Look up foundation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Foundation commonly refers to:

• Foundation (engineering), the lowest and supporting layer of a structure
• Foundation (non-profit), a type of organization

Foundation may also refer to:

Literature[link]

• Foundation series, a series of science fiction books by Isaac Asimov
  • Foundation (novel), the first book in the series
• Foundation – The International Review of Science Fiction, a literary journal
• Foundation (b-boy book), by Joseph G. Schloss
• Foundation, a novel by Mercedes Lackey in the Collegium Chronicles series

Music[link]

• The Foundations, a British soul group
• Foundation (Brand Nubian album)
• Foundation (Breakage album)
• Foundation (Doc Watson album)
• Foundation (Magnum album)
• Foundation (M.O.P. album)
• The Foundation (Geto Boys album)
• The Foundation (Zac Brown Band album)
• "Foundations" (song), by Kate Nash
• "The Foundation" (song), by Xzibit

Academics[link]

• Foundation Stage, a stage of education for children aged 3 to 5 in England.
• Foundation degree, a British academic qualification
• Foundation school, a type of school in England and Wales
• University Foundation Programme, a British university entrance course

Other uses[link]

• Foundation (evidence), a legal term
• Foundation (cosmetics)
• The Foundation (TV series)
• "The Foundation" (Seinfeld)
• FOUNDATION fieldbus, a communications system
• Foundation Kit, an Apple API

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Kate Nash
Kate Nash in 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Kate Marie Nash
Born	(1987-07-06) 6 July 1987 (age 24) Harrow, London, England[1]
Genres	Indie pop, indie rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, synth, keyboard, bass, drums
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Fiction Island Def Jam Ireland Moshi Moshi Universal-Island
Associated acts	The Receeders Ryan Jarman SUPERCUTE!, Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players Jason Trachtenburg, Kano
Website	www.katenash.co.uk

Kate Marie Nash^[2] (born 6 July 1987) is an English^[3] singer, songwriter and musician.^[4] She had a UK number-2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum-selling UK number-1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards.

Her second studio album, entitled My Best Friend Is You, was released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2010 and in the U.S. on 11 May 2010. It spawned her second biggest chart hit to date, the single "Do-Wah-Doo".^[5]

Nash is currently signed to The Island Def Jam Motown Ireland Group.

Early life[link]

Nash was born on 6 July 1987 in Harrow, London^[1][6] to an English father, Steven Nash, and an Irish mother, Marie (née Walsh). Marie is a nurse in a hospice.^[1][7][8][9] Nash learned to play the piano while at at Sandbach School. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St. John Fisher School, Pinner, before moving onto the St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth. She was also taught guitar by Saskia van Berkel and studied Theatre at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in South London. She auditioned at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, but was rejected. Soon afterward, she fell down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery, she was housebound and unable to move, so her mother bought her an electric guitar. Nash used this time to focus on her songwriting: she began to write some new songs, finish old ones and decided that she would book a gig at a local bar ("Trinity") in Harrow to showcase her songs.^{[citation needed]}

Music career[link]

Nash in 2006.

"Caroline's a Victim" (2005-2006)[link]

Nash started her career in 2005. After several gigs, she uploaded her music to MySpace, found a manager and then producers for her music.

Nash's debut was a single, "Caroline's a Victim"/"Birds", produced and recorded in Iceland by Valgeir Sigurðsson and released through Moshi Moshi Records in February 2007. The release was limited to 1,000 copies and available only on 7" vinyl. Due to demand, another 1,000 copies were made and these also sold out. CD-promo copies were produced for distribution to the press and DJs and are occasionally available for sale. The single is featured on the CD Moshi Moshi Singles Compilation. A video for the song, directed by Kinga Burza, was released and received airplay on MTV2. The single's B-side, "Birds", later featured on her début album Made of Bricks. Both tracks have also been released as MP3 downloads.

[edit] Made of Bricks (2007-2009)

In April 2007, Nash was signed to the Polydor offshoot Fiction Records.^[10] Her second single "Foundations", which she co-wrote with producer Paul Epworth, was released by Fiction on 18 June 2007 and reached number two in the official UK Singles Chart. Following this success, Fiction announced plans to bring forward the release of Nash's début album Made of Bricks to 6 August 2007. The album, also produced by Paul Epworth, included many of the tracks she had been performing during her two nationwide tours.

