second-highest grossing film of 2001 and the biggest hit overseas. Roshan's performance was well received and his performance earned him a nomination for ''Best Supporting Actor'' at various award ceremonies.

Roshan had an unsuccessful year in 2002 when all three of his releases – ''Mujhse Dosti Karoge!'', ''Na Tum Jaano Na Hum'' and ''Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage'' – failed to make an impact the box office and were declared flops.

Success, 2003–present

In 2003, he made a comeback with the science-fiction film ''Koi... Mil Gaya'', which saw him playing a mentally disabled young man. The film was the highest grosser of the year and won him many awards, including his second Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Filmfare Best Actor (Critics) Award. Taran Adarsh noted, "Hrithik Roshan dominates the show and packs in a power-packed performance. The role of a mentally challenged person is no cakewalk, but the actor takes to it like a fish takes to water. He manages to pull off the zero to hero routine exceptionally well. As an actor, he scales dizzier heights with this splendid performance."

Farhan Akhtar's ''Lakshya'' was Roshan's only release in 2004; the film did not do well at the box office. However, his performance was praised by critics.

Roshan took a two-year break from acting before resurfacing with the superhero film ''Krrish'' opposite Priyanka Chopra. A sequel to his 2003 film ''Koi... Mil Gaya'', the film was a major box office success and became the second highest grosser of 2006. His performance as a superhero was praised, earning him many ''Best Actor'' awards at various award ceremonies, including Star Screen and the International Indian Film Academy. ''IndiaFM'' wrote, "To state that Hrithik is the soul of ''Krrish'' would be an understatement. If the actor walked away with all noteworthy awards in ''Koi... Mil Gaya'', it's going to be an encore with ''Krrish''. You cannot imagine any other actor enacting the role of a gifted child with aplomb. If his mask and robe look is splendid, watch his makeup, gait and mannerisms as the aged father and you had agree, he's one of the finest talents on the Indian screen today. ''Krrish'' is yet another ground-breaking film in his dazzling repertoire!"

His next film that year was ''Dhoom 2'', a sequel to the 2004 ''Dhoom''. Featured opposite Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Roshan's performance in the movie not only earned him widespread critical acclaim, but also his third Filmfare Best Actor Award. The film went on to become the highest grossing film of 2006, as well as one of the most successful films of Bollywood.

In 2008, Roshan featured in Ashutosh Gowariker's ''Jodhaa Akbar'' opposite Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. He played the historical role of Akbar the Great. The movie did very good business, both in India and abroad. His performance in the movie was widely appreciated by critics, earning him his fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award as well as his first international award for Best Actor at the Golden Minbar International Film Festival in Kazan, Russia.

Roshan then appeared in Zoya Akhtar's ''Luck by Chance'' (2009), in which he made a guest appearance. The following year, he was seen in Anurag Basu's ''Kites'' along with Mexican actress Bárbara Mori and Kangna Ranaut. The film failed to do well at the box office after taking a huge start and was eventually declared a flop. He next acted in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Guzaarish'' opposite Aishwarya Rai. Upon release, the film received overwhelmingly positive reviews and Roshan's portrayal of Ethan Mascarenhas, a quadriplegic patient earned him several ''Best Actor'' nominations at various award ceremonies.

In July 2011, he appeared in Zoya Akhtar's ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' alongside Farhan Akhtar Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin. The film opened to positive reviews, and Roshan's portrayal was praised. According to Rajeev Masand, "Hrithik Roshan once again brings real depth to his character with a spectacular performance. He’s shy and restrained, then lets go with such fantastic intensity that you make the inward journey with his character". The film was declared as "super-hit" in both in India and Overseas. In the same year Roshan featured as a judge for the dance competition reality show, ''Just Dance'' along with Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant. He is currently filming for the remake of 1990 release ''Agneepath'' in which he will reprise the role of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan opposite Priyanka Chopra.

Besides acting, Roshan made his debut as a singer in ''Kites'', and has also sung in the films ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' and ''Guzaarish''.

Personal life

Roshan was born in Mumbai to a family of cinema personalities. His father, film director Rakesh Roshan, is the son of music director Roshan, while his mother, Pinky, is the daughter of producer and director J. Om Prakash. Hrithik has an ''elder'' sister, Sunaina. His uncle Rajesh Roshan is a famous music director. As a child, Roshan attended the Bombay Scottish School. He later attended Sydenham College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Commerce.

