see also the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, nicknamed "the Mitten"

A glove (Middle English from Old English glof) is a garment covering the whole hand. Gloves have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb; if there is an opening but no covering sheath for each finger they are called "fingerless gloves". Fingerless gloves with one large opening rather than individual openings for each finger are sometimes called gauntlets. Gloves which cover the entire hand or fist but do not have separate finger openings or sheaths are called mittens. Mittens are warmer than gloves made of the same material because fingers maintain their warmth better when they are in contact with each other. Reduced surface area reduces heat loss.

A hybrid of glove and mitten also exists, which contains open-ended sheaths for the four fingers (as in a fingerless glove, but not the thumb) and also an additional compartment encapsulating the four fingers as a mitten would. This compartment can be lifted off the fingers and folded back to allow the individual fingers ease of movement and access while the hand remains covered. The usual design is for the mitten cavity to be stitched onto the back of the fingerless glove only, allowing it to be flipped over (normally held back by Velcro or a button) to transform the garment from a mitten to a glove. These hybrids are called convertible mittens or glittens, a combination of "glove" and "mittens".

Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a guard for what a bare hand should not touch. Latex, nitrile rubber or vinyl disposable gloves are often worn by health care professionals as hygiene and contamination protection measures. Police officers often wear them to work in crime scenes to prevent destroying evidence in the scene. Many criminals wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, which makes the crime investigation more difficult. However, the gloves themselves can leave prints that are just as unique as human fingerprints. After collecting glove prints, law enforcement can then match them to gloves that they have collected as evidence.^[1] In many jurisdictions the act of wearing gloves itself while committing a crime can be prosecuted as an inchoate offense.^[2]

Fingerless gloves are useful where dexterity is required that gloves would restrict. Cigarette smokers and church organists use fingerless gloves. Some gloves include a gauntlet that extends partway up the arm. Cycling gloves for road racing or touring are usually fingerless, as are sailing gloves.

Gloves are made of materials including cloth, knitted or felted wool, leather, rubber, latex, neoprene, and metal (as in mail). Gloves of kevlar protect the wearer from cuts. Gloves and gauntlets are integral components of pressure suits and spacesuits such as the Apollo/Skylab A7L which went to the moon. Spacesuit gloves combine toughness and environmental protection with a degree of sensitivity and flexibility.

Expensive women's fashion gloves are made in France, Canada and other countries. For cheaper male gloves New York State, especially Gloversville, New York is a center of glove manufacturing. More and more glove manufacturing is being done in East Asia, however.

History[link]

A disposable nitrile rubber glove

Gloves appear to be of great antiquity. According to some translations of Homer's The Odyssey, Laërtes is described as wearing gloves while walking in his garden so as to avoid the brambles.^[3] (Other translations, however, insist that Laertes pulled his long sleeves over his hands.) Herodotus, in The History of Herodotus (440 BC), tells how Leotychides was incriminated by a glove (gauntlet) full of silver that he received as a bribe.^[4] There are also occasional references to the use of gloves among the Romans as well. Pliny the Younger (ca. 100), his uncle's shorthand writer wore gloves during intercourse and in the winter so as not to impede the elder Pliny's work.^[5]

During the 13th century, gloves began to be worn by ladies as a fashion ornament.^[3] They were made of linen and silk, and sometimes reached to the elbow.^[3] Such worldly accoutrements were not for holy women, according to the early thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse, written for their guidance.^[6] Sumptuary laws were promulgated to restrain this vanity: against samite gloves in Bologna, 1294, against perfumed gloves in Rome, 1560.^[7]

A Paris corporation or guild of glovers (gantiers) existed from the thirteenth century. They made them in skin or in fur.^[8]

It was not until the 16th century that they reached their greatest elaboration, however, when Queen Elizabeth I set the fashion for wearing them richly embroidered and jewelled,^[3] and for putting them on and taking them off during audiences, to draw attention to her beautiful hands.^[9] In Paris, the gantiers became gantiers parfumeurs, for the scented oils, musk, ambergris and civet, that perfumed leather gloves, but their trade, which was an introduction at the court of Catherine de Medici,^[10] was not specifically recognised until 1656, in a royal brevet. Makers of knitted gloves, which did not retain perfume and had less social cachet, were organised in a separate guild, of bonnetiers^[11] who might knit silk as well as wool. Such workers were already organised in the fourteenth century. Knitted gloves were a refined handiwork that required five years of apprenticeship; defective work was subject to confiscation and burning.^[12] In the 17th century, gloves made of soft chicken skin became fashionable. The craze for gloves called "limericks" also took hold. This particular glove-fad was the product of a manufacturer in Limerick, Ireland who fashioned the gloves from the skin of unborn calves.^[13]