Made of Bricks was leaked to filesharing networks a few days before its official commercial release and subsequently received mixed reviews, with The Independent describing it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year."^[11] It proved, however, to be successful and reached number 1 in the UK album charts.^[12]

During mid-2007, Nash performed at numerous festivals, including the Wireless Festival, Bestival, Electric Gardens, Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds, Oxegen and T in the Park. She made her official TV performance début on Later with Jools Holland.

Throughout late 2007 and early 2008, Nash released three more singles from the Made of Bricks. "Mouthwash" and "Pumpkin Soup" both made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Although her fifth single "Merry Happy" didn't chart well in the UK, the song enjoyed some success in other countries, including the USA and Canada. The album topped out at number 36 on the United States Billboard 200 chart on 26 January 2008.^[13] In 2010, Made of Bricks was certified Gold in Germany.^[14]

[edit] My Best Friend Is You (2009-2011)

Nash performing in May 2010

In late March 2009, Nash revealed that she was in the early stages of recording her second album. She was introduced by her boyfriend Ryan Jarman to Bernard Butler, the producer for Duffy's debut album Rockferry and a former guitarist for Suede. He began working with Nash, working in the studio with her over a period of months and producing her second album.^[15] In August 2009, the pair worked on eight songs at RAK Studios for the album.^[16]

On 14 January 2010, Nash revealed that the second album was complete. On 11 February, a song from the album, "I Just Love You More", was available to download free from her official website.^[17]

On 11 March 2010, Nash announced her nine-date North American tour that began on 26 April with the all-female travelling festival Lilith Fair to promote her new album My Best Friend Is You. Her opening act was Supercute!, a psychedelic pop teen girl trio from New York City.^[18][19][20] She is also scheduled to take part in the 2010 V Festival.^[21]

The first single from the album was called "Do-Wah-Doo", and was released on 12 April 2010. The album was released on 20 April. The sound was described as completely different from her debut album and having a "Girl Group" sound, taking influence from Motown stars such as Diana Ross and The Supremes. Nash explained that maturity is the reason for the change in musical style.^[22] The album has been described as having a wide variety of sounds from wall of sound, Motown to No Wave and Riot Grrrl.^[23][24][25] As of 11 May, the album was number 6 in Germany and number 16 in Europe.^[26] As of 27 May, the album was at number 62 in the United States.^[27]

On 24 February 2011, her concerts in Circo Voador, Rio de Janeiro and in HSBC Hall, São Paulo were the first contact with her Brazilian fans. It was so intense that Nash has said on stage "Here (Rio de Janeiro) was the happiest place I have ever been. You are beautiful, incredible" and promised a return soon.^[28] On her Twitter, she finally declared "Rio, you're just too good to be true. I must be dreaming. Thanks for giving me the best concert of my life".^[29]

Third studio album (2012-present)[link]

On 2 May 2012, Nash announced the "Faster Pussycat Run Run Tour", which will see her play 12 shows across the UK throughout June 2012.^[30] Her third studio album will be released later in the year.^[31] She will also star in two feature films this year, details of which are yet to be announced.^[31]

Other music career activities[link]

Nash performing in June 2007

Nash co-wrote a song titled "Almost Isn’t (Good Enough) Is It?" with Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players member Jason Trachtenburg for his 2009 album File Under Pop Male Vocal.^[32]

As a side project in late 2009, she joined a punk band called The Receders where she plays bass.^[22] On 17 December 2009, the band played a live gig on the stage of 93 Feet East.^[33] Nash likes to refer to the band as her "side project" as she says for 2010 she will be mainly focusing on her solo material. Her music was used as part of an exhibition at the British Library tracing the history of Cockney English. The exhibition, which runs from 12 November 2010 through 11 April 2011, uses Nash's music to demonstrate today's younger urban mode of Cockney English.^[34]

On 23 March 2010 Nash, a founding director of the Featured Artists Coalition, a musicians' lobbying group,^[35][36] launched the Kate Nash's Rock n Roll for Girls After-School Music Club as a platform to inspire teenage girls to get into songwriting and making their own music, due to the shortage of female artists in the UK- something that shocked and motivated Nash the previous year. On her UK tour of 2011, Nash visited schools such as City of Portsmouth Girls' School, Woodchurch High School, Avonbourne High School and John Madejski Academy.^[37]

Nash has worked with the teen indie pop band, SUPERCUTE!, producing their first album.^[38] Nash also appeared in the band's music video for their first single, "Dumb-Dumbs". Nash has also worked with indie act Brigitte Aphrodite (who has toured with Kate on many occasions) on Nash's label 'Have 10p Records', releasing Aphrodite's début single 'I Dream Myself Awake' in 2011.

