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{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25 , 1899 - January 14 , 1957 ) was an American screen actor whose performances in 1940s films noir such as The Maltese Falcon , Casablanca , and The Big Sleep earned him status as a cultural icon . \n \n Bogart began acting in 1921 after a hitch in the U.S. Navy in World War I and little success in various jobs in finance and the production side of the theater . Gradually he became a regular in Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s . When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays , Bogart turned to film . His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest ( 1936 ) , and this led to a period of typecasting as a gangster with films such as Angels with Dirty Faces ( 1938 ) and B-movies like The Return of Doctor X ( 1939 ) . \n \n Bogart 's breakthrough as a leading man came in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon . The next year , his performance in Casablanca ( 1943 ; Oscar nomination ) raised him to the peak of his profession and , at the same time , cemented his trademark film persona , that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side . Other successes followed , including To Have and Have Not ( 1944 ) , The Big Sleep ( 1946 ) , Dark Passage ( 1947 ) , and Key Largo ( 1948 ) , all four with his wife Lauren Bacall ; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ( 1948 ) ; In a Lonely Place ( 1950 ) ; The African Queen ( 1951 ; Oscar winner ) ; Sabrina ( 1954 ) ; and The Caine Mutiny ( 1954 ; Oscar nomination ) . His last film was The Harder They Fall ( 1956 ) . \n \n During a film career of almost 30 years , Bogart appeared in more than 75 feature films . In 1999 , the American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star of Classic American cinema . Over his career , he received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor , winning one ( for The African Queen ) . \n \n Early life \n \n Bogart was born on December 25 , 1899 , in New York City , the eldest child of Dr. Belmont DeForest Bogart ( July 1867 , Watkins Glen , New York – September 8 , 1934 , New York City ) and Maud Humphrey ( 1868–1940 ) . Belmont was the only child of the unhappy marriage of Adam Watkins Bogart , a Canandaigua , New York innkeeper , and his wife , Julia , a wealthy heiress . The name `` Bogart '' comes from the Dutch surname `` Bogaert '' . Belmont and Maud married in June 1898 , he was Presbyterian of English and Dutch descent , she an Episcopalian of English heritage . Young Humphrey was raised in the Episcopal faith , but was non-practicing for most of his adult life . \n \n The precise date of Bogart 's birth was long a matter of dispute , but has been cleared up . Warner Bros listed his birthdate as Christmas Day , 1899 , throughout his career ; but film historian Clifford McCarty later maintained that the Warner publicity department had altered it from January 23 , 1900 `` ... to foster the view that a man born on Christmas Day could n't really be as villainous as he appeared to be on screen '' . The `` corrected '' January birthdate subsequently appeared—and in some cases , remains—in many otherwise authoritative sources . Biographers A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax documented , however , that Bogart always celebrated his birthday on December 25 , and consistently listed it as such on official records , such as his marriage license . \n \n Lauren Bacall confirmed in her autobiography that his birthday was always celebrated on Christmas Day , adding that he joked that he was cheated out of a present every year because of it . Sperber and Lax also noted that a birth announcement , printed in the Ontario County Times on January 10 , 1900 , effectively rules out the possibility of a January 23 birthdate ; and state and federal census records from 1900 report a Christmas 1899 birthdate as well . \n \n Bogart 's father , Belmont , was a cardiopulmonary surgeon . His mother , Maud , was a commercial illustrator who received her art training in New York and France , including study with James McNeill Whistler . Later she became art director", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qf_2410--Humphrey_Bogart.txt", "qid": "qf_2410", "question": "What was Humphrey Bogart's character in the 1949 film 'The Big Sleep'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Sir Donald George `` Don '' Bradman , AC ( 27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001 ) , often referred to as `` The Don '' , was an Australian cricketer , widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time . Bradman 's career Test batting average of 99.94 is often cited as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport . \n \n The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore . Bradman 's meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years . Before his 22nd birthday , he had set many records for top scoring , some of which still stand , and became Australia 's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression . \n \n During a 20-year playing career , Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him , in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull , `` worth three batsmen to Australia '' . A controversial set of tactics , known as Bodyline , was specifically devised by the England team to curb his scoring . As a captain and administrator , Bradman was committed to attacking , entertaining cricket ; he drew spectators in record numbers . He hated the constant adulation , however , and it affected how he dealt with others . The focus of attention on his individual performances strained relationships with some team-mates , administrators and journalists , who thought him aloof and wary . Following an enforced hiatus due to the Second World War , he made a dramatic comeback , captaining an Australian team known as `` The Invincibles '' on a record-breaking unbeaten tour of England . \n \n A complex , highly driven man , not given to close personal relationships , \n \n \n Bradman retained a pre-eminent position in the game by acting as an administrator , selector and writer for three decades following his retirement . Even after he became reclusive in his declining years his opinion was highly sought , and his status as a national icon was still recognised—more than 50 years after his retirement as a Test player , in 2001 , Prime Minister John Howard of Australia called him the `` greatest living Australian '' . Bradman 's image has appeared on postage stamps and coins , and a museum dedicated to his life was opened while he was still living . On the centenary of his birth , 27 August 2008 , the Royal Australian Mint issued a $ 5 commemorative gold coin with Bradman 's image , and on 19 November 2009 , he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame . \n \n Early years \n \n Donald George Bradman was the youngest son of George and Emily ( née Whatman ) Bradman , and was born on 27 August 1908 at Cootamundra , New South Wales ( NSW ) . He had a brother , Victor , and three sisters—Islet , Lilian and Elizabeth May . One of his great-grandfathers was one of the first Italians to migrate to Australia in 1826 . Bradman 's parents lived in the hamlet of Yeo Yeo , near Stockinbingal . His mother Emily gave birth to him at the Cootamundra home of Granny Scholz , a midwife . That house is now the Bradman Birthplace Museum . Emily had hailed from Mittagong in the NSW Southern Highlands , and in 1911 , when Don Bradman was about two-and-a-half years old , his parents decided to relocate to Bowral , close to Mittagong , to be closer to Emily 's family and friends , as life at Yeo Yeo was proving difficult . \n \n Bradman practised batting incessantly during his youth . He invented his own solo cricket game , using a cricket stump for a bat , and a golf ball . A water tank , mounted on a curved brick stand , stood on a paved area behind the family home . When hit into the curved brick facing of the stand , the ball rebounded at high speed and varying angles—and Bradman would attempt to hit it again . This form of practice developed his timing and reactions to a high degree . In more formal cricket , he hit his first century at the age of 12 , with an undefeated 115 playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School . Bradman Museum . Retrieved on 21 August 2007 . \n \n Bush cricketer \n \n In 1920–21 , Bradman acted as scorer for the local Bowral team , captained by his uncle George Whatman . In October 1920 , he filled", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qb_2264--Don_Bradman.txt", "qid": "qb_2264", "question": "In 1930, Australian cricketer Don Bradman scored a world record how many runs in 415 minutes at Sydney Cricket Ground?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The abundance of a chemical element is a measure of the occurrence of the element relative to all other elements in a given environment . Abundance is measured in one of three ways : by the mass-fraction ( the same as weight fraction ) ; by the mole-fraction ( fraction of atoms by numerical count , or sometimes fraction of molecules in gases ) ; or by the volume-fraction . Volume-fraction is a common abundance measure in mixed gases such as planetary atmospheres , and is similar in value to molecular mole-fraction for gas mixtures at relatively low densities and pressures , and ideal gas mixtures . Most abundance values in this article are given as mass-fractions . \n \n For example , the abundance of oxygen in pure water can be measured in two ways : the mass fraction is about 89 % , because that is the fraction of water 's mass which is oxygen . However , the mole-fraction is 33.3333 ... % because only 1 atom of 3 in water , H2O , is oxygen . As another example , looking at the mass-fraction abundance of hydrogen and helium in both the Universe as a whole and in the atmospheres of gas-giant planets such as Jupiter , it is 74 % for hydrogen and 23-25 % for helium ; while the ( atomic ) mole-fraction for hydrogen is 92 % , and for helium is 8 % , in these environments . Changing the given environment to Jupiter 's outer atmosphere , where hydrogen is diatomic while helium is not , changes the molecular mole-fraction ( fraction of total gas molecules ) , as well as the fraction of atmosphere by volume , of hydrogen to about 86 % , and of helium to 13 % .Below Jupiter 's outer atmosphere , volume fractions are significantly different from mole fractions due to high temperatures ( ionization and disproportionation ) and high density where the Ideal Gas Law is inapplicable . \n \n The abundance of chemical elements in the universe is dominated by the large amounts of hydrogen and helium which were produced in the Big Bang . Remaining elements , making up only about 2 % of the universe , were largely produced by supernovae and certain red giant stars . Lithium , beryllium and boron are rare because although they are produced by nuclear fusion , they are then destroyed by other reactions in the stars . The elements from carbon to iron are relatively more common in the universe because of the ease of making them in supernova nucleosynthesis . Elements of higher atomic number than iron ( element 26 ) become progressively more rare in the universe , because they increasingly absorb stellar energy in being produced . Elements with even atomic numbers are generally more common than their neighbors in the periodic table , also due to favorable energetics of formation . \n \n The abundance of elements in the Sun and outer planets is similar to that in the universe . Due to solar heating , the elements of Earth and the inner rocky planets of the Solar System have undergone an additional depletion of volatile hydrogen , helium , neon , nitrogen , and carbon ( which volatilizes as methane ) . The crust , mantle , and core of the Earth show evidence of chemical segregation plus some sequestration by density . Lighter silicates of aluminum are found in the crust , with more magnesium silicate in the mantle , while metallic iron and nickel compose the core . The abundance of elements in specialized environments , such as atmospheres , or oceans , or the human body , are primarily a product of chemical interactions with the medium in which they reside . \n \n Abundance of elements in the Universe \n \n The elements – that is , ordinary ( baryonic ) matter made of protons , neutrons , and electrons , are only a small part of the content of the Universe . Cosmological observations suggest that only 4.6 % of the universe 's energy ( including the mass contributed by energy , E mc² ↔ m \n E / c² ) comprises the visible baryonic matter that constitutes stars , planets , and living beings . The rest is made up of dark energy ( 68 % ) and dark matter ( 27 % ) . These are forms of matter and energy believed to exist on the basis of scientific theory and observational deductions , but they have not been directly observed and their nature is not well understood . \n \n Most standard ( baryonic ) matter is found in stars and interstellar clouds , in the form of atoms or ions", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_6560--Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements.txt", "qid": "qw_6560", "question": "What is the most abundant element in the earth's crust?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "France ( French : ) , officially the French Republic ( ) , is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . France spans 643801 km2 and has a total population of 66.7 million . It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome , which held Gaul until 486 , when the Germanic Franks conquered the region and formed the Kingdom of France . \n \n France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , with its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337 to 1453 ) strengthening state-building and political centralization . During the Renaissance , French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established , which by the 20th century would be the second largest in the world . The 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots ) . France became Europe 's dominant cultural , political , and military power under Louis XIV . In the late 18th century , the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy , established one of modern history 's earliest republics , and saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , which expresses the nation 's ideals to this day . \n \n In the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire , whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe . Following the collapse of the Empire , France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870 . France was a major participant in the First World War , from which it emerged victorious , and was one of the Allied Powers in the Second World War , but came under occupation by the Axis Powers in 1940 . Following liberation in 1944 , a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War . The Fifth Republic , led by Charles de Gaulle , was formed in 1958 and remains to this day . Algeria and the colonies in Indochina became independent in the 1950s after long , bloody wars . Nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic and military connections with France . \n \n France has long been a global center of art , science , and philosophy . It hosts Europe 's third-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites ( after Italy and Spain ) and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually , the most of any country in the world . France is a developed country with the world 's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity . In terms of aggregate household wealth , it ranks fourth in the world . France performs well in international rankings of education , health care , life expectancy , and human development . France remains a great power in the world , being a founding member of the United Nations , where it serves as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council , and a founding and leading member state of the European Union ( EU ) . It is also a member of the Group of 7 , North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) , the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) , and La Francophonie . \n \n Etymology \n \n Originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire , the name `` France '' comes from the Latin ' , or `` country of the Franks '' . Modern France is still named today Francia in Italian and Spanish , Frankreich in German and Frankrijk in Dutch , all of which have the same historical meaning . \n \n There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank . Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm , the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank ( free ) in English . It has been suggested that the meaning of `` free '' was adopted because , after the conquest of Gaul , only Franks were free of taxation .", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "sfq_2760--France.txt", "qid": "sfq_2760", "question": "The post-modern arts complex, built in Paris in 1977, is named after which French president?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "British people , or Britons , are the citizens of the United Kingdom , British Overseas Territories , and Crown dependencies , and their descendants . : British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality , which can be acquired , for instance , by descent from British nationals . When used in a historical context , `` British '' or `` Britons '' can refer to the ancient Britons , the indigenous Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain , south of the River Forth . \n \n Although early assertions of being British date from the Late Middle Ages , the creation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity . The notion of Britishness was forged during the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and the First French Empire , and developed further during the Victorian era . The complex history of the formation of the United Kingdom created a `` particular sense of nationhood and belonging '' in Great Britain and Ireland ; Britishness became `` superimposed on much older identities '' , of English , Scots , Welsh and Irish cultures , whose distinctiveness still resists notions of a homogenised British identity . Because of longstanding ethno-sectarian divisions , British identity in Northern Ireland is controversial , but it is held with strong conviction by unionists . \n \n Modern Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic groups that settled in the British Isles in and before the 11th century : Prehistoric , Celtic , Roman , Anglo-Saxon , Norse and Normans . Union facilitated migration , cultural and linguistic exchange , and intermarriage between the peoples of England , Scotland and Wales during the late Middle Ages , Early Modern period and beyond . Since 1922 and earlier , there has been immigration to the United Kingdom by people from what is now the Republic of Ireland , the Commonwealth , mainland Europe and elsewhere ; they and their descendants are mostly British citizens , with some assuming a British , dual or hyphenated identity . \n \n The British are a diverse , multi-national and multicultural society , with `` strong regional accents , expressions and identities '' . The social structure of the United Kingdom has changed radically since the 19th century , with a decline in religious observance , enlargement of the middle class , and increased ethnic diversity . The population of the UK stands at around 62.5 million , with a British diaspora of around 140 million concentrated in Australia , Canada , South Africa , Hong Kong , New Zealand , and the United States . \n \n History of the term \n \n Greek and Roman writers , in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD , name the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland as the Priteni , the origin of the Latin word Britannic . Parthenius , a 1st-century Ancient Greek grammarian , and the Etymologicum Genuinum , a 9th-century lexical encyclopaedia , describe Bretannus ( the Latinised form of the Ancient Greek Βρεττανός ) as the Celtic national forefather of the Britons . It has been suggested that this name derives from a Gaulish description translated as `` people of the forms '' , referring to the custom of tattooing or painting their bodies with blue woad . \n \n By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a collective name for the British Isles . However , with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain , and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia . Following the Roman departure from Britain , the island of Great Britain was left open to invasion by pagan , seafaring warriors such as Saxons and Jutes , who gained control in areas around the south east . \n \n In this post-Roman period , as the Anglo-Saxons advanced , the Britons became confined to what would later be called Wales , Cornwall , North West England and Strathclyde . However , the term Britannia persisted as the Latin name for the island . The Historia Brittonum claimed legendary origins as a prestigious genealogy for Brittonic kings , followed by the Historia Regum Britanniae which popularised this pseudo-history to support the claims of the Kings of England . \n \n During the Middle Ages , and particularly in the Tudor period , the term `` British '' was used to refer to the Welsh people . At that time , it was `` the long held belief that the Welsh were descendants of the ancient Britons and that they spoke 'the British tongue . This notion was supported by texts such as the Historia Regum Britanniae , a", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qb_237--British_people.txt", "qid": "qb_237", "question": "Which group of islands were claimed by the British in 1833?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Bombay duck or bummalo , Harpadon nehereus , ( Bengali : bamaloh or loytta , Marathi : bombil , Sinhala : bombeli , Urdu : بمبل مچھلی ) is , despite its name , not a duck but a lizardfish . Adults may reach a maximum length of 40 cm , but the usual size is around 25 cm . \n \n Distribution and fisheries \n \n The Bombay duck lives in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific . It has been traditionally caught in the waters off Maharashtra in the Lakshadweep Sea , where it is an important item of the yearly catch . This fish is also caught in the Bay of Bengal and in the South China Sea , although in smaller numbers . \n \n The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed , as its meat does not have a distinctive taste of its own . After drying , the odour of the fish is extremely powerful , and it is usually transported in air-tight containers . The Bombay duck is a popular food item in certain areas of India . Fresh fish are usually fried and served as a starter . In Mumbai , Konkan , and the western coastal areas in India , this dish is popularly known as `` Bombil fry '' . \n \n Etymology \n \n The origin of the term `` Bombay duck '' is uncertain . One popular etymology relates to railways . When the rail links started on the Indian subcontinent , people from eastern Bengal were made aware of the great availability of the locally prized fish on India 's western coasts and began importing them by the railways . Since the smell of the dried fish was overpowering , its transportation was later consigned to the mail train ; the Bombay Mail ( or Bombay Daak ) thus reeked of the fish smell and `` You smell like the Bombay Daak '' was a common term in use in the days of the British Raj . In Bombay , the local English speakers then called it so , but it was eventually corrupted into `` Bombay duck '' . Nonetheless , the Oxford English Dictionary dates `` Bombay duck '' to at least 1850 , two years before the first railroad in Bombay was constructed , making this explanation unlikely . \n \n According to local Bangladeshi stories , the term Bombay duck was first coined by Robert Clive , after he tasted a piece during his conquest of Bengal . It is said that he associated the pungent smell with that of the newspapers and mail which would come into the cantonments from Bombay . The term was later popularized among the British public by its appearance in Indian restaurants in the UK . \n \n In his 1829 book of poems and `` Indian reminiscences '' , Sir Toby Rendrag ( pseudonym ) notes the `` use of a fish nick-named 'Bombay Duck ' '' and the phrase is used in texts as early as 1815 . \n \n European Union import restrictions \n \n In 1997 , Bombay duck was banned by the European Commission ( EC ) . This was because the EC prohibited fish imports from India other than from approved freezing and canning factories , and Bombay duck is not produced in a factory . \n \n According to the `` Save Bombay Duck '' campaign , the Indian High Commission approached the European Commission about the ban and the EC adjusted its regulations so that the fish can still be dried in the open air , but has to be packed in an `` EC approved '' packing station . A Birmingham wholesale merchant located a packing source in Mumbai , and the product became available again in the United Kingdom . \n Before the ban , consumption in the United Kingdom was over 13 tonnes per year . \n \n Bombay duck is available fresh in Canada in cities with large Indian populations , such as Toronto and Montreal , and is generally known as bumla . Although mainly popular with Indians from Bengal , southern Gujarat , coastal Maharashtra , Goa , and Karnataka , it is increasingly consumed by the other South Asian populations , Bangladeshis in particular .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 187, "text": "fish" } ], "id": "bt_3636--Bombay_duck.txt", "qid": "bt_3636", "question": "What is Bombay duck made from" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Opera ( ; English plural : operas ; Italian plural : opere ) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text ( libretto ) and musical score , usually in a theatrical setting . In traditional opera , singers do two types of singing : recitative , a speech-inflected style and arias , a more melodic style . Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre , such as acting , scenery , and costumes and sometimes includes dance . The performance is typically given in an opera house , accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble , which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor . \n \n Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition . It started in Italy at the end of the 16th century ( with Jacopo Peri 's lost Dafne , produced in Florence in 1598 ) and soon spread through the rest of Europe : Schütz in Germany , Lully in France , and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century . In the 18th century , Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe ( except France ) , attracting foreign composers such as Handel . Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera , until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his `` reform '' operas in the 1760s . In the 2000s , the most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Mozart , who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas , especially The Marriage of Figaro ( Le Nozze Di Figaro ) , Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte , as well as The Magic Flute ( Die Zauberflöte ) , a landmark in the German tradition . \n \n The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the bel canto style , with Rossini , Donizetti and Bellini all creating works that are still performed in the 2000s It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer . The mid-to-late 19th century was a `` golden age '' of opera , led and dominated by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy . The popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Puccini and Strauss in the early 20th century . During the 19th century , parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe , particularly in Russia and Bohemia . The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles , such as atonality and serialism ( Schoenberg and Berg ) , Neoclassicism ( Stravinsky ) , and Minimalism ( Philip Glass and John Adams ) . With the rise of recording technology , singers such as Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans . Since the invention of radio and television , operas were also performed on ( and written for ) these mediums . Beginning in 2006 , a number of major opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas around the world . In 2009 , an opera company offered an online download of a complete performance . \n \n Operatic terminology \n \n The words of an opera are known as the libretto ( literally `` small book '' ) . Some composers , notably Richard Wagner , have written their own libretti ; others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists , e.g . Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte . Traditional opera , often referred to as `` number opera '' , consists of two modes of singing : recitative , the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech , and aria ( an `` air '' or formal song ) in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style . Vocal duets , trios and other ensembles often occur , and choruses are used to comment on the action . In some forms of opera , such as singspiel , opéra comique , operetta , and semi-opera , the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue . Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of , or instead of , recitative , are also referred to as arioso . The terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below . During both the Baroque and Classical periods , recitative could appear in two basic forms , each of which was accompanied by a different instrumental ensemble : secco ( dry ) recitative , sung with", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2442, "text": "stravinsky" } ], "id": "sfq_14702--Opera.txt", "qid": "sfq_14702", "question": "Who composed the 1951 opera 'The Rake's Progress'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "is a white floribunda rose cultivar bred by Kordes in Germany in 1958 . It is also known as 'KORbin ' ( the registered cultivar name ) , and . is among the world 's best known roses . \n \n Description \n \n is a modern cluster-flowered floribunda rose cultivar . It is commercially available in two main forms : a bush and a standard , both produced by a form of grafting known as budding . The size and shape of bush forms depend on growing conditions and pruning regime : it is usually about high and 1 m wide , though in hot climates it can reach 2 m high and if lightly pruned can become a graceful shrub . Leaves are small , light green and glossy . Blooms are about 5 cm in diameter and have 25 to 35 petals . They grow in clusters on long stems . Buds are long and pointed . The fragrant flowers usually appear abundantly throughout the year . \n \n Origin \n \n The cultivar was developed by prolific German rose breeder Reimer Kordes in Germany in 1958 . He and his father Wilhelm had initially specialised in developing bush roses that were suitable for small gardens . The parent varieties of are 'Robin Hood ' , a red hybrid musk rose , developed by Joseph Pemberton in 1927 in England , and 'Virgo ' , a white hybrid-tea rose bred in France by Charles Mallerin in 1927 . \n \n The plant was registered under the cultivar name 'KORbin ' by Kordes in 1958 and given the trade name . The cultivar is known as in French and in English . \n \n Awards and recognition \n \n In 1958 was awarded a Royal National Rose Society Gold Medal . The cultivar was selected as the `` World Favourite Rose '' of 1983 by the World Federation of Rose Societies and is listed in their `` Rose Hall of Fame '' . The German ADR title granted in 1960 was taken away in 2004 . \n \n Stamps depicting the cultivar were issued in Romania in 1970 and New Zealand in 1975 . \n \n Related cultivars \n \n A number of sports of have been discovered : \n * 'Blushing Pink Iceberg ' - A cultivar originating from Lilia Weatherly 's garden in Tasmania in 1994 with white flowers flushed with pale pink . \n * 'Brilliant Pink Iceberg ' - a deep pink form from the same garden in Tasmania \n * 'Burgundy Iceberg ' - a sport of 'Brilliant Pink Iceberg ' with prolific burgundy flowers . \n * 'Climbing Iceberg'- a climbing form discovered by Cants of Colchester in England in 1968 and available as weeping and climbing forms of . \n \n Because of its positive qualities , was an important parent of the English Roses bred by David Austin and others : 1983 – 'Graham Thomas ' and 'Perdita ' ; 1984 – 'Belle Story ' , 'Dove ' and 'Heritage ' ; 1985 – 'Emanuel ' ; 1986 – 'Claire Rose ' , 'English Garden ' and 'Swan ' . \n \n Cultivation \n \n Although plants are generally disease free , they may suffer from black spot in more humid climates or in situations where air circulation is limited . Plants tolerate shade , though they perform best in full sun . In North America they are able to be grown in USDA Hardiness Zones 4b and higher . In Australia , plants are suited to all but northern tropical areas . The hardiness and popularity of the cultivar have seen its widespread use in cultivation across the world , occasionally leading to claims that it is `` overdone '' as a garden plant . \n \n The blooms are suited for use as cut flowers . Both the shrub form and grafted standard may be grown in large containers .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 22, "text": "rose" } ], "id": "sfq_2152--Rosa_Iceberg.txt", "qid": "sfq_2152", "question": "Which flower has varieties named, Dorothy Perkins, Grandpa Dickson and Iceberg?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "William Worcester Lyman ( March 29 , 1821 – November 15 , 1891 ) was an American inventor from Meriden , Connecticut . He is credited with inventing the first rotating wheel can opener . \n \n William Lyman was born in 1821 in Middlefield , Connecticut . At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to the local company Griswold & Couch , located in Meriden , Connecticut , to learn pewtersmithery , and worked there until 1844 . After that , he continued working as a pewtersmith with various local companies until 1880 . In 1849 , he was appointed as State Representative in Meriden . On September 5 , 1841 William married Roxanne Griswold Frary , a local woman one year older than he was . He died in Meriden in 1891 at the age of 70 . \n \n Lyman was a dedicated inventor , and was awarded several US patents . The most famous is his rotating wheel can opener , invented in 1870 . Whereas previous can openers were basically variations of a knife , Lyman 's design was the first attempt to facilitate the procedure ( see picture ) . The can was to be pierced in its center with the sharp metal rod of the opener . Then the length of the lever had to be adjusted to fit the can size , and the lever fixed with the wingnut . The top of the can was cut by pressing the cutting wheel into the can near the edge and rotating it along the can 's rim . The need to pierce the can first was a nuisance , and this can opener design has not survived . In 1925 , a modern-style opener , equipped with an additional serrated wheel , was invented to substitute for Lyman 's design . \n \n His other patents were dedicated to improvements to various household food utensils such as a refrigerating pitcher ( 1858 ) , fruit can lids ( 1862 ) , tea and coffee pots , and a butter-dish . As an example illustrating the nature of those improvements , Lyman 's fruit can lid relied on the physical principle that hot food placed in a jar and then allowed to cool would suck down the lid , provided with an elastic rim inside , thereby sealing the can .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 174, "text": "can opener" } ], "id": "bt_2988--William_Lyman_(inventor).txt", "qid": "bt_2988", "question": "What kitchen tool was invented my William Lyman in 1870" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "A chemical element or element is a species of atoms having the same number of protons in their atomic nuclei ( i.e . the same atomic number , Z ) . There are 118 elements that have been identified , of which the first 94 occur naturally on Earth with the remaining 24 being synthetic elements . There are 80 elements that have at least one stable isotope and 38 that have exclusively radioactive isotopes , which decay over time into other elements . Iron is the most abundant element ( by mass ) making up Earth , while oxygen is the most common element in the crust of Earth . \n \n Chemical elements constitute all of the ordinary matter of the universe . However astronomical observations suggest that ordinary observable matter is only approximately 15 % of the matter in the universe : the remainder is dark matter , the composition of which is unknown , but it is not composed of chemical elements . \n The two lightest elements , hydrogen and helium were mostly formed in the Big Bang and are the most common elements in the universe . The next three elements ( lithium , beryllium and boron ) were formed mostly by cosmic ray spallation , and are thus more rare than those that follow . Formation of elements with from six to twenty six protons occurred and continues to occur in main sequence stars via stellar nucleosynthesis . The high abundance of oxygen , silicon , and iron on Earth reflects their common production in such stars . Elements with greater than twenty-six protons are formed by supernova nucleosynthesis in supernovae , which , when they explode , blast these elements far into space as supernova remnants , where they may become incorporated into planets when they are formed . \n \n The term `` element '' is used for a kind of atoms with a given number of protons ( regardless of whether they are or they are not ionized or chemically bonded , e.g . hydrogen in water ) as well as for a pure chemical substance consisting of a single element ( e.g . hydrogen gas ) . For the second meaning , the terms `` elementary substance '' and `` simple substance '' have been suggested , but they have not gained much acceptance in the English-language chemical literature , whereas in some other languages their equivalent is widely used ( e.g . French corps simple , Russian простое вещество ) . One element can form multiple substances different by their structure ; they are called allotropes of the element . \n \n When different elements are chemically combined , with the atoms held together by chemical bonds , they form chemical compounds . Only a minority of elements are found uncombined as relatively pure minerals . Among the more common of such `` native elements '' are copper , silver , gold , carbon ( as coal , graphite , or diamonds ) , and sulfur . All but a few of the most inert elements , such as noble gases and noble metals , are usually found on Earth in chemically combined form , as chemical compounds . While about 32 of the chemical elements occur on Earth in native uncombined forms , most of these occur as mixtures . For example , atmospheric air is primarily a mixture of nitrogen , oxygen , and argon , and native solid elements occur in alloys , such as that of iron and nickel . \n \n The history of the discovery and use of the elements began with primitive human societies that found native elements like carbon , sulfur , copper and gold . Later civilizations extracted elemental copper , tin , lead and iron from their ores by smelting , using charcoal . Alchemists and chemists subsequently identified many more , with almost all of the naturally-occurring elements becoming known by 1900 . \n \n The properties of the chemical elements are summarized on the periodic table , which organizes the elements by increasing atomic number into rows ( `` periods '' ) in which the columns ( `` groups '' ) share recurring ( `` periodic '' ) physical and chemical properties . Save for unstable radioactive elements with short half-lives , all of the elements are available industrially , most of them in high degrees of purity . \n \n Description \n \n The lightest chemical elements are hydrogen and helium , both created by Big Bang nucleosynthesis during the first 20 minutes of the universe in a ratio of around 3:1 by mass ( or 12:1 by number of atoms ) , along with tiny traces of the next two elements , lithium and", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1091, "text": "boron" } ], "id": "odql_3728--Chemical_element.txt", "qid": "odql_3728", "question": "Which element, atomic number 5, has the chemical symbol B?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Rodney Street in Liverpool , England is noted for the number of doctors and its Georgian architecture . It is sometimes known as the `` Harley Street of the North '' . Together with Hope Street and Gambier Terrace it forms the Rodney Street conservation area . There are over 60 Grade II listed buildings on the street and one II * church . \n \n History \n \n Rodney Street was laid out in 1783–1784 by William Roscoe and named after George Brydges Rodney , 1st Baron Rodney , who , in 1782 , secured a naval victory over the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes . It was developed piecemeal up to the 1820s with houses for the affluent , escaping the old town centre . A few houses have five bays , with central doors , but most are three bays . They were erected in pairs or short runs by different developers which led to an inconsistent roof line . \n \n Buildings \n \n No . 9 was the birthplace of Arthur Clough , a poet born in 1819 . No . 62 ( built 1792–1793 ) was the birthplace in 1809 of William Ewart Gladstone , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on four separate occasions through the 1860s to the 1890s . No . 59 Rodney Street was home and studio to Edward Chambré Hardman ( 1898–1988 ) , photographer , and is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public . On the north side of Rodney Street stands the ( disused ) Scottish Presbyterian Church of Saint Andrew , built in 1823–1824 . The body of the church is of a simple two storey design with round arched windows and stuccoed walls designed by Daniel Stewart . The façade of blackened ashlar , designed by John Foster Jr. , is an imposing composition of Ionic entrance columns , flanked by corner towers , topped with Corinthian columns and domes . The north tower has been demolished and the building is currently shrouded in scaffolding , awaiting a much needed restoration . Number 19 is the address where author Tom Slemen wrote many of his topselling Haunted Liverpool books . \n \n Connections \n \n * The Hungarian Consul is at 43 Rodney Street . \n \n People \n \n * Henry Booth merchant , entrepreneur , and engineer . \n * Arthur Hugh Clough and Anne Clough were born in the street \n * William Henry Duncan first Medical Officer of Health in 1847 . \n * William Ewart Gladstone was born at number 62 . \n * E. Chambré Hardman , photographer , studio at no 59 . \n * Nicholas Monsarrat , novelist , was born on the street . \n * William Roscoe , developer and historian \n * James Maury , the first United States consul from 1790 to 1829 , lived at 4 Rodney Street . \n * Tom Slemen , fictional writer . \n \n 2013- Charlotte Whitehead one of the youngest millionaires moved into the street and has since had one child with her current partner", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1001, "text": "william ewart gladstone" } ], "id": "sfq_972--Rodney_Street,_Liverpool.txt", "qid": "sfq_972", "question": "Which British Prime Minister was born in Rodney Street, Liverpool?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "William Topaz McGonagall ( March 1825 – 29 September 1902 ) was a Scottish weaver , doggerel poet and actor . He won notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of , or concern for , his peers ' opinions of his work . \n \n He wrote about 200 poems , including `` The Tay Bridge Disaster '' and `` The Famous Tay Whale '' , which are widely regarded as some of the worst in English literature . Groups throughout Scotland engaged him to make recitations from his work and contemporary descriptions of these performances indicate that many listeners were appreciating McGonagall 's skill as a comic music hall character . Collections of his verse remain popular , with several volumes available today . \n \n McGonagall has been acclaimed as the worst poet in British history . The chief criticisms are that he is deaf to poetic metaphor and unable to scan correctly . McGonagall 's fame stems from the humorous effects these shortcomings generate in his work . The inappropriate rhythms , weak vocabulary , and ill-advised imagery combine to make his work amongst the most unintentionally amusing dramatic poetry in the English language . His work is in a long tradition of narrative ballads and verse written and published about great events and tragedies , and widely circulated among the local population as handbills . In an age before radio and television , their voice was one way of communicating important news to an avid public . \n \n Early life \n \n William McGonagall 's parents , Charles and Margaret , were Irish . Throughout his adult life he claimed to have been born in Edinburgh , giving his year of birth variously as 1825 or 1830 , but his entry in the 1841 Census gives his place of birth , like his parents ' , as `` Ireland '' . It has been suggested that McGonagall may have falsified his place of birth , as a native-born Scotsman would be better treated under the Poor Law of 1845 than one born in Ireland . \n \n Career \n \n McGonagall moved north and was apprenticed as a handloom weaver in Dundee , following in his father 's footsteps . In 1846 , he married Jean King ; they had five sons and two daughters . Despite the industrial revolution slowly making weavers obsolete , McGonagall appeared to prosper , as there was still need for skilled workers to perform tasks of great complexity . \n \n Before he showed an interest in poetry , he displayed a keenness for acting , though Mr Giles ' Theatre , where he performed , let him play the title role in Macbeth only if he paid for the privilege . The theatre was filled with his friends and fellow workers , anxious to see what they expected to be an amusing disaster . The play should have ended with Macbeth 's death , but McGonagall believed the actor playing Macduff was trying to upstage him , and refused to die . \n \n By the 1870s , McGonagall and his family were struggling . Work as a weaver was more difficult to find and his oldest daughter shamed the family by giving birth to an illegitimate child . However , an event changed him . He would write : \n \n McGonagall claimed he was inspired to become a poet when he `` seemed to feel a strange kind of feeling stealing over [ him ] , and remained so for about five minutes . A flame , as Lord Byron said , seemed to kindle up [ his ] entire frame , along with a strong desire to write poetry . '' He wrote his first poem , `` An Address to the Rev . George Gilfillan '' , displaying the hallmarks that would characterise his work . Gilfillan , himself an untrained and poorly-reviewed polemic Christian preacher who occasionally dabbled in poetry , commented admiringly `` Shakespeare never wrote anything like this . '' \n \n McGonagall realised if he were to succeed as a poet , he required a patron and wrote to Queen Victoria . He received a letter of rejection , written by a royal functionary , thanking him for his interest . McGonagall took this as praise for his work . During a trip to Dunfermline in 1879 , he was mocked by the Chief Templar , who told him his poetry was very bad . McGonagall told the man that `` it was so very bad that Her Majesty had thanked [ McGonagall ] for what [ the Chief Templar ] had condemned . '' \n \n The letter gave McGonagall confidence in his `` poetic", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1474, "text": "william mcgonagall" } ], "id": "odql_10292--William_McGonagall.txt", "qid": "odql_10292", "question": "Whose most famous poem is 'The Tay Bridge Disaster of 1880'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "In the western liturgical year , Lady Day is the traditional name in some English speaking countries of the Feast of the Annunciation ( 25 March ) , known in the 1549 Prayer Book of Edward VI and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as `` The Annunciation of the ( Blessed ) Virgin Mary '' but more accurately ( as currently in the 1997 Calendar of the Church of England ) termed `` The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary '' . It is the first of the four traditional English quarter days . The `` Lady '' is the Virgin Mary . The term derives from Middle English , when some nouns lost their genitive inflections . `` Lady '' would later gain an -s genitive ending , and therefore the name means `` Lady 's day '' . \n \n Non-religious significance \n \n In England , Lady Day was New Year 's Day between 1155 and 1752 , when 1 January was declared to be the official start of the year . A vestige of this remains in the United Kingdom 's tax year , which starts on 6 April , i.e. , Lady Day adjusted for the lost days of the calendar change . Until this change Lady Day had been used as the start of the legal year . This should be distinguished from the liturgical and historical year . It appears that in England and Wales , from at least the late 14th century , New Year 's Day was celebrated on 1 January as part of Yule.See Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Fytte Three \n \n As a year-end and quarter day that conveniently did not fall within or between the seasons for ploughing and harvesting , Lady Day was a traditional day on which year-long contracts between landowners and tenant farmers would begin and end in England and nearby lands ( although there were regional variations ) . Farmers ' time of `` entry '' into new farms and onto new fields was often this day . As a result , farming families who were changing farms would travel from the old farm to the new one on Lady Day . After the calendar change , `` Old Lady Day '' ( 5 April ) , the former date of the Annunciation , largely assumed this role . The date is significant in some of the works of Thomas Hardy , such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd . \n \n The logic of using Lady Day as the start of the year is that it roughly coincides with Equinox ( when the length of day and night is equal ) ; many ancient cultures still use this time as the start of the new year , for example , the Iranian new year . In some traditions it also reckons years AD from the moment of the Annunciation , which is considered to take place at the moment of the conception of Jesus at the Annunciation rather than at the moment of his birth at Christmas . \n \n In Ireland , however , Lady 's Day means 15 August , the Feast of the Assumption of Mary , and is a day when fairs are celebrated in many country towns .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 139, "text": "march" } ], "id": "odql_13480--Lady_Day.txt", "qid": "odql_13480", "question": "In which month is Lady Day?