Official name	Colombo
Native name	කොළඹ கொழும்பு
settlement type	City
Image seal	CMCLogo.jpg
Map caption	Map of Colombo showing its administrative districts.
Pushpin map	Sri Lanka
Pushpin map caption	Map of Sri Lanka showing the location of Colombo.
Coordinates region	LK
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	Sri Lanka
Subdivision type1	Province
Subdivision name1	Western Province
Subdivision type2	District
Subdivision name2	Colombo District
Leader title	Municipal Council
Leader name	Colombo Municipal Council
Leader title1	Headquarters
Leader name1	Town Hall
Leader title2	Mayor
Leader name2	Vacant
Leader title3	Deputy Mayor
Leader name3	Vacant
Leader title4	Special Commissioner
Leader name4	Omer Kamil
Language	Sinhala, Tamil, English
Area total km2	37.31
Area total sq mi	14.4
Population as of	2001
Population total	647,100
Population metro	5,648,000 (2006)
Population density km2	17344
Timezone	Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone
Utc offset	+05:30
Website	www.cmc.lk
Footnotes	}}

Colombo (Sinhala: කොළඹ, pronounced ; ) is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins and a city population of 647,100. The Colombo Metropolitan Region, defined by the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, has an estimated population of 5,648,000, and covers an area of 3,694.20 km².. As per the Provincial Gross Domestic Product-2010, The Western Province, which includes the cities of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara recorded GDP per capita of USD 3,808, the highest recorded GDP per capita for any region in South Asia. It was formerly the political capital of Sri Lanka, before Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.

Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. However it was only made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.

Like many cities, Colombo's urban area extends well beyond the boundaries of a single local authority, encompassing other Municipal and Urban Councils. The main city is home to a majority of Sri Lanka's corporate offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. Famous landmarks in Colombo include the Galle Face Green, the Viharamahadevi Park as well as the National Museum.

Etymology

The name "Colombo", first introduced by the Portuguese in 1505, is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhalese name කොලොන් තොට ''Kolon thota'', meaning "port on the river Kelani". It has also been suggested that the name may be derived from the Sinhalese name කොල-අම්බ-තොට ''Kola-amba-thota'' which means "Harbour with leafy mango trees". However, it is also possible that the Portuguese named the city after Christopher Columbus, the Italian sailor who lived in Portugal for many years before discovering the Americas on behalf of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. His Portuguese name is Cristóvão Colombo. Colombo set sail westwards to look for India around the same time Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama set sail eastwards, landing at the Port of Calicut in India on 20 May 1498. Colombus landed in the Americas six years before that on 12 October 1492 and was already a famed sailor and explorer, celebrated both in Portugal and Spain by the time Dom Lourenço de Almeida accidentally landed in the port of Galle in 1505.

History

As Colombo possesses a natural harbour, it was known to Romans, Arabs, and Chinese traders over 2,000 years ago. Traveller Ibn Batuta who visited the island in the 14th century, referred to it as ''Kalanpu''. Arab Muslims whose prime interests were trade, began to settle in Colombo around the 8th century AD mostly because the port helped their business and controlled much of the trade between the Sinhalese kingdoms and the outside world. Their descendants now comprise the local Sri Lankan Moor community.

The Portuguese Era

Portuguese explorers led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505. During their initial visit they made a treaty with the King of Kotte Parakramabahu VIII (1484–1508) enabling them to trade in the islands' crop of cinnamon, which lay along the coastal areas of the island, including in Colombo. As part of the treaty, the Portuguese were given full authority over the coast line in exchange for the promise of guarding the coast against invaders. They were also allowed to establish a trading post in Colombo. Within a short time, however, they then expelled the Muslim inhabitants of Colombo and began to build a fort there in 1517.

The Portuguese soon realized that control of Sri Lanka was necessary for protection of their coastal establishments in India and they began to manipulate the rulers of the Kotte Kingdom in order to gain control of the area. After skilfully exploiting rivalries within the Royal Family, they took control of a large area of the Kingdom and the Sinhalese King Mayadunne established a new Kingdom at Sitawaka, a domain in the Kotte kingdom. Before long he annexed much of the Kotte kingdom and forced the Portuguese to retreat to Colombo, which was repeatedly besieged by Mayadunne and the later Kings of Sitawaka, forcing them to seek reinforcement from their major base in Goa, India. However, following the fall of the Kingdom in 1593, the Portuguese were able to establish complete control over the entire coastal area, with Colombo as their capital. This part of Colombo is still known as ''Fort'' and houses the presidential palace and the majority of Colombo's five star hotels. The area immediately outside Fort is known as Pettah (Sinhala පිට කොටුව ''piṭa koṭuva'', "outer fort") and is a commercial hub.

The Dutch Era

In 1638 the Dutch signed a treaty with ''King Rajasinha II'' of Kandy which assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the island's major trade goods. The Portuguese resisted the Dutch and the Kandyans, but were gradually defeated in their strongholds beginning in 1639. The Dutch captured Colombo in 1656 after an epic siege, at the end of which a mere 93 Portuguese survivors were given safe conduct out of the fort. Although the Dutch, (e.q. Rijcklof van Goens) initially restored the captured area back to the Sinhalese Kings, they later refused to turn them over and gained control over the island's richest cinnamon lands including Colombo which then served as the capital of the Dutch maritime provinces under the control of the Dutch East India Company until 1796.

The British era

Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a British military outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created crown colony of Ceylon. Unlike the Portuguese and Dutch before them, whose primary use of Colombo was as a military fort, the British began constructing houses and other civilian structures around the fort, giving rise to the current City of Colombo.

Initially, they placed the administration of the city under a "Collector", and John Macdowell of the Madras Service was the first to hold the office. Then, in 1833, the Government Agent of the Western Province was charged with the administration of the city. Centuries of colonial rule had meant a decline of indigenous administration of Colombo, and in 1865 the British conceived a Municipal Council as a means of training the local population in self-governance. The Legislative Council of Ceylon constituted the Colombo Municipal Council in 1865 and the Council met for the first time on the January 16, 1866. At the time, the population of the region was around 80,000.

During the time they were in control of the Colombo, the British were responsible for much of the planning of the present city. In some parts of the city tram car tracks and granite flooring laid during the era are still visible today.

Post Independence

This era of colonialism ended peacefully in 1948 when Ceylon gained independence from Britain. Due to the tremendous impact this caused on the city's inhabitants and on the country as a whole, the changes that resulted at the end of the colonial period were drastic. An entire new culture took root. Changes in laws and customs, clothing styles, religions and proper names were a significant result of the colonial era. These cultural changes were followed by the strengthening of the island's economy. Even today, the influence of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British is clearly visible in Colombo's architecture, names, clothing, food, language and attitudes. Buildings from all three eras stand in their glory as reminders of the turbulent past of Colombo. The city and its people show an interesting mix of European clothing and lifestyles together with local customs.

Historically, Colombo referred to the area around the ''Fort'' and ''Pettah Market'' which is famous for the variety of products available as well as the Khan Clock Tower, a local landmark. At present, it refers to the city limits of the Colombo Municipal Council. More often, the name is used for the Conurbation known as Greater Colombo, which encompasses several Municipal councils including Kotte, Dehiwela and Colombo.

Although Colombo lost its status as the capital of Sri Lanka in the 1980s, it continues to be the island's commercial centre. Despite the official capital of Sri Lanka moving to the adjacent Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte, most countries still maintain their diplomatic missions in Colombo.

Geography and climate

Colombo's geography is a mix of land and water. The city has many canals and, in the heart of the city, the Beira Lake. The lake is one of the most distinctive landmarks of Colombo, and was used for centuries by colonists to defend the city. and theatrical events on its shores. The Northern and North-Eastern border of the city of Colombo is formed by the Kelani River, which meets the sea in a part of the city known as the Modera (''mōdara'' in Sinhala) which means river delta.

Colombo features a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. Colombo's climate is fairly temperate all throughout the year. From March to April the temperature averages around 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) maximum. The only major change in the Colombo weather occurs during the monsoon seasons from May to August and October to January. This is the time of year where heavy rains can be expected. Colombo sees little relative diurnal range of temperature, although this is more marked in the drier winter months, where minimum temperatures average 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). Rainfall in the city averages around a year.

Demographics

Colombo is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural city. The population of Colombo is a mix of numerous ethnic groups, mainly Sinhalese, Moors and Tamils. There are also small communities of people with Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Malay and Indian origins living in the city, as well as numerous European expatriates. Colombo is the most populous city in Sri Lanka, with 642,163 people living within the city limits. According to the census of 2001 the demographics of urban Colombo by ethnicity is as follows.

Sinhalese peopleSri Lankan TamilsSri Lankan MoorsIndian Tamils of Sri LankaSri Lankan MalaysBurgher peopleSri Lankan ChettyBharatha Other Total

+
!No!!Ethnicity!!Population!!% Of Total
1	Sinhalese||	265,657	41.36
2	Tamils||	185,672	28.91
3	Moors||	153,299	23.87
4	Indian Tamils||	13,968	2.17
5	Malay||	11,149	1.73
6	Burghers||	5,273	0.82
7	|	740	0.11
8	|	471	0.07
9	|	5,934	0.96
10	|	642,163	100

Government and politics

Local Government

Colombo is a charter city, with a Mayor Council form of government. Colombo's mayor and the council members are elected through local government elections held once in five years. For the past 50 years the city had been ruled by the United National Party (UNP), a right leaning party, whose business friendly policies resonate with the population of Colombo. However the UNP nomination list for the 2006 Municipal elections was rejected, and an Independent Group supported by the UNP won the elections. Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas was subsequently appointed Mayor of Colombo.

The city government provides sewer, road management and waste management services, in case of water, electricity and telephone utility services the council liaises with the water supply and drainage board, the Ceylon electricity board and telephone service providers.

;Official vision and mission Vision:

Mission

National capital

Colombo was the capital of the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British from the 1700s to the 1815 when the British gained control of the entire island following the Kandian convention. From then until the 1980s the national capital of the island was Colombo. During the 1980s plans were made to move the administrative capital to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and thus move all governmental institutions out of Colombo to make way for commercial activities. As a primary step the Parliament was moved to a new complex in Kotte and several ministries and departments were also moved. However the move was never completed. Today many governmental institutions still remain in Colombo. These include the President's House, Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister's House (Temple Trees), Prime Minister's Office, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, important government ministries and departments; such as Finance (Treasury), Defence, Public Administration & Home affairs, Foreign affairs, Justice and the Military headquarters, Naval headquarters (SLNS Parakrama), Air Force headquarters (SLAF Colombo) and Police national and field force headquarters.

Suburbs

Colombo is divided into 15 numbered areas for the purposes of postal services. Within these areas are the suburbs with their corresponding post office.

style="width:100px;"	Postal zones	Suburbs
Colombo 1	Fort (Colombo)
Colombo 2	Slave Island and Union Place
Colombo 3	Kollupitiya
Colombo 4	Bambalapitiya
Colombo 5	Havelock Town and Kirilapone
Colombo 6	Wellawatte and Pamankada
Colombo 7	Cinnamon Gardens
Colombo 8	Borella
Colombo 9	Dematagoda
Colombo 10	Maradana and Panchikawatte
Colombo 11	Pettah, Sri Lanka>Pettah
Colombo 12	Hultsdorf
Colombo 13	Kotahena and Bloemendhal
Colombo 14	Grandpass
Colombo 15	Mutwal, Modera, Mattakkuliya and Madampitiya

Economy

The great majority of Sri Lankan corporations have their head offices in Colombo. Some of the industries include chemicals, textiles, glass, cement, leather goods, furniture, and jewellery. In the city centre is located South Asia's second tallest building - The World Trade Centre. The 40 story Twin Tower complex is the centre of important commercial establishments, situated in the Fort district, the city's nerve center. Right outside the ''Fort'' area is ''Pettah'' which is derived from the Sinhalese word ''pita'' which means ''out'' or ''outside'' as it is outside the ''Fort''.

Pettah is more crowded than the fort area. Pettah's roads are always packed and pavements are full of small stalls selling from delicious Sherbat to Shirts. Main Street consists mostly of clothes shops and the cross roads, which are literally known as Cross Streets where each of the five streets specializes in a specific business. For example the First Cross Street is mostly electronic goods shops, the Second, cellular phones and fancy goods. Most of these businesses in Pettah are dominated by Muslim traders. At the end of the main street further away from Fort is the Sea Street, Sri Lanka's Gold market - dominated by Tamil interests. This mile-long street is full of jewellery shops.

The Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR) encompasses the country's administrative capital Kotte and Colombo. Found within the borders of the CMR is 80% of the country's industries and over 60% of all vehicles plying Sri Lankan roads.. The per capita income of the Western Province, of which [Colombo] is the capital city stood at USD 3,808, making it one of the most prosperous regions in South Asia.

At one time Air Lanka (now SriLankan Airlines) had its head office in Colombo.

Law enforcement & crime

The Sri Lanka Police the main law enforcement agency of the island liaise with the municipal council, but is under the control of the Ministry of Defence of the central government. Policing in Colombo and its suburbs falls within the ''Metropolitan Range'' headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Metropolitan), this also includes the Colombo Crime Division. As with most Sri Lankan cities, the magistrate court handles felony crimes, the district court handles civil cases.

As in other large cities around the world, Colombo experiences certain levels of street crime and bribery. In addition, in the period from the 1980s to 2009 there have been a number of major terrorist attacks. The LTTE has been linked to most of the bombings and assassinations in the city. Welikada Prison is situated in Colombo and it is one of the largest maximum-security prisons in the country.

Infrastructure

Colombo has most of the amenities that a modern city has. Compared to other parts of the country, Colombo has the highest degree of infrastructure. Electricity, water and transport to street lamps, phone booths and etc. have a considerably good standard. The majority of the major shopping malls in Sri Lanka are located in the city, of which all are wi-fi enabled. Apart from that, many luxurious hotels, clubs and restaurants are also situated in the city. In recent times there's been an outpour of high rise condominiums in the city, mainly due to the very high land prices.

