Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
logo	Football Conference.png
pixels	100
country
founded	1979(as Alliance Premier League)
teams	24
promotion	League Two
relegation	Conference NorthConference South
levels	5
domest cup	FA CupFA TrophyConference League Cup
champions	Crawley Town
tv	Premier Sports
season	2010–11
current	2011–12 Football Conference
website	Conference }}

Conference National (currently named the Blue Square Bet Premier for sponsorship reasons) is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system. While all of the clubs in the top four tiers of English football are full-time professional, the Conference National has a mixture of full-time and semi-professional clubs. The Conference National is the lowest nationwide division in the English football pyramid.

History

The league was formed as the ''Alliance Premier League'' in 1979, coming into force for the 1979–80 season. It was the first attempt to create a fully national league underneath the Football League, drawing its clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. It greatly improved the quality of football at this lower level, as well as improving the financial status of the top clubs. This was reflected in 1986–87, when the Football League began accepting direct promotion and relegation between the Conference (which the league had been renamed by then) and the bottom division of the Football League which at that time was known as the Football League Fourth Division and is now Football League Two. The first team to be promoted by this method was Scarborough and the first team relegated was Lincoln City, who regained their Football League status a year later as Conference champions.

The league's first sponsors were Gola, who sponsored it during the 1984–85 and 1985–86 seasons. When Gola's sponsorship ceased, carmaker Vauxhall Motors — the British subsidiary of American combine General Motors — took over and sponsored the league until the end of the 1997–98 season. The 1998–99 Conference campaign began without sponsors for the Conference, but just before the end of the season a sponsorship was agreed with Nationwide Building Society. This lasted until the end of the 2006–07 season, after which current sponsors Blue Square took over.

Since 2002–03, the league has been granted a second promotion place, with a play-off deciding who joins the champions in the Football League. Previously, no promotion from the Conference would occur if the winners did not have adequate stadium facilities. As of the start of the 2002–03 season, if a club achieves the automatic promotion or the play-off places but does not have an adequate stadium, their place will be re-allocated to the next highest placed club, that has the required facilities. In 2004–05, the Conference increased its size by adding two lower divisions, the Conference North and Conference South respectively, with the original division being renamed Conference National. For the 2006–07 season, the Conference National expanded from 22 to 24 teams by promoting two teams and relegating four teams, and also introduced a "four up and four down" system between the Conference National and the Conference North and Conference South.

In April 2007, it was announced all the Football Conference had agreed a three year sponsorship deal with online betting firm Blue Square. Under the deal, all three Conference leagues would be sponsored by Blue Square from the 2007–08 season. This would also lead to a renaming of the leagues with the ''Conference National'' becoming the ''Blue Square Premier'', the ''Conference North'' becoming ''Blue Square North'' and the ''Conference South'' becoming ''Blue Square South''.

In April 2010, it was announced that Blue Square would continue to sponsor the competition for another three years. From the start of the 2010/11 season the divisions were renamed, with the Blue Square Premier becoming the Blue Square BET Premier, the Blue Square North becoming the Blue Square BET North and the Blue Square South becoming the Blue Square BET South.

Media coverage

In August 2006 Setanta Sports signed a five year deal with the Conference. Under the deal, Setanta Sports started showing live matches in the 2007–08 season, with 79 live matches each season. Included in the deal were the annual Play Off matches as well as the Conference League Cup, a cup competition for the three Football Conference divisions. Setanta showed two live matches a week, with one on Thursday evening and one at the weekend. In Australia the Conference National was broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia. Setanta Sports suffered financial problems and ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2009. Sky Sports broadcast the Conference Play-off final 2010 at Wembley Stadium.

On 19 August 2010, Premier Sports announced that it had bought the live and exclusive UK television rights to thirty matches per season from the Conference National for a total of three seasons. The thirty matches selected for broadcast will include all five Conference National play-offs. The deal with the Football Conference is a revenue sharing arrangement whereby clubs receive 50% of revenue from subscriptions, on top of the normal rights fee paid by the broadcaster, once the costs of production have been met. The Conference will also earn 50% from all internet revenue associated with the deal and allow them to retain advertising rights allied to those adverts shown with their matches. During the 2010-11 season, Premier Sports failed to attract enough viewers to its Conference football broadcasts to share any revenue with the clubs beyond the £5,000 broadcast fee paid to home clubs and £1,000 to away clubs.

Conference National clubs 2011–12

!Club	2010–11 Football Conference>last season
style="text-align:left;"	AFC Telford United	in Conference North
style="text-align:left;"	Alfreton Town	in Conference North
style="text-align:left;"	Barrow	18th
style="text-align:left;"	Bath City	10th
style="text-align:left;"	Braintree Town	in Conference South
style="text-align:left;"	Cambridge United	17th
style="text-align:left;"	Darlington
style="text-align:left;"	Ebbsfleet United	in Conference South
style="text-align:left;"	Fleetwood Town
style="text-align:left;"	Forest Green Rovers	20th
style="text-align:left;"	Gateshead	14th
style="text-align:left;"	Grimsby Town	11th
style="text-align:left;"	Hayes & Yeading United	16th
style="text-align:left;"	Kettering Town	13th
style="text-align:left;"	Kidderminster Harriers
style="text-align:left;"	Lincoln City	in 2010–11 Football League Two>League Two
style="text-align:left;"	Luton Town
style="text-align:left;"	Mansfield Town	12th
style="text-align:left;"	Newport County
style="text-align:left;"	Southport	21st (Reprieved)
style="text-align:left;"	Stockport County	in 2010–11 Football League Two>League Two
style="text-align:left;"	Tamworth	19th
style="text-align:left;"	Wrexham
style="text-align:left;"	York City

Past Conference National winners

Yeovil Town F.C.Chester City F.C.Barnet F.C.Accrington Stanley F.C.Dagenham & Redbridge F.C.Aldershot Town F.C.Burton Albion F.C.Stevenage F.C.

!Season	!Winner	!Playoff Winner
Conference National 1979-80	1979–80	Altrincham F.C.>Altrincham
Conference National 1980-81	1980–81	Altrincham F.C.>Altrincham
Conference National 1981-82	1981–82	Runcorn F.C.>Runcorn
Conference National 1982-83	1982–83	Enfield F.C.>Enfield
Conference National 1983-84	1983–84	Maidstone United F.C.>Maidstone United
Conference National 1984-85	1984–85	Wealdstone F.C.>Wealdstone
Conference National 1985-86	1985–86	Enfield F.C.>Enfield
Conference National 1986-87	1986–87	Scarborough F.C.>Scarborough
Conference National 1987-88	1987–88	Lincoln City F.C.>Lincoln City
Conference National 1988-89	1988–89	Maidstone United F.C.>Maidstone United
Conference National 1989-90	1989–90	Darlington F.C.>Darlington
Conference National 1990-91	1990–91	Barnet F.C.>Barnet
Conference National 1991-92	1991–92	Colchester United F.C.>Colchester United
Conference National 1992-93	1992–93	Wycombe Wanderers F.C.>Wycombe Wanderers
Conference National 1993-94	1993–94	Kidderminster Harriers F.C.>Kidderminster Harriers
Conference National 1994-95	1994–95	Macclesfield Town F.C.>Macclesfield Town
Conference National 1995-96	1995–96	Stevenage Borough F.C.>Stevenage Borough
Conference National 1996-97	1996–97	Macclesfield Town F.C.>Macclesfield Town
Conference National 1997-98	1997–98	Halifax Town A.F.C.>Halifax Town
Conference National 1998-99	1998–99	Cheltenham Town F.C.>Cheltenham Town
Conference National 1999-00	1999–00	Kidderminster Harriers F.C.>Kidderminster Harriers
Conference National 2000-01	2000–01	Rushden & Diamonds F.C.>Rushden & Diamonds
Conference National 2001-02	2001–02	Boston United F.C.>Boston United
Conference National 2002-03	2002–03	Yeovil Town||Doncaster Rovers
Conference National 2003-04	2003–04	Chester City||Shrewsbury Town
Conference National 2004-05	2004–05	Barnet||Carlisle United
Conference National 2005-06	2005–06	Accrington Stanley||Hereford United
Conference National 2006-07	2006–07	Dagenham & Redbridge||Morecambe
Conference National 2007-08	2007–08	Aldershot Town||Exeter City
Conference National 2008-09	2008–09	Burton Albion||Torquay United
2009–10 Football Conference	2009–10	Stevenage Borough||Oxford United
2010-11 Football Conference	2010–11	Crawley Town F.C.>Crawley Town

No promotion to the Football League until 1987. No promotion to the Football League due to stadium not being adequate for the Football League until 1997. Boston United were allowed to retain their championship title and subsequent promotion to the Football League despite having been found guilty of serious financial misconduct during their title winning season. Following their later relegation back from the Football League at the end of the 2006–07 season, due to ongoing financial concerns and irregularities at the club, Boston were relegated a further division and placed in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League.