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The is a fictional setting in Nintendo 's Super Mario series , where most of the games take place . \n \n Information \n \n The Mushroom Kingdom is a monarchy and its heir is Princess Peach in the games . The Chancellor of the kingdom is its head of government in Super Mario RPG . Its capital , as set forth by Paper Mario , is Toad Town . Though Princess Peach and the Mario Brothers are human , the citizens of this area are the mushroom-like Toads ( called `` Kinopios '' in Japan ) . Some of the Yoshis , dinosaur-like creatures from Dinosaur Land , immigrated into the Mushroom Kingdom shortly after Super Mario World . \n \n The Mushroom Kingdom is often tormented by the Dark Land . Bowser , King of the Koopas , has kidnapped Princess Peach countless times . Initially , it was because she had the power to undo Bowser 's handiwork , but in recent games he has developed romantic feelings for the princess . This can be best seen in the original Paper Mario . Games in the Mario series often suggest that the Mushroom Kingdom is a rival of Bowser 's domain , the Koopa Kingdom . The Koopa Kingdom has been glimpsed at least five times as the last worlds in Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World 2 : Yoshi 's Island , and New Super Mario Bros. , though several maps and tracks from the Mario Kart and Mario Party series take place here as well . It is also seen in the credits reel of Mario and Luigi : Superstar Saga when they drop off Bowser . It is unknown if the Koopa Kingdom is a completely separate area , or merely a captured portion of the Mushroom Kingdom . \n \n Government \n \n Super Mario Bros. 3 takes place in the `` Mushroom World , '' a collection of seven different kingdoms ruled by independent kings . In the Mario comic books , the physical appearance of the Mushroom King is based on that of the king of Grassland , which is why some people equate it with the Mushroom Kingdom . However , it is unclear what the precise relationship is . The instruction manual for the game states that Bowser had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom , and that the Mushroom Kingdom is a gateway to the Mushroom World , but this is never elaborated upon in Super Mario Bros. 3 or in any other games . As a monarchy , the Mushroom Kingdom does not appear to hold democratic elections , is seemingly entirely governed by the Princess , and is consequently often in a state of chaos during her frequent absences when she is kidnapped . \n \n Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario also indicated a Chancellor of the kingdom . \n \n Recurring Locations \n \n Princess Peach 's Castle \n \n Princess Peach 's Castle is a large castle that appears to be inhabited solely by Toads and the Princess . It is surrounded by a moat , but has a regular bridge instead of a drawbridge connecting it to the other side . A large stained-glass window of Peach sits above the entrance , and four short towers are at the castle 's four corners with a much taller tower in the center . The castle has three floors and a basement . Peach 's Castle first appeared in Super Mario RPG and has been featured in many games since . \n \n The castle made its first appearance as Princess Peach 's home in the Mushroom Kingdom of Super Mario RPG . Its first appearance was markedly different from later appearances . \n \n It appears as the hub of Super Mario 64 where Bowser has kidnapped Peach and imprisoned her in her own castle . Mario must dive into worlds created from the castle 's wall paintings to retrieve and harness Power stars to open doors that Bowser had locked . \n \n In Mario Kart 64 , on the track Royal Raceway there is a path to the castle as depicted in Super Mario 64 . It is not vital to drive through and only wastes time . However , after a player finishes with the GP there is an award ceremony out the front of it . Royal Raceway returned in Mario Kart 8 , but with the path to the castle now blocked off . \n \n In Paper Mario , Bowser again captures the Princess by raising her entire castle via an underground craft that he had built directly underneath it , thus trapping her in her own home again . \n \n In Mario & Luigi", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1160, "text": "super mario bros" } ], "id": "qg_1138--Mushroom_Kingdom.txt", "qid": "qg_1138", "question": "The goal of what popular Nintendo game is to navigate through the Mushroom Kingdom on a quest to save Princess Toadstool?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Oliver Cromwell ( 25 April 1599 - 3 September 1658 ) was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England , Scotland , and Ireland . \n \n Cromwell was born into the middle gentry , albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIII 's minister Thomas Cromwell . He was relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life . He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a religious conversion in the 1630s , taking a generally tolerant view towards the many Protestant sects of his period . He was an intensely religious man , a self-styled Puritan Moses , and he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories . \n He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short ( 1640 ) and Long ( 1640–49 ) Parliaments . He entered the English Civil War on the side of the `` Roundheads '' or Parliamentarians . Nicknamed `` Old Ironsides '' , he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to being one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army , playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces . \n \n Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I 's death warrant in 1649 , and he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England as a member of the Rump Parliament ( 1649–53 ) . He was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–50 . Cromwell 's forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country , bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars . During this period , a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics ( a significant minority in England and Scotland but the vast majority in Ireland ) , and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated . Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651 . \n \n On 20 April 1653 , he dismissed the Rump Parliament by force , setting up a short-lived nominated assembly known as Barebone 's Parliament , before being invited by his fellow leaders to rule as Lord Protector of England ( which included Wales at the time ) , Scotland and Ireland from 16 December 1653 . \n As a ruler , he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy . He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey . The Royalists returned to power in 1660 , and they had his corpse dug up , hung in chains , and beheaded . \n \n Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles , considered a regicidal dictator by historians such as David Sharp , a military dictator by Winston Churchill , but a hero of liberty by John Milton , Thomas Carlyle , and Samuel Rawson Gardiner , and a class revolutionary by Leon Trotsky . In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain , Cromwell was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time . However , his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal , genocidal or near-genocidal : \n * Brendam O'Leary and John McGarry , `` Regulating nations and ethnic communities '' , p. 248 , in Breton Albert ( ed ) . 1995 , Nationalism and Rationality , Cambridge University Press and in Ireland his record is harshly criticised . \n \n Early years \n \n Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward . He descended from Katherine Cromwell ( born c. 1482 ) , an elder sister of Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell ( c. 1485–1540 ) , a leading minister of Henry VIII , whose family acquired considerable wealth by taking over monastery property during the Reformation . Katherine married Morgan ap William , son of William ap Yevan of Wales . The family line continued through Richard Williams , alias Cromwell , ( c. 1500–1544 ) , Henry Williams , alias Cromwell , ( c. 1524–6 January 1604 ) , then to Oliver 's father Robert Cromwell ( c. 1560–1617 ) , who married Elizabeth Steward ( c. 1564–1654 ) , probably in 1591 . They had ten children ; Oliver , the fifth child , was the only boy to survive infancy . Cromwell was also a distant relation of the Tudor Royal family and through them the Welsh Royal Family through his descent from Jasper Tudor through his younger daughter , Joan Tudor , as shown in the Genealogy of the Tudors . Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 7, "text": "cromwell" } ], "id": "qw_11529--Oliver_Cromwell.txt", "qid": "qw_11529", "question": "Who died in 1658, was buried at Westminster Abbey, and was disinterred and hanged in 1660?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Quran ( ; ' , literally meaning `` the recitation '' ; also romanized Qur'an or Koran ) is the central religious text of Islam , which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God ( , Allah ) . It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language . The Quran is divided into chapters called suras , which are then divided into verses called ayahs . \n \n Muslims believe the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel ( Jibril ) , gradually over a period of approximately 23 years , beginning on 22 December 609 CE , when Muhammad was 40 , and concluding in 632 , the year of his death.Living Religions : An Encyclopaedia of the World 's Faiths , Mary Pat Fisher , 1997 , page 338 , I.B . Tauris Publishers . Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad , a proof of his prophethood , and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad . The word `` Quran '' occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran , although different names and words are also said to be references to the Quran . \n \n According to the traditional narrative , several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations . Shortly after Muhammad 's death , the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and memorized parts of it . These codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthman 's codex , which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today . There are , however , variant readings , with mostly minor differences in meaning . \n \n The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures . It summarizes some , dwells at length on others and , in some cases , presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events . The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance . It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events , and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence . The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law . During prayers , the Quran is recited only in Arabic . \n \n Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz . Some Muslims read Quranic ayah ( verse ) with elocution , which is often called tajwid . During the month of Ramadan , Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers . In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse , most Muslims rely on the tafsir . \n \n Etymology and meaning \n \n The word ' appears about 70 times in the Quran itself , assuming various meanings . It is a verbal noun ( Arabic verbs # Verbal noun ( maṣdar ) | ) of the Arabic verb ' ( ) , meaning `` he read '' or `` he recited '' . The Syriac equivalent is ( ) ' , which refers to `` scripture reading '' or `` lesson '' . While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac , the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is ' itself . Regardless , it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad 's lifetime . An important meaning of the word is the `` act of reciting '' , as reflected in an early Quranic passage : `` It is for Us to collect it and to recite it ( ) . '' \n \n In other verses , the word refers to `` an individual passage recited [ by Muhammad ] '' . Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages , for example : `` So when ' is recited , listen to it and keep silent . '' The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel . \n \n The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran . Each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning , but its use may converge with that of ' in certain contexts . Such terms include ' ( book ) ; ' ( sign ) ; and ' ( scripture ) . The latter two terms also denote units of revelation . In the large majority of contexts , usually with a definite article ( al- ) , the word is referred to as", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 125, "text": "islam" } ], "id": "qw_2167--Quran.txt", "qid": "qw_2167", "question": "The Koran is the sacred book of which religion?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley region of the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania . As of the 2010 census , the city had a total population of 74,982 , making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania , after Philadelphia , Pittsburgh , Allentown , Erie , Reading , and Scranton . Of this , 55,639 were in Northampton County , and 19,343 were in Lehigh County . \n \n Bethlehem lies in the center of the Lehigh Valley , a region of 731 square miles ( 1,893 km² ) that is home to more than 800,000 people . Together with Allentown and Easton , the Valley embraces the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton , PA-NJ metropolitan area , including Lehigh , Northampton , and Carbon counties within Pennsylvania , and Warren County in the adjacent state of New Jersey . Smaller than Allentown but larger than Easton , Bethlehem is the Lehigh Valley 's second most populous city . In turn , this metropolitan area comprises Pennsylvania 's third-largest metropolitan area and the state 's largest and most populous contribution to the greater New York City metropolitan area . \n \n There are four general sections of the city : central Bethlehem , the south side , the east side , and the west side . Each of these sections blossomed at different times in the city 's development and each contains areas recognized under the National Register of Historic Places . Zip codes that use the address Bethlehem totaled 116,000 in population in the year 2000 . These zip codes include Bethlehem Township and Hanover Township . \n \n In July 2006 , Money magazine placed Bethlehem as number 88 on its `` Top 100 Best Places to Live . '' \n \n History \n \n The areas along the Delaware River and its tributaries in eastern Pennsylvania were long inhabited by indigenous peoples of various cultures . By the time of European contact , these areas were the historic territory of the Algonquian-speaking Lenape Nation , which had three main divisions , the Unami , Unalachtigo , and Munsee . They traded with the Dutch and then English colonists in the mid-Atlantic area . \n \n On Christmas Eve in 1741 , David Nitschmann and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf , leading a small group of Moravians , founded the mission community of Bethlehem along the banks of the Monocacy Creek by the Lehigh River in the colony of Pennsylvania . They came to set up missionary communities among the Native Americans and unchurched German-speaking Christians . They named the settlement after the Biblical town Bethlehem of Judea , the birthplace of Jesus . `` Count Zinzendorf said , 'Brothers , how more fittingly could we call our new home than to name it in honor of the spot where the event we now commemorate took place . We will call this place Bethlehem . ' And so was Bethlehem named after the birthplace of the Man of Peace . ' '' ( from a letter by Gordon Dent to Mr. T. Donald Bain March 3 , 1965 quoting from `` Story of Bethlehem Steel '' by Arundel Cotter , more details are given in this article ) Originally it was a typical Moravian Settlement Congregation , where the Church owned all the property . Until the 1850s , only members of the Moravian Church were permitted to lease land plots in Bethlehem . The historic Brethren 's House , Sisters ' House , Widows ' House and Gemeinhaus ( Congregation House ) with the Old Chapel are remnants of this period of communal living . \n \n The Moravians ministered to regional Lenape Native Americans through their mission in the area , as well as further east in the New York colony . In the historic Bethlehem God 's Acre cemetery , converted Lenape lie buried alongside the Moravians . \n \n In 1762 , Bethlehem built the first water-works in America to pump water for public use . While George Washington and his troops stayed in Valley Forge , Washington stored his personal effects at the farm of James Burnside in Bethlehem – a historical museum ( Burnside Plantation ) . \n \n The prosperous village was incorporated into a free borough in the County of Northampton in 1845 . After the Unity Synod of 1848 , Bethlehem became the headquarters of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in North America . \n \n On March 27 , 1900 , the Bach Choir of Bethlehem presented the United States debut of German Lutheran Johann Sebastian Bach 's Mass in B Minor in the city 's Central Moravian Church . \n \n Boroughs merge \n \n After the Civil", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2946, "text": "steel" } ], "id": "jp_4529--Bethlehem,_Pennsylvania.txt", "qid": "jp_4529", "question": "What was formerly the biggest industry in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The tarot ( ; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi , tarock , and others ) is a pack of playing cards ( most commonly numbering 78 ) , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot . From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists for divination . \n \n Like the common deck of playing cards , the tarot has four suits ( which vary by region , being the French suits in Northern Europe , the Latin suits in Southern Europe , and the German suits in Central Europe ) . Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from one ( or Ace ) to ten and four face cards ( King , Queen , Knight , and Jack/Knave ) for a total of 14 cards . In addition , the tarot has a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool . Depending on the game , the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit . \n \n François Rabelais gives tarau as the name of one of the games played by Gargantua in his Gargantua and Pantagruel ; this is likely the earliest attestation of the French form of the name . Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play card games . In English-speaking countries , where these games are largely unplayed , tarot cards are now used primarily for divinatory purposes . Occultists call the trump cards and the Fool `` the major arcana '' while the ten pip and four court cards in each suit are called minor arcana . The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century . \n \n Etymology \n \n The English and French word tarot derives from the Italian tarocchi , which has no known origin or etymology . The singular term is tarocco , commonly known today as a term for a type of blood orange in Italian . When it spread , the word was changed to tarot in French and Tarock in German . There are many theories to the origin of the word , many with no connection to the occult . \n One theory relates the name `` tarot '' to the Taro River in northern Italy , near Parma ; the game seems to have originated in northern Italy , in Milan or Bologna . Other writers believe it comes from the Arabic word طرق turuq , which means 'ways ' . Alternatively , it may be from the Arabic ترك taraka , 'to leave , abandon , omit , leave behind ' . [ http : //www.etymonline.com/index.php ? search \n tarot & searchmode=none Etymology for Tarot ] , Douglas Harper - The Online Etymology Dictionary \n \n History \n \n Playing cards first entered Europe in the late 14th century , most likely from Mamluk Egypt , with suits of Batons or Polo sticks ( commonly known as Wands by those practicing occult or divinatory tarot ) , Coins ( commonly known as disks , or pentacles by practitioners of the occult or divinatory tarot ) , Swords , and Cups . These suits were very similar to modern tarot divination decks and are still used in traditional Italian , Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks . \n \n The first known documented tarot cards were created between 1430 and 1450 in Milan , Ferrara and Bologna in northern Italy when additional trump cards with allegorical illustrations were added to the common four-suit pack . These new decks were originally called carte da trionfi , triumph cards , and the additional cards known simply as trionfi , which became `` trumps '' in English . The first literary evidence of the existence of carte da trionfi is a written statement in the court records in Florence , in 1440 . The oldest surviving tarot cards are from fifteen fragmented decks painted in the mid 15th century for the Visconti-Sforza family , the rulers of Milan . During the 16th-century , a new game played with a standard deck but sharing the same name ( triomphe ) was quickly becoming popular . This coincided with the older game being renamed tarocchi . \n \n Early decks \n \n Picture-card packs are first mentioned by Martiano da Tortona probably between 1418 and 1425 , since the painter he mentions , Michelino da Besozzo , returned to Milan in 1418 , while", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "odql_6475--Tarot.txt", "qid": "odql_6475", "question": "In a 22 card tarot pack, which card is the only one beginning with the letter 'L'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Birds ( Aves ) are a group of endothermic vertebrates , characterised by feathers , toothless beaked jaws , the laying of hard-shelled eggs , a high metabolic rate , a four-chambered heart , and a lightweight but strong skeleton . Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5 cm bee hummingbird to the ostrich . They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species , at approximately ten thousand , with more than half of these being passerines , sometimes known as perching birds or , less accurately , as songbirds . \n \n The fossil record indicates that birds are the last surviving group of dinosaurs , having evolved from feathered ancestors within the theropod group of saurischian dinosaurs . True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period , around . DNA-based evidence finds that birds diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that killed off all other dinosaurs . Birds , especially those in the southern continents , survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying during periods of global cooling . Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class Aves proper , in the broader group Avialae , have been found dating back to the mid-Jurassic period . Many of these early `` stem-birds '' , such as Archaeopteryx , were not yet capable of fully powered flight , and many retained primitive characteristics like toothy jaws in place of beaks , and long bony tails . \n \n Birds have wings which are more or less developed depending on the species ; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moas and elephant birds . Wings , which evolved from forelimbs , give most birds the ability to fly , although further speciation has led to some flightless birds , including ratites , penguins , and diverse endemic island species of birds . The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight . Some bird species of aquatic environments , particularly the aforementioned flightless penguins , and also members of the duck family , have also evolved for swimming . Birds , specifically Darwin 's finches , played an important part in the inception of Darwin 's theory of evolution by natural selection . \n \n Some birds , especially corvids and parrots , are among the most intelligent animals ; several bird species make and use tools , and many social species pass on knowledge across generations , which is considered a form of culture . Many species annually migrate great distances . Birds are social , communicating with visual signals , calls , and bird songs , and participating in such social behaviours as cooperative breeding and hunting , flocking , and mobbing of predators . The vast majority of bird species are socially monogamous , usually for one breeding season at a time , sometimes for years , but rarely for life . Other species have polygynous ( `` many females '' ) or , rarely , polyandrous ( `` many males '' ) breeding systems . Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilized through sexual reproduction . They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents . Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching . Some birds , such as hens , lay eggs even when not fertilized , though unfertilized eggs do not produce offspring . \n \n Many species of birds are economically important . Domesticated and undomesticated birds ( poultry and game ) are important sources of eggs , meat , and feathers . Songbirds , parrots , and other species are popular as pets . Guano ( bird excrement ) is harvested for use as a fertilizer . Birds prominently figure throughout human culture . About 120–130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century , and hundreds more before then . Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction , though efforts are underway to protect them . Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry . \n \n Evolution and classification \n \n The first classification of birds was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae . \n Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use . Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy . Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the dinosaur clade Theropoda . \n \n Definition \n \n Aves and a sister group , the clade Crocodilia , contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria . During the late 1990s , Aves was most commonly defined phylogenetically as all", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "sfq_22039--Bird.txt", "qid": "sfq_22039", "question": "What word describes a young bird which has just learned to fly?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Deborah Kerr CBE ( ; born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer ; 30 September 1921 - 16 October 2007 ) was a Scottish-born film , theatre and television actress . During her career , she won a Golden Globe for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the motion picture The King and I ( 1956 ) and the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance as `` Laura Reynolds '' in the play Tea and Sympathy ( a role she originated on Broadway ) . She was also a three-time winner of the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress . \n \n Kerr was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress , more than any other actress without ever winning . In 1994 , however , having already received honorary awards from the Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA , she received an Academy Honorary Award with a citation recognising her as `` an artist of impeccable grace and beauty , a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection , discipline and elegance '' . As well as The King and I , her films include An Affair to Remember ; From Here to Eternity ; Quo Vadis ; The Innocents ; Black Narcissus ; Heaven Knows , Mr. Allison ; King Solomon 's Mines ; The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ; The Sundowners and Separate Tables . \n \n Early life \n \n Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer was born in a private nursing home ( hospital ) in Glasgow , the only daughter of Kathleen Rose ( née Smale ) and Capt . Arthur Charles Kerr-Trimmer , a World War I veteran who lost a leg at the Battle of the Somme and later became a naval architect and civil engineer . She spent the first three years of her life in the nearby town of Helensburgh , where her parents lived with Deborah 's grandparents in a house on West King Street . Kerr had a younger brother , Edmund ( `` Teddy '' ) , who became a journalist . He was killed in a road rage incident in 2004 . \n \n Kerr was educated at the independent Northumberland House School , Henleaze , and at Rossholme School , Weston-super-Mare . Kerr originally trained as a ballet dancer , first appearing on stage at Sadler 's Wells in 1938 . After changing careers , she soon found success as an actress . Her first acting teacher was her aunt , Phyllis Smale , who ran the Hicks-Smale Drama School in Bristol . She adopted the name Deborah Kerr on becoming a film actress ( `` Kerr '' was a family name going back to the maternal grandmother of her grandfather Arthur Kerr-Trimmer ) . \n \n Career \n \n Theatre \n \n Kerr 's first stage appearance was at Weston-super-Mare in 1937 , as `` Harlequin '' in the mime play Harlequin and Columbine . She then went to the Sadler 's Wells ballet school and in 1938 made her début in the corps de ballet in Prometheus . After various walk-on parts in Shakespeare productions at the Open-Air Theatre in Regent 's Park , London , she joined the Oxford Playhouse repertory company in 1940 , playing , inter alia , `` Margaret '' in Dear Brutus and `` Patty Moss '' in The Two Bouquets . \n \n In 1943 , aged 21 , Kerr made her West End début as `` Ellie Dunn '' in a revival of Heartbreak House at the Cambridge Theatre , stealing attention from stalwarts such as Edith Evans and Isabel Jeans . `` She has the rare gift '' , wrote critic Beverley Baxter , `` of thinking her lines , not merely remembering them . The process of development from a romantic , silly girl to a hard , disillusioned woman in three hours was moving and convincing '' . \n \n Deborah Kerr returned to the London stage 29 years later , in many productions including the old-fashioned , The Day After the Fair ( Lyric , 1972 ) , a Peter Ustinov comedy , Overheard ( Haymarket , 1981 ) and a revival of Emlyn Williams 's The Corn is Green . After her first London success in 1943 , she toured England and Scotland in Heartbreak House . Near the end of the Second World War , she also toured Holland , France , and Belgium for ENSA as `` Mrs Manningham '' in Angel Street , and Britain ( with Stewart Granger ) in Gaslight . \n \n Having established herself as a film actress in the meantime , she made her Broadway debut in 1953 , appearing in Robert Anderson 's Tea and Sympathy ,", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 259, "text": "king and i" } ], "id": "qb_2779--Deborah_Kerr.txt", "qid": "qb_2779", "question": "Which film, starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, was released in June 1956?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "QWERTY is a keyboard layout for the Latin script . The name comes from reading the first six keys appearing on the top left letter row of the keyboard ( ) from left to right . The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in 1873 . It became popular with the success of the Remington No . 2 of 1878 , and remains in use on electronic keyboards due to inertia , the difficulty of learning a layout that differs from the currently entrenched standard , the network effect of a standard layout , and the claim by some that alternatives fail to provide very significant advantages . \n \n History and purposes \n \n The QWERTY layout was devised and created in the early 1870s by Christopher Latham Sholes , a newspaper editor and printer who lived in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . In October 1867 , Sholes filed a patent application for his early writing machine he developed with the assistance of his friends Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soulé . \n \n The first model constructed by Sholes used a piano-like keyboard with two rows of characters arranged alphabetically as follows : \n \n The construction of the `` Type Writer '' had two flaws that made the product susceptible to jams . \n Firstly , characters were mounted on metal arms or typebars , which would clash and jam if neighboring arms were pressed at the same time or in rapid succession . Secondly , its printing point was located beneath the paper carriage , invisible to the operator , a so-called `` up-stroke '' design . Consequently , jams were especially serious , because the typist could only discover the mishap by raising the carriage to inspect what had been typed . The solution was to place commonly used letter-pairs ( like `` th '' or `` st '' ) so that their typebars were not neighboring , avoiding jams . \n Contrary to popular belief , the QWERTY layout was not designed to slow the typist down , but rather to speed up typing by preventing jams . Indeed , there is evidence that , aside from the issue of jamming , placing often-used keys farther apart increases typing speed , because it encourages alternation between the hands . There is another origin story in the Smithsonian that the qwerty keyboard was made for telegraph operators and has this layout to make it easy for the telegraph operator to work . ( On the other hand , in the German keyboard the Z has been moved between the T and the U to help type the frequent bigraphs TZ and ZU in that language . ) Almost every word in the English language contains at least one vowel letter , but on the QWERTY keyboard only the vowel letter `` A '' is located on the home row , which requires the typist 's fingers to leave the home row for most words . \n \n Sholes struggled for the next five years to perfect his invention , making many trial-and-error rearrangements of the original machine 's alphabetical key arrangement . The study of bigram ( letter-pair ) frequency by educator Amos Densmore , brother of the financial backer James Densmore , is believed to have influenced the arrangement of letters , but was later called into question . Others suggest instead that the letter arrangement evolved from telegraph operators ' feedback . \n \n In November 1868 he changed the arrangement of the latter half of the alphabet , O to Z , right-to-left . In April 1870 he arrived at a four-row , upper case keyboard approaching the modern QWERTY standard , moving six vowel letters , A , E , I , O , U , and Y , to the upper row as follows : \n \n In 1873 Sholes 's backer , James Densmore , successfully sold the manufacturing rights for the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer to E. Remington and Sons . The keyboard layout was finalized within a few months by Remington 's mechanics and was ultimately presented as follows : \n \n After they purchased the device , Remington made several adjustments , creating a keyboard with essentially the modern QWERTY layout . These adjustments included placing the `` R '' key in the place previously allotted to the period key . Apocryphal claims that this change was made to let salesmen impress customers by pecking out the brand name `` TYPE WRITER QUOTE '' from one keyboard row are not formally substantiated . Vestiges of the original alphabetical layout remained in the `` home row '' sequence DFGHJKL . \n \n The modern layout is", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 91, "text": "x" } ], "id": "bb_2076--QWERTY.txt", "qid": "bb_2076", "question": "On a standard English 'qwerty' keyboard, which key is between Z and C?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Georgi Ivanov Markov ( ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978 ) was a Bulgarian dissident writer . \n \n Markov originally worked as a novelist and playwright in his native country , then governed by a communist regime under chairman Todor Zhivkov , until his defection from Bulgaria in 1969 . After relocating , he worked as a broadcaster and journalist for the BBC World Service , the US-funded Radio Free Europe , and Germany 's Deutsche Welle . Markov used such forums to conduct a campaign of sarcastic criticism against the incumbent Bulgarian regime , which , according to his wife at the time of death , eventually became `` vitriolic '' and included `` really smearing mud on the people in the inner circles '' . \n \n He was assassinated on a London street via a micro-engineered pellet containing ricin , fired into his leg via an umbrella wielded by someone associated with the Bulgarian secret police . It has been speculated that they asked the KGB for help . \n \n Life in Bulgaria \n \n Georgi Markov was born on 1 March 1929 , in Knyazhevo , a Sofia neighbourhood . In 1946 he graduated from the Gymnasium ( high school ) and began university studies in industrial chemistry . Initially Markov worked as a chemical engineer and a teacher in a technical school . At the age of 19 years he became ill with tuberculosis which forced him to attend various hospitals . His first literary attempts occurred during that time . In 1957 a novel The Night of Celsius appeared . Soon another novel The Ajax Winners ( 1959 ) and two collections of short stories ( 1961 ) were published . In 1962 Markov published the novel Men which won the annual award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and he was subsequently accepted as a member of the Union , a prerequisite for a professional career in literature . Georgi Markov started working at the Narodna Mladezh publishing house . The story collections A Portrait of My Double ( 1966 ) and The Women of Warsaw ( 1968 ) secured his place as one of the most talented young writers of Bulgaria . Markov also wrote a number of plays but most of them were never staged or were removed from theatre repertoire by the Communist censors : To Crawl Under the Rainbow , The Elevator , Assassination in the Cul-de-Sac , Stalinists , and I Was Him . The novel The Roof was halted in mid-printing since it described as a fact and in allegorical terms the collapse of the roof of the Lenin steel mill . Markov was one of the authors of the popular TV series At Every Milestone which created the character of the Second World War detective Velinsky and his nemesis the Resistance fighter Deyanov . \n \n Despite the ban of some of his works , Georgi Markov had become a successful author . He was among the writers and poets that Zhivkov tried to co-opt and coerce into serving the regime with their works . During this period Markov had a bohemian lifestyle which was unknown to most Bulgarians . \n \n Writer and a dissident \n \n In 1969 , Georgi Markov left for Bologna , Italy , where his brother lived . His initial idea was to wait until his status with the Bulgarian authorities improved , but he gradually changed his mind and decided to stay in the West , especially after September 1971 when the Bulgarian government refused to extend his passport . Markov moved to London where he learned English and started working for the Bulgarian section of the BBC World Service ( 1972 ) . He tried to work for the film industry , hoping for help from Peter Uvaliev , but was unsuccessful . Later he also worked with Deutsche Welle and Radio Free Europe . In 1972 , Markov 's membership in the Union of Bulgarian Writers was suspended and he was sentenced in absentia to six years and six months in prison for his defection . \n \n His works were withdrawn from libraries and bookshops and his name was not mentioned by the official Bulgarian media until 1989 . The Bulgarian Secret Service started Markov 's file under the code name `` Wanderer '' . In 1974 his play To Crawl Under the Rainbow was staged in London , while in Edinburgh the play Archangel Michael , written in English , won first prize . The novel The Right Honourable Chimpanzee , coauthored by David Phillips , was published after his death . In 1975 Markov married Annabel Dilke . The couple had a daughter , Alexandra-Raina , born a year later", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 0, "text": "georgi ivanov markov" } ], "id": "qw_1018--Georgi_Markov.txt", "qid": "qw_1018", "question": "Who was the Bulgarian dissident poisoned with ricin when jabbed in the leg with an umbrella on Waterloo Bridge, London, on 7 September 1978?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. ( often referred to as Warner Bros. Pictures , Warner Bros. or just simply WB ) is an American entertainment company . As one of the major film studios , it is a division of Time Warner , with its headquarters in Burbank , California . Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies , including Warner Bros. Pictures , Turner Entertainment Co. , Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment , Warner Bros. Television , Warner Bros . Animation , Warner Home Video , New Line Cinema , Castle Rock Entertainment , and DC Entertainment . Warner Bros. owns half of The CW Television Network . \n \n History \n \n Founding \n \n The company 's name originates from the four founding Warner brothers ( born Wonskolaser or Wonsal before Anglicization ) : Harry , Albert , Sam , and Jack Warner . They emigrated as small children with their parents to Canada from Krasnosielc which was located in the part of Congress Poland that had been subjugated to the Russian Empire following the eighteenth-century Partitions of Poland near present-day Ostrołęka . \n \n Jack , the youngest , was born in London , Ontario . The three elder brothers began in the movie theater business , having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio . In the beginning , Sam and Albert Warner invested $ 150 to present Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery . They opened their first theater , the Cascade , in New Castle , Pennsylvania , in 1903 . \n \n When the original building was in danger of being demolished , the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners , and arranged to save it . The owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance . \n \n In 1904 , the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company , to distribute films . In 1912 , Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase . By the time of World War I they had begun producing films . In 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood . Sam and Jack produced the pictures , while Harry and Albert , along with their auditor and now controller Chase , handled finance and distribution in New York City . During World War I their first nationally syndicated film , My Four Years in Germany , based on a popular book by former ambassador James W. Gerard , was released . On April 4 , 1923 , with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint , they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures , Incorporated . ( As late as the 1960s , Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date . ) \n \n The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood 's 1919 Broadway play , The Gold Diggers , from theatrical impresario David Belasco . However , Rin Tin Tin , a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier , established their reputation . Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins . The movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $ 1,000 per week . Rin Tin Tin became the studio 's top star . Jack nicknamed him `` The Mortgage Lifter '' and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck 's career . Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack 's right-hand man and executive producer , with responsibilities including day-to-day film production . More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director ; Harry Rapf left the studio to join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Thomas46 , 47 Lubitsch 's film The Marriage Circle was the studio 's most successful film of 1924 , and was on The New York Times best list for that year . \n \n Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch , Warner 's remained a lesser studio . Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel . The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a long-term contract ; like The Marriage Circle , Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by the Times . By the end of 1924 , Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywood 's most successful independent studio , where it competed with `` The Big Three '' Studios ( First National , Paramount Pictures , and MGM ) . As a result , Harry Warner—while speaking at a convention of 1,500", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_3019--Warner_Bros..txt", "qid": "qw_3019", "question": "What phrase appeared on screen at the end of Warner Brothers cartoons?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott , and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer , in association with Paramount Pictures . The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps , Jr. , and was inspired by an article titled `` Top Guns '' published in California magazine three years earlier . \n \n The film stars Tom Cruise , Kelly McGillis , Val Kilmer , Anthony Edwards , and Tom Skerritt . Cruise plays Lieutenant Pete `` Maverick '' Mitchell , a young Naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier . He and his Radar Intercept Officer ( RIO ) Nick `` Goose '' Bradshaw ( Edwards ) are given the chance to train at the Navy 's Fighter Weapons School at Miramar in San Diego . \n \n In 2015 , the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry , finding it `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' . \n \n Plot \n \n United States Naval Aviator LT Pete `` Maverick '' Mitchell and his Radar Intercept Officer LT ( RIO ) Nick `` Goose '' Bradshaw fly the F-14A Tomcat aboard . They , with Maverick 's wingman `` Cougar '' and his RIO `` Merlin '' , intercept fictional Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-28s over the Indian Ocean . During the engagement , Maverick flies his Tomcat parallel to one of the MiGs and inverts his craft in order to give the other pilot the finger – a feat that adds to his already wild reputation . Cougar is almost taken out by one of the hostile aircraft , however , and afterwards is too shaken to land despite being low on fuel . In defiance of orders , Maverick aborts his landing and assists Cougar despite also being low on fuel . Cougar gives up his wings , citing his newborn child that he has never seen . Despite his dislike for Maverick 's recklessness , CAG `` Stinger '' sends him and Goose—now his top crew—to attend the Top Gun school at NAS Miramar . \n \n Maverick flies recklessly in part to compensate for his father Duke Mitchell , a Naval Aviator with VF-51 aboard the during the Vietnam War . The elder Mitchell died when his F-4 Phantom II was shot down in an incident Maverick refuses to believe was his fault . Goose is cautious and devoted to his wife Carol and child . The two officers are nonetheless close friends and effective partners . At a bar the day before Top Gun starts , Maverick , assisted by Goose , unsuccessfully approaches a woman . He learns the next day that she is Charlotte `` Charlie '' Blackwood , an astrophysicist and civilian Top Gun instructor . Upon learning that Maverick is the pilot who flipped off a MiG-28 pilot ( and as a result disproved her data suggesting the MiG-28 was limited in performing a `` negative-G pushover '' due to a `` problem with its inverted flight tanks '' ) , she is instantly more interested in him . \n \n Maverick 's reckless flying both annoys and impresses LCDR Rick `` Jester '' Heatherly and other instructors . He defeats Jester in combat but breaks two rules of engagement in the process ; becomes a rival to top student LT Tom `` Iceman '' Kazanski , who considers Maverick 's methods `` dangerous '' ; and continues to pursue Charlie . During class she analyzes Maverick 's engagement with Jester 's aircraft , calling it `` an example of what not to do '' . Later , Charlie admits to him that she admires his tactics but criticized them to hide her feelings for him from the others , and they begin a romantic relationship . \n \n During a training sortie Maverick abandons his wingman `` Hollywood '' to chase chief instructor CDR Mike `` Viper '' Metcalf . Maverick matches the older pilot move for move , but Viper maneuvers Maverick into a position from which his wingman Jester—who has already defeated Hollywood—can shoot down Maverick from behind , demonstrating the value of teamwork over individual ability . \n \n Near the end of the training program , Maverick and Iceman both chase Jester ; the latter attempts to gain a missile lock on the target . Under pressure from Maverick , Iceman breaks off the engagement . Maverick 's F-14 flies through the jet wash of Iceman 's aircraft and suffers a flameout of both engines , entering an unrecoverable flat spin , forcing him and Goose to eject . Goose is propelled into the jettisoned aircraft canopy , killing him instantly . \n \n Although the", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 0, "text": "top gun" } ], "id": "odql_710--Top_Gun.txt", "qid": "odql_710", "question": "'Maverick', 'Ice','Viper', 'Goose', 'Jester' and 'Cougar' were names used by various characters in which film?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "This is a list of characters from Disney/Pixar 's Toy Story franchise which consists of the animated films Toy Story ( released 1995 ) , Toy Story 2 ( 1999 ) , and Toy Story 3 ( 2010 ) . \n \n Primary characters \n \n Woody \n \n Voiced by : \n * Tom Hanks ( 1995–present ) \n * Jim Hanks ( most spinoff media ) \n \n Sheriff Woody Pride is a cowboy doll , and Andy 's favorite toy . Appearing in all three Toy Story films , he usually acts as the leader of the gang . His rivalry with Buzz forms the basis of the plot of the first film . In Toy Story 2 , he is stolen at a yard sale by a toy collector , causing the other toys to embark on a rescue mission . In Toy Story 3 he and the other toys are shipped to a daycare center . \n \n Buzz Lightyear \n \n Voiced by : \n * Tim Allen ( 1995–present ) \n * Patrick Warburton ( 2000–2001 ) ( Buzz Lightyear of Star Command ) \n * Mike MacRae ( video games ) \n * Javier Fernandez-Peña ( Spanish Buzz ) \n \n Previously known as Tinny and Lunar Larry , Buzz Lightyear is a `` space ranger '' action figure , and wears a space suit with various features such as retractable wings and transparent helmet , a laser `` weapon , '' and various sound effects . In the films , he acts as Woody 's second-in-command . In Toy Story , he begins the series believing he is a real space ranger ( the other toys are aware that they are toys ) and develops a rivalry with Woody , who resents him for getting more attention as the newcomer . During the film , he comes to realize that he is just a toy , and eventually becomes good friends with Woody . He is extremely loyal to his friends . During his time trapped at Sid 's house , Hannah , Sid 's sister , called Buzz Mrs. Nesbit . In Toy Story 2 , Buzz goes to save Woody from Al with Potato Head , Hamm , Rex , and Slink ( Slinky Dog ) where he gets stuck in the Buzz Lightyear aisle in Al 's Toy Barn by another Buzz and finds out for himself what he was really like . In Toy Story 3 , a relationship begins to develop between Buzz and Jessie . He is particularly open with his affection when switched to `` Spanish mode . '' \n \n Jessie \n \n Voiced by : \n * Joan Cusack ( 1999–present ) \n * Mary Kay Bergman ( yodeling voice ) ( Toy Story 2 ) \n * Kathryn Cressida ( Disney Infinity ) \n \n Jessie is a cowgirl doll , and part of the Woody 's Round Up gang . She first appeared in Toy Story 2 along with Bullseye ( her horse ) and Stinky Pete . Initially , Jessie was hesitant to join Andy 's friends . After she becomes part of the family , she is very happy ( despite that Andy first calls her Bazooka Jane ) . In Toy Story 3 , she was riding Bullseye when Woody fell off the train in Andy 's opening sequence . She argued with Woody on their way to Sunnyside Daycare because of when the others think Andy threw them out . Later in the film , Jessie feels close with Buzz , even when Buzz got switched into Spanish . At the end , Jessie and Buzz danced to the Spanish version of `` You 've Got a Friend in Me . '' Jessie also makes a cameo appearance in Monsters , Inc. as one of the toys Boo gives Sulley . Jessie also appears in Pixar 's production of Toy Story of Terror ! as the main character that saves the other toys from the toy stealer and seller at the rest stop . \n \n Secondary characters \n \n The toys \n \n Hamm the Piggy Bank \n \n Voiced by : \n * John Ratzenberger ( 1995–present ) \n * Andrew Stanton ( 2000 ) \n \n Hamm is a wisecracking realist piggy bank with a cork in his belly in place of a stopper . He and Mr . Potato Head appear to be best friends , and are often seen playing games , such as Battleship ( with Hamm always winning ) . Out of all the toys , he is shown to have the most knowledge of the outside , often being very familiar with various gadgets that are shown ,", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1791, "text": "slinky" } ], "id": "wh_687--List_of_Toy_Story_characters.txt", "qid": "wh_687", "question": "What is the name of the toy daschund with a metal body, who speaks with a southern accent, in the film Toy Story?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Griffin family is a cartoon family from the animated television series Family Guy . The Griffins are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Peter and Lois , their three children Meg , Chris , and Stewie , and their dog Brian . There was also a girl , that Meg killed , a twin , that Stewie killed , and the mysterious child that Peter shook to death . They live at 31 Spooner Street in the fictional town of Quahog , Rhode Island . Their family car is a red sixth-generation Ford Country Squire . They were created by Seth MacFarlane , in model of his two animated films , The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve . The family debuted January 31 , 1999 , after Super Bowl XXXIII , in the episode `` Death Has a Shadow . '' \n \n Alongside the six main family members , there are a number of other major and minor characters in their family . The most commonly recurring characters are Lois 's father , Carter Pewterschmidt , Lois 's mother , Barbara Pewterschmidt , Peter 's father , Francis Griffin , and Peter 's mother , Thelma Griffin . Other recurring family members include Lois 's two siblings , Carol and Patrick , as well as Brian 's cousin Jasper . \n \n Creation \n \n MacFarlane conceived the idea for Family Guy in 1998 , developing it out of his two short films . MacFarlane caught the attention of Fox , and was given $ 50,000 to make a pilot . MacFarlane completed the 11 minute pilot after six months of hand animation . Upon review , Fox gave the green light to Family Guy as a series . Although Family Guys cancellation was initially announced after the second season , Fox decided to make a third season , after which it was truly canceled at the end of 2003 . However , reruns on Adult Swim drove up interest in the show , and its DVD releases did quite well , selling over 2.2 million copies in one year , which renewed network interest . \n \n Family Guy returned to production in 2004 , making four more seasons ( for a total of seven ) and a straight-to-DVD special , Stewie Griffin : The Untold Story . The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in November 2007 , resulting in the show 's syndication . The show is contracted to continue producing episodes . \n \n Casting \n \n MacFarlane voices three of the show 's main characters , Peter Griffin , Brian Griffin and Stewie Griffin . He has stated that he already knew what kind of voice he was looking for the main characters so it was easier to do it himself . Peter 's voice is inspired by the voice of a security guard MacFarlane overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design . Stewie 's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison , particularly on Harrison 's performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady . Brian 's voice is MacFarlane 's regular speaking voice . In addition MacFarlane provides the voice of various recurring and one-time characters , most prominently those of the Griffin 's neighbor Glenn Quagmire , news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois ' father Carter Pewterschmidt . Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin , Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa , Loretta Brown and Lois ' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt . Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv . She had not met MacFarlane or seen any artwork and said it was `` really sight unseen '' . At the time , she was doing a stage show in Los Angeles , in which she played a redhead mother , whose voice she had based on one of her cousins . The voice was originally slower , when MacFarlane heard it , he replied `` Make it a little less annoying and speed it up , or every episode will last four hours '' . Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman . Green admittedly did an impression of the Buffalo Bill character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition . His main inspiration for Chris ' voice was how `` Buffalo Bill '' would sound if he worked at a drive-thru in a McDonalds ( speaking through a PA system ) . Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both played the voices of Meg Griffin . Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season ( 15 episodes ) . However , because of a contractual agreement , she", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 75, "text": "family guy" } ], "id": "sfq_12255--Griffin_family.txt", "qid": "sfq_12255", "question": "Which TV cartoon series features the Griffin family of Quahog, Rhode Island?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Brandy ( from brandywine , derived from Dutch brandewijn , `` gebrande wijn '' `` burned wine '' ) is a spirit produced by distilling wine . Brandy generally contains 35–60 % alcohol by volume ( 70–120 US proof ) and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink . Some brandies are aged in wooden casks , some are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of aging , and some brandies are produced using a combination of both aging and colouring . \n \n In broader sense , the term `` brandy '' also denotes liquors obtained from distillation of pomace ( pomace brandy ) or mash or wine of any other fruit ( fruit brandy ) . These products are also named eaux-de-vie . \n \n Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world . Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from Southwestern France . \n \n History \n \n The origins of brandy were clearly tied to the development of distillation . While the process was known in classical times , it was n't used for significant beverage production until the 15th century . \n \n Initially wine was distilled as a preservation method and as a way to make it easier for merchants to transport . It is also thought that wine was originally distilled to lessen the tax which was assessed by volume . The intent was to add the water removed by distillation back to the brandy shortly before consumption . It was discovered that after having been stored in wooden casks , the resulting product had improved over the original distilled spirit . In addition to removing water , the distillation process led to the formation and decomposition of numerous aromatic compounds , fundamentally altering the composition of the distillate from its source . Non-volatile substances such as pigments , sugars , and salts remained behind in the still . As a result , the taste of the distillate was often quite unlike that of the original source . \n \n As described in the 1728 edition of Cyclopaedia , the following method was used to distill brandy : \n A cucurbit was filled half full of the liquor from which brandy was to be drawn and then raised with a little fire until about one sixth part was distilled , or until that which falls into the receiver was entirely flammable . This liquor , distilled only once , was called spirit of wine or brandy . Purified by another distillation ( or several more ) , this was then called spirit of wine rectified . The second distillation was made in balneo mariae and in a glass cucurbit , and the liquor was distilled to about one half the quantity . This was further rectified—as long as the operator thought necessary—to produce brandy . \n \n To shorten these several distillations , which were long and troublesome , a chemical instrument was invented that reduced them to a single distillation . To test the purity of the rectified spirit of wine , a portion was ignited . If the entire contents were consumed by a fire without leaving any impurities behind , then the liquor was good . Another , better test involved putting a little gunpowder in the bottom of the spirit . If the gunpowder could ignite after the spirit was consumed by fire , then the liquor was good . \n \n As most brandies have been distilled from grapes , the regions of the world producing excellent brandies have roughly paralleled those areas producing grapes for viniculture . At the end of the 19th century , the western European markets , including by extension their overseas empires , were dominated by French and Spanish brandies and eastern Europe was dominated by brandies from the Black Sea region , including Bulgaria , the Crimea , and Georgia . In 1884 , David Sarajishvili founded his brandy factory in Tbilisi , Georgia , a crossroads for Turkish , Central Asian , and Persian trade routes and a part of the Russian Empire at the time . Armenian and Georgian brandies , called cognacs in the era , were considered some of the best in the world and often beat their French competitors at the International Expositions in Paris and Brussels in the early 1900s . The storehouses of the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg were regarded as the largest collections of cognacs and wines in the world with much of it from the Transcaucasus region of Georgia . During the October Revolution of 1917 , upon the storming of the Winter Palace , the Bolshevik Revolution actually paused for a week or so as the participants gorged on the substantial stores of cognac", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qf_1522--Brandy.txt", "qid": "qf_1522", "question": "You would use Crème de Cacao, Cream and Brandy to make which cocktail?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Harvey is a 1950 comedy-drama film based on Mary Chase 's play of the same name , directed by Henry Koster , and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull . The story is about a man whose best friend is a pooka named Harvey — in the form of a six-foot , three-and-a-half-inch tall invisible rabbit . \n \n Plot \n \n Elwood P. Dowd ( Stewart ) is a middle-aged , amiable ( and somewhat eccentric ) individual whose best friend is an invisible 6 ' 3.5 '' tall rabbit named Harvey . As described by Dowd , Harvey is a pooka , a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology who is especially fond of social outcasts ( like Elwood ) . Elwood has driven his sister and niece ( who live with him and crave normality and a place in society ) to distraction by introducing everyone he meets to his friend , Harvey . His family seems to be unsure whether Dowd 's obsession with Harvey is a product of his ( admitted ) propensity to drink or perhaps mental illness . \n \n Elwood spends most of his time in the local bar , and throughout the film invites new acquaintances to join him for a drink ( or to his house for dinner ) . Interestingly , the barman and all regulars accept the existence of Harvey , and the barman asks how they both are and unflinchingly accepts an order from Elwood for two Martinis . \n \n His sister , Veta Louise Simmons ( Hull ) , tries to have Elwood committed to a sanatorium . In exasperation , she admits to the attending psychiatrist Dr. Lyman Sanderson ( Charles Drake ) that , after so many years of putting up with the invisible rabbit , she sees Harvey every once in a while herself . This causes Dr. Sanderson to let Elwood out and lock Veta up . After sorting out the mistake , Dr. Chumley , head of the sanatorium ( Cecil Kellaway ) decides that to save the reputation of the sanatorium he must bring Elwood back . At one point , when her daughter asks how someone possibly could imagine a rabbit , Veta says to her `` Myrtle Mae , you have a lot to learn and I hope you never learn it . '' \n \n When tracked down , Elwood goes through several ordeals , although he remains largely oblivious to the plans put in place for him by Dr. Chumley , Judge Gaffney ( William Lynn ) and Veta Louise . In a poignant scene where Dr. Sanderson and his nurse Miss Kelly ( Peggy Dow ) follow Elwood into an alley at the back of his and Harvey 's favorite bar , Charlie 's , Elwood tells the incredible story of how he came to meet Harvey , and explains the way in which people react when they meet them . In a later scene , he gives Dr. Chumley an insight into his philosophy of life : \n \n Elwood also explains that Harvey has the power to stop time : `` Did I tell you he could stop clocks ? Well , you 've heard the expression 'His face would stop a clock ' ? Well , Harvey can look at your clock and stop it . And you can go anywhere you like — with anyone you like — and stay as long as you like . And when you get back , not one minute will have ticked by .... You see , science has overcome time and space . Well , Harvey has overcome not only time and space — but any objections . '' \n \n In the final scene of the film , Elwood ( along with everybody else ) arrives back at the hospital . By this point , Dr. Chumley is not only convinced of Harvey 's existence , but has begun spending time with him on his own , with a mixture of admiration and fear . \n \n Dr. Sanderson convinces Elwood to come into his office where he will receive a serum called Formula 977 that will stop Dowd from `` seeing the rabbit '' . As they are preparing for the injection , Elwood 's sister is told by their cab driver about all the other people he has driven to the sanatorium to receive the same medicine , warning her that Elwood will become `` just a normal human being . And you know what stinkers they are . '' Upset by the very thought of this , Veta halts the injection by banging on the examining room door , at which point Elwood comforts her and explains her", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 291, "text": "rabbit" } ], "id": "dpql_3228--Harvey_(film).txt", "qid": "dpql_3228", "question": "What sort of animal was the invisible Harvey, in the 1950 film of that name?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Florida ( Spanish for `` land of flowers '' ) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States . The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico , to the north by Alabama and Georgia , to the east by the Atlantic Ocean , and to the south by the Straits of Florida and Cuba . Florida is the 22nd most extensive , the 3rd most populous , and the 8th most densely populated of the United States . Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida , and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States . The Miami metropolitan area is the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the United States . Tallahassee is the state capital . \n \n A peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico , the Atlantic Ocean , and the Straits of Florida , it has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States , approximately 1350 mi , and is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean . Much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil . The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south . The American alligator , American crocodile , Florida panther , and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park . \n \n Since the first European contact was made in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León – who named it La Florida ( `` land of flowers '' ) upon landing there in the Easter season , Pascua Florida – Florida was a challenge for the European colonial powers before it gained statehood in the United States in 1845 . It was a principal location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans , and racial segregation after the American Civil War . \n \n Today , Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth , as well as for its increasing environmental issues . The state 's economy relies mainly on tourism , agriculture , and transportation , which developed in the late 19th century . Florida is also renown for amusement parks , orange crops , the Kennedy Space Center , and as a popular destination for retirees . \n \n Florida culture is a reflection of influences and multiple inheritance ; Native American , European American , Hispanic and Latino , and African American heritages can be found in the architecture and cuisine . Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings , Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams , and continues to attract celebrities and athletes . It is internationally known for golf , tennis , auto racing and water sports . \n \n History \n \n By the 16th century , the earliest time for which there is a historical record , major Native American groups included the Apalachee ( of the Florida Panhandle ) , the Timucua ( of northern and central Florida ) , the Ais ( of the central Atlantic coast ) , the Tocobaga ( of the Tampa Bay area ) , the Calusa ( of southwest Florida ) and the Tequesta ( of the southeastern coast ) . \n \n European arrival \n \n Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans . The earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León . Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2 , 1513 . He named the region La Florida ( `` land of flowers '' ) . The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth . \n \n `` In May 1539 , Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida , searching for a deep harbor to land . He described seeing a thick wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile , some reaching as high as 70 ft , with intertwined and elevated roots making landing difficult . Very soon , 'many smokes ' appeared 'along the whole coast ' , billowing against the sky , when the Native ancestors of the Seminole spotted the newcomers and spread the alarm by signal fires '' . The Spanish introduced Christianity , cattle , horses , sheep , the Spanish language , and more to Florida . Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida , with varying degrees of success . In 1559 , Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola , making it the first attempted settlement in Florida , but it was abandoned by 1561 . \n \n In 1565 , the Spanish settlement", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "bt_3925--Florida.txt", "qid": "bt_3925", "question": "On which of Florida's Keys could you visit Ernest Hemingway's house" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Doctor Zhivago ( ) is a novel by Boris Pasternak , first published in 1957 in Italy . The novel is named after its protagonist , Yuri Zhivago , a physician and poet , and takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Civil War . \n \n Due to its independent minded stance on the October Revolution , Doctor Zhivago was refused publication in the USSR . At the instigation of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli , the manuscript was smuggled to Milan and published in 1957 . Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year \n \n The novel was made into a film by David Lean in 1965 , and since then has twice been adapted for television , most recently as a miniseries for Russian TV in 2006 . \n \n Plot summary \n \n The plot of Doctor Zhivago is long and intricate . It can be difficult to follow for two main reasons : first , Pasternak employs many characters , who interact with each other throughout the book in unpredictable ways , and second , he frequently introduces a character by one of his/her three names , then subsequently refers to that character by another of the three names or a nickname , without expressly stating that he is referring to the same character . To avoid this confusion , the summary below uses a character 's full name when the character is first introduced . \n \n Part 1 \n \n Imperial Russia , 1903 . The novel opens during a Russian Orthodox funeral liturgy , or panikhida , for Yuri 's mother , Marya Nikolaevna Zhivago . Having long ago been abandoned by his father , Yuri is taken in by his maternal uncle , Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin , a philosopher and former Orthodox priest who now works for the publisher of a progressive newspaper in a provincial capital on the Volga River . Yuri 's father , Andrei Zhivago , was once a wealthy member of Moscow 's merchant gentry , but has squandered the family 's millions in Siberia through debauchery and carousing . \n \n That summer , Yuri ( who is 11 years old ) and Nikolai Nikolaevich travel to Duplyanka , the estate of Lavrenty Mikhailovich Kologrivov , a wealthy silk merchant . They are there not to visit Kologrivov , who is abroad with his wife , but to visit a mutual friend , Ivan Ivanovich Voskoboinikov , an intellectual who lives in the steward 's cottage . Kologrivov 's daughters , Nadya ( who is 15 years old ) and Lipa ( who is younger ) , are also living at the estate with a governess and servants . Innokenty ( Nika ) Dudorov , a 13-year-old boy who is the son of a convicted terrorist has been placed with Ivan Ivanovich by his mother and lives with him in the cottage . As Nikolai Nikolavich and Ivan Ivanovich are strolling in the garden and discussing philosophy , they notice that a train passing in the distance has come to a stop in an unexpected place , indicating that something is wrong . On the train , an 11-year-old boy named Misha Grigorievich Gordon is traveling with his father . They have been on the train for three days . During that time , a kind man had given Misha small gifts and had talked for hours with his father , Grigory Osipovich Gordon . However , encouraged by his attorney , who was traveling with him , the man had become drunk . Eventually , the man had rushed to the vestibule of the moving train car , pushed aside the boy 's father , opened the door and thrown himself out , killing himself . Misha 's father had then pulled the emergency brake , bringing the train to a halt . The passengers detrain and view the corpse while the police are called . The deceased 's lawyer stands near the body and blames the suicide on alcoholism . \n \n Part 2 \n \n During the Russo-Japanese War ( 1904–1905 ) , Amalia Karlovna Guichard arrives in Moscow from the Urals with her two children : Rodion ( Rodya ) and Larissa ( Lara ) . Mme . Guichard 's late husband was a Belgian who had been working as an engineer for the railroad . Mme . Guichard 's late husband had been friends with Victor Ippolitovich Komarovsky , a lawyer and `` cold-blooded businessman . '' Komarovsky sets them up in rooms at the seedy Montenegro hotel , enrolls Rodion in the Cadet Corps and enrolls Lara in a girls ' high school . The girls ' school is the same school that Nadya Kologrivov attends", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 33, "text": "boris pasternak" } ], "id": "qb_169--Doctor_Zhivago_(novel).txt", "qid": "qb_169", "question": "Who wrote the novel ‘Doctor Zhivago’?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Disco is a genre of dance music containing elements of funk , soul , pop , and salsa . It achieved popularity during the mid-1970s to the early 1980s . Its initial audiences were club-goers from the gay , African American , Italian American , Latino , and psychedelic communities in Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s . Disco can be seen as a reaction against both the domination of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music by the counterculture during this period . It was popular with both men and women , from many different backgrounds . \n \n The disco sound has soaring vocals over a steady `` four-on-the-floor '' beat , an eighth note ( quaver ) or 16th note ( semi-quaver ) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat , and a prominent , syncopated electric bass line . In most disco tracks , string sections , horns , electric piano , and electric rhythm guitars create a lush background sound . Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies , and lead guitar is less frequently used in disco than in rock . Many disco songs use electronic synthesizers , particularly in the late 1970s . \n \n Well-known 1970s disco performers included Donna Summer , the Bee Gees , Boney M , KC and the Sunshine Band , The Trammps , Gloria Gaynor and Chic . While performers and singers garnered much public attention , record producers working behind the scenes played an important role in developing the `` disco sound '' . Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of disco 's popularity , and films such as Saturday Night Fever ( 1977 ) and Thank God It 's Friday ( 1978 ) contributed to disco 's rise in mainstream popularity . Disco was the last mass popular music movement that was driven by the baby boom generation . Disco was a worldwide phenomenon , but its popularity drastically declined in the United States in 1980 , and disco was no longer popular in the U.S. by 1981 . Disco Demolition Night , an anti-disco protest held in Chicago on 12 July 1979 , is commonly thought of as a factor in disco 's fast and drastic decline . \n \n By the late 1970s most major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes , where DJs would mix a seamless sequence of dance records . Studio 54 , a venue popular amongst celebrities , is a well-known example of a disco club . Popular dances included The Hustle , a sexually suggestive dance . Discotheque-goers often wore expensive , extravagant and sexy fashions . There was also a thriving drug subculture in the disco scene , particularly for drugs that would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights , such as cocaine . Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity . \n \n Disco was a key influence on the 1980s electronic dance music style called House . Disco has had several revivals , including in 2005 with Madonna 's album Confessions on a Dance Floor , and again in 2013 and 2014 , as disco-styled songs by artists like Daft Punk ( with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers ) , Justin Timberlake , Breakbot , and Bruno Mars—notably Mars ' Uptown Funk—filled the pop charts in the UK and the US . \n \n History \n \n Origins of the term and type of nightclub \n \n The term is derived from discothèque ( French for `` library of phonograph records '' , but it was subsequently used as a term for nightclubs in Paris ) . By the early 1940s , the terms disc jockey and DJ were in use to describe radio presenters . During WWII , because of restrictions set in place by the Nazi occupiers , jazz dance halls in Occupied France played records instead of using live music . Eventually more than one of these jazz venues had the proper name discothèque . By 1959 , the term was used in Paris to describe any of these type of nightclubs . That year a young reporter named Klaus Quirini started to select and introduce records at the Scotch-Club in Aachen , West Germany . By the following year the term was being used in the United States to describe that type of club , and a type of dancing in those clubs . By 1964 , discotheque and the shorthand disco were used to describe a type of sleeveless dress worn when going out to nightclubs . In September 1964 , Playboy magazine used the word disco as a shorthand for a discothèque-styled nightclub . \n \n Proto-disco and", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1221, "text": "bee gee" } ], "id": "qg_161--Disco.txt", "qid": "qg_161", "question": "Brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice (before his untimely death on Jan 12, 2003) Gibbs were better known as what band, who hit their peak during the disco era?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC 's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom . Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as adult contemporary or AOR , although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres . Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between 88.1 and 90.2 MHz from studios in Western House , adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London . Programmes are relayed on digital radio via DAB , Sky , Cable TV , IPTV , Freeview , Freesat and the Internet . \n \n History \n \n 1967–1986 \n \n The station was launched at 05:30 on 30 September 1967 , and evolved from the Light Programme , with some of the Light Programme 's music shows transferring to the newly launched BBC Radio 1 . The first show had started at 05:30 am ( on the Light Programme ) but continued with Breakfast Special from Paul Hollingdale as Radio 1 split . \n \n In early years , much programming and music was common to both stations , particularly on the shared FM frequency . Radio 1 was targeted at the audience of pirate radio stations whereas Radio 2 settled down as a middle-of-the-road station playing laid-back pop/rock , folk and country , jazz and big-band music , easy listening , light classics , and oldies , with significant amounts of comedy and sport . Notable broadcasters on Radio 2 in the 70s and 80s were Ray Moore on early breakfast , Terry Wogan on breakfast , replaced by Ken Bruce and later Derek Jameson ; Jimmy Young and his lunchtime news and current affairs show ; 'Diddy ' David Hamilton on mid-afternoons , John Dunn at what became known as drivetime . Radio 2 became the first national 24-hour radio station in the UK in 1979 . \n \n Frances Line : 1986–1996 \n \n The station 's policy remained stable with only minor changes until April 1986 when Frances Line , head of music , repositioned the station . She would become Controller in 1990 . An ageing Radio 1 audience which had grown up with the station was sticking with it into their 40s and beyond ; Line repositioned Radio 2 to appeal exclusively to the over-fifties and introduced older presenters and based the playlist around nostalgia , easy listening and light music . As a result , David Hamilton quit the station at the end of 1986 , claiming the music policy had become `` geriatric '' ; Terry Wogan 's replacement Derek Jameson also appealed to an older , down-market demographic . Although popular with its target audience , the policy alienated many younger listeners who had listened to both Radio 1 and Radio 2 and the station 's audience fell . It took another hit when sports coverage moved to Radio 5 in August 1990 . Another blow was struck by the rise of album-rock commercial stations ( particularly Virgin Radio ) and 'gold ' spinoffs from Independent Local Radio stations playing classic pop and rock . With the station 's audience in decline a change of emphasis was needed . \n \n James Moir `` The Nation 's Favourite '' – 1996 onwards \n \n Line was replaced by James Moir in 1996 . Moir repositioned Radio 2 with a largely AOR/contemporary playlist by day , aimed at a more mature audience than Radio 1 ( which , post-Britpop , was again starting to focus on a young audience ) but still embracing new music , and more specialist broadcasting by recognised genre experts in the evenings . Unlike the early-1990s repositioning of Radio 1 in which the BBC lost many well-known names , many former Radio 1 presenters stayed with the BBC and moved across to Radio 2 . \n \n Radio 2 is now termed `` the nation 's favourite '' , a title the BBC formerly used for BBC Radio 1 . It is the most listened-to station in the UK , its schedule filled with broadcasters such as : Steve Wright , Chris Evans , Simon Mayo , Ken Bruce , Jeremy Vine , Mark Radcliffe , Janice Long , Jo Whiley , Paul Gambaccini , Johnnie Walker and Bob Harris . \n \n As well as having most listeners nationally , it ranks first in many regions above local radio stations . BBC Radio 2 played to 27 % of the available audience in 2006 . \n \n In February 2007 , Radio 2 recruited Jeff Smith , director of UK and International programming at Napster and a former head of music at Radio 1 , as its new head of music . Smith joined the network", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "sfq_25570--BBC_Radio_2.txt", "qid": "sfq_25570", "question": "Who has presented Pick of the Pops on BBC Radio 2 since 2010?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V. , commonly known as FC Schalke 04 or simply abbreviated as S04 , is a professional German association-football club and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen , North Rhine-Westphalia . The `` 04 '' in the club 's name derives from its formation in 1904 . Schalke has long been one of the most popular professional football teams and multi-sports club in Germany , even though major successes have been rare since the club 's heyday in the 1930s and early 1940s . Schalke play in the Bundesliga , the top tier of the German football league system . As of December 2015 , the club has 140,000 members , making it the second-largest sports club in Germany and the sixth-largest sports club in the world in terms of membership . Other activities offered by the club include athletics ( track and field ) , basketball , handball , table tennis , winter sports and , E-Sports . \n \n Founded in 1904 , Schalke has won seven German championships , five DFB-Pokals , one DFL-Supercup and one UEFA Cup . \n \n Since 2001 , Schalke 's stadium is the Veltins-Arena . Schalke holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Borussia Dortmund , arguably the most widespread and well-known rivalry in German football , and matches between the two teams are referred to as the Revierderby . \n \n Schalke was ranked as the seventh-best football team in Europe by UEFA 's 2015 UEFA club rankings . \n \n In terms of operating income , Schalke possesses the seventh-highest operating income of any football club at `` $ 64.4 million or £38.2 million ( €48 million ) '' , and 0 % debt as of August 2014 . Schalke also generates the 12th-highest revenue of any football club , at `` $ 265.6 million or £157.8 million ( €198 million ) '' . \n \n In May 2014 , Schalke 04 were ranked by Forbes magazine as the 12th-most valuable football club , at `` £355.3 million or $ 598.5 million ( €446 million ) '' , an increase of 16 % from the previous year . \n \n History \n \n Schalke 's early years \n \n The club was founded on 4 May 1904 as Westfalia Schalke by a group of high school students and first wore the colours red and yellow . The team was unable to gain admittance to the Westdeutscher Spielverband and played in one of the `` wild associations '' of early German football . In 1912 , after years of failed attempts to join the official league , they merged with the gymnastic club Schalker Turnverein 1877 in order to facilitate their entry . This arrangement held up until 1915 when SV Westfalia Schalke was re-established as an independent club . The separation proved short-lived and the two came together again in 1919 as Turn- und Sportverein Schalke 1877 . The new club won its first honours in 1923 as champions of the Schalke Kreisliga . It was around this time that Schalke picked up the nickname Die Knappen – from an old German word for `` miners '' because the team drew so many of its players and supporters from the coalmine workers of Gelsenkirchen . \n \n In 1924 , the football team parted ways with the gymnasts again , this time taking the club chairman along with them . They took the name FC Schalke 04 and adopted the now familiar blue and white kit from which their second nickname would derive – Die Königsblauen ( ) . The following year , the club became the dominant local side , based on a style of play that used short , sharp , man-to-man passing to move the ball . This system would later become famous as the Schalker Kreisel ( ) . In 1927 , it carried them into the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr , onto the league championship , and then into the opening rounds of the national finals . \n \n Rise to dominance \n \n The popular club built a new stadium , the Glückauf-Kampfbahn , in 1928 , and acknowledged the city 's support by renaming themselves FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 . They won their first West German championship in 1929 , but the following year were sanctioned for exceeding salary levels set by the league and , in an era that considered professionalism in sport to be anathema , found themselves banned from play for nearly half a year . \n \n However , the ban had little impact on the team 's popularity : in their first game after the ban against Fortuna Düsseldorf , in June 1931 , the team drew 70,000 to its home ground", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 12, "text": "gelsenkirchen" } ], "id": "sfq_18177--FC_Schalke_04.txt", "qid": "sfq_18177", "question": "In which city do German football team Schalke 04 play their home games?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The German Revolution or November Revolution ( German : Novemberrevolution ) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of Germany 's imperial government with a republic . The revolutionary period lasted from November 1918 until the establishment in August 1919 of a republic that later became known as the Weimar Republic . \n \n Background \n \n The roots of the revolution lay in the German Empire 's defeat in the First World War and the social tensions that came to a head shortly thereafter . The first acts of revolution were triggered by the policies of the German Supreme Command and its lack of coordination with the Naval Command . In the face of defeat , the Naval Command insisted on trying to precipitate a climactic battle with the British Royal Navy by means of its naval order of 24 October 1918 . The battle never took place . Instead of obeying their orders to begin preparations to fight the British , German sailors led a revolt in the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven on 29 October 1918 , followed by the Kiel mutiny in the first days of November . These disturbances spread the spirit of civil unrest across Germany and ultimately led to the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918 . Shortly thereafter , Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated his throne and fled the country . \n \n The revolutionaries , inspired by socialist ideas , failed to hand over power to Soviet-style councils as the Bolsheviks had done in Russia , because the leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) opposed their creation . The SPD opted instead for a national assembly that would form the basis for a parliamentary system of government . Fearing an all-out civil war in Germany between militant workers and reactionary conservatives , the SPD did not plan to strip the old German upper classes completely of their power and privileges . Instead , it sought to integrate them into the new social democratic system . In this endeavour , SPD leftists sought an alliance with the German Supreme Command . This allowed the army and the Freikorps ( nationalist militias ) to quell the communist Spartacist uprising of 4–15 January 1919 by force . The same alliance of political forces succeeded in suppressing uprisings of the left in other parts of Germany , with the result that the country was completely pacified by late 1919 . \n \n Elections for the new Weimar National Assembly were held on 19 January 1919 . The revolution ended on 11 August 1919 , when the Weimar Constitution was adopted . \n \n SPD and the World War \n \n In the decade after 1900 , the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) was the leading force in Germany 's labour movement . With 35 % of the national votes and 110 seats in the Reichstag elected in 1912 , the Social Democrats had grown into the largest political party in Germany . Party membership was around one million and the party newspaper ( Vorwärts ) attracted 1.5 million subscribers . The trade unions had 2.5 million members , most of whom probably supported the Social Democrats . In addition , there were numerous co-operative societies ( for example , apartment co-ops , shop co-ops , etc . ) , and other organizations directly linked to the SPD and the labor unions , or else adhering to Social Democratic ideology . Other notable parties in the Reichstag of 1912 were the Catholic Centre Party ( 91 seats ) , the German Conservative Party ( 43 ) , the National Liberal Party ( 45 ) , the Progressive People 's Party ( 42 ) , the Polish Party ( 18 ) , the German Reich Party ( 14 ) , the Economic Union ( 10 ) , and the Alsace-Lorraine Party ( 9 ) . \n \n At the European congresses of the second Socialist International , the SPD had always agreed to resolutions asking for combined action of Socialists in case of a war . Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo , the SPD , like other socialist parties in Europe , organised antiwar demonstrations during the July Crisis . After Rosa Luxemburg , representing the left wing of the party , called for disobedience and rejection of war in the name of the entire party , the Imperial government planned to arrest the party leaders immediately at the onset of war . Friedrich Ebert , one of the two party leaders since 1913 , travelled to Zürich with Otto Braun to save the party 's funds from being confiscated .", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_4955--German_Revolution_of_1918–19.txt", "qid": "qw_4955", "question": "Who, co-founders of the Spartacist League in January 1916, were executed in Berlin in January 1919?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Living Daylights is the soundtrack title for the film The Living Daylights and the eleventh and final Bond soundtrack to be scored by composer John Barry . The soundtrack is notable for its introduction of sequenced electronic rhythm tracks overdubbed with the orchestra – at the time , a relatively new innovation . \n \n The title song of the film , `` The Living Daylights '' , was recorded by pop group A-ha . A-ha and Barry did not collaborate well , resulting in two versions of the theme song . Barry 's film mix is heard on the soundtrack and all three of a-ha 's best-of compilations . The a-ha preferred mix can be heard on their 1988 album Stay on These Roads . However , in 2006 a-ha 's Paul Waaktaar-Savoy complimented Barry 's contributions `` I loved the stuff he added to the track , I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement . That 's when , for me , it started to sound like a Bond thing '' . The title song is one of very few 007 title songs that is not performed or written by a British or American performer in the history of the series . \n \n Originally , British pop band Pet Shop Boys was asked to compose the soundtrack , but backed down when they learned that they should not provide a complete soundtrack but merely the opening theme song . \n \n In a departure from conventions of previous Bond films , the film uses different songs over the opening and end credits . The song heard over the end credits , `` If There Was A Man '' , was one of two songs performed for the film by Chrissie Hynde , of the Pretenders . The other song , `` Where Has Everybody Gone '' , is heard as source music in the film ( from Necros 's Walkman ) . The Pretenders were originally considered to perform the film 's title song . However , the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran Duran 's `` A View to a Kill '' , and felt that a-ha would be more likely to make an impact in the charts . In the event , `` The Living Daylights '' was a hit in many countries . \n \n The original soundtrack released by Warner Bros. Records featured only 12 tracks . Later re-releases by Rykodisc and EMI added nine additional tracks , including an alternate instrumental end credits . \n \n Leitmotifs \n \n Composer John Barry utilises eight leitmotifs on the soundtrack , that recurs in two or more of the tracks listed . Two of them are pinned to location , three are pinned to characters Necros , Kara and Koskov , one is pinned to the title song by a-ha , one is pinned to the Mujahedin and one is the Monty Norman James Bond Theme . \n \n The Living Daylights Theme \n \n * 1 . `` The Living Daylights '' \n * 9 . `` Hercules Takes Off '' \n * 15 . `` Murder at the Fair '' ( 1:14–1:37 ) \n * 16 . `` `` Assassin '' and Drugged '' ( 0:34–1:25 ) \n \n Necros ' Theme \n \n * 2 . `` Necros Attacks '' \n * 7 . `` Where Has Everybody Gone '' \n * 11 . `` Inflight Fight '' \n * 15 . `` Murder at the Fair '' ( 0:12–1:13 ) \n * 16 . `` `` Assassin '' and Drugged '' ( 0:00–0:13 ) \n * 18 . `` Afghanistan Plan '' ( 0:33–0:42 , 1:20–1:36 , 2:07–2:23 ) \n \n Mujahedin Theme \n \n * 3 . `` The Sniper Was a Woman '' ( 1:10–2:30 ) \n * 10 . `` Mujahadin and Opium '' \n * 17 . `` Airbase Jailbreak '' ( 1:35–4:38 ) \n \n James Bond Theme \n \n * 4 . `` Ice Chase '' \n * 6 . `` Koskov Escapes '' ( 1:36-2:012 ) \n * 13 . `` Exercise at Gibraltar '' ( 0:00–0:22 , 1:44–1:51 , 2:59–5:43 ) \n * 20 . `` Final Confrontation '' ( 0:00–0:30 ) \n \n Kara 's Theme \n \n * 5 . `` Kara Meets Bond '' \n * 14 . `` Approaching Kara '' ( 0:00–1:23 ) \n \n Koskov 's Theme \n \n * 6 . `` Koskov Escapes '' ( 0:48–1:16 ) \n * 17 . `` Airbase Jailbreak '' ( 0:00–0:34 ) \n \n Vienna Theme / If There Was a Man \n \n * 8 . `` Into Vienna '' \n * 12 . `` If There Was a", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 411, "text": "ha" } ], "id": "bt_4246--The_Living_Daylights_(soundtrack).txt", "qid": "bt_4246", "question": "Who recorded the theme music for the Bond film The Living Daylights" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The `` Ride of the Valkyries '' ( ) is the popular term for the beginning of act 3 of Die Walküre , the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen . \n \n As a separate piece , the `` Ride '' is often heard in a purely instrumental version , which may be as short as three minutes . Together with the `` Bridal Chorus '' from Lohengrin , the `` Ride of the Valkyries '' is one of Wagner 's best-known pieces . \n \n Context \n \n In the Walküre opera , the `` Ride '' , which takes around eight minutes , begins in the prelude to the third act , building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla . As they are joined by the other four , the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra , while , above it , the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry . Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold , it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner 's Ring cycle . \n \n Performance history \n \n The complete opera Die Walküre was first performed on 26 June 1870 in the National Theatre Munich against the composer 's intent . By January of the next year , Wagner was receiving requests for the `` Ride '' to be performed separately , but wrote that such a performance should be considered `` an utter indiscretion '' and forbade `` any such thing '' . However , the piece was still printed and sold in Leipzig , and Wagner subsequently wrote a complaint to the publisher Schott . In the period up to the first performance of the complete Ring cycle , Wagner continued to receive requests for separate performances , his second wife Cosima noting `` Unsavoury letters arrive for R. – requests for the Ride of the Valkyries and I do n't know what else . '' Once the Ring had been given in Bayreuth in 1876 , Wagner lifted the embargo . He himself conducted it in London on 12 May 1877 , repeating it as an encore . \n \n Outside opera \n \n In film \n \n Uses in film include the original score for The Birth of a Nation ( 1915 ) , and What 's Opera , Doc ? ( 1957 ) . \n \n The `` Ride '' is also associated with Apocalypse Now ( 1979 ) , where the 1/9 Air Cavalry regiment plays the piece of music on helicopter-mounted loudspeakers during their assault on a Vietnamese village as psychological warfare and to motivate their own troops . \n \n In military \n \n The `` Ride '' is the regimental quick march of the British Parachute Regiment . \n \n In music \n \n Within the concert repertoire , the `` Ride of the Valkyries '' remains a popular encore , especially when other Wagnerian extracts feature in the scheduled program . For example , at the BBC Proms it was performed as such by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 6 August 1992 and also by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra on 28 August 2001 . \n \n Discography \n \n Apart from where the `` Ride '' is included in the recordings of the Walküre opera , it is a very popular piece , included in various popular classics anthologies . For instance in Deutsche Grammophon 's 1991 Classicmania two CD album ( von Karajan version ) , and in Brilliant Classics ' 2011 Best Film Classics CD box , there included in the fifth CD , Opera at the Movies , with a reference to Apocalypse Now on the sleeve .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 141, "text": "wagner" } ], "id": "bt_2188--Ride_of_the_Valkyries.txt", "qid": "bt_2188", "question": "Who wrote the Ride of the Valkyries" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge is a covered bridge at St John 's College , Cambridge University . It was built in 1831 and crosses the River Cam between the college 's Third Court and New Court . The architect was Henry Hutchinson . \n \n It is named after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice , although they have little architecturally in common beyond the fact that they are both covered . The bridge , a Grade I listed building , is one of Cambridge 's main tourist attractions and Queen Victoria is said to have loved it more than any other spot in the city . \n \n A common myth states that it was the students who named this bridge `` bridge of sighs , '' as the context of its existing within the college grounds means that the `` sighs '' are those of pre-exam students . This belief probably has much to do with the function of the bridge—linking two quadrangles of St John 's College together in a covered path , as opposed to Kitchen Bridge , which is an open-air bridge . Students are rumoured for their sighs on proceeding from their quarters on the Backs to the tutors ' offices in the main college quadrangle . \n \n On two separate occasions , students have pulled the prank of dangling a car under the bridge . In the first incident ( in June 1963 ) , a 1928 Austin 7 was punted down the river using four punts that had been lashed together , then hoisted up under the bridge using ropes . The second incident ( in 1968 ) a Bond or Reliant Regal three-wheeler car was dangled under the bridge . In neither case was the bridge damaged . \n \n The bridge was apparently a favourite spot of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew , having photos taken there when he was a student , in 1974 and 2000 .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 23, "text": "cambridge" } ], "id": "odql_93--Bridge_of_Sighs_(Cambridge).txt", "qid": "odql_93", "question": "Where in Britain would you find 'The Backs' and the 'Bridge of Sighs'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Seattle Art Museum ( commonly known as `` SAM '' ) is an art museum located in Seattle , Washington , USA . It maintains three major facilities : its main museum in downtown Seattle ; the Seattle Asian Art Museum ( SAAM ) in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill , and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront , which opened on January 20 , 2007 . Admission to the sculpture park is always free . Admission to the other facilities is free on the first Thursday of each month ; SAM also offers free admission the first Saturday of the month . And even the normal admission is suggested , meaning that the museum would like visitors to pay the complete admission but if they can not pay fully they can still enjoy the museum . \n \n History \n \n The SAM collection has grown from 1,926 pieces in 1933 to nearly 25,000 as of 2008 . Its original museum provided an area of 25000 sqft ; the present facilities provide 312000 sqft plus a 9 acre park . Paid staff have increased from 7 to 303 , and the museum library has grown from approximately 1,400 books to 33,252 . \n \n SAM traces its origins to the Seattle Fine Arts Society ( organized 1905 ) and the Washington Arts Association ( organized 1906 ) , which merged in 1917 , keeping the Fine Arts Society name . In 1931 the group renamed itself as the Art Institute of Seattle . The Art Institute housed its collection in Henry House , the former home , on Capitol Hill , of the collector and founder of the Henry Art Gallery , Horace C. Henry ( 1844–1928 ) .Dave Wilma , [ http : //www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm ? file_id \n 2082 `` Seattle Art Museum opens in Volunteer Park on June 23 , 1933 '' ] , historylink.org , accessed March 11 , 2007 \n \n Richard E. Fuller , president of the Seattle Fine Arts Society , was the animating figure of SAM in its early years . During the Great Depression , he and his mother , Margaret MacTavish Fuller , donated $ 250,000 to build an art museum in Volunteer Park on Seattle 's Capitol Hill . The city provided the land and received ownership of the building . Carl F. Gould of the architectural firm Bebb and Gould designed an Art Deco/Art Moderne building for the museum , which opened June 23 , 1933 . The Art Institute collection formed the core of the original SAM collection ; the Fullers soon donated additional pieces . The Art Institute was responsible for managing art activities when the museum first opened . Fuller served as museum director into the 1970s , never taking a salary . \n \n SAM joined with the National Council on the Arts ( later NEA ) , Richard Fuller , and the Seattle Foundation ( in part , another Fuller family endeavor ) to acquire and install Isamu Noguchi 's sculpture Black Sun in front of the museum in Volunteer Park . It was the NEA 's first commission in Seattle . \n In 1983–1984 , the museum received a donation of half of a downtown city block , the former J. C. Penney department store on the west side of Second Avenue between Union and Pike Streets . They eventually decided that this particular block was not a suitable site : that land was sold for private development as the Newmark Building , and the museum acquired land in the next block south . On December 5 , 1991 , SAM reopened in a $ 62 million downtown facility designed by Robert Venturi . The next year , one of Jonathan Borofsky 's Hammering Man sculptures was installed outside the museum as part of Seattle City Light 's One Percent for Art program . Hammering Man would have been installed in time for the museum 's opening , but on September 28 , 1991 , as workers attempted to erect the piece , it fell , was damaged , and had to be returned to the foundry for repairs . Hammering Man was used in a guerrilla art installation on Labor day in 1993 when Jason Sprinkle and other local artists attached a ball and chain to the leg of the sculpture . In 1994 the Volunteer Park facility reopened as the Seattle Asian Art Museum . In 2007 the Olympic Sculpture Park opened to the public , culminating an 8-year process . \n \n Exhibitions \n \n Among the museum 's notable exhibitions ( besides the aforementioned Treasures of Tutankhamun ) were a 1954 exhibition of 25 European paintings and sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation ;", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qg_4133--Seattle_Art_Museum.txt", "qid": "qg_4133", "question": "Known mostly for his invention of the mobile, what American artist, born in 1898, has an exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum through April, 2010?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Opera ( ; English plural : operas ; Italian plural : opere ) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text ( libretto ) and musical score , usually in a theatrical setting . In traditional opera , singers do two types of singing : recitative , a speech-inflected style and arias , a more melodic style . Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre , such as acting , scenery , and costumes and sometimes includes dance . The performance is typically given in an opera house , accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble , which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor . \n \n Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition . It started in Italy at the end of the 16th century ( with Jacopo Peri 's lost Dafne , produced in Florence in 1598 ) and soon spread through the rest of Europe : Schütz in Germany , Lully in France , and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century . In the 18th century , Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe ( except France ) , attracting foreign composers such as Handel . Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera , until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his `` reform '' operas in the 1760s . In the 2000s , the most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Mozart , who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas , especially The Marriage of Figaro ( Le Nozze Di Figaro ) , Don Giovanni , and Così fan tutte , as well as The Magic Flute ( Die Zauberflöte ) , a landmark in the German tradition . \n \n The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the bel canto style , with Rossini , Donizetti and Bellini all creating works that are still performed in the 2000s It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer . The mid-to-late 19th century was a `` golden age '' of opera , led and dominated by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy . The popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Puccini and Strauss in the early 20th century . During the 19th century , parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe , particularly in Russia and Bohemia . The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles , such as atonality and serialism ( Schoenberg and Berg ) , Neoclassicism ( Stravinsky ) , and Minimalism ( Philip Glass and John Adams ) . With the rise of recording technology , singers such as Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans . Since the invention of radio and television , operas were also performed on ( and written for ) these mediums . Beginning in 2006 , a number of major opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas around the world . In 2009 , an opera company offered an online download of a complete performance . \n \n Operatic terminology \n \n The words of an opera are known as the libretto ( literally `` small book '' ) . Some composers , notably Richard Wagner , have written their own libretti ; others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists , e.g . Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte . Traditional opera , often referred to as `` number opera '' , consists of two modes of singing : recitative , the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech , and aria ( an `` air '' or formal song ) in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style . Vocal duets , trios and other ensembles often occur , and choruses are used to comment on the action . In some forms of opera , such as singspiel , opéra comique , operetta , and semi-opera , the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue . Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of , or instead of , recitative , are also referred to as arioso . The terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below . During both the Baroque and Classical periods , recitative could appear in two basic forms , each of which was accompanied by a different instrumental ensemble : secco ( dry ) recitative , sung with", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "sfq_1605--Opera.txt", "qid": "sfq_1605", "question": "\"Who, in 1872, composed the opera, \"\"Boris Godunov\"\", based on the drama by Aleksandr Pushkin?\"" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "`` Prince Charming '' was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in September 1981 for Adam and the Ants . Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni , and featured on the album of the same name , it was Adam and the Ants ' second number-one single in a row , and was the fifth biggest hit of the year 1981 . \n \n Music video \n \n Band member and producer Merrick ( Chris Hughes ) , normally on drums , played a stirring riff on an open-tuned acoustic guitar throughout the song . Lead guitarist Pirroni mimed to this part on both an orchestral harp and a miniature harp in the promotional video . The music video was notable for its extravagant production compared to the videos being produced at the time . \n \n It featured Adam Ant in a male Cinderella role , complete with moustached drag queen evil step-sisters . The sisters accept an invitation to `` Come to the ball , and dance the Prince Charming , '' leaving a dirty Adam home to do chores . \n \n Sitting at a table in an old style kitchen , Adam is surrounded by his band members , who are encouraging him , `` Do n't you ever/Do n't you ever/Stop being dandy , showing me you 're handsome . '' His Fairy Godmother , portrayed by Diana Dors , suddenly appears with five shirtless men dancing the `` Prince Charming . '' With a wave of her magic wand , she transforms Adam 's attire into flamboyant Regency clothes . \n \n Adam makes a grand entrance onto the balcony at the ball , and swings down on a chandelier . He , the Ants , his Fairy Godmother , her male accompaniment and the invited guests of the ball dance the `` Prince Charming , '' which became a much imitated arm-crossing dance as the song rose up the charts . The video ends with Adam smashing a mirror , then singing the `` Prince Charming , Prince Charming/Ridicule is nothing to be scared of '' refrain as different characters : Clint Eastwood from The Good , the Bad and the Ugly , Alice Cooper , Rudolph Valentino from the silent film The Sheik , Vito Corleone ( Marlon Brando ) from The Godfather , and his own `` Dandy highwayman '' from the `` Stand and Deliver '' video . The music video was one of Diana Dors ' last on-screen performances . \n \n Lyrics \n \n The images from the video and song lyrics seemed to lend themselves to the rumours about his sexuality that plagued Adam during the early part of his career . The song also coincided with early rumours about Prince Edward 's sexuality , leading to speculation that the song is about him . According to Adam , Prince Charming is based on Beau Brummell . Pirroni described the song as `` A cleverer song than any of you realise . '' \n \n War Canoe \n \n On 27 March 2010 , Rolf Harris claimed on BBC Radio 5 Live 's Danny Baker Show that an out-of-court settlement had been reached , and a large sum of royalties received , after a musicologist found `` Prince Charming '' to be musically identical to Harris 's 1965 song `` War Canoe '' .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1209, "text": "dors" } ], "id": "dpql_1053--Prince_Charming_(Adam_and_the_Ants_song).txt", "qid": "dpql_1053", "question": "Who played the fairy godmother in Adam Ant's 'Prince Charming' video?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Primacy of Ireland was historically disputed between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin until finally settled by Pope Innocent VI . Primate is a title of honour denoting ceremonial precedence in the Church , and in the Middle Ages there was an intense rivalry between the two archbishoprics as to seniority . Since 1353 the Archbishop of Armagh has been titled Primate of All Ireland and the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland , signifying that they are the senior churchmen in the island of Ireland , the Primate of All Ireland being the more senior . The titles are used by both the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland bishops . The distinction mirrors that in the Church of England between the Primate of All England , the Archbishop of Canterbury , and the Primate of England , the Archbishop of York . \n \n History \n \n The episcopal see of Dublin was created in the eleventh century , when Dublin was a Norse city state . Its first bishop , Dúnán ( or Donatus ) , was described at his death as `` chief bishop of the Foreigners '' . From the first , Dublin had close ties to the see of Canterbury . The fifth bishop of Dublin , Gregory , was only a subdeacon when he was elected bishop by what Aubrey Gwynn called `` the Norse party in the city '' . He was sent to England where he was consecrated by Archbishop Ralph of Canterbury , but on his return he was prevented from entering his see by those who wanted Dublin integrated with the Irish hierarchy . A compromise was reached by which Gregory was recognised as bishop of Dublin , while he in turn accepted the authority of Cellach , archbishop of Armagh , as primate . In 1152 , the Synod of Kells divided Ireland between the four archdioceses of Armagh , Dublin , Cashel and Tuam . Gregory was appointed archbishop of Dublin . The papal legate , Cardinal John Paparo , also appointed the archbishop of Armagh `` as Primate over the other bishops , as was fitting . '' \n \n Henry de Loundres , archbishop of Dublin from 1213 to 1228 , obtained a bull from Pope Honorius III prohibiting any archbishop from having the cross carried before him ( a symbol of authority ) in the archdiocese of Dublin without the consent of the archbishop of Dublin . A century later , this bull led to a confrontation between Richard FitzRalph , archbishop of Armagh , and Alexander de Bicknor , archbishop of Dublin , when FitzRalph , acting on letters of King Edward III specifically allowing him to do so , entered Dublin in 1349 `` with the cross erect before him '' . He was opposed by the prior of Kilmainham on the instructions of Bicknor , and forced to withdraw to Drogheda . On Bicknor 's death , and the succession of John de St Paul to the see of Dublin , King Edward revoked his letters to FitzRalph and forbade the primate to exercise his jurisdiction in Dublin . In 1353 the matter was referred to Avignon . There Pope Innocent VI , acting on the advice of the College of Cardinals , ruled that `` each of these prelates should be Primate ; while , for the distinction of style , the Primate of Armagh should entitle himself Primate of All Ireland , but the Metropolitan of Dublin should subscribe himself Primate of Ireland . '' \n \n Status \n \n The Archbishop of Armagh 's leading status is based on the belief that his See was founded by St. Patrick , the city of Armagh thus being the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland . On the other hand , Dublin is the political , cultural , social , economic and secular centre of Ireland , and has been for many centuries , thus making the Archbishop of Dublin someone of considerable influence , with a high national profile . \n \n Dispute has `` flared up '' on a number of occasions , including in 1672 between Catholic archbishops Oliver Plunkett of Armagh and Peter Talbot of Dublin , and again in the late 18th century . \n \n Since the 1870s one or other of the Catholic archbishops of Armagh and Dublin has been a member of the College of Cardinals . Due to Ireland 's small size , two Irish reigning diocesan cardinals are unlikely to be created . An apparent dominance of Dublin over Armagh was shown in the 1850s when the then Archbishop of Armagh , Paul Cullen was transferred from Armagh to the nominally inferior see of Dublin , where he", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3339, "text": "city of armagh" } ], "id": "sfq_13303--Primacy_of_Ireland.txt", "qid": "sfq_13303", "question": "The Primate of All Ireland is the Archbishop of which City?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Magnesium is a chemical element with symbol Mg and atomic number 12 . It is a shiny gray solid which bears a close physical resemblance to the other five elements in the second column ( Group 2 , or alkaline earth metals ) of the periodic table : all Group 2 elements have the same electron configuration in the outer electron shell and a similar crystal structure . \n \n Magnesium is the ninth most abundant element in the universe . It is produced in large , aging stars from the sequential addition of three helium nuclei to a carbon nucleus . When such stars explode as supernova , much of the magnesium is expelled into the interstellar medium where it may recycle into new star systems . Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the Earth 's crust and the fourth most common element in the Earth ( after iron , oxygen and silicon ) , making up 13 % of the planet 's mass and a large fraction of the planet 's mantle . It is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater , after sodium and chlorine . \n \n Magnesium occurs naturally only in combination with other elements , where it invariably has a +2 oxidation state . The free element ( metal ) can be produced artificially , and is highly reactive ( though in the atmosphere , it is soon coated in a thin layer of oxide that partly inhibits reactivity — see passivation ) . The free metal burns with a characteristic brilliant-white light . The metal is now obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine , and is used primarily as a component in aluminium-magnesium alloys , sometimes called magnalium or magnelium . Magnesium is less dense than aluminium , and the alloy is prized for its combination of lightness and strength . \n \n Magnesium is the eleventh most abundant element by mass in the human body , and the ions are essential to all cells . Magnesium ions interact with polyphosphate compounds such as ATP , DNA , and RNA . Hundreds of enzymes require magnesium ions to function . Magnesium compounds are used medicinally as common laxatives , antacids ( e.g. , milk of magnesia ) , and to stabilize abnormal nerve excitation or blood vessel spasm in such conditions as eclampsia . Magnesium ions are sour to the taste , and in low concentrations they help impart a natural tartness to fresh mineral waters . Magnesium is the metallic ion at the center of chlorophyll , and is a common component in fertilizers . \n \n Characteristics \n \n Physical properties \n \n Elemental magnesium is a gray-white lightweight metal , two-thirds the density of aluminium . It tarnishes slightly when exposed to air , although , unlike the other alkaline earth metals , an oxygen-free environment is unnecessary for storage because magnesium is protected by a thin layer of oxide that is fairly impermeable and difficult to remove . Magnesium has the lowest melting ( 923 K ) and the lowest boiling point 1363 K of all the alkaline earth metals . \n \n Magnesium reacts with water at room temperature , though it reacts much more slowly than calcium , a similar group 2 metal . When submerged in water , hydrogen bubbles form slowly on the surface of the metal—though , if powdered , it reacts much more rapidly . The reaction occurs faster with higher temperatures ( see # Precautions ) . Magnesium 's reversible reaction with water can be harnessed to store energy and run a magnesium-based engine . \n \n Magnesium also reacts exothermically with most acids such as hydrochloric acid ( HCl ) , producing the metal chloride and hydrogen gas , similar to the HCl reaction with aluminium , zinc , and many other metals . \n \n Chemical properties \n \n Flammability \n \n Magnesium is highly flammable , especially when powdered or shaved into thin strips , though it is difficult to ignite in mass or bulk . Flame temperatures of magnesium and magnesium alloys can reach 3100 °C , although flame height above the burning metal is usually less than 300 mm . Once ignited , such fires are difficult to extinguish , with combustion continuing in nitrogen ( forming magnesium nitride ) , carbon dioxide ( forming magnesium oxide and carbon ) , and water ( forming magnesium oxide and hydrogen ) . This property was used in incendiary weapons during the firebombing of cities in World War II , where the only practical civil defense was to smother a burning flare under dry sand to exclude atmosphere from the combustion . \n \n Magnesium may also be used as an", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "bt_4288--Magnesium.txt", "qid": "bt_4288", "question": "By what name is magnesium silicate more commonly known" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz , which ran from October 2 , 1950 , to February 13 , 2000 , continuing in reruns afterward . The strip is the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips , with 17,897 strips published in all , making it `` arguably the longest story ever told by one human being '' . At its peak , Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers , with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries , and was translated into 21 languages . It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States , and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $ 1 billion . Reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in almost every U.S. newspaper . \n \n The strip focuses entirely on a miniature society of young children , with no shown adult characters . The main character , Charlie Brown , is meek , nervous , and lacks self-confidence . He is unable to fly a kite , win a baseball game , or kick a football . \n \n Peanuts is one of the literate strips with philosophical , psychological , and sociological overtones that flourished in the 1950s . The strip 's humor ( at least during its '60s peak ) is psychologically complex , and the characters ' interactions formed a tangle of relationships that drove the strip . \n \n Peanuts achieved considerable success with its television specials , several of which , including A Charlie Brown Christmas and It 's the Great Pumpkin , Charlie Brown , won or were nominated for Emmy Awards . The holiday specials remain popular and are currently broadcast on ABC in the U.S. during the corresponding seasons . The Peanuts franchise met acclaim in theatre , with the stage musical You 're a Good Man , Charlie Brown being a successful and often-performed production . \n \n In 2013 , TV Guide ranked the Peanuts television specials the fourth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time . A computer-animated feature film based on the strip , The Peanuts Movie , was released on November 6 , 2015 . \n \n History \n \n 1940s \n \n Peanuts had its origin in Li ' l Folks , a weekly panel comic that appeared in Schulz 's hometown paper , the St. Paul Pioneer Press , from 1947 to 1950 . He first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there , although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand . The series also had a dog that looked much like the early 1950s version of Snoopy . In 1948 , Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post which published 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz . The first of these was of a boy sitting with his feet on an ottoman . \n \n In 1948 , Schulz tried to have Li ' l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association , a firm run by the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain . Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate , unheard of in the 1940s , but the deal fell through . Li ' l Folks was dropped in early 1950 . Later that year , Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate - also operated by Scripps-Howard - with his best work from Li ' l Folks . When his work was picked up by United Feature Syndicate , they decided to run the new comic strip he had been working on . This strip was similar in spirit to the panel comic , but it had a set cast of characters , rather than different nameless little folk for each page . The name Li ' l Folks was too close to the names of two other comics of the time : Al Capp 's Li ' l Abner and a strip titled Little Folks . To avoid confusion , the syndicate settled on the name Peanuts , after the peanut gallery featured in the Howdy Doody TV show . \n \n Peanuts was a title Schulz always disliked . In a 1987 interview , Schulz said of the title Peanuts : `` It 's totally ridiculous , has no meaning , is simply confusing , and has no dignity—and I think my humor has dignity . '' The periodic collections of the strips in paperback book form typically had either `` Charlie Brown '' or `` Snoopy '' in the title , not `` Peanuts '' , because of Schulz ' distaste for his strip 's title . From November 20 , 1966 to", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qg_1489--Peanuts.txt", "qid": "qg_1489", "question": "Who did Snoopy take to the skies in his Sopwith Camel doghouse/biplane to do battle with in the comic strip Peanuts?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Fettuccine ( ; literally `` little ribbons '' in Italian ; sing . Fettuccina ) is a type of pasta popular in Roman and Tuscan cuisine . It is a flat thick noodle made of egg and flour ( usually one egg for every 100 g of flour ) , wider than but similar to the tagliatelle typical of Bologna.Boni ( 1930 ) , pg . 44 . It is often eaten with sugo d'umido ( beef ragù ) and ragù di pollo ( chicken ragù ) .Boni ( 1930 ) , pg . 44 . \n \n Fettuccine is traditionally made fresh ( either at home or commercially ) but dried fettuccine can also be bought in shops . \n \n Spinach fettuccine is made from spinach , flour , and eggs . \n \n Popular dish \n \n Dishes made with fettuccine include Fettuccine Alfredo . \n \n Bibliography \n \n * \n *", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 92, "text": "pasta" } ], "id": "qw_12411--Fettuccine.txt", "qid": "qw_12411", "question": "What dish would you expect if you asked for Fettuccine in an Italian restaurant?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire , England . The town is about 16 mi north east of Worcester and 13 mi south west of Birmingham city centre . It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 ( 39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area ) Bromsgrove is the main town in the larger Bromsgrove District . \n \n History \n \n Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century as Bremesgraf . Later in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 909 AD Bromsgrove is mentioned as Bremesburh . Then in the Domesday Book Bromsgrove is referenced as Bremesgrave . The Breme part of the place name is almost certainly an Anglo-Saxon personal name . \n \n In the Anglo-Saxon times , Bromsgrove had a woodland economy consisting of hunting , maintenance of haies and pig farming . \n At the time of Edward the Confessor , the manor of Bromsgrove is known to have been held by Earl Edwin . After the conquest , Bromsgrove was held by the King . Among the manor 's possessions were 13 salt pans at Droitwich , with three workers , producing 300 mits . The King had the right to sell the salt from his pans before any other salt in the town . \n \n It was at the centre of a very large parish and its church of St John the Baptist was certainly of minster status . Bromsgrove , along with all the towns in north Worcestershire , was committed to defending the city of Worcester and is recorded to have contributed burgesses to Droitwich in 1086 . There may also have been Anglo-Saxon or Norman fortifications in Bromsgrove , but other than in literature no physical archaeological evidence remains . \n \n Bromsgrove was first granted the right to a market day in 1200 , and in 1317 was given the right hold a Tuesday market and three-day fair every 29 August at the Decollation of St John the Baptist . Market day changed several times over the period , settling on Tuesday from 1792 onwards . Fairs were held twice yearly , in June and October by the eighteenth century , with the modern pleasure fairs originating from the June horse and pleasure fair . \n \n Bromsgrove and the area surrounding it was put under forest law when the boundaries of Feckenham Forest were extended hugely by Henry II . Forest law was removed from the Bromsgrove area in 1301 in the reign of Edward I , when the boundaries were moved back . \n \n In the later Middle Ages , Bromsgrove was a centre for the wool trade . Manufacture of cloth , particularly narrow cloth and friezes is first recorded in 1533 . It fell into decline by the 1700s . By 1778 , 140 hands ( i.e. , people ) were employed in the manufacture of linsey and linen employed 180 . By comparison , nail making employed 900 hands by this time . \n \n Nail making was introduced by the French Huguenots in the 17th century and became a thriving industry . At one point Bromsgrove was the world centre of nail making . Mechanisation quickly put the industry into decline . \n \n The Bromsgrove Union Workhouse , on the Birmingham Road , was opened in 1838 and closed in 1948 and is in use as an office building today . \n \n In 1841 , Bromsgrove railway works was established . It was primarily a maintenance facility but also built steam locomotives . The works provided employment for people in Bromsgrove . In 1964 , following a reorganisation of railway workshops , the works closed and was demolished . The site is now a housing estate . One of the turntable pits still remains . \n \n Major restoration of the Norman and 13th century St. John the Baptist church was carried out in 1858 by Sir George Gilbert Scott . In the churchyard here are the graves of two railwaymen , Tom Scaife and Joseph Rutherford who were killed when their steam locomotive blew up while climbing the steepest mainline railway gradient in England , at the nearby Lickey Incline , on 10 November 1840 . The driver and his number two died instantly . \n St. Peter 's Roman Catholic Church in Worcester Road was built by Gilbert Blount in 1858 . \n \n Bromsgrove was home for many years to the famous Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts , a company of craftsmen who produced many fine works of sculpture , ironwork , etc. , including the gates of Buckingham Palace ( whose locks are stamped with the Guild 's name ) , the lifts on the Lusitania and the famous statue adorning the Fortune Theatre in", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3750, "text": "lickey incline" } ], "id": "odql_1814--Bromsgrove.txt", "qid": "odql_1814", "question": "What name is given to the notoriously steep railway gradient south of Birmingham between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events . The name derives from the Greek hepta ( seven ) and athlon ( contest ) . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete . \n \n There are two heptathlons – the women 's heptathlon and the men 's – composed of different events . The men 's heptathlon is older and is held indoors , while the women 's is held outdoors and was introduced in the 1980s , first appearing in the Olympics in 1984 . \n \n Women 's heptathlon \n \n Women 's heptathlon is the combined event for women contested in the Athletics program of the Olympics and in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics . The IAAF World Combined Events Challenge determines a yearly women 's heptathlon champion . The women 's outdoor heptathlon consists of the following events , with the first four contested on the first day , and the remaining three on day two : \n \n * 100 metres hurdles \n * High jump \n * Shot put \n * 200 metres \n * Long jump \n * Javelin throw \n * 800 metres \n \n The heptathlon has been contested by female athletes since the early 1980s , when it replaced the pentathlon as the primary women 's combined event contest ( the javelin throw and 800 m were added ) . It was first contested at the Olympic level in the 1984 Summer Olympics . In recent years some women 's decathlon competitions have been conducted , consisting of the same events as the men 's competition in a slightly different order , and the IAAF has begun keeping records for it , but the heptathlon remains the championship-level combined event for women . Jessica Ennis-Hill , representing Great Britain , is the 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist and the current World Champion . \n \n There is also a Tetradecathlon , which is a double heptathlon , consisting of 14 events , seven events per day . \n \n Points system \n \n The heptathlon scoring system was devised by Dr Karl Ulbrich , a Viennese mathematician . The formulae are constructed so that , for each event , a designated `` standard '' performance ( for example , approximately 1.82 m for the high jump ) scores 1000 points . Each event also has a minimum recordable performance level ( e.g . 0.75 m for the high jump ) , corresponding to zero points . The formulae are devised so that successive constant increments in performance correspond to gradually increasing increments in points awarded . \n \n The events are split into three groups , and the scores are calculated according to the three formulae : \n \n Running events ( 200 m , 800 m and 100 m hurdles ) : \n : P = a \\cdot ( b - T ) ^c \n Jumping events ( high jump and long jump ) : \n : P = a \\cdot ( M - b ) ^c \n Throwing events ( shot put and javelin ) : \n : P = a \\cdot ( D - b ) ^c \n \n P is for points , T is for time in seconds , M is for height or length in centimeters and D is length in meters . a , b and c have different values for each of the events ( see table ) . \n \n Benchmarks \n \n The following table shows the benchmark levels required to earn 1000 points in each event of the heptathlon : \n \n Women 's world records compared to heptathlon bests \n \n Men 's heptathlon \n \n \n \n The other version is an indoor competition , normally contested by men only . It is the men 's combined event in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics . The men 's indoor heptathlon consists of the following events , with the first four contested on the first day , and remaining three on day two : \n \n * 60 metres \n * long jump \n * shot put \n * high jump \n * 60 metres hurdles \n * pole vault \n * 1000 metres \n \n The scoring is similar for both versions . In each event , the athlete scores points for his/her performance in each event according to scoring tables issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations ( IAAF ) . The athlete accumulating the highest number of points wins the competition . \n \n Benchmarks \n \n The following table shows the minimum benchmark levels required to earn 1000 points in each event of the heptathlon : \n \n Men", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1019, "text": "800 metres" } ], "id": "qf_2099--Heptathlon.txt", "qid": "qf_2099", "question": "What is the longest race in the heptathlon?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "In international politics , gunboat diplomacy ( or `` Big Stick ideology '' in U.S. history ) refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power—implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare , should terms not be agreeable to the superior force . \n \n Origin of the term \n \n The term comes from the nineteenth-century period of imperialism , when European powers would intimidate other , less powerful states into granting concessions through a demonstration of their superior military capabilities , usually depicted by their naval assets . . A country negotiating with a European power would notice that a warship or fleet of ships had appeared off its coast . The mere sight of such power almost always had a considerable effect , and it was rarely necessary for such boats to use other measures , such as demonstrations of cannon fire . \n \n A notable and controversial example of gunboat diplomacy was the Don Pacifico Incident in 1850 , in which the British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston dispatched a squadron of the Royal Navy to blockade the Greek port of Piraeus in retaliation for the harming of a British subject , David Pacifico , in Athens , and the subsequent failure of the government of King Otto to compensate the Gibraltar-born ( and therefore British ) Pacifico . \n \n The effectiveness of such simple demonstrations of a nation 's projection of force capabilities meant that those nations with naval power , especially Britain , could establish military bases ( for example , Diego Garcia ) and arrange economically advantageous relationships around the world . Aside from military conquest , gunboat diplomacy was the dominant way to establish new trade partners , colonial outposts , and expansion of empire . \n \n Those lacking the resources and technological advancements of European empires found that their own peaceable relationships were readily dismantled in the face of such pressures , and they therefore came to depend on the imperialist nations for access to raw materials and overseas markets . \n \n The British diplomat and naval thinker James Cable spelled out the nature of gunboat diplomacy in a series of works published between 1971 and 1993 . In these , he defined the phenomenon as `` the use or threat of limited naval force , otherwise than as an act of war , in order to secure advantage or to avert loss , either in the furtherance of an international dispute or else against foreign nationals within the territory or the jurisdiction of their own state . '' He further broke down the concept into four key areas : \n \n * Definitive Force : the use of gunboat diplomacy to create or remove a fait accompli . \n * Purposeful Force : application of naval force to change the policy or character of the target government or group \n * Catalytic Force : a mechanism designed to buy a breathing space or present policy makers with an increased range of options \n * Expressive Force : use of navies to send a political message—interestingly this aspect of gunboat diplomacy is undervalued and almost dismissed by Cable . \n \n Gunboat diplomacy comes in contrast to the views held prior to the 18th century influenced by Hugo Grotius , De Jure Belli ac Pacis , in which he circumscribed the right to resort to force with what he described as `` temperamenta '' . \n \n Gunboat diplomacy is distinct from `` Defence Diplomacy '' , which is understood to be the peaceful application of resources from across the spectrum of defence , to achieve positive outcomes in the development of bilateral and multilateral relationships . `` Military diplomacy '' is a sub-set of this , tending to refer only to the role of military attachés and their associated activity . Defence diplomacy does not include military operations , but subsumes such other defence activity as international personnel exchanges , ship and aircraft visits , high-level engagement ( e.g. , ministers and senior defence personnel ) , training and exercises , security-sector reform , and bilateral military talks . \n \n Modern contexts \n \n Gunboat diplomacy is considered a form of hegemony . As the United States became a military power in the first decade of the 20th century , the Rooseveltian version of gunboat diplomacy , Big Stick Diplomacy , was partially superseded by dollar diplomacy : replacing the big stick with the `` juicy carrot '' of American private investment . However , during Woodrow Wilson 's presidency , conventional gunboat diplomacy did occur , most notably in the case of the U.S. Army 's occupation of Veracruz in 1914 , during the Mexican Revolution", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1038, "text": "lord palmerston" } ], "id": "sfq_8627--Gunboat_diplomacy.txt", "qid": "sfq_8627", "question": "Which British Foreign Minister, later Prime Minister, is associated with Gunboat Diplomacy?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents , music by Leonard Bernstein , lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins . It was inspired by William Shakespeare 's play Romeo and Juliet . \n \n The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid-1950s , an ethnic , blue-collar neighborhood . ( In the early 1960s much of the neighborhood would be cleared in an urban renewal project for the Lincoln Center , changing the neighborhood 's character . ) The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks , two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds . The members of the Sharks , from Puerto Rico , are taunted by the Jets , a white gang . The young protagonist , Tony , a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang leader , Riff , falls in love with Maria , the sister of Bernardo , the leader of the Sharks . The dark theme , sophisticated music , extended dance scenes , and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theater . Bernstein 's score for the musical includes `` Something 's Coming '' , `` Maria '' , `` America '' , `` Somewhere '' , `` Tonight '' , `` Jet Song '' , `` I Feel Pretty '' , `` A Boy Like That '' , `` One Hand , One Heart '' , `` Gee , Officer Krupke '' , and `` Cool '' . \n \n The original 1957 Broadway production , directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and produced by Robert E. Griffith and Harold Prince , marked Sondheim 's Broadway debut . It ran for 732 performances before going on tour . The production was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957 , but the award for Best Musical went to Meredith Willson 's The Music Man . Robbins won the Tony for his choreography and Oliver Smith won for his scenic designs . The show had an even longer-running London production , a number of revivals and international productions . A 1961 musical film of the same name , directed by Robert Wise and Robbins , starred Natalie Wood , Richard Beymer , Rita Moreno , George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn . The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won ten , including George Chakiris for Supporting Actor , Rita Moreno for Supporting Actress , and the Best Picture . \n \n Background \n \n Genesis \n \n In 1947 , Jerome Robbins approached Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents about collaborating on a contemporary musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet . He proposed that the plot focus on the conflict between an Irish Catholic family and a Jewish family living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan , during the Easter–Passover season . The girl has survived the Holocaust and emigrated from Israel ; the conflict was to be centered around anti-Semitism of the Catholic `` Jets '' towards the Jewish `` Emeralds '' ( a name that made its way into the script as a reference ) . Eager to write his first musical , Laurents immediately agreed . Bernstein wanted to present the material in operatic form , but Robbins and Laurents resisted the suggestion . They described the project as `` lyric theater '' , and Laurents wrote a first draft he called East Side Story . Only after he completed it did the group realize it was little more than a musicalization of themes that had already been covered in plays like Abie 's Irish Rose . When he opted to drop out , the three men went their separate ways , and the piece was shelved for almost five years . \n \n In 1955 , theatrical producer Martin Gabel was working on a stage adaptation of the James M. Cain novel Serenade , about an opera singer who comes to the realization he is homosexual , and he invited Laurents to write the book . Laurents accepted and suggested Bernstein and Robbins join the creative team . Robbins felt if the three were going to join forces , they should return to East Side Story , and Bernstein agreed . Laurents , however , was committed to Gabel , who introduced him to the young composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim . Sondheim auditioned by playing the score for Saturday Night , his musical that was scheduled to open in the fall . Laurents liked the lyrics but was not impressed with the music . Sondheim did not care for Laurents ' opinion . Serenade ultimately was shelved . \n \n Laurents was", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2022, "text": "natalie wood" } ], "id": "tc_1182--West_Side_Story.txt", "qid": "tc_1182", "question": "Which star of Gypsy and West Side Story married Robert Wagner twice?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "This is a list of islands of Scotland , the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain . Also included are various other related tables and lists . The definition of an offshore island used in this list is `` land that is surrounded by seawater on a daily basis , but not necessarily at all stages of the tide , excluding human devices such as bridges and causeways '' . \n \n Scotland has over 790 offshore islands , most of which are to be found in four main groups : Shetland , Orkney , and the Hebrides , sub-divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides . There are also clusters of islands in the Firth of Clyde , Firth of Forth , and Solway Firth , and numerous small islands within the many bodies of fresh water in Scotland including Loch Lomond and Loch Maree . \n \n Many of these islands are swept by strong tides , and the Corryvreckan tide race between Scarba and Jura is one of the largest whirlpools in the world . Other strong tides are to be found in the Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and Orkney , and another example is the `` Grey Dog '' between Scarba and Lunga . The geology and geomorphology of the islands is varied . Some , such as Skye and Mull are mountainous , while others like Tiree and Sanday are relatively low lying . Many have bedrock made from ancient Archaean Lewisian Gneiss which was formed 3 billion years ago ; Shapinsay and other Orkney islands are formed from Old Red Sandstone , which is 400 million years old ; and others such as Rùm from more recent Tertiary volcanoes . \n \n The largest island is Lewis and Harris which extends to 2,179 square kilometres , and there are a further 200 islands which are greater than 40 hectares in area . Of the remainder , several such as Staffa and the Flannan Isles are well known despite their small size . \n Some 94 Scottish islands are permanently inhabited , of which 89 are offshore islands and between 2001 and 2011 Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4 % to 103,702 . [ http : //www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23711202 `` Scotland 's 2011 census : Island living on the rise '' ] . BBC News . Retrieved 18 August 2013 . \n \n The culture of the islands has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic , Norse and English speaking peoples and this is reflected in names given to the islands . Most of the Hebrides have names with Scots Gaelic derivations , whilst those of the Northern Isles tend to be derived from the Viking names . A few have Brythonic , Scots and even perhaps pre-Celtic roots . \n A feature of modern island life is the low crime rate and they are considered to be amongst the safest places to live in Britain . Orkney was rated as the best place to live in Scotland in both 2013 and 2014 according to the Halifax Quality of Life survey . \n \n Rockall is a small rocky islet in the North Atlantic which was declared part of Scotland by the Island of Rockall Act 1972 . However , the legality of the claim is disputed by the Republic of Ireland , Denmark and Iceland and it is probably unenforceable in international law . \n \n Demographics \n \n The 2011 census records 94 Scottish islands as having a usually resident population of which 89 are offshore islands . There are however various complications with both the definitions of an `` island '' and occasional habitation and the National Records of Scotland also list a further 17 islands that were inhabited in 2001 but not 2011 , or are `` included in the NRS statistical geography for inhabited islands but had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses '' .National Records of Scotland ( 2013 ) pp . 11-13 There are a small number of other islands that are evidently inhabited but which are not recorded in this list . \n \n The local government council areas with the most inhabited islands are Argyll and Bute with 23 , Orkney with 20 , Shetland with 16 and Highland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar with 14 each . There are also three in North Ayrshire and one each in Fife , Perth and Kinross , Stirling and West Dunbartonshire . The last three named plus two islands in Argyll and Bute are freshwater rather than offshore . \n \n In the past many smaller islands that are uninhabited today had permanent populations . Losses were severe in many areas", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1397, "text": "orkney island" } ], "id": "qf_314--List_of_islands_of_Scotland.txt", "qid": "qf_314", "question": "to which group of Scottish islands do 'Auskerry, Burray and Cava' belong?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Frederik Willem de Klerk ( ; born 18 March 1936 ) is a South African politician who served as the country 's State President from September 1989 to May 1994 . He was the seventh and last head of state of South Africa under the apartheid era . De Klerk was also leader of the National Party ( which later became the New National Party ) from February 1989 to September 1997 . \n \n De Klerk helped to broker the end of apartheid , South Africa 's policies of racial segregation and discrimination , and supported the transformation of South Africa into a non-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens having equal voting and other rights . He won the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991 , the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid . \n \n He was one of the deputy presidents of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996 , and is the most recent white South African and Afrikaner to have held the position . In 1997 he retired from active politics . He continues to remain active as a lecturer internationally . After the deaths of Botha in 2006 and Marais Viljoen in 2007 , de Klerk is the last surviving State President of South Africa . \n \n Background and early career \n \n The name `` de Klerk '' is derived from Le Clerc , Le Clercq , and de Clercq and is of French Huguenot origin ( meaning `` clergyman '' or `` literate '' in old French ) . De Klerk noted that he is also of Dutch descent , with an Indian ancestor from the late 1600s or early 1700s . He is also said to be descended from the Khoi interpreter known as Krotoa or Eva . \n \n De Klerk was born in Johannesburg , in the then Transvaal Province of the Union of South Africa , to Johannes `` Jan '' de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer – `` her forefather was a Kutzer who stems from Austria '' . He came from a family environment in which the conservatism of traditional white South African politics was deeply ingrained . His paternal great-grandfather was Senator Johannes Cornelis `` Jan '' van Rooy . His aunt was married to NP Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom . In 1948 , the year when the NP swept to power in whites-only elections on an apartheid platform , F. W. de Klerk 's father , Johannes `` Jan '' de Klerk , became secretary of the NP in the Transvaal province and later rose to the positions of cabinet minister and President of the Senate , becoming interim State President in 1975 . His brother Willem is a liberal newspaperman and one of the founders of the Democratic Party . De Klerk graduated from Monument High School in Krugersdorp . De Klerk graduated in 1958 from the Potchefstroom University with BA and LL.B degrees ( the latter cum laude ) . Following graduation , de Klerk practised law in Vereeniging in the Transvaal . In 1959 he married Marike Willemse , with whom he had two sons and a daughter . \n \n `` F.W . `` , pronounced `` eff-veer '' , as he became popularly known , was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1969 as the member for Vereeniging , and entered the cabinet in 1978 . De Klerk had been offered a professorship of administrative law at Potchefstroom in 1972 but he declined the post because he was serving in Parliament . In 1978 , he was appointed Minister of Posts and Telecommunications and Social Welfare and Pensions by Prime Minister Vorster . Under Prime Minister and later State President P. W. Botha , he held a succession of ministerial posts , including Posts and Telecommunications and Sports and Recreation ( 1978–1979 ) , Mines , Energy and Environmental Planning ( 1979–1980 ) , Mineral and Energy Affairs ( 1980–1982 ) , Internal Affairs ( 1982–1985 ) , and National Education and Planning ( 1984–1989 ) . He became Transvaal provincial National Party leader in 1982 . In 1985 , he became chairman of the Minister 's Council in the House of Assembly . \n \n Ending apartheid \n \n For most of his career , de Klerk had a very conservative reputation . The NP 's Transvaal branch was historically the most staunchly conservative wing of the party , and he supported continued segregation of universities while Minister of National Education . It thus came as a surprise when in 1989 he placed himself at the", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 275, "text": "national party" } ], "id": "tc_2645--F._W._de_Klerk.txt", "qid": "tc_2645", "question": "Which party did F W de Klerk represent as South African president?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "In chemistry , an alcohol is any organic compound in which the hydroxyl functional group ( –OH ) is bound to a saturated carbon atom . The term alcohol originally referred to the primary alcohol ethanol ( ethyl alcohol ) , the predominant alcohol in alcoholic beverages . \n \n The suffix -ol appears in the IUPAC chemical name of all substances where the hydroxyl group is the functional group with the highest priority ; in substances where a higher priority group is present the prefix hydroxy- will appear in the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC ) name . The suffix -ol in non-systematic names ( such as paracetamol or cholesterol ) also typically indicates that the substance includes a hydroxyl functional group and , so , can be termed an alcohol . But many substances , particularly sugars ( examples glucose and sucrose ) contain hydroxyl functional groups without using the suffix . An important class of alcohols , of which methanol and ethanol are the simplest members is the saturated straight chain alcohols , the general formula for which is CnH2n+1OH . \n \n Occurrence in nature \n \n Ethanol occurs naturally as a byproduct of the metabolic process of yeast . As such , ethanol will be present in any yeast habitat . Ethanol can commonly be found in overripe fruit . \n \n Methanol is produced naturally in the anaerobic metabolism of many varieties of bacteria , and is commonly present in small amounts in the environment . \n \n Alcohols have been found outside the Solar System in low densities in star and planetary-system-forming regions of space . \n \n Toxicity \n \n Ethanol is thought to cause harm partly as a result of direct damage to DNA caused by its metabolites . \n \n Ethanol 's toxicity is largely caused by its primary metabolite , acetaldehyde ( systematically ethanal ) and secondary metabolite , acetic acid . Many primary alcohols are metabolized into aldehydes then to carboxylic acids whose toxicities are similar to acetaldehyde and acetic acid . Metabolite toxicity is reduced in rats fed N-acetylcysteine and thiamine . \n \n Tertiary alcohols can not be metabolized into aldehydes and as a result they cause no hangover or toxicity through this mechanism . \n \n Some secondary and tertiary alcohols are less poisonous than ethanol , because the liver is unable to metabolize them into toxic by-products . This makes them more suitable for pharmaceutical use as the chronic harms are lower . Ethchlorvynol and tert-amyl alcohol are tertiary alcohols which have seen both medicinal and recreational use . \n \n Other alcohols are substantially more poisonous than ethanol , partly because they take much longer to be metabolized and partly because their metabolism produces substances that are even more toxic . Methanol ( wood alcohol ) , for instance , is oxidized to formaldehyde and then to the poisonous formic acid in the liver by alcohol dehydrogenase and formaldehyde dehydrogenase enzymes , respectively ; accumulation of formic acid can lead to blindness or death . Likewise , poisoning due to other alcohols such as ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol are due to their metabolites , which are also produced by alcohol dehydrogenase . \n \n Methanol itself , while poisonous ( LD50 5628 mg/kg , oral , rat ) , has a much weaker sedative effect than ethanol . \n \n Isopropyl alcohol is oxidized to form acetone by alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver , but has occasionally been abused by alcoholics , leading to a range of adverse health effects . \n \n Although the mechanism is unclear , a meta-analysis of 572 studies have shown increased cancer risk from alcohol . \n \n Treatment \n \n An effective treatment to prevent toxicity after methanol or ethylene glycol ingestion is to administer ethanol . Alcohol dehydrogenase has a higher affinity for ethanol , thus preventing methanol from binding and acting as a substrate . Any remaining methanol will then have time to be excreted through the kidneys . \n \n Nomenclature \n \n Systematic names \n \n IUPAC nomenclature is used in scientific publications and where precise identification of the substance is important , especially in cases where the relative complexity of the molecule does not make such a systematic name unwieldy . In the IUPAC system , in naming simple alcohols , the name of the alkane chain loses the terminal `` e '' and adds `` ol '' , e.g. , as in `` methanol '' and `` ethanol '' . When necessary , the position of the hydroxyl group is indicated by a number between the alkane name and the `` ol '' : propan-1-ol for CH3CH2CH2OH , propan-2-ol for CH3CH ( OH ) CH3", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2773, "text": "wood alcohol" } ], "id": "bb_5169--Alcohol.txt", "qid": "bb_5169", "question": "The simplest alcohol (CH3OH), 'wood spirits', first produced by burning pine, is technically known as?