Everything about Stoke On Trent totally explained
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to
Stoke) is a
city in
Staffordshire,
England, which forms a linear
conurbation almost twelve miles (19 km) long, with an area of . Together with the
Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke forms the
The Potteries Urban Area. This, together with the rural
Staffordshire Moorlands area, forms
North Staffordshire, which in 2001, had a population of 457,165.
The city formed by the Federation of six originally separate towns and numerous villages in the early 20th century. The original settlement from which the federated town (not a City until 1925) took its name was
Stoke-upon-Trent, because this was where the administration (and chief mainline railway station) was located. After the union,
Hanley emerged as the primary commercial centre in the city, despite the efforts of its rival,
Burslem. The three other component towns are
Tunstall,
Longton, and
Fenton.
Stoke-on-Trent is considered to be the home of the
pottery industry in the United Kingdom and is commonly known as
The Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it's now a centre for
service industries and
distribution centres. The city is a
unitary authority with a
directly elected mayor.
Geography
Stoke-on-Trent is situated approximately half-way between
Manchester and
Birmingham and the city adjoins the town and borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is administered separately and situated to the west. To the east is the
Peak District National Park, which includes part of the Staffordshire Moorlands district, as well as parts of Derbyshire and West and South Yorkshire.
Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", because of the name given to it by local novelist
Arnold Bennett. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns (although he called Stoke "Knype"). However, Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns" was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted
Fenton (now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town").
A city like Stoke made up of multiple towns is known as a conurbation (although in this case the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is now continuous with that of administratively-separate Newcastle).
The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along the
A500 road - Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre.
Suburbs
As well as the Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs including
Abbey Hulton, Blurton,
Bentilee,
Birches Head,
Bucknall,
Cliffe Vale,
Etruria,
Hartshill,
Meir,
Meir Park, Meir Hay,
Middleport,
Milton,
Penkhull,
Shelton,
Smallthorne,
Sneyd Green,
Trentham and
Trent Vale.
History
Etymology
The name Stoke is taken from the town of
Stoke-upon-Trent, the original
ancient parish, with other settlements being
chapelries. 'Stoke' derives from the Old English
stoc, a word that at first meant little more than a 'place', but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included 'dairy farm', 'secondary or dependent place or farm', 'summer pasture', 'crossing place', 'meeting place' and 'place of worship'. It isn't known which of these was intended here, and all are feasible. The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on the Roman road that ran from present-day
Derby to
Chesterton or the early presence of a
church, said to have been founded in 670. Because 'Stoke' was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing
affix was usually added later, in this case the name of the
river.
The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is
Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful or A United Force is Stronger.
Administration
An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888, when an amendment was raised to the
Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns districts within a county of 'Staffordshire Potteries'. It wasn't until
April 1,
1910 that the
Six Towns were brought together. The
county borough of
Hanley, the
municipal boroughs of
Burslem,
Longton, and
Stoke, together with the urban districts of
Tunstall and
Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The combined borough took the name of town of
Stoke.
The borough proposed in 1919 to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the
Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke: this met strong objections from Newcastle's Corporation and never took place. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was added to Newcastle-under-Lyme instead in 1932. Although attempts to take Newcastle, Wolstanton and
Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough did however expand in 1922, taking in
Smallthorne Urban District, and parts of other parishes from
Stoke upon Trent Rural District. The borough was officially granted
city status in 1925 with a
Lord Mayor from 1928.
The city's county borough status was abolished in 1974, and it became a
non-metropolitan district of
Staffordshire. Its status was restored as a
unitary authority with the
local authority as
Stoke-on-Trent City Council whilst remaining part of the
ceremonial county of
Staffordshire on
April 1,
1997.
Industry
Since the 17th century the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale
pottery manufacturing, with such world renowned names as
Royal Doulton, Dudson Ltd,
Spode (founded by
Josiah Spode),
Wedgwood and
Minton (founded by
Thomas Minton) being born and based there. The presence locally of abundant supplies of coal and of suitable clay for earthenware production led to the early but at first limited development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the
Trent and Mersey Canal enabled the import of
china clay from
Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of
creamware and
bone china.
However, many other production centres elsewhere in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high quality wares. It was largely the methodical and highly detailed research and a willingness to experiment carried out over many years, initially by one man,
Josiah Wedgwood, and later by other local potters, scientists and engineers, together with the development of great artistic talent throughout the local community, that raised the
Staffordshire Potteries to the internationally dominant position that they've held for many years. Also of note is
Thomas Whieldon. With the industry also came a large number of notable ceramic artists including
Clarice Cliff,
Susie Cooper,
Lorna Bailey,
Charlotte Rhead,
Frederick Hurten Rhead and
Jabez Vodrey.