Port of Colombo

The largest and one of the busiest ports in Sri Lanka, the Colombo Harbour is located in this city. Colombo was established primarily as a port city during the colonial era, with an artificial harbour that has been expanded over the years. The Sri Lanka Navy maintains a naval base, ''SLNS Rangalla'' within the harbour.

The Port of Colombo handled 3.75 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2008, 10.6% up on 2007 (which itself was 9.7% up on 2006), bucking the global economic trend. Of those, 817,000 were local shipments with the rest transshipments. The port is close to its capacity for container handling. An expansion project, the South Harbour project, will increase the port's capacity.

Transport

Colombo has an extensive public transport system based on buses. The bus service is operated both by private operators and the government owned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). Train transport within the city is limited since most trains are meant for transport to and from the city rather than within the city and are often overcrowded. However the ''Central Bus Stand'' and ''Fort Railway Station'' functions as the islands primary hub for bus and rail transport respectively. Up until the 1970s the city had a trams service, which was discontinued. Other means of transport includes auto rickshaws (commonly called "three wheelers" in Sri Lanka) and taxicabs. Three wheelers are entirely operated by individuals and hardly regulated whilst cab services are run by private companies and are metered.

Construction of the Colombo Metro Rail, a Mass Rapid Transit railway system, similar to that of other advanced Asian cities has begun. The project was established to control the excessive traffic in the city. The project is carried out by NEB Rapid Infrastructure Projects Pvt.Ltd., an Indian and Singaporean collaboration.

Bandaranaike International Airport serves the city for all International flights while the Ratmalana Airport serves all local flights.

; Roads :

A1 highway connects Colombo with Kandy.

A2 highway connects Colombo with Galle.

; Rail:

Main Line – Colombo to Badulla.

Southern Line – Colombo to Matara

Northern Line – Colombo to Kankesanturai deviates from the Main Line at Polgahawela junction - presently operating only up to Vavuniya

Puttalam Line – Colombo to Puttalam

Kelani Valley Line (Narrow Gauge)now this is broad gauge - Colombo to Yatiyantota - presently operating only up to Avissawella

Mannar Line (Earlier Indo-Lanka Line) Colombo To Talaimannar - Divides from Northern Line at Medawachchiya junction - Not operational

; Ferry Services: A luxury ferry liner, the Scotia Prince, is conducting a ferry service to Tuticorin, India. Ferry services between the two countries have been revived after more than 20 years.

Landmarks

The two World Trade Centre towers used to be the most recognized landmarks of the city. Before these towers were completed in 1997, the adjacent Bank of Ceylon tower was the tallest structure and the most prominent landmark of the city. Before the skyscrapers were built it was the Old Parliament Building that stood majestically in the Fort district with the Old Colombo Lighthouse situated close to it. Another important landmark of the city is the Independence Hall at Independence Square in Cinnamon Gardens.

Even before the parliament was built some claim that the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque was recognized as the landmark of Colombo by sailors approaching the port. The mosque is still one of the most visited tourist sites in Colombo.

Another landmark is St.Paul's Church Milagiriya, one of the oldest churches in Sri Lanka, first built by the Portuguese and re-built by the British in 1848.

The Fort district also has the famous ''Cargills & Millers'' complex that is protected by a special government law from demolition. This is done mainly to preserve the historic beauty of the Fort area.

The Galle Face Green is the city's largest and most elegant promenade. Lined with palm trees and adjacent to the coast, this mile-long stretch in the heart of the city is a constant beehive of activity. The green is especially busy on Fridays and Saturdays. In the evenings it plays host to families and children playing sports and flying kites, lovers embracing under umbrellas and health enthusiasts taking their daily evening walks. There are numerous small food stalls and a small stretch of beach to get wet. The green was recently given a make over and since then has been even more popular with the local community. The Green also frequently hosts numerous international and local concerts and performances, such as the recently concluded World Drum Festival.

Cannons that were once mounted on the rampart of the old fort of Colombo laid out for observance and prestige at the Green, giving a colonial touch to the city. The famous colonial styled Galle Face Hotel, known as Asia's Emerald on the Green since 1864, is also adjacent to Galle Face Green. The Hotel has played host to distinguished guests including the British Royal Family and other Royal Guests and Celebrities. Apparently after having stayed at the hotel, Princess Alexandra of Denmark had commented that "the peacefulness and generosity encountered at the Galle Face Hotel cannot be matched". Around the corner from Galle Face are prominent coffee bars, chic bars and boutiques.

Education

Education institutions in Colombo have a long history. Colombo has many of the prominent public schools in the country, some of them government owned and others private. Most of the prominent schools in the city date back to the 1800s when they were established during the British colonial rule, such as the Royal College Colombo (1835). Certain urban schools of Sri Lanka have some religious alignment, this is partly due to the influence of British who established Christian missionary schools, these include the Anglican, Bishop's College(1875); the Buddhist, Ananda College (1886); the Muslim, Zahira College (1892); the Catholic, St. Joseph's College (1896). These religious alignments do not affect the curriculum of the school except for the demographics of the student population.

Higher education in the city has a long history, beginning with the establishment of the Colombo Medical College (1870), the Colombo Law College (1875), School of Agriculture (1884) and the Government Technical College (1893). The first step in the creation of a University in Colombo was taken in 1913 with the establishment of the University College Colombo which prepared students for the external examinations of the University of London, this was followed by the establishment of the University of Ceylon in Colombo. Today the University of Colombo and the University of the Visual & Performing Arts are state universities in the city. The Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology also has a metropolitan campus in the centre of the city. There are several private higher education institutions within the city.

Architecture

Colombo has wildly varying architecture that span centuries and depict various styles. Many colonial buildings influenced by the Portuguese, Dutch and British exist alongside structures built in Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Indian and Contemporary architectural styles. No other place is this more evident in the heart of the city the ''Fort'' area. Here one may find new towering skyscrapers as well as historic buildings dating far back as the 1700s.

Colombo Fort

The Portuguese were the first colonist to settle in Colombo, establishing a small trading post they had laid the foundations for a small fort which in time became the largest colonial fort in the island. The Dutch expanded the fort thus creating a well old fortified harbour. This came in to the possession of the British in the late 1700s and by the late 19th century the seeing no threat to the Colombo Harbour, began demolishing the ramparts to make way for the development of the city. Although now there is nothing left of the fortifications the area which was once the fort is still referred to as ''Fort'' and the area out side the fort; ''Pettah'' or ''pita-koutuwa'' in Sinhalese which means outer fort.

Dutch era buildings

There are none of the buildings of the Portuguese era and only a few from the Dutch period. These include the oldest building in the fort area, the ''Dutch Hospital'', the ''Dutch House'' which is now the Colombo Dutch Museum and several churches. The President's House (formerly the Queen's House) have originally been the Dutch governor's house, and successive British Governors made it their office and residence. However, it has undergone much change since the Dutch period. Adjoining the President's House are the ''Gordon Gardens'', now off limits to the public.

British era buildings

Much of the old buildings of the fort area and in other parts of the city date back to the British times, these include governmental, commercial buildings and private houses. Some of the notable government building of British colonial architecture includes; the old Parliament building which is now the Presidential Secretariat, the Republic Building which houses the Ministry of Foreign affairs, but once housed the Ceylon Legislative council, the General Treasury Building, the old General Post Office an Edwardian style building opposite the President's House, the Prime Minister's Office, the Central Telegraph Office, the Mathematics department of the University of Colombo (formally the Royal College, Colombo). Notable commercial buildings of the British era include, the Galle Face Hotel, ''Cargills & Millers'' complex, Grand Oriental Hotel.

Culture

Annual cultural events and fairs

Colombo's most beautiful festival is the celebration of Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Death all falling on the same day. In Sinhala this is known as ''Vesak''. During this festival, much of the city is decorated with lanterns, lights and special displays of light(known as ''Thoran''). The festival falls in mid May and lasts a week when many Sri Lankans visit the city to see the lantern competitions and decorations. During this week people distribute, rice, drinks and various other food items for free in places what is known as ''Dunsal'' which means charity place. These ''Dunsal'' are popular amongst visitors from the suburbs.

Christmas is another major festival in the city. Although Sri Lanka's Christians make up only just over 7% of the population, Christmas is one of the island's biggest festivals. Most streets and commercial buildings light up from the beginning of December and festive sales begin at all shopping centres and department stores. Caroling and nativity plays are also frequent sights during the season.

The 'sinhala Hindu aluth awurudda' is another cultural event that takes place in April. This is the celebration of the Sinhala and Hindu new year. The festivities take place on 13 and 14 April and include many events and traditions that display a great deal of Sri Lankan culture.

Several old clubs of the city gives a glimpse of the British equestrian life style, these include the Colombo Club, Orient Club, the 80's Club, the Colombo Cricket Club.

Performing arts

Colombo has several performing arts centers which are popular for their musical and theatrical performances. The most famous performing arts centers are the Lionel Wendt Theater, the Elphinstone and the Tower Hall, all of which have a very rich history and made for western style productions. The Navarangahala also found in the city is the country's first national theatre designed and build for Asiatic and local style musical and theatrical productions.

Museums and art collections

The National Museum of Colombo, was established on 1 January 1877 during the tenure of the British Colonial Governor Sir William Henry Gregory is situated in cinnamon gardens area. The museum houses the crown jewels and throne of the last king of the Kingdom of Kandy, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. There is also the Colombo Dutch Museum detailing the Dutch colonial history of the country. Colombo does not boast a very big art gallery. There is a small collection of Sri Lankan masterpieces at the Art Gallery in Green Path next to it is the Natural History Museum.

Sports

Undoubtedly the most popular sport in Sri Lanka is cricket. The country emerged as champions of the 1996 Cricket World Cup and became runners up in 2007 and 2011. In the ICC World Twenty20 2009 they became runners up again. The sport is played in parks, playgrounds, beaches and even in the streets of the city. Colombo is also the home for two of the country's international cricket stadiums, Sinhalese Sports Club's cricket stadium and R. Premadasa Stadium (named after late president Premadasa). Rugby is also a popular sport at the club and school level. Colombo has the distinction of being the only city in the world to have 4 cricket Test venues in the past: Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Cricket Club Ground and Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium. The Sugathadasa Stadium situated in the city, is an international standard stadium for athletics, swimming and football, also held the South Asian Games in 1991 and 2006. Situated in Colombo the Royal Colombo Golf Club is one of the oldest Golf Clubs in a Asia. Other sporting clubs in Colombo include Colombo Swimming Club, Colombo Rowing Club and the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka.

The city of Colombo also has its own local football team Colombo FC and the sport is being developed as a part of the FIFA Goal program.

Media

Almost all major media businesses in Sri Lanka operate from Colombo. The state media has its offices in Bullers Road and carry out regional transmission from there, this includes the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), formerly known as Radio Ceylon and the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. The SLBC is the oldest radio station in South Asia, second oldest in the world. Many of the private broadcasting companies have their offices and transmission stations in or around Colombo.

Sister cities

>

Country	City	State / Region	Since

See also

Colombo Port City

Kandy

Jaffna

Galle

Trincomalee

Colombo Town Guard

Colombo Town Hall

List of tallest buildings and structures in Sri Lanka

National War Memorial, Colombo

Place names in Sri Lanka

South Asian capitals

Yachting Association of Sri Lanka

Bibile

Notes and references

Further reading

The following books contain major components on colombo;

Changing Face of Colombo (1501-1972): Covering the Portuguese, Dutch and British Periods, ''By R.L. Brohier'', 1984 (Lake House, Colombo)

The Port of Colombo 1860-1939, ''K. Dharmasena'', 1980 (Lake House, Colombo)

Decolonizing Ceylon: Colonialism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Space in Sri Lanka, ''By Nihal Perera'', 1999 (Oxford University Press)

External links

''Colombo Municipal Council'', History of the City

Colombo Wikitravel Guide for travellers

''Aboutcolombo.lk'', Everything about Colombo city

Category:Provincial capitals in Sri Lanka Category:Former national capitals Category:Capitals in Asia Category:Populated places in Western Province, Sri Lanka Category:Portuguese forts

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network name	Radio Ceylon (SLBC)
network logo
network caption	Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia
country	Sri Lanka
network type	radio, and online
available	NationalInternational
owner	Government of Sri Lanka
launch date	1925 (radio)1967 (incorporation)
former names	Colombo Radio, Radio SEAC (1925-1948)
present names	SLBC (1972-)
website	http://www.slbc.lk }}

Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.

Edward Harper

Edward Harper who came to Ceylon as Chief Engineer of the Telegraph Office in 1921, was the first person to actively promote broadcasting in Ceylon.

In the first ever radio experiments in Colombo, gramophone music was broadcast from a tiny room in the Central Telegraph Office with the aid of a small transmitter built by the Telegraph Department engineers from the radio equipment of a captured German submarine.

The experiment was a real success and three years later, on December 16, 1925, a regular broadcasting service came to be instituted in Ceylon - the station was called Colombo Radio with the call sign 'Colombo Calling.'

Harper also founded the Ceylon Wireless Club together with British and Ceylonese radio enthusiasts in the city of Colombo. These were exciting times where radio in South Asia was concerned. Many regard Edward Harper as ''the Father of Broadcasting in Ceylon.'' Ceylonese engineers joined the Ceylon Wireless Club and carried out radio experiments with Edward Harper.

During World War II the radio station operations were taken over by the allied forces who operated Radio SEAC from Colombo. The station was handed over to the Government of Ceylon after World War II. Radio Ceylon came into force after the war and climbed broadcasting heights in South Asia, leading the way in the world of entertainment and news. The very first senior management officers of the station came from the BBC. John Lampson was appointed Director General of broadcasting and Pascoe Thornton also from the BBC was appointed Director of Programmes of the National Service at the station. Distinguished civil servant M.J Perera was the first Ceylonese Director-General of the then Radio Ceylon and another civil servant, Vernon Abeysekera, was appointed Director of Programmes.

