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Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945. Russia and many former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May, marking the end of World War II in Europe. Several countries observe public holidays on the day each year, also called Victory Over Fascism Day, Liberation Day or Victory Day. In the UK it is often abbreviated to VE Day, or V-E Day in the US, a term which existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory.

The end of all combat actions was specified as 23:01 Central European Time, which was already 9 May in eastern Europe, and thus several former Soviet bloc countries including Russia and Belarus, as well as some former Yugoslav countries like Serbia, celebrate on 9 May.

Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, had committed suicide on 30 April during the Battle of Berlin and Germany's surrender was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz. The administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of military surrender was first signed at 02:41 on 7 May in SHAEF HQ at Reims, and a slightly modified document, considered the definitive German Instrument of Surrender, was signed on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin at 21:20 local time.

The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 23.01 hours Central European time on 8 May 1945...

Upon the defeat of Germany, celebrations erupted throughout the western world, especially in the UK and North America. More than one million people celebrated in the streets throughout the UK to mark the end of the European part of the war. In London, crowds massed in Trafalgar Square and up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by their daughters and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the palace before the cheering crowds. Churchill went from the palace to Whitehall where he addressed another large crowd:

God bless you all. This is your victory. In our long history, we have never seen a greater day than this. Everyone, man or woman, has done their best.

At this point he asked Ernest Bevin to come forward and share the applause. Bevin said: "No, Winston, this is your day", and proceeded to conduct the people in the singing of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. Later, Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds and take part in the celebrations.

In the United States, the event coincided with President Harry Truman's 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage less than a month earlier, on 12 April. Flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelt's memory and keeping the flags at half-staff that his only wish was "that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day". Later that day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday. Great celebrations took place in many American cities, especially in New York's Times Square.

Tempering the jubilation somewhat, both Churchill and Truman pointed out that the war against Japan had not yet been won. In his radio broadcast at 15:00 on 8 May, Churchill told the British people that: "We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing (as Japan) remains unsubdued". In America, Truman broadcast at 09:00 and said it was "a victory only half won".

VE Day is celebrated across European nations as public holidays and national observances.

On the eve of the diamond jubilee in 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the request of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, gave a live address broadcast on Austrian TV channel ORF. The Festival of Joy is an Austrian event held in honor of VE Day. The Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) has organised the Festival of Joy since 2013, in cooperation with the Austrian Government and the City of Vienna. The festival is held annually on Heldenplatz.

France celebrates VE Day on 8 May, being a national and public holiday. Orléans simultaneously celebrates both VE Day and the anniversary of the Siege of Orléans being lifted by French forces led by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War on this date.

Events in Berlin occur on 8 May to commemorate those who fought against Nazism in the German Resistance and lost their lives in World War II. In 2020, a regional holiday in Berlin occurred on 8 May to mark the 75th anniversary of surrender. East Germany celebrated 8 May as its Tag der Befreiung (Day of Liberation), first celebrated under Walter Ulbricht's government in 1950 and repeated annually until the fall of communism. Between 1975 and 1990, it was Tag des Sieges (Victory Day).[citation needed ]

8 May is known in Poland as "Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa" (National Victory Day). Poland officially recognised 9 May from 1945 until 2014, and on 24 April 2015, Poland officially recognised National Victory Day. On 8 May 1945, a meeting of the Council of Ministers was held, debating whether to establish the holiday on 8 May (proposed by Marshal Michał Rola-Żymierski) or 10 May (proposed by the government). Finally, in Poland, the National Day of Victory and Freedom was established by a decree of 9 May. From 1946 to 1989, it was celebrated with Russian traditions being a socialist state at the time. The main celebrations were carried out at Plac Zwycięstwa or Plac Defilad in Warsaw (most notably in 1985). After 1990, no official ceremonies were organized, however many cities and military units together with local governments organized their own festivities. The Russian minority in Poland continues to celebrate 9 May traditions to this date. At the end of March 2015, due to the upcoming 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the President of the Institute of National Remembrance Łukasz Kamiński sent a letter to the Speaker of the Sejm requesting the change from 9 to 8 May. On 24 April, the Sejm adopted the Act on National Victory Day celebrated on 8 May, at the same time abolishing the National Day of Victory and Freedom celebrated on 9 May.

The United Kingdom celebrates Victory in Europe Day on 8 May as a national commemorative holiday. VE Day is not an annual public holiday because of the proximity of the May Day bank holiday on the first Monday in May. In 1995 and 2020 the bank holiday was moved from the preceding Monday to 8 May to commemorate the 50th and 75th anniversaries of VE Day, respectively.

Belgium: In Belgium the commemoration of the termination of World War II since 1974 is part of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 (Dutch: Wapenstilstandsdag), an annual national holiday. Every year on this day there is in presence of the king a truce-ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Congress Column in Brussels, at first to commemorate the victims of the First world war and subsequently those of World War II and all other wars worldwide.

Czech Republic: Since the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic has officially recognized 8 May as Victory Day (Den vítězství) Liberation Day (Den osvobození).[24][25] In recent years the liberation of Plzeň by American forces has been commemorated on 5 May.[26][27][28] From 1948 to 1993, the Czechoslovak Republic celebrated 9 May, which was then celebrated with a military parade of the Czechoslovak People's Army (ČSLA) on Letná every five years.[29][30]

European Union: 9 May is Europe Day which celebrates "peace and unity in Europe", on the anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration.[31]

Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania officially commemorate 8 May, but do not commemorate 9 May since it marked the Soviet occupation for these states.[32] Despite this, the local Russian communities still informally celebrate 9 May. Russian diplomats, other representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States and the local politicians of Russian origin usually take part.[33][34]

Shushi Liberation Day

8 May

National public

It is celebrated jointly with VE Day

Victory Day

9 May

Regional public

Public holiday only in Republika Srpska but celebrated across the nation

Remembrance Day

8 May

National commemorative

Not a public holiday; commemorative services are held during the day.

Remembrance Day

8 May

National commemorative

As Nacisma sagrāves un Otrā pasaules kara upuru piemiņas diena (The Crushing of Nazism and Commemoration Day of Victims of World War II). Not a public holiday; commemorative services are held during the day.

Remembrance Day

8 May

National commemorative

As Antrojo pasaulinio karo aukų atminimo diena (Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the World War II). Not a public holiday; commemorative services are held by the President and other officials.

Liberation Day

5 May

National commemorative

as " Bevrijdingsdag" (Liberation Day), a public holiday held once every year on 5 May.

Liberation Day

5 May

National commemorative

as " Befrielsesdag" (Liberation Day), an official flag flying day, not a public holiday.

Liberation Day

8 May

National commemorative

as " Frigjøringsdagen" (Liberation Day) and The National Veterans Day, an official flag flying day, not a public holiday.

Victory over Fascism Day

8 May

National public

as "Deň víťazstva nad fašizmom"

Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation

8 May

National commemorative

Day of Remembrance and Honour

9 May

National public

Known as "День Памяти и Почестей"; before 1999, it was known as "Галаба куни" or "День победы" (Victory Day).[citation needed ]

The instrument of surrender signed 7 May 1945 stipulated that all hostilities must cease at 23:01 ( CET), 8 May 1945. Since that point in time would be on 9 May in local time in the USSR, most Soviet states including Russia celebrated Victory Day on 9 May.

Hermiston, Roger (2016). All Behind You, Winston - Churchill's Great Coalition, 1940-45. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-17-81316-64-1.

Telfer, Kevin (2015). The Summer of '45. Islington: Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 978-17-81314-35-7.

1. ^ Hamilton, Charles (1996). Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 2. San Jose, CA: R. James Bender Publishing. pp. 285, 286. ISBN 978-0-912138-66-4.

2. "Truman Marks Birthday". The New York Times. 9 May 1945. p. 6.

3. "Victory Wreath From Truman Is Laid On Hyde Park Grave of War President". New York Times. Associated Press. 9 May 1945. p. 15.

4. ^ "Army Extends Mourning Period". New York Times. Associated Press. 12 May 1945. p. 13.

5. ^ United Press (15 May 1945). "30 Days of Mourning For Roosevelt Ended". New York Times. p. 4.

6. ^ Marine, Protais (8 May 2021). France Bleu Orléans (ed.). "8 mai : le retour de la messe en l'honneur de Jeanne d'Arc à Orléans, malgré les polémiques" (in French).

7. ^ "Jak Moskwa narzuciła nam 9 maja jako Dzień Zwycięstwa i jak świętowaliśmy ten dzień tuż po wojnie | Szczęść Boże Stalinowi - strona 1 - Polityka.pl" (in Polish). www.polityka.pl. 9 May 2015.

8. ^ "Informacja o działalności Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w okresie 1 stycznia 2015 r. - 31 grudnia 2015 r., Warszawa 2016, s. 107 i 109" (PDF) (in Polish).

9. ^ DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Czech and Slovak Republics: Czech and Slovak Republics. Penguin. 2013. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4654-1265-2.

10. ^ Italian Government https://presidenza.governo.it/ufficio_cerimoniale/cerimoniale/giornate.html.

11. ^ "Latvia's National holidays and Remembrance days - MFA of Latvia". www.mfa.gov.lv. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016.

12. ^ Earl F. Ziemke, 1990, Washington DC, CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY, CHAPTER XV:The Victory Sealed Page 258 last 2 paragraphs

13. ^ Parfitt, Tom (9 May 2015). "Russia's Victory Day Parade marks new East-West divide". The Daily Telegraph.

