Events

27 BC – The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate.

550 – Gothic War (535–554): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Cordoba.

1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1362 – A storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German city of Rungholt on the island of Strand.

1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.

1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language is presented to Queen Isabella I.

1547 – Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.

1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.

1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.

1581 – The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

1605 – The first edition of ''El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha'' (Book One of ''Don Quixote'') by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.

1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.

1761 – The British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.

1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.

1786 – The Commonwealth of Virginia enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.

1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.

1847 – John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) – Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.

1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.

1896 – Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.

1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

1909 – Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.

1919 – Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.

1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris.

1924 – Eleftherios Venizelos becomes Prime Minister of Greece for the fourth time.

1938 – The Benny Goodman Orchestra performed the first jazz concert at Carnegie Hall.

1939 – The Irish Republican Army (IRA) begins a bombing and sabotage campaign in England.

1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.

1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.

1956 – President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.

1968 – The Youth International Party is founded.

1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

1970 – Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.

1979 – The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.

1986 – First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.

1991 – The United States goes to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War (U.S. Time).

1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending the 12-year Salvadoran civil war that claimed at least 75,000.

2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.

2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.

2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.

2003 – The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

Births

1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. after 1152)

1245 – Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)

1409 – René I of Naples (d. 1480)

1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)

1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)

1616 – François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)

1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)

1634 – Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)

1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)

1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)

1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian dramatist (d. 1803)

1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1834)

1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American Civil War Admiral (d. 1877)

1815 – Henry W. Halleck, American Civil War general (d. 1872)

1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American lawyer and politician; 14th Vice President of the United States and Confederate general (d. 1875)

1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American politician (d. 1906)

1836 – King Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)

1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)

1844 – Ismail Qemali, Albanian nationalist (d. 1919)

1853 – Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and theatre manager (d. 1937)

1853 – Gen Sir Ian Hamilton, British military commander (d. 1947)

1853 – André Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)

1853 – Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov, Russian philosopher (d. 1900)

1872 – Henri Busser, French composer (d. 1973)

1872 – Edward Gordon Craig, English actor, producer, director and scenic designer (d. 1966)

1874 – Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)

1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German enzyme kinetic theorist (d. 1947)

1878 – Harry Carey, American silent film actor (d. 1947)

1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)

1886 – John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)

1888 – Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)

1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian violinist (d. 1981)

1894 – Irving Mills, American jazz music publisher (d. 1985)

1895 – Nat Schachner, American author (d. 1955)

1896 – Ruth Rose, American screenwriter (d. 1978)

1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)

1898 – Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)

1898 – Irving Rapper, UK-US film director (d. 1999)

1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)

1901 – Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)

1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)

1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French racing driver and WWII resistance fighter (d. 1945)

1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)

1906 – Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964)

1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian actor (d. 1995)

1907 – Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)

1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)

1908 – Günther Prien, German World War II submarine captain (d. 1941)

1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player (d. 1974)

1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)

1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean politician (d. 1982)

1914 – Roger Wagner, American choral musician (d. 1992)

1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American television and film director.

1916 – Philip Lucock, Australian politician and Presbyterian minister (d. 1996)

1917 – Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)

1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet (d. 2005)

1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish film producer (d. 2009)

1918 – Clem Jones, Australian Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)

1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American writer (d. 1996)

1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (d. 1991)

1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor

1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)

1922 – Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer (d. 2008)

1923 – Gene Feist, American stage actor and producer

1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)

1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)

1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano (d. 1996)

1928 – William Kennedy, American author

1930 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d. 2006)

1930 – Norman Podhoretz, US writer, foreign policy adviser

1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist

1931 – Johannes Rau, German politician (d. 2006)

1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)

1933 – Susan Sontag, American writer (d. 2004)

1934 – Marilyn Horne, American opera singer

1935 – A.J. Foyt, American race car driver and team owner

1937 – Lorraine Bayly, Australian actress

1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian racing driver

1938 – Jô Soares, Brazilian author, musician and TV personality

1942 – René Angélil, Canadian music executive

1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer

1943 – Gavin Bryars, English composer and double bassist

1943 – Brian Ferneyhough, British composer

1944 – Gerd Klier, German footballer (d. 2011)

1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer and songwriter

1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor

1946 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and songwriter

1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano

1947 – Magdalen Nabb, British author (d. 2007)

1947 – Sarah Jane Olson, American political activist

1947 – Harvey Proctor, British politician

1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host

1948 – John Carpenter, American film director

1948 – Dalvanius Prime, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)

1948 – Ruth Reichl, American magazine editor

1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player

1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian politician, Deputy Premier of New South Wales

1949 – Caroline Munro, British actress

1950 – Debbie Allen, American dancer and choreographer

1950 – Brian Castro, Australian author

1950 – Damo Suzuki, Japanese singer (Can)

1950 – Robert Schimmel, American Comedian (d. 2010)

1951 – Glenn Ordway, American radio talk show host

1952 – King Fuad II of Egypt

1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, NASA astronaut

1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American neo-Nazi (d. 1984)

1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, NASA astronaut

1956 – Jennifer Dale, Canadian actress

1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch football manager

1956 – Ivan Safronov, Russian journalist (d. 2007)

1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer

1957 – Ricardo Darin, Argentine actor

1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)

1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish politician

1959 – Juanita Bynum, American televangelist

1959 – Sade, Nigerian-born singer

1961 – Paul Raven, English musician (Killing Joke) (d. 2007)

1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian politician

1962 – Tracey Moore, voice actress

1962 – Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk, .O.rang)

1963 – James May, English television presenter

1965 – Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)

1965 – Jill Sobule, American singer-songwriter

1968 – David Chokachi, American actor

1969 – Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin, Swedish black metal vocalist (Mayhem) (d. 1991)

1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer

1969 – Neil Back, England rugby player

1970 – Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author

1970 – Brendan O'Hare, Scottish drummer (Teenage Fanclub, Telstar Ponies)

1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player

1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player

1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer

1972 – Ang Christou, Australian rules footballer

1972 – Dameon Clarke, Canadian actor

1972 – Yuri Drozdov, Russian footballer

1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer

1972 – Salah Hissou, Moroccan long-distance runner

1972 – Joe Horn, American football player

1972 – Richard T. Jones, American actor

1972 – Greg Page, Australian musician and actor

1972 – Alen Peternac, Croatian footballer

1973 – Josie Davis, American actress

1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player

1974 – Kate Moss, English model

1975 – Greg Strause, American visual effects creator

1975 – Gillian Iliana Waters, American actress

1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver

1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak female swimmer

1977 – Ariel Zeevi, Israeli judoka

1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player

1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player

1979 – Aaliyah, American R&B; singer/actress (d. 2001)

1979 – Mark Anthony Fernandez, Filipino actor

1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player

1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player

1980 – Seydou Keita, Malian footballer

1980 – Lin Manuel Miranda, American actor, composer, lyricist (In The Heights)

1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-born baseball player

1980 – Michelle Wild, Hungarian model

1981 – Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)

1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer

1982 – Samuel Preston, British singer (The Ordinary Boys)