Nash has recently recorded and written a song with the St. Pauls Cathedral Protesters with Sam Duckworth of Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly.

Willow Smith tweeted in April 2012, "So cool meeting @katenash today. Can't wait to work together!" along with a photograph of the pair. Kate then tweeted back confirming the pair would be meeting again the following Friday.

Personal life[link]

In 2008, following intensive touring, Nash had what she described as a "proper breakdown", including a relapse of the mild obsessive-compulsive disorder which she had experienced as a child.^[1] She has railed against the "anaemic" model figure, noting in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that she herself is a "curvy size 12".^[39]

On 2 September 2009, Nash began using her MySpace and Facebook pages to help spread the word of a young girl called Tilly who lost her hands due to meningococcal disease. She used an auction on eBay to help donate money to the five-year-old girl's parents so that she can afford a pair of [prosthetic?] hands.^[40]

During the 2011 England riots, Nash volunteered to collect donations for those made homeless by riots in Tottenham, setting up her own public donation stand and delivering donations to Tottenham Leisure Centre in her car.^[41]

Nash has made appearances in two films due to be released in 2012, as well as a short horror film which has appeared on several websites online.

Discography[link]

• Made of Bricks (2007)
• My Best Friend Is You (2010)

Awards and nominations[link]

On February 20, 2008, she received a BRIT Award for Best Female artist.^[42]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kate Nash

External links[link]

• Official Kate Nash website
• Photos of her concert in Paris in 2010

Jack Dorsey
Dorsey at the 2012 Time 100 Gala.
Born	(1976-11-19) November 19, 1976 (age 35)[1] St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Residence	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	software designer, entrepreneur
Net worth	$650 million (est.) [2]

Jack Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American software architect and businessman widely known as the creator of Twitter and as the founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payments company.^[3] In 2008, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[4]

Early years[link]

Dorsey grew up in St. Louis, Missouri,^[5] and by age 13, he had become interested in dispatch routing. Some of the open source software he created in the area of dispatch logistics is still used by many taxi cab companies.^[5] He went to high school at Bishop DuBourg High School and attended the Missouri University of Science and Technology before subsequently transferring to New York University, where he first conceived the idea for Twitter.^[6]

While working on dispatching as a programmer he later moved to California.^[7][8]

Biz Stone and Dorsey accepting a Crunchie award for best mobile startup

In Oakland in 2000, Dorsey started his company to dispatch couriers, taxis, and emergency services from the Web.^[9] His other projects and ideas at this time included networks of medical devices and a "frictionless service market".^[9] In July 2000, building on dispatching^[5] and inspired in part by LiveJournal and possibly by AOL Instant Messenger, he had the idea for a Web-based realtime status/short message communication service.^[9]

When he first saw implementations of instant messaging, Dorsey had wondered if the software's user status output could be shared among friends easily.^[5] He approached Odeo, who at the time happened to be interested in text messaging.^[5] Dorsey and Biz Stone decided that SMS text suited the status message idea, and built a prototype of Twitter in about two weeks.^[5] The idea attracted many users at Odeo and investment from Evan Williams^[5] who had left Google after selling them Pyra Labs and Blogger.

Twitter, Inc.[link]

Dorsey in 2008.

Dorsey at a Twitter Town Hall during 2011 alongside United States President Barack Obama.

Dorsey, Stone, and Williams co-founded Obvious which then spun off Twitter, Inc.^[5] As chief executive officer, Dorsey saw the startup through two rounds of funding by the venture capitalists who backed the company.^[10] On October 16, 2008^[11] Williams took over the role of CEO, and Dorsey became chairman of the board.^[12] On March 28, 2011, Dorsey returned to Twitter as Executive Chairman.^[13]

As the service grew in popularity, Dorsey chose improving uptime as top priority,^[14] even over creating revenue – which, as of 2008, Twitter was not designed to earn.^[15] Dorsey described the commercial use of Twitter and its API as two things that could lead to paid features.^[15] His three guiding principles, which are shared by the whole company and through its culture, are simplicity, constraint and craftsmanship.^[15]

Square, Inc.[link]

This section requires expansion.

