Bruce Campbell

Bruce Lorne Campbell, born June 22, 1958 is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. A legendary B movie actor, Campbell has starred in many low-budget cult films such as The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Crimewave, Army of Darkness, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat. He would later spoof his B-movie career in My Name Is Bruce, in which he starred and directed. A cult figure for most of his career, Campbell broke into the mainstream in 2007 with his portrayal of Sam Axe on the USA Network cable TV series Burn Notice and has since made appearances in mainstream films, including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cars 2.

Personal life,Background

Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the son of Joanne Louise (née Pickens), a homemaker, and Charles Newton Campbell, an amateur actor and traveling billboard inspector. He has an older brother, Don, and an older half-brother, Michael Rendine.

Family

Campbell's first wife was Christine Deveau, whom he married in 1983. They had two children, Rebecca and Andy, before their divorce in 1989. Campbell currently lives in Jacksonville, Oregon, with his second wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, whom he met in the set of the movie Mindwarp.

Career,Early years

Bruce Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making small Super 8 movies with friends. After meeting Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves High School, the two became very good friends and started making movies together. Campbell would go on to attend Western Michigan University while he continued to work on his acting career. Campbell and Raimi collaborated on a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead film, titled Within the Woods, which was initially used to attract investors.

Major film roles

A few years later, Campbell and Raimi got together with other family and friends and began work on The Evil Dead. Campbell starred and worked behind the camera, receiving a "co-executive producer" credit. Raimi wrote, directed and edited, while fellow Michigander Rob Tapert was producer.

Following an endorsement by horror writer Stephen King, the film slowly began to receive distribution. Four years following its original release, it became the number one movie in the UK. It then received distribution in the U.S., spawning two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. The first two films in the series are considered horror classics and are credited with spawning the "horror comedy" genre.

He has appeared in many of Raimi's films outside of the Evil Dead series, notably including all the Spider-Man film series. Bruce Campbell also joined the cast in Raimi's Darkman and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter film's theatrical cut.

Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley in the film Bubba Ho-tep, and appears in B-Movies and starred in My Name Is Bruce. Along with Bubba Ho-tep, he also played a supporting role in Sky High (2005 film), He also was featured in the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic. Campbell also had a key supporting role in the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy.

Other roles for Campbell included the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, in the McHale's Navy and the remake of John Carpenter's sequel to his classic film Escape From New York, Escape From L.A. Campbell was also the star of the Maniac Cop B-Movie franchise.

Campbell had a starring voice role in the hit film 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Television roles

Outside of film, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He starred in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that ran for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He starred in the television series Jack of All Trades, set on a fictional island, occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show aired for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

In 1996–1997, Campbell was a recurring guest star on the show Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four. He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("the King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer Tapert in two episodes of Hercules set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, including the Hercules series finale. Campbell also landed the lead role of race car driver Hank Cooper in the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.

Campbell made a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of the fourth season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in The X-Files episode, "Terms of Endearment".

Voice acting

Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three games based on the Evil Dead film series; Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration. As well as titles such as Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Spider-Man: The Movie, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.

He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan in the PC title, Tachyon: The Fringe, the voice of main character Jake Burton in the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous in Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in Hellboy: The Science of Evil and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game Hei$t, a game which was announced on the 28 January 2010 to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor in the 2009 film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2.

Writing,Autobiography

In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, including authoring an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller. The paperback version of the book adds a chapter about the reaction of fans at book signings.

"Whenever I do mainstream stuff, I think they're pseudo-interested, but they're still interested in seeing weirdo, offbeat stuff. And that's what I'm attracted to."

If Chins Could Kill... was published in 2002 and follows Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget films and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood".

Comedy

Campbell has also written a book titled Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way, a comical novel featuring himself as the main character struggling to make it into the world of A-list movies. He later recorded an audio play adaptation of Make Love with fellow Michigan actors including long time collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama styled interpretation of the novel was released through independent label Rykodisc and spans 6 discs with a 6 hour running time.

In addition to his novels, Campbell also wrote a column for X Ray Magazine in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series The Hire, comic book adaptations of his Man With The Screaming Brain and most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's The Complete Guide To Low Budget Feature Film Making.