1982 – Tuncay Şanlı, Turkish footballer

1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer

1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer

1984 – Jared Slingerland, Canadian musician

1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player

1985 – Gintaras Janusevicius, Lithuanian pianist

1985 – Jonathan Richter, Danish footballer

1986 – Mason Gamble, American actor

1986 – Paula Pareto, Argentine judoka

1987 – Lauren McAvoy, British fashion model

1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer

1989 – Yvonne Zima, American actress

1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian hockey player

1992 – Maja Keuc, Slovenian singer

Deaths

960 – Polyeuctus, Patriarch of Constantinople

1327 – Nikephoros Choumnos, Byzantine scholar and statesman (b. 1250/55)

1387 – Elizabeth of Bosnia, Hungarian queen and regent (b. 1340)

1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (b. 1352)

1545 – George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)

1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)

1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist (b. 1480)

1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)

1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)

1710 – Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)

1711 – Blessed Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)

1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)

1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)

1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal (b. 1667)

1752 – Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)

1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)

1809 – John Moore, British general (b. 1761)

1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman (b. 1759)

1826 – Lindley Murray, grammarian (b. 1745)

1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (b. 1769)

1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)

1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian biographer of Beethoven (b. 1795)

1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b. 1828)

1879 – Octave Crémazie, French Canadian poet (b. 1827)

1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian opera composer (b. 1834)

1891 – Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)

1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, British Member of Parliament (b. 1802)

1901 – Jules Barbier, French opera librettist (b. 1825)

1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter (b. 1827)

1901 – Hiram Revels, first African-American to serve in the U. S. Senate (b. 1822)

1906 – Marshall Field, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)

1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)

1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)

1920 – Reginald De Koven, American music critic and operetta composer (b. 1859)

1924 – Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald, Scottish philanthropist (b. 1859)

1935 – Ma Barker, American criminal (b. 1871)

1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer (b. 1870)

1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria (b. 1850)

1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)

1942 – Ernst Scheller, German Nazi politician (b. 1899)

1957 – 1st Earl of Athlone, British royal, brother of Queen Mary (b. 1874)

1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)

1959 – Phan Khoi, Vienamese intellectual (b. 1887)

1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer (b. 1885)

1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)

1963 – Ike Quebec, American tenor-saxophone player (b. 1918)

1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)

1968 – Bob Jones, Sr, American evangelist (b. 1883)

1969 – Vernon Duke, American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)

1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)

1972 – Teller Ammons, American politician (b. 1895)

1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (David Seville), American actor (b. 1919)

1979 – Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)

1979 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b. 1897)

1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)

1982 – Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)

1985 – Robert Fitzgerald, American poet and translator (b. 1910)

1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)

1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian abortion rights campaigner (b. 1928)

1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b. 1899)

1988 – Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)

1989 – Prem Nazir, Malayalam actor (b. 1926)

1993 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (b. 1930)

1993 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (b. 1960)

1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)

1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and music critic (b. 1903)

1997 – Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby (b. 1969)

1997 – Markus Hoffmann, German actor (b. 1971)

1998 – Dimitris Horn, Greek actor (b. 1921)

1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian solicitor and politician (b. 1915)

2000 – Will "Dub" Jones, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1928)

2000 – John Morris Rankin, Canadian musical entertainer (b. 1959)

2001 – Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)

2001 – Auberon Waugh, British author and journalist (b. 1939)

2002 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)

2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, British astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)

2002 – Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)

2002 – Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)

2002 – Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)

2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)

2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)

2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

2006 – Stanley Biber, American surgeon (b. 1923)

2007 – Ron Carey, American actor (b. 1935)

2007 – Benny Parsons, American racecar driver and commentator (b. 1941)

2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and long distance runner (b. 1930)

2009 – John Mortimer, British barrister, screenwriter and author. (b. 1923)

2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American realist painter (b. 1917)

2010 – Glen Bell, WW2 Veteran and the founder of Taco Bell. (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:

*Berard of Carbio

*Fursey

*Honoratus of Arles

*Titian of Oderzo

*January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Flag Day or Magen David Day (Israel)

National Religious Freedom Day (United States)

Teacher's Day (Thailand)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On this day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:January

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Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Imran Khan Niaziعمران خان نیازی
birth date	November 25, 1952
birth place	Lahore, Pakistan
party	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
spouse	Jemima Khan (1995–2004)
children	Sulaiman Qasim Khan
residence	Lahore
occupation	Politician Philanthropist Cricketer
religion	Islam
alma mater	Keble College, Oxford
website	PTI }}

Imran Khan Niazi (}}; born 25 November 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator, Chancellor of the University of Bradford and Founder and Chairman Board of Governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.

Arguably Pakistan's most successful cricket captain, Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches. On 14 July 2010, Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of a political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice). He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007. Foreign Policy magazine has described him as Pakistan's Ron Paul.

Through worldwide fundraising, he has also helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali's Namal College in 2008.

Family, education, and personal life

Imran Khan was born in Lahore, the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, and his wife Shaukat Khanum. Although long settled in Punjab, the family were of Pashtun (Pathan) ethnicity and belonged to the Niazi Shermankhel tribe. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his four sisters in relatively affluent (upper middle-class) circumstances and received a privileged education. He was educated the Cathedral School in Lahore, the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket, and at Aitchison College, Lahore. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics. Khan's mother hailed from the Burki family which had produced several successful hockey players, as also cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Early in life, Khan developed an interest in cricket, which is an extremely popular sport in Pakistan.

Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith

On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, in an Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey. The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan, produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999). As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan". The marriage ended amicably. Imran has regular access to his children and his relationship with his ex-wife is friendly. Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.

Cricket career

country	Pakistan
living	true
living	true
dayofbirth	25
monthofbirth	11
yearofbirth	1952
placeofbirth	Mianwali, Punjab
countryofbirth	Pakistan
batting	Right-handed
bowling	Right-arm fast
role	All-rounder
international	true
testdebutdate	3 June
testdebutyear	1971
testdebutagainst	England
testcap	65
lasttestdate	2 January
lasttestyear	1992
lasttestagainst	Sri Lanka
odidebutdate	31 August
odidebutyear	1974
odidebutagainst	England
odicap	175
lastodidate	25 March
lastodiyear	1992
lastodiagainst	England
club1	Sussex
year1	1977–1988
club2	New South Wales
year2	1984/85
club3	PIA
year3	1975–1981
club4	Worcestershire
year4	1971–1976
club5	Oxford University
year5	1973–1975
club6	Lahore
year6	1969–1971
columns	4
column1	Test
matches1	88
runs1	3,807
bat avg1	37.69
100s/50s1	6/18
top score1	136
deliveries1	19,458
wickets1	362
bowl avg1	22.81
fivefor1	23
tenfor1	6
best bowling1	8/58
catches/stumpings1	28/–
column2	ODI
matches2	175
runs2	3,709
bat avg2	33.41
100s/50s2	1/19
top score2	102*
deliveries2	7,461
wickets2	182
bowl avg2	26.61
fivefor2	1
tenfor2	n/a
best bowling2	6/14
catches/stumpings2	36/–
column3	FC
matches3	382
runs3	17,771
bat avg3	36.79
100s/50s3	30/93
top score3	170
deliveries3	65,224
wickets3	1,287
bowl avg3	22.32
fivefor3	70
tenfor3	13
best bowling3	8/34
catches/stumpings3	117/–
column4	LA
matches4	425
runs4	10,100
bat avg4	33.22
100s/50s4	5/66
top score4	114*
deliveries4	19,122
wickets4	507
bowl avg4	22.31
fivefor4	6
tenfor4	n/a
best bowling4	6/14
catches/stumpings4	84/–
date	24 December
year	2011
source	http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1383/1383.html CricketArchive }}

name	Pride of Performance Award Recipient
country	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
date	1983
presenter	Islamic Republic of Pakistan }}

name	Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award Recipient
country	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
date	1992
presenter	Islamic Republic of Pakistan }}

Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71). Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973–75 seasons. At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980–81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.