During an interview he revealed that his childhood was traumatized because of stammering, a defect that surfaced when he was around six years old and plagues him even today. "For oral tests at school, I used to bunk school, I used to fall sick, I used to break my hand, I used to get a sprain" the actor said. He however said that things improved for him gradually, after he started practicing speech therapies on a daily basis.

Roshan is married to Suzanne Roshan, owner of ''Suzanne Roshan's House of Design'' and daughter of actor Sanjay Khan. The couple have two sons, Hrehaan, born in 2006 and Hridhaan born in 2008. Roshan has two thumbs on his right hand. Although it is usually hidden in his films, it was not hidden in ''Koi... Mil Gaya'', and was even used as a minor plot point, as the alien was also designed to have two thumbs.

Awards and honours

Among other awards, Roshan has won six Filmfare Awards, four of which are in the Best Actor category.

His life-size wax figure was installed at London's prestigious Madame Tussauds Wax Museum on 20 January 2011, making him the fifth Indian actor to have been replicated as a wax statue in the museum.

Filmography

''Bhagwan Dada (film) ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' ''Yaadein (2001 film) ''Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage'' ''Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon'' ''Lakshya (film) ''Krrish'' ''Om Shanti Om'' ''Jodhaa Akbar'' ''Luck by Chance'' ''Kites (film) ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' ''Agneepath (2011 film)

Year !! Film !! Role !! Other notes
rowspan="2"	1980	''Aasha''	Child artist
''Aap Ke Deewane''	Child artist
1986	Bhagwan Dada'' ||	Govinda (Child artist)
rowspan="3"	2000	|	Rohit/Raj Chopra	Filmfare Award for Best Actor Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut
''Fiza''	Amaan Ikramullah
''Mission Kashmir''	Altaaf Khan
rowspan="2"	2001	Yaadein'' ||	Ronit Malhotra
''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...''	Rohan Raichand
rowspan="3"	2002	|	Rohit
''Na Tum Jaano Na Hum''	Rahul Sharma
''Mujhse Dosti Karoge!''	Raj Khanna
rowspan="2"	2003	|	Prem Kishen Mathur
''Koi... Mil Gaya''	Rohit Mehra
2004	Lakshya'' ||	Karan Shergill	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor
rowspan="3"	2006	|	Krishna Mehra (Krrish)/ Rohit Mehra	Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor
''Dhoom 2''	Aryan
''I See You (film)	I See You''
2007	|	Himself	Special appearance
rowspan="2"	2008	|	Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar	Filmfare Award for Best Actor Golden Minbar International Film Festival>Golden Minbar International Award for Best Actor
''Krazzy 4''
2009	|	Zaffar Khan	Special appearance
rowspan="2"	2010	Kites'' ||	Jai
''Guzaarish''	Ethan Mascarenhas
2011	|	Arjun
rowspan="2"	2012	Agneepath'' ||	Vijay Deenanath Chavan	Scheduled for released on January 13, 2012
''Krrish 2''	Krishna Mehra/Krrish

See also

List of Indian Actors

References

External links

Category:1974 births Category:Indian film actors Category:Living people Category:Indian child actors Category:People from Mumbai Category:Punjabi people Category:Indian actors Category:Indian Hindus Category:Hindi film actors Category:Filmfare Awards winners

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Birth date	November 01, 1973
Birth place	Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Birthname	Aishwarya Rai
Othername	Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Spouse	Abhishek Bachchan (2007–present)
Occupation	actor, model
Yearsactive	1991–present
Signature	}}

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (born 1973) is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994. Rai has acted in over 40 films in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali.

Often cited by the media as the "most beautiful woman in the world", Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film ''Iruvar'' (1997), and had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie ''Jeans'' (1998). She gained the attention of Bollywood through the film ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' (1999), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her performance won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. In 2002 she appeared in Bhansali's ''Devdas'', for which she won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

After a setback in her career during 2003–2005, she appeared in ''Dhoom 2'' (2006), which was her biggest commercial success in India. She later appeared in films like ''Guru'' (2007), ''Jodhaa Akbar'' (2008), and ''Enthiran'' (2010), which were commercially and critically successful. Rai has established herself as one of the leading actresses in Bollywood.

Rai's off-screen roles include duties as brand ambassador for various charity organisations and campaigns. She is married to fellow actor Abhishek Bachchan. In 2009 she was honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award given by the Government of India.