Media related to VE Day at Wikimedia Commons

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Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945. Russia and many former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May, marking the end of World War II in Europe.

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Elvis Presley  Heatrbreak Hotel Live (1956`)

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The Beatles Debut  on the Ed Sullivan show

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The Beatles Debut  on the Ed Sullivan show

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“First Moon landing” redirects here. For earlier uncrewed Moon landings, see Moon landing.

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Decimal Day in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was on 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence. Before this date, in the United Kingdom, the British pound was made up of 20 shillings, each of which was made up of 12 pence, a total of 240 pence. With the decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name, and the only changes were in relation to the subunits. The shilling was abolished, and the pound was subdivided into 100 "new pence" (abbreviated "p"), each of which was worth 2.4 "old pence" (abbreviated "d"). In Ireland, the Irish pound had a similar £sd currency structure and similar changes took place.

The Russian ruble was the first European decimal currency, dating to 1704, though China had been using a decimal system for at least 2000 years. The Coinage Act of 1792 (US) officially authorised the United States to have a decimal currency, the first English-speaking country to have one. The decimal French franc was introduced in 1795.

The United Kingdom's Parliament rejected Sir John Wrottesley's proposals to decimalise sterling in 1824, which was prompted by the introduction of the French franc. After this defeat, little practical progress towards decimalisation was made for over a century, with the exception of the two-shilling silver florin (worth of a pound) first issued in 1849. A double florin or four-shilling piece was a further step in that direction, but failed to gain acceptance, and was struck only from 1887 to 1890.

The Decimal Association was founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication, both causes that were boosted by a realisation of the importance of international trade following the 1851 Great Exhibition. It was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued.

In their preliminary report, the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1856-1857) considered the benefits and problems of decimalisation but did not draw any conclusion about the adoption of any such scheme. A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England John Hubbard came out against the idea, claiming it had "few merits".

In 1862, the Select committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures.

The decimalisation movement even entered fiction. In Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels (and more so in the television series based on them), Plantagenet Palliser is a passionate advocate of decimalisation, a cause that the other characters seem to find intensely boring. Palliser's scheme would have divided the shilling into ten (presumably revalued) pennies. This would have changed the threepence into new pence, the sixpence into fivepence and the half crown into a two shilling, five pence piece. It would also have required the withdrawal and reissuance of the existing copper coinage. At the end of the fifth book in the series, The Prime Minister, Palliser (now Duke of Omnium) muses that the reform will not be accomplished, since it can only be done by a Chancellor of the Exchequer sitting in the House of Commons, and the Duke now sits in the House of Lords.

The Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1918-1920), chaired by Lord Emmott, reported in 1920 that the only feasible scheme was to divide the pound into 1,000 mills (the pound and mill system, first proposed in 1824) but that this would be too inconvenient. A minority of four members disagreed, saying that the disruption would be worthwhile. A further three members recommended that the pound should be replaced by the Royal, consisting of 100 halfpennies (i.e. there would be 4.8 Royals to the former pound).

In 1960, a report prepared jointly by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, followed by the success of decimalisation in South Africa, prompted the Government to set up the Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency (Halsbury Committee) in 1961, which reported in 1963. The adoption of the changes suggested in the report was announced on 1 March 1966. The Decimal Currency Board (DCB) was created to manage the transition, although the plans were not approved by Parliament until the Decimal Currency Act in May 1969. Former Greater London Council leader Bill Fiske was named as the Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board.

Consideration was given to introducing a new major unit of currency worth ten shillings in the old currency. Suggested names included the new pound, the royal and the . This would have resulted in the " decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny (this approach was adopted, for example, when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand decimalised in the 1960s, adopting respectively the South African rand, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar equal in value to 10 shillings). But, Halsbury decided, in view of the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency, that the pound should remain unchanged.

Under the new system, the pound was retained but was divided into 100 new pence, denoted by the symbol p. New coinage was issued alongside the old coins. The 5p and 10p coins were introduced in April 1968 and were the same size, composition, and value as the shilling and two shillings coins in circulation with them. In October 1969 the 50p coin was introduced, with the 10s note withdrawn on 20 November 1970. This reduced the number of new coins that had to be introduced on Decimal Day and meant that the public was already familiar with three of the six new coins. Small booklets were made available containing some or all of the new denominations.

The old halfpenny was withdrawn from circulation on 31 July 1969, and the half-crown (2s 6d) followed on 31 December to ease the transition. (The farthing had last been minted in 1956 and had ceased to be legal tender in 1961.)

There was a substantial publicity campaign in the weeks before Decimalisation Day, including a song by Max Bygraves called "Decimalisation". The BBC broadcast a series of five-minute programmes, "Decimal Five", to which The Scaffold contributed some specially written tunes. ITV repeatedly broadcast a short drama called Granny Gets The Point, starring Doris Hare, the actress in On The Buses, where an elderly woman who does not understand the new system is taught to use it by her grandson. At 10 am on 15 February itself (and again the following week) BBC1 broadcast 'New Money Day', a 'Merry-go-Round' schools' programme in which puppet maker Peter Firmin and his small friend Muskit encountered different prices and new coins when they went to the shops.

Banks received stocks of the new coins in advance and these were issued to retailers shortly before Decimalisation Day to enable them to give change immediately after the changeover. Banks were closed from 3:30 pm on Wednesday 10 February 1971 to 10:00 am on Monday 15 February, to enable all outstanding cheques and credits in the clearing system to be processed and customers' account balances to be converted from £sd to decimal. In many banks the conversion was done manually, as most bank branches were not yet computerised. February had been chosen for Decimal Day because it was the quietest time of the year for the banks, shops, and transport organisations.

Many items were priced in both currencies for some time before and after. Prior to Decimal Day the double pricing was displayed as e.g. 1s (5p); from Decimal Day the order was switched to 5p (1s). For example, this order was used on most football programmes during the 1970-71 season. High denomination (10p, 20p, and 50p) stamps were issued on 17 June 1970. Post offices were issued with very simple training stamps in the same colours as the upcoming decimal stamps.

Exceptions to the 15 February introduction were British Rail and London Transport, which went decimal one day early, the former urging customers, if they chose to use pennies or threepenny pieces, to pay them in multiples of 6d (p, the lowest common multiple of the two systems). Bus companies (at that time many state-owned by the National Bus Company) were another exception, going decimal on Sunday 21 February.

Although officially imperial only pricing ended on D Day 15th February 1971 and double (imperial and metric) pricing was phased out by September 1971 , it was still possible to find old stock items in shops either double priced or occasionaly even priced still in £sd for many years following Decimalisation.In event of an item with a pre-decimal price being purchased the retailer would normally charge the equivelant Decimal price, Its not clear if displaying goods (albeit old stock) with a price in £sd after the transition period was legal or not but it happened less often as years went by when most old stock and been sold or disposed of.

Decimal Day itself went smoothly. Criticisms included the small size of the new halfpenny coin and the fact that some traders had taken advantage of the transition to raise prices (overall price adjustments slightly favoured the consumer).[citation needed ] Some used new pennies as sixpences in vending machines. After 15 February, shops continued to accept payment in old coins, but always issued change in new coins. The old coins were returned to the banks and in this way the bulk of them were quickly taken out of circulation.

The new halfpenny, penny, and twopence coins were introduced on 15 February 1971. Within two weeks of Decimal Day, the old penny (1d) and old threepenny (3d) coins had left circulation, and old sixpences were becoming rare. On 31 August 1971, the 1d and 3d were officially withdrawn from circulation, ending the transition period.

The government intended that in speech the new units would be called "new pence", but the public decided that it was clearer and quicker to pronounce the new coins as "pee". Shortenings such as "tuppence" are now rarely heard, and terms such as "tanner" (the silver sixpence), which previously designated amounts of money, are no longer used. However, some slang terms, such as "quid" and "bob", survived from pre-decimal times. Amounts denominated in guineas (21s or £1.05) are reserved for specialist transactions, such as the sale of horses and some auctions.

The public information campaign over the preceding two years helped, as did the trick of getting a rough conversion of new pence into old shillings and pence by simply doubling the number of new pence and placing a solidus, or slash, between the digits: 17p multiplied by 2 = 34, - approximately equal to 3/4 ("three and four", or three shillings and four pence), with a similar process for the reverse conversion. The willingness of a young population to embrace the change also helped. In general, elderly people had more difficulty adapting and the phrase "How much is that in old money?" or even "How much is that in real money?" became associated with those who struggled with the change. (This phrase is now often used to ask for conversion between metric and imperial weights and measures.) Around the time of Decimalisation Day, "Decimal Adders" and other converters were available to help people convert between the old and new coins. The following is a table showing conversions between the decimal and pre-decimal systems.

All pre-decimal coins (except for certain non-circulating coins such as crowns, sovereigns, and double florins which were explicitly excluded from demonetisation) are now no longer legal tender. Public outcry at the proposed demise of the old sixpence (6d), worth exactly p and originally slated for early withdrawal, postponed its withdrawal until June 1980.

Shillings and florins, together with their same-sized 5p and 10p coin equivalents, co-existed in circulation as valid currency until the early 1990s. In theory this included coins dating back to 1816; in practice the oldest were dated 1947, when these coins stopped containing silver. The coins were withdrawn when smaller 5p and 10p coins were introduced in 1990 and 1992 respectively.