North Staffordshire was a centre for
coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in the area come from the 13th Century. Part of the
North Staffordshire Coal Field, the
Potteries Coal Field covers and the city had several
pits including
Hanley Deep Pit,
Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath),
Fenton and
Wolstanton The last mine to close was the Trentham Superpit in 1994. The industry developed greatly with new investment in mining projects within the City boundaries as recently as the 1960s and 1970s.
Other industries have also occupied important roles in the development of the city both before and after federation. Notably the iron and steel making industry located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steel Works production of steel ended in 1978 and the final parts of the plant closed in 2002 From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed the
repair shops of the
North Staffordshire Railway and was also the home from 1881 to 1930 of independent railway locomotive manufacturers
Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd..
Shelton Steel Works as well as the mining operations were heavily involved in the
World War II industrial effort. Central to the
RAF's success was the
Supermarine Spitfire designed by
Reginald Mitchell who, whilst born in nearby
Talke, had his
apprenticeship at Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd's railway works.
Religion
Primitive Methodism was founded by
Hugh Bourne a native of Stoke. He originally followed the
Wesleyan form of
Methodism but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. By 1811 with his brother he founded the first
chapel in Tunstall. He promoted
Sunday Schools as a method of improving
children's
education as well as treating women as equals. He also was involved in the
temperance movement. It was from the Primitive Methodists that many early
Trades Unions found their early leaders. Also of note is
John Lightfoot a 17th century churchman and rabbinical scholar.
Present day
Administration and politics
The city is the only one of the twelve English districts with elected mayors to use the
mayor and council manager system rather than the
mayor and cabinet system. Following a local
referendum, passing the motion 28,601 votes to 20,578 (turnout of 27.8%), on
May 3,
2002 a directly elected mayor system was approved.
Mike Wolfe an independent candidate became the first directly elected mayor after an election on
October 17,
2002 an independent, who narrowly beat
Labour Party candidate
George Stevenson by just 300 votes. The current Mayor from
May 5 2005 to date is
Mark Meredith (Labour Party). The 2005 election was notable because approximately 10% of the ballot papers were either spoiled or ineligible. Meredith's election platform included a pledge to have another referendum on the post of elected mayor. This is scheduled for May 2007. The council has 60
councillors who scrutinise the decisions of the mayor.
The city is covered by three
House of Commons constituencies. They are
Stoke-on-Trent North,
Stoke-on-Trent Central and
Stoke-on-Trent South. All three have returned Labour MPs without interruption since their creation in
1950. The city is within the
West Midlands European Parliament constituency.
Two current politicians from Stoke are
David Sumberg MEP for
North West England and
David Kidney MP for nearby
Stafford.
In July 2007, the nation-wide public
smoking ban in
England failed to come into effect in Stoke-On-Trent because of an apparent "bureaucratic blunder". As Stoke-On-Trent has both a Council Manager and a Mayor, the enforcement of the ban must undergo a formal approval by both. This was a decline of 3.5% since 1991. 51.3% of the population is female. 96.3% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK. 94.8% of the population identified themselves as white, 2.6% as Asian British Pakistani, 0.5% Asian British Indian and 0.3% as Black Afro Caribbean.
Economy
North Staffordshire is a
world centre for fine ceramics - a skilled design trade established in the area since at least the 12th century.
In the late 1980s & 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks, mines, and potteries were closed, including the renowned
Shelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce. However, at Q2 2004 the unemployment rate had recovered to almost the same as in the wider
West Midlands. The city's present employment levels are currently stable and likely to grow from 2004 to 2008, according to a detailed 2003 study by Experian Business Strategies. About 9,000 firms are based in the city. Amongst the more notable are
Bet365, founded by local businessman and Stoke City chairman
Peter Coates, and
Phones4U a large retailer of
mobile phones started by
John Caudwell.
KPMG's 'Competitive Alternatives 2004' report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business. The city currently has the advantage of offering very affordable business property - while being surrounded by a belt of extremely affluent areas (The Peak District, Stone, South Cheshire, Newcastle-under-Lyme) and having excellent road links via the
A500 and nearby
M6 and rail links.
According the
HM Land Registry, the annual increase in house prices over the third quarter of 2005 was 8.0%, down form 13.5% in the previous quarter. House prices were the 4th lowest in
England and Wales.
Around five million tourists visit Stoke each year, directly supporting around 4,400 jobs. Stoke-on-Trent shows its popularity through the number of repeat visits; around 80 percent of visitors have previously visited. Tourism to the city was kick-started by the
National Garden Festival in 1986, and is now sustained by the many pottery factory-shops/tours and by the improved canal network.