In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976–77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia. Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.

As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. In 9 Tests, he got 62 wickets at 13.29 each, the lowest average of any bowler in Test history with at least 50 wickets in a calendar year. In January 1983, playing against India, he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (ICC player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.

Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order. He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia. He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so. In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs.

Captaincy

At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team from Javed Miandad. Recalling his initial discomfort with this new role, he later said, "When I became the cricket captain, I couldn’t speak to the team directly I was so shy. I had to tell the manager, I said listen can you talk to them, this is what I want to convey to the team. I mean early team meetings I use to be so shy and embarrassed I couldn’t talk to the team." As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.

In the team's second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's. Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–82. He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982–83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain.

This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984–85 season.

In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first ever Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England the same year. During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team. Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well". He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests.

Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself.

Post-retirement

In 1994, Khan had admitted that, during Test matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot." In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, ''India Today''. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago. Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10–2 majority decision by the jury.

Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's ''Outlook'' magazine, the ''Guardian'', the ''Independent'', and the ''Telegraph''. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network. In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports' special live show, Straight Drive, while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for BBC during the 1999 World Cup.

In November 2009 Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine.

Social work

For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994. Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations.

During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF's Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

On 27 April 2008, Khan's brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College, was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005. Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi, using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.

Political work

In 1996, Khan founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which emphasized on anti-corruption policies. The newly formed party was unable to win a seat during the 1997 Pakistani general election. Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias". According to Khan, he was Musharraf's choice of prime minister in 2002 but turned down the offer. The 2002 Pakistani general election were held in October across 272 constituencies. Khan anticipated doing well in the elections and was prepared to form a coalition if his party did not get a majority of the vote. He was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali and being the only party member to have secured a seat, PTI won only 0.8% of the popular vote. Khan, who was sworn in as an MP on 16 November, remained part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts, and expressed legislative interest in Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice.

On 6 May 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim figures to criticise a 300-word ''Newsweek'' story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from the American president George W. Bush for the incident.. In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan, were rejected on 5 September.

On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which General Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief. On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest at his father's home hours after President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Khan had demanded the death penalty for Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule, which he equated to "committing treason". The next day, on 4 November, Khan escaped and went into peripatetic hiding. He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab. At the rally, Khan was captured by students from the Jamaat-i-Islami political party, who claimed that Khan was an uninvited nuisance at the rally, and they handed him over to the police, who charged him under the Anti-terrorism act for allegedly inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience, and for spreading hatred..

Ideology

Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and the implementation of anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.

Khan told Britain's ''Daily Telegraph'', "I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary." Other ideas he has presented include a requirement of all students to spend a year after graduation teaching in the countryside and cutting down the over-staffed bureaucracy in order to send them to teach too. "We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grass roots," he has said.

Criticism

During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drunk alcohol. He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.

Khan is often dismissed as a political lightweight and a celebrity outsider in Pakistan, where national newspapers also refer to him as a "spoiler politician". The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has asserted that Khan is "a sick person who has been a total failure in politics and is alive just because of the media coverage". Political observers say the crowds he draws are attracted by his cricketing celebrity, and the public has been reported to view him as a figure of entertainment rather than a serious political authority.

Declan Walsh in ''The Guardian'' newspaper in England in 2005 described Khan as a "miserable politician," observing that, "Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower... He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next." The charge constantly raised against Khan is that of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life's "playboy to puritan U-turn." Political commentator Najam Sethi, stated that, "A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn’t inspire people."

In 2008, as part of the Hall of Shame awards for 2007, Pakistan's ''Newsline'' magazine gave Khan the "Paris Hilton award for being the most undeserving media darling." The 'citation' for Khan read: "He is the leader of a party that is the proud holder of one National Assembly seat (and) gets media coverage inversely proportional to his political influence." ''The Guardian'' has described the coverage garnered by Khan's post-retirement activities in England, where he made his name as a cricket star and a night-club regular, as "terrible tosh, with danger attached. It turns a great (and greatly miserable) Third World nation into a gossip-column annexe. We may all choke on such frivolity." After the 2008 general elections, political columnist Azam Khalil addressed Khan as one of the "utter failures in Pakistani politics".

Awards and honours

In 1992, Khan was given Pakistan's civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz

In 1983, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award

In 2011 he was given Jinnah award.

Khan is featured in the University of Oxford's Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford's Keble College.

On 7 December 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford, where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project.

In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket.

In 1983, he was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year

In 1985, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year

In 1990, Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year On 5 July 2008, he was one of several veteran Asian cricketers presented special silver jubilee awards at the inaugural Asian cricket Council (ACC) award ceremony in Karachi. On 8 July 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, for "acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities. On 13 December 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan. In 2009, at International Cricket Council's centennial year celebration, Khan was one of fifty-five cricketers inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Writings by Khan

Khan has published five works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. He periodically writes editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics in several leading Pakistani and British newspapers. It was revealed in 2008 that Khan's second book, ''Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan'', had required heavy editing from the publisher. The publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, "he handed me a leatherbound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on."

Khan has finished writing his sixth book, ''Pakistan: A Personal History'', and it released on 15 September 2011. The book is meant to be an overview of Pakistan's history, seen through the prism of Khan's memories and recollections. He also takes a look at historic developments, such as the 1965 and 1971 wars with India, the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, and the subsequent American invasion of Afghanistan. A stated goal was to have these events ''viewed not only through the eyes of Westerners, but through those of ordinary Pakistanis.''