Conference National play-off results

!Season	!First Semi-final (2nd vs 5th)	!Second Semi-final (3rd vs 4th)	!Final
Conference_National_2002-03	2002–03	[[Dagenham & Redbridge F.C.	[[Morecambe F.C.	[[Doncaster Rovers F.C.	[[Chester City F.C.	Doncaster Rovers 3–2 Dagenham & RedbridgeDoncaster won with a golden goal(Match Report)
	[[Aldershot Town F.C.	[[Hereford United F.C.	[[Barnet F.C.	[[Shrewsbury Town F.C.	Aldershot Town 1–1 Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury won 3–0 on penalties(Match Report)
	Aldershot Town F.C.	[[Carlisle United F.C.	[[Stevenage Borough F.C.	[[Hereford United F.C.	[[Carlisle United F.C.	Match Report)
	Conference_National_2005-06>2005–06	Halifax Town A.F.C.	Halifax Town 3–2 Grays Athletic	[[Grays Athletic F.C.	[[Morecambe F.C.	[[Hereford United F.C.	Hereford United 3–2 Halifax Townafter extra time(Match Report)
	Conference_National_2006-07#Playoffs>2006–07	Exeter City F.C.	Exeter City 0–1 Oxford United	Oxford United F.C.	[[York City F.C.	[[Morecambe F.C.	[[Morecambe F.C.	Match Report)
	Conference_National_2007-08#Playoffs>2007–08	Burton Albion F.C.	Burton Albion 2–2 Cambridge United	Cambridge United F.C.	[[Exeter City F.C.	[[Torquay United F.C.	[[Cambridge United F.C.	Match Report)
	Conference_National_2008-09#Playoffs>2008–09	Stevenage Borough F.C.	[[Cambridge United F.C.	[[Torquay United F.C.	[[Histon F.C.	[[Cambridge United F.C.	Match Report)
	Luton Town F.C.	[[York City F.C.	[[Oxford United F.C.	[[Rushden & Diamonds F.C.	[[Oxford United F.C.	Match Report)
		AFC Wimbledon 6–1 Fleetwood Town F.C.>Fleetwood Town	Wrexham F.C.	[[Luton Town F.C.	[[AFC Wimbledon 0–0
!Home Club	!Stadium Name	Capacity">Luton Town F.C.

Conference National stadia 2010–11

!Home Club	!Stadium Name	Capacity
style="text-align:left;"	Wrexham	Racecourse Ground
style="text-align:left;"	Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium
style="text-align:left;"	Luton Town	Kenilworth Road
style="text-align:left;"	Mansfield Town	Field Mill
style="text-align:left;"	Darlington	The Darlington Arena
style="text-align:left;"	Cambridge United	Abbey Stadium
style="text-align:left;"	Grimsby Town	Blundell Park
style="text-align:left;"	York City	Bootham Crescent
style="text-align:left;"	Bath City	Twerton Park
		style="text-align:left;"	Hayes & Yeading United	Church Road, Hayes (football stadium)>Church Road
style="text-align:left;"	Rushden & Diamonds	Nene Park
style="text-align:left;"	Kidderminster Harriers	Aggborough
style="text-align:left;"	Kettering Town	Rockingham Road
style="text-align:left;"	Altrincham	Moss Lane
style="text-align:left;"	Southport	Haig Avenue
style="text-align:left;"	Fleetwood Town	Highbury Stadium, Fleetwood>Highbury Stadium
style="text-align:left;"	Forest Green Rovers	The New Lawn
style="text-align:left;"	Crawley Town	Broadfield Stadium
style="text-align:left;"	AFC Wimbledon	Kingsmeadow
style="text-align:left;"	Newport County	Newport Stadium
style="text-align:left;"	Barrow	Holker Street
style="text-align:left;"	Eastbourne Borough	Priory Lane
style="text-align:left;"	Tamworth	The Lamb Ground
style="text-align:left;"	Histon	Bridge Road, Impington>Bridge Road

Records

Most wins in a season: 31 — Aldershot Town (2007–08), Crawley Town (2010-11)

Most consecutive wins: 12 — Burton Albion (2008–09)

Fewest defeats in a season: 3 — Yeovil Town (2002–03), Crawley Town (2010-11)

Most goals scored in a season: 103 — Barnet (1990–91), Hereford United (2003–04)

Fewest goals conceded in a season: 24 — Kettering Town (1993–94) / Stevenage Borough (2009–10)

Most points in a season: 105 — Crawley Town (2010-11) Fewest points in a season: 18 — Leigh RMI (2004–05)

Highest goal difference: 63 — Yeovil Town (2002–03), Crawley Town (2010-11)

Biggest win: 9–0 — Runcorn beat Enfield (3 March 1990), Sutton United beat Gateshead (22 September 1990), Hereford United beat Dagenham & Redbridge (27 February 2004), Rushden & Diamonds beat Weymouth (21 February 2009)

Record attendance: 11,963 Oxford United vs Rushden & Diamonds at The Kassam Stadium (Play-off semi-final second leg, 3 May 2010)

Stevenage Borough would have achieved 32 wins and amassed 105 points in the 2009–10 season, but 2 wins (and therefore the six points from those games) against Chester City were expunged, after Chester were expelled from the league before the season ended. This left Stevenage on 30 wins and 99 points from 44 games.

Redditch United also finished on 18 points in the 1979–80 season. However, this was under 2 points for a win, and would equate to 23 points under the current system.

References

External links

Official Football Conference Website

Conference National clubs locations

5 1 Category:1979 establishments

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Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Anna Bligh
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	37th Premier of QueenslandElections: 2009
Governor	Quentin BrycePenelope Wensley
Deputy	Paul Lucas
Term start	13 September 2007
Predecessor	Peter Beattie
Office4	Deputy Premier of Queensland
Premier4	Peter Beattie
Term start4	2006
Term end4	2007
Successor4	Paul Lucas
Office3	Treasurer of Queensland
Premier3	Peter Beattie
Term start3	2006
Term end3	2007
Predecessor3	Peter Beattie
Successor3	Andrew Fraser
Office5	Queensland Minister for Families, Community Services, Disability Services & Youth
Premier5	Peter Beattie
Term start5	1998
Term end5	2001
Predecessor5	Naomi Wilson
Office6	Queensland Minister for Education
Premier6	Peter Beattie
Term start6	2001
Term end6	2006
Predecessor6	Dean Wells
Successor6	Rod Welford
Office7	Queensland Minister for the Arts
Premier7	Peter Beattie (2004-2007) Herself (2007-2011)
Term start7	2004
Term end7	2011
Successor7	Rachel Nolan
Office8	Leader of the Queensland Labor Party
Term start8	13 September 2007
Predecessor8	Peter Beattie
Constituency mp2	South Brisbane
Parliament2	Queensland
Term start2	15 July 1995
Predecessor2	Anne Warner
Office9	Queensland Minister for Reconstruction
Term start9	21 February, 2011
Premier9	Herself
Predecessor9	new position
Birth date	July 14, 1960
Birth place	Warwick, Queensland
Party	Labor Party
Spouse	Greg Withers
Alma mater	University of Queensland }}

Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia. Bligh has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly seat of South Brisbane since 1995.