Dorsey developed a small business platform to accept debit and credit cards on a mobile device called Square. The small, square-shaped device attaches to iPhone, iPad or Android devices via the headphone jack, and as a mini card reader allows a person to swipe their card, choose an amount to give to the recipient and then sign their name for confirmation. Square is also a system for sending paperless receipts via text message or email, and is available as a free app for iOS and Android OS.^[16]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jack Dorsey

• Jack Dorsey on Twitter

v t e Twitter Clients List of Twitter services and applications Echofon HootSuite Pwytter Plume Seesmic SimplyTweet Tween Tweetbot TweetCaster TweetDeck Tweetie Twitdom Twitterrific UberTwitter Executives Jack Dorsey (executive chairman) Evan Williams (director) Biz Stone (creative officer) Dick Costolo (CEO) Board Jack Dorsey Dick Costolo Evan Williams Peter Fenton Mike McCue David Rosenblatt Peter Currie Software FlockDB Kestrel Starling Other Twitter usage  · by celebrities and politicians Twitter bomb Favstar Gnip Golden Tweet Award Shorty Awards TwitPic

Vinnie Jones

Jones at Comic-Con promoting The Midnight Meat Train on 2 July 2007
Personal information
Full name	Vincent Peter Jones
Date of birth	(1965-01-05) 5 January 1965 (age 47)
Place of birth	Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Height	6 ft 1.5 in (1.87 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1984–1986	Wealdstone
1986	Holmsund
1986–1989	Wimbledon	77	(9)
1989–1990	Leeds United	46	(5)
1990–1991	Sheffield United	35	(2)
1991–1992	Chelsea	42	(4)
1992–1998	Wimbledon	177	(14)
1998–1999	Queens Park Rangers	9	(1)
Total		386	(33)
National team
1994–1997	Wales	9	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones (born 5 January 1965) is an English actor and retired footballer.

Born in Hertfordshire, England, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team, having qualified via a Welsh grandparent. As a member of the "Crazy Gang", Jones won the 1988 FA Cup Final with Wimbledon, a club for which he played well over 200 games during two spells between 1986 and 1998. He also previously played for Chelsea and Leeds United. Jones appeared in Celebrity Big Brother 2010, where he finished in third place behind Dane Bowers and Alex Reid.

He has capitalised on his tough man image as a footballer and is known as an actor for his aggressive style and intimidating demeanour, often being typecast into roles as coaches, hooligans and violent criminals.

Early life[link]

Jones was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to Peter Jones (a gamekeeper) and Glenda Harris Jones.^[1]

Club career[link]

Jones started his football career in 1984 at Alliance Premier League side Wealdstone, during which time he combined playing football with being a hod carrier.^[2] He played one season with second-level Swedish club IFK Holmsund in 1986 and helped them win the league.^[3]

In the autumn of 1986, Jones moved to Wimbledon for £10,000. He was part of the 'Crazy Gang' team that won the 1988 FA Cup Final against Liverpool, the dominant English side of that era.

He was transferred to Leeds United in the summer of 1989, where he was part of a young side under the management of Howard Wilkinson. During his time there, he won promotion to the old Division One from the Second division. After helping them win promotion to the top-flight as Champions of the Second Division, Jones proved that he could thrive without the illegal side of his game, and under the stewardship of Wilkinson, he received only three yellow cards in the whole season.

Jones left Leeds early in the 1990-91 season after losing his first-team place to youngsters David Batty and Gary Speed, as well as new signing Gary McAllister - much to the disappointment of the Leeds fans - in order to seek regular first-team football. To this day, he remains a hugely popular figure with the Leeds fans; Jones has a Leeds United badge tattooed on his leg (after having helped them to the 1989/90 second division championship).^[4] Jones also showed his passion for the club when he returned to Leeds for Lucas Radebe's testimonial in 2006.

His former Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett signed him for Sheffield United on his exit from Elland Road, before selling him to Chelsea a year later. After just one year at Stamford Bridge, he was on his way back to Wimbledon, where he stayed until becoming player/coach of QPR in 1998, scoring on his debut against Huddersfield Town.^[5] Jones was once rumoured to take the vacant managers post at QPR but that failed.