Blog

Campbell maintains a blog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the film industry.

Filmography

Films

1977 It's Murder! N/A Sam Raimi Short film

1978 Within the Woods Ashley J. "Ash" Williams

1981 The Evil Dead

1983 Going Back Brice Chapman Ron Teachworth

1985 Crimewave Renaldo 'The Heel' Sam Raimi

Stryker's War Video newscaster Josh Becker

1987 Evil Dead II Ashley J. "Ash" Williams Sam Raimi

1988 Maniac Cop Jack Forrest William Lustig

1989 Intruder Officer Howard Scott Spiegel

Moontrap Ray Tanner Robert Dyke

The Dead Next Door Voice J.R. Bookwalter

1990 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat Robert Van Helsing Anthony Hickox

Maniac Cop 2 Jack Forrest William Lustig

Darkman Final Shemp Sam Raimi Cameo

1991 Lunatics: A Love Story Ray Josh Becker

1992 Eddie Presley Asylum Attendant Jeff Burr

Waxwork II: Lost in Time John Loftmore Anthony Hickox

Mindwarp Stover Steve Barnett

Army of Darkness Ashley J. "Ash" Williams Sam Raimi

1994 The Hudsucker Proxy Smitty Joel and Ethan Coen

1995 Congo Charles Travis Frank Marshall

The Demolitionist Raffle Winner Robert Kurtzman

1996 Fargo Soap Opera Actor Joel and Ethan Coen

Tornado! Jake Thorne Noel Nosseck Television film

Escape from L.A. Surgeon General of Beverly Hills John Carpenter

Assault on Dome 4 Alex Windham Gilbert Po Television film

1997 In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory Jeff Erickson Dick Lowry

Menno's Mind Mick Dourif, Rebel Leader Jon Kroll

Running Time Carl Josh Becker

McHale's Navy Virgil Bryan Spicer

The Love Bug Hank Cooper Peyton Reed Television film

Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure Pierce Thomas 'PT' Madison John Power

1998 The Ice Rink Actor Jean-Philippe Toussaint

1999 From Dusk till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money Barry Scott Spiegel

2000 Icebreaker Carl Greig David Giancola

Timequest William Roberts Robert Dyke

2001 Hubert's Brain Thompson Phil Alden Robinson Voice

The Majestic Roland the Intrepid Explorer Frank Darabont

2002 Spider-Man Ring Announcer Sam Raimi Cameo

Bubba Ho-tep Elvis Presley Don Coscarelli

Serving Sara Gordon Moore Reginald Hudlin

Terminal Invasion Jack Sean S. Cunningham Television film

2003 Drugs Bruce Chad Peter Direct-to-video

Intolerable Cruelty Soap opera actor on TV Joel and Ethan Coen

2004 The Ladykillers Humane Society Worker

Spider-Man 2 Snooty Usher Sam Raimi Cameo

2005 Alien Apocalypse Dr. Ivan Hood Josh Becker Television film

Man with the Screaming Brain William Cole Bruce Campbell

Sky High Coach Boomer Mike Mitchell

2006 The Woods Joe Fasulo Lucky McKee

Touch the Top of the World Ed Weihenmayer Peter Winther Television film

The Ant Bully Fugax John A. Davis Voice

2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Chicken Bittle Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis

Spider-Man 3 Maître d’ Sam Raimi Cameo

My Name is Bruce Bruce Campbell Bruce Campbell

2009 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Mayor Shelbourne Phil Lord and Chris Miller Voice

White on Rice Muramoto Dave Boyle

2011 Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe Sam Axe Jeffrey Donovan Television film

Cars 2 Rod "Torque" Redline John Lasseter, Brad Lewis Voice

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Sydney helicopter crash bodies recovered

Sydney businessman Bruce Campbell, 65, and his pilot Col, 35, were killed in the dramatic incident.

Mr Campbell, owner of Davcron Engineering, was making his weekly trip from the company's headquarters in Granville to his home at the family property at Wyee when the chopper crashed.

The helicopter was torn apart as it crashed into bushland at South Turramurra, near Kissing Point Rd, at about 9.15am.

Emergency services found the burning wreck of the Bell 206 at the bottom of a 10-metre cliff and had to abseil down to reach the crash site.