Bligh is the first woman to be appointed Premier of Queensland, the third female Premier of an Australian state, and the sixth female head of government of an Australian state or territory. She is one of four current female heads of government in Australia (the others being Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Premier of Tasmania Lara Giddings, and Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory Katy Gallagher).

Early life

Bligh grew up on the Gold Coast. Her parents separated when she was 13. She attended Catholic schools until Year 9 and considered becoming a nun. One of her aunts became a nun and another had entered a convent. However the church's attitude to divorcees (for example, her mother was no longer permitted to take Communion) estranged her and her mother from the church.

Studying at the University of Queensland from 1978, Bligh gained a Bachelor of Arts. Bligh traces her politicisation to her first year at University, observing a right-to-march rally in King George Square where people were being hit over the head by the police. Bligh's first involvement in activism was student protests against the Vice-Chancellor Brian Wilson's controversial administrative restructuring within the university. She then went on to be involved in the Women's Rights Collective which campaigned for legalised abortion against the anti-abortion policies of the Bjelke-Petersen government. Bligh's next role was as Women's Vice-President of the Student Union. She then ran an election ticket called EAT (Education Action Team) in an unsuccessful bid to oust the faction in charge, headed by the future Goss government identity David Barbagallo. Law student Paul Lucas, Bligh's future Deputy Premier, was a part of Barbagallo's team. Her 1982 team included the former Minister for Education, Training and the Arts Rod Welford. Anne Warner, who was a future Minister in the Goss Government, was an office holder at the time in the Union. Warner soon become one of Bligh's key political mentors.

She subsequently worked in a number of community organisations, including child care services, neighbourhood centres, women's refuges and trade unions as well as in the Queensland Public Service.

Bligh was the secretary of the Labor Party's Fairfield branch in 1987.

Parliament

Bligh was first elected to parliament at the 1995 election to the safe Labor seat of South Brisbane. She was promoted to the ministry following the election of the Beattie government in 1998 as Minister for Families, Youth and Community Care and Disability Services. In 2001, Bligh became Queensland's first female Education Minister. She assumed additional responsibility for the Arts portfolio in 2004.

Deputy Premier

In July 2005, the retirement of the Deputy Premier and Treasurer Terry Mackenroth forced a cabinet reshuffle, which saw Bligh promoted to the office of Deputy Premier and Minister for Finance, State Development, Trade and Innovation. Bligh's appointment as Deputy Premier coincided with her election to parliament ten years earlier. In early February 2006, Bligh also gained the Treasury portfolio after Beattie relinquished the responsibility in order to focus on attempting to fix the state's troubled health system.

Premier

Bligh had long been touted as a likely successor to the long-running Premier Peter Beattie, and he publicly endorsed her as his replacement when he announced his retirement from politics on 10 September 2007. She was subsequently nominated unopposed by the Labor caucus, in a deal that saw Paul Lucas from the Right faction succeed her as Deputy Premier. She became the leader of the Labor Party on 12 September. After Beattie formally resigned on 13 September 2007, Bligh was sworn in by the then Governor Quentin Bryce.

Bligh led Labor to victory in the 2009 state election. While losing eight seats from the large majority Bligh inherited from Beattie, Labor still won 51 seats out of 89, enough for a comfortable majority. The election marked the Queensland ALP's eighth consecutive election win; the party has been in government for all but two years since 1989.

In winning the election, Bligh became Australia's first popularly elected female premier. The two previous female premiers, Carmen Lawrence (Western Australia 1990-93) and Joan Kirner (Victoria 1990-92), became premiers following the resignation of male premiers (as Bligh did), but both were defeated at the following respective state elections. However, Bligh is not Australia's first popularly elected female head of government. Rosemary Follett and Kate Carnell were both popularly elected as Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, and Clare Martin was elected as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

In 2009, Bligh was elected to the three person presidential team of the Australian Labor Party, of which she will remain a part for three years. She currently serves as National President of the Australian Labor Party for the 2010–11 financial year.

Privatisation

Bligh has announced the privatisation of five government owned corporations:

Queensland Motorways Limited (Operating the Gateway Bridge and Logan Motorway tolling systems)

The Port of Brisbane Authority

Forestry Plantations Queensland

Abbot Point Coal Terminal

Coal carrying rail lines, currently owned by Queensland Rail (QR Passenger services will remain nationalised).

More than 3,000 workers will be offered voluntary redundancies, just three months after the privatisation of QR National.

Queensland Motorways Limited and Forestry Plantations Queensland are not being sold, but rather being leased for an estimated 50 year lease.

Since this announcement, the Queensland Government has announced plans to sale Queensland Rail to the public. Details of this are proposed to be released in the 2010 Budget, due in June 2010.

Revenues from privatisation are estimated at approx. $15 billion dollars, and reportedly will go towards balancing the QLD state budget.

The sale of these assets aimed at removing significant overheads from the Queensland Government's debt portfolio, allowing further growth of the Governments capital assets, as well as aiding the government to return to its AAA credit rating.

Bligh has faced resistance from both within her party and the trade union movement, but has defended her privatisation plan as 'not negotiable'.

The 2009 Annual State Conference of the Australian Labor Party - Queensland Branch, passed a motion, moved by Treasurer Andrew Fraser MP, seconded by Parliamentary Secretary for Healthy Living Murray Watt MP, supporting the sale of the assets, recognising that the sale will allow the Queensland Government to grow its asset portfolio, as well as retire debt.

Daylight Saving

In October 2006, then Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, commissioned research to seek if Daylight Saving should be re-introduced into Queensland on a trial basis. On 1 October 2007 Bligh ruled out holding a new referendum, despite this government-commissioned report indicating that 59% of Queensland residents and 69% of South East Queenslanders support daylight saving.

On 14 April 2010 Independent member for the Electoral district of Nicklin, Peter Wellington, introduced the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland Referendum Bill 2010 into Queensland Parliament, calling for a referendum to be held at the next State election on the introduction of daylight saving for South East Queensland only, while the remainder of the state maintains standard time. In response to this Bill, Bligh announced a community consultation process, which resulted in over 74,000 respondents participating, 64 percent of whom voted in favour of a trial and 63% were in favour of holding a referendum. On 7 June 2010, and after reviewing the favourable consultation results, Bligh announced that her Government would not support the Bill, because regional Queenslanders were overwhelmingly opposed to daylight saving. The Bill was defeated in Queensland Parliament on 15 June 2011.

Queensland floods

Bligh's management of and performance during the 2010–2011 Queensland floods was widely approved. The following Newspoll saw a record turnaround in Bligh and Labor's fortunes, rising from a two-party deficit of 41-59 to a lead of 52-48, with her personal satisfaction-dissatisfaction standing going from a negative 24-67 to a positive 49-43. A day before the poll was publicly released, LNP opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek stood down, with Jeff Seeney temporarily taking over. In an Australian first, Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and the LNP announced Newman would lead the LNP team and stand for the seat of Ashgrove at the next Queensland state election, with the aim of Campbell becoming Premier, should he and the LNP succeed. Shortly after the floods peaked Bligh established a Commission of Inquiry into the 2010-11 Queensland floods to comprehensively and independently review all aspects of the flood.

Personal

Bligh appeared as a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef Australia. She was eliminated in her first heat, losing to the eventual winner of the series, swimmer Eamon Sullivan.

Bligh is married to Greg Withers, a senior public servant, with whom she has two sons, Joe and Oliver, both of whom attended Brisbane State High School.

Bligh is a descendant of Cornishman William Bligh who is famous for the Mutiny on the Bounty and being the 4th Governor of New South Wales. The name Bligh comes from the Cornish language word ''Blyth'' meaning Wolf.