Embroidered and jewelled gloves also formed part of the insignia of emperors and kings. Thus Matthew of Paris, in recording the burial of Henry II of England in 1189, mentions that he was buried in his coronation robes with a golden crown on his head and gloves on his hands.^[3] Gloves were also found on the hands of King John when his tomb was opened in 1797 and on those of King Edward I when his tomb was opened in 1774.^[3]

Pontifical gloves are liturgical ornaments used primarily by the pope, the cardinals, and bishops.^[3] They may be worn only at the celebration of mass.^[3] The liturgical use of gloves has not been traced beyond the beginning of the 10th century, and their introduction may have been due to a simple desire to keep the hands clean for the holy mysteries, but others suggest that they were adopted as part of the increasing pomp with which the Carolingian bishops were surrounding themselves.^[3] From the Frankish kingdom the custom spread to Rome, where liturgical gloves are first heard of in the earlier half of the 11th century.^[3]

Early Formula One racing cars used steering wheels taken directly from road cars. They were normally made from wood necessitating the use of driving gloves.^[14]

Latex gloves, ubiquitous in surgery and forensics, were developed by the Australian company Ansell.^[15] Ansell also launched the ActivArmr line, which is dedicated to producing protective gloves for construction, plumbing, HVAC and military applications.^[16]

Types of glove[link]

Tear in space glove during STS-118

A Nomex Fire Resistant Racing Drivers Glove

Commercial and industrial[link]

• Barbed wire handler's gloves
• Chainsaw gloves
• Fireman's gauntlets
• Disposable gloves
• Medical gloves
• Welder's gloves
• Aircrew gloves: fire resistant
• Sandblasting gloves
• Gardening gloves
• Impact protection gloves
• Rubber gloves
• Chainmail gloves are used by butchers, scuba divers, woodcutters and police
• Food service gloves
• Cut-resistant gloves
• Military gloves
• Touchscreen gloves

Sport and recreational[link]

Minoan youths boxing, Knossos fresco. One of the earliest documented use of gloves.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gloves

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mittens

• American football various position gloves
• Archer's glove
• Baseball glove or catcher's mitt: in baseball, the players in the field wear gloves to help them catch the ball and prevent injury to their hands.
• Billiards glove
• Boxing gloves: a specialized padded mitten
• Cricket gloves
  • The wicket keeper wears large webbed gloves.
  • The batsmen wear gloves with heavy padding on the back, to protect the fingers in case of being struck with the ball.
• Cycling gloves
• Driving gloves intended to improve the grip on the steering wheel. Driving gloves have external seams, open knuckles, open backs, ventilation holes, short cuffs, and wrist snaps. The most luxurious are made from Peccary gloving leather.^[17]
• Football - Goalkeeper glove
• fencing glove
• Falconry glove
• Gardening glove
• Golf glove
• Ice hockey mitt
• Riding gloves
• Lacrosse gloves
• Kendo Kote
• Motorcycling gloves
• Paintball Glove
• Racing drivers gloves with long cuffs, are intended for protection against heat and flame for drivers in automobile competitions.^[18]
• Scuba diving gloves :
  • cotton gloves; good abrasion but no thermal protection
  • wet gloves; made of neoprene and allowing water entry
  • dry gloves; made of rubber with a latex wrist seal to prevent water entry
• Touchscreen gloves - made with conductive material to enable the wearer's natural electric capacitance to interact with capacitive touchscreen devices without the need to remove one's gloves^[19]
  • finger tip conductivity; where conductive yarns or a conductive patch is found only on the tips of the fingers (typically the index finger and thumb) thus allowing for basic touch response
  • full hand conductivity; where the entire gloves is made from conductive materials allowing for robust tactile touch and dexterity good for accurate typing and multi-touch response^[20]
• Underwater Hockey gloves - with protective padding, usually of silicone rubber or latex, across the back of the fingers and knuckles to protect from impact with the puck; usually only one, either left- or right-hand, is worn depending on which is the playing hand.
• Ski are padded and reinforced to protect from the cold but also from injury by Skis.
• Webbed gloves - A swim training device or swimming aid.
• Weightlifting gloves
• Wired glove
  • Power Glove - an alternate controller for use with the Nintendo Entertainment System
• LED glove
• Oven gloves - or Oven mitts, are used when cooking
• Washing mitt or Washing glove: a tool for washing the body (one's own, or of a child, a patient, a lover).
• Wheelchair gloves - for users of manual Wheelchairs