Fire and Rescue NSW inspector Chris Bishop said central impact was at the base of the cliff.

"The scene was horrific," Mr Bishop said.

The chopper was destroyed. It was a horrific scene for all crews working there."

Witnesses have told police the helicopter suffered a mechanical failure before it went down.

"A number of witnesses said they saw a part fly off the back of the helicopter," he said.

Kevin Williams, who is a volunteer with the Ku-ring-gai Netball Association, told the North Shore Times he was in the clubhouse near the crash scene at the time of the accident.

"I heard a clatter, clatter and I rushed outside of the netball clubhouse a couple of paces and I saw black smoke coming from out of the bush.

"Apparently it came across upside down."

He said the clubhouse was being used as a command post.

Another resident who did not wish to be named said she heard a loud noise about 8.30am.

"I think the helicopter must have clipped the top of a tree before going down," she said.

"The helicopter had been overhead for at least 30 minutes before the accident.

Mr Greenwood was not the regular pilot of the helicopter but he had flown Mr Campbell from western Sydney to Wyee more than 40 times, Mr Stephens said.

Heavy rain delayed investigations into the crash on Friday.

The bodies were not removed until 3.25pm (AEST) on Saturday - 30 hours after the helicopter had crashed and caught fire.

Police had originally planned to airlift them out of bushland but chose to put their bodies on stretchers because of the rugged terrain, a spokesman told AAP.

Investigators returned to the site shortly after 8am (AEST) on Saturday, when the rain had cleared.

A forensics team spent much of the day taking photographs.

A police Eurocopter repeatedly flew over the crash site, using a netball court at the end of Canoon Road as a helipad.

Police rescuers were seen preparing to abseil down the steep cliffs during the morning, before the media were asked to move further back.

A couple visited the netball court, used as a police command post, and laid a bunch of sunflowers with a card which said: "In loving memory of Bruce and Col. Love always Sean, Michelle and Liam."

They declined to speak to the media.

The bodies will now be taken to a morgue for a post-mortem.

Kuring-Gai Local Area Command police are preparing a report for the NSW Coroner.

Mr Campbell founded Davcron Engineering Pty Ltd, based at Granville, in the early 1980s, naming the firm after his three sons David, Christian and Simon.

Mr Campbell was a grandfather of five.

His wife Colleen died of cancer several years ago while Mr Campbell himself recently beat bowel cancer.

"That's why we all thought he was made of granite," Mr Stephens said.

Anders Behring Breivik

Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian citizen, and the suspected perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, although it is yet unknown if he acted alone. On 22 July 2011, he allegedly approached a Labour Party youth camp on Utøya island, posing as a police officer, and then indiscriminately opened fire on the adolescents present, reportedly killing at least 84. He has also been linked with the bomb blasts which had taken place approximately two hours earlier in Oslo. He was arrested on Utøya, and is currently in police custody. Following his apprehension, Breivik was characterized by officials as being a conservative right-wing extremist. According to Reuters and the BBC, deputy police chief Roger Andresen described the suspect as a "Christian fundamentalist.

Breivik studied at the Oslo Commerce School, and is described by newspaper Verdens Gang as conservative and nationalist. He is also a former member of the Progress Party (FrP) and its youth wing FpU. According to the current FpU leader Ove Vanebo, Breivik was active early in the 2000s, but he left the party as his viewpoints became more extreme. He expresses his sympathies for Winston Churchill, Geert Wilders and Norwegian anti-Nazi World War II hero Max Manus on his alleged Facebook profile.

According to the newspaper VG, he has no previous history with the police, apart from traffic violations. According to the same source, Breivik has a Glock pistol, a rifle and a shotgun registered to his name. Breivik moved in late June or early July to the rural small town of Rena in Åmot, Hedmark county, about 140 km (86 miles) northeast of Oslo, where he operated a farming sole proprietorship under the name "Breivik Geofarm. It has been speculated that he could have used the company as a cover legally to obtain large amounts of artificial fertilizer and other chemicals for the manufacturing of fertilizer explosives. According to Reuters, a farming supplier had sold the Breivik 6 tonnes of fertilizer in May.