Early life

Rai was born into a Tulu-speaking Bunt family in Mangalore, Karnataka. Her father, Krishnaraj, was a marine biologist, while her mother, Brindya, is a housewife. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy. He co-produced one of her movies, ''Dil Ka Rishta'' (2003).

The family moved to Mumbai, where Rai attended the Arya Vidya Mandir High School. Rai did her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year, and then joined DG Ruparel College in Matunga, securing 90 percent in the HSC exams. She trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens. Her favourite subject was zoology, so she initially considered a career in medicine. With plans to become an architect, she enrolled at Raheja College, but later gave up her education to pursue a career in modelling.

Modelling career

One of her earliest modelling assignment was, when she was in the ninth grade, for ''Camlin Pencils''. One of her professors at Jai Hind College took pictures of her which were published in a fashion magazine. In 1991 Rai took part in the Ford Supermodel Contest and also appeared in ''Vogue Magazine''. She has been on the cover of ''Vogue'' three times.

Rai became popular after appearing in a Pepsi commercial with actor Aamir Khan. She modelled for Longines watches, Coca-Cola, Lakmé Cosmetics, Casio pager, Philips, Palmolive, Lux, and Fuji films. She continued to model while pursuing her studies in architecture. She was named the official brand ambassador for De Beers diamonds in India.

In the 1994 ''Miss India'' contest, she won second place, behind Sushmita Sen, and was crowned ''Miss India World''. She went on to win the ''Miss World'' title the same year, where she also won the ''Miss Photogenic'' award. After winning the pageant, she gave up her studies and spent one year reigning as Miss World in London. Rai continued to pursue a career as a model until she became an actress.

Film career

Early career (1997–98)

Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil biopic film ''Iruvar'' (1997), where she worked alongside Mohanlal. The film was a critical success and won many awards, including Best Film award at the Belgrade International Film Festival, and two National Film Awards. Rai appeared in dual roles, one of which was a depiction of political leader and former actress J. Jayalalithaa. Rai made her Bollywood debut in the film in ''Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya'', opposite Bobby Deol, which released the same year; the film was unsuccessful at the box office. Her third project, ''Jeans'' (1998), a high-budget Tamil film directed by S. Shankar, was a commercial success. The film included the song "Poovukkul", written by Vairamuthu, in which Rai's character is compared to the seven wonders of the world and described as the eighth. The film was India's official entry to the Academy Awards in that year.

Career (1999–2002)

In 1999 Rai starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'', opposite Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. The film had Rai playing Nandini, who is forced to marry Devgan despite being in love with another man (Khan). Her husband tries to help her locate her previous love, and his caring attention eventually wins her over. Rai's portrayal won her critical acclaim, with a review on Rediff.com stating, "Aishwarya looks beautiful as usual ... This film will most likely draw her accolades from all over, may be even get her recognised as an actress the way Manisha Koirala did in ''Khamoshi''. In many scenes, there is no trace of makeup and she looks very fresh". The film was her first box office success in Bollywood, and earned her a Filmfare Best Actress Award.

In the same year she appeared in Subhash Ghai's ''Taal'', in which she played Mansi, a young village woman who becomes a big pop star after being hurt by her lover, played by Akshay Khanna. The film was an average grosser in India but was a big success outside India, especially in the United States, where it became the first Indian film in the top 20 on ''Variety's'' box office list. Her performance was praised, with a reviewer from Rediff.com writing, "After being praised for her looks and acting talent in ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'', Aishwarya has excelled in ''Taal''. She looks ethereal and unlike the former film, has a very sober and soft role. Though she looks pained and tragic in most of the film, she does a good job of a woman who is very protective of her father and one who doesn't think twice before rejecting a lover who has insulted her father." She received another Best Actress nomination from the Filmfare Awards for her work in the film.

In 2000 she appeared in Mansoor Khan's ''Josh'' alongside Shahrukh Khan and Chandrachur Singh, in which she plays a Catholic named Shirley who falls in love with the sibling of her brother's enemy. The film was a commercial success. Later that year she appeared in Satish Kaushik's ''Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai'', opposite Anil Kapoor. It was a moderate success, and her performance earned her a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination. Later that year she played a supporting role in Aditya Chopra's ''Mohabbatein'', alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. The second-highest grosser of the year, the film was a major commercial success, and earned her a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award nomination. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film ''Kandukondain Kandukondain'', alongside Mammooty, Ajith Kumar, and Tabu.

