Blackburn Meadows

Blackburn Meadows is an area of land just inside the Sheffield city border at Tinsley, England. It became the location of the main sewage treatment works for the city in 1884, and is now one of the largest treatment works in Britain. The treatment process was rudimentary, with sludge being removed to ponds and then to drying beds, after which it was used as manure or transferred by rail to a tip at Kilnhurst. The works progressively expanded to improve the quality of effluent discharged to the River Don and was a pioneer in the use of bio-aeration, following experiments by the works manager during the First World War. This process became known as the "Sheffield System", and was demonstrated to visitors from Great Britain and abroad. Despite these improvements, ammonia levels in the river below the works were high, and fish populations did not survive.

The works had its own internal standard gauge railway for over 100 years, which used three steam and three diesel locomotives over the course of its existence, until its replacement by road vehicles in the 1990s. During the 1926 general strike, the locomotives hauled trains over the main line, delivering wagons to Kilnhurst tip under a special dispensation. By the 1960s, the Sheffield sewer system was inadequate for the volume of effluent produced, and the Don Valley Interceptor Sewer was tunnelled beneath the city to the works, enabling 26 storm sewage overflows into the river to be shut down. Water quality was further improved by a new treatment process installed in 1992 to reduce ammonia levels, enabling fish stocks to be re-established in the lower River Don. Subsequent improvements have been made so that the works complies with the Waste Incineration Directive and the Freshwater Fish Directive. The works was inundated by flood water on 25 June 2007, when the Don burst its banks, but was recommissioned in just 18 days.

A power station was operational on the southern part of the site from 1921, supplying electricity to the steel works of the Lower Don Valley. Although it closed in October 1980, two of its cooling towers which were designed by L. G. Mouchel and Partners in 1937, remained until 2008, as demolition was difficult because of their proximity to Tinsley Viaduct, which carries the M1 motorway across the Don valley. Following extensive upgrading of the treatment works, to improve the quality of discharges to the river still further, the sludge beds became redundant, and have been turned into a nature reserve, providing habitat for migrating birds.

## Sewage Treatment Works

Blackburn Meadows is the lowest point within Sheffield City Council area. The River Don flows out of the city under Templeborough railway bridge past a benchmark set at 96 feet (29.27 m) above sea level. The meadows therefore formed a good site for a sewage treatment works, and Blackburn Meadows works was opened in 1886. It is located on a site to the north of the Don, and to the east of Tinsley Viaduct. In 2006 it was claimed to be the second largest treatment works in the United Kingdom, processing 79 million gallons (360,000 m3) of effluent each day, with only the works at Leeds processing more.

### History

As the population of Sheffield increased, Sheffield Corporation bought 23 acres (9.3 ha) of land at Blackburn Meadows, on which to build a sewage treatment works. In August 1884, William Bissett and Son won the contract for its construction, which was overseen by Thomas West, who acted as Clerk of Works. 100 feet (30 m) of standard gauge railway track connected the limeshed to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Bissetts had completed their work by January 1886, and although £2,462 had been spent on extras, their final bill came to £23,933, which was £27 cheaper than the original contract value. Savings were made by using concrete for the foundations and bottoms of tanks, rather than brick and puddle clay.

By mid-1886, the works was complete, and the Mayor, J. W. Pye-Smith Esq, officially opened it on 2 June. The event was witnessed by members of the Council, and by invited guests, which included a representative from the London Metropolitan Board of Works. Reports at the time indicated that the sewage passed through catch pits by gravity, allowing solids to settle, which were removed weekly. Milk of lime was then added as it flowed through mixing channels, after which it entered rectangular settling tanks. Next it passed on to a number of precipitating tanks, each holding 50,000 imperial gallons (230 m3), where after 30 minutes of settling, it passed over aerating weirs. Finally it ran through coke filters and was discharged into the river. Around 100 long tons (100 t) of sludge was removed from the precipitating tanks each day, to be pumped into ponds. Once the water had drained off, it was moved to drying beds, and was then used as manure by farmers, or was taken by rail to a tip at Kilnhurst, near Rotherham. Initially, there were 30 precipitating tanks and 60 aerating or filtering tanks.

The railway also developed, with the acquisition of 250 yards (230 m) of portable track and six tipping wagons in 1889, a steam crane later the same year, and more wagons in 1891 and 1892. The first locomotive arrived in 1898, after its purchase from the Yorkshire Engine Company. It was an 0-4-0 saddle tank, which had been built in 1875 for use as a contractor's engine, and had been refurbished by the manufacturer. A maintenance contract for the wagons lapsed in 1900, as the men at the works had become proficient at repairs.