Norway attacks: suspect Anders Behring Breivik

Blond-haired 32-year-old appears to have set up accounts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter just a few days ago.

Although police have not officially named Breivik as the suspect, Norwegian media identified him as the gunman. Police say the suspect is talking to police and was keen to "explain himself".

Eyewitness reports from the island of Utoya, where the shootings took place, have also described a tall, blond haired, blue-eyed Norwegian man dressed as a police officer.

On the Facebook page attributed to him, Breivik describes himself as a Christian and a conservative. It listed his interests as hunting, body building and freemasonry. His profile also listed him as single. The page has since been taken down.

Police chief Svinung Sponheim said that internet posting by Breivik suggested he has "some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views.

He is believed to have grown up in Oslo and studied at the Oslo School of Management, which offers degrees and postgraduate courses.

Government business records show him as the sole director of Breivik Geofarm, a company Norwegian media is describing as a farming sole proprietorship.

The company was set up to cultivate vegetables, melons, roots and tubers, Norway's TV2 says, and speculation in local media is rife that through such a link he may have had access to fertiliser, an ingredient used in bomb-making.

The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang quoted a friend as saying that the suspect turned to right-wing extremism when in his late 20s. The paper also said that he participated in online forums expressing strong nationalistic views.

A Twitter account attributed to the suspect has also emerged but it only has one post, which is a quote from philosopher John Stuart Mill: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.

Harry Potter made over $1.6 billion in disc:What's next Harry Potter cast

Final film in the mega-grossing series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2," shattered box office records last weekend after debuting to north of $478 million worldwide.

But that's just a taste of the spoils to come if the bespectacled wizard's performance on DVD and Blu-ray is any indication.

Thus far, the first seven films in Warner Bros. boy-wizard franchise have banked some $1.63 billion in domestic disc sales, according to new estimates from the media research firm IHS Screen Digest.

That heady number doesn't even count the additional $150 million that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" is still expected to generate on home video in North America. Also, importantly, it doesn't take into account the hundreds of millions of dollars more the series has grossed in foreign home entertainment rentals and sales.

A rep for Matthew Lewis – i.e. Neville Longbottom, a fan favorite in the franchise’s finale — tells EW he’s received various scripts that he’s going to be looking at when he returns from Harry Potter publicity. “He previously did a play, Agatha Christie’s Verdict, for six months in the lead up to the release of Deathly Hallows — Part 2, so he’s not had much chance to have a look at things,” we’re told. (Now’s the time!) Evanna Lynch, who always delights as Luna and has decided to act full-time rather than attend college, is also weighing her options. “Do stay tuned,” her rep tells us. Reasons to love her in the meantime: She visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on Monday, pictured, while in Orlando for the Harry Potter fan conference LeakyCon. And in an interview published in the Sunday Independent last weekend, she spoke about taking a yoga-teaching course. “I have done yoga since I was about 11, and have always been interested in it, and everyone tells me I have a very calming voice,” she said.

As for James and Oliver Phelps, who play Fred and George Weasley, they’re putting their heads together to develop two television pilots and also doing a bit of documentary writing and production. A rep for the actors tells EW one of the pilots is an animated teen comedy about an alien prep school; the other is a fun, sketch-based educational comedy called Phraseology that is about how phrases like “loose cannon” got started. (Okay, we love that.) The documentaries are about European Rally racing competitions and following young successful entrepreneurs.

Woolworths Group

Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books. The 800-branch Woolworths chain was the main enterprise of the group, selling many goods and having its own LadyBird children's clothing ranges, Chad Valley toys and the WorthIt! value ranges. The chain was the UK's leading supplier of Candyking "pick 'n' mix" sweets. It was also sometimes referred to as "Woolies" by the UK media and the general public.

On 26 November 2008, the trading of shares in Woolworths Group plc was suspended and the Woolworths and Entertainment UK subsidiaries entered administration. Woolworths Group plc also entered administration on 27 January 2009. The administrators Deloitte & Touche closed all 807 Woolworths stores between 27 December 2008 and 6 January 2009 resulting in 27,000 job losses.

On 2 February 2009 it was announced that the Shop Direct Group had purchased the Woolworths and Ladybird names and these would survive as a brand within the internet based shopping company.