International career[link]

Jones was so desperate to play international football he looked to distant relations and was photographed wearing a Republic of Ireland jersey, before being chosen by Wales.^{[citation needed]} Though Jones is a common surname in Wales, the qualifying relationship was his maternal grandfather, who came from Ruthin, north Wales.

He made his debut for Wales on 14 December 1994, three weeks before his 30th birthday, in a 3-0 home defeat to Bulgaria in the Euro 96 qualifiers. The last of his nine caps came on 29 March 1997 in a 2-1 defeat to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier, also at Cardiff Arms Park.^[6]

Jones's international call-up was however greeted with consternation and even ridiculed by Jimmy Greaves, who said, "Well, stone me! We've had cocaine, bribery and Arsenal scoring two goals at home. But just when you thought there were truly no surprises left in football, Vinnie Jones turns out to be an international player!".^[7]

Playing events[link]

During his playing days, Jones was renowned for his "hard man" image, an aspect of his play that was frequently the target of criticism.^[8] He was sent off 12 times in his career, as well as holding the record for the quickest ever booking in a football match, being booked after just three seconds for a foul on the opposition player Dane Whitehouse in a Premier League tie between Chelsea and Sheffield United in 1992.^[9] In his autobiography, he recalls fondly: "I must have been too high, too wild, too strong or too early, because, after three seconds, I could hardly have been too bloody late!".

In one notorious incident in 1987, Jones was photographed grabbing Paul Gascoigne by his testicles in order to faze him.^[10][11][12] In November 1986, in a match between Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon, he was responsible for a dangerous challenge on defender Gary Stevens, an injury that Stevens never fully recovered from and eventually caused him to retire in 1992.^[13]

Controversy[link]

He also was the presenter of the infamous Soccer's Hard Men video released in 1992, which featured archived footage of himself and many other "hard men" of the game, and included advice for budding "hard men". After the release of the video, Jones was fined £20,000, banned for six months, and suspended for three years from The FA for "bringing the game into disrepute." Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam branded Jones a "mosquito brain". Jones continued to find trouble. After exceeding 40 disciplinary points he was once again summoned to Lancaster Gate, but failed to appear. The FA banned Jones indefinitely. Jones explained that he had "mixed up" the date of the hearing; the FA imposed a four-match ban and told Jones to "grow up".^[14] Jones commented later: "The FA have given me a pat on the back. I've taken violence off the terracing and onto the pitch."^[15]

Many of Jones' fellow professionals were quick to condemn both the video and Jones himself. One of his most vocal critics was David Ginola, who said, "Jones does not deserve to be considered a footballer. Getting kicked is part of the job in France as well as England, but the real scandal is that someone like Jones gets to be a star, to make videos and become an example for kids."

Other football activities[link]

Jones has stated that he would eventually like to return to football, possibly to Leeds. Jones told Yorkshire Radio "I will come back without a doubt, Leeds fans gave me so much and it's a club very close to my heart."^[16]

Jones made an appearance in Ireland for Carlisle United, coming on as a second-half substitute in 2001 against Shelbourne, teaming up with friend Roddy Collins who was manager at the time.

Despite being considered just a midfield enforcer, he did show a different side to his game. In 1995, he stood in for Wimbledon as an emergency Goalkeeper against Newcastle United, due to Paul Heald being sent off, and other keeper Neil Sullivan was injured with a broken leg. Despite the Dons Losing 6–1, Jones pulled off a string of world class saves, and only conceded 3 goals in 60 minutes, as opposed to Heald's 3 in 30. Pundits^[who?] joked he would be a good replacement for Neville Southall, should the keeper be unfit for Wales duty.^{[citation needed]}

After participating in a charity football match alongside fellow British Hollywood film actor Jason Statham, Jones was approached by a Los Angeles Galaxy scout and asked whether he would go for a trial at the club. Jones laughed off the offer by saying "You're 15 years too late".^[17]

In June 2010, Jones released a press statement stating that he was donating his 1988 FA Cup winners medal to the fans of A.F.C. Wimbledon, wishing their fans the best for the future. The medal will be displayed in the club's Kingsmeadow Stadium.^[18]

Film career[link]

Vinnie Jones
Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb, and Bradley Cooper at San Diego Comic-Con International promoting the film The Midnight Meat Train in July 2007
Born	Vincent Peter Jones (1965-01-05) 5 January 1965 (age 47) Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Other names	Vinnie Jones
Occupation	footballer, actor, film producer, composer, singer
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Tanya Jones (1994–present)
Website
http://www.vinniejones.co.uk/

Jones made his 1998 feature film debut in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He later starred in Guy Ritchie's next blockbuster Snatch as Bullet-Tooth Tony.