The legendary Announcers

Radio Ceylon has produced some of the finest announcers of South Asia among them: Livy Wijemanne, Vernon Corea, {Tony de Costa, whose Saturday afternoon commentaries on the Horse Races were very popular]Pearl Ondaatje, Tim Horshington, Greg Roskowski, Jimmy Bharucha, Mil Sansoni, Eardley Peiris, Shirley Perera, Bob Harvie, B.H.Abdul Hameed, Claude Selveratnam, Christopher Greet, Prosper Fernando, Ameen Sayani (of Binaca Geetmala fame), S.P.Mylvaganam (the first Tamil Announcer on the Commercial Service), Thevis Guruge, H.M.Gunasekera, A.W.Dharmapala, Karunaratne Abeysekera, Chitrananda Abeysekera, Kailayar Sellanainar Sivakumaran, Mervyn Jayasuriya, Vijaya Corea, Elmo Fernando, Eric Fernando, Nihal Bhareti and Leon Belleth.

Other Sri Lankan personalities such as Owen de Abrew, the most senior Ballroom Dance professional on the island and top film director Lester James Peiris ( who reviewed books for ' Radio Bookshelf ' ) were involved in radio programmes on the airwaves.

This was in the heyday of Radio Ceylon, the announcers and presenters, particularly those who presented radio programmes on the All Asia beam, enjoyed iconic status. Radio Ceylon ruled the airwaves in South Asia as millions in the Indian sub-continent tuned into the radio station. People picked up Radio Ceylon broadcasts as far away as the United States of America. The Hindu newspaper placed Ameen Sayani and Vernon Corea of Radio Ceylon in the top five great broadcasters of the world.

Radio Ceylon turned young Ceylonese talent into household names - among them the Ceylonese musicians of the 1950s and 1960s - Nimal Mendis, Bill Forbes, Cliff Foenander, Des Kelly, Adrian Ferdinands, Tissa Seneviratne, Harold Seneviratne, Douglas Meerwald and the Manhattans, to name a few.

Some of Radio Ceylon's programs enjoyed by millions of listeners - the 'Maliban Show' presented by Vernon Corea, 'Ponds Hit Parade' presented by Tim Horshington,'Lama Pitiya' with Karunaratne Abeysekera and ''Binaca Geetmala'' presented by Ameen Sayani on the Overseas Service among them.

There was also a religious and cultural dimension to radio programming and Radio Ceylon broadcast Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian programmes. The station had ' three broadcasting arms ' - the ''Commercial Service'', the ''National Service'' and the ''All Asia Service''. Radio programmes were broadcast in English, Sinhala and Tamil - the ''All Asia'' beam had many programmes broadcast in Hindi. Pandit W. D. Amaradeva and other distinguished Sri Lankan musicians have all given concert recitals in the studios of the station.

The Hindi Service

Radio Ceylon had a very lucrative arm - the Hindi Service of the station launched in the early 1950s. Millions of rupees in terms of advertising revenue came from India. The station employed some of the most popular Indian announcers who played a vital role in establishing Radio Ceylon as the 'King of the Airwaves' in South Asia, among them, Vijay Kishore Dubey, Gopal Sharma, Shiv Kumar Saroj, Vijaylaxmi and Manohar Mahajan. Sunil Dutt (who went on to become a film star in Bollywood), Ameen Sayani and elder brother Hamid Sayani though not hired by Radio Ceylon became popular by using Radio Ceylon for broadcasting programs like "Binaca Geetmala" (first broadcast in 1952) and "Lipton Ke Sitaare."

What captured the Indian listener were the film songs, the golden age of Hindi film music was in the 1950s and 1960s - Radio Ceylon was at the right place at the right time to reach out to the target market of millions of listeners - the station popularised the movie songs, including the talents of playback singers Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, K.L. Saigal, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, S. Janaki and others. This was a brilliant move by Radio Ceylon as Bollywood filmi music was banned by All India Radio and other Indian radio stations at the time. This led to increased listenership for radio programmes such as ''Binaca Geetmala''. Radio Ceylon had a captive audience. The ''Binaca Hit Parade'' was presented by 'happy go lucky' Greg Roskowski, it was a countdown of English pop music beamed on the Commercial Service and the All Asia Service. Having heard the programme, Indian listeners flooded the station with letters requesting a count down of Hindi filmi songs and the idea of ''Binaca Geetmala'' was born.

Radio Ceylon also popularised the English songs of Indian popular musicians - they went on to score huge hits, among them Uma Pocha( ''Bombay Meri Hai'' ), Usha Uthup who has the rare distinction of singing Sri Lankan baila songs with ease and the Anglo-Indian star, Ernest Ignatius ( who went on to be a success in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Bombay Dreams' in London ) had a massive hit, ''I Married a Female Wrestler'', on Radio Ceylon.

The station was an advertiser's dream - thousands of jingles were recorded and beamed on the All Asia Service - from Lux soap to Coca Cola. Major brands queued up for their jingles to be broadcast over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon, such was the station's advertising power. Masterminding the revenue from India was Radio Ceylon's advertising agent, Hari Haran, from Radio Advertising Services.

Clifford R. Dodd

Australian Clifford Dodd was sent to Radio Ceylon under the Colombo Plan. Dodd turned the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon into a huge success. Dodd was a charismatic figure and he used his powers of persuasion to rise above politics to make Radio Ceylon into a successful brand name in South Asia. The radio station had no real competition in the region. Clifford Dodd and Livy Wijemanne hand picked some of the brightest talents in Sri Lanka, turning them into popular professional broadcasters.

Clifford R. Dodd's leadership, enthusiasm and drive helped motivate the young Ceylonese broadcasters - they were the brightest and the best in terms of creative talent. Dodd helped shape the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon. The station spiralled upwards in terms of popularity and revenue for the country.

Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation

Radio Ceylon became a public corporation on 30 September 1967 and the station's name was changed to the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation. Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake appointed a distinguished Ceylonese civil servant, Neville Jayaweera to head the CBC.

When Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972 the station underwent yet another name change as the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC).

In December 2005 Sri Lanka celebrated eighty years in broadcasting, a historic landmark in the world of broadcasting. On January 5, 2007 the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation celebrated forty years as a public broadcasting corporation.

Quotes on Radio Ceylon

' I have to express my deep gratitude to what was then called Radio Ceylon. (Sri Lanka now). It had a slightly more open attitude and did play Western music, so that's where I became familiar with all kinds of things that I could slightly regret, like the complete works of Ricky Nelson. ' (Salman Rushdie)

' For millions in this country, Radio Ceylon was not just a broadcasting station. It had a form and a personality. It was a companion who added a meaning to their lives, filled their vacant hours and has now left them with a host of memories of the melodious times which is hard to forget......' (Playback & Fast Forward Magazine - India)

' Soon after conquering Mount Everest half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay turned on their transistor radio – and the first thing they heard was an overseas broadcast of Radio Ceylon, from more than 3,000 kilometres away. They joined millions of people across the Indian subcontinent who regularly tuned in to these broadcasts. A pioneer in broadcasting in Asia, Radio Ceylon for decades informed and entertained an overseas audience many times the population of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka....' (Panos)

See also

Vernon Corea

M. J. Perera

Edward Harper

Clifford Dodd

Karunaratne Abeysekera

S.P.Mylvaganam

Kiddies Corner

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

List of Sri Lankan broadcasters

List of Hindi broadcasters of Radio Ceylon

References

Bibliography

Wavell, Stuart. - ''The Art of Radio'' - Training Manual written by the Director Training of the CBC. - Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation, 1969.

Ceylon, Radio. - ''Standards of Broadcasting Practice'' - Commercial Broadcasting Division. - Radio Ceylon, 1950.

''Buying and Believing: Sri Lankan Advertising and Consumers in a Transnational World by Steven Kemper'', (Paperback - 7 Jan 2002)

''Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War by PM Von Eschen'', Paperback - Harvard University Press; New edition edition (29 Sep 2006), ISBN-10: 0674022602

''Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World'', [Hardcover], Charles Wankel (Editor), Sage Publications, Inc (1 Sep 2009), ISBN-10: 141296427X

''Handbook of the Media in Asia'', [Hardcover], Professor Shelton A Gunaratne (Editor), Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd (8 Jun 2000), ISBN-10: 0761994270

External links

Vernon Corea The Golden Voice of Radio Ceylon

Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation - Live Streaming

Sinhala Radio Live Streaming - Test

SLBC-creating new waves of history

Eighty Years of Broadcasting in Sri Lanka

- Lata Mangeshkar and Radio Ceylon, in the Marathi language

A selection of articles on Tamil Announcers of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation

Radio Ceylon Facebook Group

Facebook Community Page on Radio Ceylon

Category:Radio stations in Sri Lanka Category:External services (broadcasting)

sv:Radio Ceylon ta:இலங்கை வானொலி

show name	Columbo
format	Television filmMysteryPolice procedural
camera	Single-camera
picture format	Film
audio format	MonauralStereophonic sound
runtime	30 x 73 minutes39 x 98 minutes
creator	Richard LevinsonWilliam Link
executive producer	Philip Saltzman
starring	Peter Falk
country	United States
language	English
network	NBC
first aired	February 20, 1968
last aired	January 30, 2003
status	Ended
num episodes	69
list episodes	List of Columbo episodes }}

''Columbo'' is an American crime fiction television film series, which starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. It was created by William Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted detective story format. With the exception of a couple of special episodes with added twists, almost every episode began by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator. Therefore, there is no "whodunit" element. The plot mainly revolves around how the perpetrator, whose identity is known, would finally be exposed and arrested. The show's creator once referred to it as a "howdhecatchem".

The character first appeared in a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series ''The Chevy Mystery Show'', which was itself partly derived from a short story by Levinson and Link published in an issue of the ''Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine'' as 'Dear Corpus Delicti'. Levinson and Link adapted the TV drama into the stage play ''Prescription: Murder'', and a TV-movie based on the play was broadcast in 1968. The series began on a Wednesday presentation of the "NBC Mystery Movie" rotation: ''McCloud'', ''McMillan & Wife'', and other whodunits. After one season, the series moved as a group to Sundays and were replaced on Wednesdays by a series with a similar format with fare such as ''The Snoop Sisters'', ''Cool Million'', and ''Banacek''. ''Columbo'' aired regularly from 1971 to 1978 on NBC, and then less frequently on ABC beginning in 1989. The final episode was broadcast in 2003.

Lt. Columbo is a shambling, disheveled-looking, seemingly naive Italian American police detective who is consistently underestimated by his fellow officers and by the murderer ''du jour''. The subjects of his investigations are initially both reassured and distracted by his circumstantial speech and increasingly irritating asides. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulous and dedicated approach become apparent only late in the storyline.

The episodes are all movie-length, between 70 and 100 minutes long, excluding commercials.

In 1999 ''TV Guide'' ranked Lt. Columbo number 7 on it's 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.

Series format

The series is noted by TV critics and historians for the way it reversed the cliché of the standard whodunit mystery. ''TV Guide'' referred to the basic plot structure as a "howcatchem", although it is more properly known as an inverted detective story. In a typical murder mystery, the identity of the murderer is not revealed until the climax of the story, and the hero uncovers clues pointing to the killer. In almost all the episodes of ''Columbo'', by contrast, the audience sees the crime unfold at the beginning and knows exactly who did it and how it was done; the "mystery", from the audience's perspective, is spotting the clues that will lead Columbo to discover the killer and the tricks used to obtain a confession in the absence of other non-circumstantial proof. This allows the story to unfold simultaneously from the point of view of Columbo and the murderer, as they play cat and mouse, rather than solely from that of the detective.

In some episodes, such as the first pilot, "Prescription: Murder", Columbo does not appear until as late as 30 minutes into the story, the preceding time being taken up depicting the complex nature of the crime, including the history of the killer-victim relationship and the effort by the killer to conceal his guilt. A ''Columbo'' mystery therefore tends to be driven by the characters and by the gathering of subtly damning proof in the field – rather than by forensic science labs, whose personnel are largely unseen and their findings merely announced in passing; or by general canvasses or rigorous squad-room interviews, as portrayed in programs like ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' or ''NYPD Blue''.

The audience observes the criminal's reaction to the ongoing investigation, and to the increasingly intrusive presence of Columbo, whose personality and manners are initially disarming and non-intimidating. Columbo is unfailingly polite to a suspect as an investigation proceeds. Class tension is often apparent between Columbo – with his working class origins – and the killer – who is usually affluent, well-positioned or naturally condescending. The killer often "helps" Columbo with his investigation, with his/her level of irritation, arrogance or panic escalating as the noose tightens and Columbo gets closer to exposing the killer, discovering too late that the Lieutenant is not nearly as simple-minded as he appears. When the final arrest comes, the killer always goes quietly after revealing both his/her guilt and his/her motives. Columbo often manipulates the killer(s) into self-incrimination. This predictability and the quirky mannerisms of Columbo – partly his natural personality, partly an affectation to give him an edge in his investigations – are part of the attraction of the series. In some instances (such as Ruth Gordon's avenging mystery writer in "Try and Catch Me", Janet Leigh's terminally ill diva in "Forgotten Lady", Donald Pleasence's vintner in "Any Old Port in a Storm", or even Vera Miles' besieged industrialist in "Lovely But Lethal"), the killer is more sympathetic than the victim or victims.

Columbo rarely displays anger toward the (usually well-to-do) suspects, though he sometimes does at non-suspect witnesses, and in an impromptu speech to a ladies' club meeting hosted by Ruth Gordon's character, at which he shows up uninvited, he admits that over the course of many of his investigations he grew to like and respect the suspect. Among the few instances of his expressions of genuine anger with a suspect were in the episodes, "An Exercise in Fatality" and "A Stitch in Crime". In the latter, when Columbo's investigative techniques initially appear to prove futile against a heart surgeon (Leonard Nimoy) he thinks is a murderer, Columbo drops the facade, reveals his cards, and angrily promises that if the patient dies, the body would be autopsied to collect the evidence required to put the doctor in jail.

Columbo also rarely seems to carry a gun, and is never required to exercise physical force, although in the episodes "How to Dial a Murder", "R.I.P. Mrs. Columbo" and "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" he allows himself, as part of the solution, to be placed in a predicament in which the killer thought he or she would be able kill him and escape. In the 1975 episode "Forgotten Lady" it is revealed that he doesn't carry his gun – he says that he keeps it "down town" and has failed to attend his semi-annual pistol practice at the department's firing range for the past ten years. When Internal Affairs threaten to pull his badge for the lapse, he persuades a colleague to take the test for him, admitting that he "can't hit the target". He does, however, carry a gun for his work in 1992's "No Time to Die" and 1994's "Undercover" (even threatening someone with it in the latter), both of which are based on Ed McBain novels.