History

The English branch of the originally Pennsylvania-founded Woolworths stores, F W Woolworth & Co, Ltd was founded by Frank Woolworth in Liverpool, England on 5 November 1909 primarily due to Frank Woolworth's ancestry linking to Wooley, Cambridgeshire — Frank himself claiming he had traced his ancestry through the Founding Fathers of the district to a small farm in middle-England. When Frank eventually travelled to England in 1890, he docked in Liverpool and travelled by train to Stoke on Trent for the purchase of china and glassware for Woolworth's ranges, but also noted his love of England in his diary and his aspirations for bringing the Woolworth name to England;

I believe that a good penny and sixpence store, run by a live Yankee, would be a sensation here.

Frank Woolworth

When at a Stoke on Trent railway station, Frank Woolworth met a young freight clerk, William Lawrence Stephenson who impressed Woolworth with his "can-do attitude" and was invited several years later at the time of conception for the British "F. W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd", to meet with Frank Woolworth again, who dispatched a carriage and invitation to his hotel room in London. When Stephenson arrived to meet with Woolworth, he was offered the job as director of the new company, which he accepted.

Administration

From September 2008 the world entered into a severe financial crisis with decreasing availability of credit and reduced consumer spending.

On 19 November 2008, The Times reported that the Woolworths' retail business was a target for restructuring specialist Hilco, who would buy the retail arm for a nominal £1; this was confirmed the same day. This deal would have left Woolworths Group with its profitable distribution and publishing businesses and a reduced debt load.

The group's banks, GMAC and Burdale, rejected the deal and recalled their loans, forcing the group to place the retail business and Entertainment UK into administration. On 26 November 2008, the trading of shares in Woolworths Group plc was suspended. Neville Kahn, Dan Butters and Nick Dargan of Deloitte LLP were appointed joint administrators. When the company entered administration it had a debt of £385 million. The administrators announced that they were aiming to keep the company as a going concern over the crucial Christmas period, although analysts feared that any heavy discounting would create a domino effect and drag down other high street retailers. Deloitte later announced they had received "substantial interest" in Woolworths.

When news about Woolworths being placed into administration became widely publicised, National Lottery operator Camelot Group immediately suspended Woolworths from selling their lottery tickets and scratch cards, as well as preventing claimants from redeeming prizes at the stores.

On 19 January 2009, the parent company, Woolworths Group, announced its intention to also enter administration, as it can no longer pay its debts. The application was heard by the High Court on 27 January, and Woolworths Group plc entered administration. By April 2009 Woolworths Group plc's website no longer existed.

Closing-down process

On 5 December, Woolworths both recorded their greatest single day takings of £27 million, and axed 450 head office and support staff jobs. A closing-down sale started on 11 December.

On 17 December 2008, administrators announced that all 807 Woolworths stores would close by 5 January 2009 (later changed to 6 January), with 27,000 job losses. Deloitte's Neville Kahn also said that it was unclear how much of Woolworths' debt would be paid. In the last few days of trading discounts of up to 90% were offered, and a number of stores sold all of their stock, many selling all of their fixtures and fittings too.

The former chief executive of Kingfisher, Woolworths' former parent company, and Ardeshir Naghshineh, a current shareholder of Woolworths, have criticised the closures.

The stores were closed in phases, and the final two closing days were moved back a day to try to sell more of the remaining stock and to ease logistics of closing.

207 stores closed on 27 December 2008

37 closed on 29 December

164 closed on 30 December

200 closed on 3 January 2009

remaining stores (approximately 200) closed on 6 January 2009

Wooly and Worth

Between 2004 and 2008, Woolworths adverts featured their own mascots, 'Wooly' the sheep and 'Worth' the sheepdog. They appeared in many adverts, including Woolworths WorthIt! adverts. In 2009, they were due to reappear in a half hour comedy special Wooly And Worth's Christmas Message, in which they reveal that they have been homeless since the closure of Woolworths. Scenes were filmed of the pair in a Job Centre and trying to secure and advertising contract with a number of other stores. The film, written and directed by radio presenter and writer Steve Oliver has been held up due to legal complications. As Mr Oliver says "It isn't really Christmas without Woolworths.