He became known to American audiences in the 2000 movie remake of Gone in 60 Seconds where he played "the Sphinx." Although Jones had a major role as well as significant on-screen time, he only had one line in the entire film but was portrayed as a silent tough brawler.

Jones went back to his football days to play Danny Meehan in Mean Machine, a 2001 British take of the Burt Reynolds' film The Longest Yard (a.k.a. Mean Machine for its UK release). He plays a former Captain of the English National Football Team, who is sent to prison and subsequently takes control of a team of inmates who play the guards.

His next big piece was in the 2006 movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, as the mutant, Juggernaut. Jones said that he would like to play Juggernaut in a spin-off. His line in the movie, "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch!", was based on a pre-existing Internet parody.

Jones played a role of a professional killer in a Kazakhstani movie called Ликвидатор ("Eliminator"), 2011. Jones' character is an elite assassin invited from abroad in order to eliminate the main character. Producers of the film have dealt with the language barrier rather interestingly – Jones' character is mute and does not say a single word throughout the movie.

He also played a role in the Hungarian film The Magic Boys. The film was never completed and there is no known release date. The film's producer, Gabor Koltai, was arrested on major tax fraud charges in December 2010 and is remanded to the Budapest Prison waiting trial. He could get up to 8 years in federal prison. The film co starred Michael Madsen and was directed by his father Robert Koltai.^[19][20]

Jones is said to have been cast as The Kurgan in the remake of the 1986 cult classic Highlander.^{[citation needed]}

He played a major role in the 2004 Japanese film Survive Style 5+, where he plays a thuggish hit-man from Britain who kills several people and, with the help of his translator, tries to discover what everyone's function in life is.

Jones also played a part in the movie Kill the Irishman, where he played the character Keith Ritson, an ex-Hells Angels who works as an enforcer. He also played Mahogany in Midnight Meat Train. He also played the role of a sadistic former SAS agent in 'The Condemned'.

Music[link]

In November 2002, Jones released an album of blues and soul songs on Telstar called Respect in the UK, as his musical debut under the tuition of Phil Edwards.

Vinnie performed a cover version of the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" on the popular British television show, TOTP2 in December 2002.

The opening track of Joss Stone 2007 album Introducing Joss Stone features a short speech by Jones.

In May 2002, Jones played a character in the music video for Westlife's single 'Bop Bop Baby'.

Television[link]

Jones also appeared in the US series Chuck – in episode 2 of the third series he plays an arms dealer (the main villain). In 2010 he was added to the cast of the NBC superhero/crime drama series The Cape.

Jones narrated the TV series Vinnie Jones’ Toughest Cops. The series commenced airing in 2008 on ITV4 in the UK. Each episode to date has examined the work of a police force in a different country in the world, concentrating on dangerous aspects of the work. The first show concerned police in Colombia.

Jones was the first ever guest host for The Friday Night Project when it first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005. In the same year he also had a minor role in the film She's the Man as coach Dinklage. He also appeared in an episode of Extras playing an exaggerated version of himself.

Jones appeared on the first episode of the second season of Top Gear in their Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. He managed to make it around the track in 1 minute 53 seconds.

On 6 December 1998, Jones appeared at the World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view Capital Carnage, where he played up his 'hard man' image, acting as a special guest enforcer for the main event. Before the match he had a (staged) fight with fellow enforcer The Big Bossman and was "red carded" and kicked out. He came back at the end of the show to drink beer with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and referee Earl Hebner. Jones returned to the promotion, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, on 18 February 2007 at No Way Out, where he claimed he had "kicked Stone Cold's arse" on the set of The Condemned.

Brian Michael Bendis announced via Twitter on 28 July 2011 that Vinnie will be playing Johnny Royale in Powers.

Jones is also joined Eric Wynalda and Coby Jones as studio analyst for Fox Soccer Sunday broadcast of the Premier League.