Fashion[link]

Western lady's gloves for formal and semi-formal wear come in three lengths: wrist ("matinee"), elbow, and opera or full-length (over the elbow, reaching to the biceps). Satin and stretch satin are popular and mass-produced. Some women wear gloves as part of "dressy" outfits, such as for church and weddings. Long white gloves are common accessories for teenage girls attending formal events such as prom, cotillion, or formal ceremonies at church such as confirmation.

Fingerless gloves[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Leather fingerless gloves

Fingerless gloves or "glovelettes" are garments worn on the hands which resemble regular gloves in most ways, except that the finger columns are half-length and opened, allowing the top-half of the wearer's fingers to be shown.

Fingerless gloves are often padded in the palm area, to provide protection to the hand, and the exposed fingers do not interfere with sensation or gripping. In contrast to traditional gloves, often worn for warmth, fingerless gloves will often have a ventilated back to allow the hands to cool; this is commonly seen in weightlifting gloves.

Fingerless gloves are also worn by bikers as a means to better grip the handlebars, as well as by skateboarders and rollerbladers, to protect the palms of the hands and add grip in the event of a fall. Some anglers, particularly fly fishermen, favour fingerless gloves to allow manipulation of line and tackle in cooler conditions.

A woolen variety became popular in the early 1980s, largely due to the example of English pop star Nik Kershaw.

Leather gloves[link]

Lined black leather gloves with red leather fourchettes

A leather glove is a fitted covering for the hand with a separate sheath for each finger and the thumb. This covering is composed of the tanned hide of an animal (with the hair removed), though it is not uncommon in recent years for the leather to be synthetic.

Common uses[link]

A common use for leather gloves is sporting events. In baseball, a baseball glove is an oversized leather glove with a web used for fielding the ball. Leather gloves also factor into playing handball. Cyclists also use leather gloves. Leather gloves are also used frequently by football players so that they can more easily grip the ball.

Early Formula One racing drivers used steering wheels taken directly from road cars. They were normally made from wood necessitating the use of driving gloves.^[14]

Leather gloves also provide protection from occupational hazards. For example, beekeepers use leather gloves to avoid being stung by bees. Construction workers might also use leather gloves for added grip and for protecting their hands. Welders use gloves too for protection against electrical shocks, extreme heat, ultraviolet and infrared.

Criminals have also been known to wear leather gloves during the commission of their crimes. These gloves are worn by criminals because the tactile properties of the leather allow for good grip and dexterity. These same properties are the result of their being a grain present on the surface of the leather. This makes the surface of the leather understandably as random as human skin since the leather itself is skin, usually from livestock. Investigators are able to dust for the glove prints left behind from the leather the same way in which they dust for fingerprints.^[21][22]

Leather Dress Gloves[link]

Main types of Gloving Leather[link]

Leather is a natural product with special characteristics that make it comfortable to wear, and give it great strength and flexibility. Because it is a natural product, with its own unique variations, every piece has its own individual characteristics.

• Peccary is the world’s rarest and most luxurious gloving leather. Peccary leather is very soft, difficult to sew, and is hard wearing.^[23]
• Hairsheep originates from sheep that grow hair not wool. Hairsheep leather is finer and less bulky than other leathers. Its major benefits are softness of touch, suppleness, strength, and lasting comfort. It is very durable and is particularly suited for the manufacture of dress gloves.
• Deerskin has the benefit of great strength and elasticity, but has a more rugged appearance, with more grain on the surface, than hairsheep. It is very hard wearing and heavier in weight than hairsheep leather.
• Slink lamb is used only in the most expensive lambskin gloves. Some of the finest lambskin comes from New Zealand.
• Sheepskin, also called shearling, is widely used for casual and country gloves. It is very warm in cold weather, and has its own natural wool lining from the wool on the sheep.
• Cowhide is often used for lower priced gloves. This leather is generally considered too thick and bulky for the majority of glove styles, particularly finer dress gloves. It is however, used for some casual styles of glove.
• Goatskin is occasionally used for gloves. It is hard wearing but coarser than other leathers and is normally used for cheaper gloves.