The Columbo character first appeared, portrayed by Bert Freed, in a 1960 episode of the television anthology series ''The Chevy Mystery Show'', which was entitled "Enough Rope". This episode was adapted into a 1962 stage play called "Prescription: Murder" with Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo. "Prescription: Murder" then became a made-for-TV movie in 1968, with Peter Falk as Columbo. Falk continued in the role when the TV series began in 1971, and played the role until 2003.

First Generation

Bert Freed was a stocky character actor with a thatchy grey mane of hair. His episode, "Enough Rope", was adapted by Levinson and Link from their short story "May I Come In" (originally entitled "Dear Corpus Delicti"), in which the character of Columbo did not appear. Link's name was listed first in the billing for the writers at the beginning of the show.

Freed wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar to play Columbo, but played the part somewhat straighter than either of his two successors in the role, with few of the familiar Columbo mannerisms. However, the character is still recognizably Columbo and uses some of the same methods of misdirection on his prey. During the course of the show, the increasingly frightened murderer brings pressure from the district attorney's office to have Columbo taken off the case, but the detective fights back with his own contacts. There is one particularly visible mistake in the live telecast (aside from the usual constant boom microphone shadows), with a momentarily flustered Columbo introducing himself to a receptionist as "Dr. Columbo", but she magically deduces that he's actually "Lt. Columbo" when she notifies her supervisor.

Although Bert Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer, once he appeared immediately after the first commercial, several minutes into the show. Unlike many live television shows, this one continues to exist and is available for viewing in the archives of the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.

Second Generation

The "Enough Rope" teleplay in turn was adapted into a stage play called ''Prescription: Murder'', with revered character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role; the 70-year-old Mitchell had previously played the drunken Doc in John Ford's ''Stagecoach'' (1939), for which he won an Academy Award, as well as Scarlett O'Hara's father in ''Gone with the Wind'' that same year, and also portrayed the absent-minded Uncle Billy in Frank Capra's ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). The stage production starred two veterans of Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre and ''Citizen Kane'': Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as the victim. Mitchell died of cancer while the play was touring in out-of-town tryouts; Columbo was his last role.

Third Generation

In 1968, the play was made into a two-hour television movie that aired on NBC. The writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down. Director Richard Irving convinced Dick Levinson and Bill Link that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind.

Originally a one-off TV-Movie-of-the-Week, 1968's "Prescription: Murder" has Falk's Columbo pitted against a psychiatrist (Gene Barry) whose alibi Columbo breaks. Barry essentially played the same role that Joseph Cotten had played onstage in the play of the same name. Due to the success of the first film, NBC requested that a pilot for a potential series be made to see if the character could be sustained on a regular basis, leading to the 1971 hour and a half film, ''Ransom For a Dead Man'', with Lee Grant playing the killer.

The popularity of the second film prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC that premiered in the fall of 1971 as part of the wheel series ''NBC Mystery Movie''. The network hedged its bets by arranging for the ''Columbo'' segments to air once a month on Wednesday nights. ''Columbo'' was an immediate hit in the Nielsen ratings and Falk won an Emmy Award for his role in the show's first year, with the character quickly becoming an icon on American television. In its second year the ''Mystery Movie'' series was moved to Sunday nights, where it then remained, running in all for seven seasons. The show became the anchor of NBC's Sunday night line up; and a fixture of the Network's programming scheme of the period to (in the days before hundreds of cable channel choices) hold viewers in a fixed time slot each week even though their favored show did not air weekly. After its cancellation by NBC in 1978 ''Columbo'' was revived on ABC between 1989 and 2003 in occasional made-for-TV movies.

Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Peter Falk himself; they were his own clothes, including the trenchcoat which made its first appearance in "Prescription: Murder". Falk would often ad lib "Columbo-isms" (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and discovering a grocery list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant in the room at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect, etc.), inserting these into his performance as a way to keep his fellow actors off-balance. He felt it helped to make their confused and impatient reactions to Columbo's antics more genuine.

Afterwards

After Peter Falk's success in portraying the part of Columbo, this remarkable portrayal appears in a wide range of media, including novels, movies, TV shows, and comics. A number of stage plays of various casting directors have been performed, as well.

In 2010 the original stage play "Prescription: Murder" was revived for a tour of the United Kingdom with Dirk Benedict as Columbo.

Character profile

Style of investigation

Police Lieutenant Columbo is a disheveled, shabbily-dressed, seemingly slow-witted police detective whose fumbling, overly polite manner makes him an unlikely choice to solve any crime, let alone a complex murder. However, despite his demeanor, Columbo is actually a brilliant detective with an eye for minute details and the ability to piece together seemingly unrelated incidents and information to solve crimes. Several of the killers have expressed their opinion on this apparent dichotomy to Columbo, including Dr. Ray Flemming ("Prescription: Murder"), Leslie Williams ("Ransom for a Dead Man") and Emmett Clayton ("The Most Dangerous Match").

Columbo usually zeros in quickly on a prime suspect, often lulling that person into a false sense of security by conveying the impression that he does not suspect him or her, or actually suspects someone else. Columbo sets up circumstances which encourage them, in their newfound hubris, to incriminate themselves. Columbo's signature interrogation technique is to conduct a friendly and seemingly innocuous interview, politely conclude it and exit the scene, only to stop in the doorway or return moments later and ask, "Just one more thing..." (also called the false exit), which is always a jarring question regarding an inconsistency in either the crime scene or the suspect's alibi. The banality of the interview, combined with Columbo's ostensible absentmindedness and seeming incompetence, encourage the suspect to feel he or she is safe. Columbo's "one more thing" is the first clue that this is not the case. Columbo may pretend to "befriend" a suspect, making them believe that he is investigating another individual and enlisting the suspect's "aid" in gathering information. Thus, suspects inevitably let down their guard because they are "working with" Columbo. In the end, most of the killers are stunned or chagrined. Others are worn out and almost relieved when the charade is finally over as in "Any Old Port in a Storm".

"Death Lends a Hand" first established that Columbo does not carry a gun. He has such low confidence in his ability to pass a routine departmental marksmanship test that in the episode "Forgotten Lady", he convinces a fellow officer to take the test for him, saying he himself could never hit the target. He rarely visits the Police Headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, and in fact some members of the department have never seen him there, a criticism to which he responds in the episode "Forgotten Lady" by commenting, "That's rarely where the murders take place!"

Columbo's aim when conducting his investigations and building his case seems not to be to prove to a jury that the suspect is guilty, but rather to prove to the suspect he knows exactly what they did and to elicit a confession. To that end in many episodes Columbo has falsified a piece of evidence for the suspect's benefit that will not play any part in the trial, such as in "Death Lends A Hand" where he plants a contact lens in the trunk of the suspect's car, purportedly from the victim, just to observe the suspect's actions upon its discovery. He also shows little regard for the bureaucracy of police work, often conducting searches without a warrant, simply stating he could if the suspect forced the issue. In the "Bye-bye Sky High IQ" case, Columbo goes so far as to turn up at the suspect's house without his raincoat and "accidentally" take the wrong umbrella. He explains to the suspect that while he had it he had it examined by forensics and though inadmissible in court, he has proof-positive that the suspect is guilty, and in the episode "Any Old Port In A Storm" he goes so far as to steal a $1,000 bottle of Port wine when left alone in the suspect's home.

Character biography

''(The following details of Columbo's life have been gleaned from statements the character made himself on the show, although in numerous cases it was apparently to establish a rapport with someone of interest, or occasionally speaking to someone unrelated to the investigation, as when he mentioned his mother-in-law to his veterinarian in "The Most Dangerous Match")''.

His boyhood hero was Joe DiMaggio, and he also liked gangster pictures. Hardly a model child, Columbo broke street lamps, played pinball and ran with a crowd of boys that enjoyed a good prank. The trick of putting a potato in a car exhaust – which purportedly prevents the car from starting without causing permanent damage – served well on one of his cases. He jokes that he became a cop in part to make up for these juvenile pranks.

In "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case," a murder suspect who possessed a genius-level intellect believed that Columbo's intellect was on a par with his own. During a conversation with the suspect, Columbo revealed, "All my life I kept running into smart people. I don't just mean smart like you and the people in this house. You know what I mean," implying that he frequently had to compete against people who were either better-looking, more physically fit, from better socio-economic backgrounds, or more politically savvy. He added, "I could tell right away that it wasn't gonna be easy making detective as long as they were around," but determined that he could even the odds by working harder than any of them, reading all of the required books and paying attention to every detail.

His trademark costume (rumpled beige raincoat over a two-piece suit, with a bone-colored shirt and a rayon tie) never varies from case to case or year to year - with one exception: when he has a new raincoat bought for him in the episode "Now You See Him", which doesn't last long before he returns to the original. When on duty he is never seen without it, except in rare cases when circumstances (such as a formal event) require alternate attire. He takes his "uniform" so seriously that in the episode "Troubled Waters", after a murder was committed while he is enjoying a Mexican cruise with his wife, Columbo changed out of his cruisewear and wore his familiar suit exclusively until the case was solved.

Columbo, although a policeman, does not carry a gun, but keeps it at LAPD Police Headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, although on several episodes ("Murder under Glass", "How to Dial a Murder", and "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo") the killer attempted to kill Columbo. He doesn't carry a firearm because he claims he hates guns and is a horrible shot, e.g. if he fired a gun off the end of a dock, he couldn't hit the water. He carries a gun only in "No Time To Die" and "Undercover".

His favorite food is chili with crackers, which he eats at a greasy spoon named Barney's Beanery, though in later episodes he is found eating chili at various different places, each one at which he is indicated to be a "regular". "Murder Under Glass" reveals Columbo to be an accomplished home cook as well, having learned a recipe for veal scaloppine from his native Italian father. He drinks black coffee and has been known to have the occasional beer, or a glass of wine or spirits (e.g. he drinks bourbon with Dr. Ray Flemming in "Prescription: Murder"). He is also not above sharing one last drink with someone he is about to put away (e.g. "Requiem for a Falling Star", "Any Old Port in a Storm"), in fact, as Columbo almost always investigates murders amongst the rich and famous of Los Angeles rather than gangland shootings, mafia killings or psychopaths, he regularly finds time during the investigation to take advantage of the suspect's social circle, he regularly asks to get behind the wheel of a suspect's luxury car, and has asked suspects who are authors to sign copies of all their books and actors to give him free tickets to their next performance.

Though Columbo certainly does enjoy the brushes with luxury that these cases afford him, he expresses on numerous occasions that he would not want to a life of such extravagance for himself. In numerous episodes he is disgusted to find just how much the suspects lifestyles cost, for example in Any Old Port In A Storm, Columbo finds it outrageous that the suspect purchased a bottle of wine at auction for $5,000; more than Columbo's father ever earned in a year. And in Etude in Black, Columbo calculates that on a LAPD Lieutenant's salary of $11,000 he would need to work for 90 years to afford the home and furniture of the suspect.

When called to a case in the early hours he brings a hard-boiled egg to serve as his breakfast. He loves cigars (usually of the stubby, very smelly, "Toscano" variety), which he smokes regularly (although more than once he gives up smoking during the series, only to restart in the next episode). His shoe size is referred to as "10 1/2 or 11" in "By Dawn's Early Light".

Columbo is prone to airsickness and seasickness, and he cannot swim, though he has been known to row a boat. In "Dead Weight", when General Hollister (Eddie Albert) comments on Columbo's seasickness by asking why someone with the name "Columbo" would not be at home on a boat, the detective responds, "It must have been another branch of the family." He is squeamish, and does not like hospitals or autopsies, or even looking at graphic photographs of murders ("Dagger of the Mind"). His squeamishness at hospitals, which includes an aversion to viewing surgical procedures or even watching someone given a needle, was displayed in "A Stitch in Crime". He claims to be afraid of heights, once remarking to an FAA investigator who offered him a job, "I don't even like being this tall." ("Swan Song", 1974).

Columbo's unsettling cross - eyed stare was due to Falk having a glass eye, it remained a mystery for 25 years whether the character had one as well, until 1997's "Columbo: A Trace of Murder", whereupon asking another character to revisit the crime scene with him he jokes: “You know, three eyes are better than one.”

In almost every episode of the ABC revival he is heard whistling the children's song "This Old Man". If he does not whistle it, it appears somewhere else, such as in the underscore. Its significance comes from the line "knick knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone" in the lyrics, since Columbo's standard tactic is to gnaw at a case like a dog would to a bone. In "How to Dial a Murder" he says that he loves billiards, and is seen playing pool in "Ransom for a Dead Man" and "The Greenhouse Jungle". He considers the comedian W. C. Fields a genius, and ''Citizen Kane'' a terrific movie (in "How to Dial a Murder").

First name

When Columbo is explicitly asked if he has a first name in season 4 episode ''By Dawn's Early Light'', he just dispassionately answers back that he does, but the only person who uses it is his wife. In the season 12 episode ''Undercover'', Columbo is asked once again what his first name is, to which he emphatically answers, "Lieutenant," a sentiment echoed by actor Peter Falk and creators Richard Levinson and William Link.

Frank

However, in the 1971 episode "Dead Weight", when Columbo introduces himself to General Hollister the audience is shown a brief close-up of Columbo's badge and warrant card, complete with signature, which appears to read "Frank Columbo". The same ID badge and warrant card is seen in numerous other episodes, and the signature "Frank Columbo" is clearly visible in the season 5 episode "A Matter of Honor".

Universal Studios, in the box set of seasons 1–4 under their ''Playback'' label, included a picture of Columbo's police badge on the back of the box, with signature "Frank Columbo" and the name "Lt Frank Columbo" in type. This appears to be a different badge from the one seen in "Dead Weight", with a different signature.