Music

Woolworths, for many years, was a leader in the UK music industry. In the 1950s and well into the 1960s, Woolworths issued recordings available only via their stores on their own label Embassy Records, produced and manufactured by Oriole Records. These releases were double-sided singles featuring two cover versions of current hit singles sold at a much cheaper price. This venture was very successful at the time, but was eventually killed off when other record companies started to issue compilation albums. However, Woolworths remained in the music business selling a wide range of singles and albums, and remained the UK's Number 1 music retailer well into the 1990s. Even successful nationwide music specialists stores such as Virgin Megastore and HMV did not overtake Woolworths during this time. They later suffered from strong competition in this field from the large supermarket chains Tesco and Asda.

Entertainment UK

Entertainment UK (EUK) was founded, originally as Record Merchandisers Limited in 1966 by EMI Records, to distribute music to non-specialist retailers, and subsequently became a joint venture between a number of record companies. Woolworths became Entertainment UK's largest customer and in 1986 Record Merchandisers Limited was acquired by the Kingfisher Group. In 1988, Record Merchandisers Limited changed its name to Entertainment UK (EUK).

EUK became the property of Woolworths Group plc after the demerger from parent company, the Kingfisher Group, in 2001. In 2006, the Woolworths Group acquired Total Home Entertainment Distribution Limited (THE) to form part of Entertainment UK (EUK) division. In November 2007 EUK acquired Bertram Books, a major book wholesaler and distributor.

EUK was the main supplier of Zavvi under an exclusive supply deal. As a result of EUK entering into administration, on the 24 December the music retailer was also forced into administration as it was unable to source stock on favourable terms direct from suppliers. Zavvi later closed entirely.

Streets Online logo

Streets Online, founded in 1996 by Stephen Cole, was one of the pioneers of online retailing in the UK. Originally the name behind the online bookseller Alphabetstreet and music site Audiostreet, 85% of the company was bought out by the Kingfisher Group in 2000 for £15.7 million, and then became part of the Woolworths Group with its demerger in 2001. It then became responsible for the web operations of MVC and Tesco. When Kingfisher bought this 85%, the remaining 15% was owned by Sky New Media Ventures (part of BSkyB). In 2003 the company headquarters was moved to the EUK site in Hayes.

2 Entertain

2 Entertain is a joint-venture company combining the former video and music publishing and TV/video production businesses of the Woolworths Group subsidiary, VCI, with the video publishing business of BBC Worldwide. After negotiations with Woolworth Group's administrators, BBC Worldwide has since purchased Woolworths stake in 2entertain, and now is the sole owner of the company.

Brands

Chad Valley was launched in 1991 to create an own label range of merchandise. The Chad Valley brand name, which has been in existence since 1860, is used on a range of toys and games suitable for children under 8 years old. Home Retail Group, the parent company of Argos and Homebase, purchased the brand for £5 million on 20 January 2009.Chad Valley is now exclusively in the Argos catalogue starting Autumn/Winter 2009.

Embassy Records

Main article: Embassy Records

Embassy Records was a series of 45 RPM budget records sold in Woolworths in a label jointly owned by Woolworths and Oriole Records.

Ladybird (clothing)

Ladybird is a brand of children's wear for children aged 0–10 years which was sold exclusively in Woolworths stores. Before the collapse of the Woolworths chain it was ranked third overall in the childrenswear market, with a market share of 5%. Woolworths purchased rights to the Ladybird brand in 1984, purchasing it outright from Coats Viyella in 2001. The brand has a history which dates back to a trading partnership beginning in 1934 between the original firm Adolf Pasold & Son and Woolworths. On 1 February 2009, Shop Direct purchased the brand and whole rights from the administrators.

Winfield

The Winfield brand was launched by Woolworths in 1963 and continued until the 1980s. Goods sold under the brand included household cleaners, groceries, kitchenware, perfumes and other ranges e.g. fishing tackle.

WorthIt!

The WorthIt! brand was a value range released by Woolworths in 2007. The first advertising campaign for the brand which first aired on 15 June 2007 introduced the characters of Worth the dog and Wooly the sheep. Further advertising campaigns featured celebrities such as Rolf Harris, Jackie Chan and Kelly Osbourne. The brand covered a wide variety of products including confectionery, electricals, alcohol, jewellery, perfumes and clothing.