Leather glove linings[link]

• Cashmere is warm, light in weight, and very comfortable to wear. Cashmere yarn comes from the hair of mountain goats, whose fleece allows them to survive the extreme weather conditions they are exposed to.
• Silk is warm in winter and cool in summer and is used both in men’s and women’s gloves, but is more popular in women’s.
• Wool is well known for its natural warmth and comfort, as well as having a natural elasticity.
• Other linings, which include wool mixtures and acrylics.

Component parts[link]

The component parts that may be found in a leather dress glove are one pair of tranks, one pair of thumbs, four whole fourchettes, four half fourchettes, two gussets, and six quirks. Depending on the style of the glove there may also be roller pieces, straps, rollers, eyelets, studs, sockets and domes. Finally, linings will themselves consist of tranks, thumbs and fourchettes.

Stitching[link]

The most popular types of leather glove sewing stitches used today are:

• Inseam, which is mainly used on women’s gloves, but occasionally on men’s dress gloves.
• Hand stitched, which is most popular in men’s gloves and some women’s styles. Hand stitching is a very time consuming and skilled process.

Some glove terms[link]

• Points are the three, or sometimes single, line of decorative stitching on the back of the glove.
• Fourchettes are the inside panels on the fingers of some glove styles.
• Quirks are found on only the most expensive hand sewn gloves. They are small diamond shaped pieces of leather sewn at the base of the fingers, where they are attached to the hand of the glove to improve the fit.
• Button length is the measurement in inches that is used to determine the length/measurement from the base of the glove thumb to the cuff of the glove.
• A strap & roller is used to adjust the closeness of the fit around the wrist.
• A Vent is the ‘V’ shaped cut out of the glove, sometimes at the back, but more often on the palm, to give the glove an easier fit around the wrist.
• Perforations are small holes that are punched in the leather. They are often added for better ventilation, grip, or aesthetics and can be as fine as a pin hole.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

Driving gloves[link]

Driving gloves are designed for holding a steering wheel and transmitting the feeling of the road to the driver. They provide a good feel and protect the hands. They are designed to be worn tight and to not interfere with the hands movements. The increased grip allows for more control, and increased safety at speed.^[29]

True driver’s gloves can be identified because they offer tactile advantages to drivers frequently handling a car near the limits of adhesion. Made of soft leather, drivers gloves are unlined with external seams, which makes them seamless inside so as not to interfere with the sensitivity of the drivers touch on the steering wheel, and subsequently information from where the tire contacts the road. Driver’s gloves feature open knuckles and back for maximum flexibility, ventilation and to reduce stress on the soft, thin, skin tight, leather. Holes punched in fingers and palms for breathability, short cuffs so as not to restrict movement, and a stud fastener closure on the back for proper fit around the wrist.

The finest driving gloves, are hand sewn using Peccary glove leather, although other materials and fasteners may be used.^[17]

In history[link]

Leather gloves have also been noted throughout history. The 1592 "Ditchley" portrait of Queen Elizabeth I features her holding leather gloves in her left hand. In the Victorian era, some women would wear undersized leather gloves in an effort to shrink the size of their hands, as small hands were considered a sign of beauty.^{[citation needed]} A gauntlet, which could be a glove made out of leather or some kind of metal armor, was a strategic part of a soldier's defense throughout the Middle Ages, but the advent of firearms phased hand-to-hand fighting out of most military engagements. As a result, the need for gauntlets also disappeared. As far back as the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the Jews were instructed to show their leather gloves to priests if it appeared the mildew was growing on them, and if so, the gloves would be considered unclean.^{[citation needed]}

More recently in history, Tommie Smith and John Carlos held up their leather glove-clad fists at the awards ceremony of the 1968 Summer Olympics. Their actions were intended to symbolize Black Power, but they were banned from the Olympics for life as a result of the incident. Yet another of the more infamous episodes involving a leather glove came during the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder case in which Simpson demonstrated that the glove purportedly used in the alleged murder was too small to fit his hand.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture and fiction[link]

• In the film Jackie Brown, Samuel L. Jackson's character wears leather gloves.