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "John Logie Baird FRSE ( ; 14 August 1888 - 14 June 1946 ) was a Scottish engineer , innovator , one of the inventors of the mechanical television , demonstrating the first working television system on 26 January 1926 , and inventor of both the first publicly demonstrated colour television system , and the first purely electronic colour television picture tube . \n \n In 1928 the Baird Television Development Company achieved the first transatlantic television transmission . Baird 's early technological successes and his role in the practical introduction of broadcast television for home entertainment have earned him a prominent place in television 's history . \n \n Baird was ranked number 44 in the BBC 's list of the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote in 2002 . In 2006 , Baird was named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history , having been listed in the National Library of Scotland 's 'Scottish Science Hall of Fame ' . In 2015 he was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame . \n \n Early years \n \n Baird was born on 14 August 1888 in Helensburgh , Dunbartonshire , and was the youngest of four children of the Reverend John Baird , the Church of Scotland 's minister for the local St Bride 's Church and Jessie Morrison Inglis , the orphaned niece of a wealthy family of shipbuilders from Glasgow . \n \n He was educated at Larchfield Academy ( now part of Lomond School ) in Helensburgh ; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College ; and the University of Glasgow . While at college Baird undertook a series of engineering apprentice jobs as part of his course . The conditions in industrial Glasgow at the time helped form his socialist convictions but also contributed to his ill health . His degree course was interrupted by the First World War and he never returned to graduate . At the beginning of 1915 he volunteered for service in the British Army but was classified as unfit for active duty . Unable to go to the Front , he took a job with the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company , which was engaged in munitions work . \n \n Television experiments \n \n The development of television was the result of work by many inventors . Among them , Baird was a prominent pioneer and made major advances in the field . Many historians credit Baird with being the first to produce a live , moving , greyscale television image from reflected light . Baird achieved this , where other inventors had failed , by obtaining a better photoelectric cell and improving the signal conditioning from the photocell and the video amplifier . \n \n Between 1902 and 1907 , Arthur Korn invented and built the first successful signal-conditioning circuits for image transmission . The circuits overcame the image-destroying lag effect that is part of selenium photocells . Korn 's compensation circuit allowed him to send still fax pictures by telephone or wireless between countries and even over oceans , while his circuit operated without benefit of electronic amplification . Korn 's success at transmitting halftone still images suggested that such compensation circuits might work in television . Baird was the direct beneficiary of Korn 's research and success . \n \n In his first attempts to develop a working television system , Baird experimented with the Nipkow disk . Paul Gottlieb Nipkow had invented this scanning disc system in 1884.Albert Abramson , The History of Television , 1880 to 1941 , McFarland , 1987 , pp . 13–15 . Television historian Albert Abramson calls Nipkow 's patent `` the master television patent '' . Nipkow 's work is important because Baird and many others chose to develop it into a broadcast medium . \n \n In early 1923 , and in poor health , Baird moved to 21 Linton Crescent , Hastings , on the south coast of England . He later rented a workshop in the Queen 's Arcade in the town . Baird built what was to become the world 's first working television set using items including an old hatbox and a pair of scissors , some darning needles , a few bicycle light lenses , a used tea chest , and sealing wax and glue that he purchased . In February 1924 , he demonstrated to the Radio Times that a semi-mechanical analogue television system was possible by transmitting moving silhouette images . In July of the same year , he received a 1000-volt electric shock , but survived with only a burnt hand , and as a result his landlord , Mr Tree , asked him to vacate the premises . Baird gave the first", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "bt_3964--John_Logie_Baird.txt", "qid": "bt_3964", "question": "In which year did John Logie Baird demonstrate television in Glasgow" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey , England . Its council is based in Dorking . \n \n The two towns in the district are Dorking and Leatherhead . The largest villages are Ashtead , Fetcham and Great Bookham , in the northern third of the district . The rest of the district includes some of the Surrey Hills AONB , the middle of the district is dominated by the North Downs , including Polesden Lacey , Box Hill , Denbies Wine Estate ( the largest vineyard in the country ) and parts of the Pilgrims ' Way , the southern third includes Leith Hill and the Greensand Ridge . There are stations on the London–Worthing and Reading–Gatwick Airport railways , and in the northern third , a commuter stopping service from London–Guildford . Additionally the A24 road and the M25 motorway are the main thoroughfares . \n \n Towns \n \n * Dorking \n * Leatherhead \n \n Other settlements \n \n Governance \n \n Mole Valley District Council is elected by thirds : one-third of councillors are elected at each election , each serving four year terms ; three years out of four having elections . \n \n The council was however elected across all areas in 2000 after major boundary changes to the wards . \n \n Although Mole Valley ( UK Parliament constituency ) has been Conservative for a long time , Mole Valley District Council has , with Independent/RA and Liberal Democrats , for long periods been under no overall control . \n \n Party control \n \n * 1974–1980 : No overall control \n * 1980–1982 : Independent control \n * 1982–1994 : No overall control \n * 1994-1995 : Liberal Democrat control \n * 1995-2006 : No overall control \n * 2006–2008 : Conservative control \n * 2010–2015 : No overall control \n * 2015-Present Conservative control \n \n Surrey Council Council \n \n Surrey County Council , elected every four years , obtains six representatives from this area : \n \n History \n \n The district , named after the River Mole , was formed on 1 April 1974 , under the Local Government Act 1972 , by a merger of the urban districts of Dorking and Leatherhead and most of the Dorking and Horley Rural District . \n \n Churches graded II * or above \n \n Environmental concerns \n \n In May 2006 , a report commissioned by British Gas showed that housing in Mole Valley produced the twentieth highest average carbon emissions in the country at 6,928 kg of carbon dioxide per dwelling . \n \n In 2008 a group of residents got together and formed The Green Mole Forum [ http : //www.greenmoleforum.org/ ] with the aim of promoting sustainable development in Mole Valley both by providing a hub to help residents , and to lobby the council to undertake more sustainable policies . \n \n Emergency services \n \n Mole Valley is served by these emergency services : \n * Surrey Police . Dorking Police Station is the lead station in Mole Valley Division , Leatherhead Police Station is now closed . \n * South East Coast Ambulance Service The district has two Ambulance Stations – one in North Holmwood ( 1 mi south of Dorking ) , and the other in Leatherhead . \n * Surrey Fire & Rescue Service , The district has two Fire Stations one in North Holmwood and the other in Leatherhead . \n * SURSAR , The district is covered by Surrey Search & Rescue \n * Hospital , Each town has a small NHS Hospital with no A & E . They are used for outpatients and rehabilitation . \n \n Sources \n \n * [ http : //news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote_99/locals_99/html/constituency/154.stm Local elections , 1999 ] \n * [ http : //news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/uk_politics/vote2000/locals/73.stm Local elections , 2000 ] \n * [ http : //news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2002/local_elections/92.stm Local elections , 2002 ] \n * [ http : //news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2003/locals/html/171.stm Local elections , 2003 ] \n * [ http : //news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2004/locals/html/3721.stm Local elections , 2004 ]", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 46, "text": "surrey" } ], "id": "qb_9551--Mole_Valley.txt", "qid": "qb_9551", "question": "Mole Valley is in which English county?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "French art consists of the visual and plastic arts ( including architecture , woodwork , textiles , and ceramics ) originating from the geographical area of France . Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic , then left many megalithic monuments , and in the Iron Age many of the most impressive finds of early Celtic art . The Gallo-Roman period left a distinctive provincial style of sculpture , and the region around the modern Franco-German border led the empire in the mass production of finely decorated Ancient Roman pottery , which was exported to Italy and elsewhere on a large scale . With Merovingian art the story of French styles as a distinct and influential element in the wider development of the art of Christian Europe begins . \n \n France can fairly be said to have been a leader in the development of Romanesque art and Gothic art , before the Italian Renaissance led to Italy replacing France as the main source of stylistic developments until the age of Louis XIV , when France largely regained this role , holding it until the mid-20th century . \n \n Historic overview \n \n Prehistory \n \n Currently , the earliest known European art is from the Upper Palaeolithic period of between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago and France has a large selection of extant pre-historic art from the Châtelperronian , Aurignacian , Solutrean , Gravettian , and Magdalenian cultures . This art includes cave paintings , such as the famous paintings at Pech Merle in the Lot in Languedoc which date back to 16,000 BC , Lascaux , located near the village of Montignac , in the Dordogne , dating back to between 13,000 and 15,000 BC , or perhaps , as far back as 25,000 BC , the Cosquer Cave , the Chauvet Cave dating back to 29,000 BC , and the Trois-Frères cave ; and portable art , such as animal carvings and great goddess statuettes called Venus figurines , such as the `` [ http : //www.musee-antiquitesnationales.fr/pages/page_id18159_u1l2.htm Venus of Brassempouy ] '' of 21,000 BC , discovered in the Landes , now in the museum at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye or the Venus of Lespugue at the Musée de l'Homme . Ornamental beads , bone pins , carvings , as well as flint and stone arrowheads also are among the prehistoric objects from the area of France . \n \n Speculations exist that only Homo sapiens are capable of artistic expression , however , a recent find , the Mask of La Roche-Cotard—a Mousterian or Neanderthal artifact , found in 2002 in a cave near the banks of the Loire River , dating back to about 33,000 B.C.—now suggests that Neanderthal humans may have developed a sophisticated and complex artistic tradition . \n \n In the Neolithic period ( see Neolithic Europe ) , megalithic ( large stone ) monuments , such as the dolmens and menhirs at Carnac , Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens and elsewhere in France begin to appear ; this appearance is thought to start in the fifth millennium BC , although some authors speculate about Mesolithic roots . In France there are some 5,000 megalithics monuments , mainly in Brittany , where there is the largest concentration of these monuments . In this area there is wide variety of these monuments that have been well preserved , like menhirs , dolmen , cromlechs and cairns . The Cairn of Gavrinis in southern Brittany is an outstanding example of megalithic art : its 14 meters inner corridor is nearly completely adorned with ornamental carvings . The great broken menhir of Er-Grah , now in four pieces was more than 20 meters high originally , making it the largest menhir ever erected . France has also numerous painted stones , polished stone axes , and inscribed menhirs from this period . The Grand-Pressigny area was known for its precious silex blades and they were extensively exported during the Neolithic . \n \n In France from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age , one finds a variety of archaeological cultures , including the Rössen culture of c. 4500–4000 BC , Beaker culture of c. 2800–1900 BC , Tumulus culture of c. 1600–1200 BC , Urnfield culture of c. 1300–800 BC , and , in a transition to the Iron Age , Hallstatt culture of c. 1200–500 BC . \n \n For more on Prehistoric sites in Western France , see Prehistory of Brittany . \n \n Celtic and Roman periods \n \n From the Proto-Celtic Urnfield and Hallstat cultures , a continental Iron age Celtic art developed ; mainly associated with La Tène culture , which flourished during the late Iron Age from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_12619--French_art.txt", "qid": "qw_12619", "question": "What style of French painting, influenced by Flemish and Dutch Baroque and Italian styles, with schools developed around Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens, was practised by Georges de la Tour, Simon Vouet, and the Le Nain brothers?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The domestic cat ( ) or the feral cat ( ) is a small , typically furry , carnivorous mammal . They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines . Cats are often valued by humans for companionship and for their ability to hunt vermin . There are more than 70 cat breeds ; different associations proclaim different numbers according to their standards . \n \n Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felids , with a strong , flexible body , quick reflexes , sharp retractable claws , and teeth adapted to killing small prey . Cat senses fit a crepuscular and predatory ecological niche . Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears , such as those made by mice and other small animals . They can see in near darkness . Like most other mammals , cats have poorer color vision and a better sense of smell than humans . Cats , despite being solitary hunters , are a social species and cat communication includes the use of a variety of vocalizations ( mewing , purring , trilling , hissing , growling , and grunting ) , as well as cat pheromones and types of cat-specific body language . \n \n Cats have a high breeding rate . Under controlled breeding , they can be bred and shown as registered pedigree pets , a hobby known as cat fancy . Failure to control the breeding of pet cats by neutering and the abandonment of former household pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide , requiring population control . This has contributed , along with habitat destruction and other factors , to the extinction of many bird species . Cats have been known to extirpate a bird species within specific regions and may have contributed to the extinction of isolated island populations . Cats are thought to be primarily , though not solely , responsible for the extinction of 33 species of birds , and the presence of feral and free ranging cats makes some locations unsuitable for attempted species reintroduction in otherwise suitable locations . \n \n Since cats were venerated in ancient Egypt , they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there , but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago ( 7,500 BC ) . A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats , having diverged around 8,000 BC in West Asia . A 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5,500 BC , though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today . \n \n As of a 2007 study , cats are the second most popular pet in the United States by number of pets owned , behind the first , which is freshwater fish . \n \n Taxonomy and evolution \n \n The felids are a rapidly evolving family of mammals that share a common ancestor only 10–15 million years ago and include lions , tigers , cougars and many others . Within this family , domestic cats ( Felis catus ) are part of the genus Felis , which is a group of small cats containing about seven species ( depending upon classification scheme ) . Members of the genus are found worldwide and include the jungle cat ( Felis chaus ) of southeast Asia , European wildcat ( F. silvestris silvestris ) , African wildcat ( F. s. lybica ) , the Chinese mountain cat ( F. bieti ) , and the Arabian sand cat ( F. margarita ) , among others . \n \n The domestic cat was first classified as Felis catus by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1758 . Because of modern phylogenetics , domestic cats are usually regarded as another subspecies of the wildcat , F. silvestris . This has resulted in mixed usage of the terms , as the domestic cat can be called by its subspecies name , Felis silvestris catus . Wildcats have also been referred to as various subspecies of F. catus , but in 2003 , the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature fixed the name for wildcats as F. silvestris . The most common name in use for the domestic cat remains F. catus , following a convention for domesticated animals of using the earliest ( the senior ) synonym proposed . Sometimes , the domestic cat has been called Felis domesticus or Felis domestica , as proposed by German naturalist J. C. P.", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "sfq_3768--Cat.txt", "qid": "sfq_3768", "question": "How many days is the gestation period of a domestic cat (5 days either way)?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Colossus of Rhodes ( ) Kolossos means `` giant statue '' . R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form * koloky- ( Etymological Dictionary of Greek , Brill , 2009 , p. 740 ) . was a statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun Helios , erected in the city of Rhodes , on the Greek island of the same name , by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC . One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , it was constructed to celebrate Rhodes ' victory over the ruler of Cyprus , Antigonus I Monophthalmus , whose son unsuccessfully besieged Rhodes in 305 BC . Before its destruction in the earthquake of 226 BC , the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 m high , making it the tallest statue of the ancient world at the time . \n \n As of 2015 , there are tentative plans to build a new Colossus at the location of the original . \n \n Siege of Rhodes \n \n In the late 4th century BC , Rhodes , allied with Ptolemy I of Egypt , prevented a mass invasion staged by their common enemy , Antigonus I Monophthalmus . \n \n In 304 BC a relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived , and Antigonus 's army abandoned the siege , leaving most of their siege equipment . To celebrate their victory , the Rhodians sold the equipment left behind for 300 talents and decided to use the money to build a colossal statue of their patron god , Helios . Construction was left to the direction of Chares , a native of Lindos in Rhodes , who had been involved with large-scale statues before . His teacher , the sculptor Lysippos , had constructed a 22 m bronze statue of Zeus at Tarentum . \n \n Construction \n \n Construction began in 292 BC . Ancient accounts , which differ to some degree , describe the structure as being built with iron tie bars to which brass plates were fixed to form the skin . The interior of the structure , which stood on a 15 m high white marble pedestal near the Mandraki harbour entrance , was then filled with stone blocks as construction progressed . Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbour . The statue itself was over 30 m tall . Much of the iron and bronze was reforged from the various weapons Demetrius 's army left behind , and the abandoned second siege tower may have been used for scaffolding around the lower levels during construction . Upper portions were built with the use of a large earthen ramp . During the building , workers would pile mounds of earth on the sides of the colossus . Upon completion all of the earth was removed and the colossus was left to stand alone . After twelve years , in 280 BC , the statue was completed . Preserved in Greek anthologies of poetry is what is believed to be the genuine dedication text for the Colossus . \n \n Modern engineers have put forward a plausible hypothesis for the statue construction , based on the technology of those days ( which was not based on the modern principles of earthquake engineering ) , and the accounts of Philo and Pliny who both saw and described the remains . \n \n The base pedestal was at least 60 ft in diameter and either circular or octagonal . The feet were carved in stone and covered with thin bronze plates riveted together . Eight forged iron bars set in a radiating horizontal position formed the ankles and turned up to follow the lines of the legs while becoming progressively smaller . Individually cast curved bronze plates 60 in square with turned-in edges were joined together by rivets through holes formed during casting to form a series of rings . The lower plates were 1 in in thickness to the knee and 3/4 inch thick from knee to abdomen , while the upper plates were 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick except where additional strength was required at joints such as the shoulder , neck , etc . \n \n Destruction \n \n The statue stood for 54 years until Rhodes was hit by the 226 BC earthquake , when significant damage was also done to large portions of the city , including the harbour and commercial buildings , which were destroyed . The statue snapped at the knees and fell over onto the land . Ptolemy III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the statue , but the oracle of Delphi made the Rhodians afraid that they had offended Helios , and they declined to rebuild it .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 16, "text": "rhodes" } ], "id": "qw_7536--Colossus_of_Rhodes.txt", "qid": "qw_7536", "question": "The Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the world, was built where?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The deck of 52 French playing cards is the most common deck of playing cards used today . It includes thirteen ranks of each of the four French suits : clubs ( ) , diamonds ( ) , hearts ( ) and spades ( ) , with reversible `` court '' or face cards . Some modern designs , however , have done away with reversible face cards . Each suit includes an ace , depicting a single symbol of its suit ; a king , queen , and jack , each depicted with a symbol of its suit ; and ranks two through ten , with each card depicting that many symbols ( pips ) of its suit . Anywhere from one to four ( most often two ) Jokers , often distinguishable with one being more colorful than the other , are added to commercial decks , as some games require this extended deck . Modern playing cards carry index labels on opposite corners ( rarely , all four corners ) to facilitate identifying the cards when they overlap and so that they appear identical for players on opposite sides . The most popular stylistic pattern of the French Deck is sometimes referred to as `` English '' or `` Anglo-American playing cards '' . \n \n It has been shown that because of the large number of possibilities from shuffling a 52 card deck , it is probable that no two fair card shuffles have ever yielded exactly the same order of cards . \n \n English pattern cards and nicknames \n \n The fanciful design and manufacturer 's logo commonly displayed on the Ace of Spades began under the reign of James I of England , who passed a law requiring an insignia on that card as proof of payment of a tax on local manufacture of cards . Until August 4 , 1960 , decks of playing cards printed and sold in the United Kingdom were liable for taxable duty and the Ace of Spades carried an indication of the name of the printer and the fact that taxation had been paid on the cards.Stamp Act 1765 imposed a tax on playing cards . The packs were also sealed with a government duty wrapper . \n \n Though specific design elements of the court cards are rarely used in game play and many differ between designs , a few are notable . \n * Face cards - Jacks , Queens , and Kings are called `` face cards '' because the cards have pictures of their names . \n * One-eyed Royals - The Jack of Spades and Jack of Hearts ( often called the `` one-eyed jacks '' ) and the King of Diamonds are drawn in profile ; therefore , these cards are commonly referred to as `` one-eyed '' . The rest of the courts are shown in full or oblique face . \n * The Jack of Diamonds is sometimes known as `` laughing boy '' . \n * Wild cards - When deciding which cards are to be made wild in some games , the phrase `` acey , deucey or one-eyed jack '' ( or `` deuces , aces , one-eyed faces '' ) is sometimes used , which means that aces , twos , and the one-eyed jacks are all wild . \n * The King of Hearts is the only King with no mustache ; \n * Suicide kings - The King of Hearts is typically shown with a sword behind his head , making him appear to be stabbing himself . Similarly , the one-eyed King of Diamonds is typically shown with an axe behind his head with the blade facing toward him . These depictions , and their blood-red color , inspired the nickname `` suicide kings '' . \n * The King of Diamonds is traditionally armed with an axe while the other three kings are armed with swords ; thus , the King of Diamonds is sometimes referred to as `` the man with the axe '' . This is the basis of the trump `` one-eyed jacks and the man with the axe '' . \n * The Ace of Spades , unique in its large , ornate spade , is sometimes said to be the death card or the picture card , and in some games is used as a trump card . \n * The Queen of Spades usually holds a scepter and is sometimes known as `` the bedpost queen '' , though more often she is called `` Black Lady '' . \n * In many decks , the Queen of Clubs holds a flower . She is thus known as the `` flower queen '' , though", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 13, "text": "2" } ], "id": "qb_7950--Standard_52-card_deck.txt", "qid": "qb_7950", "question": "How many Jokers are in a standard pack of cards?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Derby Stakes , popularly known as The Derby , is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies . It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey over a distance of one mile , four furlongs and 10 yards ( 2,423 metres ) , on the first Saturday of June each year . \n \n It is Britain 's richest horse race , and the most prestigious of the five Classics . It is sometimes referred to as the `` Blue Riband '' of the turf . The race serves as the middle leg of the Triple Crown , preceded by the 2000 Guineas and followed by the St Leger , although the feat of winning all three is now rarely attempted . The name `` Derby '' has become synonymous with great races all over the world , and as such has been borrowed many times , notably by the Kentucky Derby . However , the Epsom Derby is the original . It is one of Britain 's great national events transcending its own field of interest , and has a huge world-wide TV audience . \n \n In Great Britain the name `` Derby '' is pronounced , while in the United States it is , a case of spelling pronunciation . \n \n History \n \n The Derby originated at a celebration following the first running of the Oaks Stakes in 1779 . A new race was planned , and it was decided that it should be named after either the host of the party , the 12th Earl of Derby , or one of his guests , Sir Charles Bunbury . According to legend the decision was made by the toss of a coin , but it is probable that Bunbury , the Steward of the Jockey Club , deferred to his host . The inaugural running of the Derby was held on Thursday 4 May 1780 . It was won by Diomed , a colt owned by Sir Charles Bunbury , who collected prize money of £1,065 15s . The first four runnings were contested over 1 mile , but this was amended to the current distance of 1½ miles in 1784 . Lord Derby achieved his first success in the event in 1787 , with a horse called Sir Peter Teazle . \n \n The starting point of the race was moved twice during the 19th century . The first move , suggested by Lord George Bentinck , was in 1848 , and the second was in 1872 . It was discovered in 1991 that the exact length of the race was one mile , four furlongs and 10 yards . \n \n Initially the Derby was run on a Thursday in late May or early June depending on when Easter occurred . In 1838 the race was moved to a Wednesday to fit in with the railways ' time tables , but was still run on different dates depending on Easter . In the 20th century , the race was run on the first Wednesday in June from 1900 until 1995 apart from : 1915 to 1918 , ( during the First World War ) when it was on a Tuesday ; during the Second World War , from 1942 until 1945 the race was run on a Saturday as it was in the post-war years of 1947 to 1950 and again in 1953 . In 1995 the day was changed from the first Wednesday in June to the first Saturday , and since then all the races have taken place on that day . \n \n The Derby has been run at Epsom in all years except during the world wars . From 1915 to 1918 and from 1940 to 1945 the Derby was run at Newmarket . These races are known as the 'New Derby ' . \n \n The Derby has inspired many similar events around the world . European variations include the Derby Italiano , the Deutsches Derby , the Irish Derby and the Prix du Jockey Club ( popularly known in the British Isles as the `` French Derby '' ) . Other national equivalents include the Australian Derby , the New Zealand Derby and the Tokyo Yūshun . Several races in the United States include the `` Derby '' name , including the Kentucky Derby . \n \n Sponsorship \n \n Investec became the sponsor of the Derby in 2009 , and the current sponsorship deal runs until 2022 . The race was previously backed by Ever Ready ( 1984–94 ) and Vodafone ( 1995–2008 ) . \n \n Epsom Fair \n \n For many years the Derby was run on a Wednesday or a Thursday and on", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "wh_1757--Epsom_Derby.txt", "qid": "wh_1757", "question": "What was the name of the horse ridden by Herbert Jones that trampled and killed suffragette Emily Davison during the 1913 Derby?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Girls Aloud was an English-Irish pop girl group , which was created through the ITV talent show Popstars : The Rivals in 2002 . The group comprised singers Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle , Sarah Harding , Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh . The group achieved a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles in the United Kingdom , including four number ones . They also achieved seven certified albums , of which two reached number one . They have been nominated for five Brit Awards , winning the 2009 Best Single for `` The Promise '' . \n \n The group 's musical style was pop , but throughout their career they had experimented with electropop and dance-pop . Girls Aloud 's collaborations with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim , due to an innovative approach to mainstream pop music . The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success , amassing a fortune of £30 million by May 2010 . Guinness World Records lists them as `` Most Successful Reality TV Group '' in the 2007 edition . They also hold the record for `` Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group '' in the 2008 edition , and are credited again for `` Most Successful Reality TV Group '' in the 2011 edition . The group was also named the United Kingdom 's biggest selling girl group of the 21st century , with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone . In March 2013 , after the Ten : The Hits Tour , the group announced their split . \n \n History \n \n 2002 : Popstars : The Rivals \n \n The group Girls Aloud was formed on 30 November 2002 , in front of millions of viewers on ITV 's Popstars : The Rivals . The concept of the programme , hosted by Big Brother presenter Davina McCall was to produce a boyband and a girlgroup who would be `` rivals '' and compete for the 2002 Christmas number one single . Following the initial success of Hear'Say ( winners of the original Popstars show ) , several thousand applicants attended auditions across the United Kingdom in hope of being selected . Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman , Louis Walsh and Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell . However , two of these were disqualified before the live shows began : Hazel Kaneswaran was found to be too old to participate while Nicola Ward refused to sign the contract , claiming the pay the group would receive was too low . Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts , who had made it into the final fifteen but not the final ten , were chosen as their replacements . \n \n During October and November , the finalists took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances ( alternating week-by-week between the girls and boys ) . Each week the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated , until the final line-ups of the groups emerged . The five girls who made it into the group were ( in the order announced by the host ) Cheryl Tweedy , Nicola Roberts , Nadine Coyle , Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding ; Javine Hylton missed out on a place in the group , despite previous expectations that she would be placed in the line-up . The group was named Girls Aloud and were managed by Louis Walsh until 2005 when Hilary Shaw replaced him . \n \n The new group competed with the boys ' winning group , One True Voice to have 2002 's Christmas number one single . Girls Aloud won the battle with their single `` Sound of the Underground '' , produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania . The song spent four consecutive weeks at number one and was certified platinum in March 2003 . The song received critical acclaim ; Alexis Petridis of The Guardian stated that `` it proved a first : it was a reality pop record that did n't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture '' . \n \n 2002–05 : Sound of the Underground and What Will the Neighbours Say ? \n \n After the success of their first single `` Sound of the Underground '' , Girls Aloud spent five months recording the follow-up single and their debut album . Sound of the Underground was completed in April 2003 and released the following month . The album entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry . The second", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qz_2506--Girls_Aloud.txt", "qid": "qz_2506", "question": "What are the five first names of the members of the pop group Girls Aloud?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The British Empire comprised the dominions , colonies , protectorates , mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom . It originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries . At its height , it was the largest empire in history and , for over a century , was the foremost global power . By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people , one-fifth of the world 's population at the time , and covered more than 13000000 sqmi , almost a quarter of the Earth 's total land area . As a result , its political , legal , linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread . At the peak of its power , the phrase `` the empire on which the sun never sets '' was often used to describe the British Empire , because its expanse around the globe meant that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories . \n \n During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries , Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe , and in the process established large overseas empires . Envious of the great wealth these empires generated , England , France , and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia . A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England ( and then , following union between England and Scotland in 1707 , Great Britain ) the dominant colonial power in North America and India . \n \n The independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies . British attention soon turned towards Asia , Africa , and the Pacific . After the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars ( 1792–1815 ) , Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century ( with London the largest city in the world from about 1830 ) . Unchallenged at sea , British dominance was later described as Pax Britannica ( `` British Peace '' ) , a period of relative peace in Europe and the world ( 1815–1914 ) during which the British Empire became the global hegemon and adopted the role of global policeman . In the early 19th century , the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain ; by the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851 the country was described as the `` workshop of the world '' . The British Empire expanded to include India , large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world . Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies , British dominance of much of world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many regions , such as Asia and Latin America . Domestically , political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies and a gradual widening of the voting franchise . During this century , the population increased at a dramatic rate , accompanied by rapid urbanisation , causing significant social and economic stresses . To seek new markets and sources of raw materials , the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt , South Africa , and elsewhere . Canada , Australia , and New Zealand became self-governing dominions . \n \n By the start of the 20th century , Germany and the United States challenged Britain 's economic lead . Subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War , during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire . The conflict placed enormous strain on the military , financial and manpower resources of Britain . Although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I , Britain was no longer the world 's pre-eminent industrial or military power . In the Second World War , Britain 's colonies in South-East Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan . Despite the final victory of Britain and its allies , the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire . India , Britain 's most valuable and populous possession , achieved independence as part of a larger decolonisation movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire . The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire . Fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty . After independence , many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations ,", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_77--British_Empire.txt", "qid": "qw_77", "question": "In 1956, British and French forces invaded a country in North Africa due to a dispute over which engineering work?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( Russian : Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский ; Polish : Feliks Dzierżyński ; - 20 July 1926 ) , nicknamed Iron Felix , was a Soviet statesman of Polish descent and a prominent member of revolutionary movements . His party pseudonyms were Yatsek , Yakub , Pereplyotchik ( meaning `` bookbinder '' ) , Franek , Astronom , Yuzef and Domanski . \n \n He was a member of several revolutionary committees such as the Polish Revkom as well as several Russian and Soviet official positions . Dzerzhinsky is best known for establishing and developing the Soviet secret police forces , serving as their director from 1917 to 1926 . Later he was a member of the Soviet government heading several commissariats , while being the chief of the Soviet secret police . The Cheka soon became notorious for mass summary executions , performed especially during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War . \n \n Early life \n \n Felix Dzerzhinsky was born on 11 September 1877 at the Dzerzhinovo family estate , about 15 km away from a small town of Ivyanets , in the Minsk Region , a part of the Russian Empire ( today Belarus ) . His aristocratic family belonged to the former Polish szlachta ( nobility ) , of the Sulima coat of arms . As a child , before taking to Marxist ideology , Felix considered becoming a Jesuit priest . \n His sister Wanda died at the age of 12 , when she was accidentally shot with a hunting rifle on the family estate by one of the brothers . At the time of the incident , there were conflicting claims as to whether Felix or his brother Stanisław was responsible for the accident . \n \n His father , Edmund-Rufin Dzierżyński , graduated from the Saint Petersburg University in 1863 and moved to Wilno , where he worked as a home teacher for a professor of Saint Petersburg University named Januszewski and eventually married Januszewski 's daughter Helena Ignatievna . In 1868 , after a short stint in Kherson gymnasium , he worked as a gymnasium teacher of physics and mathematics at the gymnasiums of Taganrog , particularly the Chekhov Gymnasium . In 1875 Edmund Dzierżyński retired due to health conditions and moved with his family to his estate near Ivyanets and Rakaw , Russian Empire . In 1882 Felix 's father died from tuberculosis . \n \n As a youngster Dzerzhinsky became fluent in four languages : Polish , Russian , Yiddish , and Latin . He attended the Wilno gymnasium from 1887 to 1895 . One of the older students at this gymnasium was his future arch-enemy , Józef Piłsudski . Years later , as Marshal of Poland , Piłsudski recalled that Dzerzhinsky ... `` distinguished himself as a student with delicacy and modesty . He was rather tall , thin and demure , making the impression of an ascetic with the face of an icon ... Tormented or not , this is an issue history will clarify ; in any case this person did not know how to lie . '' School documents show that Dzerzhinsky attended his first year in school twice , while his eighth year he was not able to finish . Dzerzhinsky received a school diploma which stated : `` Dzerzhinsky Feliks , who is 18 years of age , of Catholic faith , along with a satisfactory attention and satisfactory diligence showed the following successes in sciences , namely : Divine law— '' good '' ; Logic , Latin , Algebra , Geometry , Mathematical geography , Physics , History ( of Russia ) , French— '' satisfactory '' ; Russian and Greek— '' unsatisfactory '' . \n \n Political affiliations and arrests \n \n Two months before graduating , Dzerzhinsky was expelled from the gymnasium for `` revolutionary activity '' . He had joined a Marxist group , the Union of Workers ( Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego `` SDKP '' ) , in 1895 . In late April 1896 , he was one of 15 delegates at the first congress of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party ( LSDP ) . In 1897 , he attended the second congress of the LSDP , where it rejected independence in favor of national autonomy . On 18 March 1897 , he was sent to Kaunas , to take advantage of the arrest of the Polish Socialist Party ( PPS ) branch . He worked in a book-binding factory and set up an illegal press . As an organizer of a shoemaker 's strike , Dzerzhinsky was arrested for `` criminal agitation among the Kaunas workers '' and the police files from this time state that : `` Felix Dzerzhinsky , considering his views", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 785, "text": "cheka" } ], "id": "qw_11210--Felix_Dzerzhinsky.txt", "qid": "qw_11210", "question": "What was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organisations, created by a decree issued on 20 December 1917 by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by Felix Dzerzhinsky?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin ( ; 9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968 ) was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut . He was the first human to journey into outer space , when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961 . \n \n Gagarin became an international celebrity , and was awarded many medals and titles , including Hero of the Soviet Union , the nation 's highest honour . Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight , but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission ( which ended in a fatal crash ) . Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow , which was later named after him . Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed . The Yuri Gagarin Medal is awarded in his honor . \n \n Early life and education \n \n Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino , near Gzhatsk ( renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death ) , on 9 March 1934 . His parents worked on a collective farm : Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and bricklayer , and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a milkmaid . Yuri was the third of four children : older brother Valentin , older sister Zoya , and younger brother Boris . \n \n Like millions of people in the Soviet Union , the Gagarin family suffered during Nazi occupation in World War II . Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow , and an officer took over the Gagarin residence . The family was allowed to build a mud hut , approximately 3 by inside , on the land behind their house , where they spent a year and nine months until the end of the occupation . His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 , and did not return until after the war in 1945 . In 1946 , the family moved to Gzhatsk , where Gagarin continued his secondary education . \n \n At the age of 16 in 1950 , Gagarin entered into an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy Steel Plant near Moscow , and also enrolled at a local `` young workers '' school for seventh grade evening classes . After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school ( with honours in moldmaking and foundry-work ) , he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School , where he studied tractors . While in Saratov , Gagarin volunteered for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet at a local flying club , where he learned to fly — at first in a biplane and later in a Yak-18 trainer . He also earned extra money as a part-time dock laborer on the Volga River . \n \n Soviet Air Force \n \n After graduating from the technical school in 1955 , the Soviet Army drafted Gagarin . On a recommendation , Gagarin was sent to the First Chkalov Air Force Pilot 's School in Orenburg , and soloed in a MiG-15 in 1957 . While there he met Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva , a medical technician graduate of the Orenburg Medical School . They were married on 7 November 1957 , the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg . \n \n Post-graduation , he was assigned to the Luostari airbase in Murmansk Oblast , close to the Norwegian border , where terrible weather made flying risky . He became a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces on 5 November 1957 ; on 6 November 1959 he received the rank of Senior Lieutenant . \n \n Soviet space program \n \n Selection and training \n \n In 1960 , after much searching and a selection process , Yuri Gagarin was chosen with 19 other pilots for the Soviet space program . Gagarin was further selected for an elite training group known as the Sochi Six , from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen . Gagarin and other prospective candidates were subjected to experiments designed to test physical and psychological endurance ; he also underwent training for the upcoming flight . Out of the twenty selected , the eventual choices for the first launch were Gagarin and Gherman Titov due to their performance during training sessions as well as their physical characteristics — space was limited in the small Vostok cockpit , and both men were rather short . Gagarin was tall . \n \n In August 1960 , when Gagarin was one of 20 possible candidates , a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows : \n \n Gagarin", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 18, "text": "gagarin" } ], "id": "qf_3481--Yuri_Gagarin.txt", "qid": "qf_3481", "question": "Who flew in Vostok 1?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Mauritius ( ; ) , officially the Republic of Mauritius ( ) , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2000 km off the southeast coast of the African continent . The country includes the island of Mauritius , Rodrigues [ 560 km east ] , and the outer islands ( Agaléga , St. Brandon and two disputed territories ) . The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues ( 172 km southwest ) form part of the Mascarene Islands , along with nearby Réunion , a French overseas department . The area of the country is 2,040 km2 . The capital and largest city is Port Louis . \n \n The island of Mauritius was visited during the Middle Ages by the Arabs and then by the Portuguese , who named it Dina Arobi and Cirne , respectively . The island was uninhabited until the Dutch Republic established a colony in 1638 , with the Dutch naming the island after Prince Maurice van Nassau . The Dutch colony was abandoned in 1710 , and , five years later , the island became a French colony and was named Isle de France . Due to its strategic position , Mauritius was known as the `` star and key '' of the Indian Ocean . \n \n Mauritius became an important base on the trade routes from Europe to the East before the opening of the Suez Canal and was involved in the long power struggle between the French and the British . The French won the Battle of Grand Port , their only naval victory over the British during these wars , but they could not prevent the British from landing at Cap Malheureux three months later . They formally surrendered on the fifth day of the invasion , 3 December 1810 , on terms allowing settlers to keep their land and property , the use of the French language , and the law of France in criminal and civil matters . Under British rule , the island became the Empire 's main sugar-producing colony . In the 20th century , movements to improve labour laws and introduce political reforms began to be organized , a process that accelerated after World War II . The country became an independent state on 12 March 1968 , following the adoption of a new constitution . In 1992 , Mauritius became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations . \n \n The sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius and the United Kingdom ( UK ) . The UK excised the archipelago from Mauritian territory prior to Mauritian independence in 1965 . It gradually depopulated the archipelago 's indigenous population and leased its biggest island , Diego Garcia , to the United States . Mauritius also claims sovereignty over Tromelin Island from France . \n \n The people of Mauritius are multiethnic , multi-religious , multicultural and multilingual . The island 's government is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system , and Mauritius is highly ranked for democracy and for economic and political freedom . Along with the other Mascarene Islands , Mauritius is known for its varied flora and fauna , with many species endemic to the island . The island is widely known as the only known home of the dodo , which , along with several other avian species , was made extinct by human activities relatively shortly after the island 's settlement . \n \n Etymology \n \n The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502 . From this , it appears that Mauritius was first named Dina Arobi during the Middle Ages by Arab sailors , the first people to visit the island . \n \n In 1507 Portuguese sailors visited the uninhabited island . The island appears with a Portuguese name Cirne on early Portuguese maps , probably from the name of a ship in the 1507 expedition . Another Portuguese sailor , Dom Pedro Mascarenhas , gave the name Mascarenes to the Archipelago . \n \n In 1598 a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck landed at Grand Port and named the island Mauritius , in honour of Prince Maurice van Nassau , stadholder of the Dutch Republic . Later the island became a French colony and was renamed Isle de France . On 3 December 1810 the French surrendered the island during the Napoleonic Wars . Under British rule , the island 's name reverted to Mauritius . Mauritius is also commonly known as Maurice and Île Maurice in French , Moris in Mauritian Creole . \n \n History \n \n The island of Mauritius was uninhabited before its first recorded visit", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 988, "text": "france" } ], "id": "odql_4186--Mauritius.txt", "qid": "odql_4186", "question": "Which colonial power governed Mauritius before the British?