See also

Next Queensland state election

References

External links

Official Website

Campaign Website

Parliamentary Biography

Anna Bligh's response to the 2008 Apology

|- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:1960 births Category:Australian atheists Category:Australian Labor Party politicians Category:Australian people of Cornish descent Category:Australian women in politics Category:Bligh Cabinet Category:Deputy Premiers of Queensland Category:Living people Category:Premiers of Queensland Category:Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Category:University of Queensland alumni Category:Treasurers of Queensland

cs:Anna Bligh de:Anna Bligh fr:Anna Bligh pl:Anna Bligh simple:Anna Bligh wuu:安娜 孛莱

Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
Title	Death of Daniel Morcombe
Date	c.
Place	Kidnapped fromNambour Connection Road, Woombye, QueenslandRemains discovered nearKings RoadGlass House Mountains, Queensland
Coordinates
Outcome	Deceased
Suspects	Brett Peter Cowan
Charges	MurderDeprivation of libertyChild stealingIndecent treatment of a child under 16Interfering with a corpse
Publication bans	Lifted after parents' request
Website
Notes	}}

Daniel Morcombe (19 December 1989 - c.7 December 2003) was a 13-year-old Australian boy who was the victim of abduction from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on 7 December 2003. In August 2011, a former Sunshine Coast resident was charged with Morcombe's murder. In the same month, DNA tests confirmed bones found in an area being searched by police were Morcombe's.

Abduction

It is believed that Morcombe was abducted from an unofficial bus stop under the Kiel Mountain Road overpass in the Woombye district of the Sunshine Coast approximately 2 km north of The Big Pineapple on Sunday, 7 December 2003. Morcombe meant to catch the 1:35 pm bus to the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Centre for a haircut and to buy Christmas presents for his family, but he failed to return.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing Morcombe at approximately 2:10 pm on the Nambour Connection Road under the Kiel Mountain Road overpass. The bus he was supposed to catch had broken down a few kilometres before his stop, and was behind schedule. When a replacement bus eventually arrived, Morcombe hailed the bus, but it carried on without stopping, due to its delay and the fact that his stop was only an unofficial request stop. The driver of the bus radioed the depot for another bus to go and pick up Morcombe. The bus driver and other witnesses later reported seeing a man standing a distance behind Morcombe and another man slightly farther away at the time. When the second bus came a couple of minutes later, Morcombe and the man had both gone.

A blue 1980s model sedan, possibly a Toyota Corolla, with yellow New South Wales license plates, is believed to be the car used by the abductor(s). Morcombe owned a distinctive fob style pocket watch with "Dan" engraved on it, which has not been found.

Ongoing investigation

The Morcombe case is one of the most extensively investigated crimes in Queensland's criminal history.

In May 2009, a full-size wax model of the man believed to be involved in Morcombe's abduction was erected at the spot where Morcombe disappeared. Within a few days, there were more than 300 tip-offs. This was viewed as a positive step in the investigation, which had seemingly exhausted itself and run out of leads.

As of 12 December 2008, a total reward of $1,000,000 ($250,000 from the Government and another $750,000 donated privately) had been offered. The privately donated portion of the reward expired at midnight on 31 May 2009. On this day, the Seven Network reported that a known pedophile (identified by the media as Douglas Jackway), who had been released from prison in 2003 - one month before Morcombe's disappearance - could be of interest to the police.

In June 2009, the Queensland Government came under criticism from Parliament over the release of Jackway. One MP asked why was he released from prison claiming the Supreme Court had presented clear evidence of his risk of recidivism. This publicity also prompted civil liberties groups to call for laws banning media outlets from naming people linked to criminal cases.

In July 2009, the parents of Morcombe called for a coronial inquest in the hope of finding answers to their son's unsolved abduction and murder. The Morcombes said that after 5½ years, it was time for an inquest. Of particular interest to the family are several criminals who have told police they know who killed Morcombe and where his body was buried.

Man charged

On 13 August 2011, a man was taken into custody and charged with Morcombe's murder and other offences, including child stealing, deprivation of liberty, indecent treatment of a child under 16, and interfering with a corpse. The man, from Perth, had admitted to police in 2006 that he used the road, where Morcombe disappeared on the day of his disappearance, to purchase marijuana from a drug dealer.

The accused was subsequently named as 41-year-old Brett Peter Cowan.

Around this time, a white Mitsubishi Pajero was seized from a property on Russell Island. The vehicle was believed to have been involved in Morcombe's abduction after a witness at the coronial inquest in April 2011 reported seeing a vehicle of similar description parked 100 metres north of the site where Morcombe was last seen.

Remains found

On 21 August 2011, two shoes and three human bones were found at a search site at Glass House Mountains. Forensic testing confirmed that the bones were Morcombe's. The shoes were similar to the ones that Morcombe was wearing when he disappeared.

Social effects

Morcombe's disappearance has been kept in the public eye, especially on the anniversaries of his disappearance, due to the efforts of his parents, the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and its supporters. The case has been widely discussed and these efforts are supported by the Australian media on each anniversary.

A "Day for Daniel" is held on 28 October each year to promote awareness and protect children from harm. An accompanying event is the "Ride for Daniel", which covers 50 km of the Sunshine Coast, held each year since 2005.

The Morcombe family started the "Daniel Morcombe Foundation", and has put its resources into trying to find out what happened to their son. The foundation is committed to educating children about personal safety and to raising awareness throughout Australia of the dangers of predatory criminals.

Media

Morcombe's abduction and probable murder was the focus of the Crime Investigation Australia season 1 episode "Tears for Daniel".

References

External links

Daniel Morcombe Foundation

Day for Daniel

Queensland Police Reward

Category:1989 births Category:2000s deaths Category:Kidnapped Australian children

Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
name	Imran Khan Niazi
birth date	November 25, 1952
birth place	Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
party	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
spouse	Jemima Khan (1995 - 2004)
children	2 (Sulaiman Isa and Kasim)
residence	Lahore
occupation	Politician, philanthropist
religion	Islam
website	http://www.insaf.pk/ }}

playername	Imran Khan
country	Pakistan
fullname	Imran Khan Niazi
living	true
dayofbirth	25
monthofbirth	11
yearofbirth	1952
placeofbirth	Lahore, 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	7 January
lasttestyear	1992
lasttestagainst	Sri Lanka
odidebutdate	31 August
odidebutyear	1974
odidebutagainst	England
odicap	12
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	3807
bat avg1	37.69
100s/50s1	6/18
top score1	136
deliveries1	19458
wickets1	362
bowl avg1	22.81
fivefor1	23
tenfor1	6
best bowling1	8/58
catches/stumpings1	28/–
column2	ODI
matches2	175
runs2	3709
bat avg2	33.41
100s/50s2	1/19
top score2	102*
deliveries2	7461
wickets2	182
bowl avg2	26.61
fivefor2	1
tenfor2	n/a
best bowling2	6/14
catches/stumpings2	36/–
column3	FC
matches3	382
runs3	17771
bat avg3	36.79
100s/50s3	30/93
top score3	170
deliveries3	65224
wickets3	1287
bowl avg3	22.32
fivefor3	70
tenfor3	13
best bowling3	8/34
catches/stumpings3	117/–
column4	LA
matches4	425
runs4	10100
bat avg4	33.22
100s/50s4	5/66
top score4	114*
deliveries4	19122
wickets4	507
bowl avg4	22.31
fivefor4	6
tenfor4	n/a
best bowling4	6/14
catches/stumpings4	84/–
date	26 June
year	2008
source	http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1383/1383.html CricketArchive }}

Imran Khan Niazi (Punjabi, Pashto, }}) (born 25 November 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and being a politician since the mid-1990s. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator and Chancellor of the University of Bradford.

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. Khan, through worldwide fundraising, 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 to Shaukat Khanum (Burki) and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in a middle-class Niazi Pathan family with four sisters. Settled in Punjab, Khan's father descended from the Pashtun (Pathan) Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali in Punjab. Imran's Mother Shaukat Khanum (Burki's) family includes successful hockey players and cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. 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.

Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith

On 16 May 1995, Khan married English socialite Jemima Goldsmith, a convert to Islam, 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

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 Pakistani 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. Princess of Wales Lady Diana also visited Lahore in 1996 in order to raise funds for the Cancer hospital.