• A popular depiction of a leather glove in fiction is the use of such a glove by Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars movies. He wears the glove to cover his robotic hand and to hint at the transformation of Anakin into the evil villain Darth Vader.

• In the television show Bonanza, Joe Cartwright famously wore black leather gloves.

• Another example of leather gloves in fiction is in the Hitman video games. Agent 47, the main character, is an assassin who typically wears a suit, tie, and prominently-displayed black leather gloves.

• In a Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch on Saturday Night Live, Sean Connery (as portrayed by Darrell Hammond) humorously refers to a leather glove being an object out of which people drink water.

• Fictional villain Carmen Sandiego is always pictured wearing black leather gloves.^[30]

• In the television series Dexter the title character Dexter Morgan, a serial killer, wears leather gloves when committing his murders.^[31]

• Singer and entertainer Lady Gaga often incorporates various styles of leather gloves into her costumes and everyday clothing.^[32]

• In Jerry Zucker's 1990 romantic fantasy film Ghost, the character Willy Lopez (Rick Aviles) wears black leather driving gloves when he robs and shoots (and thus kills) Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze). Shortly thereafter he again wears black leather driving gloves (possibly the same pair) when he burglarizes the apartment of the now murdered Sam. Although alone (besides Sam in the form of a ghost) in the apartment, Willy becomes startled when Sam's girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) returns home. Silently hiding in Molly's bedroom, Willy observes Molly begin to change her cloths. Sam becomes enraged as he sees Willy flex his gloved hand and grin in enjoyment. Sam then spooks Molly's cat which then lunges towards Willy's face, leaving a large, bleeding scratch which Willy immediately (and repeatedly) rubs/caresses with his gloved hand. This injury leaves Willy with a scar that is visible throughout the rest of the film.^{[33][34][35][36]}

• In David Cronenberg's 1996 thriller film Crash, the character Dr. Helen Remington played by Holly Hunter wears at least two different types of leather gloves throughout the film.^[37][38]

• In Steven Spielberg's 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the character Dr. Elsa Schneider played by Alison Doody wears black leather gloves throughout the ending of the film. Schneider falls to her death at the end of the film as she dives after the Holy Grail which has fallen into a crack in the Earth. Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, lunges after her and is able to grab onto one of her leather gloved hands. As she reached for the grail with her free gloved hand, her other hand slipped out of the glove that Jones was gripping, sending her to her death.^[39][40]

• In Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, the character of Jack Napier (who later and as a result of this event becomes the Joker), played by Jack Nicholson, prominently wears black leather gloves during his robbery of the Axis Chemicals business office. Upon trying to escape from the Gotham City Police and encountering Batman, played by Michael Keaton, in the chemical plant, Napier shoots Batman who deflects the bullet with his own bullet-proof leather glove. The ricocheted bullet returns back to Napier, striking through his cheeks. In pain he drops his gun, clasps his bleeding cheeks with his leather gloved hands and falls backwards off a ledge. Batman lunges and grabs one of leather gloved hands in an effort to rescue him. Napier's hand slipped out of the glove that Batman was gripping, sending him into a vat of chemicals.^[41][42]

• In James L. Brooks' 1997 romantic comedy film As Good As It Gets, the main character, obsessive-compulsive misanthrope Melvin Udall, also played by Jack Nicholson, wears brown leather driving gloves in several scenes.^[43]

• In the ITV series The Professionals's 1st season's 4th episode "Killer With A Long Arm", characters Georgi (Michael Latimer), Hilda (Diane Keen), and Costa (Milos Kirek), are assassins who wear leather gloves throughout the entire program; as they murder, hold hostages, and commit other crimes. Georgi wears light brown leather driving gloves, Hilda wears dark brown leather gloves, and Costa wears black leather gloves.^{[44][45][46][47][48][49][50]}