In parallel with the construction of the works, trunk sewers were built to convey sewage from the city to the works. These was a major programme of expansion to the sewer network in 1910, to ensure that it could cope with the expected volumes of effluent produced. Because British sewers are also expected to handle rainwater, a series of storm sewage overflows were provided, which resulted in diluted sewage being discharged into the River Don in times of heavy rainfall.

### Expansion

The quality of the effluent discharged into the Don was soon giving rise to concern, as the treatment process was unsatisfactory. An act of Parliament was obtained in 1900, which allowed Sheffield Corporation to buy an additional 105 acres (42 ha), on which contact beds would be built, so that the effluent could be better treated before discharge. The initial plan was costed at £367,355, which was reduced to £270,369 when secondary contact beds were removed from the scheme. The Local Government Board approved the plans on 13 May 1905, paving the way for the construction of a biological treatment system, instead of the system using lime. Logan and Hemmingway, who were contractors based at Nottingham, won the initial contract for excavations, and also the subsequent one for the construction of six settling tanks, 24 contact tanks, and Jordan bridge, which would carry the internal railway line over the River Don Navigation. The contract was worth £41,046, and further contracts followed, which included £36,500 for 36 more contact beds and three settling tanks, £5,000 for excavating 40,000 cubic yards (31,000 m3) of earth, and £36,484 for storm beds and other work, which was subsequently raised to £39,184, so that they could pay their workers at the same rate as Sheffield Corporation paid their own workmen.

The Lord Mayor opened the first part of the new works on 28 October 1909, and Sheffield Council increased the amount of land they owned for sewage treatment to 226.5 acres (91.7 ha) by buying another 81 acres (33 ha), on which contact beds could be constructed if required at a later date. Discharges to the river were still of poor quality, and a secondary treatment process was designed, although its implementation was delayed by the onset of the First World War. However, John Haworth became works manager in 1914, and began to experiment with ways to treat the effluent. A continuous narrow channel was constructed within a tank, and paddles were used to agitate the liquid. This allowed it to become oxygenated, which supported bacteria, allowing them to digest the sewage. The process was called bio-aeration, but became known as the "Sheffield System", and a steady stream of people came to inspect the works, both from local authorities in Great Britain and from overseas. Many of the contact beds were converted to use the new system between 1922 and 1927. The treatment process significantly reduced the biochemical oxygen demand of the effluent discharged to the river, but was not good at removing ammonia, which was a major contributor to the poor water quality of the river below the works, and the destruction of the fish populations. The effluent regularly contained more than 20 mg/L of ammonia, which resulted in levels of over 10 mg/L in the river. Few fish can survive in concentrations of over 2 mg/L.

In 1915, the Corporation had made enquiries about purchasing a second-hand steam engine, approaching six locomotive manufacturers, but eventually acquired a new 0-4-0 saddle tank from Peckett and Sons Ltd, which was built at their Bristol works in 1918. The original engine became a spare, but was hired out to the Blackburn Meadows power station in March 1936. A year later it was condemned by the insurance company, and was sold for scrap to Maden and McKee Ltd, who were based in Liverpool. A replacement was sought, and a third 0-4-0 saddle tank, made by Hudswell Clarke in 1914, was bought from the Olympia Oil and Cake Company at Selby. It was coupled into a goods train, and arrived at the works in July 1937. At the works, as at Selby, it carried the name Olympia, painted on the tanks. The Peckett was overhauled by the Yorkshire Engine Company at Meadow Hall Works between 1945 and 1946. Because there was a statutory obligation to keep the treatment works operational, a special dispensation was obtained during the 1926 general strike, to allow this engine to run over the main line, delivering wagons to Kilnhurst tip. Kilnhurst tip eventually became full, and in January 1948, regular tipping operations ceased, after a new tip at Thrybergh opened. Tipping continued at Kilnhurst sporadically, until it was closed in 1959. During its operational life up to 1948, 2,917,480 tons of sewage sludge was dumped at the site, and following closure, it was sold to the National Coal Board in 1961.