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

Khan entered electoral politics after few years after the end of his professional cricketing career. Since then, his most significant political work has been to bring awareness towards the lack of justice in Pakistan. This movement to bring justice was coupled with awareness in media and harassment of judiciary by President Pervez Musharaf. The public, with the help of lawyers, NGOs and other major political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, fought a battle on the roads, getting judiciary eventually restored in its much improved (impartial)form . Initially, Imran Khan's politics were not taken seriously in Pakistan. However, his popularity has sharply risen, especially among women and the youth of Pakistan, after the repeated bad governance by the government and interference by US. Recently, Imran Khan has been the only politician who has responded to terrorism allegations on Pakistan. While Khan is viewed as a fundamentalist by some political circles, he has suggested solutions for helping US and NATO forces to fight terrorism while at the same time, not creating more terrorists in Pakistan. Imran Khan is sometimes viewed as a stubborn politician who does not involve others in decision making. However, Imran Khan has openly denied this allegation and claimed that the level of democracy in the executive committee meeting of his party (PTI) is unmatched by any other political party in Pakistan. While many people seem hopeless about Imran's political victory in Pakistan, he has known to someone possessing high level of determination and perseverance, as demonstrated by his cricket and philanthropic career. His political popularity is rising quickly in Pakistan and although the party has only one seat in 2002 elections and kept out of elections in 2008, resulting in no representation in Parliament, Imran Khan is considered as the one of the four major political leaders in Pakistan, especially by mainstream media (others being Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Altaf Hussain).

On 25 April 1996, Khan founded his own political party called the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with a proposed slogan of "Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem." Khan, who contested from 7 districts, and members of his party were universally defeated at the polls in the 1997 general elections. Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, but denounced his presidency a few months before the 2002 general elections. Many political commentators and his opponents termed Khan's change in opinion an opportunistic move. "I regret supporting the referendum. I was made to understand that when he won, the general would begin a clean-up of the corrupt in the system. But really it wasn't the case," he later explained. During the 2002 election season, he also voiced his opposition to Pakistan's logistical support of US troops in Afghanistan by claiming that their country had become a "servant of America." PTI won 0.8% of the popular vote and one out of 272 open seats on the 20 October 2002 legislative elections. Khan, who was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali, was sworn in as an MP on 16 November.. As an MP, he was 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 American president George W. Bush for the incident. In 2006, he exclaimed, "Musharraf is sitting here, and he licks George Bush’s shoes!" Criticizing Muslim leaders supportive of the Bush administration, he added, "They are the puppets sitting on the Muslim world. We want a sovereign Pakistan. We do not want a president to be a poodle of George Bush." During George W. Bush's visit to Pakistan in March 2006, Khan was placed under house arrest in Islamabad after his threats of organising a protest. 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. Incarcerated in the Dera Ghazi Khan Jail, Khan's relatives had access to him and were able to meet him to deliver goods during his week-long stay in jail. On 19 November, Khan let out the word through PTI members and his family that he had begun a hunger strike but the Deputy Superintendent of Dera Ghazi Khan Jail denied this news, saying that Khan had bread, eggs and fruit for breakfast. Khan was one of the 3,000 political prisoners released from imprisonment on 21 November 2007.

His party boycotted the national elections on 18 February 2008 and hence, no member of PTI has served in Parliament since Khan's resignation in 2007. Despite no longer being a member of Parliament, Khan was placed under house arrest in the crackdown by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of anti-government protests on 15 March 2009.

In April 2011, Khan lead protests over the drone attacks in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. He and his protesters stayed on the streets overnight to show solidarity with the victims of these drone attacks by the US Military.

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 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 has credited his decision to enter politics with a spiritual awakening,"I never drank or smoked, but I used to do my share of partying. In my spiritual evolution there was a block," he explained to the American ''Washington Post''. As an MP, Khan sometimes voted with a bloc of hard-line religious parties such as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, whose leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he supported for prime minister over Musharraf's candidate in 2002. On religion in Pakistan, Khan has said that, "As time passes by, religious thought has to evolve, but it is not evolving, it is reacting against Western culture and often has nothing to do with faith or religion."

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. In June 2007, Khan publicly deplored Britain for knighting Indian-born author Salman Rushdie. He said, "Western civilisation should have been mindful of the injury the writer had caused to the Muslim community by writing his highly controversial book, ''The Satanic Verses''."

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 drank 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". Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a political party with its voting stronghold in Karachi, 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". The 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.

''The Guardian'' newspaper in England 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." One of Pakistan's most controversial political commentators, 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." Khan's political flip-flops consist of his vocal criticism of President Musharraf after having supported his military takeover in 1999. Similarly, Khan has been a critic of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when Sharif was in power, having said at the time: "Our current prime minister has a fascist mind-set, and members of parliament cannot go against the ruling party. We think that every day he stays in power, the country is sinking more into anarchy.". In a column entitled "Will the Real Imran Please Stand Up," Pakistani columnist Amir Zia quoted one of PTI's Karachi-based leaders as saying, "Even we are finding it difficult to figure out the real Imran. He dons the shalwar-kameez and preaches desi and religious values while in Pakistan, but transforms himself completely while rubbing shoulders with the elite in Britain and elsewhere in the west."

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, who remains respected as a cricket legend, as one of the "utter failures in Pakistani politics". Writing in the ''Frontier Post'', Khalil added: "Imran Khan has time and again changed his political course and at present has no political ideology and therefore was not taken seriously by a vast majority of the people."

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

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

Khan is currently placed at Number 8 on the all-time list of the ESPN Legends of Cricket.

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 occasionally contributes opinion editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics to British newspapers. He has also published five works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. It was disclosed in 2008 that Khan did not write his second book, ''Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan''. Instead, his the book's publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that he had to write the book for Khan. Lewis recalls 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."

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

Imran Khan: Pakistan has lost its dignity and self-esteem, Imran Khan, ''The Independent'', 3 May 2011

;Articles

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

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

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Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
Name	Jon Stewart
Alma mater	The College of William & Mary
Birth name	Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz
Birth date	November 28, 1962
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, books
Nationality	American
Active	1987–present
Genre	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy
Subject	Mass media/news media/media criticism, American politics, current events, religion, Jewish culture, race relations, human sexuality, self-deprecation
Influences	George Carlin, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor
Influenced	Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry
Spouse	Tracey Stewart (née McShane; 2000— ; 2 children)
Children	Nathan Stewart, Maggie Stewart
Notable work	Host of ''The Daily Show''Host of ''The Jon Stewart Show''''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction''''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race''
Child	yes
Emmyawards	Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 ''The Daily Show'' Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 ''The Daily Show''
Grammyawards	Best Comedy Album 2005 ''America (The Audiobook): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction Best Spoken Word Album 2011 ''Earth (The Audiobook): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race }}

}} Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.

Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of ''Short Attention Span Theater'' for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called ''The Jon Stewart Show'', and then hosted another show on MTV called ''You Wrote It, You Watch It''. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, ''The Daily Show'' steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his fourteen Emmy Awards.

Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, ''The Daily Show'' has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of ''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'', which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and ''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' released in 2010.

Early life

Stewart was born into a Jewish family in New York City. He and his older brother, Larry Leibowitz (currently Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange), grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where they attended Lawrence High School. Jon's mother, Marian, is an educational consultant and teacher. His father, Donald Leibowitz, was a professor of physics at The College of New Jersey from 2001 through 2008; he now teaches an online course at Thomas Edison State College. Jon's parents were divorced when Stewart was eleven years old, and Stewart no longer has any contact with his father.

Stewart has said that he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child. He describes himself in high school as "very into Eugene Debs and a bit of a leftist."

Stewart graduated in 1984 from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, where he majored in psychology and played on the soccer team. While at W&M, Stewart became a brother of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. After college, Stewart held numerous jobs. He was a contingency planner for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, a contract administrator for the City University of New York, a puppeteer for children with disabilities, a caterer, a busboy, a shelf stocker at Woolworth's, and a bartender at the Franklin Corner Tavern, a local blue-collar bar. In college, Stewart was friends with future Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is the only politician to have received campaign donations from Stewart.