A 2003/4 mapping study found 1,000 active creative businesses & artists based within a ten mile (16 km) radius of the city. The survey didn't include the thousands of ceramics companies.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Stoke-on-Trent at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year |
Regional Gross Value Added |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Services |
| 1995 |
2,577 |
2 |
1,212 |
1,364 |
| 2000 |
2,833 |
1 |
1,107 |
1,725 |
| 2003 |
3,238 |
1 |
1,199 |
2,038 |
The main shopping centre is Hanley; location of the Potteries Shopping Centre (housing many well known national retail outlets), many well-known high street shops and some unique specialist retailers. The Potteries Shopping Centre has recently opened high quality coffee shops including Starbucks and Costa coffee. And with the
Peak District National Park just ten miles (16 km) away, Hanley naturally boasts five outdoors clothing & equipment shops.
Other notable business people from the city includes
Reginald H. Jones (Chairman of
General Electric) and
John Madejski chairman of
Reading F.C. and former owner of
Auto Trader.
Transport
Stoke-on-Trent is linked to the nearby
M6 motorway at junctions 15 and 16 by the
A500. Locally the A500 is known to as the D road (500 in Roman Numerals is D) as its loop between the two motorway junctions resembles a D. The
A50 cuts through the city, providing an East-West link between the M6 and
M1 motorways. Improvements to the road network have led to a number of companies building distribution centres in the area.
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline station on the
Stafford to Manchester Line, which is a part of the
West Coast Main Line between
Manchester and
London, as well as the
Crewe to Derby Line.
Virgin Pendolino train 390029 is named after Stoke-on-Trent. Other stations in the city include
Longport and
Longton stations.
Etruria station was closed in September 2005.
Local
public transport is almost exclusively by bus. Bus services are mainly operated by
Potteries Motor Traction, now owned by
First Group under the name First PMT. There are also several smaller companies operating bus services in the city. There are central bus stations in
Hanley city centre and
Longton town centre.
National Express operate long distance coach services from Hanley bus station.
The city is served by the
Trent & Mersey Canal, which sees traffic of some 10,000 boats a year. Additionally, the
Caldon Canal branches off from the Trent and Mersey at
Etruria, within the city boundaries, going to
Froghall with one branch going to
Leek. Recently numerous improvements to the canal system have been made.
There are of new
National Cycle Network off-road bicycle paths through the city, connecting the city to the national long-distance paths, completed in 2005.
Culture
Arts & literature
Nightlife has boomed in recent years, with Hanley becoming increasingly popular for its nightclubs, theatres, pubs, bars and restaurants. There are also several theatres outside the city centre, and a long-established 'art-house' cinema in Shelton.
Several nationally recognised TV presenters have been born in the area including
Frank Bough who presented
Nationwide &
Breakfast Time,
Anthea Turner from
Blue Peter and
Nick Hancock who chaired the comedy quiz show
They Think It's All Over and was host on
Room 101. Bruno Brookes the former
BBC Radio 1 disc jockey who hosted the station's breakfast show also presented
Top of the Pops.
Peter Wyngarde as
Jason King in "Flamingoes only fly on Tuesdays" makes a quip about a "knicker salesman from Stoke-on-Trent". The cat in
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow once sang a song about Stoke-on-Trent.
Master illusionist
Andrew Van Buren was born & still is based in the area, although is more often found performing out of the country.
In 2005 the installation of £1,000,000 worth of new
public art was completed.
Originally through the works of
Arnold Bennett, described by some as the greatest
realist writer of the 20th century, the 'Six Towns' were also sometimes known as the 'Five Towns'. In his novels Bennett wrote about local events in the 19th century consistently changed all proper names and associations, thus Hanley became Hanbridge and Burslem became Bursley. It is thought that Bennett chose to write about five towns, rather than six, because he refused to acknowledge Fenton as a proper town. The six towns weren't federated until 1910 but Fenton was still relatively new by that time, it was also the smallest in terms of population and area. As well as this Bennett changed the name of the towns' newspaper from the Sentinel to the Signal, an identity that was subsequently adopted by the city's commercial radio station.
Other notable contributors to the world of
literature includes
Elijah Fenton (poet),
Peter Whelan (playwright),
John Wain (poet, critic and scholar),
Pauline Stainer (poet),
Charles Tomlinson (poet, graphic artist, translator, editor and critic). Stoke is also the birthplace of many artists including
Arthur Berry (also a novelist, playwright & poet),
Arnold Machin (sculptor, coin & stamp designer) and
Sidney Tushingham, A.R.E.