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "A symbol is a person or a concept that represents , stands for or suggests another idea , visual image , belief , action or material entity . Symbols take the form of words , sounds , gestures , ideas or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs . For example , a red octagon may be a symbol for `` STOP '' . On a map , a blue line might represent a river . Numerals are symbols for numbers . Alphabetic letters may be symbols for sounds . Personal names are symbols representing individuals . A red rose may symbolize love and compassion . The variable ' x ' , in a mathematical equation , may symbolize the position of a particle in space . \n \n In cartography , an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map . \n \n Etymology \n \n The word derives from the Greek symbolon ( σύμβολον ) meaning token or watchword . It is an amalgam of syn- `` together '' + bole `` a throwing , a casting , the stroke of a missile , bolt , beam . '' The sense evolution in Greek is from `` throwing things together '' to `` contrasting '' to `` comparing '' to `` token used in comparisons to determine if something is genuine . '' Hence , `` outward sign '' of something . The meaning `` something which stands for something else '' was first recorded in 1590 , in Edmund Spenser 's Faerie Queene . \n \n Definitions \n \n In considering the effect of a symbol on the psyche , in his seminal essay The Symbol without Meaning Joseph Campbell proposes the following definition : \n A symbol is an energy evoking , and directing , agent . \n \n Later , expanding on what he means by this definition Campbell says : \n \n `` a symbol , like everything else , shows a double aspect . We must distinguish , therefore between the 'sense ' and the 'meaning ' of the symbol . It seems to me perfectly clear that all the great and little symbolical systems of the past functioned simultaneously on three levels : the corporeal of waking consciousness , the spiritual of dream , and the ineffable of the absolutely unknowable . The term 'meaning ' can refer only to the first two but these , today , are in the charge of science – which is the province as we have said , not of symbols but of signs . The ineffable , the absolutely unknowable , can be only sensed . It is the province of art which is not 'expression ' merely , or even primarily , but a quest for , and formulation of , experience evoking , energy-waking images : yielding what Sir Herbert Read has aptly termed a 'sensuous apprehension of being ' . \n \n Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature , and perennial relevance , of symbols . \n \n `` Concepts and words are symbols , just as visions , rituals , and images are ; so too are the manners and customs of daily life . Through all of these a transcendent reality is mirrored . They are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which , though thus variously expressed , is ineffable , though thus rendered multiform , remains inscrutable . Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth , hence it is delusory to borrow them . Each civilisation , every age , must bring forth its own . '' \n \n In the book Signs and Symbols , it is stated that A symbol ... is a visual image or sign representing an idea -- a deeper indicator of a universal truth . \n \n Symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning.Womack , Mari . Symbols and Meaning : A Concise Introduction . California : AltaMira Press , 2005 . This separates symbols from signs , as signs have only one meaning . \n \n Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture . Thus , symbols carry meanings that depend upon one ’ s cultural background ; in other words , the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned . \n \n Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge . Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we live , thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments . In this way ,", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 26, "text": "c" } ], "id": "dpql_6266--Symbol.txt", "qid": "dpql_6266", "question": "In science, what symbol is normally used for the speed of light?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Mascarpone ( , or ; ) is an Italian cream cheese coagulated by the addition of certain acidic substances such as lemon juice , vinegar , citric acid or acetic acid . It is recognized as a ' ( traditional regional food product ) . \n \n Production process \n \n After denaturation , the whey is removed without pressing or aging . Mascarpone may also be made using cream and the residual tartaric acid from the bottom or sides of barreled wine . \n \n Mascarpone is milky-white in color and is easy to spread . It is used in various Lombardy dishes , and is considered a speciality in the region . It is one of the main ingredients in the modern Italian dessert known as tiramisu , and is sometimes used instead of butter or Parmesan cheese to thicken and enrich risotto . \n \n Origins \n \n Mascarpone originated in the area between Lodi and Abbiategrasso , Italy , southwest of Milan , probably in the late 16th or early 17th century . The name is popularly held to derive from mascarpa , an unrelated milk product made from the whey of stracchino ( a young , barely aged cheese ) , or from mascarpia , a word in the local dialect for ricotta . Ricotta , unlike mascarpone , is made from whey .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 664, "text": "tiramisu" } ], "id": "sfq_13050--Mascarpone.txt", "qid": "sfq_13050", "question": "\"Which dish, its name meaning literally \"\"pick me up\"\", comprises among other things, ladyfingers, egg yolks and mascarpone?\"" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Barrow Association Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Barrow-in-Furness , Cumbria , England . The club participates in the National League , the fifth tier of the English league system . Barrow play their home games at Holker Street , ( currently sponsored as the `` Furness Building Society Stadium '' ) , close to the town centre and approximately 547 yds ( 0.5 km ) from Barrow Railway Station . \n \n The club spent over fifty years in the Football League between 1921 and 1972 , achieving promotion to Division 3 by finishing 3rd in the Football League Fourth Division in the 1966–67 season . The highest league period in the club 's history was to be short-lived and a return to Division 4 came after relegation in 1969–70 season . Fortunes never improved and at the end of the 1971–72 season , after an unsuccessful bid for re-election , Barrow were voted out of the Football League , to be replaced by Hereford United of the Southern League . Barrow have since spent their time in the top two levels of non-league football , having been promoted five times to the Conference ( of which they were a founder member ) , most recently as Conference North champions in 2014–15 . In addition they have twice won non-league football 's most prestigious cup competition , the FA Trophy – in 1990 and 2010 , becoming the only club to have won the Trophy at both old and new Wembley Stadium . \n \n The club colours are blue and white , though the combination of these has varied over time , leading to their nickname `` The Bluebirds '' . Attendances at the club 's Holker Street ground vary – the home record of 16,874 was set against Swansea Town in the FA Cup Third Round in 1954 – but during the 1990s and 2000s the average remained consistently between 800 and 1,500 . Average attendance stood at 1456 during the 2014–15 season . Barrow are owned by Dallas-based businessman Paul Casson , who purchased the club for £600,000 in September 2014 . \n \n History \n \n Early years \n \n Barrow were founded on 16 July 1901 at the old Drill Hall ( later the Palais ) in The Strand and played initially at The Strawberry Ground , before moving to Ainslie Street and then on to Little Park , Roose . In 1903 Barrow was elected to Division Two of the Lancashire Combination and in 1908 the club won promotion to the first division . In 1909 , Barrow moved once more to Holker Street , the stadium that they still occupy today . The club remained in the Lancashire Combination for up to and after World War I , winning the league in the 1920–21 season . This victory preceded the formation of the Football League Third Division North in the 1921–22 season , and Barrow became one of the league 's founder members . \n \n Football League years \n \n In their early years as a league club , Barrow were as notable for their absence of success as any achievements . Their highest finish before World War II was 5th in the 1931–32 season.In 1933–34 season Barrow finished in 8th position . Barrow remained in the lowest tier of the Football League when football resumed after the war , and were founder members of Football League Division Four in 1958–59 . The 1950s saw greater success in the FA Cup , however . The club 's record crowd of 16,874 watched Barrow draw 2–2 with Swansea Town in the 1953–54 FA Cup . A few years later this was followed by a Third Round tie in the 1958–59 competition against the then Football League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers at Holker Street . Wolves , captained by Billy Wright , won 4–2 . \n \n The late 1960s finally saw Barrow win promotion , after a third place finish under the management of Don McEvoy in the 1966–67 Fourth Division.Yelland , Phil [ http : //www.barrowafc.com/club/history4.php Chapter 4 : To Division Three And Back To Non League ] A Brief History of Barrow AFC . Retrieved 02–05–11 . McEvoy 's successor , Colin Appleton , lead Barrow to their highest ever final league position of eighth in the Football League Third Division the following season . The club topped the Third Division league table for one day during the season , the highest position that they have ever held . During this period defender Brian Arrowsmith became the player to make the most Football League appearances for Barrow . Barrow remained in the third flight of English football for another two seasons before returning to", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 957, "text": "hereford" } ], "id": "sfq_21318--Barrow_A.F.C..txt", "qid": "sfq_21318", "question": "Which football club replaced Barrow in the football league after the 1971-1972 season?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Princess Margaret , Countess of Snowdon , ( Margaret Rose ; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002 ) , was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth , and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II . \n \n Margaret spent much of her childhood years in the company of her older sister and parents . Her life changed dramatically in 1936 , when her paternal uncle , King Edward VIII , abdicated to marry the twice divorced American Wallis Simpson . Margaret 's father became King , and her older sister became heir presumptive , with Margaret second in line to the throne . During World War II , the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle , despite suggestions to evacuate them to Canada . During the war years , Margaret was considered too young to perform any official duties , and instead continued her education . \n \n After the war , Margaret fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend . In 1952 , Margaret 's father died , her sister became sovereign , and Townsend divorced his first wife . Early the following year , he proposed to Margaret . Many in the government felt that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen 's 22-year-old sister , and the Church of England refused to countenance a marriage to a divorced man . Margaret eventually abandoned her plans with him . In 1960 , she accepted the proposal of the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones , who was created Earl of Snowdon by the Queen . The couple had two children ; they later divorced in 1978 . \n \n Margaret was often viewed as a controversial member of the royal family . Her divorce earned her negative publicity , and she was romantically associated with several men . Her health gradually deteriorated in the final two decades of her life . A heavy smoker for most of her adult life , she had a lung operation in 1985 , a bout of pneumonia in 1993 , and at least three strokes between 1998 and 2001 . She died at King Edward VII Hospital on 9 February 2002 . \n \n Early life \n \n Margaret was born Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Rose of York on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland , her mother 's ancestral home , and was affectionately known as ‘ Margot ’ within the royal family . The Home Secretary , J. R. Clynes , was present to verify the birth . The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered 13 in the parish register . At the time of her birth , she was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne . Her father was Prince Albert , Duke of York ( later George VI ) , the second son of King George V and Queen Mary . As a grandchild of the Sovereign in the male line , Margaret Rose was styled Her Royal Highness from birth . Her mother was Elizabeth , Duchess of York , the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl and the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne . The Duchess of York originally wanted the names Ann Margaret , as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter : `` I am very anxious to call her Ann Margaret , as I think Ann of York sounds pretty , & Elizabeth and Ann go so well together . '' King George V disliked the name Ann , but approved of the alternative `` Margaret Rose '' . She was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 30 October 1930 by Cosmo Lang , the Archbishop of Canterbury . Her godparents were : the Prince of Wales ( her paternal uncle , for whom his brother the Prince George stood proxy ) ; Princess Ingrid of Sweden ( her paternal cousin , for whom another cousin Lady Patricia Ramsay stood proxy ) ; the Princess Victoria ( her paternal great-aunt ) ; the Lady Rose Leveson-Gower ( her maternal aunt ) ; and the Hon David Bowes-Lyon ( her maternal uncle ) . \n \n Margaret 's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks ' residences at 145 Piccadilly ( their town house in London ) or Royal Lodge in Windsor . The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family : father , mother and children , but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until Margaret 's first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George 's wedding in 1934 . She was educated alongside her sister , Princess Elizabeth , by their Scottish governess Marion Crawford .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 53, "text": "rose" } ], "id": "qb_6390--Princess_Margaret,_Countess_of_Snowdon.txt", "qid": "qb_6390", "question": "Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, had what middle name?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Mungo Park ( 11 September 1771 – 1806 ) was a Scottish explorer of West Africa . He was the first Westerner known to have travelled to the central portion of the Niger River . \n \n Early life \n \n Mungo Park was born in Selkirkshire , Scotland , at Foulshiels on the Yarrow Water , near Selkirk , on a tenant farm which his father rented from the Duke of Buccleuch . He was the seventh in a family of thirteen . Although tenant farmers , the Parks were relatively well-off . They were able to pay for Park to receive a good education , and Park 's father died leaving property valued at \n £3,000 ( ) . His parents had originally intended him for the Church . \n \n He was educated at home before attending Selkirk grammar school . At the age of fourteen , he was apprenticed to Thomas Anderson , a surgeon in Selkirk . During his apprenticeship , Park became friends with Anderson 's son Alexander and was introduced to Anderson 's daughter Allison , who would later become his wife . \n \n In October 1788 , Park enrolled at the University of Edinburgh , attending for four sessions studying medicine and botany . Notably , during his time at university , he spent a year in the natural history course taught by Professor John Walker . After completing his studies , he spent a summer in the Scottish Highlands , engaged in botanical fieldwork with his brother-in-law , James Dickson , a gardener and seed merchant in Covent Garden . In 1788 Dickson and Sir Joseph Banks had founded the London Linnean Society . \n \n In 1791 , Park completed his medical studies at University of Edinburgh . Through a recommendation by Banks , he obtained the post of assistant surgeon on board the East India Company 's ship Worcester . In February 1793 the Worcester sailed to Benkulen in Sumatra . Before departing , Park wrote his friend Alexander Anderson in terms that reflect his Calvinist upbringing : \n \n My hope is now approaching to a certainty . If I be deceived , may God alone put me right , for I would rather die in the delusion than wake to all the joys of earth . May the Holy Spirit dwell in your heart , my dear friend , and if I ever see my native land again , may I rather see the green sod on your grave than see you anything but a Christian . \n \n On his return in 1794 , Park gave a lecture to the Linnaean Society , describing eight new Sumatran fish . The paper was not published until three years later . He also presented Banks with various rare Sumatran plants . \n \n First journey \n \n On 26 September 1794 Mungo Park offered his services to the African Association , then looking for a successor to Major Daniel Houghton , who had been sent in 1790 to discover the course of the Niger River and had died in the Sahara . Supported by Sir Joseph Banks , Park was selected . \n \n On 22 May 1795 , Park left Portsmouth , England , on the brig Endeavour , a vessel trading to the Gambia for beeswax and ivory . \n \n On 21 June 1795 , he reached the Gambia River and ascended it 200 mi to a British trading station named Pisania . On 2 December , accompanied by two local guides , he started for the unknown interior . He chose the route crossing the upper Senegal basin and through the semi-desert region of Kaarta . The journey was full of difficulties , and at Ludamar he was imprisoned by a Moorish chief for four months . On 1 July 1796 , he escaped , alone and with nothing but his horse and a pocket compass , and on the 21st reached the long-sought Niger River at Ségou , being the first European to do so . He followed the river downstream 80 mi to Silla , where he was obliged to turn back , lacking the resources to go further . \n \n On his return journey , begun on 29 July , he took a route more to the south than that originally followed , keeping close to the Niger River as far as Bamako , thus tracing its course for some 300 mi . At Kamalia he fell ill , and owed his life to the kindness of a man in whose house he lived for seven months . Eventually he reached Pisania again on 10 June 1797 , returning to Scotland by way of Antigua on 22 December .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 0, "text": "mungo park" } ], "id": "odql_9410--Mungo_Park_(explorer).txt", "qid": "odql_9410", "question": "Which British explorer was the first westerner to have recorded seeing the River Niger?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The following is a list of episodes for the television show Little House on the Prairie , an American Western drama about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove , Minnesota , in the 1870s and 1880s . The show is an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder 's series of Little House books . \n \n The regular series was preceded by the two-hour pilot movie , which first aired on March 30 , 1974 . The series began on the NBC network on September 11 , 1974 , and ended on May 10 , 1982 . \n \n The majority of the episodes run approximately 50 minutes ( not counting commercials , they have since been edited for syndication to accommodate more commercial time ) . Expanded episodes ( 90 minutes to 2 hours ) have been indicated as such ; many of these may not currently be shown in determined areas due to their length . \n \n Series overview \n \n Pilot movie \n \n Season 1 ( 1974–1975 ) \n \n * Caroline ( Karen Grassle ) , Laura ( Melissa Gilbert ) , and Mary ( Melissa Sue Anderson ) appear in all 24 episodes \n * Charles ( Michael Landon ) appears in 23 episodes \n * Carrie ( Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush ) appears in 18 episodes \n \n Season 2 ( 1975–1976 ) \n \n Season 3 ( 1976–1977 ) \n \n Season 4 ( 1977–1978 ) \n \n Season 5 ( 1978–1979 ) \n \n Season 6 ( 1979–1980 ) \n \n 24 episodes , including a special ( # 123 ) format from three episodes \n \n Season 7 ( 1980–1981 ) \n \n Season 8 ( 1981–1982 ) \n \n This is Michael Landon and Karen Grassle 's final season , and also Victor French 's return season . \n \n Season 9 : `` Little House : A New Beginning '' ( 1982–1983 ) \n \n When Michael Landon decided to leave the show , it was renamed , the focus was put on the characters of Laura and Almanzo , and more recurring characters were added . Landon did , however , stay on as executive producer , and wrote and directed occasional episodes as well . \n \n Post-series movie specials ( 1983–1984 ) \n \n The first special ( not counting the pilot movie ) was a three-hour reminiscent look-back in season six called The Little House Years .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 238, "text": "ingal" } ], "id": "wh_3024--List_of_Little_House_on_the_Prairie_episodes.txt", "qid": "wh_3024", "question": "With Michael Landon and Karen Grassle as the mother and father, what was the surname of the main family in the TV series Litle House on the Prairie?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy , normally from the Sun , into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the organisms ' activities ( energy transformation ) . This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules , such as sugars , which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis , from the Greek φῶς , phōs , `` light '' , and σύνθεσις , synthesis , `` putting together '' . In most cases , oxygen is also released as a waste product . Most plants , most algae , and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis ; such organisms are called photoautotrophs . Photosynthesis maintains atmospheric oxygen levels and supplies all of the organic compounds and most of the energy necessary for life on Earth . \n \n Although photosynthesis is performed differently by different species , the process always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called reaction centres that contain green chlorophyll pigments . In plants , these proteins are held inside organelles called chloroplasts , which are most abundant in leaf cells , while in bacteria they are embedded in the plasma membrane . In these light-dependent reactions , some energy is used to strip electrons from suitable substances , such as water , producing oxygen gas . The hydrogen freed by water splitting is used in the creation of two further compounds : reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate ( NADPH ) and adenosine triphosphate ( ATP ) , the `` energy currency '' of cells . \n \n In plants , algae and cyanobacteria , sugars are produced by a subsequent sequence of light-independent reactions called the Calvin cycle , but some bacteria use different mechanisms , such as the reverse Krebs cycle . In the Calvin cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is incorporated into already existing organic carbon compounds , such as ribulose bisphosphate ( RuBP ) . Using the ATP and NADPH produced by the light-dependent reactions , the resulting compounds are then reduced and removed to form further carbohydrates , such as glucose . \n \n The first photosynthetic organisms probably evolved early in the evolutionary history of life and most likely used reducing agents such as hydrogen or hydrogen sulfide , rather than water , as sources of electrons . Cyanobacteria appeared later ; the excess oxygen they produced contributed to the oxygen catastrophe , which rendered the evolution of complex life possible . Today , the average rate of energy capture by photosynthesis globally is approximately 130 terawatts , which is about three times the current power consumption of human civilization . \n Photosynthetic organisms also convert around 100–115 thousand million metric tonnes of carbon into biomass per year . \n \n Overview \n \n Photosynthetic organisms are photoautotrophs , which means that they are able to synthesize food directly from carbon dioxide and water using energy from light . However , not all organisms that use light as a source of energy carry out photosynthesis , since photoheterotrophs use organic compounds , rather than carbon dioxide , as a source of carbon . In plants , algae and cyanobacteria , photosynthesis releases oxygen . This is called oxygenic photosynthesis . Although there are some differences between oxygenic photosynthesis in plants , algae , and cyanobacteria , the overall process is quite similar in these organisms . However , there are some types of bacteria that carry out anoxygenic photosynthesis . These consume carbon dioxide but do not release oxygen . \n \n Carbon dioxide is converted into sugars in a process called carbon fixation . Carbon fixation is an endothermic redox reaction , so photosynthesis needs to supply both a source of energy to drive this process , and the electrons needed to convert carbon dioxide into a carbohydrate via a reduction reaction . The addition of electrons to a chemical species is called a reduction reaction . In general outline and in effect , photosynthesis is the opposite of cellular respiration , in which glucose and other compounds are oxidized to produce carbon dioxide and water , and to release chemical energy ( an exothermic reaction ) to drive the organism 's metabolism . The two processes , of reduction of carbon dioxide to carbohydrate and then the later oxidation of the carbohydrate , take place through a different sequence of chemical reactions and in different cellular compartments . \n \n The general equation for photosynthesis as first proposed by Cornelius van Niel is therefore : \n CO2 + 2H2A + photons → [ ​CH2O​ ] + 2A + H2O \n carbon dioxide + electron donor + light energy → carbohydrate + oxidized electron donor + water \n \n Since water is used", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 496, "text": "oxygen" } ], "id": "qw_15350--Photosynthesis.txt", "qid": "qw_15350", "question": "What is the main product of photosynthesis in plants?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962 . The first settled line-up consisted of Brian Jones ( guitar , harmonica ) , Ian Stewart ( piano ) , Mick Jagger ( lead vocals , harmonica ) , Keith Richards ( guitar ) , Bill Wyman ( bass ) and Charlie Watts ( drums ) . Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as occasional pianist until his death in 1985 . Jones departed the band less than a month prior to his death in 1969 , having already been replaced by Mick Taylor , who remained until 1975 . Subsequently , Ronnie Wood has been on guitar in tandem with Richards . Following Wyman 's departure in 1993 , Darryl Jones has been the main bassist . Other notable keyboardists for the band have included Nicky Hopkins , active from 1967 to 1982 ; Billy Preston through the mid 1970s ( most prominent on Black and Blue ) and Chuck Leavell , active since 1982 . The band was first led by Jones but after teaming as the band 's songwriters , Jagger and Richards assumed de facto leadership . \n \n The Rolling Stones were in the vanguard of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964–65 . At first noted for their longish hair as much as their music , the band are identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s . Critic Sean Egan states that within a year of the release of their 1964 debut album , they `` were being perceived by the youth of Britain and then the world as representatives of opposition to an old , cruel order—the antidote to a class-bound , authoritarian culture . '' They were instrumental in making blues a major part of rock and roll and of changing the international focus of blues culture to the less sophisticated blues typified by Chess Records artists such as Muddy Waters — writer of `` Rollin ' Stone '' , after which the band is named . After a short period of musical experimentation that culminated with the poorly received and largely psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request ( 1967 ) , the group returned to its bluesy roots with Beggars ' Banquet ( 1968 ) which—along with its follow-ups , Let It Bleed ( 1969 ) , Sticky Fingers ( 1971 ) and Exile on Main St. ( 1972 ) —is generally considered to be the band 's best work and are considered the Rolling Stones ' `` Golden Age '' . It was during this period the band were first introduced on stage as `` The World 's Greatest Rock and Roll Band '' . Musicologist Robert Palmer attributed the `` remarkable endurance '' of the Rolling Stones to being `` rooted in traditional verities , in rhythm-and-blues and soul music '' , while `` more ephemeral pop fashions have come and gone '' . \n \n The band continued to release commercially successful records in the 1970s and sold many albums , with Some Girls ( 1978 ) and Tattoo You ( 1981 ) being their two most sold albums worldwide . In the 1980s , a feud between Jagger and Richards about the band 's musical direction almost caused the band to split but they managed to patch their relationship up and had a big comeback with Steel Wheels ( 1989 ) , which was followed by a big stadium and arena tour . Since the 1990s , new recorded material from the group has been increasingly less well-received and less frequent . Despite this , the Rolling Stones have continued to be a huge attraction on the live circuit , with big stadium tours in the 1990s and 2000s . By 2007 , the band had made what were then four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time ( Voodoo Lounge Tour ( 1994–95 ) , Bridges to Babylon Tour ( 1997–99 ) , Licks Tour ( 2002–03 ) and A Bigger Bang Tour ( 2005–07 ) . \n \n The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 , and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004 . Rolling Stone magazine ranked them fourth on the `` 100 Greatest Artists of All Time '' list , and their estimated album sales are above 250 million . They have released twenty-nine studio albums , eighteen live albums and numerous compilations . Let It Bleed ( 1969 ) was their first of five consecutive number one studio and live albums in the UK . Sticky Fingers ( 1971 ) was the first of eight consecutive number one studio albums in", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 110, "text": "brian jones" } ], "id": "bb_7459--The_Rolling_Stones.txt", "qid": "bb_7459", "question": "Which Rolling Stones guitarist died in a swimming pool in 1969?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "A flood myth or deluge myth is a narrative in which a great flood , usually sent by a deity or deities , destroys civilization , often in an act of divine retribution . Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeval waters found in certain creation myths , as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity , in preparation for rebirth . Most flood myths also contain a culture hero , who `` represents the human craving for life '' . \n \n The flood myth motif is found among many cultures as seen in the Mesopotamian flood stories , Deucalion in Greek mythology , the Genesis flood narrative , the Hindu texts from India , Bergelmir in Norse Mythology , and in the lore of the K'iche ' and Maya peoples in Mesoamerica , the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa tribe of Native Americans in North America , the Muisca people , and Cañari Confederation , in South America . \n \n Mythologies \n \n The Mesopotamian flood stories concern the epics of Ziusudra , Gilgamesh , and Atrahasis . In the Sumerian King List , it relies on the flood motif to divide its history into preflood ( antediluvian ) and postflood periods . The preflood kings had enormous lifespans , whereas postflood lifespans were much reduced . The Sumerian flood myth found in the Deluge tablet was the epic of Ziusudra , who heard the Divine Counsel plan to destroy humanity , in response to which he constructed a vessel that delivered him from great waters . In the Atrahasis version , the flood is a river flood . \n \n In the Genesis mythology of the Hebrew Bible , Yahweh ( God ) decides to flood the earth because of the depth of the sinful state of mankind . Righteous Noah is given instructions to build an ark . When the ark is completed , Noah , his family , and representatives of all the animals of the earth are called upon to enter the ark . When the destructive flood begins , all life outside of the ark perishes . After the waters recede , all those aboard the ark disembark and have God 's promise that he will never judge the earth with a flood again . He gives the rainbow as the sign of this promise . \n \n In the 19th century , Assyriologist George Smith translated the Babylonian account of a great flood . Further discoveries produced several versions of the Mesopotamian flood myth , with the account closest to that in Genesis found in a 700 BCE Babylonian copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh . In this work , the hero , Gilgamesh , meets the immortal man Utnapishtim , and the latter describes how the god Ea instructed him to build a huge vessel in anticipation of a deity-created flood that would destroy the world . The vessel would save Utnapishtim , his family , his friends , and the animals . \n \n In Hindu mythology , texts such as the Satapatha Brahmana and the Puranas story of a great flood , [ http : //www.vedanta-atlanta.org/stories/flood.html The great flood – Hindu style ( Satapatha Brahmana ) ] . wherein the Matsya Avatar of Vishnu warns the first man , Manu , of the impending flood , and also advises him to build a giant boat . \n \n In Plato 's Timaeus , Timaeus says that because the Bronze race of Humans had been making wars constantly Zeus was angered and decided to punish humanity by a flood . Prometheus the Titan knew of this and told the secret to Deucalion , advising him to build an ark in order to be saved . After 9 nights and days the water started receding and the ark was landed at Mount Parnassus . \n \n Claims of historicity \n \n In ancient Mesopotamia , the Sumerian King List reads \n \n Excavations in Iraq have revealed evidence of localized flooding at Shuruppak ( modern Tell Fara , Iraq ) and various other Sumerian cities . A layer of riverine sediments , radiocarbon dated to about 2900 BC , interrupts the continuity of settlement , extending as far north as the city of Kish , which took over hegemony after the flood . Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period ( 3000–2900 BC ) was discovered immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum . Other sites , such as Ur , Kish , Uruk , Lagash , and Ninevah , all present evidence of flooding . However , this evidence comes from different time periods . Geologically , the Shuruppak flood coincides with the 5.9 kiloyear event at the", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 631, "text": "genesis" } ], "id": "qf_2485--Flood_myth.txt", "qid": "qf_2485", "question": "Which book of the Bible contains the story of the Great Flood?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Alanya , formerly Alaiye , is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province on the southern coast of Turkey , in the country 's Mediterranean Region , 138 km east of the city of Antalya . As of Turkey 's 2010 Census , the city had a population of 98,627 , while the district that includes the city and its built-up region had an area of 1,598.51 km2 and 248,286 inhabitants . \n \n Because of its natural strategic position on a small peninsula into the Mediterranean Sea below the Taurus Mountains , Alanya has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean-based empires , including the Ptolemaic , Seleucid , Roman , Byzantine , and Ottoman Empires . Alanya 's greatest political importance came in the Middle Ages , with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm under the rule of Alaeddin Kayqubad I , from whom the city derives its name . His building campaign resulted in many of the city 's landmarks , such as the Kızıl Kule ( Red Tower ) , Tersane ( Shipyard ) , and Alanya Castle . \n \n The Mediterranean climate , natural attractions , and historic heritage make Alanya a popular destination for tourism , and responsible for nine percent of Turkey 's tourism sector and thirty percent of foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey . Tourism has risen since 1958 to become the dominant industry in the city , resulting in a corresponding increase in city population . Warm-weather sporting events and cultural festivals take place annually in Alanya . In 2014 Mayor Adem Murat Yücel , of the Nationalist Movement Party unseated Hasan Sipahioğlu , of the Justice and Development Party , who had previously led the city since 1999 . \n \n Names \n \n The city has changed hands many times over the centuries , and its name has reflected this . Alanya was known in Latin as Coracesium or in Greek as Korakesion from the Luwian Korakassa meaning `` point/protruding city '' . The Roman Catholic Church still recognizes the Latin name as a titular see in its hierarchy . Under the Byzantine Empire it become known as Kalonoros or Kalon Oros , meaning `` beautiful/fine mountain '' in Greek . The Seljuks renamed the city Alaiye ( علائیه ) , a derivative of the Sultan Alaeddin Kayqubad I 's name . In the 13th and 14th centuries , Italian traders called the city Candelore or Cardelloro . In his 1935 visit , Mustafa Kemal Atatürk finalized the name in the new alphabet as Alanya , changing the ' i ' and ' e ' in Alaiye , reportedly because of a misspelled telegram in 1933 . \n \n History \n \n Finds in the nearby Karain Cave indicate occupation during the Paleolithic era as far back as , and archeological evidence shows a port existed at Syedra , south of the modern city , during the Bronze Age around . A Phoenician language tablet found in the district dates to , and the city is specifically mentioned in the 4th-century BC Greek geography manuscript , the periplus of Pseudo-Scylax . The castle rock was likely inhabited under the Hittites and the Achaemenid Empire , and was first fortified in the Hellenistic period following the area 's conquest by Alexander the Great . Alexander 's successors left the area to one of the competing Macedonian generals , Ptolemy I Soter , after Alexander 's death in . His dynasty maintained loose control over the mainly Isaurian population , and the port became a popular refuge for Mediterranean pirates . The city resisted Antiochus III the Great of the neighboring Seleucid kingdom in , but was loyal to the pirate Diodotus Tryphon when he seized the Seleucid crown from 142 to . His rival Antiochus VII Sidetes completed work in on a new castle and port , begun under Diodotus . \n \n The Roman Republic fought Cilician pirates in , when Marcus Antonius the Orator established a proconsulship in nearby Side , and in under Servilius Vatia , who moved to control the Isaurian tribes . The period of piracy in Alanya finally ended after the city 's incorporation into the Pamphylia province by Pompey in , with the Battle of Korakesion fought in the city 's harbor . Isaurian banditry remained an issue under the Romans , and the tribes revolted in the fourth and fifth centuries AD , with the largest rebellion being from 404 to 408 . \n \n With the spread of Christianity Coracesium , as it was called , became a bishopric . Its bishop Theodulus took part in the First Council of Constantinople in 381 , Matidianus in the Council of Ephesus in 431 , Obrimus in", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 120, "text": "turkey" } ], "id": "qw_7716--Alanya.txt", "qid": "qw_7716", "question": "Bodrum, Fethiye, Marmaris, Kuadas, Cesme, Didim and Alanya are tourist resorts in which country?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "James David Graham Niven ( 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983 ) was a popular English actor and novelist . His many roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death , Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days , and Sir Charles Lytton , ( `` the Phantom '' ) in The Pink Panther . He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Separate Tables ( 1958 ) . \n \n Born in London , Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe before gaining a place at the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . After Sandhurst , he joined the British Army and was gazetted a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry . Having developed an interest in acting , he left the Highland Light Infantry , travelled to Hollywood , and had several minor roles in film . He first appeared as an extra in the British film There Goes the Bride ( 1932 ) . From there , he hired an agent and had several small parts in films from 1933 to 1935 , including a non-speaking part in MGM 's Mutiny on the Bounty . This brought him to wider attention within the film industry and he was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn . Upon the outbreak of the Second World War , Niven returned to Britain and rejoined the army , being recommissioned as a lieutenant . \n \n Niven resumed his acting career after his demobilisation , and was voted the second-most popular British actor in the 1945 Popularity Poll of British film stars . He appeared in A Matter of Life and Death ( 1946 ) , The Bishop 's Wife ( 1947 ) , and Enchantment ( 1948 ) , all of which received critical acclaim . Niven later appeared in The Elusive Pimpernel ( 1950 ) , The Toast of New Orleans ( 1950 ) , Happy Go Lovely ( 1951 ) , Happy Ever After ( 1954 ) and Carrington V.C . ( 1955 ) before scoring a big success as Phileas Fogg in Michael Todd 's production of Around the World in 80 Days ( 1956 ) . Niven appeared in nearly a hundred films , and many shows for television . He also began writing books , with considerable commercial success . In 1982 he appeared in Blake Edwards ' final `` Pink Panther '' films Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther , reprising his role as Sir Charles Lytton . \n \n Early life \n \n James David Graham Niven was born in Belgrave Mansions , London , to William Edward Graham Niven ( 1878–1915 ) and his wife , Henrietta Julia ( née Degacher ) Niven . He was named David for his birth on St. David 's Day ( 1 March ) . Niven often claimed that he was born in Kirriemuir , in the Scottish county of Angus in 1909 , but his birth certificate shows this was not the case . \n \n Henrietta was of French and British ancestry . She was born in Wales , the daughter of army officer William Degacher ( 1841–1879 ) by his marriage to Julia Caroline Smith , the daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith . Niven 's grandfather William Degacher was killed in the Battle of Isandlwana ( 1879 ) , during the Zulu War . Born William Hitchcock , he and his brother Henry had followed the lead of their father , Walter Henry Hitchcock , in assuming their mother 's maiden name of Degacher in 1874 . \n \n William Niven , David 's father , was of Scottish descent ; his paternal grandfather , David Graham Niven , ( 1811–1884 ) was from St. Martin 's , a village in Perthshire . William served in the Berkshire Yeomanry in the First World War and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign on 21 August 1915 . He was buried in Green Hill Cemetery , Turkey , in the Special Memorial Section in Plot F. 10 . \n \n Niven 's mother remarried , to Sir Thomas Comyn-Platt , in London in 1917 . Graham Lord , in Niv : The Authorised Biography of David Niven , suggested that Comyn-Platt and Mrs. Niven had been having an affair for some time before her husband 's death , and that Sir Thomas may well have been David Niven 's biological father , a supposition which has some support from her children . A reviewer of Lord 's book stated that Lord 's photographic evidence showing a strong physical resemblance between Niven and Comyn-Platt `` would appear to confirm these theories , though photographs can often be misleading .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3640, "text": "david niven" } ], "id": "odql_6670--David_Niven.txt", "qid": "odql_6670", "question": "Which iconic English actor,born in 1910, died in 1983 of Motor Neurone Disisease?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Paris ( French : ) is the capital and most populous city of France . Situated on the river Seine in northern metropolitan France , it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region , also known as the région parisienne , `` Paris Region '' . The commune of Paris largely retains its one and a half century old administrative boundaries , with an area of 105 km² ( 41 mi² ) and a population of 2,241,346 . Together with its suburbs , the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 ( Jan. 2012 census ) . Paris ' metropolitan area spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426 ( Jan. 2013 census ) , constituting one-fifth of the population of France . The administrative region covers 12,012 km² ( 4,638 mi² ) , with approximately 12 million inhabitants , and has its own regional council and president . \n \n Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii , who gave the city its name . By the 12th century , Paris was the largest city in the western world , a prosperous trading centre , and the home of the University of Paris , one of the first in Europe . In the 18th century , it was the centre stage for the French Revolution , and became an important centre of finance , commerce , fashion , science , and the arts , a position it still retains today . Since the 19th century , the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders . \n \n Paris is the home of the most visited art museum in the world , the Louvre , as well as the Musée d'Orsay , noted for its collection of French Impressionist art , and the Musée National d'Art Moderne , a museum of modern and contemporary art . The notable architectural landmarks of Paris include Notre Dame Cathedral ( 12th century ) ; the Sainte-Chapelle ( 13th century ) ; the Eiffel Tower ( 1889 ) ; and the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre ( 1914 ) . In 2014 Paris received 22.4 million visitors , making it one of the world 's top tourist destinations . Paris is also known for its fashion , particularly the twice-yearly Paris Fashion Week , and for its haute cuisine , and three-star restaurants . Most of France 's major universities and grandes écoles are located in Paris , as are France 's major newspapers , including Le Monde , Le Figaro , and Libération . \n \n The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris . The 80,000-seat Stade de France , built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup , is located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis . Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros . Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics , the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups , and the 2007 Rugby World Cup . Every July , the Tour de France of cycling finishes in the city . \n \n The city is also a major rail , highway , and air-transport hub , served by the two international airports Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly . Opened in 1900 , the city 's subway system , the Paris Métro , serves 4.5 million passengers daily . Paris is the hub of the national road network , and is surrounded by three orbital roads : the Périphérique , the A86 motorway , and the Francilienne motorway in the outer suburbs . \n \n History \n \n Etymology \n \n The name `` Paris '' is derived from its early inhabitants , the Celtic Parisii tribe . \n \n Paris is often referred to as `` The City of Light '' ( La Ville Lumière ) , both because of its leading role during the Age of Enlightenment , and more literally because Paris was one of the first European cities to adopt gas street lighting . In the 1860s , the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps . Since the late 19th century , Paris has also been known as Panam ( e ) in French slang . \n \n Inhabitants are known in English as `` Parisians '' and in French as Parisiens , pejoratively also called Parigots.The word was most likely created by Parisians of the lower popular class who spoke * argot * , then * parigot * was used in a provocative manner outside the Parisian region and throughout France to mean Parisians in general . \n \n Origins \n \n The", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "bb_9237--Paris.txt", "qid": "bb_9237", "question": "Which painting was stolen from the Louvre in Paris in 1911 and kept for two years by museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Frank Russell Capra ( born Francesco Rosario Capra ; May 18 , 1897 - September 3 , 1991 ) was an Italian-American film director , producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s . Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five , his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the `` American dream personified . '' \n \n Capra became one of America 's most influential directors during the 1930s , winning three Oscars as Best Director . Among his leading films was It Happened One Night ( 1934 ) , which became the first film to win the `` Big Five Academy Awards '' , including Best Picture . Other leading films in his prime included You Ca n't Take It With You ( 1938 ) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ( 1939 ) . During World War II , Capra served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films , such as the Why We Fight series . \n \n After World War II , Capra 's career declined as his later films such as It 's a Wonderful Life ( 1946 ) , which was flopped when it was first released , were critically derided as being `` simplistic '' or `` overly idealistic '' . In succeeding decades , however , these films have been favorably reassessed . Outside of directing , Capra was active in the film industry , engaging in various political and social issues . He served as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences , worked alongside the Screenwriters Guild , and was head of the Directors Guild of America . \n \n Early life \n \n Capra was born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino , Sicily , a village near Palermo . He was the youngest of seven children of Salvatore Capra , a fruit grower , and the former Rosaria `` Serah '' Nicolosi . Capra 's family was Roman Catholic . The name `` Capra '' , notes Capra 's biographer Joseph McBride , represents his family 's closeness to the land , and means `` goat '' .McBride 1992 , p. 16 . He notes that the English word `` capricious '' derives from it , `` evoking the animal 's skittish temperament '' , adding that `` the name neatly expresses two aspects of Frank Capra 's personality : emotionalism and obstinacy . '' \n \n In 1903 , when he was five , Capra emigrated to the United States with his family , who traveled in the steerage section of the boat , which was the cheapest way to gain passage . For Capra , the journey , which took 13 days , remained in his mind for the rest of his life as one of his worst experiences : \n \n Capra remembers the ship 's arrival in New York Harbor , where he saw `` a statue of a great lady , taller than a church steeple , holding a torch above the land we were about to enter '' . He recalls his father 's exclamation at the sight : \n \n The family settled in Los Angeles 's East Side ( today Chinatown ) which Capra described in his autobiography as an Italian `` ghetto '' . Capra 's father worked as a fruit picker and young Capra sold newspapers after school for 10 years , until he graduated from high school . Instead of working after graduating , as his parents wanted , he enrolled in college . He worked through college at the California Institute of Technology , playing banjo at nightclubs and taking odd jobs , which included working at the campus laundry facility , waiting tables , and cleaning engines at a local power plant . He studied chemical engineering and graduated in the spring of 1918 . Capra later wrote that his college education had `` changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person '' . \n \n World War I and after \n \n Soon after graduating college , Capra was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant , having already worked on the campus ROTC . In the Army , he taught mathematics to artillerymen at Fort Point , San Francisco . His father died during the war in an accident ( 1916 ) . In the army , Capra contracted Spanish flu and was medically discharged to return home to live with his mother . He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1920 , taking the name Frank Russell", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qb_1503--Frank_Capra.txt", "qid": "qb_1503", "question": "Bert and Ernie are the names of the policeman and the taxi driver in which Frank Capra film?