### Modernisation

The entire works was upgraded between 1956 and 1969, in five distinct phases. The plan was announced in January 1956, and was expected to cost £1 million. The first phase was the construction of a filter pressing plant, for which the main contractor was Norwest Construction Co Ltd, while the actual presses and other plant were supplied by S. H. Johnson and Co Ltd. This phase was completed in 1962, and was officially opened by the Lord Mayor on 14 May 1963. The second phase consisted of a preliminary treatment plant, a storm sewage separation plant, and metering of the flows within the plant. This was completed in 1965. The third phase was split into two parts, which initially involved the building of new primary sedimentation tanks. Once these were operational in 1969, the old sedimentation tanks were converted to become temporary storm sewage tanks. This fourth phase was called phase 3b, and was completed in 1970. The final phase was the construction of a sludge incinerator, which was completed in 1969 and meant that the pressed sewage cake did not have to be taken to Thrybergh to be dumped.

The railway was also upgraded at this time. Thomas Ward Ltd supplied replacement track in 1955, and a new 0-4-0 diesel electric shunter was ordered from Ruston and Hornsby Ltd in 1959. It was delivered from Lincoln on a low-loader in 1960, and was so successful that a second engine of the same type was ordered the following year. The Hudswell Clarke steam engine was cut up on site in 1962, but the Corporation wrote to Peckett's to see if they would convert the Peckett engine to diesel hydraulic transmission. Peckett's declined, and so the engine was converted at the works, by cutting off the boiler and saddle tank, and fitting a Perkins diesel engine removed from a crane. It was completed on 12 May 1962, and worked well, although it spent most of its subsequent life working at Thrybergh tip. It returned to Blackburn Meadows in 1967, and was cut up later that year. A prototype steel side-tipping wagon was ordered from Robert Hudson Ltd of Leeds in 1955, and a further 22 followed in 1957, to replace the original wooden wagons. Charles Roberts and Co Ltd of Wakefield supplied 12 more in 1958, and a further 35 in 1961, with Hudsons supplying the final 6 in 1963.

In 1976, a new diesel shunting locomotive, made by Thomas Hill of Rotherham was purchased. It was built at Kilnhurst, and driven along the ex-Great Central Railway line from there to the works. The first Ruston and Hornsby engine was partially dismantled, and eventually cut up in January 1978. The connection between the works and the British Rail network was cut in 1984, and the system became one of a very small number of isolated standard gauge railways. By 1986, the track layout had been simplified, and the track across Jordan bridge had been lifted. When rail operation ceased in the 1990s, one of the Hudson tipping wagons went to the National Railway Museum at Shildon, and the Thomas Hill engine, after several changes of ownership, is now located on the Peak Rail preserved railway at Matlock.

By the 1960s, the Sheffield sewers were inadequate for the volume of effluent, and overflowed into the river during periods of light rainfall and sometimes when there was no rainfall. Some of them had been in use for 80 years, and inspection revealed that major reconstruction was required. The solution adopted was to tunnel the Don Valley Interceptor Sewer through the Carboniferous rock beneath the existing sewers. Work began of the first phase in 1979, when 1.33 miles (2.14 km) of 18-foot (5.5 m) tunnel were built from the works to a drop shaft in Hawke Street. A new pumping station was required at Blackburn Meadows, and this phase was completed in July 1983. Over the next decade, four further phases were completed, involving the tunnelling of 1.39 miles (2.24 km) of sewer with a diameter of 12 feet (3.7 m) to a drop shaft near Furnival Road, a new sewer from Furnival Road to the Whitbread Brewery with another from the Sheaf Valley sewer to the central bus station, extension of the Don Valley sewer to Gilpin Street, and finally extension from Gilpin Street to Livesey Street in Hillsborough. As a result of this work, the capacity of the sewers was greatly increased, and 26 storm sewage overflows were closed, resulting in significant improvement to water quality in the river.

### Improvements

In 1992, the problem of ammonia levels in the final effluent was addressed by the construction of a system using anoxic zones and diffuse air activated sludge treatment. This dramatically reduced ammonia levels, and was the most significant factor in the re-establishment of fish stocks in the lower River Don. In 1990, the outdated filter presshouse and incineration plant were replaced by a new sludge-dewatering plant and a fluidized-bed incinerator. The new plant made the old sludge beds, situated to the east of the River Don and on the island formed by the Don and the Holmes Cut, redundant, and these have now become a nature reserve. Further improvements to the process were completed by 2005. These included an upgrade to the wet scrubbing system, in order to remove heavy metals and acid gases such as sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride from the flue gases produced by the incinerator, and the addition of a tertiary adsorption filter, which removes mercury and dioxins. The improvements were designed to ensure that the plant met the standards set out in the Waste Incineration Directive.