The "Philip Columbo" myth

Several sources cite the lieutenant's name as "Philip Columbo", variously claiming that the name was either in the original script for ''Prescription: Murder'', or that it was visible on his police badge. For instance: a rumor that Columbo's first name is actually "Peter" has been denied by the star: "if he has a name at all," says Falk, "it is 'Philip,' which was the name used in the original story, ''Prescription: Murder''." Peugeot ran an advertising campaign that mentioned "Lt Philip Columbo" as the most famous driver of the Peugeot 403 convertible.

The name "Philip Columbo," was, in fact, invented by Fred L. Worth, in whose book, ''The Trivia Encyclopedia'', the fictitious entry about Columbo's first name was actually a "copyright trap" – a deliberately false statement intended to reveal subsequent copyright infringement. Ultimately, however, Worth's ploy was not successful. In 1984, he filed a $300 million lawsuit against the distributors of the board game, ''Trivial Pursuit'', claiming that they had sourced their questions from his book, even to the point of reproducing typographical errors contained in the book. Worth's suit revolved around the use of the name, "Philip Columbo", included in a game-question about Lt Columbo. The makers of ''Trivial Pursuit'' did not deny that they sourced material from Worth's book, but argued there was nothing improper about using the book, as one of a number of other references, in the process of building game-questions. The judge agreed, ruling in favor of ''Trivial Pursuit'', and the case was dismissed. Worth appealed, but the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. Worth asked the United States Supreme Court to hear the case, but it declined.

Career

In high school, he dropped chemistry and took wood shop. After serving in the army during the Korean War, Columbo joined the New York City Police Department and was assigned to the 12th precinct. He trained under Sergeant Gilhooley, a genial Irishman who tried to teach him the game of darts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

In Peter Falk's first appearance as Columbo in the 1968 TV-movie, ''Prescription: Murder'', the character had the rank of police lieutenant, and despite solving numerous murders over the next few decades, in Falk's last appearance as Columbo in the 2003 cable-TV movie ''Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife'', the detective is still only a lieutenant. So either the character did not receive any further promotions or he may have only gone from Lieutenant I to Lieutenant II over the show's 35 year run.

Family

Birth family

Columbo was born and raised in New York City in a neighborhood near Chinatown. In the episode "Murder Under Glass", he reveals that he ate more egg rolls than cannelloni in his childhood. He is Italian on both sides. The Columbo household included the future police officer's grandfather, parents, five brothers (one named George), and a sister. His father wore glasses and did the cooking when his mother was in the hospital having another baby. His grandfather "was a tailgunner on a beer truck during Prohibition" and let him stomp the grapes when they made wine in the cellar. His father, who never earned more than $5,000 a year and bought only one new car in his life, taught him how to play pool, an obsession that stuck with the future detective.

Mrs. Columbo

He frequently mentions his wife, whom he met while dating a girl named Theresa in high school, and once stated he employs her opinion on his ideas.

During the first incarnation of the series, between 1971 and 1978, it was widely believed in Hollywood that Columbo's "wife" was a fictional ploy used only for conversation with his prey, and that the character actually lived alone in a furnished room. Falk is reported in magazine profiles to have strongly believed this.

In the episode "Troubled Waters" other characters describe meeting and speaking to Mrs. Columbo, although she never appears on screen. In three other episodes ("An Exercise in Fatality", "Any Old Port in a Storm" and "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo"), Columbo is seen talking on the telephone with her. In "Identity Crisis", murderer Nelson Brenner (Patrick McGoohan) bugs Columbo's home and learns her favorite piece of music.

In the episode "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo", Columbo's unseen wife is herself targeted by a killer (Helen Shaver). During the investigation Columbo states that his wife loves Chopin, and describes her as being busy with church, volunteering at the hospital, watching her sister's children, and walking the dog five times a day. He mentions that she has a sister named Ruth, and later while talking with his wife on the phone he refers also to her having another sister, Rita. This episode teases the audience as to whether or not Mrs. Columbo has actually been murdered, and by featuring prominently displayed photographs of Mrs. Columbo, apparently finally disclosing her appearance to viewers. However, the photos are revealed not to be those of Columbo's wife, after all, nor is the house even his, as he informs the killer at the end of the episode.

Mrs. Columbo's first name was once indicated by Falk to be Rose, in a sketch in which he performed in-character in a 1978 episode of ''The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts'', in which Frank Sinatra was the guest of honor.

They may or may not have children; in two scenes in "Any Old Port in a Storm", he refers to the difficulty of getting a babysitter. He also mentions in that episode taking his wife and child on a picnic, and alludes to his child in "The Most Crucial Game". In "Rest In Peace, Mrs. Columbo" he claimed he and his wife didn't have any children, although in the ''Mrs. Columbo'' series (spinoff) there is a daughter, Jenny.

Other relatives

Falk once stated during an interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' that he was not truly sure how many relatives Columbo had aside from his wife.

In "No Time to Die", he attends the wedding of his nephew, who is also a police officer. In "Short Fuse", he states that his wife's younger brother is a photography buff, and in "Blueprint for Murder", he says he has a brother-in-law who is an attorney. At the end of "Dead Weight", he states that he has a niece named Cynthia, who is the daughter of his wife's sister. In "Requiem for a Falling Star", he tells the murderer, a famous actress named Nora Chandler, that he has a brother-in-law named George, and has her speak to him over the phone, although whom she is really speaking to is unascertainable.

Columbo's car

Columbo prefers to drive a dirty 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible (which is equipped with a police radio), rather than an official LAPD car while on duty. Peter Falk selected the car personally, after seeing it in a parking lot at Universal Studios. In the show, Columbo boasts that the car is a rare automobile, as it really was: from June 1956 to July 1961 only 2,050 were produced, and only 504 were produced for model year 1959. In the episode "Identity Crisis", Columbo tells the murderer that his is one of only three in the country.

Columbo damages the car at least four times: in "Make Me a Perfect Murder" when he t-bones one police car and is hit from behind by another while trying to repair his rear view mirror; in "A Matter of Honor" when he rear-ends another car; in "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" when it takes him three tries to crash into the killer's car; and in "Old Fashioned Murder" when he crashes into the back of a police car as he arrives at the murder scene. He also has many other problems with the car.

During the show's initial run on NBC, the license number was 044-APD. The car was sold after cancellation of the series, and when the show resurfaced on ABC in 1989 a similar car was found in Ohio, and received a new license plate number, 448-DBZ.

Columbo's Dog

"Étude In Black" (1972) marked the first appearance of the lieutenant's Basset Hound. He was adopted from the pound and taken to the vet, where Columbo tried to think of a name for him, but to no avail. During the episode he considered names like Fido, Munch and Beethoven, finally settling that there could be no name for him, just "Dog". Although he only appeared in approximately ten episodes, "Dog" became a part of Columbo's persona as much as the cigar, the coat, and the car, and was the subject of the detective's many amusing narrations.

The idea of bringing in a dog for Columbo came from the studio's demands for a new recurring character. The creators decided that it might as well be a pet and Steven Bochco was first to write it in the show.

The original basset hound used in the series was owned by Ray Berwick and called Henry. After his death he was replaced by another, much younger dog, but the change seemingly went unnoticed.

Guest contributions

Directors/writers

The first season premiere "Murder by the Book" was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg. Jonathan Demme directed the seventh season episode "Murder Under Glass". Jonathan Latimer was also a writer. Actor Ben Gazzara, a friend of Falk, directed the episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975).

Falk himself directed the last episode of the first season, "Blueprint For Murder". Actor Nicholas Colasanto, best-known for playing Coach on ''Cheers'', directed several episodes, including "Swan Song" (in Season 3) with Johnny Cash, and "Étude in Black".

Patrick McGoohan directed five episodes (including three of the four in which he played the murderer) and wrote and produced two (including one of these). Vincent McEveety was a frequent director, and homage was paid to him by a humorous mention of a character with his surname in the episode "Undercover" (which he directed).

Guest stars

Actors and actresses appearing on ''Columbo'' as either murderer or victim include:

	Anthony Andrews, Eddie Albert, Richard Basehart, Anne Baxter, Gene Barry, Patrick Bauchau, Ed Begley, Jr., Theodore Bikel, Honor Blackman, Ian Buchanan, Stephen Caffrey (actor)	Stephen Caffrey, Johnny Cash, John Cassavetes, Jack Cassidy, Claudia Christian, Susan Clark, Dabney Coleman, Billy Connolly, Robert Conrad, Jackie Cooper, Lindsay Crouse, Robert Culp, Tyne Daly, Faye Dunaway, Hector Elizondo, José Ferrer, Ruth Gordon, Lee Grant, George Hamilton, Laurence Harvey, Gary Hershberger, Louis Jourdan, Richard Kiley, Martin Landau (as identical twin brothers), Janet Leigh, Ross Martin, Roddy McDowall, Patrick McGoohan, Vera Miles, Ray Milland, Sal Mineo, Ricardo Montalban, Leonard Nimoy, Donald Pleasence, James Read, Clive Revill, Matthew Rhys, William Shatner, Helen Shaver, Andrew Stevens, Fisher Stevens, Rip Torn, Trish Van Devere, Dick Van Dyke, Joyce Van Patten, Robert Vaughn, George Wendt, Oskar Werner, Nicol Williamson.	style="width:300pt;"
	style="width:400pt;"|Lola Albright, Sian Barbara Allen, Richard Anderson, Poupée Bocar, Sorrell Booke, Antoinette Bower, John Chandler, Barbara Colby, Anjanette Comer, Pat Crowley, John Dehner, Bradford Dillman, Stephen Elliott, Greg Evigan, Joel Fabiani, Nina Foch, Anne Francis, Charles Frank, Michael V. Gazzo, Don Gordon, James Gregory, Deidre Hall, Peter Haskell, Sam Jaffe, John Kerr, Laurence Luckinbill, Ida Lupino, Janet Margolin, Chuck McCann, Rue McClanahan, Martin Milner, Rosemary Murphy, Leslie Nielsen, Tim O'Connor, Albert Paulsen, Nehemiah Persoff, Martha Scott, Pippa Scott, Martin Sheen, Tom Simcox, Mickey Spillane, Dean Stockwell, Ken Swofford, Forrest Tucker, Bonnie Van Dyke, Robert Vaughn, Lesley Ann Warren, John Williams, Jeff Yagher, Carmine Giovinazzo.	style="width:400pt;"|Ida Lupino appeared twice, once as victim and once as the spouse of a victim. John Dehner appeared twice, once as victim and once as a third party. Tim O'Connor appeared twice, once as a shady lawyer and once as victim. Leslie Nielsen appeared twice, once as victim and once as the boyfriend of the murderer. Dean Stockwell appeared twice, once as victim and once as a third party. Robert Vaughn appeared twice, playing a killer and a victim. John Chandler and Don Gordon played stooges who assisted the primary murderer/killer and were killed themselves afterwards. Barbara Colby, a newcomer, played a victim, albeit not the intended victim, but rather a potential blackmailer who is killed for that reason. Sian Barbara Allen, Poupée Bocar and Chuck McCann's characters were also killed (in different episodes) for attempting blackmail. Carmine Giovinazzo played the victim of the ultimate murder investigated by Columbo in the episode "Columbo Likes the Nightlife".			Barbara Colby and Sal Mineo are the two "guest murder victims" who ended up getting murdered in real life.

Miscellaneous guest stars

Actors and actresses such as Diane Baker, Priscilla Barnes, Lloyd Bochner, Kim Cattrall, Gretchen Corbett, Sondra Currie, Jamie Lee Curtis, Samantha Eggar, Blythe Danner, Fionnuala Flanagan, John Fraser, Jeff Goldblum, Molly Hagan, Valerie Harper, Mariette Hartley, Joyce Jillson, Bruno Kirby, Walter Koenig, Kenneth Mars, Donald Moffat, Pat Morita, Leslie Nielsen, Trisha Noble, Richard Pearson, Suzanne Pleshette, Barry Robins, Gena Rowlands, Katey Sagal (whose father Boris Sagal directed several episodes), Cynthia Sikes, James Sikking, Jennifer Sky, Vic Tayback, Robert Walker, Jr. and Jessica Walter, among many others, had roles of varying sizes relatively early in their careers. Falk's real-life wife, actress Shera Danese, appeared in six ''Columbo'' episodes in various roles.

More seasoned actors and actresses to appear later or very late in their careers include: Frank Aletter, Don Ameche, Aneta Corsaut, Thayer David, Maurice Evans, Mel Ferrer, Steve Forrest, Bernard Fox, Will Geer, Jane Greer, Pat Harrington, Jr., Julie Harris, Edith Head (as herself), Celeste Holm, Kim Hunter, Wilfrid Hyde-White (appeared twice), Jack Kruschen, Jessie Royce Landis, Joanne Linville, Little Richard (as himself), Robert Loggia, Myrna Loy, Patrick Macnee, Kevin McCarthy, Bill McKinney, Juliet Mills, Julie Newmar, Jeanette Nolan (appeared twice), Janis Paige, John Payne, Vincent Price, John Randolph, Kate Reid, George C. Scott, Madeleine Sherwood, Robert F. Simon, Rod Steiger, Larry Storch, Nita Talbot, David White, Collin Wilcox and William Windom (appeared twice, including the 1968 first pilot). Jorge Garcia appearred as Julius, a bouncer, in the ultimate episode.

Recurring roles

Actors Steven Gilborn (4 times) , J. P. Finnegan (6 times), Vito Scotti (6 times), Bruce Kirby (8 appearances, 4 of them as Sergeant Kramer), Bob Dishy (as Sergeant Wilson in two episodes), Dr. Benson (Columbo's dog's vet, played by Michael Fox in two episodes) and Burt (the chili dispenser at Columbo's favorite greasy spoon, played by Timothy Carey) played recurring characters.

Awards and nominations

''Columbo'' has received multiple awards and nominations from 1971 to 2005. Among them: thirteen Emmys, two Golden Globes, an Edgar Award and a TV Land Award nomination in 2005 for Peter Falk.