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Polynesian people consist of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages , a branch of the Oceanic languages , and inhabit Polynesia . The native Polynesian people of New Zealand and Hawaii are minorities in their homelands . \n \n Origins \n \n Polynesians , including Samoans , Tongans , Niueans , Cook Islands Māori , Tahitian Mā'ohi , Hawaiian Māoli , Marquesans and New Zealand Māori , are a subset of the Austronesian peoples . They share the same origins as the indigenous peoples of maritime Southeast Asia , Madagascar , and Taiwan . This is supported by genetic , linguistic , and archaeological evidence . \n \n The most widely accepted theory is that modern Austronesians originated from migrations out of Taiwan between 3000 and 1000 BC . However , Soares et al . ( 2008 ) have argued for an older pre-Holocene Sundaland origin within Island Southeast Asia ( ISEA ) based on mitochondrial DNA . \n \n Paternal Y chromosome analysis by Kayser et al . ( 2000 ) also showed that Polynesians have significant Melanesian genetic admixture . However , a follow-up study by Kayser et al . ( 2008 ) discovered that only 21 % of the Polynesian autosomal gene pool is of Melanesian origin , with the rest ( 79 % ) being of East Asian origin . Another study by Friedlaender et al . ( 2008 ) also confirmed that Polynesians are closer genetically to Micronesians , Taiwanese Aborigines , and East Asians , than to Melanesians . The study concluded that Polynesians moved through Melanesia fairly rapidly , allowing only limited admixture between Austronesians and Melanesians . Thus the high frequencies of B4a1a1 are the result of drift and represent the descendants of a few East Asian females . \n \n People \n \n The Polynesian peoples are shown below in their distinctive cultural groupings ( populations of the larger groups are shown ) : \n \n Eastern Polynesia \n * Kanaka Maoli : Hawaii - 140,000 ( including mixed 400,000 ) \n * Maohi : Tahiti - 120,000 ( including mixed : 250,000+ ) \n * Cook Islands Māori : Cook Islands - 98,000+ ( including New Zealand and Australian residents ) \n * Māori : New Zealand Aotearoa - 790,000 ( including mixed ) \n * Moriori : Rēkohu Chatham Islands - 738 ( 2013 New Zealand Census ) \n * Rapanui : Easter Island - ~5,000 ( including mixtures and those living in Chile ) \n * Austral Islanders : Austral Islands \n * Mangareva : Gambier Islands \n * Tuamotu : Tuamotu Archipelago \n * Marquesas Islanders : Marquesas Islands \n \n Western Polynesia \n * Samoan : Samoa , American Samoa - 249,000 ( from all countries : 400,000+ ) \n * Tongan : Tonga - 104,000 ( from all countries : 150,000+ ) \n * Tuvaluan : Tuvalu - 10,000 \n * Tokelauan : Tokelau \n * Niuean : Niue - ~20,000-25,000 ( vast majority live in New Zealand ) \n * Uvea and Futuna : Wallis and Futuna \n \n Polynesian outliers \n * Kapingamarangi and Nukuoro : The Federated States of Micronesia \n * Nuguria , Nukumanu and Takuu : Papua New Guinea \n * Anuta , Bellona , Ontong Java , Rennel , Sikaiana , Tikopia and Vaeakau-Taumako : Solomon Islands \n * Emae , Makata , Mele ( Erakoro , Eratapu ) , Aniwa , and Futuna : Vanuatu \n * Fagauvea : Ouvéa ( New Caledonia ) \n \n Estimated total population : 2 million", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2241, "text": "easter island" } ], "id": "qb_3131--Polynesians.txt", "qid": "qb_3131", "question": "Which Polynesian island was originally called Rapa Nui before it was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeeven in 1722?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Science fiction film ( aka Sci-Fi movie ) is a film genre that uses science fiction : speculative , fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science , such as extraterrestrial lifeforms , alien worlds , extrasensory perception and time travel , along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft , robots , cyborgs , interstellar travel or other technologies . Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues , and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition . In many cases , tropes derived from written science fiction may be used by filmmakers ignorant of or at best indifferent to the standards of scientific plausibility and plot logic to which written science fiction is traditionally held . \n \n The genre has existed since the early years of silent cinema , when Georges Melies ' A Trip to the Moon ( 1902 ) employed trick photography effects . The next major example in the genre was the film Metropolis ( 1927 ) - being the first feature length science fiction movie . From the 1930s to the 1950s , the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies . After Stanley Kubrick 's landmark 2001 : A Space Odyssey ( 1968 ) , the science fiction film genre was taken more seriously . In the late 1970s , big-budget science fiction films filled with special effects became popular with audiences after the success of Star Wars and paved the way for the blockbuster hits of subsequent decades . \n \n Characteristics of the genre \n \n According to Vivian Sobchack , an American cinema and media theorist and cultural critic : \n Science fiction film is a film genre which emphasizes actual , extrapolative , or speculative science and the empirical method , interacting in a social context with the lesser emphasized , but still present , transcendentalism of magic and religion , in an attempt to reconcile man with the unknown ( Sobchack 63 ) . \n This definition suggests a continuum between ( real-world ) empiricism and ( supernatural ) transcendentalism , with science fiction film on the side of empiricism , and horror film and fantasy film on the side of transcendentalism . However , there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films , epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien . \n \n The visual style of science fiction film can be characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images . This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar , as in A Clockwork Orange , when the repetitions of the Korova Milkbar make the alien decor seem more familiar . As well , familiar images become alien , as in the films Repo Man and Liquid Sky . For example , in Dr. Strangelove , the distortion of the humans make the familiar images seem more alien . Finally , alien and familiar images are juxtaposed , as in The Deadly Mantis , when a giant praying mantis is shown climbing the Washington Monument . \n \n Cultural theorist Scott Bukatman has proposed that science fiction film allows contemporary culture to witness an expression of the sublime , be it through exaggerated scale , apocalypse or transcendence . \n \n History \n \n 1900–1920s \n \n Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era , typically as short films shot in black and white , sometimes with colour tinting . They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous . In 1902 , Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune , generally considered the first science fiction film , and a film that used early trick photography to depict a spacecraft 's journey to the moon . Several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres . Examples of this are Frankenstein ( 1910 ) , a film adaptation of Mary Shelley 's novel , and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ( 1920 ) , based on the psychological tale by Robert Louis Stevenson . Taking a more adventurous tack , 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ( 1916 ) is a film based on Jules Verne ’ s famous novel of a wondrous submarine and its vengeful captain . In the 1920s , European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary , as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis ( 1927 ) and Frau im Mond ( 1929 ) . Other notable science fiction films of the silent era include The Impossible Voyage ( 1904 ) , The Motorist ( 1906 ) , Conquest of the Pole ( 1912 ) , Himmelskibet ( 1918 ; which with its runtime of 97 minutes generally is", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 237, "text": "alien" } ], "id": "tb_457--Science_fiction_film.txt", "qid": "tb_457", "question": "What frightening sci-fi film character, also called a xenomorph, was designed by H. R. Giger from a lithograph titled Necronom IV?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The was the historical Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan . \n \n Imperial Japan 's rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan led to its emergence as a world power and the establishment of a colonial empire . Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s led to the rise of militarism , eventually culminating in Japan 's membership in the Axis alliance and the conquest of a large part of the Asia-Pacific region . At the height of its power in 1942 , the Empire ruled over a land area spanning , making it one of the largest maritime empires in history . \n \n After several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War ( 1937–1945 ) and the Pacific War , the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered . After suffering many defeats and following the Soviet Union 's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Manchuria , and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , however , the Empire surrendered to the Allies on August 15 , 1945 . A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender , and a new constitution was created with American involvement in 1947 , officially dissolving the Empire . Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s , eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the `` State of Japan '' or simply rendered `` Japan '' in English . \n \n The Emperors during this time , which spanned the entire Meiji and Taishō , and the lesser part of the Shōwa eras , are now known in Japan by their posthumous names , which coincide with those era names : Emperor Meiji ( Mutsuhito ) , Emperor Taishō ( Yoshihito ) , and Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito ) . \n \n Terminology \n \n The historical state is frequently referred to as `` the Empire of Japan '' or `` the Japanese Empire '' or `` Imperial Japan '' in English . In Japanese it is referred to as , which translates to `` Greater Japanese Empire '' ( Dai `` Great '' , Nippon `` Japanese '' , Teikoku `` Empire '' ) . \n \n This meaning is significant in terms of geography , encompassing Japan and its surrounding areas . The nomenclature Empire of Japan had existed since the anti-Tokugawa domains , Satsuma and Chōshū , which founded their new government during the Meiji Restoration , with the intention of forming a modern state to resist western domination . \n \n Due to its name in kanji characters and its flag , it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun . \n \n Meiji Restoration \n \n After two centuries , the seclusion policy , or Sakoku , under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854 . \n \n The following years saw increased foreign trade and interaction ; commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed . In large part due to the humiliating terms of these Unequal Treaties , the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility , which materialized into a radical , xenophobic movement , the sonnō jōi ( literally `` Revere the Emperor , expel the barbarians '' ) . \n \n In March 1863 , the `` order to expel barbarians '' was issued . Although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order , it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan . The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman , Charles Lennox Richardson , by a party of samurai from Satsuma . The British demanded reparations but were denied . While attempting to exact payment , The Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima . They responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863 . For Richardson 's death , the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity . Shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864 . The Chōshū clan also carried out the failed coup known as the Kinmon incident . The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu . In early 1867 , Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son , Crown Prince Mutsuhito ( Meiji ) . \n \n On November 9 , 1867 , Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor , agreeing to ``", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3517, "text": "samurai" } ], "id": "sfq_25721--Empire_of_Japan.txt", "qid": "sfq_25721", "question": "What was the name of the military nobility of medieval and early modern Japan?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "St. Charles is a city in , and the county seat of , St. Charles County , Missouri , United States . The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census , making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri . It lies to the northwest of St. Louis , Missouri on the Missouri River . \n \n Founded in about 1769 as Les Petites Côtes , or `` The Little Hills '' in French , by Louis Blanchette , a French-Canadian fur trader , when the area was nominally ruled by Spain following the Seven Years ' War , it is the third-oldest city in Missouri . For a time , it played a significant role in the United States ' westward expansion . \n \n It was settled primarily by French-speaking colonists from Canada in its early days and was considered the last `` civilized '' stop by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 , which was exploring the western territory after the United States made the Louisiana Purchase . The city served as the first Missouri capital from 1821 to 1826 , and is the site of the Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne shrine . \n \n The city is the base for the St. Louis National Weather Service Forecast Office , serving central , east-central , and northeastern Missouri , as well as west-central and southwest Illinois . \n \n History \n \n Native American cultures inhabited the area for at least 7,000 years . When the Europeans arrived the area was inhabited by the Ilini , Osage and Missouri nations . \n \n According to Hopewell 's Romantic Legends of the Missouri and Mississippi : Blanchette met another French Canadian ( Bernard Guillet ) at the site of St. Charles in 1765 . Blanchette , determined to settle there , asked if Guillet , who had become a chief of a Dakota tribe , had chosen a name for it . \n \n `` I called the place 'Les Petites Côtes ' `` replied Bernard , `` from the sides of the hills that you see . '' \n \n `` By that name shall it be called '' , said Blanchette Chasseur , `` for it is the echo of nature — beautiful from its simplicity . '' \n \n Blanchette settled there in about 1769 under the authority of the Spanish governor of Upper Louisiana ( the area had been ceded by France to Spain under an agreement with Great Britain following French defeat in the French and Indian Wars ) . He was appointed as the territory 's civil and military leader , serving until his death in 1793 . Although the settlement was under Spanish jurisdiction , the settlers were primarily Native American and French Canadians who had migrated from northern territories . \n \n Considered to begin in St. Charles , the Boone 's Lick Trail along the Missouri River lowlands was the major overland route for settlement of central and western Missouri . This area became known as the Boonslick or `` Boonslick Country . '' At Franklin , Missouri , the trail ended . Westward progress continued on the Santa Fe Trail . \n \n San Carlos Borromeo \n \n The first church , built in 1791 , was Catholic and dedicated to the Spanish saint San Carlos Borromeo . The town became known as San Carlos del Misuri : `` St. Charles of the Missouri '' . The original location of the church is not known but a replica has been built just off Main Street . The third St. Charles Borromeo Church now stands on Fifth Street . \n \n The Spanish Lieutenant-Governor Carlos de Hault de Lassus appointed Daniel Boone as commandant of the Femme Osage District , which he served as until the United States government assumed control in 1804 following the Louisiana Purchase . The name of the town , San Carlos , was anglicized to St. Charles . William Clark arrived in St. Charles on May 16 , 1804 . With him were 40 men and three boats ; they made final preparations , as they waited for Meriwether Lewis to arrive from St. Louis . They attended dances , dinners , and a church service during this time , and the town residents , excited to be part of the national expedition , were very hospitable to the explorers . Lewis arrived via St. Charles Rock Road on May 20 . The expedition launched the next day in a keel boat at 3:30 pm . St. Charles was the last established American town the expedition visited for more than two and a half years . \n \n State capital and growth \n \n When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821 , the", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2995, "text": "misuri" } ], "id": "qw_3440--St._Charles,_Missouri.txt", "qid": "qw_3440", "question": "Which river runs through the cities of St. Louis, Saint Charles, Jefferson City and Kansas City?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Hieronymus Bosch ( ; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; 1450 – 9 August 1516 ) was an Early Netherlandish painter . His work is known for its fantastic imagery , detailed landscapes , and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives . Within his lifetime his work was collected in the Netherlands , Austria , and Spain , and widely copied , especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell . \n \n Little is known of Bosch 's life , though there are some records . He spent most of it in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch , where he was born in his grandfather 's house . The roots of his forefathers are in Aachen , in present-day Germany . His pessimistic and fantastical style cast a wide influence on northern art of the 16th century , with Pieter Bruegel the Elder being his best known follower . His paintings have been difficult to translate from a modern point of view ; attempts to associate instances of modern sexual imagery with fringe sects or the occult have largely failed . Today he is seen as a hugely individualistic painter with deep insight into man 's desires and deepest fears . Attribution has been especially difficult ; today only about 25 paintings are confidently given to his hand along with 8 drawings . Approximately another half dozen paintings are confidently attributed to his workshop . His most acclaimed works consist of a few triptych altarpieces , the most outstanding of which is The Garden of Earthly Delights . \n \n Life \n \n Hieronymus Bosch was born Jheronimus ( or Joen , respectively the Latin and Middle Dutch form of the name `` Jerome '' ) van Aken ( meaning `` from Aachen '' ) . He signed a number of his paintings as Jheronimus Bosch . The name derives from his birthplace , , which is commonly called `` Den Bosch '' ( 'the forest ' ) . \n \n Little is known of Bosch 's life or training . He left behind no letters or diaries , and what has been identified has been taken from brief references to him in the municipal records of , and in the account books of the local order of the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady . Nothing is known of his personality or his thoughts on the meaning of his art . Bosch 's date of birth has not been determined with certainty . It is estimated at on the basis of a hand drawn portrait ( which may be a self-portrait ) made shortly before his death in 1516 . The drawing shows the artist at an advanced age , probably in his late sixties . \n \n Bosch was born and lived all his life in and near , a city in the Duchy of Brabant . His grandfather , Jan van Aken ( died 1454 ) , was a painter and is first mentioned in the records in 1430 . It is known that Jan had five sons , four of whom were also painters . Bosch 's father , Anthonius van Aken ( died 1478 ) , acted as artistic adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady . It is generally assumed that either Bosch 's father or one of his uncles taught the artist to paint , but none of their works survive . Bosch first appears in the municipal record on 5 April 1474 , when he is named along with two brothers and a sister . \n \n 's-Hertogenbosch was a flourishing city in 15th-century Brabant , in the south of the present-day Netherlands , at the time part of the Burgundian Netherlands , and during its lifetime passing through marriage to the Habsburgs . In 1463 , 4,000 houses in the town were destroyed by a catastrophic fire , which the then ( approximately ) 13-year-old Bosch presumably witnessed . He became a popular painter in his lifetime and often received commissions from abroad . In 1488 he joined the highly respected Brotherhood of Our Lady , an arch-conservative religious group of some 40 influential citizens of , and 7,000 'outer-members ' from around Europe . \n \n Sometime between 1479 and 1481 , Bosch married Aleyt Goyaerts van den Meerveen , who was a few years his senior . The couple moved to the nearby town of Oirschot , where his wife had inherited a house and land from her wealthy family . An entry in the accounts of the Brotherhood of Our Lady records Bosch 's death in 1516 . A funeral mass served in his memory was held in the church of Saint John on 9 August of that year . \n \n Works \n \n Bosch", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1550, "text": "dutch" } ], "id": "sfq_25786--Hieronymus_Bosch.txt", "qid": "sfq_25786", "question": "What nationality was the painter Hieronymus Bosch?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan . Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991 , with nine sporadic Christmas specials until its end in 2003 . Episodes are regularly repeated on UKTV comedy channel Gold and occasionally repeated on BBC One . \n \n Set in Peckham in south-east London , it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek `` Del Boy '' Trotter , Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney Trotter , and Lennard Pearce as their elderly Grandad . After Pearce 's death in 1984 , his character was replaced by Del and Rodney 's Uncle Albert ( Buster Merryfield ) who first appeared in February 1985 . Backed by a strong supporting cast , the series follows the Trotters ' highs and lows in life , in particular their attempts to get rich . \n \n The show achieved consistently high ratings , and the 1996 episode `` Time on Our Hands '' ( the last episode to feature Uncle Albert ) holds the record for the highest UK audience for a sitcom episode , attracting 24.3 million viewers ( over a third of the population ) . \n Critically and popularly acclaimed , the series received numerous awards , including recognition from BAFTA , the National Television Awards and the Royal Television Society , as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason . It was voted Britain 's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll . \n \n The series influenced British culture , contributing several words and phrases to the English language . It spawned an extensive range of merchandise , including books , videos , DVDs , toys and board games . A spin-off series , The Green Green Grass , ran for four series in the UK from 2005 to 2009 . A prequel , Rock & Chips , ran for three specials in 2010 and 2011 . A special Sport Relief episode aired in March 2014 , guest starring David Beckham . \n \n Plot \n \n Derek `` Del Boy '' Trotter ( played by David Jason ) , a fast-talking , archetypal South London 'fly ' trader , lives in a council flat in a high-rise tower block , Flat 127 Nelson Mandela House , in Peckham , south London , SE15 – though it was filmed in Harlech Tower in Acton and later Bristol – with his much younger brother , Rodney Trotter ( Nicholas Lyndhurst ) , and their elderly Grandad ( Lennard Pearce ) . Their mother Joan died when Rodney was young , and their father Reg absconded soon afterwards , so Del became Rodney 's surrogate father and the family patriarch . Despite the difference in age , personality and outlook , the brothers share a constant bond throughout . \n \n The situation focuses primarily on their futile attempts to become millionaires through questionable get rich quick schemes and by buying and selling a variety of poor-quality and illegal goods , such as Russian Army camcorders , luminous yellow paint and sex dolls filled with an explosive gas . They have a grubby three-wheeled Reliant Regal van and trade under the name of Trotters Independent Traders , mainly on the black market , and generally neither pay taxes nor claim money from the state ; as Del says , `` The government do n't give us nothing , so we do n't give the government nothing '' . \n \n Initially , Del Boy , Rodney and Grandad were the show 's only regulars , along with the occasional appearances of dopey roadsweeper Trigger ( Roger Lloyd-Pack ) and pretentious used car salesman Boycie ( John Challis ) . Over time , the cast expanded , mostly in the form of regulars at the local pub The Nag 's Head . These included pub landlord Mike ( Kenneth MacDonald ) , lorry driver Denzil ( Paul Barber ) , youthful spiv Mickey Pearce ( Patrick Murray ) and Boycie 's flirtatious wife Marlene ( Sue Holderness ) . Although the show still centred on the Trotter family , these characters became popular in their own right , contributing to the plots and humour . \n \n As the series progressed , the scope of the plots expanded , and comedy was often mixed with drama . Many early episodes were largely self-contained , with few plot-lines mentioned again , but the show developed a story arc and an ongoing episodic dimension . The character of Grandad died following the death of Lennard Pearce , and his long-lost younger brother Uncle Albert ( Buster Merryfield ) emerged to restore the three-generation line-up", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 528, "text": "lennard pearce" } ], "id": "qf_810--Only_Fools_and_Horses.txt", "qid": "qf_810", "question": "Who played the original 'Granddad' in Only Fools and Horses?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The River Avon or Avon is a river in or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire , Northamptonshire , Warwickshire , Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in the Midlands of England . Also known as the Warwickshire Avon , it has been divided since 1719 into the Lower Avon , below Evesham , and the Upper Avon , from Evesham to above Stratford-upon-Avon . \n \n Improvements to aid navigation began in 1635 , and a series of locks and weirs made it possible to reach Stratford , and to within 4 mi of Warwick . The Upper Avon was tortuous and prone to flooding , and was abandoned as a means of navigation in 1877 . The Lower Avon struggled on , and never really closed , although it was only navigable below Pershore by 1945 . \n \n Restoration of the lower river as a navigable waterway began in 1950 , and was completed in 1962 . The upper river was a more daunting task , as most of the locks and weirs were no longer extant . Work began in 1965 on the construction of nine new locks and 17 mi of river , using mainly volunteer labour , and was completed in 1974 when it was opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother . Plans to extend the navigable river to provide a link with the Grand Union Canal at either Warwick or Leamington Spa have met with some opposition . \n \n Etymology \n \n `` Avon '' derives from the British language , `` river '' , which also survives as a number of other English and Scottish river names , and as modern Welsh and Breton avon , `` river '' . \n \n The river is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare 's Avon . \n \n Course \n \n The source of the Avon is from a spring near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire . For the first few miles of its length between Welford and the Dow Bridge on Watling Street , it forms the border between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire . On this section , it has been dammed to create Stanford Reservoir . It then flows in a generally west-southwesterly direction , not far north of the Cotswold Edge and through the Vale of Evesham , passing through the towns and villages of Welford , Rugby , Wolston , ( bordering Leamington Spa ) , Warwick , Stratford-upon-Avon , Welford-on-Avon , Bidford-on-Avon , Evesham and Pershore , before it joins the River Severn at Tewkesbury . \n \n The river has a total length of 85 mi and a catchment size of 1032 sqmi . The Avon 's tributaries include the Rivers Leam , Stour , Sowe , Dene , Arrow , Swift , Isbourne and Swilgate as well as many minor streams and brooks . \n \n A long distance footpath has been created which follows the river from its source to the River Severn at Tewkesbury . The route is marketed as Shakespeare 's Avon Way , and is 88 mi long . It uses existing footpaths and tracks to stay as close to the river as is reasonably possible . \n \n Prehistory \n \n Before the last Ice Age about 50,000 years ago , the Warwickshire Avon was a small river which drained northwards to the River Trent . During the Wolstonian glacial period , ice advanced into the Midlands from the north , east and west blocking the flow of the Avon to its former confluence with the Trent . The waters were thus trapped : on the north , east and west by the glacier , and by the Cotswolds to the south , resulting in the formation of a large glacial lake , which has been called Lake Harrison . At its maximum , it is considered that this glacial lake covered the whole of Warwickshire and was over two hundred feet deep . After about 10,000 years , when the glacier finally retreated , the water was able to cut through the previous watershed and to escape to the south-west , so forming the present day route of the river . \n \n Navigation \n \n From Alveston weir , which is 2 mi upstream of Stratford-upon-Avon , downstream to Tewkesbury and the River Severn , the river has been rendered navigable by the construction of locks and weirs . The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal links to the Avon through a lock in the park in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon . The River Avon can be used by boats with a maximum length of 70 ft , beam of , height of 10 ft and draught of 4 ft from Tewkesbury to Evesham . Above Evesham , beam is", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 1219, "text": "leam" } ], "id": "odql_2331--River_Avon,_Warwickshire.txt", "qid": "odql_2331", "question": "On which river, a tributary of the Avon, does the town of Leamington Spa stand?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Teletubbies is a British pre-school children 's television series created by Ragdoll Productions ' Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport . The programme focuses on four multi-coloured toddlers of a mythological species known as `` Teletubbies , '' named for the television screens implanted in their abdomens . Recognised throughout popular culture for the uniquely-shaped antenna protruding from the head of each character , the Teletubbies communicate through gibberish and were designed to bear resemblance to young children . \n \n Particularly notable for its high production values , the series rapidly became a commercial success in Britain and abroad . It won multiple BAFTA awards and was nominated for two Daytime Emmys throughout its run . A single based on the show 's theme song reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1997 and remained in the Top 75 for 32 weeks , selling over a million copies . \n \n Though production on the first 365 episodes had been announced cancelled in 2002 , sixty new episodes were ordered in 2014 . They are currently aired on CBeebies in the United Kingdom and on Nick Jr. in the United States . \n \n Plot \n \n The programme takes place in a grassy , floral landscape populated by rabbits with bird calls audible in the background . The main shelter of the four Teletubbies is an earth house ( known as the `` Tubbytronic Superdome '' ) implanted in the ground and accessed through a hole at the top . The creatures co-exist with a number of strange contraptions such as the Noo-noo , the group 's anthropomorphic blue vacuum cleaner , and the Voice Trumpets . The show 's colourful , psychedelic setting was designed specifically to appeal to the attention spans of infants and unlock different sections of the mind while also educating young children of transitions that can be expected in life . \n \n An assortment of rituals are performed throughout the course of every episode , such as the playful interactions between the Teletubbies and the Voice Trumpets , the mishaps caused by the Noo-noo , the footage of live children displayed on the screens in the Teletubbies ' stomachs , and the magical event that occurs once per episode . The event differs each time ; it is often caused inexplicably and is frequently strange yet whimsical . Each episode is closed by the Voice Trumpets and the narrator to the disappointed , reluctant , but eventually obedient Teletubbies , who bid the viewer farewell as they disappear into the Tubbytronic Superdome yet again . \n \n Characters \n \n Main characters \n \n * Tinky Winky ( played by Dave Thompson and Simon Shelton in the original series and by Jeremiah Krage in the revival series ) is the first Teletubby , as well as the largest and oldest of the group . He is covered in purple terrycloth and has a triangular antenna on his head . He almost always carries a red bag . \n * Dipsy ( played by John Simmit in the original series and by Nick Kellington in the revival series ) is the second Teletubby . He is green and named after his antenna , which resembles a dipstick . Dipsy is the most stubborn of the Teletubbies , and will occasionally refuse to go along with the others ' group opinion . His face is notably darker than the rest of the Teletubbies , and the creators have stated that he is black . \n * Laa-Laa ( played by Nikky Smedley in the original series and by Rebecca Hyland in the revival series ) is the third Teletubby . She is yellow and has a curly antenna . Laa-Laa is very sweet , likes to sing and dance , and is often shown looking out for the other Teletubbies . Her favorite toy is an orange rubber ball . \n * Po ( played by Pui Fan Lee in the original series and by Rachelle Beinart in the revival series ) is the fourth Teletubby , as well as the shortest and youngest . She is red and has an antenna shaped like a stick used for blowing soap bubbles . Po normally speaks in a soft voice and has been stated by the show 's creators to be Cantonese . \n \n Supporting characters \n \n * The Noo-noo ( operated by Mark Dean in the original series ) is a conscientious vacuum cleaner who acts as both the Teletubbies ' guardian and housekeeper . He hardly ever ventures outside the Tubbytronic Superdome , instead remaining indoors and constantly cleaning with his sucker-like nose . He communicates through a series of slurping and sucking noises . \n * The", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 0, "text": "teletubbies" } ], "id": "odql_12225--Teletubbies.txt", "qid": "odql_12225", "question": "Which of the Teletubbies is missing - Tinky-Winky, Laa-Laa, Po and ?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Z-Cars or Z Cars was a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown , based on Kirkby , Lancashire ( now Merseyside ) . Produced by the BBC , it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978 . \n \n The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals . With its less-usual Northern setting , it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police , which some found unwelcome . \n \n Z-Cars ran for a total of 803 episodes , of which fewer than half have survived . Regular stars included Stratford Johns ( Detective Inspector Barlow ) , Frank Windsor ( Det . Sgt Watt ) , James Ellis ( Bert Lynch ) and Brian Blessed ( `` Fancy '' Smith ) . Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series Softly , Softly . \n \n The name Z-Cars relates to an imaginary `` Z '' Division of the local constabulary . The theme tune was based on a traditional Liverpool folk song , and was adopted by Everton Football Club as its official anthem . \n \n Origin of the title \n \n The title comes from the radio call signs allocated by Lancashire Constabulary : Lancashire police divisions were lettered from north to the south , `` A '' Division ( based in Ulverston ) was the detached part of Lancashire at the time around Barrow-in-Furness , `` B '' Division was Lancaster , and so on . Letters further into the alphabet were in the south around the Manchester and Liverpool areas . The TV series took the non-existent signs Z-Victor 1 and Z-Victor 2 . The title does not come from the cars used , as in Ford Zephyr and Ford Zodiac . The Zodiac was never used by British police as a standard patrol car , but was used in the form of `` Motorway Patrol Vehicles '' , because of its larger , more powerful engine . These vehicles could be seen in a white livery with `` POLICE '' in large blue letters on the sides of the vehicle , along with broad red-orange stripes . Such vehicles were later used as `` crime cars '' , used to respond to major crimes . Some of them also carried a `` lock-box '' that contained firearms to be used by `` Armed Response Teams '' , especially in response to armed robberies and terrorist incidents of the seventies . The Zephyr was the standard patrol traffic car ( not the same as `` crime car '' ) used by Lancashire and other police forces . \n \n Concept and principal characters \n \n Z Cars as an idea came to creator Troy Kennedy Martin as he listened to police messages on his radio whilst trying to relieve the boredom of being ill in bed with mumps . After the Second World War ended the creation of rapidly expanding , bureaucratically created communities brought with them many problems . Liverpool suffered much damage during the war and the Liverpool Corporation , having many slums to contend with , bought land in the surrounding areas into which they moved industry . Along with these factories , many people were relocated en masse into newly developed `` overspill '' estates . One area became the new town of Kirkby . Kennedy Martin set his programme in the fictional Newtown , loosely based on the modern suburb of Kirkby , one of many housing estates that had sprung up across Britain in the post-war years , and its ageing neighbour `` Seaport '' . \n \n The stories revolve around pairs of officers patrolling that week . Riding on changing social attitudes and television , the social realism , with interesting stories , garnered popularity for Z Cars . It was initially somewhat unpopular with real-life police , who disliked the sometimes unsympathetic characterisation of officers . Being set in the North of England helped give Z Cars a regional flavour when most BBC dramas were set in the south . It directly challenged the BBC 's popular police drama Dixon of Dock Green , which at that point had been running for seven years but which some considered 'cosy ' . \n \n The one character present throughout the entire run ( though not in every episode ) was Bert Lynch , played by James Ellis ( though John Phillips as Det . Chief Supt . Robins would reappear sporadically during the show 's run – by the end of the series he had become Chief Constable ) . Other characters in the early days were Stratford Johns ( Inspector Barlow ) ,", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 699, "text": "brian blessed" } ], "id": "bt_3295--Z-Cars.txt", "qid": "bt_3295", "question": "\"Which actor made his television debut as Fancy Smith in \"\"Z-Cars\"\"\"" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Benjamin Edward Meara `` Ben '' Stiller ( born November 30 , 1965 ) is an American actor , comedian , and filmmaker . He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and the late Anne Meara . \n \n After beginning his acting career with a play , Stiller wrote several mockumentaries , and was offered his own show entitled The Ben Stiller Show , which he produced and hosted for its 13-episode run . Having previously acted in television , he began acting in films ; he made his directorial debut with Reality Bites . Throughout his career he has written , starred in , directed , and/or produced more than 50 films , including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty , Zoolander , The Cable Guy , There 's Something About Mary , the Meet the Parents trilogy , DodgeBall , Tropic Thunder , the Madagascar series , and the Night at the Museum trilogy . In addition , he has had multiple cameos in music videos , television shows , and films . \n \n Stiller is a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as the Frat Pack . His films have grossed more than $ 2.6 billion in Canada and the United States , with an average of $ 79 million per film . Throughout his career , he has received multiple awards and honors , including an Emmy Award , multiple MTV Movie Awards and a Teen Choice Award . \n \n Early life \n \n Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller was born on November 30 , 1965 in New York City . His father , comedian and actor Jerry Stiller ( born 1927 ) , is from a Jewish family that emigrated from Poland and Galicia in Eastern Europe . His mother , actress/comedian Anne Meara ( 1929-2015 ) , who was from an Irish Catholic background , converted to Reform Judaism after marrying his father . While the family was `` never very religious '' , they celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas , and Stiller had a Bar Mitzvah.Stated on Inside the Actors Studio , 2001 His parents frequently took him on the sets of their appearances , including The Mike Douglas Show when he was six . He considered his childhood unusual , stating `` In some ways , it was a show-business upbringing—a lot of traveling , a lot of late nights—not what you 'd call traditional . '' His elder sister , Amy , has appeared in many of his productions , including Reality Bites , DodgeBall : A True Underdog Story , and Zoolander . \n \n Stiller displayed an early interest in filmmaking and made Super 8 movies with his sister and friends . At nine years old , he made his acting debut as a guest on his mother 's short-lived television series , Kate McShane . In the late 1970s , he performed with the New York City troupe NYC 's First All Children 's Theater , playing several roles , including the title role in Clever Jack and the Magic Beanstalk . After being inspired by the television show Second City Television while in high school , Stiller realized that he wanted to get involved with sketch comedy . During his high school years , he was also the drummer of the punk band Capital Punishment , which released a studio album named Roadkill in 1982 . \n \n Stiller attended The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine and graduated from the Calhoun School in New York in 1983 . He started performing on the cabaret circuit as opening act to the cabaret siren Jadin Wong . Stiller then enrolled as a film student at the University of California , Los Angeles . After nine months , Stiller left school to move back to New York City . He made his way through acting classes , auditioning and trying to find an agent . \n \n Acting career \n \n Early work \n \n When he was approximately 15 , Stiller obtained a small part with one line on the television soap opera Guiding Light , although in an interview he characterized his performance as poor . He was later cast in a role in the 1986 Broadway revival of John Guare 's The House of Blue Leaves , alongside John Mahoney ; the production would garner four Tony Awards . During its run , Stiller produced a satirical mockumentary whose principal was fellow actor Mahoney . His comedic work was well received by the cast and crew of the play , and he followed up with a 10-minute short called The Hustler of Money , a parody of the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 642, "text": "secret life of walter mitty" } ], "id": "sfq_20605--Ben_Stiller.txt", "qid": "sfq_20605", "question": "In which 2013 film did Ben Stiller reprise a role played by Danny Kaye in a 1949 film?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson , beginning the Norman conquest of England . It took place approximately 7 mi northwest of Hastings , close to the present-day town of Battle , East Sussex , and was a decisive Norman victory . \n \n The background to the battle was the death of the childless King Edward the Confessor in January 1066 , which set up a succession struggle between several claimants to his throne . Harold was crowned king shortly after Edward 's death , but faced invasions by William , his own brother Tostig and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada ( Harold III of Norway ) . Hardrada and Tostig defeated a hastily gathered army of Englishmen at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September 1066 , and were in turn defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge five days later . The deaths of Tostig and Hardrada at Stamford left William as Harold 's only serious opponent . While Harold and his forces were recovering from Stamford , William landed his invasion forces in the south of England at Pevensey on 28 September 1066 and established a beachhead for his conquest of the kingdom . Harold was forced to march south swiftly , gathering forces as he went . \n \n The exact numbers present at the battle are unknown ; modern estimates are around 10,000 for William and about 7,000 for Harold . The composition of the forces is clearer ; the English army was composed almost entirely of infantry and had few archers , whereas only about half of the invading force was infantry , the rest split equally between cavalry and archers . Harold appears to have tried to surprise William , but scouts found his army and reported its arrival to William , who marched from Hastings to the battlefield to confront Harold . The battle lasted from about 9 am to dusk . Early efforts of the invaders to break the English battle lines had little effect ; therefore , the Normans adopted the tactic of pretending to flee in panic and then turning on their pursuers . Harold 's death , probably near the end of the battle , led to the retreat and defeat of most of his army . After further marching and some skirmishes , William was crowned as king on Christmas Day 1066 . \n \n There continued to be rebellions and resistance to William 's rule , but Hastings effectively marked the culmination of William 's conquest of England . Casualty figures are hard to come by , but some historians estimate that 2,000 invaders died along with about twice that number of Englishmen . William founded a monastery at the site of the battle , the high altar of the abbey church supposedly placed at the spot where Harold died . \n \n Background \n \n In 911 , French Carolingian ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings to settle in Normandy under their leader Rollo.Bates Normandy Before 1066 pp . 8–10 Their settlement proved successful , and they quickly adapted to the indigenous culture , renouncing paganism , converting to Christianity , Bates Normandy Before 1066 p. 12 and intermarrying with the local population.Bates Normandy Before 1066 pp . 20–21 Over time , the frontiers of the duchy expanded to the west.Hallam and Everard Capetian France p. 53 In 1002 , King Æthelred II of England married Emma , the sister of Richard II , Duke of Normandy.Williams Æthelred the Unready p. 54 Their son Edward the Confessor spent many years in exile in Normandy , and succeeded to the English throne in 1042.Huscroft Ruling England p. 3 This led to the establishment of a powerful Norman interest in English politics , as Edward drew heavily on his former hosts for support , bringing in Norman courtiers , soldiers , and clerics and appointing them to positions of power , particularly in the Church . Edward was childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin , Earl of Wessex and his sons , and he may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandy 's ambitions for the English throne.Stafford Unification and Conquest pp . 86–99 \n \n Succession crisis in England \n \n Following King Edward 's death on 5 January 1066 , Fryde , et al . Handbook of British Chronology p. 29 the lack of a clear heir led to a disputed succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England.Higham Death of Anglo-Saxon England pp . 167–181 Edward 's immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex , Harold Godwinson", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_9267--Battle_of_Hastings.txt", "qid": "qw_9267", "question": "Where was the Battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066 between the Norman army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army of King Harold II?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Suleiman I ( ; ) or simply Solomon as a Biblical name ; 6 November 1494 – 7 September 1566 ) , commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and `` Kanuni '' ( the Lawgiver ) in the East , was the tenth and longest-reigning Great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire , from 1520 to his death in 1566 . Under his administration , the Ottoman state ruled over 20 to 30 million people . \n \n Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th-century Europe , presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire 's economic , military and political power . Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade and Rhodes as well as most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529 . He annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Persian Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria . Under his rule , the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and through the Persian Gulf . \n \n At the helm of an expanding empire , Suleiman personally instituted major legislative changes relating to society , education , taxation and criminal law . His canonical law ( or the Kanuns ) fixed the form of the empire for centuries after his death . He was a distinguished poet and goldsmith ; he also became a great patron of culture , overseeing the `` Golden '' age of the Ottoman Empire in its artistic , literary and architectural development.Atıl , 24 . \n \n Breaking with Ottoman tradition , Suleiman married Roxelana , a former Christian girl converted to Islam from his harem , who became subsequently known and influential as Hürrem Sultan . Their son Selim II succeeded Suleiman following his death in 1566 after 46 years of rule , thus beginning a long state of stagnation and decline during Selim II 's reign . Suleiman 's previous heirs apparent Mehmed and Mustafa had died , the former from smallpox and the latter had been strangled to death 13 years previously at the sultan 's order . His other son Bayezid was executed in 1561 on the Sultan 's orders , along with his four sons , after a rebellion . \n \n Alternative names and titles \n \n Suleiman the Magnificent ( Muḥteşem Süleymān ) , as he was known in the West , was also called Suleiman the First ( Sulṭān Süleymān-ı Evvel ) , and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( Ḳānūnī Sulṭān Süleymān ) for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system . \n \n Early life \n \n Suleiman was born in Trabzon along the east coast of the Black Sea , probably on 6 November 1494 . His mother was Ayşe Hafsa Sultan ( she was possibly the daughter of Meñli I Giray , a descendant of Genghis Khan , through Jochi ) ; little is known of her other than that she died in 1534 . \n \n Education \n \n At the age of seven , Suleiman was sent to study science , history , literature , theology and military tactics in the schools of the imperial Topkapı Palace in Constantinople ( modern Istanbul ) . As a young man , he befriended Pargalı Ibrahim , a slave who later became one of his most trusted advisers . \n \n Viceroy in Anatolia \n \n From the age of seventeen , he was appointed as the governor of first Kaffa ( Theodosia ) , then Sarukhan ( Manisa ) with a brief tenure at Adrianople ( now Edirne ) . \n \n Accession \n \n Upon the death of his father , Selim I ( 1465–1520 ) , Suleiman entered Constantinople and ascended to the throne as the tenth Ottoman Sultan . An early description of Suleiman , a few weeks following his accession , was provided by the Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini : `` He is twenty-six years of age , tall , but wiry , and of a delicate complexion . His neck is a little too long , his face thin , and his nose aquiline . He has a shade of a mustache and a small beard ; nevertheless he has a pleasant mien , though his skin tends to be a light pallor . He is said to be a wise Lord , fond of study , and all men hope for good from his rule . '' Some historians claim that in his youth Suleiman had an admiration for Alexander the Great . He was influenced by Alexander 's vision of building a world empire that would encompass the east and the west , and this", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 0, "text": "suleiman" } ], "id": "sfq_751--Suleiman_the_Magnificent.txt", "qid": "sfq_751", "question": "Which Emperor of the Ottoman Empire was known as 'The Magnificent' or 'The Law Giver'?