• In the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's 3rd season's 19th episode, "A Night at the Movies", character Kelly Goodson, played by Megan Ward, wears expensive black leather gloves when committing her first murder. Gil Grissom, played by William Petersen, finds a unique combination of medications on the leather gloves which Goodson had discarded at the murder location figuring that they could never be traced back to her. Upon taking Goodson in for questioning, Grissom presents Goodson with her discarded leather gloves and explains that he found her unique combination of medications (eucalyptabalm, isorcreme, and capsaicin ointment) all over them.^[51][52]

Mittens[link]

Saami mittens

Gloves which cover the entire hand but do not have separate finger openings or sheaths are called mittens. Generally, mittens still separate the thumb from the other four fingers. They have different colours and designs. Mittens have a higher thermal efficiency than gloves as they have a small surface area exposed to the cold.^[53]

The earliest mittens known to archeologists date to around 1000AD^[54] in Latvia. Mittens continue to be part of Latvian national costume today.^[55] Wool biodegrades quickly, so it is likely that earlier mittens, possibly in other countries, may have existed but were not preserved. An exception is the specimen found during the excavations of the Early Medieval trading town of Dorestad in the Netherlands. In the harbour area a mitten of wool was discovered dating from the 8th or early 9th century.^[56] Many people around the Arctic Circle have used mittens, including other Baltic peoples, Native Americans^[57] and Vikings.^[58] Mittens are a common sight on Ski slopes, as they not only provide extra warmth but extra protection from injury.

Idiot mittens describes two mittens connected by a length of yarn, string or lace, threaded through the sleeves of a coat. This arrangement is typically provided for small children to prevent the mittens becoming discarded and lost; when removed, the mittens simply dangle from the cuffs.^[59][60]

Scratch mitts refers to mittens which do not separate the thumb, and are designed to prevent babies who do not yet have fine motor control from scratching their faces.^[61][62]

Gunner's Mittens In the 1930s special fingerless mittens were introduced where a flap was located in the palm of the mitten so a hunter or soldier could have his finger free to fire his weapon. Developed for hunters first in the frigid zones of the US and Canada, eventually most military organizations copied them.^[63]

Standards[link]

There are a number of different European standards that relate to gloves. These include:

• BS EN388- Mechanical hazards including Abrasion, cut, tear and puncture.
• BS EN388:2003 - Protective Against Mechanical Rist (Abrasion/Blade Cut Resistance/Tear Resistance/Abrasion Resistance)
• BS EN374-1:2003 Protective Against Chemical And Micro-Organisms
• BS EN374-2- Micro-organisms
• BS EN374-3- Chemicals
• BS EN420- General requirements for gloves includes sizing and a number of health and safety aspects including latex protein and chromium levels.
• BS EN60903- Electric shock
• BS EN407- Heat resistance
• BS EN511- Cold resistance
• BS EN1149- Antistatic

These exist to fulfill the PPE requirements.

PPE places gloves into three categories:

• Minimal risk - End user can easily identify risk. Risk is low.
• Complex design- Used situations that can cause serious injury or death.
• Intermediate - Gloves that don't fit into minimal risk or complex design categories.

A footballer's Goalkeeper glove from different angles

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up mitten in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up mitt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up glove in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "Fitting The Glove To The Job", September 1949, Popular Science

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Ali G
F2F
Portrayed by	Sacha Baron Cohen
Duration	1996–1997 (F2F) 1998–2000 (The Eleven O'Clock Show) 2000, 2003–04 (Da Ali G Show) 2002 (Ali G Indahouse)
First appearance	F2F
Created by	Sacha Baron Cohen
Profile
Occupation	Interviewer, Singer, Rapper, Junglist
Residence	Staines
Relationships Parents Tina (mother) Sibling(s) Rory Romances Julie (fiancee) Grandparents Nana Aunts and uncles Jamal Derrick

Ali G (born Alistair Leslie Graham) is a satirical fictional character created and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, as the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, he is also the title character of the film Ali G Indahouse. Cohen's character Ali G, along with Borat and Brüno, has been retired.^[1]

Development of the character[link]