Career

Early work

With a reputation for being a funny man in school, Jon Stewart moved to New York City in 1986 to try his hand at the comedy club circuit, but he could not muster the courage to get on stage until the following year. He made his stand-up debut at The Bitter End, the same place where his comedic idol, Woody Allen, began. He began using the stage name "Jon Stewart" by dropping his last name and changing the spelling of his middle name "Stuart" to "Stewart." He often jokes this is because people had difficulty with the pronunciation of Leibowitz or it "sounded too Hollywood" (a reference to Lenny Bruce's joke on the same theme). He has implied that the name change was actually due to a strained relationship with his father with whom Stewart no longer has any contact.

Stewart became a regular at the Comedy Cellar, where he was the last performer every night. For two years, he would perform at 2 a.m. while developing his comedic style. In 1989, he landed his first television job as a writer for ''Caroline's Comedy Hour''. In 1991, he began co-hosting Comedy Central's ''Short Attention Span Theater'' along with Patty Rosborough. In 1992, Stewart hosted the short-lived ''You Wrote It, You Watch It'' on MTV, which invited viewers to send in their stories to be acted out by the comedy troupe, The State. When David Letterman left NBC in 1993, Stewart was a finalist to replace him, but Conan O'Brien was hired instead.

''The Jon Stewart Show''

Later in 1993, Stewart developed ''The Jon Stewart Show'', a talk show on MTV. Despite the quick cancellation of his previous MTV show, the network was still eager to work with him. ''The Jon Stewart Show'' was the first talk show on that network and was an instant hit, becoming the second-highest rated MTV show behind ''Beavis and Butt-head''. In 1994, Paramount pulled the plug on ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' and, with new corporate sibling MTV (through MTV parent Viacom's acquisition of the studio), launched an hour-long syndicated late-night version of ''The Jon Stewart Show''. Many local affiliates had moved Hall's show to 2 a.m. during its decline and Stewart's show inherited such early morning time slots in many cities. Ratings were dismal and the show was canceled in June 1995.

Amongst the fans of the show was David Letterman, who was the final guest of ''The Jon Stewart Show''. Letterman signed Stewart with his production company, Worldwide Pants. Stewart then became a frequent guest host for Tom Snyder on ''The Late Late Show'', which was produced by Letterman and aired after ''Late Show'' on CBS. This led to much speculation that Stewart would soon replace Snyder permanently, but Stewart was instead offered the time slot after Snyder, which he turned down.

''The Daily Show''

In 1999, Stewart began hosting ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central when Craig Kilborn left the show to replace Tom Snyder on ''The Late Late Show''. The show, which has been popular and successful in cable television since Stewart became the host, blends humor with the day's top news stories, usually in politics, while simultaneously poking fun at politicians and many newsmakers as well as the news media itself. In an interview on ''The O'Reilly Factor'', Stewart denies the show has any intentional political agenda, saying the goal was "schnicks and giggles." "The same weakness that drove me into comedy also informs my show," meaning that he was uncomfortable talking without hearing the audience laugh.

Stewart has since hosted almost all airings of the program, except for a few occasions when correspondents such as Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, and Steve Carell subbed for him. Stewart has won a total of fourteen Emmys for ''The Daily Show'' as either a writer or producer. In 2005, ''The Daily Show'' and Jon Stewart also received a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of ''America (The Book)''. In 2000 and 2004, the show won two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the presidential elections relevant to those years, called "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", respectively.

The September 20, 2001, show, the first show after the attacks of September 11, 2001, began with no introduction. Before this, the introduction included footage of a fly-in towards the World Trade Center and New York City. The first nine minutes of the show included a tearful Stewart discussing his personal view on the event. His remarks ended as follows:

On April 4, 2006, Stewart confronted US Senator John McCain about his decision to appear at Liberty University, an institution founded by Jerry Falwell, whom McCain had previously denounced as one of the "agents of intolerance." In the interchange, Stewart asked McCain, "You're not freaking out on us? Are you freaking out on us, because if you're freaking out and you're going into the crazy base [politics] world—are you going into crazy base world?" McCain replied, "I'm afraid so." The clip was played on CNN and created a surge of articles across the blogosphere.

In 2007, ''The Daily Show'' was involved in former correspondent Stephen Colbert's announcement that he would run for president in 2008. In 2008, Stewart appeared on an episode of the show ''Democracy Now!'' A 2008 ''New York Times'' story questioned whether he was, in a phrase originally used to describe longtime network news anchor Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America".

On April 28, 2009, during a discussion on torture with Clifford May, Stewart expressed his opinion that former President Harry S. Truman was a war criminal for his use of the atomic bomb on Japan during World War II. Moments later, Stewart defended his assertion:

On April 30, 2009, Stewart apologized on his program, and stated he did not believe Truman was a war criminal:

}}

In April 2010, Comedy Central renewed Stewart's contract to host ''The Daily Show'' into 2013. Stewart is paid a reported $1.5 million for one season of ''The Daily Show''. According to the Forbes list of Celebrities, he earns $14 million a year.

On September 16, 2010, Stewart along with Stephen Colbert announced a rally for October 30, known as the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. It took place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and attracted an estimated 215,000 participants.

In December 2010 Stewart was credited by the White House and other media and political news outlets for bringing awareness of the Republican filibuster on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to the public, leading to the ultimate passing of the bill which provides health benefits to first responders whose health has been adversely affected by their work at Ground Zero.

The January 10, 2011 Stewart began the show with a personal monologue about the shootings in Tucson, AZ. During the monologue, Stewart described how he wished that the "ramblings of crazy people didn't in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on television". Before commercial break, Stewart told viewers that the show would continue as usual the next night. After commercial break, the show featured a rerun of a field piece done by Jason Jones two years earlier.

As a result of such high-profile political stands, Stewart is being recognized as a political force rather than merely as a comedian. ''The New York Times'' suggested that he is "the modern-day equivalent of Edward R. Murrow" and the UK national newspaper ''The Independent'' called him the "satirist-in-chief".

In the middle of 2002, amid rumors that David Letterman was going to make a switch from CBS to ABC when his contract ran out, Stewart was rumored to be the person who would take over Letterman's show on CBS. Ultimately, Letterman renewed his contract with CBS. On the March 9, 2002, episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', hosted by Stewart, a "Weekend Update" sketch poked fun at the situation. In the middle of the sketch, "Weekend Update" anchor Jimmy Fallon said that he could not continue doing the broadcast and he brought Stewart in to replace him. Stewart glowed with excitement and chattered to himself about this chance to prove himself on network television. His pep talk went on too long, however, and before Stewart could deliver any headlines, Fallon returned and said he would be able to finish out the broadcast himself.

Later that year, ABC offered Stewart his own talk show to air after ''Nightline.'' Stewart's contract with ''The Daily Show'' was near expiring and he expressed strong interest. ABC, however, decided to give another Comedy Central figure, Jimmy Kimmel, the post-''Nightline'' slot.

Books

thumb|Stewart at the launch of his book, ''[[Earth (The Book)|Earth'', in New York, September 27, 2010.]]In 1998, Stewart released his first book, ''Naked Pictures of Famous People'', a collection of humorous short stories and essays. The book reached ''The New York Times'' Best Seller List.

In 2004, Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' writing staff released ''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction,'' a mock high school history textbook offering insights into the unique American system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and satirizing such popular American political precepts as "one man, one vote", "government by the people," and "every vote counts." The book sold millions of copies upon its 2004 release and ended the year as a top fifteen best-seller.

In 2005, Stewart provided the voice of President James A. Garfield for the audiobook version of Sarah Vowell's ''Assassination Vacation''.

In 2007, Stewart voiced a role on friend Stephen Colbert's audiobook version of ''I Am America (And So Can You!)''. He plays Mort Sinclaire, former TV comedy writer and Communist.

On September 21, 2010, ''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' was released, also written by Stewart and other writers of ''The Daily Show''.