[edit] Celebrity Big Brother

Jones was a housemate on the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother 2010,^[21] and celebrated his 45th birthday while he participated. He took part in the show to change the public's perception of him as a 'hard man'.^[22] Jones received loud cheers as he entered the house and was the favourite to win going into the house, however he did not maintain popularity with the public, the crowd chanted 'Get Vinnie Out' on the final night and booed him as he left the house after he finished in third place. Speaking of his experience on the show, he said: "It was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in there – and I was Jack Nicholson."^[23]

During the 29 January 2010 broadcast of Celebrity Big Brother, Jones accused Davina McCall of 'walking like a retard', McCall responded by laughing and Jones then mimed what he meant. Despite immediate protests by disability charities, individual disabled people and a Facebook campaign;^[24][25] it was not until 12 February that Channel 4 removed the incident from its on-demand service 4oD and issued an apology, blaming the failure on the 'tiredness' of production staff. Jones and McCall issued apologies via their respective publicists at around the same time.

Advertisements[link]

Since September 2006, Jones' image and voice have been used in a campaign by UK bookmakers Ladbrokes to promote greyhound racing, a sport Jones has been connected with in the past, as a racing dog owner and an enthusiast. Jones also appeared in a series of advertisements for Bacardi.

Jones has appeared as himself in an RAC commercial also featuring his wife, Tanya. In 2000, Jones caused controversy when he appeared in an ad for a drink called "Red Devil". In the ad, Jones is pruning flowers in his garden when he sees a robin crying because its bird feeder is empty. Jones fills the feeder, and places it on the windowsill of his kitchen. Seeing the feeder, the robin flies at it, collides with the kitchen window, and slides down the pane while Jones bursts out laughing. Many parents said the ad (which drew about 390 complaints) was tasteless, and upsetting for children. Later, the ad was shown only after the nine o'clock watershed. The ad was eventually axed.

During the early months of 2012, he starred in a British Heart Foundation television advert promoting Hands-only CPR to the rhythm of the famous Bee Gees single "Stayin' Alive".^[26] His character was an obvious reflection of his roles as Big Chris and Bullet-Tooth Tony from the Guy Ritchie films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch respectively; being accentuated by the presence fellow actor Andy Beckwith who played the thug Errol in "Snatch". Jones also starred in comedy panel show Mad Mad World on ITV1

Books[link]

In 1998 Jones published his autobiography, Vinnie: The Autobiography,^[27] which was later revised and reprinted a year later to include information on his first film appearance in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Jones is soon^[when?] to be the star of a new comic book, Noble, written and drawn by Howard Chaykin.^[28]

Personal life[link]

During his football career Jones resided in Dronfield, near Sheffield. Jones married Tanya Terry (b. 1966) in 1994 in Watford. She has a daughter, Kaley Jay Terry (born 1987, Watford), by her first husband, footballer Steve Terry. She had a heart transplant straight after the birth and is a cervical cancer survivor.^[29] Jones has a son, Aaron Elliston Jones (born 1991, Sheffield),^[30] by Mylene Elliston. His son joined the British Army, completing his training in August 2008, and serves in the Life Guards.^[31] Jones, his wife and her daughter live in Los Angeles.^[32]

Jones is a staunch supporter of the British Conservative Party and has suggested standing as an MP.^[33]

Jones has had several brushes with the law. He was convicted in June 1998 of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage against a neighbour in November 1997.^[34] In December 2003, Jones was convicted of air rage offences committed on a flight the previous May. Following his conviction, Bacardi withdrew the ads in which Jones appeared. In December 2008 he was treated for injuries and arrested after a bar fight at Wiley's Tavern in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The fight is alleged to have been started over Jones attempting to join a game of pool with patrons Juan Barrera and Jesse Bickett. Jones was alleged to have dealt a headbutt to Barrera, while Bickett allegedly struck Jones with a beer glass. Jones was charged with misdemeanour assault which could have landed him in jail for one year if he had been convicted.^[35] Jones was found not guilty after a two-day trial on 15 May 2009.

In April 2010, Jones was reported to be carrying injuries after losing a fight with fellow actor Tamer Hassan.^[36]

He is a big fan of sports fishing.^{[citation needed]} He has claimed to be a fan of the death metal band Bolt Thrower.

Career statistics[link]

^[37]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2002: "Respect"^[38]

Singles[link]

• "Wooly Bully" (1993)^[39]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vinnie Jones

• Vinnie Jones' Official website
• Vinnie Jones at the Internet Movie Database
• Vinnie Jones career stats National Football Teams
• Magazine interview – online version Retransfers
• Vinnie Jones Discogs