The character of Ali G is a stereotype of a white suburban male from Staines (now Staines-upon-Thames) who imitates rap culture as well as urban British and Jamaican culture, particularly through hip hop, reggae, drum and bass and jungle music. Ali G was part of a group called Berkshire Massif, and he ran and grew up in an area of Slough called Langley (both actual locations in the UK). He also lived part of his life in Staines. Baron Cohen has stated that BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood was an influence on the development of the Ali G character – Westwood hosts Radio 1's Rap Show and speaks in a faux Multicultural London English and Hip-Hop dialect. Ali G's middle class credentials mirror Westwood's: the latter was brought up in Lowestoft, Suffolk as a bishop's son.^[2]

Prior to Ali G's appearance on The Eleven O'Clock Show, Baron Cohen had portrayed a similar character named MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume on a show he presented called F2F, which ran on a satellite channel called Talk TV (owned by Granada Television). While chatting to a group of skateboarders, in character, Baron Cohen realised that people could be led to believe the character was real, and filmed a number of segments which were ordered off air by London Weekend Television.^[2]

History and appearances[link]

Ali G, a boorish, uneducated, faux-streetwise poseur with a deeply stereotypical view of the world, first came to prominence on Channel 4's The Eleven O'Clock Show as the "voice of da yoof" in 1998.^[3] He interviewed various public figures in the United Kingdom, always either embarrassing his interviewee by displaying a mixture of uninformed political incorrectness, or getting the interview 'victim' to agree to some breathtaking inaccuracy or insult. His key saying is "booyakasha".

Other examples of his bold interviewing style include getting Lindsay Urwin, the Bishop of Horsham, to admit that God created the Universe, and then asked him, "And since then, [God]'s just chilled?" Ali G asked the Bishop about God's appearance, to which the Bishop replied, "Well, he's sort of Jesus-shaped." During an interview with James Ferman (former director of the British Board of Film Classification), Ali G asks whether his made-up vulgarities would restrict a film to an over-18 audience, and suggests that film censorship be performed by younger persons who understand contemporary slang. In a interview with the Chairman of the Arts Council of England Gerry Robinson Ali G first question was: "Why is it that everything you fund is so crap?"

Ali G was in a series of ads for the 2005–06 NBA season, in which he used his brand of off-kilter journalism to interview various NBA stars. The spots were directed by Spike Lee.

Ali G was also featured in the music video "Music" by Madonna as her limo driver.

Background[link]

Ali G is a fictional gang member of the "West Staines Massif", who currently lives with his grandmother in a semi-detached house at 36 Cherry Blossom Close, in the heart of the "Staines Ghetto". He was educated at what he calls "da Matthew Arnold Skool"; the Matthew Arnold School is a real secondary school. He also has a short stint at Vanguard College Preparatory School.

Staines, a working-class commuter town to the west of London, is far different from the inner city ghetto that Ali G claims. In the same comic vein, he also makes reference to other similar working-class towns in the area, such as Egham, Langley and Englefield Green. Despite the incongruous nature of his home town, he purports to exemplify inner city culture. Ali's "real" name is later revealed to be Alistair Leslie Graham (revealed in the eponymous film).

Ali G speaks a comical patois in keeping with his delusions of being black of Jamaican ancestry and peppered with such catchphrases as "Aight" (alright), "Booyakasha", "Big up Yaself", "Wagwaan", "West Side", "Batty Boy" "Respek" (respect), "For Real", "Poonani", "Check It" and "Keep It Real". His trademark hand gesture closely resembles the "dip snap".

Family[link]

Ali was born on a Council Estate to mother Tina. He has an older sister and an older brother. He has a younger sister and other younger siblings. When Ali was fifteen he went to live with his grandmother when his mother had another baby and there was no room for him and his older brother and sister, who went to live with their father. Ali's baby brothers are called Rory, Jamie and Guy.