The face value of Maundy money coins was maintained, increasing all their face values by a factor of 2.4, as the coins continued to be legal tender as new pence. The numismatic value of each coin, though, greatly exceeds face value.

All pre-decimal crowns remain legal tender to this day with a face value of 25p.

The decimal halfpenny (p), introduced in 1971, remained in circulation until 1984, by which time its value had been greatly reduced by inflation. It was not struck, except for collectors' sets, after 1983 (those dated 1984 were struck only as proofs or in Uncirculated Mint Sets) and was demonetised on 31 December 1984. The 50p piece was reduced in size in 1997, following the reduction in size of the 5p in 1990 and the 10p in 1992 (the large versions of each of the three are now demonetised). The 1p and 2p underwent a compositional change from bronze to plated steel in 1992. However, both coins remain valid back to 1971, the only circulating coins valid on Decimal Day still to be valid.

In 1982, the word "new" in "new penny" or "new pence" was removed from the inscriptions on coins, to be replaced by the number of pence in the denomination (e.g. "ten pence" or "fifty pence"). This coincided with the introduction of a new 20p coin, which, from the outset, simply bore the legend "twenty pence".

A £1 coin was introduced in 1983, and a £2 coin in 1997.

When the old £sd system (consisting of pounds, shillings, and pence) was in operation, the United Kingdom and Ireland operated within the Sterling area, effectively a single monetary area. The Irish pound was created as a separate currency in 1927 with distinct coins and notes, but the terms of the Irish Currency Act obliged the Irish currency commissioners to redeem Irish pounds on a fixed 1:1 basis, and so day-to-day banking operations continued exactly as they had been before the creation of the Irish pound. The Irish pound was decimalised on 15 February 1971, the same date as the British pound.

This arrangement continued until 1979 when Irish obligations to the European Monetary System led to Ireland breaking the historic link with Sterling.

In Ireland, all pre-decimal coins, except the 1s, 2s and 10s coins, were called in during the initial process between 1969 and 1972; the ten shilling coin, which, as recently issued and in any event equivalent to 50p, was permitted to remain outstanding (though due to silver content, the coin did not circulate). The 1s and 2s were recalled in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Pre-decimal Irish coins may still be redeemed at their face value equivalent in Euros at the Central Bank in Dublin.

Pre-decimal Irish coins and stamps' values were denoted with Irish language abbreviations ( scilling ("shilling", abbreviated " s") and pingin ("penny", abbreviated " p")) rather than abbreviations derived from the Latin solidi and denarii used in other Sterling countries. Irish people and business otherwise used "£sd" just as in other countries. Thus, prior to decimalisation, coins were marked '1p', '3p' etc. rather '1d' and '3d' as in Britain. Low-value Irish postage stamps likewise used 'p' rather than 'd'; so a two-penny stamp was marked '2p' in Ireland rather than '2d' as in the UK. After decimalisation, while British stamps switched from 'd' to 'p', Irish stamps (but not coins) printed the number with no accompanying letter; so a stamp worth 2 new pence was marked '2p' in the UK and simply '2' in Ireland.

The Royal Mint, All Change: 25th Anniversary of Decimal Currency in Britain (pamphlet distributed with 1996 Royal Mint silver proof sets)

Moore, N. E. A. (1973). The Decimalisation of Britain's Currency. London: H.M.S.O. ISBN 0116303220.

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Decimal Day in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was on 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence. Before this date, in the United Kingdom, the British pound was made up of 20 shillings, each of which was made up of 12 pence, a total of 240 pence.

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The Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The U.K (official video)

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Sugar Hill Gang release 'rappers delight'

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Sugar Hill Gang release 'rappers delight'

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The Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight ( HQ, Full Version )

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The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns. Unlike its nearest competitor at the time, the more expensive Linn LM-1, the 808 generates sounds using analog synthesis rather than playing samples.

Launched when electronic music had yet to become mainstream, the 808 received mixed reviews for its unrealistic drum sounds and was a commercial failure. After building approximately 12,000 units, Roland discontinued the 808 after its semiconductors became impossible to restock. It was succeeded by the TR-909 in 1983.

Over the course of the 1980s, the 808 attracted a cult following among underground musicians for its affordability on the used market, ease of use, and idiosyncratic sounds, particularly its deep, "booming" bass drum. It became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic, dance, and hip hop genres, popularized by early hits such as " Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye and " Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force.

The 808 was eventually used on more hit records than any other drum machine. Its particular popularity in hip hop has made it one of the most influential inventions in popular music, comparable to the Fender Stratocaster's impact on rock. Its sounds are included with music software and modern drum machines, and it has inspired numerous clones.

In the late 1960s, the Hammond Organ Company hired American musician and engineer Don Lewis to demonstrate its products, including an electronic organ with a built-in drum machine designed by the Japanese company Ace Tone. At the time, drum machines were most often used to accompany home organs. They did not allow users to program rhythms, but had preset patterns such as bossa nova. Lewis was known for performances using electronic instruments he had modified himself, decades before the popularization of instrument "hacking" via circuit bending. He made extensive modifications to the Ace Tone drum machine, creating his own rhythms and wiring the device through his organ's expression pedal to accent the percussion.

Lewis was approached by Ace Tone president and founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, who wanted to know how he had achieved the sounds using the machine Kakehashi had designed. In 1972, Kakehashi formed the Roland Corporation, and hired Lewis to help design drum machines. By the late 1970s, microprocessors were appearing in instruments such as the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, and Kakehashi realized they could be used to program drum machines. In 1978, Roland released the CompuRhythm CR-78, the first drum machine with which users could write, save, and replay their own patterns.

With its next machine, the TR-808, Roland aimed to develop a drum machine for the professional market, expecting that it would mainly be used to create demos. The concept was to build a "drum synthesizer" with which users could edit parameters such as tuning, decay, and level and build the sounds into sequences. Though the engineers aimed to emulate real percussion, the prohibitive cost of memory drove them to design sound-generating hardware instead of using samples (prerecorded sounds). Kakehashi deliberately purchased faulty transistors that created the machine's distinctive "sizzling" sound. Chief engineer Makoto Muroi credited the design of the analog voice circuits to "Mr. Nakamura" and the software to "Mr. Matsuoka".

The 808 was the first drum machine with which users could program a percussion track from beginning to end, complete with breaks and rolls. It includes volume knobs for each voice, numerous audio outputs, and a DIN sync port (a precursor to MIDI) to synchronize with other devices through the Digital Control Bus interface, which was considered groundbreaking. Its three trigger outputs can synchronize with synthesizers and other equipment.

The 808's sounds do not resemble real percussion, and have been described as "clicky and hypnotic", "robotic", "spacey", "toy-like" and "futuristic". Fact described them as a combination of "synth tones and white noise ... more akin to bursts coming from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop [than] a proper rhythm section". The machine is noted for its powerful bass drum sound, built from a sine oscillator, low-pass filter, and voltage-controlled amplifier. The bass drum decay control allows users to lengthen the sound, creating uniquely low frequencies that flatten slightly over time, possibly not by design. According to the New Yorker, "Less a product of engineering than a force of nature, this bass-rolling subsonic boom has come to be what people mean when they refer to 'an 808'."

The 808 launched in 1980 with a list price of US$1,195 (equivalent to $3,708 in 2019). Roland marketed it as an affordable alternative to the Linn LM-1, manufactured by Linn Electronics, which used samples of real drum kits. The 808 sounded simplistic and synthetic by comparison; electronic music had yet to become mainstream and many musicians and producers wanted realistic-sounding drum machines. Many reports state that one review dismissed the machine as sounding like "marching anteaters", though this was likely referring to machines that predated it. Contemporary Keyboard wrote a positive review, predicting that it would become "the standard for rhythm machines of the future".

Despite some early adopters, the 808 was a commercial failure and fewer than 12,000 units were sold. Roland ended production in 1983 after semiconductor improvements made it impossible to restock the faulty transistors essential to its design.

Though the 808 was commercially unsuccessful, it has had a lasting influence on popular music and was eventually used on more hit records than any other drum machine. Roland credits the first use in a live performance to the Japanese electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra with " 1000 Knives" in 1980. The first records to feature the 808 were released in 1981: Yellow Magic Orchestra's and the Monitors' "Nobody Told Me". In 1982, the American R&B artist Marvin Gaye released the first hit single that featured the 808, " Sexual Healing". Gaye was drawn to the instrument because he could use it to create music without other musicians or producers.

By the time Roland discontinued the 808 in 1983, it had become common on the used market, often selling for under $100. Its ease of use, affordability, and idiosyncratic sound earned it a cult following among underground musicians and producers, and it became a cornerstone of the developing electronic and hip hop genres. In 1982, Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force released their single " Planet Rock", which made extensive use of the 808 to create "strange, futuristic percussion that became hugely popular on dancefloors". The track informed the development of electronic and hip hop and subgenres including Miami bass and Detroit techno, and popularized the 808 as a "fundamental element of futuristic sound". According to "Planet Rock" "didn't so much put the 808 on the map so much as reorient an entire world of post-disco dance music around it".

The 808 was subsequently used by hip hop acts including Run-DMC, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy. It has been described as hip hop's equivalent to the Fender Stratocaster guitar, which dramatically influenced the development of rock music. The 808 bass drum, in particular, became so essential that Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad production group declared that "it's not hip hop without that sound". The New Yorker wrote that the "trembling feeling of [the 808 bass drum], booming down boulevards in Oakland, the Bronx, and Detroit, are part of America's cultural DNA". Even after the 808 fell out of use by East Coast hip hop producers in the 1990s, it remained a staple of southern hip hop.