The outflow from the works, which passes under the River Don Navigation and joins the river beside Jordans weir, has in the past been a major contributor to the pollution of the River Don, but some £70 million has been invested in upgrading the plant, to ensure that discharges to the river meet the requirements of the Freshwater Fish Directive. In dry weather, the outfall discharges 30 million gallons (136,000 m3) of treated water each day, more than doubling the flow in the river at this point.

The works was shut down on 25 June 2007, after the Don burst its banks, and the entire site was engulfed by several feet of water. It remained submerged for over a week, with much of the equipment suffering catastrophic damage. Once the water subsided, imaginative ways had to be found to return it to operation within a reasonable time. The analyser which measures emissions from the incinerator plant had been completely destroyed, and in order to mitigate a 16-week delivery time, the manufacturers removed one from a training centre at Telford, and it was hired by Yorkshire Water until a new unit could be supplied. The plant was recommissioned and operational just 18 days after its inundation.

In 2012, a contract for the construction of a mesophilic anaerobic digestion facility was awarded, including the construction of buildings and various other pieces of equipment required for the treatment of sludge. Mesophilic anaerobic digestion enables the breaking down of biodegradable materials using micro-organisms under moderate temperatures. The new sludge treatment facility enables the recycled sludge to be used on neighbouring farmlands as manure, and also enables Yorkshire Water to generate 1.9MW of renewable energy using combined heat and power units.

## Association with biological warfare

In 1942 Olympia Oil and Cake Company (based in Blackburn Meadows) was outsourced to produce 5,273,400 cakes by the Porton Down biology department for use in Operation Vegetarian.

## Power Station

In 1921, Sheffield Corporation built a coal-fired power station on spare land at the south west corner of Blackburn Meadows. At the time there was no national grid, and the steelworks which occupied much of the Lower Don Valley needed additional electrical power. The chosen site was close to the steel works, was near the river, which supplied cooling water, and was well-served by railway lines, to deliver coal. The station was modified between 1937 and 1942, when its capacity was increased to 72 megawatts, and remained operational until the 1980s. When the rest of the power station was demolished, two of its seven cooling towers were left standing due to their close proximity to the M1 motorway, and the risk that their demolition might cause Tinsley Viaduct to be damaged. The 250-foot (76 m) towers were hyperbolic in shape, and were designed by L. G. Mouchel and Partners, who had also been responsible for the first such towers erected at Liverpool in 1925. The Blackburn Meadows towers were built between 1937 and 1938. English Heritage considered whether they should be designated as listed structures, but ruled against it because the internal cooling structures had been removed, and there was no context for them, as the rest of the station no longer existed. On 24 August 2008, at 3 am, the two landmark towers were finally demolished with explosives, without damaging the motorway.

In 2011, as part of Sheffield City Council's drive to become self-sufficient for energy, construction of a biomass power station began. It is operated by E.ON UK, and was completed in 2014. It generates 30 megawatts by burning waste wood, sourced from the United Kingdom, and waste heat is captured to provide a district heating scheme.

## Nature Reserve

In 1993 Sheffield City Council negotiated with Yorkshire Water and leased an unused part of the former sewage works for 99 years, at an annual rent of one peppercorn, to enable it to be reclaimed and turned into a nature reserve. In order to manage the project, a consortium was formed, with representation from Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, South Yorkshire Forest and Yorkshire Water. It now provides habitat for migrating birds, for which it is an area of European significance. The Wildlife Trust run an active programme of school education visits. In 2005 the City Council exercised an option to increase the size of the reserve by taking over additional land from Yorkshire Water.

Area of land inside the Sheffield city at Tinsley

Sewage treatment plants in the United Kingdom


Speed 2: Cruise Control

Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 American action thriller film produced and directed by Jan de Bont, and written by Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson. It is the sequel to Speed (1994) and stars Sandra Bullock (who reprises her role from the original), Jason Patric, and Willem Dafoe. Cruise Control tells the story of Annie (Bullock) and Alex (Patric), a couple who go on vacation to the Caribbean aboard a luxury cruise ship, which is hijacked by a villain named Geiger (Dafoe). As they are trapped aboard the ship, Annie and Alex work with the ship's first officer to try to stop it after they discover it is programmed to crash into an oil tanker.