In 2002 Rai appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Devdas'', an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name. She played the role of Paro (Parvati), the love interest of the protagonist, played by Khan. The film received a special screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. It became the highest-grossing film of the year in India and overseas, earning a revenue of Rs domestically. ''Devdas'' won numerous awards, including 10 Filmfare Awards, and Rai received her second Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance.

Professional setback (2003–05)

In 2003 she acted in Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film ''Chokher Bali'', an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name. She portrays the character of a young woman called Binodini, who is left on her own when her sickly husband dies soon after they are married. That year she appeared in the Bollywood film ''Dil Ka Rishta'', with Arjun Rampal, and Rohan Sippy's ''Kuch Na Kaho'', alongside Abhishek Bachchan, neither of which fared well at the box office.

In 2004 she appeared alongside Martin Henderson in ''Bride and Prejudice'', Gurinder Chadha's Bollywood-style English adaptation of Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice''. She played Lalita Bakshi, the film's version of Austen's character Elizabeth Bennet. Based on 131 reviews, the film has a rating of 64 percent at the review website Rotten Tomatoes. She played a negative role for the first time in Rajkumar Santoshi's ''Khakee'', which also featured Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, and Jayapradha. In the same year she worked with director Rituparno Ghosh for the second time, in ''Raincoat'', where she starred alongside Ajay Devgan. The film was highly acclaimed by critics, with Rai receiving rave reviews for her performance.

In 2005 she appeared in ''Shabd'', a film based on a love triangle, alongside Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan. The film was unsuccessful at the box office; it received average reviews from critics. Her next release was Paul Mayeda Berges's ''The Mistress of Spices'', based on the novel of the same name by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, in which she starred alongside Dylan McDermott. The film received negative reviews from critics, and was a commercial failure. The same year she made a special appearance in a hugely popular seven-minute dance sequence for the song "Kajra Re", with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, in Shaad Ali's ''Bunty Aur Babli''.

Recent work (2006–present)

In 2006 Rai portrayed the title role in J P Dutta's ''Umrao Jaan'', the story of a courtesan and poetess from 19th-century Lucknow. The movie is the second adaptation of the Urdu novel ''Umrao Jaan Ada'' (1905), by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Rai's work received mixed reviews, and the film was a critical and commercial failure. Critics particularly felt the new version is poor when compared to the acclaimed 1981 version by Muzaffar Ali, which starred Rekha in the title role. BBC critic Poonam Joshi wrote, "While only Aishwarya could emulate the grace and poise of Rekha, she doesn't quite capture the intensity of Umrao's abiding melancholy", commenting that "her incandescent beauty and artistry... does indeed keep the audience watching, though not necessarily emotionally engaged." Later that year she appeared as a master thief, Sunheri, in the Yash Raj Films production of ''Dhoom 2'', directed by Sanjay Gadhvi. The ensemble cast included Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, and Uday Chopra. The movie was a blockbuster, and became the highest grossing film of the year in India, earning revenues of over Rs domestically. A controversy arose regarding a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan. Rai's performance received mostly negative reviews, with a reviewer on Rediff.com writing, "Ash's character too is all gloss and no depth. You seldom feel any tension in her behaviour and expressions as she accompanies the master thief on potentially dangerous missions. Sunehri enters the film nearly 50 minutes after its opening in a disguise. In no time, she is wearing the flimsiest of clothes. Once she opens her mouth—and she does it two minutes after appearing in the film—she spoils the image. There is no sensuality any more, and half an hour later, one wonders what made the master thief fall for her." Nonetheless, her performance earned her a sixth nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award.