Primetime Emmy Awards

! Year	! Category	! Nominee	! Result
	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	Lee Grant for "Ransom for a Dead Man"
rowspan=10	Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama	Jackson Gillis for "Suitable for Framing"
Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama	Steven Bochco for "Murder by the Book"
Outstanding Series - Drama	Richard Levinson, William Link, Everett Chambers
Outstanding New Series	Richard Levinson, William Link, Everett Chambers
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme	Edward M. Abroms for "Short Fuse"
Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series	Billy Goldenberg for "Lady in Waiting"
	Peter Falk
	Richard Levinson, William Link for "Death Lends a Hand"
Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing for Entertainment Programming - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series	Edward M. Abroms for "Death Lends a Hand"
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series	Lloyd Ahern for "Blueprint for Murder"
rowspan=5		Steven Bochco for "Étude in Black"
	Dean Hargrove
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme	Edward M. Abroms for "The Most Dangerous Match"
	Peter Falk
Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design	Grady Hunt for "Dagger of the Mind"
rowspan=3	Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series	Peter Falk
Outstanding Limited Series	Dean Hargrove, Roland Kibbee, Douglas Benton, Robert F. O'Neill, Edward K. Dodds
Best Cinematography for Entertainment Programming - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series	Harry L. Wolf for "Any Old Port in a Storm"
rowspan=5	Outstanding Limited Series	Dean Hargrove, Roland Kibbee, Douglas Benton, Everett Chambers, Edward K. Dodds
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction or Scenic Design - For a Single Episode of a Comedy, Drama or Limited Series	Michael Baugh, Jerry Adams for "Playback"
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series	Peter Falk
	Patrick McGoohan for "By Dawn's Early Light"
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming for a Series	Richard C. Glouner for "Playback"
rowspan=2		Everett Chambers
	Peter Falk
rowspan=2		Everett Chambers
	Peter Falk
rowspan=4
	Peter Falk
	Richard Alan Simmons
Outstanding Film Editing in a Drama Series	Robert Watts for "How to Dial a Murder"
rowspan=2		Patrick McGoohan for "Agenda for Murder"
	Peter Falk
rowspan=2		Dabney Coleman for "Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star"
	Peter Falk
rowspan=2		Faye Dunaway for "It's All in the Game"
	Peter Falk

Edgar Allan Poe Awards

! Year	! Category	! Nominee	! Result
1972	Best Television Episode	Steven Bochco for "Murder by the Book"
1974	Best Television Episode	Jackson Gillis for "Requiem for a Falling Star"
1979	Best Television Episode	Robert Van Scoyk for "Murder Under Glass"

Golden Globe Awards

! Year	! Category	! Nominee	! Result
		Peter Falk
rowspan=2
	Peter Falk
rowspan=2
	Peter Falk
rowspan=2
	Peter Falk
		Peter Falk
rowspan=2
	Peter Falk
		Peter Falk
		Peter Falk
rowspan=3		"It's All in the Game"
	Peter Falk for "It's All in the Game"
	Faye Dunaway for "It's All in the Game"

Mrs. Columbo spin-off

A spinoff featuring Mrs. Columbo was opposed by series creators Levinson and Link, as well as by Peter Falk. In an interview with ''Columbo Phile'' author Mark Dawidziak, published –prior to the 1989 ''Columbo'' revival, Richard Levinson joked, "If there was ever another ''Columbo'' we were going to have him say, 'There's a woman running around pretending to be my wife. She's changing things. She's a young girl. I wish my wife was like that. She's an impostor.'" Nonetheless, a spin-off TV series, ''Mrs. Columbo'' starring Kate Mulgrew, was aired in 1979, but it received a dismal reception and was eventually canceled.

Columbo himself was never seen on ''Mrs. Columbo''. However, certain obvious connections were made to the original ''Columbo'' series, notably the presence of Columbo's beat-up car and pet dog in the show's opening sequence. References were also made to Kate's husband being a police lieutenant. However, there were also notable discrepancies between the two shows. Kate's physical appearance did not match with certain descriptions Lt. Columbo had provided of his wife in various ''Columbo'' episodes over the years – the actress playing "Mrs. Columbo" was too young (Mulgrew was 24 at the time) and too thin to be the wife described in the ''Columbo'' episodes. In the series Kate had a daughter – in fact, Columbo, in two scenes of his episode "Any Old Port in a Storm", refers to the difficulty of getting a babysitter – yet Lt. Columbo, in the Columbo episode "Rest In Peace, Mrs Columbo", stated that he and his wife had never had children. Furthermore, in the episode "Double Exposure", Lt. Columbo declared that his wife "had no head for crime" and that she "always picked the wrong guy as the murderer" whenever they watched a mystery movie.

Due to the negative critical and public reaction to the show, the producers fairly quickly started making changes. The spin-off was renamed ''Kate Columbo'', followed by ''Kate the Detective'', and finally ''Kate Loves a Mystery''. The main character was likewise renamed "Kate Callahan", and all references to and ties with the original ''Columbo'' show were dropped – the character was no longer supposed to be Mrs. Columbo or to have any connection with him at all. The series lasted only thirteen episodes. An episode of ''Mrs. Columbo'' was included as a bonus feature on the Region 1 and 2 DVD releases of the third, fourth and fifth seasons.

Efforts to produce subsequent ''Columbo'' episodes

A few years prior to his death, Peter Falk had expressed interest in returning to the role, announcing in 2007 that he had chosen a script for one last Columbo episode, ''Columbo: Hear No Evil''. The script was renamed ''Columbo's Last Case''. ABC, the network that aired the more recent Columbo series (beginning in 1989), declined the project. In response, producers for the series announced that they were attempting to shop the project to foreign production companies. However, Falk's involvement in the project was put into doubt after he was diagnosed with dementia in late 2007, following a dental procedure. During a 2009 court trial over Falk's care, Dr Stephen Read stated that the actor's condition had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer remember the character of Columbo.

Peter Falk died on June 23, 2011. He was 83 years old.

List of episodes

DVD releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is continually releasing new episodes of ''Columbo'' on DVD. The episodes are released in the same chronological order as they were originally broadcast. In the UK, (Region 2) all episodes have now been released as ten seasons, the tenth season covering all the shows from "Columbo Goes to College" (1990) to the finale "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003). However in France, and The Netherlands (also Region 2) the DVDs were released as twelve seasons.

DVD name	Ep#	Release dates
		DVD region code>Region 1	DVD region code>Region 2	DVD region code>Region 4
The Complete First Season		September 7, 2004	September 13, 2004	December 3, 2004
The Complete Second Season		March 8, 2005	July 18, 2005	July 13, 2005
The Complete Third Season		August 9, 2005	November 14, 2005	July 20, 2006
The Complete Fourth Season		March 14, 2006	September 18, 2006	September 19, 2006
The Complete Fifth Season		June 27, 2006	February 12, 2007	Unknown 2007
The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons		November 21, 2006	April 30, 2007	May 2, 2007
The Mystery Movie Collection 1989 (R1/R4)The Complete Eighth Season (R2)		April 24, 2007	March 31, 2008	June 4, 2008
The Mystery Movie Collection 1990 (R1)The Complete Ninth Season (R2/R4)		February 3, 2009	March 30, 2009	May 6, 2009
The Tenth Season – Volume 1 (R2)The Tenth Season – Volume 2 (R2)		N/A	June 15, 2009 July 27, 2009	July 28, 2009 November 10, 2009
The Mystery Movie Collection 1991–1993 (R1)		February 8, 2011	N/A	N/A
The Mystery Movie Collection 1994–2003 (R1)		TBA	N/A	N/A
Columbo: The Complete Series		N/A	October 19, 2009	N/A

Other appearances

Falk appeared as Columbo in a faux episode of ''Alias'' produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC. Featuring most of the regular cast of the spy series, the skit began with Jack Bristow preparing agents Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn for a mission, and informing them that they will have a new partner – Detective Columbo. Columbo proceeds to wreak havoc at CIA headquarters, accidentally shooting Vaughn with an anesthetic dart and volunteering to wear a skimpy bikini intended for Sydney during the mission. Columbo reveals that his mission is not to aid the CIA but rather to help Walt Disney Company/ABC head Michael Eisner better understand the show. His work completed, Columbo departs, leaving Jack Bristow to utter a confused, "Dear God, that was strange."

Falk also appeared as Columbo in the 1977 episode of ''The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' of Frank Sinatra.

Falk appears as himself (but dressed as Columbo) in the Wim Wenders films ''Wings of Desire'' and ''Faraway, So Close!'' In the first he appears as an actor in a film about Berlin's Nazi past, and in the second he pretends to be scouting locations for a movie in order to distract some security guards.

Columbo is highlighted in volume 7 of the ''Case Closed'' manga edition of ''Gosho Aoyoma's Mystery Library'', a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media.

A fictional child detective son of Columbo ("Corumbo") appears in an episode of the red jacket series of Lupin III.

Music score

''Columbo'' episodes contain a variety of music that contributes to the uniqueness of each of them. Score is of particular importance during the turning points of the plot, such as, when the crime is being prepared and committed. ''The Mystery Movie Theme'' by Henry Mancini written for the ''NBC Mystery Movie'' was used extensively in the whole of 38 episodes, from 1971 to 1977. Unlike other programs in the ''NBC Mystery Movie'' series,''Columbo'' did not have actual theme music of its own. Several composers created original music for the series, that was often used along with ''The Mystery Movie Theme'':

Dick DeBenedictis (23 episodes, 1972–2000)

Patrick Williams (9 episodes, 1977–1992)

Bernardo Segall (10 episodes, 1974–1976)

Billy Goldenberg (7 episodes, 1971–1974)

Gil Mellé (4 episodes, 1971–1972)

Jeff Alexander (1 episode, 1975)

Oliver Nelson (1 episode, 1972)

Dave Grusin (1 episode, 1968)

Bob Prince (1 episode, 1977)

Jonathan Tunick (1 episode, 1978)

John Cacavas (3 episodes, 1989–1991)

James Di Pasquale (2 episodes, 1990)

Steve Dorff (2 episodes, 1991)

Dennis Dreith (1 episode, 1990)

Richard Markowitz (1 episode, 1990)

David Michael Frank (1 episode, 1990)

Ken Jordan (1 episode, 2003)

Jim Latham (1 episode, 2003)

Series Music department included:

Henry Mancini — composer: "Mystery Movie" theme / "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme (38 episodes, 1971–1977)

Hal Mooney — music supervisor (27 episodes, 1972–1976)

Mike Post — composer: "Mystery Movie" theme (9 episodes, 1989–1990)

Patrick Williams received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 1978 (for "Try and Catch Me") and 1989 (for "Murder, Smoke and Shadows"). Billy Goldenberg was nominated in the same category in 1972 for "Lady in Waiting".

Apart from that, ''Columbo'' had an unofficial "signature" tune – the children's song "This Old Man". It was introduced in the episode "Any Old Port In a Storm" in 1973 and the detective can be heard humming or whistling it many times from then on. Peter Falk admitted that it was a melody he personally enjoyed and one day it became a part of his character. Song's arrangements were used throughout the three decades of the series, including opening and closing credits. A version of it, called simply "Columbo", was created by one of the show's composers, Patrick Williams.

Also, "Columbo Theme Signature" was written by Dick DeBenedictis, to be used during opening sequence and closing credits.

Books

A ''Columbo'' series of books was published by MCA Publishing in 1972 by authors Alfred Lawrence, Henry Clement and Lee Hays, mostly adapted from the TV series.

Columbo was also used as the protagonist for a series of novels published between 1994 and 1999 by Forge Books, an imprint of Tor Books. All of these books were written by William Harrington.

William Link, the co-creator of the series, has written a collection of Columbo short stories, entitled ''The Columbo Collection'', which was published in May 2010 by Crippen & Landru, the specialty mystery publisher.

International

>Televisión Española >ITV (ITV1/STV (TV network)

		! Foreign Title	! Translation	! Network(s)	! Notes
Arab World (Middle East and North Africa)	Columbo	Subtitled	MBC 2	Not currently airing
			Columbo	Dubbed	Retro
			Columbo	None
			Columbo	Dubbed	ORF1
			Columbo	Subtitled	vtm, VijfTV
			Columbo	Dubbed	RTBF, RTL-TVi, AB4
			Коломбо (''Columbo'')	Subtitled/Dubbed	Fox CrimeDiemaAXN Crime	Dubbed in Bulgarian on Fox Crime and Diema, Subtitled on AXN Crime
			Columbo	None		Shown in rotation with the other "NBC Mystery Movies"
			Columbo	Dubbed	Prise 2	Dubbed in French
		(Spain)	Colombo	Dubbed	Televisió de Catalunya
			Columbo	Subtitled
			Columbo	Dubbed
			Columbo	Subtitled	[[DR2
			Columbo	Subtitled
			Columbo	Dubbed	TF1TV Breizh
		(Spain)	Colombo	Dubbed
			Columbo	Dubbed	Super RTL
			Columbo	Dubbed	Magyar TelevízióTV2 (Hungary)
			Columbo	Subtitled	[[RÚV
			ستوان کلمبو(''Lieutenant Columbo'')	Dubbed
			Columbo	None
			קולומבו	Subtitled
			Colombo	Dubbed	Rai DueRete 4Fox CrimeFox Retro	Rai Due (first TV: 1968 film TV and 1971–1978 series; except pilot and the episodes 2.1, 2.4, 3.8 transmitted in first TV in the 1987 from Rete 4), Rete 4 (first TV: 1989–2003 series, now replicate all the episodes of both series), Fox Crime (pay TV, replicate all the episodes)
			刑事コロンボ(''Detective Columbo'')	Subtitled/Dubbed	NHKNTVSuper ChannelThe Mystery Channel
			'''형사 콜롬보(''Detective Columbo'')	Subtitled/Dubbed	KBS
	Columbo	Subtitled	RTL 4RTL 8SBS 6
			Columbo	Subtitled
			Columbo	None	Shalimar Television Network
			Columbo	Voice-over translation
			Columbo	Subtitled	RTP1
			Columbo	Subtitled/Dubbed	TVR1	Pro TV
			Коломбо (''Columbo'')	Dubbed		Currently airing in Domashniy
			Columbo	Dubbed		Czech-dubbed version used as there is no Slovak dubbing
			Columbo	Subtitled	Kanal A, POP TV
			Colombo	Dubbed	TVETV3Antena3
		<		Columbo	Subtitled	Sveriges Television
			Columbo	Dubbed	[[Télévision Suisse Romande	the show is still shown on Télévision Suisse Romande, a French language Swiss TV channel in Zweikanalton (French/English)
	Colombo	Dubbed	Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana	the show is still shown on RSI, an Italian language Swiss TV channel in Zweikanalton (Italian/English)
			Komiser Kolombo(''Lieutenant Columbo'')	Dubbed	TRT 1
			Коломбо	Dubbed
			Columbo	None	STV/UTV)ITV3BBC TwoChannel 5Universal ChannelMovies 24Sky Movies	The show was originally broadcast on ITV. Nowadays the main series is shown on ITV3, BBC Two, Channel 5, and Universal Channel while the TV movies are shown on ITV, Movies 24 and Sky Movies.
	Columbo	Dubbed	Venevisión
(former)	Inspektor Kolombo	Subtitled		Sunday evening 20:00, top time