Books Articles

Guardian comments, political and cricket commentary by Khan

Telegraph columns, sports articles penned by Khan from 2000 to present

We must address the root causes of this terror, Khan's editorial in the ''Independent'' following the 11 September attacks

Benazir Bhutto has only herself to blame, Khan's 2007 editorial on Bhutto's return to Pakistan

References

Further reading

External links

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan's political party

Chancellor: Imran Khan at the University of Bradford

Column archive at ''The Guardian''

Imran Khan at Cricinfo

;Articles

The NS Interview: Imran Khan Mehdi Hasan, ''New Statesman'', 20 August 2010

Imran Khan's revolution, Murtaza Razvi, ''Dawn'', 27 April 2011

Imran Khan: Pakistan's next leader?, ''Frost Over the World'', ''Aljazeera English'', 10 December 2011

Thousands rally for Pakistan's Imran Khan, ''Aljazeera English'', 25 December 2011

Hundreds of thousands gather at PTI rally in Karachi, ''Dawn'', 25 December 2011

Category:Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Category:Chancellors of the University of Bradford Category:Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Category:Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Category:Hilal-i-Imtiaz Category:International Cricket Council Hall of Fame inductees Category:Lahore cricketers Category:Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan Category:Old Aitchisonians Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester Category:Oxford University cricketers Category:Pakistani sportsperson–politicians Category:Pakistani cricket captains Category:Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf politicians Category:Pakistan International Airlines cricketers Category:Pakistani philanthropists Category:Pakistani politicians Category:Pakistani socialites Category:Pakistan One Day International cricketers Category:Pakistan Test cricketers Category:Pakistani people of Afghan descent Category:People from Lahore Category:People from Mianwali District Category:Politicians from Lahore Category:Sussex cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Worcestershire cricketers Category:World Series Cricket players Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Category:New South Wales cricketers Category:Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Category:Leaders of political parties in Pakistan Category:Article Feedback Blacklist Category:Recipients of the Pride of Performance award Category:Pakistani Muslims

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Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Enter Shikari
background	group_or_band
origin	St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
genre	Post-hardcore, electronicore, metalcore
years active	1999–2003 (as Hybryd)2003–present
label	Ambush RealityTiny Evil (2007-2010)PIAS Recordings (Europe)Hopeless Records (America)
website	www.entershikari.com
current members	Rou ReynoldsRory ClewlowChris BattenRob Rolfe }}

Enter Shikari is a British post-hardcore band with elements of electronica, dubstep, and drum and bass, formed in 2003 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The band is named after a boat belonging to Roughton "Rou" Reynolds' uncle, and a character in a play which he wrote before forming the band, both of which are named Shikari. Shikari also means 'Hunter', in Marathi, Persian, Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali. Their debut album, ''Take to the Skies'' was released on 19 March 2007 and reached #4 in the Official UK Album Chart. Their second album, titled ''Common Dreads'', was released on 15 June 2009 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at 16.

Biography

Beginnings and ''Take to the Skies'' (1999–2008)

In 1999 a band named Hybryd formed consisting of Rou on guitar, Chris on bass and Rob on drums. They released an EP under the name 'Commit No Nuisance' and featured the tracks 'Perfect Pygmalion' and 'Fake'. In 2003, Hybryd became Enter Shikari. They revolutionised their sound by recruiting Rory to play Guitar so that Rou could concentrate on electronics. Enter Shikari formed in St Albans, England in 2003. The band features Roughton "Rou" (/raʊ/) Reynolds on vocals and electronics, Liam Clewlow (known by his middle name 'Rory') on guitar, Chris Batten on bass guitar and Rob Rolfe on drums. All four members are from St Albans.

During 2003 and 2004, the band released three demo EPs that were available from their gigs and their website. They had another demo EP planned for release in 2005, (although no such EP materialized only recordings surfaced online) for this the first versions of Return To Energiser and Labyrinth were recorded, early versions of Ok Time For Plan B and We Can Breathe In Space were also recorded around this time but it's unclear if these were destined for the EP. In August 2006 they released a video of , the (only 100 copies) single "Mothership" which became the single of the week on the iTunes store. Their first physical single featured re-recorded versions of "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which had previously been featured on one of the demo EPs. It was released on 30 October 2006. It was limited to 1000 copies of each format and sold out within the first week of release. In mid January 2007, Enter Shikari's first single, "Mothership", entered the UK singles chart for one week at number 151, on Downloads only (despite its physical formats not being eligible for charts [at the band's request]. This was followed a week later by "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B", which charted at number 182 on the singles chart (despite its physical formats being ineligible for charts [at the band's request]) and number 146 in the Download Chart. In addition "Sorry You're Not a Winner/OK Time for Plan B" featured on EA Sports video game title NHL 08 and also Madden 08. Enter Shikari secured a spot on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. They have also had interviews with popular music press such as ''Kerrang!'' and ''Rock Sound''. On 4 November 2006, they became only the second unsigned band to ever sell out London Astoria (the first being The Darkness).

They also made the ''NME'''s "New Noise 2007", a list of the bands it considers most likely to achieve success in the coming year (previous years lists have included the likes of Arcade Fire, Hot Chip and Bloc Party).

The next single released was "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour", on 5 March 2007. This was the band's second single to be released from their forthcoming debut album. It contained a re-recorded version of the song "Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour". It reached 27 in the Official UK chart. The band's debut album, ''Take to the Skies'', was released on 19 March 2007 and on 25 March it reached number 4 in the UK Official Album Charts. It contained re-recordings of many of the songs that had featured on the demo EPs and singles that were released prior to the release of the album.

During the month of March 2007 it was announced they would be playing at Download Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Give it a Name, Glastonbury Festival, Oxegen festival in Ireland and Rock am Ring in Germany. On 30 March 2007, Enter Shikari announced that their next single would be "Jonny Sniper" and would be released on 18 June. The song's video was premiered on 21 May. The single received bad reviews from ''NME''.

On 6 June 2007 they performed a live show on BBC Radio 1 for Zane Lowe at BBC Radio Theatre.

They played an eleven date headline tour in October/November 2007 including their biggest ever headline gig in the 4,921 capacity Carling Academy Brixton. The band released a compilation EP titled The Zone on 12 November.

Enter Shikari have performed over 500 gigs as of 2007 and played on the Gibson/MySpace stage at 2006's Download Festival. On 14 May 2007, Enter Shikari started their first North America tour. This followed into three more North American tours.

In January 2008, Enter Shikari performed in Australia and New Zealand for the first time as part of the Big Day Out Festival. The band also did a number of side-shows in Australia, including two sold out shows at the ''Hi-Fi Bar'' in Melbourne.

They played at Projekt Revolution in Milton Keynes on 29 June 2008, alongside Linkin Park, Jay-Z, N.E.R.D, The Bravery, InnerPartySystem and Pendulum.

On 13 May 2008, the band released the first in a series of videos called "Enter Shikari: In the 'Low". The videos, posted on the band's YouTube page, showcased the band as they recorded their new single, "We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don't Want Us To Escape", and demoed new material. One of the new songs set to feature on the album was 'Step Up', which was first performed at Milton Keynes Pitz on 28 June 2008, the warm up show to Projekt Revolution the following day.

On 8 August 2008, it was announced that "We Can Breathe In Space, They Just Don't Want Us To Escape" would be released as a single. It was said to be a drastic re-working of the song originally demoed by the band back in 2005, but was not to be included in the band's second album.

They completed a tour of the UK and Ireland which took place over the course of 6 weeks; from 30 September to 4 November 2008; and consisted of 28 shows. A DVD compilation of live footage filmed by band / crew along with some TV footage was to be released to coincide with the tour according to a Kerrang! interview with the band, but has not been released as of yet.