The 808's limited pattern storage encouraged artists to push its limits; according to Slate, "those eight-bar units became veritable playgrounds for invention and creativity." Artists manipulated the bass drum to produce new sounds, such as on the 1984 single "Set it Off", in which producer Strafe used it to imitate the sound of an underground nuclear test. Producer Rick Rubin popularized the technique of lengthening the bass drum decay and tuning it to different pitches to create basslines. On their 1986 track " Paul Revere", the Beastie Boys reversed a recording of an 808 to produce backwards-sounding percussion.

The 808 also saw extensive use beyond hip hop, such as on Whitney Houston's 1987 pop hit " I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)". In the 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, singer David Byrne performs " Psycho Killer" on acoustic guitar accompanied by an 808, stumbling against its "gunshot"-like sounds. Songwriter Phil Collins found the machine useful for looping rhythms for long periods, since human drummers would be tempted to add variations and fills. The New Yorker wrote that "the introduction of Roland's magic box was indisputably the big bang of pop's great age of disruption, from 1983 to 1986. The 808's defiantly inorganic timbres ... sketched out the domain of a new world of music."

In the United Kingdom, the 808 was popularized by the electronic group 808 State, who took their name from the machine and used it extensively. 808 State's Graham Massey said, "The Roland gear began to be a kind of Esperanto in music. The whole world began to be less separated through this technology, and there was a classiness to it-you could transcend your provincial music with this equipment." With the rise of rave culture, a precursor to acid house, the 808 became a staple sound on British radio.

Rapper Kanye West used the 808 on every track on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak, which Slate described as "an explicit love letter to the device". Other artists who have used the 808 include Bassnectar, Damon Albarn, Diplo, Fatboy Slim, David Guetta, and New Order. It has been referenced in lyrics by artists including the Beastie Boys, Outkast, Kelis, TI, Lil Wayne, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, R Kelly, and Robbie Williams. Its bass drum has been used as a metaphor for a heartbeat in songs by artists including Madonna, Rihanna, and Kesha.

The 808 is one of the most influential inventions in popular music. In 2019, wrote that it is "probably the most used drum machine in the last 40 years". Samples of its sounds are common in music software, and it has inspired numerous unlicensed clones. Flavorwire wrote that "the 808 has become so ubiquitous over the years that its beats are almost a language of their own-you know the sounds even if you have no idea what a drum machine is, and as such, you also notice when somebody messes with them or uses them in unusual contexts". The New Yorker wrote in 2015 that the 808 was the bedrock of the modern "urban-youth-culture soundtrack", particularly in trap music, and had influenced a new blend of dance and retro hip hop that "embraces and fetishizes ... street music from the past". According to Slate, it was instrumental in pop music's shift from conventional structure and harmonic progression to "thinking in terms of sequences, discrete passages of sound and time to be repeated and revised ad infinitum".

The 808 was followed in 1983 by the TR-909, the first Roland drum machine to use samples. Like the 808, the 909 was influential on popular music, influencing genres such as techno, house and acid.

Roland has included samples of the 808 in subsequent drum machines, including the Grooveboxes in the 1990s, the TR-8 in 2014, and the TR-8S in 2018. In 2017, Roland released the TR-08, a miniaturized 808 featuring an LED display, MIDI and USB connections, expanded sequencer control, and a built-in speaker. Roland released the first official software emulations of the 808 and 909 in 2018.

808 (film) - 2015 documentary about the Roland TR-808

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The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patterns.

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The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star (Official Music Video)

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Nirvana release 'Smells like teen spirit

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Nirvana release 'Smells like teen spirit

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Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Official Music Video)

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Spice Girls - Wannabe (Official Music Video)

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Napster was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared on the service was typically encoded in the MP3 format. As the software became popular, the company encountered legal difficulties over copyright infringement. Napster ceased operations in 2001 after losing multiple lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy in June 2002.

The P2P model employed by Napster involved a centralized database that indexed a complete list of all songs being shared from connected clients. While effective, the service could not function without the central database, which was hosted by Napster and eventually forced to shutdown. Following Napster's demise, alternative decentralized methods of P2P file-sharing emerged, including Gnutella, Freenet, FastTrack, and BitTorrent.

Napster's assets were eventually acquired by Roxio, and it re-emerged as an online music store commonly known as Napster 2.0. Best Buy later purchased the service and merged it with its Rhapsody streaming service on December 1, 2011. In 2016, the original branding was restored when Rhapsody was renamed Napster.

Napster was founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Initially, Napster was envisioned by Fanning as an independent peer-to-peer file sharing service. The service operated between June 1999 and July 2001. Its technology enabled people to easily share their MP3 files with other participants. Although the original service was shut down by court order, the Napster brand survived after the company's assets were liquidated and purchased by other companies through bankruptcy proceedings.

Although there were already networks that facilitated the distribution of files across the Internet, such as IRC, Hotline, and Usenet, Napster specialized in MP3 files of music and a user-friendly interface. At its peak, the Napster service had about 80 million registered users. Napster made it relatively easy for music enthusiasts to download copies of songs that were otherwise difficult to obtain, such as older songs, unreleased recordings, studio recordings, and songs from concert bootleg recordings. Napster paved the way for streaming media services and transformed music into a public good for a brief time.

High-speed networks in college dormitories became overloaded, with as much as 61% of external network traffic consisting of MP3 file transfers. Many colleges blocked its use for this reason, even before concerns about liability for facilitating copyright violations on campus.

The service and software program began as Windows-only. However, in 2000, Black Hole Media wrote a Macintosh client called Macster. Macster was later bought by Napster and designated the official Mac Napster client ("Napster for the Mac"), at which point the Macster name was discontinued. Even before the acquisition of Macster, the Macintosh community had a variety of independently developed Napster clients. The most notable was the open source client called MacStar, released by Squirrel Software in early 2000, and Rapster, released by Overcaster Family in Brazil. The release of MacStar's source code paved the way for third-party Napster clients across all computing platforms, giving users advertisement-free music distribution options.

Heavy metal band Metallica discovered a demo of their song " I Disappear" had been circulating across the network before it was released. This led to it being played on several radio stations across the United States, which alerted Metallica to the fact that their entire back catalogue of studio material was also available. On March 13, 2000, they filed a lawsuit against Napster. A month later, rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who shared a litigator and legal firm with Metallica, filed a similar lawsuit after Napster refused his written request to remove his works from its service. Separately, Metallica and Dr. Dre later delivered to Napster thousands of usernames of people who they believed were pirating their songs. In March 2001, Napster settled both suits, after being shut down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a separate lawsuit from several major record labels (see below). In 2000, Madonna's single " Music" was leaked out onto the web and Napster prior to its commercial release, causing widespread media coverage. Verified Napster use peaked with 26.4 million users worldwide in February 2001.

In 2000, the American musical recording company A&M Records along with several other recording companies, through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sued Napster (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) on grounds of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Napster was faced with the following allegations from the music industry:

1. That its users were directly violating the plaintiffs' copyrights.

2. That Napster was responsible for contributory infringement of the plaintiff's copyrights.

3. That Napster was responsible for the vicarious infringement of the plaintiff's copyrights.

Napster lost the case in the District Court but then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Although it was clear that Napster could have commercially significant non-infringing uses, the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's decision. Immediately after, the District Court commanded Napster to keep track of the activities of its network and to restrict access to infringing material when informed of that material's location. Napster wasn't able to comply and thus had to close down its service in July 2001. In 2002, Napster announced that it had filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets to a third party. In a 2018 Rolling Stone article, Kirk Hammett of Metallica upheld the band's opinion that suing Napster was the "right" thing to do.

Napster peaked in February 2001.

Along with the accusations that Napster was hurting the sales of the record industry, some felt just the opposite, that file trading on Napster stimulated, rather than hurt, sales. Some evidence may have come in July 2000 when tracks from English rock band Radiohead's album found their way to Napster three months before the album's release. Unlike Madonna, Dr. Dre, or Metallica, Radiohead had never hit the top 20 in the US. Furthermore, Kid A was an album without any singles released, and received relatively little radio airplay. By the time of the album's release, the album was estimated to have been downloaded for free by millions of people worldwide, and in October 2000 Kid A captured the number one spot on the Billboard 200 sales chart in its debut week. According to Richard Menta of MP3 Newswire, the effect of Napster in this instance was isolated from other elements that could be credited for driving sales, and the album's unexpected success suggested that Napster was a good promotional tool for music.

Since 2000, many musical artists, particularly those not signed to major labels and without access to traditional mass media outlets such as radio and television, have said that Napster and successive Internet file-sharing networks have helped get their music heard, spread word of mouth, and may have improved their sales in the long term[citation needed ]. One such musician to publicly defend Napster as a promotional tool for independent artists was DJ Xealot, who became directly involved in the 2000 A&M Records Lawsuit. Chuck D from Public Enemy also came out and publicly supported Napster.

Napster's facilitation of the transfer of copyrighted material raised the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which almost immediately-on December 6, 1999-filed a lawsuit against the popular service. The service would only get bigger as the trial, meant to shut down Napster, also gave it a great deal of publicity. Soon millions of users, many of whom were college students, flocked to it. After a failed appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court, an injunction was issued on March 5, 2001 ordering Napster to prevent the trading of copyrighted music on its network.