De Bont had the idea for the film after he had a recurring nightmare about a cruise ship crashing into an island. Speed star Keanu Reeves was initially supposed to reprise his role as Jack Traven for the sequel, but decided not to commit and was replaced by Patric before filming. The writers had to rework the script to accommodate the addition of a new character. Production took place aboard Seabourn Legend, the ship on which the film is set. The final scene, in which the ship crashes into the island of Saint Martin, cost almost a quarter of the budget, and set records as the largest and most expensive stunt ever filmed. Many interior scenes aboard the ship were shot on soundstages in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The soundtrack featured mostly reggae music. Mark Mancina returned to compose the film score, released as an album 13 years after the film's release.

The film was released by 20th Century Fox on June 13, 1997, to largely negative reviews from critics, who criticized the acting, story, characters, absence of Reeves, and its setting on a slow-moving cruise ship, citing it as less thrilling than that of Speed on a fast-moving bus. Eminent critic Roger Ebert defended the film, calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story". The film was also a box-office bomb, earning \$164 million worldwide against a production budget as high as \$160 million. It was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards, winning the Worst Remake or Sequel category.

## Plot

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cop Alex Shaw is on a motorcycle chasing a vehicle with stolen goods. After he catches the driver of the vehicle, his girlfriend Annie Porter runs into him during her driving test. She finds out that Alex is on the SWAT team after he lied and told her that he was a beach officer. As an apology, Alex surprises her with a Caribbean cruise on Seabourn Legend.

Aboard the ship, deranged passenger John Geiger, a former employee of the cruise company, hacks into the ship's computer system, and the following evening, he sabotages the ship's communication systems and kills Captain Pollard. After remotely blowing up two of the ship's engines, Geiger calls the bridge to tell the first officer, Juliano, that Pollard is dead and he is in charge. Juliano is ordered by Geiger to evacuate the ship. Geiger steals jewelry from the ship's vault. As passengers evacuate, Drew, a young deaf girl, becomes trapped in an elevator, and a group of people also become trapped behind locked fire doors in a hallway filling with smoke. As Annie and Alex attempt to board the last lifeboat, Geiger programs the ship to continue sailing. When the winch lowering the lifeboat jams, Alex jumps into the boat to rescue the passengers, while Annie and Juliano use the ship's gangplank to get them back on deck.

Alex realizes that Geiger is controlling the ship. Armed with shotguns, he goes with Juliano to the cabin. Geiger remotely detonates explosives inside the room. Annie and Dante, the ship's photographer, notice the people trapped behind the fire doors, and use a chainsaw to cut the door open and let them out on the other side of the hallway. Meanwhile, Alex orders the navigator, Merced, to flood the ship and slow it down by opening the ballast doors. As the ship floods, Alex sees Drew on a monitor after she climbs out of the elevator, and runs to save her. Alex notices Geiger leaving the vault and holds him at gunpoint, but he escapes by closing the fire door in front of him. Using the ship's intercom, Geiger explains that he designed the ship's autopilot system, and is taking revenge against the cruise line after being fired when he contracted copper poisoning. Geiger again escapes from Alex by attaching a grenade to a door.

The crew notices that Geiger has set the ship to crash into an oil tanker off the coast of Saint Martin. Alex decides to stop the ship by diving underneath it and jamming the propeller with a steel cable. Geiger realizes that Alex is trying to stop the ship, so he jams the cable winch while Alex is underwater, causing it to break off the ship and free the cable. Geiger takes Annie hostage and escapes with her on a boat from the ship's stern.

To avoid collision with the oil tanker, Alex and Dante go into the ship's bilge and use the bow thrusters to turn it. The ship screeches down the side of the tanker, but manages to withstand the damage, and heads straight into a marina. It then crashes into a Saint Martin town and eventually stops. Alex jumps off, uses a speed boat, and pursues Geiger to a seaplane. Alex shoots at it from the boat with a speargun and reels himself in through the water. He climbs onto the plane, rescues Annie, and both escape from the plane on one of its floats, which falls onto the ocean. Geiger attempts to fly over the oil tanker, but the plane becomes impaled on the ship's foremast, causing both to explode. The tanker crew however are safe, having launched their lifeboat just in time, leaving Geiger to die in the ensuing explosion. Annie and Alex travel back to shore in the speed boat, and he gives her an engagement ring, asking her if she will "wear this for a while", and she accepts.