''Common Dreads'' (2009–2010)

It was confirmed by ''NME'' that Enter Shikari had finished working on their second album, ''Common Dreads'', in March 2009 and announced that they would tour the UK and Europe during 2009. They also made available a free download of a new song, ''Antwerpen'' from their website. On 15 April 2009 ''Juggernauts'' was played on Radio 1 as Zane Lowe's "Hottest Track in the World" and was released as a single on 1 June 2009. The B-side of the single is "All Eyes On The Saint". The band also had help from musician Danny Sneddon who helped with the recording of ''Juggernauts''. On 1 May Kerrang featured their track-by-track of the album. Metal Hammer were the first to review the album online with a track-by-track. Since it was announced in an interview with Andy Copping on Scuzz on their "The Digital Darkside: Download Special" that there would be 2 secret bands playing at Download Festival 2009, it has been heavily speculated that Enter Shikari would play one of these slots. They were confirmed to be one of the secret bands on 9 June 2009. Enter Shikari also featured at Reading and Leeds Festivals on 29 and 30 August 2009, playing songs from Common Dreads, as well as acoustic variations of 'Juggernauts', 'No Sleep Tonight' and 'Adieu' from Take To The Skies.

''Common Dreads'' was released through Ambush Reality on 15 June 2009 and debuted at #16 on the UK top 40 album chart. The second single that has been released from Common Dreads was ''No Sleep Tonight''. The 7" vinyl, CD single and MP3 download was released on 17 August 2009. A slightly modified version of the song "Wall" was released as a radio single, and a video for the song "Zzzonked" made of clips of a live show which was played at Norwich UEA, was also released.

A 2-disc version of ''Common Dreads'' was due to be released in January 2010. Frontman Rou Reynolds announced that “We’ve got a different artist for each single from Hospital Records to do drum ‘n’ bass remixes so we’ll be releasing that as a 12". Then we're doing the same thing with (dubstep label) True Tiger who've done a dubstep remix of each single.” however it was later said in a Radio 1 interview that in fact they were only having their main singles remixed.

The new single "Thumper" was released on 19 January 2010, on BBC Radio One, As well the new single "Tribalism", which was first played on Radio 1, 16 February 2010. These songs come off the new B-sides and remixes album ''Tribalism'', which was released on 22 February 2010.

Since March 2009, drummer Rob Rolfe has not been able to perform at United States shows due to a denial of a visa. Rob has chosen Fellsilent drummer, Christopher Mansbridge to fill in for these dates. Although, on 9 July 2010 Rob stated in a Twitter post that he had obtained a visa. On 30 September 2010 Rob passed through customs at an airport in Houston for Enter Shikari's North American tour in October/November, and confirmed this in a Twitter post stating simply "America, I'm back".

Throughout February–March 2010, Enter Shikari joined the Australian summer festival Soundwave along with other bands such as A Day to Remember and Architects, playing shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The band then continued to tour Japan with A Day to Remember and Escape the Fate and in April–May 2010, they served as a support act, along with August Burns Red and Silverstein on A Day to Remember's Toursick.

"Live from Planet Earth and third studio album (2010–present)

On 14 June 2010, Enter Shikari announced that they had returned to the studio to do a "one off new track" called "Destabilise" which was released as a download on 26 October 2010, and a limited edition coloured 7" vinyl on 29 November 2010.

During June and July 2010, the band took part in the Warped Tour in USA and afterwards, they played a few festivals such as headlining Redfest and supporting The Prodigy at Milton Keynes Bowl. Following this, they performed an exclusive show at the venue Underworld situated in Camden which was filmed and recorded as a possible DVD release, though technical problems with the recording - caused by heat and moisture in the room - resulted in it being highly unlikely that a majority of the show will ever see the light of day.

In August 2010, Enter Shikari returned to Australian shores for a headlining national tour, playing sold out shows in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and near-sellout shows in Perth and Brisbane. On 2 October 2010, the band went on their headlining "Destabilise" Tour in North America with Haste the Day, Sleeping With Sirens, MSWHITE, and Lights Go Blue. The band then supported 30 Seconds to Mars on their Into The Wild Tour leg of UK arenas in November and December 2010.

Also, at the end of 2010, the band collaborated with UK drum and bass band The Qemists on their single Take it Back which was released on 28 March 2011.

On 21 March 2011, it was confirmed that Enter Shikari will be playing at the Reading and Leeds festivals in late August and on 26 April 2011, the band confirmed a mainland European tour starting in Kiev, Ukraine on 7 September, and ending in Tilburg, Holland on 3 October 2011. Also, on 14 June 2011, the band confirmed a UK and Irleand tour which will take part during the month of October. Support for these two tours will be provided from Your Demise and letlive.

In May 2011, the band traveled to Bangkok, Thailand to record their third studio album. Recording began on 8 May 2011, and finished on 14 June 2011. On 19 May 2011, they released the single; "Quelle Surprise". It was originally planned to be the first single released from the new album however, Rou Reynolds has since confirmed that it wont feature, and instead will be a stand alone single much like Destabilise.

In June 2011, the band signed to Hopeless Records in the US, and embarked on the Vans Warped Tour for the second year in a row.

On 11 July 2011, the band released their third live album and first DVD, bundled together as Live From Planet Earth. Distribution of the non limited edition version of Live From Planet Earth and other Enter Shikari stock has been affected however following a fire at the PIAS distribution warehouse in London, after it was set on fire by rioters following the 2011 England riots. This was announced via the bands' Facebook after many fans discovered that the fire had affected the bands' label Ambush Reality, and Rou confirmed a majority of the stock had indeed gone up in flames in an interview with Rocksound.

In the fall and winter of 2011, Enter Shikari will embark on a US tour with The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, and For Today.

Band members

Roughton "Rou" Reynolds — lead vocals, programming, keyboards, synthesizers, acoustic guitar

Liam "Rory" Clewlow — guitars, backing vocals

Chris Batten — bass, backing vocals

Rob Rolfe — drums, percussion

Discography

''Take to the Skies'' (2007)

''Common Dreads'' (2009)

Ambush Reality

Ambush Reality is an Independent record label started in July 2006 that currently only releases music by Enter Shikari. It is co-owned and run by the members of the band and their friends. The band has decided that, in order to tour in the United States, they will have to sign with a major record label in America. On 28 August 2007, Ambush Reality said that ''Take to the Skies'' will come out in North America in October 2007, with Ambush Reality joining Interscope Records imprint Tiny Evil. Ambush Reality have recently signed a distribution deal with Warner Music in order to make the album ''Common Dreads'' and future releases more accessible outside the UK and also more widely advertised and promoted. As of 8 December 2010 Enter Shikari / Ambush Reality have left distribution through Warner and will distribute throughout UK/Europe/Japan/Australia via PIAS.