In 2007 she appeared in Mani Ratnam's ''Guru'' as Sujata. Speculated to be based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, it is a rag to riches story about an ambitious small-town man who ends up as the owner of the biggest corporation in India. The film premièred at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Canada, the first Indian film to have a mainstream international premiere in that country. The film was critically acclaimed, and performed well at the box office. Critical reception for Rai was mixed. While Nikhat Kazmi from ''The Times of India'' wrote that she is "just okay, and fails to register the growth in her character", Rediff.com's Raja Sen described it as "arguably her finest performance, visible especially when she takes over the film's climax." Rai received her seventh Filmfare nomination for Best Actress for her performance. In the same year she starred alongside Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson in Jag Mundhra's British film ''Provoked'', as Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an Non-resident Indian woman who kills her abusive husband after facing severe domestic violence. Rai received mostly positive reviews for her portrayal. It was screened in the Marché du Film Cannes Film Market during the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Ahluwalia sat next to Rai during the screening, reportedly holding her hand and sobbing during the most violent scenes. In the same year Rai appeared as a warrior from Kerala named Mira in Doug Lefler's epic film ''The Last Legion'', alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, and Thomas Sangster. The film was a critical failure.

In 2008 Rai starred alongside Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker's historical drama ''Jodhaa Akbar''. The story is a partly-fictionalised account of the life of Muslim Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, played by Roshan, and his Hindu wife Jodha Bai, played by Rai. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning revenues of over Rs domestically. Rai's performance in the film was praised by critics, with Rajeev Masand writing, "Aishwarya Rai is wonderfully restrained and uses her eyes expertly to communicate so much, making this one of her finest outings on screen". She earned her eighth nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards for her performance. Later that year she co-starred with husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Verma's ''Sarkar Raj'', a sequel to his previous film, ''Sarkar''. She plays the CEO of a major power company that is proposing a new power plant in rural Maharashtra. The film was a critical and commercial success.

In 2009 she appeared in Harald Zwart's spy comedy film ''The Pink Panther 2'', playing the role of criminology expert Sonia Solandres. Like its predecessor, the sequel received negative reviews from critics, and did a moderate business of $34,590,360 at the U.S box office. In 2010 she collaborated with Mani Ratnam for a bilingual project, two films featuring Rai portraying a character based on the goddess Sita. The films were shot simultaneously, with Rai's role being one of the only roles which were played by the same performer in both versions. Upon release, the project received mixed reviews. Though both her portrayals of Ragini were praised, the Hindi version—''Raavan'', alongside Abhishek Bachchan—failed commercially, whilst the Tamil version—''Raavanan''—was successful. The Hindi version of the film got decent reviews in various US media, including the ''New York Times'' and ''Los Angeles Times'', with the former saying, "Raavan has Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if occasionally dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan", and the latter describing Rai as a scene-stealer.

Rai paired with Rajinikanth in the science fiction Tamil film ''Enthiran'' (2010), directed by S. Shankar. The film—the most expensive ever made in India—was released worldwide in 2010, and is the highest-grossing Indian film when all its versions are totalled. She appeared in Vipul Shah's ''Action Replayy'' opposite Akshay Kumar, which received mixed reviews from critics. Rai's final release in 2010 was ''Guzaarish'', her third collaboration with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Hrithik Roshan. The film tells the story of Ethan Mascarenhas (Roshan), a former magician who has been quadriplegic for twelve years; after years of struggle he files an appeal to the court for euthanasia. Rai played Ethan's strict, devoted, and supportive nurse Sophie D'Souza. The film opened to positive reviews, and Rai's portrayal was praised. According to Nikhat Kazmi, "Aishwarya is a stunning picture of fire and grace, walking away with certain scenes by her sheer vitality." In 2011 she received her ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. As of May 2011, she is set to appear in Rajkumar Santoshi's next film, ''Ladies and Gentlemen'', along with Abhishek Bachchan, and in Madhur Bhandarkar's next directorial venture, ''Heroine''. The shooting of both films was postponed, due to Rai's pregnancy.

Social work

In 1999 Rai participated in a world tour called the ''Magnificent Five'', along with Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Akshaye Khanna, and Twinkle Khanna. In the same year, she was appointed as Longines Ambassador of Elegance. In 2003 she became the first Indian actress to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2003 she became a global brand ambassador of L'Oreal, alongside Andie Macdowell, Eva Longoria, and Penelope Cruz. Rai is the brand ambassador for The Eye Bank Association of India's nationwide campaign to promote eye donation in India. In 2005 she became a brand ambassador for Pulse Polio, a campaign established by the Government of India in 1994 to eradicate polio in India. In the same year, Rai was appointed spokesperson for the International Year of Microcredit, raising awareness of the main goals and priorities of the United Nations' poverty alleviation efforts.