The city's main daily newspaper is
The Sentinel, based in
Etruria. Local radio stations are
BBC Radio Stoke, the commercial
Signal 1 and
Signal 2 and
Cross Rhythms City Radio (
Community Radio). Television news is covered by
Birmingham-based
BBC Midlands Today,
Manchester-based
BBC North West Tonight,
ITV Central and
ITV . A website featuring news stories about Stoke-on-Trent City Council was launched in 2008 called
SmokeonTrent.
Stoke has been the birthplace of many actors, including
Hugh Dancy who has been in
Black Hawk Down,
Freddie Jones,
Alan Lake (widower of
Diana Dors),
Adrian Rawlins,
Hanley Stafford (American radio actor, born Alfred John Austin in Hanley),
Jonathan Wilkes and
Neil Morrissey, star of
Men Behaving Badly.
Music
Stoke has a vibrant music scene. Local nightclub the
Golden Torch became the centre of the
Northern soul scene in the early 70s.
Shelley's Laserdome nightclub in Longton played a pivotal role in the house and rave scene of the late 80s and early 90s too, helping to launch the career of
Sasha and featuring regular appearances from
Carl Cox, until it was eventually shut down by
Staffordshire Police. Stoke also held the brief title (possibly invented by the media) of 'Techno City' in the early 90s, through the work of acts such as Altern 8 and Bizarre Inc. Hanley nightclub 'the Void' developed a sister relationship with Sankey's Soap in Manchester, helping the latter to revive its fortunes during the late 90s through the promotion of club night 'Golden'.
Robbie Williams is perhaps the most famous pop star to hail from the city. Many of his songs refer to Stoke-on-Trent, either directly or indirectly. These include "It's Only Us" and "Burslem Normals" as well as the spoken introduction to his duet with
Jonathan Wilkes of the song "Me and My Shadow", while the song "Angels" was partly inspired by the gold angel at Burslem Town Hall.
Slash was born in
Hampstead, but grew up in Stoke from an early age. Other notable individuals and groups from the area include
Andy Moor who is a Dj and Producer,
Havergal Brian who
composed 32
symphonies and five
operas,
Gertie Gitana (music hall star and singer),
Lemmy, the founder of the rock band
Motörhead,
Patricia Leonard (singer/
contralto),
Jem Finer (Banjoist, The Pogues) and Broken Bones,
Discharge (Punk Band).
Murdoc Niccals, a member of the fictional group
Gorillaz with the role of bass guitarist is said, in his constructed biography, to have been born in Stoke-on-Trent. Indie rocker
Stephen Malkmus mentions Stoke-on-Trent in "Pink India", released on his
self-titled solo album, singing that the song's protagonist, Mortimer, is a "rook" in
The Great Game, who "came from Stoke-on-Trent."
In October 2007, Stoke-on-Trent City Council introduced a new theme tune - Moving Forwards Together. Although described by the council as 'part of our drive to help us move the city forward and create a better Stoke-on-Trent for people to live, learn, work and enjoy' it was widely received as a wholly patronising, dispiriting piece of non-music.
Dialect
The Potteries has a distinctive local dialect. It is believed to descend from
Anglo-Saxon (Old English). Whilst it contains many unique words (for example "Nesh” meaning soft, tender, or to easily get cold,
A local
cartoon called
May un Mar Lady, published in the
The Sentinel newspaper, written in
Potteries dialect, first appeared on
July 8 1986 and ran for over 20 years. Since the Cartoonist
Dave Follows' death in 2003 the full twenty-year run (7,000) of May un Mar Lady strips are being republished in The Sentinel, as May un Mar Lady Revisited, keeping the dialect alive for another twenty years.
Also, Alan Povey's
Owd Grandad Piggott stories which have aired on BBC Radio Stoke for a number of years are recited in the Potteries dialect by the author.
Food
Two local culinary specialities are the much loved Potteries
Oatcake (very different from the Scottish version and traditionally made in corner-shop style oatcake bakeries), whose fame has yet to travel far outside
Staffordshire and neighbouring
Derbyshire and
Cheshire, and are as popular as ever although no longer the cheap alternative to bread. Oatcakes can be eaten cold or hot with any sweet or savoury fillings.
Lobby, a stew not unlike
Lancashire Hotpot, is still made by local people.
Higher education
There are four
higher education institutions in the local area. The city is home to
Staffordshire University (formerly North Staffordshire Polytechnic), with its main site in Shelton near to Stoke-on-Trent railway station. It gained its university status in 1992 as one of the
post-1992 universities.
Keele University Medical School uses facilities at the
University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Hartshill.