Side projects

Reynolds has produced music as part of a side project with the name "Rout", which he sometimes performs in small venues and before shows. He previously used the names "Shark & Blitz" and "Routron 5000". The music develops on his penchant for electronics, resulting in a drum'n'bass/jungle/dubstep sound. Some songs feature samples of Rou and friends fooling around as well as iconic lines from movies or songs.

Frontman Rou Reynolds has also set up his own clothing company Step Up Clothing .

Drummer Rob Rolfe also performs as a DJ under the alias "Sgt. Rolfy" specialising in freeform hardcore music.

Enter Shikari promoted the film Zeitgeist: Moving Forward through their website, encouraging their fans to join the Zeitgeist Movement, stating: "Single-handedly the biggest influence on all that is Enter Shikari!".

Reynolds was also involved in hardcore side project JBM along with his friend Matt Pendell.

Awards

Award	Status	Reference
align="left"

References

External links

Category:English rock music groups Category:British post-hardcore musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 2003 Category:Musical quintets Category:Kerrang! Awards winners

bg:Enter Shikari cs:Enter Shikari de:Enter Shikari es:Enter Shikari fr:Enter Shikari is:Enter Shikari it:Enter Shikari lt:Enter Shikari nl:Enter Shikari ja:エンター・シカリ pl:Enter Shikari ru:Enter Shikari simple:Enter Shikari fi:Enter Shikari sv:Enter Shikari

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Lykke Li
background	solo_singer
birth name	Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson
birth date	March 18, 1986
birth place	Ystad, Skåne, Sweden
genre	Indie pop, indie rock, electronic, dream pop, Wonky pop
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	2007–present
label	LL, Atlantic
website	}}

Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson (born 18 March 1986), better known by her stage name Lykke Li (), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her music often blends elements of pop, indie rock and electronic; various instruments can also be found in her songs, including violins, synthesizers, tambourines, trumpets, saxophones and cellos. Her debut album, ''Youth Novels'', was released in 2008.

Early life

Zachrisson was born in Ystad, Skåne; her mother is a photographer, and her father is a musician. The family moved to Stockholm when Zachrisson was a toddler and when she was six moved to a mountaintop in Portugal where they lived for five years. The family also spent time in Lisbon and Morocco, and winters in Nepal and India. She moved to the neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in New York for three months when she was 19. She returned when she was 21 to record her album.

Music career

Li had some success with the EP "Little Bit" in 2007. Stereogum named her an artist to watch in October 2007 and described her music as a mix of soul, electro and "powdered-sugar pop".

Li's debut album, ''Youth Novels'', was released on LL Recordings in the Nordic region on 30 January 2008 and received a wider European release in June 2008. The album was produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John and Lasse Mårtén and was reportedly inspired by a previous relationship of three years. It was released in the United States on 19 August 2008. The album was released in the UK and Ireland in June 2008, promoted by a performances of "Little Bit" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'' on 25 May 2008. Her second album ''Wounded Rhymes'' was released in 2011.

She appeared on Swedish musician Kleerup's self titled album, contributing vocals to the track "Until We Bleed". She also worked with Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp on their 2009 album ''Junior'', contributing vocals to "Miss It So Much" and "Were You Ever Wanted".

Li appeared on ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' on 18 February 2009. She covered "Knocked Up", originally recorded by Kings of Leon who had approached Li to cover a song of her choice, and "Gifted" in which she performs with Kanye West. Going further mainstream, Li performed at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 19 April, as well as the 2009 Lollapalooza festival on 8 August as part of the promotional tour for ''Youth Novels''.

A remixed version of her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was featured in the 2009 horror film ''Sorority Row''.

The song "Possibility" was written for the 2009 film ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon''. Li had been asked to write a song to the film soundtrack but she was reluctant to commit to the project. It was after she had seen an early screening of the film that she decided she wanted to contribute to the soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on 16 October 2009.

In September 2010, she was announced as the official face of the Levi's Curve ID Collection, alongside Pixie Geldof and Miss Nine.

Her song "Until We Bleed", which she sang with singer Kleerup, was featured on an episode of UK TV series ''Misfits''. On 13 December 2010, RCRD LBL premiered a Beck remix of "Get Some". A part of the song "I Follow Rivers" was covered by Tina Cohen-Chang (played by Jenna Ushkowitz) on the ''Glee'' episode "A Night of Neglect". The episode aired on Fox in the United States on April 19, 2011.

On 30 April 2011, she performed on ''Later... with Jools Holland'' in the UK, playing "Get Some", "Sadness Is a Blessing" and "I Follow Rivers".

Li played at the 2011 Latitude Festival, held between 14 and 18 July 2011 at Henham Park in Suffolk, England.

On Thursday, August 4th 2011, she appeared with her band on US late night talk show "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

Discography

;Albums

''Youth Novels'' (2008)

''Wounded Rhymes'' (2011)

;Singles

"I'm Good, I'm Gone" (2007)

"Little Bit" (2007)

"Breaking It Up" (2008)

"Tonight" (2009)

"Get Some" (2010)

"I Follow Rivers" (2011)

"Sadness Is a Blessing" (2011)

"Rich Kids Blues" (2011)

;B-sides

"I Don't Mind (Jump on It)" included on the Swedish and UK two-track single of "I'm Good, I'm Gone"

"After Laughter" split single with El Perro del Mar for Record Store Day 18 April 2009

"Until We Bleed" – Kleerup featuring Lykke Li included on the Swedish two-track single of "Tonight"

"Paris Blue" included on the "Get Some" single

;Guest appearances

"Until We Bleed" – Kleerup featuring Lykke Li (''Kleerup'', 2008)

"Gifted" – N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li (''The Spirit of Apollo'', 2009)

"Little Bit" – Drake and Lykke Li (''So Far Gone'', 2009)

"Miss It So Much" – Röyksopp featuring Lykke Li (''Junior'', 2009)

"Were You Ever Wanted" – Röyksopp featuring Lykke Li (''Junior'', 2009) [Japanese bonus track]

"Knocked Up" (Lykke Li vs. Rodeo Remix) – Kings of Leon ("Use Somebody", 2008)

"Starchasers" (as a sample of "Little Bit") – Charles Hamilton (''It's Charles Hamilton'', 2008)

"Leaving You Behind" – Amanda Blank featuring Lykke Li (''I Love You'', 2009)

;Covers

"After Laughter Comes Tears" – originally recorded by Wendy Rene

"Can I Kick It?" – originally recorded by A Tribe Called Quest (regular live cover/performed with Q-Tip at MTVu Awards)

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" – originally recorded by Vampire Weekend (regular live cover)

"Hustlin'" – originally recorded by Rick Ross

"Knocked Up" – originally recorded by and featuring Kings of Leon

"A Milli" – originally recorded by Lil Wayne

"Velvet" – originally recorded by The Big Pink

"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" – originally recorded by The Shirelles

;Music videos

Year	Song	Director(s)
	"Breaking It Up"	Sarah Chatfield
"Little Bit"
"I'm Good, I'm Gone"
	"Possibility"	Marcus Palmqvist and Frode Fjerdingstad
"Get Some"	Johan Söderberg
	"I Follow Rivers"
"Sadness Is a Blessing"

Awards and nominations

|- |rowspan="2"| 2009 ||rowspan="2"|Lykke Li || 2009 Meteor Music Award for Best International Female || |- | Studio8's Female Voice of February 2009 ||

Remixes

Her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was remixed by Fred Falke and featured in Hed Kandi's Lounge 2009 "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was also covered by British group Friendly Fires in 2009. Her song "Little Bit" was remixed by Drake, as well as a bootleg remix by AutoErotique. Her song "Little Bit" was sampled and remixed by Charles Hamilton. Her song "Love until We Bleed" was remixed by QuESt. Her song "Dance, Dance, Dance" was remixed by Buraka Som Sistema. Her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was also remixed by 3OH!3 as a collaboration.