Lawrence Lessig claimed, however, that this decision made little sense from the perspective of copyright protection: "When Napster told the district court that it had developed a technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not good enough. Napster had to push the infringements 'down to zero.' If 99.4 percent is not good enough," Lessig concluded, "then this is a war on file-sharing technologies, not a war on copyright infringement."

On July 11, 2001, Napster shut down its entire network to comply with the injunction. On September 24, 2001, the case was partially settled. Napster agreed to pay music creators and copyright owners a $26 million settlement for past, unauthorized uses of music, and as an advance against future licensing royalties of $10 million. To pay those fees, Napster attempted to convert its free service into a subscription system, and thus traffic to Napster was reduced. A prototype solution was tested in 2002: the Napster 3.0 Alpha, using the ".nap" secure file format from PlayMedia Systems and audio fingerprinting technology licensed from Relatable. Napster 3.0 was, according to many former Napster employees, ready to deploy, but it had significant trouble obtaining licenses to distribute major-label music. On May 17, 2002, Napster announced that its assets would be acquired by German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million to transform Napster into an online music subscription service. The two companies had been collaborating since the middle of 2000 where Bertelsmann became the first major label to drop its copyright lawsuit against Napster. Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, on June 3 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy laws. On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets.

Napster's brand and logos were acquired at a bankruptcy auction by Roxio which used them to re-brand the Pressplay music service as Napster 2.0. In September 2008, Napster was purchased by US electronics retailer Best Buy for the US $121 million. On December 1, 2011, pursuant to a deal with Best Buy, Napster merged with Rhapsody, with Best Buy receiving a minority stake in Rhapsody. On July 14, 2016, Rhapsody phased out the Rhapsody brand in favor of Napster and has since branded its service internationally as Napster and expanded toward other markets by providing music on-demand as a service to other brands like the iHeartRadio app and their All Access music subscription service that provides subscribers with an on-demand music experience as well as premium radio.

On August 25, 2020, Napster was sold to virtual reality concerts company MelodyVR.

On May 10, 2022, Napster was sold to Hivemind and Algorand. The investor consortium also includes ATC Management, BH Digital, G20 Ventures, SkyBridge, RSE Ventures, Arrington Capital, Borderless Capital, and others.

There have been several books that document the experiences of people working at Napster, including:

Joseph Menn's "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster"

John Alderman's "Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the New Pioneers of Music"

Steve Knopper's "Appetite for Self Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age."

The 2003 film The Italian Job features Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning as a cameo of himself. This gave credence to one of the characters fictional back-story as the original "Napster".

The 2010 film The Social Network features Napster co-founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) in the rise of the popular website Facebook.

The 2013 film Downloaded is a documentary about sharing media on the Internet and includes the history of Napster.

Carlsson, Bengt; Gustavsson, Rune (2001). "The Rise and Fall of Napster - An Evolutionary Approach". Proceedings of the 6th International Computer Science Conference on Active Media Technology.

Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Social Form of Napster: Cultivating the Paradox of Consumer Emancipation". Advances in Consumer Research.

Giesler, Markus; Pohlmann, Mali (2003). "The Anthropology of File Sharing: Consuming Napster as a Gift". Advances in Consumer Research.

Giesler, Markus (2006). "Consumer Gift Systems". Journal of Consumer Research. 33 (2): 283-290. doi:10.1086/506309. S2CID 144952559.

Green, Matthew (2002). "Napster Opens Pandora's Box: Examining How File-Sharing Services Threaten the Enforcement of Copyright on the Internet". Ohio State Law Journal. 63: 799.

InsightExpress. 2000. Napster and its Users Not violating Copyright Infringement Laws, According to a Survey of the Online Community.

Ku, Raymond Shih Ray (2001). "The Creative Destruction of Copyright: Napster and the New Economics of Digital Technology". University of Chicago Law Review. doi:10.2139/ssrn.266964. SSRN 266964.

McCourt, Tom; Burkart, Patrick (2003). "When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution". Media, Culture & Society. 25 (3): 333-350. doi:10.1177/0163443703025003003. S2CID 153739320.

Orbach, Barak (2008). "Indirect Free Riding on the Wheels of Commerce: Dual-Use Technologies and Copyright Liability". Emory Law Journal. 57: 409-461. SSRN 965720.

Abramson, Bruce (2005). Digital Phoenix; Why the Information Economy Collapsed and How it Will Rise Again. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51196-4.

Judge criticises both parties in Napster case

"The File Sharing Movement" in Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet: Illusions of a Borderless World Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 105-125. ISBN 978-0-19-515266-1

1. Name inspired by Shawn's high school nickname "Nappy" for his signature Afro. ^

Pollack, Neal (December 27, 2010). "Spotify Is the Coolest Music Service You Can't Use". Wired. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014.

Simon, Dan. Internet pioneer Sean Parker: 'I'm blazing a new path' Archived May 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. CNN. September 27, 2011.

Menn, Joseph (2003). All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster. Crown Business. ISBN 978-0-609-61093-0.

Schonfeld, Erick. Shawn Fanning And Sean Parker Talk About Airtime And "Smashing People Together" Archived 2017-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. TechCrunch. October 6, 2011.

Rosen, Ellen (May 26, 2005). "Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 29, 2005.

Bradshaw, Tim. Spotify-MOG battle heats up Archived 2012-10-18 at the Wayback Machine. Financial Times. February 28, 2010.

Emerson, Ramona. Sean Parker At Web 2.0 Summit Defends 'Creepy' Facebook Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine. The Huffington Post. October 18, 2011.

Kirkpatrick, David (October 2010). "With a Little Help From His Friends". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011.

2. ^ Fusco, Patricia (March 13, 2000). "The Napster Nightmare". ISP-Planet. Archived from the original on 2011-10-19.

3. ^ Anderson, Kevin (September 26, 2000). "Napster expelled by universities". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21.

4. ^ Giesler, Markus (2008). "Conflict and Compromise: Drama in Marketplace Evolution" (PDF). Journal of Consumer Research. 34 (6): 739-753. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.564.7146. doi:10.1086/522098. S2CID 145796529. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-07-24.

5. ^ Borland, John (June 1, 2000). "Unreleased Madonna Single Slips On To Net". CNET News.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2012.

6. ^ 17 U.S.C. A&M Records. Inc. v. Napster. Inc. 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N. D. Cal. 2000).

7. .A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001). For a summary and analysis, see Guy Douglas, ^ Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform Archived 2010-07-09 at the Wayback Machine

8. *^ A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. 2000) Archived 2019-12-04 at the Wayback Machine, aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)

9. ^ 2001 US Dist. LEXIS 2186 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 2001), aff'd, 284 F. 3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002).

10. ^ Menn, Joseph (2003). "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster". Crown Business. ISBN 0609610937.

11. ^ Napster wounds the giant : Music Archived 2009-06-01 at the Wayback Machine. The Rocky Mountain News (January 5, 2009). Retrieved on January 29, 2011.

12. ^ "Information Security News: Napster founder has cameo role in 'Italian Job'". seclists.org. Archived from the original on 2018-03-27.

13. Kirkpatrick, David. ^ With a Little Help From His Friends Archived 2015-01-21 at the Wayback Machine. Vanity Fair. October 2010.

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Napster was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared on the service was typically encoded in the MP3 format. As the software became popular, the company encountered legal difficulties over copyright infringement.

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PSY- Gangnam Style (Official Music Video)

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The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the group stage in women's football, began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, followed by the opening ceremony on 27 July. There were 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) who participated in the 2012 Olympics.

Following a bid headed by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe and the then- London mayor Ken Livingstone, London was selected as the host city at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore on 6 July 2005, defeating bids from Moscow, New York City, Madrid, and Paris. London became the first city to host the modern Olympics three times, having previously hosted the Summer Games in 1908 and 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability. The main focus was a new 200-hectare (490-acre) Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site in Stratford, East London. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid.

The United States topped the medal table, winning the most gold medals (46) and the highest number of medals overall (104). China finished second with a total of 91 medals (38 gold) and Great Britain came third with 65 medals overall (29 gold). Michael Phelps of the United States became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, winning his 22nd medal. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, meaning that every currently eligible country has now sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Women's boxing was included for the first time, and the 2012 Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors.

The Games received considerable praise for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm commended particularly highly. The opening ceremony, directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, received widespread acclaim. These were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Belgian Jacques Rogge, who was succeeded by German Thomas Bach the next year.

A number of countries won their first Olympic medals, Bahrain, Botswana, Cyprus, Gabon, Grenada, Guatemala and Montenegro, with Bahrain and Grenada's winning gold medals for their first Olympic medals.

London was chosen over Birmingham to represent Great Britain's bid by the British Olympic Association.

By 15 July 2003-the deadline for interested cities to submit bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)-nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Summer Olympics: Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a scored technical evaluation, the IOC reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February and March 2005. The Paris bid suffered two setbacks during the IOC inspection visit: a number of strikes and demonstrations coinciding with the visits, and a report that a key member of the bid team, Guy Drut, would face charges over alleged corrupt party political finances.

Throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin. Its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris.

On 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive. London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, "I cannot predict it since I don't know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less."

On 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two contenders were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes to 50.

The celebrations in London were short-lived, being overshadowed by bombings on London's transport system less than 24 hours after the announcement.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) was created to oversee the staging of the Games, and held its first board meeting on 3 October 2005. The committee, chaired by Lord Coe, was in charge of implementing and staging the Games, while the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), established in April 2006, was in charge of construction of the venues and infrastructure.