Criticisms of the character[link]

Although Baron Cohen has repeatedly stated that the Ali G character is a parody of suburban, privileged youth 'acting black', numerous commentators have opined that the force of the humour is derived from stereotypes of blacks, not poser whites. According to this view of the character, the suburban background written into Ali G's character serves as a false alibi.^[4][5][6]

The comedian Felix Dexter has said that he appreciated the humour of an innocent confronting an expert with neither understanding the other, but that 'I feel that a lot of the humour is laughing at black street culture and it is being celebrated because it allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at that culture in a safe context where they can retain their sense of political correctness.^[7]

Notable people interviewed by Ali G[link]

• Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, former astronaut, and the second man to walk on the moon. (Ali G also called him "Buzz Lightyear").
• Alex Alonso, author, professor and founder of Streetgangs.com
• David Beckham, football player and his wife Victoria Beckham, a member of the Spice Girls.
• Tony Benn, former British Labour MP, chairman and cabinet minister
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali,^[8] former Secretary General of the United Nations, mistakenly called 'Boutros Boutros Boutros Ghali by Ali-G. Boutros-Ghali clearly went so far as to participate in some of Ali G's notorious word games and providing the epilogue to the episode where, at Ali G's bidding, he tells youth viewers to 'enjoy the music of Bob Marley'. In response to Ali G's perceived ignorance, Boutros-Ghali provides a detailed explanation about why Disneyland is not represented in the United Nations, and reveals which foreign languages sound comical to his ear. The interview appeared on the War episode of the Da Ali G Show.^[9]
• Rhodes Boyson, former British Conservative education minister, who agreed with Ali G that metric system should not be taught in school because 'one deals in quarters and eighths of ounces'
• Pat Buchanan, American political commentator and former presidential candidate who began laughing uncontrollably when he realized he was being fooled
• Noam Chomsky, MIT professor and linguist
• Jarvis Cocker, Pulp singer
• Linda Cohn, ESPN anchor
• Gaz Coombes, Supergrass singer
• Paul Daniels, magician
• James X. Dempsey, privacy guru and Vice President for Public Policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology
• Sam Donaldson, veteran journalist
• Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods and current owner of Fulham FC
• Marlin Fitzwater, former White House Press Secretary, who ended the interview after calling Ali G an idiot.
• Jerome Friedman, MIT Professor of physics and 1990 Nobel Prize winner
• John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and public intellectual
• Daryl Gates, former Los Angeles Police Chief (He was referred to as "Bill Gates" by Ali G).
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
• Leanna Heart, adult film star
• Neil Hamilton, former Conservative politician
• Kent Hovind, evangelist and Young Earth creationist
• Glenn Hubbard, former professional baseball player
• Reed Irvine, founder of Accuracy in Media
• Jenna Jameson, adult film star
• Ernie Johnson, Jr., sports broadcaster
• Steve Kerr, former American professional basketball player who, according to Ali G, works on "TMT"; Kerr is a basketball analyst with U.S. cable network TNT.
• C. Everett Koop, former US Surgeon General
• James Lipton, host of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio
• John McCain, United States Senator from Arizona and 2000/2008 Presidential Candidate
• Ralph Nader, consumer activist and former US presidential candidate for the Green Party
• Thomas J. Pickard, former FBI Director
• Gail Porter, television presenter
• Sue Ramsey, Irish politician, Sinn Féin
• Sally Jessy Raphaël, former talk show host, (who congratulated him for 'being himself')
• Andy Rooney, of the CBS programme 60 Minutes, who furiously ended his interview abruptly
• Charles Schultze, former Chief Economic Advisor to President Jimmy Carter^[10]
• Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Advisor and Air Force General
• Tomasz Starzewski, fashion designer
• Dick Thornburgh, former U.S. Attorney General
• Donald Trump, real estate developer, who walks off dismissively around one minute into the interview
• Stansfield Turner, former Director Central Intelligence Agency
• Lindsay Urwin, the Bishop of Horsham
• Gore Vidal, author and essayist, (whom Ali G mistook for Vidal Sassoon)
• Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor and United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ administrator
• Kobe Bryant, NBA basketball player (whom he asks about the number of springs in a basketball)
• Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician, Democratic Unionist Party
• Naomi Wolf, author and feminist
• Professional basketball players Steve Nash (who was an award winning player "MP3" according to Ali G and unable to speak proper English being Canadian), Ben Wallace (who he accuses of "playa-hating"), Shaquille O'Neal (who he argued with about the meaning of the NBA, Ali thinking it stood for Nationwide Basketball Society), Tim Duncan (who he tried to get a pair of free sneakers from), Robert Horry, Dwyane Wade (who he didn't realise was an NBA player, claiming he had snuck in to "hang with mah man Shaquille O'Neal"), Richard Jefferson (whom he called Thomas Jefferson his son), Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller

References[link]