Keele University itself was founded as the University College of North Staffordshire in 1949 with major involvement by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Stoke-on-Trent College (External Link
) is the largest college in England and has two sites: one in Burslem (media & performing arts) and the main centre in Shelton. Also situated in Fenton there's a Sixth Form Centre, which is a Music & Performing Arts college.
Places of interest
The city's rich past can best be explored through visiting one of its many museums & galleries; such as the Etruria Industrial Museum, the
Elizabethan Ford Green Hall, the world-class ceramics collection at the main Potteries Museum & Art Gallery,
Gladstone Pottery Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The
European Route of Industrial Heritage) and the newly opened
Ceramica in Burslem.
Burleigh in Middleport is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are ambitious plans to open the huge
Chatterley Whitfield colliery as a Mining Museum, since it has been given Ancient Monument status, ranking it in importance with
Stonehenge.
Trentham Gardens is in the south of the city and a £100 million refurbishment was completed in 2005.
Although not in the city,
Alton Towers theme park is one of the
United Kingdom's best known attractions and is wrongly commonly associated with Stoke-on-Trent.
Sport
Stoke-on-Trent is home to two professional football teams teams,
Stoke City F.C. (the Potters), who play at the
Britannia Stadium(nice part of the city) after a move from The Victoria Ground in 1997(rough part of the city), and
Port Vale F.C. (the Valiants) who play at
Vale Park. City will play in the
Premier League in the 2008-9 season, while Vale will play in
League 2. This is the first time Stoke have played in England's top division since 1985. The only major success for either of the professional teams was Stoke City's
1972 League Cup win.
In
Speedway, the
Stoke Potters race in the
Premier League whilst the
Stoke Spitfires race in the BSPA Conference League.
Speedway was staged at the greyhound stadium in Sun Street, Hanley intermitently between 1929 and 1939. In 1947 the Potters were part of the post war boom rising from Division Three of the National League to Division Two before closing in the the early 1950s. The Potters were revived in 1960 and they raced in the Provincial League until the end of 1963 when the stadium was closed and the site re-developed. Speedway was revived at Loomer Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme, initially as Chesterton, before it reverted to the Stoke name.
The
ski race team based at the artificial ski slope in Festival Park compete in national Snowsport England and international
FIS events.
The city has a number of amateur sports clubs, including
rugby union and
cricket, the later competing in the North Staffs and South Cheshire Cricket League. The cricket ground in Longton is one of the grounds used by
Staffordshire County Cricket Club There is also the Paragon Water Polo Team which is widely regarded as being one of the top teams in the country.
Stoke Spitfires was also the name of the city's
American Football team. The team eventually folded in 1992 after a record of 35-34-1. In 1994 the
Staffordshire Surge was formed and played their matches in and around Stoke-On-Trent. Currently the team play at Stoke Rugby Club in Division 1 North of the
British American Football League.
Sir Stanley Matthews is perhaps the best known sports person from the city, who played for Stoke City and
Blackpool F.C., where he played in what became known as the
Matthews Final and managed Port Vale. He also made 54 appearances for his
country, scoring 11 times. There are two statues of Matthews in the city; one in Hanley, and one at the Britannia Stadium.
Another God in stoke-on-trent is Gordan Banks who is most known for his great save against Pele when England played Brazil in the World cup. In 2008 Gordan Banks his having his own statue at the Brit and to open the statue the Legendry Pele is coming all the way over from Brazil to sunny Stoke-on-Trent.
Phil Taylor is one of the most successful
darts players in the early 21st century and is a former
PDC and
BDO World Champion. Phil Taylor has also won the pdc league 4 times out of 4 and is the 13 TIMES WORLD CHAMPION! in darts.
Other notable sports people from the area include
Mark Bright, a former
FA Premier League footballer,
Garth Crooks another top-flight footballer, both of whom now have media careers with the BBC.
Ross Pointon (UFC Fighter),
Andrew Foster (tennis),
Adrian Lewis,
Ted Hankey both darts players, the later a world champion,
Dave Harold,
Jamie Cope (both snooker) and
Imran Sherwani (field hockey).
Wicketkeeper Bob Taylor, who played for
Derbyshire and
England was born and still lives in the area. He represented England 58 times and still holds the world record for the most number of dismissals in the first class game (1649).
In golf, Trenthams' David Lynn (born 1973) is the KLM Open Champion 2004. David has been a member of European Tour since 1996 and he's been in Top 30 of European Tour Order of Merit two times in last three seasons.
Stoke on Trent is also home to Unreal Airsoft. Unreal Airsoft is comprised of multiple courses where players of the extreme sport compete.
Twin town
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