Acting

Although best known for his work on ''The Daily Show,'' Stewart has also had roles in several films and television series.

His first film role was a minor part in ''The First Wives Club'' but his scene was deleted. In 1995, Stewart signed a three-year deal with Miramax. He played romantic leads in the films ''Playing by Heart'' and ''Wishful Thinking''. He also had supporting roles in the romantic comedy ''Since You've Been Gone'' and in the horror film ''The Faculty''. Other films were planned for Stewart to write and star in, but they were never produced. Stewart has since maintained a relationship with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and continues to appear in films they have produced including ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'', ''Doogal'' and the documentary ''Wordplay''.

He also appeared in ''Half Baked'' as an "enhancement smoker" and in ''Big Daddy'' as Adam Sandler's roommate; he has joked on the ''Daily Show'' and in the documentary ''The Aristocrats'' that to get the role he slept with Sandler. Stewart often makes fun of his appearances in the high-profile flop ''Death to Smoochy'', in which he played a treacherous television executive, and the animated film ''Doogal'', where he played a blue spring named Zeebad that shot a freeze ray from his mustache. In 2007, Stewart made a cameo appearance as himself in ''Evan Almighty'', which starred former ''Daily Show'' correspondent Steve Carell. In the movie, Stewart was seen on a television screen in a fictional ''Daily Show'' episode poking fun at Carell's character for building an ark.

Stewart had a recurring role in ''The Larry Sanders Show'' in which he played himself as an occasional substitute and possible successor to late-night talk show host Larry Sanders (played by Garry Shandling). In 1998, Stewart hosted the television special, ''Elmopalooza'', celebrating 30 years of ''Sesame Street''. He has guest-starred on other sitcoms such as ''The Nanny'', ''Dr Katz, Professional Therapist'', ''Spin City'', ''NewsRadio'', ''American Dad'', and ''The Simpsons''. He has also made guest-appearances on the children's television series ''Between the Lions'', ''Sesame Street'' and ''Jack's Big Music Show''.

Producing

In the mid-1990s, Stewart launched his own production company, Busboy Productions. The name of the company is a reference to Stewart's previous job as a busboy. The company's production logo features the sound of a glass being knocked over followed by a voice whispering "Oops. Sorry." Stewart signed a deal with Miramax to develop projects through his company, but none of his ideas were ever produced. After Stewart's success as host and producer of ''The Daily Show'', he revived Busboy Productions with ''Daily Show'' producers Ben Karlin and Rich Korson. In 2002, Busboy planned to produce a sitcom for NBC starring Stephen Colbert, but the show did not come to fruition.

In 2005, Comedy Central reached an agreement with Busboy to finance the production company. Comedy Central has a first-look agreement on all projects, then Busboy is free to shop them to other networks. The deal spawned the ''Daily Show'' spin-off ''The Colbert Report''. Other projects include the sitcom pilot ''Three Strikes'', the documentary ''Sportsfan'', the series ''Important Things with Demetri Martin'', and the film ''The Donor''.

In March 2010, Stewart announced that he had optioned rights to the story of journalist Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned in Iran for 118 days. On June 6th's episode of The Daily Show the following year, Stewart again hosted Bahari and confirmed that the two would be collaborating on the project.

Awards show hosting

Stewart has hosted the Grammy Awards twice, in 2001 and in 2002. In the middle of the 2001 broadcast, after laying a number of comedic duds, Stewart did what he encourages most public officials to do: he recognized his lackluster performance, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say I feel your scorn and accept it." When Stewart returned to host the next year, his comedy was more successful. Joking about the performance of the song "Lady Marmalade", he said, "Our next performance is from the movie ''Moulin Rouge!'', a film about a time when the whorehouses were about the music!" When the award winners for Album of the Year walked up on stage, many in number, Stewart quipped, "I don't know what you may have heard, but you were only supposed to go on stage if you worked on the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack, not if you heard it."

On January 5, 2006, Stewart was officially announced as the host of the 78th Academy Awards, which were held March 5 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Responding to press questions at the time of his selection, Stewart remarked: "As a performer, I'm truly honored to be hosting the show. Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal." (According to ''The New York Times'', Oscar producer Gil Cates knew Crystal was going to be performing ''700 Sundays'' during the time period and was not able to host.) On the Monday before the Oscars, Stewart told Larry King that he was more "excited" than nervous about the job and joked that if he turned out a failure, he could be "bumped down to public access". When asked what the opening would be, the comedian chastised himself by comparing a Stewart opening to a "Gene Rayburn homage". Instead, the opening segment, preceding Stewart's monologue, featured several recent hosts "declining" to host the show.

Critical response to Stewart's performance was mixed. Roger Ebert compared him favorably to legendary Oscar host Johnny Carson. Other reviewers were less positive; Tom Shales of ''The Washington Post'' said that Stewart hosted with “smug humorlessness.” James Poniewozik of ''Time'' said that Stewart was a bad host, but a great “anti-host” in that he poked fun at parts of the broadcast that deserved it, which lent him a degree of authenticity with the non-Hollywood audience. Stewart and correspondent John Oliver later poked fun at his lackluster reception on ''The Daily Show'''s coverage of the 79th Academy Awards by saying that the "demon of last year's Oscars had finally been exorcised."

Stewart also hosted the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008. Reception this time, however, was far more positive.

Criticism of journalists

''Crossfire'' appearance

In a televised exchange with then-CNN personality Tucker Carlson on ''Crossfire'' on October 15, 2004, Stewart criticized the state of television journalism and pleaded with the show's hosts to "stop hurting America," and referred to both Carlson and co-host Paul Begala as "partisan hacks." When posted on the internet, this exchange became widely viewed and was a topic of much media discussion.

Despite being on the program to comment on current events, Stewart immediately shifted the discussion toward the show itself, asserting that ''Crossfire'' had failed in its responsibility to inform and educate viewers about politics as a serious topic. Stewart stated that the show engaged in partisan hackery instead of honest debate, and said that the hosts' assertion that ''Crossfire'' is a debate show is like "saying pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition." Carlson responded by saying that Stewart criticizes news organizations for not holding public officials accountable, but when he interviewed John Kerry, Stewart asked a series of "softball" questions (Stewart has acknowledged he voted for Kerry in the 2004 presidential election). Stewart responded that he didn't realize "the news organizations look to ''Comedy Central'' for their cues on integrity." When Carlson continued to press Stewart on the Kerry issue, Stewart said, "You're on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?" In response to prods from Carlson, "Come on. Be funny," Stewart said, "No, I'm not going to be your monkey." Later in the show when Carlson jibed, "I do think you're more fun on your show," Stewart retorted, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show." In response to Stewart's criticisms, Carlson said, "You need to teach at a journalism school," to which Stewart responded, "You need to go to one!"

Stewart discussed the incident on ''The Daily Show'' the following Monday: }}

In January 2005, CNN announced that it was canceling ''Crossfire''. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/US' incoming president, Jonathan Klein, referenced Stewart's appearance on the show: "I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Soon after, Stewart quipped on ''The Daily Show'' that "I fought the law, and the law lost!"

When asked about his relationship with Tucker Carlson on CNN's ''Larry King Live'' in February 2008, Stewart said: "It became this idea that it was personal between the two of us, and it wasn't… If there's one thing I regret about that thing, it was probably the idea that it was personal, that there was something I was saying about Tucker to Tucker, but actually it was about the show."

On March 18, 2009, Carlson wrote a blog entry for ''The Daily Beast'' criticizing Stewart for his handling of the CNBC controversy (see below). In this article, Carlson discusses the CNN incident and claims Stewart remained backstage for at least "an hour" and "continued to lecture our staff", something Carlson described as "one of the weirdest things I have ever seen."

Criticism of CNBC

Stewart again became a viral internet phenomenon following a March 4, 2009, ''The Daily Show'' sequence. CNBC cancelled Rick Santelli's scheduled appearance but Stewart still ran a short segment showing CNBC giving bad investment advice.