At the time of the administration of Woolworths Plc, there was a pending trademark application for the Worthit brand, and this was acquired by Shop Direct. However, registered trademark status was subsequently refused.

In popular culture

Woolworths is referred to in the 1979 song "Low Budget" by The Kinks, from their album Low Budget: "I'm shopping at Woolworths and low discount stores.

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Murdoch and a Tiger-mother masterclass

Rupert and James Murdoch said repeatedly during their extended testimony before a parliamentary committee in Britain that their involvement in managing the News Corporation’s response to the phone hacking scandal was limited. Rupert Murdoch said he felt let down by “the people that I trusted and then, maybe the people they trusted.

James Murdoch, the 38-year-old News Corporation deputy chief operating officer who oversees News International, the News Corporation’s British subsidiary, told members of Parliament that he was “as surprised as you are” to learn that the company had been paying the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire, The News of the World’s phone hacking specialist, and Clive Goodman, the tabloid’s royal reporter. Both men pleaded guilty to phone hacking charges and went to jail in January 2007. At another point, Murdoch described himself as “surprised and shocked” when he was told about the legal aid to the former employees.

James Murdoch also told Parliament that he did not know how much Mr. Mulcaire’s legal fees have cost or whether the payments have stopped.

Pressed by members of the committee, Mr. Murdoch seemed open to the idea that the company would stop paying Mr. Mulcaire’s legal fees. “I would like to do that,” he said. “I don’t know what the status of what we are doing now or what his contract was.”

But both he and Rupert Murdoch said such “contracts” could make it difficult to stop the payments. They did not provide more detail about the contracts, including who authorized them or whether they had the ability to terminate them.

Since his release from jail in the summer of 2007, Mr. Mulcaire has never spoken publicly about his role in phone hacking — or what his superiors might have known about his activities. With his wife and five children, Mr. Mulcaire lives in a modest home in Cheam, south of London. For four years, he has steadfastly refused constant requests for comment from the news media and has invoked his right against self-incrimination in every lawsuit.

James Murdoch said Tuesday that he had been given an oral briefing on the Taylor case and “did not get involved directly” in the negotiations. Asked whether he was aware that hacking was illegal, James Murdoch acknowledged, “That was my understanding.”

He declined to answer a question, put to him several times, as to whether he would release Mr. Taylor and his lawyers from the confidentiality clause in the agreement so that they might speak publicly about their knowledge of the negotiations.

“It is a confidential agreement,” he said.

Mr. Murdoch also denied that the settlement was motivated by a desire to keep the matter from becoming public. His father said he knew nothing about it until he read about it in July 2009, although he stopped short of naming the newspaper that had first published it (The Guardian).

James Murdoch said the decision to settle was a pragmatic one because he had been advised by outside lawyers that his newspaper would lose in a judgment at trial, and damages and legal costs were estimated to run as high as £500,000 to £1 million, or $800,000 to $1.6 million. At that time, settlements in privacy violation cases typically ran in the tens of thousands of pounds, and legal fees rarely ran that high, lawyers who handle those cases said.

Indeed, when the Formula One boss Max Mosely later won a £60,000 settlement ($96,000) in a privacy case, it was considered a record payout in such cases.

Woolworths supermarket

Woolworths is the largest supermarket chain in Australia, owned by Woolworths Limited. In Victoria some stores still trade as Safeway but as these are being refurbished they are being rebranded.

Woolworths Limited was founded in 1924, with the first store opening up in Sydney's Imperial Arcade.

2008 rebranding

On 22 August 2008, Woolworths announced it was launching a new identity for all its supermarkets and plans to replace the Safeway brand in Victoria, in order to unite all of its supermarkets under one common brand 'Woolworths'.

The logo, which had been in use for 21 years, was replaced with a new brand image, designed by Hans Hulsbosch with a new green tinted icon representing the 'W' in Woolworths with the addition of a stylised leaf to suggest fresh produce. It is also reminiscent of a 1970s Woolworths logo. However, the company's slogan, "The Fresh Food People", which is known throughout Australia, remains as a key part of the new logo. The company introduced these changes in order to further distance itself from its major rival Coles Supermarkets, and to make its branding more modern, 'softer' and more likeable.