The Government Olympic Executive (GOE), a unit within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), was the lead government body for coordinating the London 2012 Olympics. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management, and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy before and after the Games that would benefit London and the wider United Kingdom. The organisation was also responsible for the supervision of the £9.3 billion of public sector funding.

In August 2011, security concerns arose surrounding the hosting of the Olympic Games in London, following the 2011 England riots. Some countries expressed safety concerns, despite the IOC's assurance that the riots would not affect the Games.

The IOC's Coordination Commission for the 2012 Games completed its tenth and final visit to London in March 2012. Its members concluded that "London is ready to host the world this summer".

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games used a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. After the Games, some of the new facilities would be reused in their Olympic form, while others will be resized or relocated.

The majority of venues were divided into three zones within Greater London: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition there were a few venues that, by necessity, were outside the boundaries of Greater London, such as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy some 125 mi (201 km) southwest of London, which hosted the sailing events. The football tournament was staged at several grounds around the UK. Work began on the Park in December 2006, when a sports hall in Eton Manor was pulled down. The athletes' village in Portland was completed in September 2011.

In November 2004, the 200-hectare (500-acre) Olympic Park plans were revealed. The plans for the site were approved in September 2004 by Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest. The redevelopment of the area to build the Olympic Park required compulsory purchase orders of property. The London Development Agency was in dispute with London and Continental Railways about the orders in November 2005. By May 2006, 86% of the land had been bought as businesses fought eviction. Residents who opposed the eviction tried to find ways to stop it by setting up campaigns, but they had to leave as 94% of land was bought and the other 6% bought as a £9 billion regeneration project started.

There were some issues with the original venues not being challenging enough or being financially unviable. Both the Olympic road races and the mountain bike event were initially considered to be too easy, so they were eventually scheduled on new locations. The Olympic marathon course, which was set to finish in the Olympic stadium, was moved to The Mall, since closing Tower Bridge was deemed to cause traffic problems in central London. North Greenwich Arena 2 was scrapped in a cost-cutting exercise, Wembley Arena being used for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events instead.

Test events were held throughout 2011 and 2012, either through an existing championship such as 2012 Wimbledon Championships or as a specially created event held under the banner of London Prepares.

Team GB House was the British Olympic Association's operational HQ up to and during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designed by architects Gebler Tooth on the top floor of an office building in Westfield Stratford City, it combined the team HQ, athletes' "Friends and Family" lounge, Press Centre, and VIP lounge.

London's public transport scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation; however, it felt that, if the improvements were delivered in time for the Games, London would cope. Transport for London (TfL) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2012, including the expansion of the London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line, and the introduction of a new " Javelin" high-speed rail service. According to Network Rail, an additional 4,000 train services operated during the Games, and train operators ran longer trains during the day. During the Games, Stratford International station was not served by any international services (just as it had not been before the Games), westbound trains did not stop at Hackney Wick railway station, and Pudding Mill Lane DLR station closed entirely during the Games.

TfL also built a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, called the Emirates Air Line, to link 2012 Olympics venues. It was inaugurated in June 2012 and crosses the Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour, cutting journey times between the O2 arena and the ExCeL exhibition centre and providing a crossing every 30 seconds.

The plan was to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event and 93% of them within 30 minutes of their event. The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour. In addition, LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport. Two park-and-ride sites off the M25 with a combined capacity of 12,000 cars were 25 minutes away from the Olympic Park. Another park-and-ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet with a capacity for 9,000 cars where spectators could board a 10-minute shuttle train service. To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park-and-ride schemes were set up. These Park and Ride services were operated by First Games Transport.

TfL defined a network of roads leading between venues as the Olympic Route Network; roads connecting all of the Olympic venues located within London. Many of these roads also contained special "Olympic lanes" marked with the Olympic rings-reserved for the use of Olympic athletes, officials, and other VIPs during the Games. Members of the public driving in an Olympic lane were subject to a fine of £130. Additionally, London buses would not include roads with Olympic lanes on their routes. The painting of Olympic lane indicators in mid-July led to confusion from commuters, who wrongly believed that the Olympic lane restrictions had already taken effect (they were to take effect on 27 July). The A4 experienced traffic jams due to drivers avoiding the Olympic lane, and likewise on a section of Southampton Row, where the only lanes available in one direction were the Olympic lane and the bus lane.

Concerns were expressed at the logistics of spectators travelling to the events outside London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland had no direct motorway connections, and local roads are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer. However, a £77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011. Some £16 million was put aside for the rest of the improvements.

TfL created a promotional campaign and website, Get Ahead of the Games, to help provide information related to transport during the Olympics and Paralympics. Through the campaign, TfL also encouraged the use of cycling as a mode of transport during the Games. However, despite this encouragement to use bicycles, members of the public protested that riding bikes on London roads would be more dangerous due to the blocked Olympic lanes, and also protested against a decision to close the Lea Valley towpath during the Olympics and Paralympics due to security concerns.

The 2012 Games were a unique operational task and a massive challenge for Heathrow airport.[citation needed ] A temporary terminal was created at Heathrow Airport to be used by 10,100 departing athletes after the Games. Up to 35% more bags than normal were expected on 13 August, which was predicted to be the busiest day in the airport's history, according to Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow.[citation needed ]

A study from Oxford University found that the sports-related costs of London 2012 amounted to US$15 billion, compared with $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40-44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). London 2012 went over budget by 76% in real terms, measured from bid to completion. Cost per athlete was $1.4 million. This does not include wider costs for urban and transport infrastructure, which often equal or exceed the sports-related costs.

The costs of staging the Games were separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park. While the Games were privately funded, the venues and infrastructure were largely financed using public money.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the original budget for the Games was increased to about £9.3 billion (US$15.28 billion) in 2007. The revised figures were announced to the House of Commons on 15 March 2007 by Tessa Jowell. Along with East End regeneration costs, the breakdown was:

Building the venues and infrastructure - £5.3 billion

Elite sport and Paralympic funding - £400 million

Security and policing - £600 million

Regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley - £1.7 billion

Contingency fund - £2.7 billion

Unpaid volunteers known as Games Makers performed a variety of tasks before and during the Games. A target of 70,000 volunteers was set as early as 2004. When recruitment took place in 2010, more than 240,000 applications were received. Sebastian Coe said in February 2012, "Our Games Makers will contribute a total of around eight million volunteer hours during the Games and the Games simply wouldn't happen without them". The volunteers wore clothing that included purple and red polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, grey socks and grey-and-white trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre. Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges that were also worn by officials, athletes, family members and media, which gained them access to specific venues and buildings around the site.

Organisers estimated that some 8 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games, and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. LOCOG aimed to raise £375-£400 million in ticket sales. There were also free events such as marathon, triathlon and road cycling, although, for the first time in Olympic history, the sailing events were ticketed. Eventually, more than 7,000,000 tickets were sold. Following IOC rules, people applied for tickets from the NOC of their country of residence. European Union residents were able to apply for tickets in any EU country.

In Great Britain, ticket prices ranged from £20 for many events to £2,012 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. Some free tickets were given to military personnel as part of the Tickets For Troops scheme, as well as to survivors and families of those who died during 7 July 2005 London bombings. Initially, people were able to apply for tickets via a website from 15 March until 26 April 2011. There was a huge demand for tickets, with a demand of more than three times the number of tickets available. The process was widely criticised as more than 50% of the sessions went to a random ballot, and over half the people who applied got no tickets. On 11 May 2012 a round of nearly one million "second chance" tickets went on sale over a 10-day period between 23 June and 3 July 2011. About 1.7 million tickets were available for football and 600,000 for other sports, including archery, field hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball. Although technical difficulties were encountered, ten sports had sold out by 8 am of the first day.

During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, the Olympic Flag was formally handed over from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This was followed by a section highlighting London, One month later, the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside the London City Hall.

A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was unveiled, 500 days before the Games. The clock broke down the following day, but was later fixed. It was a two-sided clock with the Paralympic countdown on the other side. The countdown to the start of the Olympics began with a ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece.

The police led the security operation, with 10,000 officers available, supported by 13,500 members of the armed forces. Naval and air assets, including ships situated in the Thames, Typhoon fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles, were deployed as part of the security operation, named Operation Olympics by the Ministry of Defence; the biggest security operation Britain had faced for decades. The cost of security increased from £282 million to £553 million, and the figure of 13,500 armed forces personnel was more than Britain currently had deployed in Afghanistan. The Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines carried out security exercises in preparation for the Olympics on 19 January 2012, with 50 marine police officers in rigid inflatables and fast response boats, joined by up to 100 military personnel and a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter.

The Ministry of Defence distributed leaflets to residents of the Lexington building in Bow, announcing that a missile system was to be stationed on top of the water tower. This caused concern to some residents. The Ministry said it probably would use Starstreak missiles and that site evaluations had taken place, but that no final decision had taken place.

Approximately 4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals were produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant. They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics). 99% of the gold, silver and copper was donated by Rio Tinto from a mine in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S. The remaining 1% came from a Mongolian mine. Each medal weighs 375-400 g (13.2-14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.3 in) and is 7 mm (0.28 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stepping from the Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, with Parthenon in the background; the reverse features the Games logo, the River Thames and a series of lines representing "the energy of athletes and a sense of pulling together". The medals were transferred to the Tower of London vaults on 2 July 2012 for storage.