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Daiquiri ( ; ) is a family of cocktails whose main ingredients are rum , citrus juice ( typically lime juice ) , and sugar or other sweetener . \n \n The daiquiri is one of the six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury 's classic The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks . In the book , he also suggests some variations . \n \n Origins \n \n Daiquirí is also the name of a beach and an iron mine near Santiago de Cuba , and is a word of Taíno origin . The drink was supposedly invented by an American mining engineer , named Jennings Cox , who was in Cuba at the time of the Spanish–American War . It is also possible that William A. Chanler , a US congressman who purchased the Santiago iron mines in 1902 , introduced the daiquiri to clubs in New York in that year . \n \n Originally the drink was served in a tall glass packed with cracked ice . A teaspoon of sugar was poured over the ice and the juice of one or two limes was squeezed over the sugar . Two or three ounces of white rum completed the mixture . The glass was then frosted by stirring with a long-handled spoon . Later the daiquiri evolved to be mixed in a shaker with the same ingredients but with shaved ice . After a thorough shaking , it was poured into a chilled flute glass . \n \n Consumption of the drink remained localized until 1909 , when Rear Admiral Lucius W. Johnson , a U.S. Navy medical officer , tried Cox 's drink . Johnson subsequently introduced it to the Army and Navy Club in Washington , D.C. , and drinkers of the daiquiri increased over the space of a few decades . It was one of the favorite drinks of writer Ernest Hemingway and President John F. Kennedy . \n \n The drink became popular in the 1940s . Wartime rationing made whiskey and vodka hard to come by , yet because of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Good Neighbor policy rum was easily obtainable because the policy opened up trade and travel relations with Latin America , Cuba and the Caribbean . The Good Neighbor policy , also known as the Pan-American program , helped make Latin America fashionable . Consequently , rum-based drinks ( once frowned upon as being the choice of sailors and down-and-outs ) , also became fashionable , and the daiquiri saw a tremendous rise in popularity in the US . \n \n The basic recipe for a daiquiri is also similar to the grog British sailors drank aboard ship from the 1740s onwards . By 1795 the Royal Navy daily grog ration contained rum , water , ¾ ounce of lemon or lime juice , and 2 ounces of sugar . This was a common drink across the Caribbean , and as soon as ice became available this was included instead of the water . \n \n Variations \n \n * Hemingway daiquiri – or papa doble – two and a half jiggers of white rum , juice of two limes and half a grapefruit , six drops of maraschino liqueur , without sugar . \n * Banana daiquiri – regular daiquiri with a half a banana . \n * Avocado daiquiri – regular daiquiri with half an avocado . \n \n Frozen daiquiri \n \n A wide variety of alcoholic mixed drinks made with finely pulverized ice are often called frozen daiquirí . These drinks can also be combined and poured from a blender , eliminating the need for manual pulverization and producing a texture similar to a smoothie . On larger scales , such drinks are often commercially made in larger machines , and come in a wide variety of flavors made with various alcohol or liquors . Another way to create a frozen daiquiri ( mostly fruit-flavored variants ) is by using frozen limeade , providing the required texture , sweetness and sourness all at once . \n Variations on the frozen daiquirí . \n * the old rose daiquiri , which features strawberry syrup and rum along with two teaspoons of sugar and lime juice \n * the daiquiri mulata featuring rum and coffee liqueur", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 67, "text": "rum" } ], "id": "qz_4422--Daiquiri.txt", "qid": "qz_4422", "question": "What spirit is used to make Daquari?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "`` The Raven '' is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe . First published in January 1845 , the poem is often noted for its musicality , stylized language , and supernatural atmosphere . It tells of a talking raven 's mysterious visit to a distraught lover , tracing the man 's slow fall into madness . The lover , often identified as being a student , Meyers , 163Silverman , 239 is lamenting the loss of his love , Lenore . Sitting on a bust of Pallas , the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word `` Nevermore '' . The poem makes use of a number of folk , mythological , religious , and classical references . \n \n Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically , intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes , as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay , `` The Philosophy of Composition '' . The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge : A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens.Kopley & Hayes , 192 Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett 's poem `` Lady Geraldine 's Courtship '' , and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout . \n \n `` The Raven '' was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29 , 1845 . Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime , although it did not bring him much financial success . The poem was soon reprinted , parodied , and illustrated . Critical opinion is divided as to the poem 's literary status , but it nevertheless remains one of the most famous poems ever written.Silverman , 237 \n \n Synopsis \n \n `` The Raven '' follows an unnamed narrator on a dreary night in December who sits reading `` forgotten lore '' by a dying fire as a way to forget the death of his beloved Lenore . A `` tapping at [ his ] chamber door '' reveals nothing , but excites his soul to `` burning '' . The tapping is repeated , slightly louder , and he realizes it is coming from his window . When he goes to investigate , a raven flutters into his chamber . Paying no attention to the man , the raven perches on a bust of Pallas above the door . \n \n Amused by the raven 's comically serious disposition , the man asks that the bird tell him its name . The raven 's only answer is `` Nevermore '' . The narrator is surprised that the raven can talk , though at this point it has said nothing further . The narrator remarks to himself that his `` friend '' the raven will soon fly out of his life , just as `` other friends have flown before '' along with his previous hopes . As if answering , the raven responds again with `` Nevermore '' . The narrator reasons that the bird learned the word `` Nevermore '' from some `` unhappy master '' and that it is the only word it knows . \n \n Even so , the narrator pulls his chair directly in front of the raven , determined to learn more about it . He thinks for a moment in silence , and his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore . He thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels , and wonders if God is sending him a sign that he is to forget Lenore . The bird again replies in the negative , suggesting that he can never be free of his memories . The narrator becomes angry , calling the raven a `` thing of evil '' and a `` prophet '' . Finally , he asks the raven whether he will be reunited with Lenore in Heaven . When the raven responds with its typical `` Nevermore '' , he is enraged , and , calling it a liar , commands the bird to return to the `` Plutonian shore '' —but it does not move . Presumably at the time of the poem 's recitation by the narrator , the raven `` still is sitting '' on the bust of Pallas . The narrator 's final admission is that his soul is trapped beneath the raven 's shadow and shall be lifted `` Nevermore '' . \n \n Analysis \n \n Poe wrote the poem as a narrative , without intentionally creating an allegory or falling into didacticism . The main theme", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 432, "text": "lenore" } ], "id": "qg_3892--The_Raven.txt", "qid": "qg_3892", "question": "According to the classic poem The Raven, what is the name of the lost love that the unnamed narrator is trying to forget?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany 's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign . The name comes from the German for Operation Weser-Exercise ( Unternehmen Weserübung ) , the Weser being a German river . \n \n In the early morning of 9 April 1940 ( Wesertag ; `` Weser Day '' ) , Germany invaded Denmark and Norway , ostensibly as a preventive manoeuvre against a planned , and openly discussed , Franco-British occupation of Norway . After the invasions , envoys of the Germans informed the governments of Denmark and Norway that the Wehrmacht had come to protect the countries ' neutrality against Franco-British aggression . Significant differences in geography , location and climate between the two countries made the actual military operations very dissimilar . \n \n The invasion fleet 's nominal landing time—Weserzeit ( `` Weser Time '' ) —was set to 05:15 German time , equivalent to 04:15 Norwegian time . \n \n Political and military background \n \n Starting in the spring of 1939 , the British Admiralty began to view Scandinavia as a potential theatre of war in a future conflict with Germany . The British government was reluctant to engage in another land conflict on the continent that they believed would be a repetition of the First World War . So they began considering a blockade strategy in an attempt to weaken Germany indirectly . German industry was heavily dependent on the import of iron ore from the northern Swedish mining district , and much of this ore was shipped through the northern Norwegian port of Narvik during the winter months . Control of the Norwegian coast would also serve to tighten a blockade against Germany . \n \n In October 1939 , the chief of the German Kriegsmarine—Großadmiral Erich Raeder—discussed with Adolf Hitler the danger posed by the risk of having potential British bases in Norway and the possibility of Germany seizing these bases before the United Kingdom could . The navy argued that possession of Norway would allow control of the nearby seas and serve as a staging base for future submarine operations against the United Kingdom . But at this time , the other branches of the Wehrmacht were not interested , and Hitler had just issued a directive stating that the main effort would be a land offensive through the Low Countries . \n \n Toward the end of November , Winston Churchill—as a new member of the British War Cabinet—proposed the mining of Norwegian waters in Operation Wilfred . This would force the ore transports to travel through the open waters of the North Sea , where the Royal Navy could intercept them . \n Churchill assumed that Wilfred would provoke a German response in Norway . When that occurred , the Allies would implement Plan R 4 and occupy Norway . Though later implemented , Operation Wilfred was initially rejected by Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax , due to fear of an adverse reaction among neutral nations such as the United States . After the start of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in November had changed the diplomatic situation , Churchill again proposed his mining scheme , but once more was denied . \n \n In December , the United Kingdom and France began serious planning for sending aid to Finland . Their plan called for a force to land at Narvik in northern Norway , the main port for Swedish iron ore exports , and to take control of the Malmbanan railway line from Narvik to Luleå in Sweden on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia . Conveniently , this plan also would allow the Allied forces to occupy the Swedish iron ore mining district . The plan received the support of both Chamberlain and Halifax . They were counting on the cooperation of Norway , which would alleviate some of the legal issues , but stern warnings issued to both Norway and Sweden resulted in strongly negative reactions in both countries . Planning for the expedition continued , but the justification for it was removed when Finland sued for peace in March 1940 . \n \n Planning \n \n Following a meeting with Vidkun Quisling from Norway on 14 December , Hitler turned his attention to Scandinavia . Convinced of the threat posed by the Allies to the iron ore supply , Hitler ordered Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( Armed Forces High Command ; OKW ) to begin preliminary planning for an invasion of Norway . The preliminary plan was named Studie Nord and only called for one army division . \n \n Between 14 and 19 January , the Kriegsmarine developed an expanded version of", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3075, "text": "finland" } ], "id": "dpql_4795--Operation_Weserübung.txt", "qid": "dpql_4795", "question": "The Soviets invaded which Baltic country in November 1939?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Galanthus ( snowdrop ; Greek gála `` milk '' , ánthos `` flower '' ) is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae . Most flower in winter , before the vernal equinox ( 20 or 21 March in the Northern Hemisphere ) , but certain species flower in early spring and late autumn . \n \n Snowdrops are sometimes confused with the two related genera within Galantheae , snowflakes Leucojum and Acis . \n \n Description \n \n All species of Galanthus are perennial , herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs . Each bulb generally produces just two or three linear leaves and an erect , leafless scape ( flowering stalk ) , which bears at the top a pair of bract-like spathe valves joined by a papery membrane . From between them emerges a solitary , pendulous , bell-shaped white flower , held on a slender pedicel . The flower has no petals : it consists of six tepals , the outer three being larger and more convex than the inner series . The six anthers open by pores or short slits . The ovary is three-celled , ripening into a three-celled capsule . Each whitish seed has a small , fleshy tail ( elaiosome ) containing substances attractive to ants which distribute the seeds . The leaves die back a few weeks after the flowers have faded . \n \n The inner flower segments are usually marked with a green , or greenish-yellow , bridge-shaped mark over the small `` sinus '' ( notch ) at the tip of each tepal . \n \n An important feature which helps to distinguish between species ( and to help to determine the parentage of hybrids ) is their `` vernation '' ( the arrangement of the emerging leaves relative to each other ) . This can be `` applanate '' , `` supervolute '' or `` explicative '' . In applanate vernation the two leaf blades are pressed flat to each other within the bud and as they emerge ; explicative leaves are also pressed flat against each other , but the edges of the leaves are folded back or sometimes rolled ; in supervolute plants one leaf is tightly clasped around the other within the bud and generally remains at the point where the leaves emerge from the soil . \n \n Notable species include : \n * Common snowdrop , Galanthus nivalis , grows to around 7–15 cm tall , flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone ( January–May in the wild ) . Applanate vernation \n * Crimean snowdrop , Galanthus plicatus , 30 cm tall , flowering January/March , white flowers , with broad leaves folded back at the edges ( explicative vernation ) \n * Giant snowdrop , Galanthus elwesii , a native of the Levant , 23 cm tall , flowering January/February , with large flowers , the three inner segments of which often have a much larger and more conspicuous green blotch ( or blotches ) than the more common kinds ; supervolute vernation \n * Galanthus reginae-olgae , from Greece and Sicily , is quite similar in appearance to G. nivalis , but flowers in autumn before the leaves appear . The leaves , which appear in the spring , have a characteristic white stripe on their upper side ; applanate vernation \n * * G. reginae-olgae subsp . vernalis , from Sicily , northern Greece and the southern part of former Yugoslavia , blooms at the end of the winter with developed young leaves and is thus easily confused with G. nivalis . \n \n Taxonomy \n \n The genus was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 , based on the type species Galanthus nivalis . Galanthus is from the Greek gala , meaning `` milk '' , and anthos , meaning `` flower '' , alluding to the colour of the flowers . The epithet nivalis means `` of the snow '' . \n \n Similar genera \n \n Snowdrops are sometimes confused with the two related genera that constitute the Galantheae , snowflakes or Leucojum and Acis . Leucojum are much larger and flower in spring ( or early summer , depending on the species ) , with all six tepals in the flower being the same size , though some `` poculiform '' ( goblet- or cup-shaped ) Galanthus can have inner segments similar in shape and length to the outer ones . \n \n Species \n \n , the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognises 19 species. , search for `` Galanthus '' A 20th species , Galanthus panjutinii ( Panjutin 's snowdrop ) , was recognised during 2012 . Discovered in five", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 339, "text": "snowdrops" } ], "id": "sfq_8103--Galanthus.txt", "qid": "sfq_8103", "question": "Which common wildflowers belong to the Galanthus family?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Scapegoat ( 1854–56 ) is a painting by William Holman Hunt which depicts the `` scapegoat '' described in the Book of Leviticus . On the Day of Atonement , a goat would have its horns wrapped with a red cloth – representing the sins of the community – and be driven off . \n \n He started painting on the shore of the Dead Sea , and continued in his studio in London . The work exists in two versions , a small version in brighter colours with a dark-haired goat and a rainbow , in Manchester Art Gallery , and a larger version in more muted tones with a light-haired goat in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight . Both were created over the same period , with the smaller Manchester version being described as `` preliminary '' to the larger Lady Lever version , which was the one exhibited . \n \n History \n \n In the Royal Academy exhibition catalogue Hunt wrote that `` the scene was painted at Oosdoom , on the margin of the salt-encrusted shallows of the Dead Sea . The mountains beyond are those of Edom . `` Bronkhurst , Judith , Wiliam Holman Hunt , A Catalogue Raisonné , vol . 1 , p.180 . He painted most of the work on location in 1854 , but completed the work in London in the following year , adding some touches in 1856 before it was exhibited at the academy in that year . '' \n \n The painting was the only major work completed by Hunt during his first trip to the Holy Land , to which he had travelled after a crisis of religious faith . Hunt intended to experience the actual locations of the Biblical narratives as a means to confront the relationship between faith and truth . While in Jerusalem , Hunt had met Henry Wentworth Monk , a millenarian prophet who had distinctive theories about the meaning of the scapegoat and the proximity of the Last Judgement . Monk was particularly preoccupied with Christian Zionism . \n \n Hunt chose a subject derived from the Torah as part of a project to convert Jews to Christianity . He believed that Judaic views of the scapegoat were consistent with the Christian conception of the Messiah as a suffering figure . He wrote to his friend Millais , `` I am sanguine that that [ the Scapegoat ] may be a means of leading any reflecting Jew to see a reference to the Messiah as he was , and not as they understand , a temporal King . '' \n \n The Book of Leviticus describes a `` scapegoat '' which must be ritually expelled from the flocks of the Israelite tribes as part of a sacrificial ritual of cleansing . In line with traditional Christian theology , Hunt believed that the scapegoat was a prototype for the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus , and that the goat represented that aspect of the Messiah described in Isaiah as a `` suffering servant '' of God . Hunt had the picture framed with the quotations `` Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows ; Yet we did esteem him stricken , smitten of GOD and afflicted . '' ( Isaiah 53:4 ) and `` And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited . '' ( Leviticus 16:22 ) \n \n Critical reception \n \n The reaction to the painting was not as Hunt expected . In his autobiography Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood , Hunt relates the first reaction to the painting by art dealer Ernest Gambart : \n \n Dante Gabriel Rossetti , in a letter to William Allingham in 1856 , called the painting `` a grand thing , but not for the public '' . Ford Madox Brown wrote in his diary : `` Hunt 's Scapegoat requires to be seen to be believed in . Only then can it be understood how , by the might of genius , out of an old goat , and some saline encrustations , can be made one of the most tragic and impressive works in the annals of art . `` . Ernest Gambart , as related by Hunt , was less enthusiastic , and was later to remark : `` I wanted a nice religious picture and he painted me a great goat . '' The Art Journal in 1860 , at the time of the exhibition of Hunt 's later work The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple , was to characterise the painting as `` having disappointed even his warmest admirers '' . \n \n At the time of the exhibition of The", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 51, "text": "holman hunt" } ], "id": "wh_3807--The_Scapegoat_(painting).txt", "qid": "wh_3807", "question": "Which member of the Pre - Raphaelite group of artists painted the canvas known as The Scapegoat ?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Bulgaria ( ; , tr . ' ) , officially the Republic of Bulgaria ( , tr . ' , ) , is a country in southeastern Europe . It is bordered by Romania to the north , Serbia and Macedonia to the west , Greece and Turkey to the south , and the Black Sea to the east . With a territory of 110994 km2 , Bulgaria is Europe 's 16th-largest country . \n \n Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period . Its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians , Greeks and Romans . The emergence of a unified Bulgarian state dates back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD , which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavs during the Middle Ages . With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396 , its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries . The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State . The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours , which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars . In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc . In December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections , which subsequently led to Bulgaria 's transition into a democracy and a market-based economy . \n \n Bulgaria 's population of 7.4 million people is predominantly urbanised and mainly concentrated in the administrative centres of its 28 provinces . Most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city , Sofia . The strongest sectors of the economy are heavy industry , power engineering , and agriculture , all of which rely on local natural resources . \n \n The country 's current political structure dates to the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1991 . Bulgaria is a unitary parliamentary republic with a high degree of political , administrative , and economic centralisation . It is a member of the European Union , NATO , and the Council of Europe ; a founding state of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ( OSCE ) ; and has taken a seat at the UN Security Council three times . \n \n History \n \n Prehistory and antiquity \n \n Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic . Animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans . Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture , Vinča culture and the eneolithic Varna culture ( fifth millennium BC ) . The latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation . Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins , weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure , the oldest in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years . This site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies . \n \n Thracians , one of the three primary ancestral groups of modern Bulgarians , began appearing in the region during the Iron Age . In the late 6th century BC , the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria . and kept it until 479 BC . With influence from the Persians , the bulk of the Thracian tribes were united in the Odrysian kingdom in the 470s BC by king Teres , but were later subjugated by Alexander the Great and by the Romans in 46 AD . After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control . By this time , Christianity had already spread in the region . A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century , the Wulfila Bible . The first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria . From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region , assimilating the Hellenised or Romanised Thracians . \n \n First Bulgarian Empire \n \n In 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan , establishing their capital at Pliska . A peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 marked the beginning of the First Bulgarian Empire . The Bulgars gradually mixed up with the local population , adopting a common language on the basis of the local Slavic dialect . \n \n Succeeding rulers strengthened the Bulgarian state throughout the 8th and", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 169, "text": "macedonia" } ], "id": "odql_81--Bulgaria.txt", "qid": "odql_81", "question": "Greece has land borderswith Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey and which former Yugoslav Republic?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Henry VIII ( 28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547 ) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death . He was the first English King of Ireland , and continued the nominal claim by English monarchs to the Kingdom of France . Henry was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty , succeeding his father , Henry VII . \n \n Henry is known for his consequential role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church , besides his six marriages and many extramarital affairs , as well as his effort to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon , which led to conflict with the Pope . His disagreements with the Pope led Henry to separate the Church of England from papal authority , with himself as king and as the Supreme Head of the Church of England ; the disputes also led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries . His principal dispute was with papal authority rather than with doctrinal matters , and he remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings despite his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church . Henry oversaw the legal union of England and Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 . He is also well known for a long personal rivalry with both Francis I of France and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V , with whom he frequently warred . \n \n Domestically , Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution , ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England . Besides asserting the sovereign 's supremacy over the Church of England , thus initiating the English Reformation , he greatly expanded royal power . Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent , and those accused were often executed without a formal trial , by means of bills of attainder . He achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers , some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour . People such as Thomas Wolsey , Thomas More , Thomas Cromwell , Richard Rich , and Thomas Cranmer figured prominently in Henry 's administration . He was an extravagant spender and used the proceeds from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and acts of the Reformation Parliament to convert money into royal revenue that was formerly paid to Rome . Despite the influx of money from these sources , Henry was continually on the verge of financial ruin due to his personal extravagance as well as his numerous costly continental wars . \n \n His contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive , educated , and accomplished king , and he has been described as `` one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne '' . Besides ruling with considerable power , he was also an author and composer . His desire to provide England with a male heir stemmed partly from personal vanity and partly from his belief that a daughter would be unable to consolidate Tudor power and maintain the fragile peace that existed following the Wars of the Roses . This led to the two things for which Henry is most remembered : his six marriages and his break with the Pope ( who would not allow an annulment of Henry 's first marriage ) . As he aged , Henry became severely obese and his health suffered , contributing to his death in 1547 . He is frequently characterised in his later life as a lustful , egotistical , harsh , and insecure king . He was succeeded by his son Edward VI . \n \n Early years \n \n Born 28June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich , London , Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York . Of the young Henry 's six siblings , only three – Arthur , Prince of Wales ; Margaret ; and Mary – survived infancy . He was baptised by Richard Fox , the Bishop of Exeter , at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace . In 1493 , at the age of two , Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports . He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three , and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after . The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York and a month or so later made Warden of the Scottish Marches . In May 1495 , he was appointed", "qas": [ { "answers": [], "id": "qw_8304--Henry_VIII_of_England.txt", "qid": "qw_8304", "question": "The wreck of which warship, one of the largest in the English navy of King Henry VIII in the first half of the 16th century, was rediscovered in 1971 and salvaged in October 1982?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Democratic Republic of the Congo ( ; ; ) , also known as DR Congo , DRC , DROC , Congo-Kinshasa , or simply the Congo is a country located in Central Africa . From 1971 to 1997 it was named Zaire , and from 1908 to 1960 it was called the Belgian Congo . The DRC borders the Republic of the Congo , the Central African Republic , and South Sudan to the north ; Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi and Tanzania to the east ; Zambia and Angola to the south ; and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest . It is the second largest country in Africa by area , the largest in Subsaharan Africa , and the eleventh largest in the world . With a population of over 79 million , the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populated officially Francophone country , the fourth most populated nation in Africa and the nineteenth most populated country in the world . \n \n The Congolese Civil Wars , which began in 1996 , brought about the end of Mobutu Sese Seko 's 32-year reign and devastated the country . The wars ultimately involved nine African nations , multiple groups of UN peacekeepers and twenty armed groups , and resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people . \n \n The Democratic Republic of Congo is extremely rich in natural resources , but political instability , a lack of infrastructure , deep rooted corruption , and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation have limited holistic development . Besides the capital , Kinshasa , the other major cities , Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi , are both mining communities . DR Congo 's largest export is raw minerals , with China accepting over 50 % of DRC 's exports in 2012. , according to the Human Development Index ( HDI ) , DR Congo has a low level of human development , ranking 176 out of 187 countries . \n \n Etymology \n \n The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly known as , in chronological order , Congo Free State , Belgian Congo , Republic of the Congo ( Léopoldville ) , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Republic of Zaire and Democratic Republic of the Congo ( again ) . \n \n The country was known officially as the `` Democratic Republic of the Congo '' from 1965 to 27 October 1971 , when it was changed to the `` Republic of Zaire . '' In 1992 , the Sovereign National Conference voted to change the name of the country to the `` Democratic Republic of the Congo , '' but the change was not put into practice . The country 's name was restored by former president Laurent Kabila following the fall of long time dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 . \n \n History \n \n Early history \n \n The area now known as the DR Congo was populated as early as 80,000 years ago , as shown by the 1988 discovery of the Semliki harpoon at Katanda , one of the oldest barbed harpoons ever found , believed to have been used to catch giant river catfish . \n \n Some historians think that Bantu peoples began settling in the extreme northwest of Central Africa at the beginning of the 5th century and then gradually started to expand southward . \n Their propagation was accelerated by the transition from Stone Age to Iron Age techniques . The people living in the south and southwest were mostly San Bushmen and hunter-gatherer groups , whose technology involved only minimal use of metal technologies . The development of metal tools during this time period revolutionized agriculture and animal husbandry . This led to the displacement of the hunter-gatherer groups in the east and southeast . \n \n The 10th century marked the final expansion of the Bantu in West-Central Africa . Rising populations soon made possible intricate local , regional and foreign commercial networks that traded mostly in salt , iron and copper . \n \n Congo Free State ( 1877–1908 ) \n \n Belgian exploration and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s . It was first led by Sir Henry Morton Stanley , who undertook his explorations under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium . The eastern regions of the precolonial Congo were heavily disrupted by constant slave raiding , mainly from Arab–Swahili slave traders such as the infamous Tippu Tip , who was well known to Stanley . Leopold had designs on what was to become the Congo as a colony . In a succession of negotiations , Leopold , professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the front organization", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 194, "text": "zaire" } ], "id": "odql_8322--Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo.txt", "qid": "odql_8322", "question": "As what, was the Democratic Republic of Congo known until July 1997?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "George Harrison , ( 25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001 ) was an English guitarist , singer , songwriter , and music and film producer who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles . Often referred to as `` the quiet Beatle '' , Harrison embraced Indian mysticism and helped broaden the horizons of his fellow Beatles as well as their Western audience by incorporating Indian instrumentation in their music . Although the majority of the Beatles ' songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney , most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions . His songs for the group included `` Taxman '' , `` Within You Without You '' , `` While My Guitar Gently Weeps '' , `` Here Comes the Sun '' and `` Something '' , the last of which became the Beatles ' second-most covered song . \n \n Harrison 's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt ; Carl Perkins , Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry were subsequent influences . By 1965 he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan , and towards Indian classical music through his use of the sitar on `` Norwegian Wood ( This Bird Has Flown ) '' . Having initiated the band 's embracing of Transcendental Meditation in 1967 , he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement . After the band 's break-up in 1970 , Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass , a critically acclaimed work that produced his most successful hit single , `` My Sweet Lord '' , and introduced his signature sound as a solo artist , the slide guitar . He also organised the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with Indian musician Ravi Shankar , a precursor for later benefit concerts such as Live Aid . In his role as a music and film producer , Harrison produced acts signed to the Beatles ' Apple record label before founding Dark Horse Records in 1974 and co-founding HandMade Films in 1978 . \n \n Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer , and in 1988 co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup the Traveling Wilburys . A prolific recording artist , he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger , Ronnie Wood and Billy Preston , and collaborated on songs and music with Dylan , Eric Clapton , Ringo Starr and Tom Petty , among others . Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 11 in their list of the `` 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time '' . He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in 1988 , and ( posthumously ) for his solo career in 2004 . \n \n Harrison 's first marriage , to model Pattie Boyd in 1966 , ended in divorce in 1977 . The following year he married Olivia Harrison ( née Arias ) , with whom he had one son , Dhani . Harrison died in 2001 , aged 58 , from lung cancer . He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India , in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition . He left an estate of almost £100 million . \n \n Early years : 1943–57 \n \n Born in Liverpool , England , on 25 February 1943 , Harrison was the youngest of four children of Harold Hargreaves Harrison and his wife Louise ( née French ) . He had one sister , Louise , and two brothers , Harry and Peter . His mother was a shop assistant from a Catholic family with Irish roots , and his father was a bus conductor who had worked as a ship 's steward on the White Star Line . His future wife , the model Pattie Boyd , described Harrison 's parents as `` quite short and very Liverpudlian '' . According to Boyd , Harrison 's mother was particularly supportive : `` All she wanted for her children is that they should be happy , and she recognized that nothing made George quite as happy as making music . '' An enthusiastic music fan , she was known among friends for her loud singing voice , which at times startled visitors by rattling the Harrisons ' windows . While pregnant with George , she often listened to the weekly broadcast Radio India . Harrison 's biographer Joshua Greene wrote , `` Every Sunday she tuned in to mystical sounds evoked by sitars and tablas , hoping that the exotic music would bring peace and calm to the baby in the womb .", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 2665, "text": "pattie boyd" } ], "id": "qb_2519--George_Harrison.txt", "qid": "qb_2519", "question": "Which English model was married to musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ( ) is a French Romantic/Gothic novel by Victor Hugo , published in 1831 . The original French title refers to Notre Dame Cathedral , on which the story is centered . English translator Frederic Shoberl named the novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1833 because at the time , Gothic novels were more popular than Romance novels in England . The story is set in Paris , France in the Late Middle Ages , during the reign of Louis XI . \n \n Background \n \n Victor Hugo began writing Notre-Dame de Paris in 1829 , largely to make his contemporaries more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture , which was neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings , or defaced by replacement of parts of buildings in a newer style . For instance , the medieval stained glass panels of Notre-Dame de Paris had been replaced by white glass to let more light into the church . This explains the large descriptive sections of the book , which far exceed the requirements of the story . A few years earlier , Hugo had already published a paper entitled Guerre aux Démolisseurs ( War to the Demolishers ) specifically aimed at saving Paris ' medieval architecture . The agreement with his original publisher , Gosselin , was that the book would be finished that same year , but Hugo was constantly delayed due to the demands of other projects . In the summer of 1830 Gosselin demanded that Hugo complete the book by February 1831 . Beginning in September 1830 , Hugo worked nonstop on the project thereafter . The book was finished six months later . \n \n Plot \n \n The gypsy Esmeralda captures the hearts of many men , including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire , but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo . Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of the Notre Dame Cathedral . He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her , but the hunchback is captured by Phoebus and his guards , who save Esmeralda . \n \n The following day , Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged and turned on the pillory for one hour , followed by another hour 's public exposure . He calls for water . Esmeralda , seeing his thirst , approaches the public stocks and offers him a drink of water . It saves him , and she captures his heart . \n \n Later , Esmeralda is arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus , whom Frollo actually attempted to kill in jealousy after seeing him trying to seduce Esmeralda . She is sentenced to death by hanging . As she is being led to the gallows , Quasimodo swings down by the bell rope of Notre Dame and carries her off to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary , temporarily protecting her from arrest . \n \n Frollo later informs Gringoire that the Court of Parlement has voted to remove Esmeralda 's right to sanctuary so she can no longer seek shelter in the cathedral and will be taken away to be killed . Clopin , the leader of the Gypsies , hears the news from Gringoire and rallies the citizens of Paris to charge the cathedral and rescue Esmeralda . \n \n When Quasimodo sees the Gypsies , he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda , so he drives them off . Likewise , he thinks the King 's men want to rescue her , and tries to help them find her . She is rescued by Frollo and her phony husband Gringoire . But after yet another failed attempt to win her love , Frollo betrays Esmeralda by handing her to the troops and watches while she is being hanged . \n \n When Frollo laughs during Esmeralda 's hanging , Quasimodo pushes him from the heights of Notre Dame to his death . Quasimodo later goes to Montfaucon , a huge graveyard in Paris where the bodies of the condemned are dumped , where he stays with Esmeralda 's dead body and dies of starvation . About eighteen months later , the tomb is opened , and the skeletons are found . As someone tries to separate them , they crumble to dust . \n \n Characters \n \n * Quasimodo is the bell-ringer of Notre Dame and a barely verbal and half-blind hunchback . Ringing the church bells has made him deaf . Abandoned by his mother as a baby , he was adopted by Claude Frollo . Quasimodo 's life within the confines of the cathedral and his only two outlets — ringing the bells and his", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 251, "text": "hunchback of notre dame" } ], "id": "wh_2640--The_Hunchback_of_Notre-Dame.txt", "qid": "wh_2640", "question": "The novel Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo, is better known by what title in the English-speaking world ?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "An oxide is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula . Metal oxides typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2 . Most of the Earth 's crust consists of solid oxides , the result of elements being oxidized by the oxygen in air or in water . Hydrocarbon combustion affords the two principal carbon oxides : carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide . Even materials considered pure elements often develop an oxide coating . For example , aluminium foil develops a thin skin of Al2O3 ( called a passivation layer ) that protects the foil from further corrosion.Greenwood , N. N. ; & Earnshaw , A . ( 1997 ) . Chemistry of the Elements ( 2nd Edn . ) , Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann . ISBN 0-7506-3365-4 . Different oxides of the same element are distinguished by Roman numerals denoting their oxidation number , e.g . iron ( II ) oxide versus iron ( III ) oxide . \n \n Formation \n \n Due to its electronegativity , oxygen forms stable chemical bonds with almost all elements to give the corresponding oxides . Noble metals ( such as gold or platinum ) are prized because they resist direct chemical combination with oxygen , and substances like gold ( III ) oxide must be generated by indirect routes . \n \n Two independent pathways for corrosion of elements are hydrolysis and oxidation by oxygen . The combination of water and oxygen is even more corrosive . Virtually all elements burn in an atmosphere of oxygen , or an oxygen rich environment . In the presence of water and oxygen ( or simply air ) , some elements— sodium—react rapidly , even dangerously , to give the hydroxides . In part for this reason , alkali and alkaline earth metals are not found in nature in their metallic , i.e. , native , form . Caesium is so reactive with oxygen that it is used as a getter in vacuum tubes , and solutions of potassium and sodium , so-called NaK are used to deoxygenate and dehydrate some organic solvents . The surface of most metals consists of oxides and hydroxides in the presence of air . A well-known example is aluminium foil , which is coated with a thin film of aluminium oxide that passivates the metal , slowing further corrosion . The aluminium oxide layer can be built to greater thickness by the process of electrolytic anodising . Though solid magnesium and aluminium react slowly with oxygen at STP—they , like most metals , burn in air , generating very high temperatures . Finely grained powders of most metals can be dangerously explosive in air . Consequently , they are often used in Solid-fuel rockets . \n \n In dry oxygen , iron readily forms iron ( II ) oxide , but the formation of the hydrated ferric oxides , Fe2O3−x ( OH ) 2x , that mainly comprise rust , typically requires oxygen and water . Free oxygen production by photosynthetic bacteria some 3.5 billion years ago precipitated iron out of solution in the oceans as Fe2O3 in the economically important iron ore hematite . \n \n Structure \n \n Oxides of most metals adopt polymeric structures . The oxide typically links three metals ( e.g. , rutile structure ) or six metals ( carborundum or rock salt structures ) Because the M-O bonds are strong , the solids tend to be insoluble in solvents , though they are attacked by acids and bases . The formulas are often deceptively simple . Many are nonstoichiometric compounds . \n Molecular oxides \n \n Although most metal oxides are polymeric , some oxides are molecules . The most famous molecular oxides are carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide . All simple oxides of nitrogen are molecular , e.g. , NO , N2O , NO2 and N2O4 . Phosphorus pentoxide is a more complex molecular oxide with a deceptive name , the real formula being P4O10 . Some polymeric oxides depolymerize when heated to give molecules , examples being selenium dioxide and sulfur trioxide . Tetroxides are rare . The more common examples : ruthenium tetroxide , osmium tetroxide , and xenon tetroxide . \n \n Many oxyanions are known , such as polyphosphates and polyoxometalates . Oxycations are rarer , an example being nitrosonium ( NO+ ) . Of course many compounds are known with both oxides and other groups . In organic chemistry , these include ketones and many related carbonyl compounds . For the transition metals , many oxo complexes are known as well as oxyhalides . \n \n Reactivity \n \n Oxides can be reacted by acids or bases . Those reacted only by", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 895, "text": "iron" } ], "id": "wh_1090--Oxide.txt", "qid": "wh_1090", "question": "Haematite is an oxide of which metallic element?" } ] } ] }

{ "paragraphs": [ { "context": "Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92 . It is a silvery-white metal in the actinide series of the periodic table . A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons , of which 6 are valence electrons . Uranium is weakly radioactive because all its isotopes are unstable ( with half-lives of the six naturally known isotopes , uranium-233 to uranium-238 , varying between 69 years and 4.5 billion years ) . The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 ( which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99 % ) and uranium-235 ( which has 143 neutrons ) . Uranium has the second highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements , lighter only than plutonium . Its density is about 70 % higher than that of lead , and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten . It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil , rock and water , and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite . \n \n In nature , uranium is found as uranium-238 ( 99.2739–99.2752 % ) , uranium-235 ( 0.7198–0.7202 % ) , and a very small amount of uranium-234 ( 0.0050–0.0059 % ) . Uranium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle . The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years and that of uranium-235 is 704 million years , making them useful in dating the age of the Earth . \n \n Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties . Uranium-235 has the distinction of being the only naturally occurring fissile isotope . Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons , and is fertile , meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor . Another fissile isotope , uranium-233 , can be produced from natural thorium and is also important in nuclear technology . Uranium-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast neutrons ; uranium-235 and to a lesser degree uranium-233 have a much higher fission cross-section for slow neutrons . In sufficient concentration , these isotopes maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction . This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors , and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons . Depleted uranium ( 238U ) is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating . Uranium is used as a colorant in uranium glass , producing lemon yellow to green colors . Uranium glass fluoresces green in ultraviolet light . It was also used for tinting and shading in early photography . \n \n The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth , who named the new element after the planet Uranus . Eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel . Research by Otto Hahn , Lise Meitner , Enrico Fermi and others , such as J. Robert Oppenheimer starting in 1934 led to its use as a fuel in the nuclear power industry and in Little Boy , the first nuclear weapon used in war . An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that used uranium metal and uranium-derived plutonium-239 . The security of those weapons and their fissile material following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 is an ongoing concern for public health and safety . See Nuclear proliferation . \n \n Characteristics \n \n When refined , uranium is a silvery white , weakly radioactive metal . It has a Mohs hardness of 6 , sufficient to scratch glass and approximately equal to that of titanium , rhodium , manganese and niobium . It is malleable , ductile , slightly paramagnetic , strongly electropositive and a poor electrical conductor . Uranium metal has a very high density of 19.1 g/cm3 , denser than lead ( 11.3 g/cm3 ) , but slightly less dense than tungsten and gold ( 19.3 g/cm3 ) . \n \n Uranium metal reacts with almost all non-metal elements ( with an exception of the noble gases ) and their compounds , with reactivity increasing with temperature . Hydrochloric and nitric acids dissolve uranium , but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack the element very slowly . When finely divided , it can react with cold water ; in air , uranium metal becomes coated with a dark layer of uranium oxide . Uranium in ores is extracted chemically and converted into uranium dioxide or other chemical forms usable in industry . \n \n Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile . Other naturally occurring isotopes are", "qas": [ { "answers": [ { "answer_start": 3162, "text": "uranium metal" } ], "id": "odql_925--Uranium.txt", "qid": "odql_925", "question": "Which chemical element is named after the planet discovered in 1781 by William Herschel?" } ] } ] }