Subsequent media coverage of exchanges between Jim Cramer, who had been featured heavily in the original segment, and Stewart, led to a highly anticipated face-to-face confrontation on ''The Daily Show''. The episode received a large amount of media hype and became the second most-viewed episode of ''The Daily Show'', trailing only the 2009 Inauguration Day episode. It had 2.3 million total viewers, and the next day, the show's website saw its highest day of traffic in 2009. Although Cramer acknowledged on the show that some of Stewart's criticisms of CNBC were valid and that the network could "do better," he later said on ''The Today Show'' that Stewart's criticism of the media was "naïve and misleading."

Criticism of Fox News

For years, Stewart has regularly accused Fox News of distorting the news to fit a conservative agenda, at one point ridiculing the network as "the meanest sorority in the world." In November 2009, Stewart called out Fox News for using some footage from a previous Tea Party rally during its report of a more recent one, making the later rally appear larger than it was. The show's anchor, Sean Hannity, apologized the following night. A month later, Stewart criticized ''Fox & Friends'' cohost Gretchen Carlson – a former Miss America and Stanford graduate – for claiming that she googled words such as "ignoramus" and "czar." Stewart said that Carlson was dumbing herself down for "an audience who sees intellect as an elitist flaw."

Stewart stepped up his criticism of Fox News in 2010; as of April 24, ''The Daily Show'' had 24 segments criticizing Fox News' coverage. Bill O'Reilly, host of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', countered that ''The Daily Show'' was a "key component of left-wing television" and that Stewart was a fan of Fox News because the network was so interesting to watch.

WGA strike of 2007–2008

Stewart was an important factor in the unionization of the writers for Comedy Central. ''The Daily Show'' writers were the first of Comedy Central's writers to be able to join the guild, after which other shows followed.

He supported the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, commenting on ''The Daily Show'' episode just before the strike in a sarcastic manner about how Comedy Central had made available all of the episodes for free on their website, but without advertising, and said 'go support our advertisers'. The show went on hiatus when the strike began, as did other late night talk shows. Upon Stewart's return to the show on January 7, 2008, he refused to use the title ''The Daily Show'', stating that "The Daily Show" was the show made with all of the people responsible for the broadcast, including his writers. During the strike, he referred to his show as ''A Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' until the strike ended on February 13, 2008. Stewart, as well as several other late night talk shows, returned to TV early in January even though the strike was not over, because their stage crews and production teams were suffering much more than the writers from the financial crunch, and by that point had been out of work for two months.

The Writers Guild Strike of 2007–2008 was also responsible for a notable mock feud between Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Conan O'Brien in early 2008. Without writers to help fuel their banter, the three comedians concocted a crossover/rivalry in order to garner more viewers during the ratings slump. Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump", he was responsible for Mike Huckabee's success in the 2008 presidential race. O'Brien claimed that he was responsible for Huckabee's success because not only had he made mention of him on his show, but also that he was responsible for Chuck Norris' success (Norris backed Huckabee). In response, Stewart claimed that he was responsible for the success of O'Brien, since Stewart had featured him on ''The Jon Stewart Show'', and in turn the success of Huckabee. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' with a mock brawl involving the three hosts.

Honors and awards

Stewart and the rest of the members of ''The Daily Show'' have received two Peabody Awards for "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", covering the 2000 presidential election and the 2004 presidential election, respectively.

Stewart's ''The Daily Show'' has received Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Emmy Awards in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009. The show has also received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

Stewart won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2005 for his recording, ''America (The Audiobook): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction''.

In the December 2003 New Years edition of ''Newsweek'', Stewart was named the "Who's Next?" person for the coming year of 2004, with the magazine predicting he would emerge as an absolute sensation in that year. (The magazine said they were right at the end of that year.)

''Entertainment Weekly'' named Stewart as its "Entertainer of the Year" for 2004.

In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater, William and Mary, and received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree. Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at Princeton University in 2004, and the 2008 Sacerdote Great Names speaker at Hamilton College.

Stewart was also named one of the ''2005 Time 100'', an annual list of 100 of the most influential people of the year by ''Time'' magazine.

In addition, Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' received the 2005 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.

Stewart was presented an Honorary All-America Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in 2006.

Asteroid 116939 Jonstewart, discovered April 15, 2004, is named in his honor.

On April 21, 2009, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made Stewart a chief.

On October 26, 2010, Stewart was named the Most Influential Man of 2010 by AskMen.com.

Personal life

In 2000, Stewart married Tracey McShane, his girlfriend of four years. The couple met on a blind date set up by a production assistant on Stewart's film, ''Wishful Thinking''. On June 19, 2001, Stewart and his wife filed a joint name change application and legally changed both of their surnames to "Stewart." He proposed to his future wife through a personalized crossword puzzle created with the help of Will Shortz, the crossword editor at ''The New York Times''. The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart (named after Stewart's grandfather), in July 2004. Their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, was born in February 2006. They also have a cat named Stanley and two pit bull terriers, Monkey and Shamsky (named after former Major League Baseball player Art Shamsky).

In 2000, when he was labeled a Democrat, Stewart generally agreed but described his political affiliation as "more socialist or independent" than Democratic. While interviewing David Barton in 2011, he said to be a secular humanist.

Stewart is an avid fan of both the New York Giants and the New York Mets and occasionally brings this up on his show. He gave an impassioned rant to open his show on February 4, 2008, immediately after the Giants had defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, about the Giants victory, noting his satisfaction in having bragging rights over Patriot and Red Sox sports fans who worked with him and had tormented him for years. Additionally he has mentioned his fandom on his show during interviews with Tiki Barber and David Wright.

Filmography

! Year!!Title!!Role!!Notes
1994	''Mixed Nuts''	Rollerblader
1996	''The First Wives Club''	Elise's lover	Scenes deleted
	''Wishful Thinking''	Henry
''The Nanny''	Bob
''NewsRadio''	Andrew	Episode 18
Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Guest
	''Half Baked''	Enhancement Smoker
	Todd Zalinsky	TV film
''The Faculty''	Prof Edward Furlong
''Playing by Heart''	Trent
1999		Kevin Gerrity
	''The Office Party''	Pizza Guy	Short film
	Party Guest
2001	''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back''	Reg Hartner
	''Death to Smoochy''	Marion Frank Stokes
''The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina''	Godfrey	Voice
		Zeebad	Voice
	Himself
''American Dad''	Himself
2007	''Evan Almighty''	Himself
	''The Simpsons''	Himself
''The Great Buck Howard''	Himself
2011	''The Adjustment Bureau''	Himself

Bibliography

''Naked Pictures of Famous People'' (Rob Weisbach Books, 1998) ISBN 0-688-17162-1

''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'' (Warner Books, September 2004) ISBN 0-446-53268-1

''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' (Grand Central Publishing, 2010) ISBN 978-0-446-57922-3

References

External links

in 2010 in 2005 in 2004

Jon Stewart at WN

Collected news and commentary at ''The New York Times''

Category:1962 births Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American media critics Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American political pundits Category:American satirists Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Criticism of journalism Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Living people Category:Male comedians Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Category:New York Democrats Category:William & Mary Tribe men's soccer players

ar:جون ستيوارت (كوميدي أمريكي) bn:জন স্টুয়ার্ট bg:Джон Стюарт cs:Jon Stewart da:Jon Stewart de:Jon Stewart et:Jon Stewart el:Τζον Στιούαρτ es:Jon Stewart eo:Jon Stewart fa:جان استوارت (مجری تلویزیونی) fr:Jon Stewart gl:Jon Stewart id:Jon Stewart is:Jon Stewart it:Jon Stewart he:ג'ון סטיוארט la:Ionathas Stewart nl:Jon Stewart ja:ジョン・スチュワート (コメディアン) no:Jon Stewart pl:Jon Stewart pt:Jon Stewart ro:Jon Stewart ru:Стюарт, Джон (телеведущий) sq:Jon Stewart simple:Jon Stewart sh:Jon Stewart fi:Jon Stewart sv:Jon Stewart tl:Jon Stewart ta:யோன் சுருவாட் tr:Jon Stewart zh:喬恩·史都華