Each gold medal is 92.5 percent silver and 1.34 percent gold, with the remainder copper. The silver medal is 92.5 percent silver, with the remainder copper. The bronze medal is made up of 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc, and 0.5 per cent tin. The value of the materials in the gold medal was about £410 (US$644), the silver about £210 (US$330), and the bronze about £3 (US$4.71) as of 30 July 2012.

The Olympics torch relay ran from 19 May to 27 July 2012, before the Games. Plans for the relay were developed in 2010-11, with the torch-bearer selection process announced on 18 May 2011. The torch was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.

On 18 May 2012 the Olympic flame arrived at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall from Greece on flight BA2012, operated by a British Airways Airbus A319 named "Firefly".

The relay lasted 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations and six island visits, and involved some 8,000 people carrying the torch about 8,000 mi (12,875 km), starting from Land's End in Cornwall. The torch had three days outside the United Kingdom when it visited the Isle of Man on 2 June, Dublin in Ireland, on 6 June, and both Guernsey and Jersey on 15 July.

The relay focused on National Heritage Sites, locations with sporting significance, key sporting events, schools registered with the Get Set School Network, green spaces and biodiversity, Live Sites (city locations with large screens), and festivals and other events. Dumfries and Galloway was the only Region in the whole of the United Kingdom that had the Olympic Torch pass through it twice. A group of young athletes, nominated by retired Olympic athletes, ran the torch around the stadium. These torchbearers were Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds, and Adelle Tracey. Together the torchbearers each lit a petal that spread the fire to the 204 petals of the cauldron, representing the countries that participated in the Games. The cauldron was designed by Thomas Heatherwick.

The Olympic Park was planned to incorporate 45 hectares of wildlife habitat, with a total of 525 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes. Local waterways and riverbanks were enhanced as part of the process. Renewable energy also featured at the Olympics. It was originally planned to provide 20% of the energy for the Olympic Park and Village from renewable technologies; however, only 9% of it was achieved. Proposals to meet the original target included large-scale on-site wind turbines and hydroelectric generators in the River Thames. These plans were scrapped for safety reasons. The focus subsequently moved to installing solar panels on some buildings, and providing the opportunity to recover energy from waste. Food packaging at the Olympics was made from compostable materials - like starch and cellulose-based bioplastics - where it cannot be reused or recycled. This included fast-food wrappers, sandwich boxes and drink cartons. After they had been used, many of these materials were suitable for anaerobic digestion (AD), allowing them to be made into renewable energy.

Buildings like the Water Polo Arena were, post-event, relocated elsewhere. Building parts like roofing covers and membranes of different temporary venues were recycled via Vinyloop. This allowed organisers to meet the standards of the Olympic Delivery Authority concerning environmental protection.

London 2012 inaugurated Olympic Games guidelines that included the recycling of PVC, which was used for temporary buildings such as the Basketball Arena and for the temporary parts of permanent venues such as the Olympic Stadium. In the Water Polo Arena, PVC roofing was made from recycled cushions to provide insulation. Through this recycling process, the Olympic Games PVC Policy was fulfilled. It says that

Where London 2012 procures PVC for temporary usage or where permanent usage is not assured, London 2012 is required to ensure that there is a take-back scheme that offers a closed-loop reuse system or mechanical recycling system for post-consumer waste.

"The majority of temporary facilities created for the Olympic Games including the Aquatic centre temporary stands, basketball arena, Water Polo Arena, and the shooting facilities at the Royal Artillery Barracks, are essentially big tents. Basically, PVC stretched over lightweight steel frame. This design solution makes them efficient to install, reduces the need for any significant foundations and are, of course, reusable. We were challenged by the public around the use of PVC; but we considered it to be the right material for certain functions. We therefore challenged the PVC supply chain to have certain environmental performance criteria in place, including a take back and recycle scheme" said Kirsten Henson, Materials Manager for the London 2012 Olympic Park.

The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympic Games and for governing the Olympic Movement, states that

LOCOG shall organise a programme of cultural events which must cover at least the entire period during which the Olympic Village is open.

The Cultural Olympiad comprised many programmes, with more than 500 events spread over four years across the whole of the United Kingdom, and culminating in the London 2012 Festival.

The opening ceremony officially began at 9:00 pm British Summer Time (UTC+1) on 27 July in the Olympic Stadium and was called "Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle was its artistic director, with music direction by Rick Smith of Underworld.

The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was the second Olympic Games opened personally by the Queen, the first being in 1976 in Montreal. The ceremony included a short comic film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself, and another starring Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.

Live musical performers included Frank Turner, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Mike Oldfield, the London Symphony Orchestra, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, and Sir Paul McCartney who performed " Hey Jude" as the closing act. The ceremony transmitted live on BBC One attracted a peak viewing audience of over 27 million in the UK.

The closing ceremony was held on 12 August. It featured a flashback fiesta to British music with The Who closing the performance. The ceremony also included a handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Around 10,700 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) took part, (85 countries acquired at least one medal: gold, silver or bronze) surpassing the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester as the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the United Kingdom.

Three athletes from the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee, which the IOC Executive Committee had ceased to recognise at the IOC session of July 2011, and one athlete from South Sudan, which had no recognized NOC until 2015, participated independently under the Olympic flag.

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee

10,768 athletes from 204 NOCs

National houses

During the Games, some countries and continents had a "national house". These temporary meeting places for supporters, athletes and other followers were located throughout London.

The 2012 Summer Olympics featured 26 different sports encompassing 39 disciplines and 302 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

2012 Summer Olympics Sports Programme

Women's boxing was included in the programme for the first time, and 36 women competed in three weight classes. There was a special dispensation for the shooting events, which would otherwise have been illegal under UK gun law. In tennis, mixed doubles returned to the Olympic programme for the first time since 1924.

London's bid featured the same 28 sports that had been included in other recent Summer Olympics, but the IOC voted to drop baseball and softball from the 2012 Games just two days after London had been selected as the host city. There was an appeal, but the IOC voted to uphold the decision, and the two sports were scheduled to be discontinued after their last appearance at the 2008 Olympics. The IOC then voted on whether or not to replace them; karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens were considered. Karate and squash were the two final nominees, but neither received enough votes to reach the required two-thirds majority.

Although formal demonstration sports were eliminated after the 1992 Summer Olympics, special tournaments for non-Olympic sports can be run during the Games, such as the Wushu tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were attempts to run Twenty20 cricket and netball tournaments alongside the 2012 Games, but neither campaign was successful.

The final official schedule was released on 15 February 2011.

July/August 2012

July

August

Events

25th
Wed

26th
Thu

27th
Fri

28th
Sat

29th
Sun

30th
Mon

31st
Tue

1st
Wed

2nd
Thu

3rd
Fri

4th
Sat

5th
Sun

6th
Mon

7th
Tue

8th
Wed

9th
Thu

10th
Fri

11th
Sat

12th
Sun

Ceremonies
OC CC
-

Aquatics

●

●

●

●

●

46

●

●

●

●

4

47

●

●

●

●

●

●

5

Canoeing

Slalom

●

●

16

Sprint

●

●

●

Cycling

Road cycling

18

Track cycling

BMX

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

6

Gymnastics

Artistic

●

●

18

Trampolining

●

●

●

●

14

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

4

Volleyball

Beach volleyball

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

4

Daily medal events

12

14

12

15

20

18

22

25

23

18

21

16

22

17

32

15

302

Cumulative total

12

26

38

53

73

91

113

138

161

179

200

216

238

255

287

302

July/August 2012

25th
Wed

26th
Thu

27th
Fri

28th
Sat

29th
Sun

30th
Mon

31st
Tue

1st
Wed

2nd
Thu

3rd
Fri

4th
Sat

5th
Sun

6th
Mon

7th
Tue

8th
Wed

9th
Thu

10th
Fri

11th
Sat

12th
Sun

Total events

July

August

These Olympic Games resulted in 32 world records in eight sports. The largest number of records were set in swimming, at eight. China, Great Britain and the United States set the most records, at five each.

A total of 85 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) won medals, 54 of those countries winning at least one gold medal. Seven NOCs won their first ever Olympic medal: Bahrain (gold), Botswana (silver), Cyprus (silver), Gabon (silver), Grenada (gold), Guatemala (silver), and Montenegro (silver). The United States finished at the top of the table, winning 47 gold medals and a total of 104 medals. China finished second with 38 gold medals and 91 medals overall, and hosts Great Britain came in third place, winning 29 gold medals and 65 medals overall in their best performance since London hosted its first Summer Olympics in 1908, pushing Russia -who won 18 gold medals and 66 medals in total, after doping redistributions (initially 24 gold and 82 total)-into fourth place.

‡ Changes in medal standings (see subpage)

* Host nation ( Great Britain)

The host broadcaster was Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), an agency of the IOC. The OBS used its own cameras and crews subcontracted from other Olympic broadcasters to cover the events. The base video and audio were sold to other broadcasters, who added their own commentary and presentation.

The official recording format of the 2012 Summer Olympics used Panasonic's digital technologies. The official video was produced and distributed from the International Broadcast Centre in 1080/50i High-Definition (HD) format. Panasonic announced that DVCPRO HD would be the official recording format. OBS London used P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorders.

The IOC wanted television coverage to reach as broad a worldwide audience as possible, and several national and regional broadcasters covered London 2012. In the UK, the BBC carried the Olympics and Channel 4 the Paralympics. The BBC aimed to broadcast all 5,000 hours of the Games. BBC Parliament's Freeview channel was suspended, BBC Three's on-air time was extended so that it could show Olympic events in the daytime, and 24 additional BBC Olympics channels were available via cable, satellite and the internet in the UK.