References

External links

Lykke Li on RCRD LBL

Category:1986 births Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Indie pop musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Ystad Municipality Category:Swedish electronic musicians Category:Swedish female singers Category:Swedish pop singers Category:Swedish singer-songwriters

ca:Lykke Li cy:Lykke Li da:Lykke Li de:Lykke Li es:Lykke Li fr:Lykke Li it:Lykke Li he:ליקה לי lt:Lykke Li nl:Lykke Li no:Lykke Li pl:Lykke Li pt:Lykke Li ro:Lykke Li ru:Люкке Ли fi:Lykke Li sv:Lykke Li

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Richard Kuklinski
image name	Richardkuklinski2.JPG
birth date	April 11, 1935
birth place	Jersey City, New Jersey
death date	March 05, 2006
death place	Trenton, New Jersey
alias	The Iceman, The Polack
charge	Murder (5 counts)
conviction penalty	Life imprisonment from 1988
conviction status	Deceased
occupation	Contract killer
spouse	Barbara Kuklinski (divorced)
children	}}

Richard Leonard "The Iceman" Kuklinski (April 11, 1935 – March 5, 2006) was an American mobster and contract killer. The six foot five inch (196 cm), 300 pound (135 kg) Kuklinski worked for Newark's DeCavalcante crime family and New York City's Five Families. He claimed to have murdered over 250 men between 1948 and 1986. He claimed to have committed his first murder at the age of 13. He was the older brother of convicted child-rapist and murderer Joseph Kuklinski. Richard Kuklinski spent the last years of his freedom living with his wife and three children in suburban Dumont, New Jersey.

Early life

Richard Leonard Kuklinski was born in the projects in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a family of mixed Polish and Irish-American descent. His father, Stanley Kuklinski, was an alcoholic who frequently abused his wife and children. Richard spent the remainder of his life fantasizing about murdering his father. When asked about his brother Joseph's crimes, he replied: "We come from the same father." His mother, Anna McNally Kuklinski, was also abusive to Richard, hitting him with broom handles and other household objects to stop him from stealing.

In 1940, Stanley's beatings resulted in the death of his son, Florian Kuklinski. In the aftermath, the Kuklinski family lied to the police, saying that Florian had fallen down a flight of steps.

By the age of 10, Richard Kuklinski was filled with rage and began acting out against the priests and nuns at the Roman Catholic parochial school his mother forced him to attend.

First murder

In 1949, Kuklinski, 14, ambushed and beat Charley Lane, the leader of a small gang of teenagers known as "The Project Boys," who had bullied him for some time. Following a particularly bad beating Richard sought revenge, attacking Lane with a thick wooden dowel eventually beating him to death, although he denied wanting to kill Lane. Kuklinski then dumped Lane's body off a bridge in South Jersey after removing his teeth and chopping off his finger tips with a hatchet in an effort to prevent identification of the body. He then went on to beat and nearly murder the remaining six boys in Lane's gang. Richard later joked that, "Giving is better than receiving."

Gangster

By the mid-1950s, Kuklinski had earned the reputation as being an explosive pool shark who would beat or kill those who annoyed him. Eventually, his criminal acumen brought him to the attention of Newark's DeCavalcante crime family, who employed him in his first gangland slayings.

Beginning in the spring of 1954, Kuklinski began prowling Hell's Kitchen in a search for victims. According to author Philip Carlo,

"He came to Manhattan numerous times over the ensuing weeks and months and killed people, always men, ''never a female'', he says, always someone who rubbed him the wrong way, for some imagined or real slight. He shot and stabbed and blugeoned men to death. He left some where they dropped. He dumped some into the nearby Hudson River. Murder, for Richard, became sport. The New York police came to believe that the bums were attacking and killing one another, never suspecting that a full fledged serial killer from Jersey City was coming over to Manhattan's West Side for the purpose of killing people, to practice and perfect murder. Richard made the West Side of Manhattan a kind of lab for murder, ''a school'', he says."

Kuklinski later recalled,

"By now you know what I liked most was the hunt, the challenge of what the thing was. The killing for me was secondary. I got no rise as such out of it… for the most part. But the figuring it out, the challenge -- the stalking and doing it right, successfully -- that excited me a lot. The greater the odds against me, the more juice I got out of it."

Gambinos and Roy DeMeo

Association with the Gambino crime family came through his relationship with the caporegime Roy DeMeo which started due to a debt Kuklinski owed to a DeMeo crew member. DeMeo was sent to 'talk' with Kuklinski and proceeded to beat and pistol whip him. Although Richard was carrying a pistol at the time, he decided against pulling it out. This earned him DeMeo's respect.

After Kuklinski paid back the money he owed, he began staging robberies and other assignments for DeMeo and the Gambino family, one of which was pirating pornographic tapes.

According to Kuklinski, one day, DeMeo took Kuklinski out in his car and they parked on a city street. DeMeo then selected a random target, a man walking his dog. He then ordered Kuklinski to kill him. Without hesitating, Kuklinski got out, walked towards the man and shot him in the back of the head as he passed by. From then on, Kuklinski was DeMeo's favorite enforcer.

Over the next 30 years, according to Kuklinski, he killed numerous people. Lack of attention from law enforcement was partly due to Kuklinski's ever changing methods. He used guns, knives, explosives, tire irons, fire, poison, asphyxiation, and even bare handed beatings, "just for the exercise." The exact number has never been settled upon by authorities, and Kuklinski himself at various times claimed to have killed over 200 individuals. He favored the use of cyanide since it killed quickly and was hard to detect in a toxicology test. He would variously administer it by injection, putting it on a person's food, by aerosol spray, or by simply spilling it on the victim's skin. One of his favorite methods of disposing of a body was to place it in a 55-gallon oil drum. His other disposal methods included dismemberment, burial, or placing the body in the trunk of a car and having it crushed in a junkyard. He also claimed to have left bodies sitting on park benches.

Despite Kuklinski's claims that he was a frequent killer for DeMeo, none of DeMeo's crew members that later became witnesses for the government admitted that Kuklinski was involved in the murders they committed. Only photographed on one occasion at the Gemini Lounge, he reportedly visited the club to purchase a handgun from the Brooklyn crew. Kuklinski claimed to have been responsible for DeMeo's murder, although the available evidence and testimony points to the murderers being fellow DeMeo crew associates Joseph Testa and Anthony Senter as well as DeMeo's supervisor in the Gambino crime family, Anthony Gaggi.