In February 2005 Rai performed alongside other Bollywood stars at the ''HELP! Telethon Concert'', an event to raise money for the victims of the 2004 tsunami earthquake. Along with other members of the Bachchan family, she laid the foundation of a special school for underprivileged girls in Daulatpur village in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. Construction is being funded by the Bachchan family, and the school will be be named after Rai. She appeared along with various other Bollywood actors at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The performance showcased Indian culture as a lead-up to India hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

In 2009 Rai was appointed as the first Goodwill Ambassador of Smile Train, an international charity that provides free Cleft lip and palate surgery to children in need. Her work with Smile Train will focus not only on India, but on 76 different developing countries around the world.

Personal life

In 1999 Aishwarya began dating Bollywood actor Salman Khan; their relationship was often reported in the media until the couple separated in 2001. Rai cited "abuse (verbal, physical and emotional), infidelity and indignity" on the part of Khan as reasons for ending the relationship. In a 2009 ''Times of India'' article, Khan denied ever beating her: "It's not true that I hit a woman."

Rai is married to actor Abhishek Bachchan, they met in 1997. Their engagement was announced on 2007 and later confirmed by his father, Amitabh Bachchan. The couple married on 2007 according to traditional Hindu rites of the Bunt community, to which she belongs. Token North Indian and Bengali ceremonies were also performed. The wedding took place in a private ceremony at the Bachchan residence, "Prateeksha", in Juhu, Mumbai. They have been described as a supercouple in the Indian media. Rai is very close to her family and lived with them in Bandra, Mumbai, until her marriage. Rai is Hindu and deeply religious.

It was revealed on 21 June 2011 by her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, through his blog, that she is pregnant. It has since been revealed that the baby is due in November 2011.

Awards and honours

Aishwarya Rai is a two-time winner of the Filmfare Best Actress Award, and has been nominated for Filmfare Awards eleven times. She has won numerous times at the International Indian Film Academy Awards, Star Screen Awards, Zee Cine Awards, and others. In 2009 Rai was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award, for her contributions to Indian cinema. In 2001 Forbes named Rai among the top five Indian movie stars. In a reader poll conducted by UK's ''Hello!'' magazine, she was voted "the most attractive woman of 2003". In the same year, Rai appeared in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's annual "Hot List". In 2004 she was chosen by ''TIME'' magazine as one of the world's most influential people, and appeared on the cover of its 2003 Asia edition. In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum. She was the sixth Indian and the second Bollywood personality—after her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan—to get this honour. In 2007 the same figure was displayed at Madame Tussaud's Museum in Times Square in New York.

In 2005 she was the subject of a ''60 Minutes'' profile on , which said that "at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts", she was "the world's most beautiful woman". The same year, a tulip in the Netherlands was named "''Aishwarya Rai''" after her. Also in 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the United Kingdom. The British magazine ''Maxim'' ranked Rai first on their list of "Hottest Women of India".

Rai appeared on such shows as ''Late Show with David Letterman'', and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on ''Oprah's'' "Women Across the Globe" segment. In 2005 Harpers and Queen's list of "Most Beautiful Women in The World" ranked her ninth. In May 2006 Aishwarya was featured in ''People Magazine'' as one of the "World's Most Beautiful People". The UK magazine ''Eastern Eye'' ranked her third in the list of "Asia's Sexiest Women" in 2006, and she was ranked eighth in 2009. In 2008 American television channel E!: Entertainment listed Aishwarya's eyes as the sexiest on their Sexiest Body Parts list. In 2009 she made appearances on Martha Stewart's show ''Martha'' and on the ''The Tyra Banks Show''. In the same year Forbes listed Rai at 387th out of 1,411 actors on their list of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. She is the highest-ranked Indian actor on the list.

In 2009, Rai refused to accept the second-highest Order Of France, ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'', as her father was suffering from a serious illness, and she wanted her whole family to attend the award ceremony. She is the fourth Indian actor—after Sivaji Ganesan, Nandita Das, and Shahrukh Khan—to be chosen for the award. Amitabh Bachchan was chosen for another Order Of France, the Legion of Honour. In June 2009 she was declared the ''Female Star of The Decade'' at the tenth International Indian Film Academy Awards, held in Macau. In December 2010 she was declared the "Actress of the Decade" at the BIG Star Entertainment Awards. In March 2011 Rai was honoured by Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa at World Kannada Meet (Vishwa Kannada Sammelana) for her contributions to the arts. Later that month she was presented with the "Decade of Global Achievement Honour" by FICCI. She attended the 83rd Academy Awards, along with her husband, Abhishek.