See also

Furuhata Ninzaburo

References

External links

Peter Falk's website

Encyclopedia of Television

Columbo on DVD

Columbo Prescription:Murder – U.K. stage play tour

'Columbo: Just One More Thing' – BBC Radio 4

'I'm just another cop, my name is Columbo'

Category:1970s American television series Category:1980s American television series Category:1990s American television series Category:Crime television series Category:Mystery television series Category:Fictional Los Angeles Police Department detectives Category:Fictional American people of Italian descent Category:Fictional police lieutenants Category:Television series by NBC Universal Television Category:Edgar Award winning works Category:Television series by Stephen J. Cannell Productions Category:Television shows set in Los Angeles, California Category:American television films Category:American Broadcasting Company network shows Category:NBC Mystery Movie Category:Television series by Universal Studios Category:1968 television series debuts Category:2003 American television series endings Category:Best Drama Series Golden Globe winners Category:Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department

bg:Коломбо (сериал) cs:Columbo da:Columbo de:Columbo es:Columbo eo:Columbo fa:ستوان کلمبو fr:Columbo gl:Colombo (serie de televisión) it:Colombo (serie televisiva) he:קולומבו (סדרת טלוויזיה) hu:Columbo nl:Columbo ja:刑事コロンボ no:Columbo pl:Columbo pt:Columbo ro:Columbo ru:Коломбо (телесериал) sk:Columbo (TV seriál) sh:Columbo (TV serija) fi:Columbo sv:Columbo tr:Columbo zh:神探科伦坡

name	Mark Billingham
occupation	Novelist , Comedian
nationality	British
period	1987 –
genre	Crime fiction
notableworks	The Tom Thorne novels
website	http://www.markbillingham.com/
portaldisp	}}

Mark Philip David Billingham (born 2 July 1961) is an English novelist whose series of "Tom Thorne" crime novels are best-sellers in that particular genre. He is also a television screenwriter and has become a familiar face as an actor and comic.

Early years

Mark Billingham was born in Birmingham and grew up in the city's suburb of Moseley. He attended the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys grammar school in nearby King's Heath, and lived in that general area "right the way through university". After graduating with a degree in drama, he stayed in Birmingham and helped form a socialist theatre company (Bread & Circuses). Bread & Circuses toured with a number of shows in schools, colleges, arts centres and the street. In the mid-1980s he moved from Birmingham to London as a "jobbing actor", taking minor roles in episodes of TV shows ''Dempsey & Makepeace'', ''Juliet Bravo'', ''Boon'', and ''The Bill''. After finding himself playing a variety of "bad guy roles such as a soccer hooligan, drug addict, a nasty copper, a racist copper, or a bent copper", he became somewhat disenchanted with acting, perceiving that the emphasis was not on talent, but on looks.

Around 1987 he decided to pursue a career in comedy, in part because: :"[The] one great advantage of stand-up comedy [is that] nobody gives a stuff about what you look like – as long as you're funny, and if you can do it, and people laugh, then you'll get bookings." At the time, breaking into stand-up was not as difficult as it would later become, nor was there the modern infrastructure and chain businesses. Billingham cites his own route as a simple progression from 5-minute, unpaid "try-out" spots to (if one was deemed worthy) 10-, 20- and 30-minute paid slots. As he stated, "within a year, you could be playing The Comedy Store". Indeed, Billingham has headlined at The Comedy Store on many occasions, where he also appears regularly as a Master of Ceremonies.

Despite feeling rather ambivalent towards "serious" roles, Billingham still found considerable success by merging his careers as actor and comic to work in comedy shows. He was the human face on the puppet-representation-of-celebrities series ''Spitting Image'', and "the taller half" of top double act "The Tracy Brothers" with Mike Mole from Bread & Circuses days (now guitarist with British comedy punk band Punks Not Dad), appearing regularly on the radio version of ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience''. In 1988, he was seen on the children's comedy series ''News at Twelve'', in which the central character "broadcasts his own (imaginary) TV news bulletin every evening". In 1989, a new role in a children's series written by ''Blackadder'''s Tony Robinson, would have a lasting impact, both on the nations' children and on Billingham himself.

Maid Marian and her Merry Men

''Maid Marian and her Merry Men'' saw Billingham cast as Gary, a dim-but-lovable guard in the employ of the Sheriff of Nottingham, charged with keeping the peace (or causing the violence) in the village of Worksop, and hunting down Maid Marian (Kate Lonergan) and her band of "freedom fighters". As part of a double-act with Graeme (David Lloyd), Billingham was ostensibly one of the "baddies", but was nonetheless deeply sympathetic and well-liked.

After three successful award-winning series, both Billingham and Lloyd were helping creator-writer Robinson with plot and script ideas, both gaining co-writer credits on the first episode of series 4 – "Tunnel Vision". The episode produced spoofs of a number of cultural icons, including passing references to ''Chronic the Hedgehog'' and ''Dungeons & Dragons'', as well as a Richard O'Brien stand-in named "Robin O'Hood" who in the episode leads Gary and Graeme through the Merry Men's version of ''The Crystal Maze''.

Tony Robinson, David Lloyd and Mark Billingham (in particular) remain friends, after having worked so closely together for four-to-five years, and Robinson can be seen taking partial credit for Billingham's literary career on the DVD release of ''Maid Marian'' (Series 3), in which the three discuss writing, both for the series and in general.

Writing

As he has stated in a number of interviews, Billingham treats comedy – and his stand-up in particular – and writing as parts of a whole, seeing the two as complementary, using as they do: :"..the same 'Tricks'... [in particular] a strong opening. When you do stand-up, you walk out on stage and you have a minute – 60 seconds to hook them or they'll start booing. A late show at the Comedy Store is not easy, ditto with a book. As a writer you again have the duty to deliver – a reader has not got time to say, I'll give him 50 pages as it's not very good yet, but I hope it'll get better." He also cites the big ending, and "pullback and reveal", whereby the audience (readership) is led along a specific path and lulled into thinking that they can guess the twist, before: "boom! it hits them from over there." In comedy, he says, it is a punchline; in crime "something a whole lot darker... [but] essentially it's a similar kind of [misdirection] technique."

It is no surprise then, that Billingham turned his hand to writing comedy scripts for television, as well as continuing to act and appear in front of the camera at various points. He joined with David Lloyd to write episodes and act in the children's TV series ''Harry's Mad'' (based on the book by Dick King-Smith), and wrote and presented two series of BBC's ''What's That Noise''. Between 1997 and 1998, he (and friend Peter Cocks) wrote and co-starred in Granada TV's ''Knight School'', for which the two also produced a novelisation.

He is however, clearly less enamoured by scriptwriting than by novel-writing, noting that: :"I can write a six part TV series and put my heart and soul into crafting it, and when it's done, it's jumped upon by a dozen people and torn to pieces and rewritten and messed about. Of those dozen people, perhaps two are qualified to do that."

In 2002, he was "in the middle of writing a screenplay for an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and about to write a screenplay for a cult children's show," an original sci-fi drama for the BBC, but his prime consideration turned to writing novels.

Novels

In 2001, Billingham's first crime novel, ''Sleepyhead'', was published in the UK by Little, Brown and Company. He is a self-confessed fan of crime fiction, "as well as a really serious collector" and has alleged that the expense of collecting books inspired him to get into interviewing and reviewing books, partly for the complimentary copies. Starting with a local newspaper, he progressed to providing reviews and interviews for SHOTS, and then to magazines, including ''Time Out'', where he found himself interviewing people such as Michael Connelly, talking and learning from other writers.

Mark Billingham became the first crime writer to win the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award twice when his novel ''Death Message'' won in 2009. He won this prestigious award against strong opposition including Reginald Hill, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin and Lee Child.

Early writing

From an early age, Billingham can remember writing, often "funny" stories for purposes of popularity and enjoyment. As he grew older, and his interests moved towards crime fiction, he began to skew his writing that way, setting an early novel (the as-yet unpublished ''The Mechanic'') in his native Birmingham. Inspired by the comic-crime work of Carl Hiaasen and other authors, he attempted to use his experience as a stand-up comedian and crime fan to write a similarly comic novel. Ultimately he abandoned his unfinished novel and the comic-crime genre to focus on his other idea—a book that would become ''Sleepyhead''.

Tom Thorne

Billingham created Detective Inspector Tom Thorne for his 2001 debut novel ''Sleepyhead'', where a case of "Locked-in Syndrome" reveals the dark depths of a twisted mind, as adept at toying with the DI as with the victims. This central character has since featured in the vast majority of his works, except ''In the Dark'', released in August 2008, in which Thorne has only a very minor role. The author writes that, "if writers want their readers to care about a character, they have to care themselves" and, as such, has imbued Thorne with a lot of his personal characteristics. The two share a birthday, a locale (London) and musical interests (a "love of country music both alt and cheesy" – although Billingham implies that it is ''Thorne'''s fictional musical tastes that have grown on the author).

In talking about the creation and development of his central character, Billingham notes the difficulty and worry involved in trying to create a personality different from those in other existing, familiar and popular works: :"[You] worry that you will be entering that world of the strange cliche-ed cop, but you soon realise that you have to get comfortable in that world. You think 'Hang on, some of the clichés are part of that territory'. It would like writing a Western and going 'Oh no I've given him a horse! What a terrible cliché!' It's not a cliché – It's part and parcel of the genre – cowboys have six-guns, horses and stetsons and detectives have [a] past... problems [and] flaws, because if they don't, then there is nothing to read about."

Billingham's own website says that the underlying determination of Tom Thorne's character was that he would evolve as the series progressed, and remain unpredictable. While noting that many authors compile "thick dossiers" and "complex biographies" about their characters, noting every quirk and minor detail, Billingham shies away from such minutiae, calling it "limiting"—preferring instead to discover something anew about his own hero with each book, and to pass that novelty on to the reader: :"The day a character becomes predictable is the day a writer should think about moving on, because the reader certainly will." Thorne's internal continuity is important to his author—it is important that the events in his past affect who is in the present, although this very aspect of his character causes Billingham great difficulty in describing him without giving away plot twists! Suffice to say that "[h]e works on the Metropolitan Police Murder Squad [and at] the time of the first book, he is forty-one years old. Thorne's surname comes from fellow Comedy Store stand-up Paul Thorne, and the (sur)names of other comics and comedians are liberally peppered throughout the series.

''Sleepyhead'' was released in August 2001, and made it onto the ''Sunday Times'' "Top Ten Bestseller" list, becoming "the biggest selling debut novel of that Summer". In December 2009 it was listed as one of the 100 novels that shaped the decade.

''Scaredy Cat'' inspiration

In 1997, Billingham became a crime victim, as he and his writing partner Peter Cocks were kidnapped and held hostage in a Manchester hotel room. Turning the event into inspiration for his second Thorne novel, ''Scaredy Cat'', he wrote: :"The general theme of ''Scaredy Cat'' is really the power of fear, and that fear is a very powerful weapon, and if you are prepared to instill it, you have a very powerful weapon that is every bit as dangerous as a gun or a knife. Also what happened to me in that hotel room fed directly into a sub-plot in ''Scaredy Cat'' with some very nasty crimes carried out in hotel-rooms." The two were kept bound and gagged in their hotel room by a trio of masked men who stole items and credit cards from them. Billingham recalls being terrified by the sheer audacity of the criminals, who managed to instill a feeling of menace and fear into their victims, a theme which was later fed into his novels–"that if one person is able to scare someone so much, they can make them do anything". The ''Scaredy Cat'' storyline thus presents the scenario of tandem serial killers, two individuals ostensibly working together, creating an added air of terror and expectation whenever one of them strikes.

More Thorne

On the heels of 2001's ''Sleepyhead'' and 2002's ''Scaredy Cat'', Thorne returns in 2003's ''Lazybones'', investigating the killing of a convicted rapist, and finding it difficult to become involved in the case, since he has little real sympathy for the victim. A messy contract killer and the past cases of a former colleague blur together in ''The Burning Girl'' as the past meets the present in a symphony of violence. Thorne's involvement in a previous case affects his ability to investigate an increasing death toll among the homeless of London in ''Lifeless'', while a kidnapping case forms the backbone of 2006's ''Buried''. ''Death Message'', the Thorne novel published in August 2007 sees him haunted by a psychopath he has already put behind bars, but who is reaching out from prison to manipulate the world outside. After resting Thorne for the standalone thriller ''In The Dark'' (although he does appear in a very minor role), Billingham returned to his perennial character in 2009 with ''Bloodline'' and in the 2010 novel ''From The Dead''. Billingham announced on his website that the next Thorne novel due for release in 2011 would be called ''Good as Dead''; this was published in August of that year.

The first chapter of each of Billingham's Tom Thorne books can be downloaded from his website.

Television adaptations

Sky1's Thorne adaptation started broadcast in October 2010, with acclaimed actor David Morrissey starring as Tom Thorne. The first three episodes were an adaptation of "Sleepyhead" and were directed by Stephen Hopkins (24, Californication, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers). The final three episodes were an adaptation of ''Scaredy Cat'' and guest starred Canadian actress, Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy).

Awards and nominations

TV

Billingham has received nominations and awards related to all aspects of his various careers. ''What's That Noise'', (which he wrote and presented) won the 1995 Royal Television Society award for "Best Entertainment Programme", while ''Knight School'' was nominated for the RTS's "Best Children's Drama" award two years running.