The US television rights, owned by NBC, accounted for more than half the rights revenue for the IOC. Despite high viewership, many viewers were disappointed with NBC's coverage. The operations of broadcasters granted rights to the Games were hosted in the dedicated International Broadcast Centre inside the security cordon of the Olympic Park. YouTube planned to stream the Games in 64 territories in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where there were no official broadcasters.

In Sri Lanka a dispute occurred between Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) and MBC Networks (MTV/MBC) as to who was the official broadcaster of the Games. This problem was caused as Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) had offered the official broadcasting rights to both networks, as both of the networks were ABU members. So SLRC filed a case against MBC Networks for broadcasting rights at the Colombo Magistrate's Court. Considering the case, the court issued a special court order preventing MBC Networks' Olympic broadcast and stated that SLRC should be the sole broadcaster. However, when the Games started, both networks broadcast most of the events simultaneously. Another dispute had previously occurred between Carlton Sports Network (CSN) and SLRC, but the Sports Minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, had stated that SLRC had the exclusive rights.

In November 2012, the IOC announced the winners of the Golden Ring Awards for the best broadcast coverage of the Games. Best Olympic Sports Production was awarded to the sailing, produced by Christopher Lincoln, Gary Milkis, and Ursula Romero. The production for the canoe/kayak slalom and the rowing/canoe sprint came second and third respectively. The award for Best On Air Promotion went to NBC with Foxtel and ZDF finishing second and third. NBC Olympics also won the Best Olympic Feature category, as Sky Italia came second and ZDF third. The Best Athlete Profile award went to TV Record's profile of Sarah Menezes, NBC came second with their profile of David Rudisha, and ESPN Latin America took third place with a profile of Miguel Correa and Ruben Rezola. The award for Best Olympic Programme went to NBC, host broadcasters the BBC took second place for Super Saturday (the middle Saturday of the Games), and third place was claimed by the Nine Network for their live coverage of Day 16 of the Games.

" Survival" by Muse was announced as the official song of the Olympics, to be played by international broadcasters reporting on the Games. In August 2009, the Royal Mail commissioned artists and illustrators to design 30 stamps, which were released in batches of 10 between 2009 and 2011. The last ones were released on 22 July 2011. Two £5 coins designed by Saiman Miah have been made to commemorate the Olympics. As with other Olympics since 1952, the Royal Mint will strike a set of commemorative one-kilogram gold and silver coins.

The official motto for the 2012 Summer Olympics is "Inspire a generation". It was chosen to highlight the organisers' commitment to inspire the world, including younger generations, to get involved in sporting events through the Games' legacy.

There have been two London 2012 logos: one used for the bidding process, and the other used in the branding for the Games themselves. The bid logo, created by Kino Design, was a ribbon with blue, yellow, black, green, and red stripes winding through the text "LONDON 2012", making the shape of the River Thames in East London. The main logo, designed by Wolff Olins and published on 4 June 2007, is a representation of the number 2012, with the Olympic Rings embedded within the zero.

Public reaction to the main logo in a June 2007 BBC poll was largely negative; more than 80% of votes gave it the lowest possible rating. Several newspapers ran their own logo competitions, displaying alternative submissions from their readers, and several writers from news agencies criticised the logo. A segment of animated footage released at the same time as the logo was reported to trigger seizures in a small number of people with photosensitive epilepsy, and a short segment was removed from the London 2012 website in response. It was suggested that the logo resembled the American cartoon characters Lisa Simpson and Bart Simpson performing fellatio. In February 2011, Iran threatened to boycott the Olympics, complaining that the logo appeared to spell out the word " Zion". However, this boycott did not occur.

The official London 2012 Olympic typeface was called Headline 2012 and also suffered some criticism. Journalist Simon Garfield made it number 1 in the list of the "8 Worst Fonts in the World" in his 2010 book Just My Type, commenting that "the uncool font is based on jaggedness and crudeness", although he conceded that it was "a brilliant piece of corporate branding". The magazine pointed out that the typeface was intended for "awareness, impact and memorability as a headline typeface" rather than elegance or readability in long sections of text.

The four main colours used in the branding of the Games were pink, blue, green, and orange. These colours were chosen to showcase the spirit of the Games: energetic, spirited, youthful, and bright.

The auxiliary colours used in the branding were dark purple, grey, and gold. These were mostly used in symbols and graphics to offset the brightness of the main colours.

The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named after Much Wenlock, a town in Shropshire that holds a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner of the Paralympic Games was first held. The writer Michael Morpurgo wrote the story concept for the mascots, and an animation was produced. Two stories have been created about the mascots: Out Of A Rainbow and Adventures On A Rainbow.

Creative Review magazine liked the mascots, but elsewhere their design was greeted with some disdain. One columnist jested that they were the product of a "drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek". Others have compared them to Izzy, the much disparaged mascot of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. Still others have likened them to Kang and Kodos from The Simpsons. However, the mascots' creators claim that young people find the duo appealing.

The 1981 Best Picture Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics, was a recurring theme in promotions for the 2012 Olympics. A digitally re-mastered version of Chariots of Fire was released on 13 July 2012 and screened in over 100 UK cinemas as part of the celebrations, and a 2012 stage adaptation ran in London theatres from 9 May 2012 to 5 January 2013. The film's theme tune was performed during the opening ceremony by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle. The performance was accompanied by a comedic skit by Rowan Atkinson, which included the opening beach-running footage from the film. A new orchestration of the film's theme tune was played during each medal presentation of the Games.

LOCOG and the IOC agreed sponsorship deals with several companies, each assigned to one of four categories; worldwide, tier one, tier two and tier three. The worldwide partners were: Acer, Atos, Coca-Cola, Dow, General Electric, McDonald's, Omega SA, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung and Visa. Tier one partners were: Adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT Group, EDF Energy and Lloyds TSB. The tier two partners were: Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Deloitte, Thomas Cook Group, Cisco Systems and United Parcel Service. Tier three partners were: Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, The Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, G4S, GlaxoSmithKline, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken, Holiday Inn, John Lewis & Partners, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, Nature Valley, Next, Nielsen Company, Populous (company), Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto (corporation), Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield Group. The companies provided £1.4 billion of funding altogether, allocated evenly between the IOC and LOCOG.

During the lead-up to the Games, there were controversies over sponsorship, the athletes' use of social media, and several political issues. After a complicated lottery process, thousands of people failed to secure seats for the events they wanted, but a large number of empty seats were observed throughout the Games, even at some of the most popular events. There was speculation that this was due to a failure of corporate sponsors to make use of tickets they had received.

During the Games, eight competitors in the badminton women's doubles were disqualified for "not using best efforts", when they tried to lose matches in the group stage to obtain more favourable fixtures in the knockout rounds. A number of results in boxing, gymnastics and judo were overturned by officials after initial decisions were appealed against.

Ye Shiwen faced doping allegations after her gold medal in the women's 400m Individual Medley as she came from being behind the world record in the final 50m to beating it by 1.02 seconds. Furthermore, she swam her last 50m 0.17 seconds quicker than the men's winner of the corresponding race. All charges were later dropped.

Just before the start of the Men's 100m Final, a spectator threw a plastic bottle into Tyson Gay's lane, intended to hit Usain Bolt who was three lanes outside in Lane 7. The race was unaffected, and Bolt would go on to become the second man in history to defend a 100m Olympic title. The spectator, later identified as Ashley Gill-Webb, was soon arrested after he was struck on the head by Dutch judoka and bronze medalist Edith Bosch, whom he happened to be sitting next to. LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe later stated: "I'm not suggesting vigilantism, but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player". Gill-Webb later pleaded not guilty to a charge of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Stratford Magistrates' Court. He was later found guilty.

Iran lodged a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee after they claimed that the logo spelt the word ' Zion'. The complaint was dismissed by the president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, who said that the complaint "can't be serious."

It was announced before the Summer Games that half of all the competitors would be tested for drugs, with 150 scientists set to take 6,000 samples between the start of the Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. Every competitor who won a medal was also tested. The Olympic laboratory tested up to 400 samples every day for more than 240 prohibited substances. As of late 2022, 40 medals have been stripped due to doping violations, 17 of which were originally awarded to Russian athletes.

Testing for drugs was completed by GSK (GlaxoSmithKline).

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3. ^ Oliver, Mark (6 July 2005). "London wins 2012 Olympics". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. The IOC president, Jacques Rogge, announced the result at 1248BST - around an hour after it had been decided in secret.

4. ^ "Rogge Arrives in Singapore". sailing.org. International Sailing Federation. 1 July 2005. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012.

5. ^ Flyvbjerg, Bent; Stewart, Allison; Budzier, Alexander (2016). The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. SSRN 2804554.

6. ^ Lynn, Guy (22 May 2012). "Ukrainian Olympic official 'willing to sell tickets to black market'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012.

7. ^ "Manpower or mindset: Defence's contribution to the UK's pandemic response". . 25 March 2020. Operation Olympics 2012 Wide-ranging support to delivery of the London Olympic

8. Seida, Jim (19 January 2012). ^ "Metropolitan Police and the Royal Marines perform security exercises in preparation for London Olympics" . MSNBC.

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The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the group stage in women's football, began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, followed by the opening ceremony on 27 July.