According to Kuklinski, at the same time he was allegedly a career hit man, he met and married Barbara Pedrici, and later fathered two daughters and a son. His family and neighbors were never aware of his activities, instead believing that he was a successful businessman. Sometimes he would get up and leave the house at any time of the day or night to do a job, even if it was in the middle of dinner. However Kuklinski hated to work on holidays, especially during Christmas, as he felt it was important to be with family.

Kuklinski earned the nickname "Iceman" following his experiments with disguising the time of death of his victims by freezing their corpses in an industrial freezer. Later, he told author Philip Carlo that he got the idea from fellow hitman Robert Pronge, nicknamed "Mister Softee", who drove a Mister Softee truck to appear inconspicuous. Pronge taught Kuklinski the different methods of using cyanide to kill his victims. Kuklinski also claimed to have purchased remotely detonated hand grenades from Pronge. Pronge allegedly asked him to carry out a hit on Pronge's own wife and child. In 1984, Pronge was found shot to death in his truck.

Kuklinski's method was uncovered by the authorities when he failed to let one of his victims properly thaw before disposing of the body on Clinton Road on a warm summer's night, and the coroner found chunks of ice in the victim's heart.

State and federal manhunt

When the authorities finally caught up with Kuklinski in 1986, they based their case almost entirely on the testimony of undercover agent Dominick Polifrone, and the evidence built by New Jersey State Police detective Pat Kane who began the case against Kuklinski six years earlier. The investigation involved a joint operation with the New Jersey Attorney General's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Kuklinski claims in the HBO interview that there was only one friend he did not kill (Phil Solimene). He believed this was the reason for his being arrested.

ATF Special Agent Dominick Polifrone had undercover experience specializing in Mafia cases. The New Jersey State Police and ATF began a joint operation. Detective Kane recruited Phil Solimene, a close friend of Kuklinski, who introduced undercover agent Polifrone to the killer. Polifrone acted as if he wanted to hire Kuklinski for a hit, and recorded him speaking in detail about how he would do it.

Arrest

On December 17, 1986, Kuklinski met with a federal agent to get cyanide for a planned murder. He was arrested at a roadblock two hours later. A gun was found in the car and his wife was charged with trying to prevent his arrest. He was charged with five counts of murder and six weapons violations, as well as attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery.

Incarceration and death

In 1988, a New Jersey court convicted Kuklinski of five murders and sentenced him to consecutive life sentences, making him ineligible for parole until age 110. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to the 1980 murder of NYPD detective Peter Calabro and drew another 30 years. In the Calabro murder, in which Sammy "The Bull" Gravano was also charged, Kuklinski said he parked his van on the side of a narrow road, forcing other drivers to slow down to pass. He lay in a snowbank until Calabro came by at 2 a.m., then stepped out and shot him with a shotgun.

During his incarceration, Kuklinski granted interviews to prosecutors, psychiatrists, criminologists, writers, and television producers about his criminal career, upbringing, and personal life. Two documentaries, featuring interviews of Kuklinski by Dr. Park Dietz (best known for his interviews with and analysis of Jeffrey Dahmer) aired on HBO after interviews in 1991 and 2001. Philip Carlo also wrote a book in 2006, entitled ''The Ice Man''.

In one interview, Kuklinski claimed that he would never kill a child and "most likely wouldn't kill a woman". However, according to one of his daughters he once told her that he would have to kill her and her two siblings should he happen to beat her mother to death in a fit of rage. At the same time, his wife Barbara has stated that he never actually did hurt the children.

He also confessed that he once wanted to use a crossbow to carry out a hit but not without "testing" it first. While driving his car, he asked a random man for directions, shot him in the forehead with the crossbow, and stated that the arrow "went half-way into his head."

In a 1992 interview, Kuklinski recalled what he considered his most sadistic murder.

"It was a man and he was begging, and pleading, and praying, I guess. And he was, 'Please, God, no,'-ing all over the place. So I told him he could have a half an hour to pray to God and if God could come down and change the circumstances, He'd have that time. But God never showed up and He never changed the circumstances and that was that. It wasn't too nice. That's one thing, I shouldn't have done that one. I shouldn't have done it that way."

Kuklinski died at the age of 70 at 1:15 a.m. on March 5, 2006. He was in a secure wing at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey, at the time, although the timing of his death has been labeled suspicious; Kuklinski was scheduled to testify that former Gambino crime family underboss Sammy Gravano had ordered him to murder New York Police Department Detective Peter Calabro. Kuklinski had admitted to murdering Calabro with a shotgun on the night of March 14, 1980. He denied knowing that Calabro was a police officer, but said he would have murdered him regardless. At the time Kuklinski was scheduled to testify, Gravano was already incarcerated for an unrelated charge, serving a 19-year prison sentence for running an ecstasy ring in Arizona. Kuklinski also stated to family members that he thought "they" were poisoning him. A few days after Kuklinski's death, prosecutors dropped all charges against Gravano, saying that without Kuklinski's testimony there was insufficient evidence to continue. At the request of Kuklinski's family, forensic pathologist Michael Baden examined the results of Kuklinski's autopsy to determine if there was evidence of poisoning. Baden concluded he died of natural causes.

Quotes

“The only God I believe in is a loaded pistol with a hair trigger. Funny before I killed a lot of guys, they’d call me God. ‘Oh God, no! Oh, God, no!’”

"I would rather be known as a nice man, not the Iceman... I was made. I didn't create myself. I never chose to be this way, to be in this place. Yeah, for sure I wish my life took another turn, that I had an education and a good job, but none of that was in the cards for me. I am what I am, and the truth is I don't give a flying fuck what anyone thinks about me."

Films

As of September 2010, two films about Kuklinski were in the works. Mickey Rourke will play Kuklinski in a film based on Philip Carlo's biography ''The Ice Man, Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer''. The film was expected to start shooting in spring 2010 in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Michael Shannon will play Kuklinski in the film ''The Iceman'' based on Anthony Bruno's book ''The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer''. The film will also star Benicio del Toro as Roy DeMeo and James Franco as Robert "Mr. Softee" Pronge.

References

External links

Category:1935 births Category:2006 deaths Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people convicted of murdering police officers Category:American serial killers Category:People from Dumont, New Jersey Category:People from Jersey City, New Jersey Category:Mafia hitmen Category:Gambino crime family Category:American mobsters of Polish descent Category:American mobsters of Irish descent Category:Mobsters who died in prison custody Category:American people who died in prison custody Category:Prisoners who died in New Jersey detention Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New Jersey Category:People convicted of murder by New Jersey Category:Contract killers Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Organized crime memoirists

da:Richard Kuklinski de:Richard Kuklinski es:Richard Kuklinski eu:Richard Kuklinski fr:Richard Kuklinski it:Richard Kuklinski nl:Richard Kuklinski no:Richard Kuklinski pl:Richard Kuklinski pt:Richard Kuklinski ru:Куклинский, Ричард