Sky1 have adapted two of Mark Billingham's novels for a new crime drama series in October 2010, 'Sleepyhead' and 'Scaredy Cat'. DI Tom Thorne is portrayed by David Morrissey).

Novels

''Scaredy Cat'' (2002) won the Sherlock Award for "Best Detective Novel Created by a UK Author", and was also nominated for the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger for "Best Crime Novel of the Year". ''Lifeless'' (2005) was nominated for BCA "Crime Thriller of the Year" Award in 2006.

Mark Billingham’s novel "Lazybones" won the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2004 and he won the same award in 2009 for his novel "Death Message". ''In The Dark'' was nominated for the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.

Recreation

In-between writing, acting and stand-up, Billingham finds time to support Wolverhampton Wanderers, although his protagonist Thorne supports Tottenham FC.

Bibliography

''Knight School'' (with Peter Cocks) (Hodder & Stoughton 1998) ISBN 0340743387

As "Will Peterson" (with Peter Cocks)

''Triskellion'' (Walker Books Ltd [Feb 2008]) ISBN 1406307092

''Triskellion 2: The Burning'' (Walker Books Ltd [Feb 2009]) ISBN 9781406307108

''Triskellion 3: The Gathering'' (Walker Books Ltd [Feb 2010])

Tom Thorne

''Sleepyhead'' (Little, Brown & Company [Aug 2001]) ISBN 0316856975

* William Morrow US [Jul 2002] ISBN 0-06-621299-5

''Scaredy Cat'' (Little, Brown & Company [Jul 2002]) ISBN 0316859540

* Time Warner UK [Nov 2002] ISBN 0-356-23206-9

* William Morrow US [Jun 2003] ISBN 0-06-621300-2

''Lazybones'' (Little, Brown & Company [Jul 2003]) ISBN 0316724939 ; ISBN 0-316-72494-7

* William Morrow US (Jun 2004) ISBN 0-06-056085-1

''The Burning Girl'' (Little, Brown & Company [Jul 2004]) ISBN 0316725749

* William Morrow US (Jun 2005) ISBN 0-06-074526-6

''Lifeless'' (Little, Brown & Company [May 2005]) ISBN 0316727520

Scorpion Press [Jun 2005] ISBN 1-873567-70-7

* William Morrow US [Sep 2006] ISBN 0-06-084166-4

''Buried'' (Little, Brown & Company [May 2006]) ISBN 0316730505

* Orbit [May 2006] ISBN 0-356-24410-5

* (HarperCollins (Aug 2007)) ISBN 0061255696

''Death Message'' (Little, Brown & Company [Aug 2007]) ISBN 0316730521

''Bloodline'' (Little, Brown & Company Aug 2009) ISBN 9781408700679

''From the Dead'' ((Little, Brown & Company Aug 2010) ISBN 978 1408700754

''Good as Dead'' (Little, Brown & Company Aug 2011) ISBN 978 1847444196

Other Crime

''In the Dark'' (Little, Brown & Company [Aug 2008]) ISBN 1408700697

* ''In the Dark'' contains Tom Thorne as a minor character.

"Dancing Towards The Blade" in ''Men From Boys'' by John Harvey (ed.) (Arrow Books [Sep 2004]) ISBN 0099461528

*Other contributors include: Dennis Lehane • Michael Connelly • George Pelecanos • Jeffrey Deaver • Lawrence Block

"Stroke of Luck" in ''Like A Charm'' by Karin Slaughter (ed.) (Century [Feb 2004]) ISBN 1844133737

*Other contributors include: Laura Lippman • Lee Child • John Connolly • Lynda La Plante • John Harvey • Peter Robinson • Fidelis Morgan • Val McDermid • Karin Slaughter• Emma Donoghue• Denise Mina • Kelley Armstrong • Jane Haddam

"Introduction" in ''The High Window'' by Raymond Chandler (Penguin)

Partial screenography

Writer

''Maid Marian and Her Merry Men'' (1989–94)

*"Tunnel Vision" (1993)

''Harry's Mad'' (1993–96)

*''various episodes''

''Knight School'' (1997–98)

*''various episodes''

Actor

''Dempsey & Makepeace'' (1984) – Steve (1985)

''Juliet Bravo'' (1980) – Doyle (1985)

''Boon'' (1986) – Policeman (1986)

''News at Twelve'' (1988) – Wayne Harris (1988)

''The Bill'' (1984) – Pete (1989)

''Birds of a Feather'' (1989) – Phil the Plumber (1989)

''Maid Marian and her Merry Men'' (1989–1994) – Gary (1989–1994)

''The Upper Hand'' (1990) – Philly Fingers (1993)

''Harry's Mad'' (1993–96) – Terry Crumm (1993–96)

''Knight School'' (1997–98) – Scrubbe (1997–8)

References

External links

Mark Billingham's Official Web Site

Mark Billingham's Forum

Mark Billingham at ''Little, Brown & Company''

Mark Billingham's top ten detectives, at The Guardian

Mark Billingham's profile at ''The Comedy Store''

Category:English crime fiction writers Category:English writers Category:English crime writers Category:English thriller writers Category:English mystery writers Category:English television actors Category:English screenwriters Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English comedy writers Category:People from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Living people Category:1961 births Category:People educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys

de:Mark Billingham it:Mark Billingham fi:Mark Billingham sv:Mark Billingham

Name	Marc Colombo
Currentteam	Miami Dolphins
Currentnumber	71
Currentposition	Offensive tackle
Birth date	October 08, 1978
Birth place	Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Heightft	6
Heightin	8
Weight	315
College	Boston College
Draftyear	2002
Draftround	1
Draftpick	29
Debutyear	2002
Debutteam	Chicago Bears
Pastteams	Chicago Bears (–) Dallas Cowboys (–) Miami Dolphins (–present)
Status	Active
Highlights	All-Big East (2001)
Statweek	10
Statseason	2009
Statlabel1	Games played
Statvalue1	80
Statlabel2	Games started
Statvalue2	64
Statlabel3	Fumbles Recovered
Statvalue3	1
Statlabel4	Blocked FG attempts
Statvalue4	2
Nfl	COL745693 }}

Marc Edward Colombo (born October 8, 1978) is an American football offensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was originally selected in the first round (29th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He played college football for Boston College. He is also the rhythm guitarist in the heavy metal band "Free Reign".

Colombo has also played for the Dallas Cowboys.

Early years

Colombo was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School where he earned ''Boston Globe'', ''Boston Herald'', ''Brockton Enterprise'' and ''Taunton Gazette'' all-scholastic honors as a senior offensive tackle. He also earned All-Northeast honors from ''SuperPrep''. He helped lead his team to two conference titles in four years (1993 and 1996), his team advanced to the Division 1 Super Bowl in 1996. He recorded 75 tackles and five sacks as a senior. He also played basketball and baseball. He won the ''Brockton Enterprise'' and ''Taunton Gazette'''s all-scholastic basketball honors while helping lead his team to the conference title as a senior. He was also an honor roll student and active in the Drama Club.

College career

Colombo attended Boston College, where he graduated with a degree in Sociology from the College of Arts & Sciences. He also worked on an undergraduate major his senior year.

In 1997, as a freshman, Colombo red-shirted so that he could adjust to college football. In 1998, as a red-shirt freshman, he played in six games, including the final two. In 1999, as a red-shirt sophomore, he played in seven games, including Boston College's 62-28 loss to Colorado in the Insight.com Bowl. In 2000, as a red-shirt junior, he started all 11 games at right tackle. It was also his first year as a starter in college. He helped the offense rank third in the Big East in total offense with 414.9 yards per game (30th in the nation) and rushing offense at 201 yards per game (21st in the nation). For the season, the offensive line gave up just six sacks. He helped running back William Green to rush for 1,164 yards marking the third-straight season that Boston College had a 1,000-yard rusher. In 2001, as a red-shirt senior he earned All-Big East honors playing at both tackle positions as a senior as part of an offensive line that helped the offense record 4,361 yards, including over 1,000 rushing yards.

Professional career

Chicago Bears (2002 - 2005)

Colombo was selected in the first round (29th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He spent three injury-plagued seasons with the Bears before being released after the 2005 season.

In 2002, as a rookie, Colombo was placed on injured reserve after suffering a dislocated patella and femoral nerve damage during a road game against the St. Louis Rams on November 18. He missed the entire 2003 season after being placed first on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list on August 13, and then on injured reserve. He also missed most of the 2004 season; he was finally activated from the Reserve/PUP list to the active roster on November 8, 2004. In 2005, he played in the Bears season opener; however, he was waived the next week, on September 13, 2005.

Dallas Cowboys (2006 - 2010)

Colombo was out of football until he signed with the Dallas Cowboys on November 1, 2005. He was then inactive for his first three games with Dallas. He then played on special teams in a road game against the New York Giants, against the Kansas City Chiefs, and on the road against the Washington Redskins and then against the Rams.

In 2006, he was named the starting right tackle after training camp and started every game in one of the Cowboys most productive and efficient offensive seasons in franchise history. The offense scored 425 points (26.6 points-per-game), the fourth-most in the league. The team was second in the league in third-down efficiency (48.8%), the franchise's highest rating in that category since 1980. The team also averaged 360.8 yards-per-game in total offense, the fifth-most in the league and the most for the Cowboys since their Super Bowl XXX winning season of 1995.

In 2007, Colombo started every game at right tackle for the second consecutive year. He played a key role in one of the most successful offensive seasons in club history while helping the team to a franchise record-tying 13 wins and the first NFC East title since 1998. The offense finished the season second in the league in scoring (first in the conference) with an average of 28.4 points-per-game. The 455 points scored marked the second-most in franchise history behind only the 1983 team (479 points). With an average of 365.7 yards-per-game, the Cowboys were third in the league (second in the conference) in total offense. The team ranked fourth in the league (third in the conference) in passing with an average of 256.6 yards-per-game. In rushing, the Cowboys were 17th in the league (seventh in the conference) with an average of 109.1 yards-per-game. The offense gained 478 total yards and scored six touchdowns, which tied for the fourth-most in a season opener in franchise history against the Giants as Tony Romo threw for a season-high 336 yards. The offesnive line blocked for a 100-yard rusher, Marion Barber, a 100-yard receiver, Terrell Owens and a 300-yard passer, (Tony) Romo in a road game against the Bears on September 23, for the first time since a road game against the Redskins on September 12, 1999.

On March 9, 2007, Colombo was re-signed by the Cowboys to a two year contract worth $7 million with a $4 million dollar signing bonus.

thumb|right|Colombo (75) with the Cowboys in 2008.On December 25, 2008, Columbo finalized a contract extension worth $22 million, with $11.5 million guaranteed, through the 2012 season. On November 15, 2009, in a game against the Green Bay Packers, Colombo broke his left fibula after a defensive player rolled into his leg, He made his return on January 3, 2010 against the Philadelphia Eagles which Dallas won 34-14 to advance to the second round to face the Vikings who Dallas lost to 34-3.

After five seasons in Dallas, he was released on July 28, 2011.

Miami Dolphins (2011-present)

On August 1, 2011, Colombo signed with the Miami Dolphins.

Music career

Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Marc Edward Colombo
Born	October 08, 1978Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Origin	Irving, Texas
Instrument	Rhythm guitar lead singer
Genre	Heavy metal
Occupation	Musician
Years active	2002–present
Label	Riot
Associated acts	Free ReignBlackmuff
Website	MySpace.com/Colombom
Notable instruments	}}

Growing up, Colombo had a love for rock music, which led him to begin playing guitar when he was about 22-years old. His main influence is James Hetfield, the lead singer of Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame band Metallica, whom he is a long-time fan of. He attended his first Metallica concert when he was 13 years old. And as of 2007, he has attended 16 Metallica concerts. Some of his favorite bands are Megadeth, Pantera, and Slayer. He joined his first band in 2002, called "Blackmuff". He currently is the lead singer and plays rhythm guitar in a metal band called "Free Reign", along with Dallas Cowboys teammate Leonard Davis and Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Cory Procter. The band signed a recording contract with the Australian company Riot Entertainment on June 23, 2009. The band's debut album is expected to be released in the fall of 2009.

Personal

Family

Colombo is the son of Gayle and Edward Colombo, he has a younger brother named Matthew. He is also a cousin of Steven Marciano, a former Boston College football player. He is married to Jessica, and he has one child, a daughter named Olivia, who was born in January 2008.

Community activities/charity work

As a teenager, Colombo was involved in community service activities at St. Basil's Church and at Bridgewater State College. He participates in the annual Salvation Army Angel Tree Christmas Program. He competed in the 2008 Poker for Pets for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas. He makes annual team holiday hospital visits. He also contributes to the annual team Kick Off Luncheon and ''Cowboys Cookbook'' benefiting Happy Hill Farm. His wife Jessica participates in the Cowboys Wives Christmas Party for The Family Place.

Favorites

Colombo said as a child, he was a fan of the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, and Boston Bruins. He also says that the most interesting class he ever took while in college was Techniques and Expression. He also says that the word in the dictionary that his picture should be next to is animal. His favorite place in Boston is Fenway Park. His favorite pregame ritual is listening to Metallica. His favorite stadium to play at on the road, while in college, was Lane Stadium the home of the Virginia Tech Hokies. He has also said that one of the people who helped him the most while he was in college was the football team's Strength and Conditioning coach Mike Poidomani.

See also

List of current National Football League players

List of Chicago Bears players

List of Dallas Cowboys players

Notes

External links

Official football

Official Website

Dallas Cowboys bio

Dallas Cowboys profile at ESPN.com

Dallas Cowboys profile at Yahoo! Sports

Profile at CBSSports.com

Profile at Pro Football Reference

Boston College Eagles bio

Official music

Marc Colombo at MySpace

Free Reign at MySpace

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bridgewater, Massachusetts Category:American football offensive tackles Category:Boston College Eagles football players Category:Chicago Bears players Category:Dallas Cowboys players Category:Miami Dolphins players Category:American heavy metal guitarists Category:Musicians from Massachusetts