In September 2009, this rebranding scheme was extended to New Zealand stores where the new Woolworths symbol is to be used alongside the Countdown brand.

In October 2009, it was reported that Apple Inc. had lodged an objection to Woolworths' trademark application with the Australian Government's intellectual property agency IP Australia, claiming that the logo resembles its own. The reports said that Apple was concerned that Woolworths had applied for a blanket trademark for the design, so it could be placed on any product – even on electrical goods like computers and music players. Woolworths was not selling its own brand electrical goods then, but a spokeswoman for the company said that, "While we can't rule anything out, we haven't got any plans at the moment. Woolworths' rebranding program in its 802 Australian stores had been in progress barely over a year.

Loyalty schemes

Since 1996 Woolworths has offered its customers a number of incentives for purchasing at their stores by subsidising petrol prices at Caltex Woolworths petrol stations and the now defunct Woolworths Plus Petrol. Discounts included 2-cent, 4-cent, 6-cent and in some regional areas 10-cent discounts on fuel when purchases over certain amounts were conducted. As of September 2009, the current offer is a 4 cent/L discount when transactions of over $30 are conducted in-store, with a further 4 cent discount available if customers spend another $5 or more on other items at the petrol site.

Everyday Rewards Card

In September 2007, a trial began in central west New South Wales of Everyday Rewards, a Woolworths shopping card that automatically tracks supermarket purchases and stores fuel discount entitlements, thus eliminating the need for shoppers to retain paper coupons previously used for this purpose. In addition it allows Woolworths to record purchases made by customers to offer them relevant promotions and for studies in demographics and marketing, hence incentives for customers who register their details. This followed Woolworths announcement that is was planning to launch a general purpose credit card in 2008. Woolworths is expected to offer these credit cardholders reward vouchers redeemable throughout its store network. Woolworths subsequently announced that the Woolworths Everyday Money MasterCard would be launched on 26 August 2008 and allows customers to earn shopping cards redeemable at Woolworths group retailers.

In February 2008, Woolworths announced that following the NSW trial, its Everyday Rewards card would be rolled out nationally, beginning with South Australia and Northern Territory in mid-February, and to other states (excluding Tasmania) by the end of May 2008. During the NSW trial, 50,000 cards were issued to customers.

Woolworths stated in June 2008 that "well over a million" shoppers had taken a card and registered their details. In August 2008, Woolworths stated that there were 3.8 million cards "on issue", with 2.4 million cards "registered".

From June 2009, Everyday Rewards cardholders were able to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points, by using their Everyday Rewards cards. Cardholders who had successfully linked their Frequent Flyer card to their registered Everyday Rewards card can earn one Frequent Flyer point for every dollar over $30 that they spent in store. In August 2009, Woolworths announced that there were 3.8 million cards "registered", of which 1.2 million were linked to a Qantas Frequent Flyer account.

Frequent Shopper Club

The Frequent Shopper Club, or F$C, is a reward program for shopping in Woolworths stores in Tasmania. It was started by Purity Supermarkets in the early 1990s before it was sold to Woolworths in the 1990s. It is still in use today.

Other Woolworths Limited supermarkets

Woolworths still trades as Safeway in most locations in Victoria, and some towns on the Victorian border (e.g. Moama, NSW). From 2008, a rebranding program will see these stores progressively branded as Woolworths.

In Tasmania, Woolworths traded as Roelf Vos and Purity prior to being rebranded as Woolworths in 2000

In New Zealand, Woolworths operates supermarkets under three brands - Woolworths, Countdown and Foodtown. It is currently rebranding all stores with the design used by Woolworths throughout New Zealand under the Countdown name.

Food For Less is a discount supermarket chain located in Queensland and New South Wales

Flemings is a group of four supermarkets located in Sydney and the Central Coast

Woolworths launched Thomas Dux Grocer in two New South Wales locations in 2008. Thomas Dux Grocer stores have a larger fresh food offering than traditional Woolworths stores, along with a larger delicatessen section.

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