Filmography

scope="col"	Year	Title	Language	Role	Notes
1997	''Iruvar''		Pushpa / Kalpana
1997	''Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya''		Ashi Kapoor
1998		Tamil	Madhumita	Dubbed into Telugu and Hindi with the same title
1999	''Aa Ab Laut Chalen''	Hindi	Pooja
1999	''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam''	Hindi	Nandini	Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award
1999	''Ravoyi Chandamama''			Special appearance
1999		Hindi	Mansi
2000		Hindi	Champakali	Guest appearance
2000	''Kandukondain Kandukondain''	Tamil	Meenakshi Bala	Dubbed into Telugu as ''Priyuralu Pilichindi''
2000		Hindi	Shirley
2000	''Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai''	Hindi	Preeti Virat	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2000	''Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke''	Hindi	Sahiba Grewal
scope="row">2000	''Mohabbatein''	Hindi	Megha	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
2001		Hindi	Sonia
2002	''Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam''	Hindi	Suman	Guest appearance
2002		Hindi	Komal Rastogi
scope="row">2002	''23 March 1931: Shaheed''	Hindi		Special appearance
2002		Hindi	Parvati (Paro)	Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2002		Hindi	Herself	Special appearance in song "Ishq Kamina"
2003			Binodhini
2003	''Dil Ka Rishta''	Hindi	Tia Sharma
2003	''Kuch Naa Kaho''	Hindi	Namrata Shrivastav
2004	''Bride & Prejudice''	English	Lalita Bakshi	Dubbed into Hindi as ''Balle Balle Amritsar to LA''
2004	''Khakee''	Hindi	Mahalakshmi
2004	''Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na''	Hindi	Diya Malhotra
2004		Hindi	Neerja	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2005		Hindi	Antara Vashist/Tammana
2005	''Bunty Aur Babli''	Hindi		Special appearance in the song "Kajra Re"
2005		English	Tilo
2006		Hindi	Umrao Jaan
2006	''Dhoom 2''	Hindi	Sunehri	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2007		Hindi	Sujata	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress AwardDubbed into 2007		English	[[Kiranjit Ahluwalia">Tamil language
2007		English	[[Kiranjit Ahluwalia	Dubbed into Hindi with the same title
2007	''The Last Legion''	English	Mira
2008	''Jodhaa Akbar''	Hindi	Mariam-uz-Zamani>Jodhaa Bai	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress AwardDubbed into 2008	''[[Sarkar Raj">Tamil language
2008	''[[Sarkar Raj''	Hindi	Anita Rajan
2009	''The Pink Panther 2''	English	Sonia Solandres	Dubbed into French as ''La Pantera Rosa 2''
2010	''Raavan''	Hindi	Ragini Sharma
2010	''Raavanan''	Tamil	Ragini Subramaniam
2010	''Enthiran''	Tamil	Sana
2010	''Action Replayy''	Hindi	Mala
2010	''Guzaarish''	Hindi	Sofia D'Souza	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2012		Hindi
2012		Hindi	Mahi Khanna

See also

List of Indian film actresses

References

Further reading

External links

}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Femina Miss India winners Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Indian female models Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian Hindus Category:Mangaloreans Category:Miss World 1994 delegates Category:Miss World winners Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:People from Mangalore Category:People from Mumbai Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Tulu people Category:University of Mumbai alumni Category:Tamil film actors

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Josh Williams
Show-medals	yes
Medaltemplates	}}

Belts Held:FCF Championship|Pure Force Championship }}

Josh Williams attended Foothill High School in Tustin, California and moved onto the Arizona State University. Williams now fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championships with Team Armedarsenal.com Under the instruction of Jujitsu practitioner Luciano Banaderas and Boxing coach Franklin Majjadero.

Awards and honors

Williams holds the FCF Championship belt as well as the Pure Force Championship Belt. Williams's record is a fantastic 8-0. Resent fights consist of

Win Garrick Landis Submission (Armbar) FCF - Freestyle Cage Fighting 34 1 1:12

Win Arnulfo Veloquio Submission (Armbar) FCF - Freestyle Cage Fighting 1 1:17

Win Samar Saad TKO PF 4 - Pure Force 4 9/19/2006 1 2:01

References

Category:Living people