## Cast

### Main cast

- Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter
- Jason Patric as Officer Alex Shaw
- Willem Dafoe as John Geiger

### Seabourn Legend crew

- Temuera Morrison as Juliano
- Brian McCardie as Merced
- Jeremy Hotz as Ashton
- Bo Svenson as Captain Pollard
- Royale Watkins as Dante
- Tamia Hill as Sheri Silver
- Kimmy Robertson as Liza

### Cruise passengers

- Christine Firkins as Drew
- Lois Chiles as Celeste
- Francis Guinan as Rupert
- Michael G. Hagerty as Harvey
- Colleen Camp as Debbie

### Additional cast

- Joe Morton (uncredited cameo) as Lieutenant Herb 'Mac' McMahon
- Tim Conway as Mr. Kenter
- Glenn Plummer as Maurice
- Patrika Darbo as Ruby Fisher

## Production

### Background and writing

Speed was released in June 1994, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. The film's plot features the story of a runaway bus armed with a bomb that will explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). It was a commercial and critical success. Director Jan de Bont felt the film was a "one-time story" with no sequel potential, and its studio, 20th Century Fox, included no obligation for the actors to appear in a follow-up film in their contracts. Due to positive word of mouth prior to its release, Fox considered producing a Speed sequel, and officially announced plans after the film's initial box office success in the first week of its release. De Bont was contractually obligated to direct it, and was paid a reported \$5–6 million salary. Even though their contracts did not obligate them to do so, Fox expected Reeves and Bullock to reprise their roles, and envisioned the follow-up film with Reeves and Bullock's characters as a married couple.

Hundreds of ideas for a sequel were submitted to De Bont, all of which he turned down in favor of his own idea, based on a recurring nightmare he experienced about a cruise ship crashing into an island. Speed screenwriter Graham Yost had an idea for a film involving a boat, with a Vietnam War-era vessel loaded with weapons that would explode if its ammunition came in contact with water. He also had an idea for a story about a plane that has to fly through the Andes mountains, but cannot ascend above 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Neither Yost nor Speed producer Mark Gordon were asked to participate in the sequel, although Yost received a "characters created by" credit and Gordon was credited as executive producer for Speed 2. Randall McCormick was hired to write the sequel in 1994 and received a story credit along with De Bont. McCormick and Jeff Nathanson collectively wrote the screenplay, working back from the idea based on De Bont's nightmare. Die Hard director John McTiernan claimed in 2001 that "the studio used most of the material we'd developed" for a potential Die Hard sequel and turned it into Speed 2, including "the ocean liner going on the beach." The storyline for that film had been abandoned because it was too similar to Under Siege. Prior to production, details about the film were kept secret, and De Bont refused to confirm rumors about the film taking place on a ship, although he did state that the sequel would be "funnier", while Speed 2 star Jason Patric said the sequel is a "very complex movie" and would have "bigger sequences."

Speed 2 was produced by De Bont's production company, Blue Tulip, and he was one of the film's three co-producers along with Steve Perry and Michael Peyser. The director began working on pre-production prior to the release of his previous film, Twister (1996). For the cruise ship on which the film would be set, De Bont visited ships from various cruise lines and chose Seabourn Legend for its luxurious amenities and sleek design. While Speed was produced for \$30 million, the sequel was green-lit at "just under \$100 million" due to the larger production and higher cast salaries. He started location scouting in the Caribbean in May 1996, and chose Saint Martin as the primary filming location because he felt it was least likely to be subjected to a hurricane. It was later reported that the film had gone over-budget and costs had ballooned to as much as \$160 million. De Bont acknowledged that they had gone over budget but that the cost would be close to \$100 million.

### Casting

Bullock initially declined to star in the sequel, but later agreed to get financial backing for the drama film Hope Floats (1998); she was paid a reported \$11–\$13 million to reprise her role as Annie. Reeves was offered \$12 million to reprise his role as Jack Traven, but turned it down because he did not like the script, was financially secure from the success of Speed, and felt he was not "ready to mentally and physically" star in another action film after having completed Chain Reaction (1996). He passed on Speed 2 in order to star in the film The Devil's Advocate (1997), which was filmed at the same time, then subsequently toured with his band, Dogstar. Reeves said that Fox was "furious" with his decision and released "propaganda" against him, falsely claiming that he turned down the role to tour with his band. De Bont said that the character in the sequel was not specific to Reeves and could be played by any young actor, as long as he had chemistry with Bullock.

Many actors were considered to replace Reeves including: Simon Baker Denny, Jon Bon Jovi, Patrick Muldoon, Johnathon Schaech, Christian Slater, and Billy Zane. Bullock initially suggested Matthew McConaughey, who passed on the role, prompting her to suggest Jason Patric, with whom she had wanted to work since seeing his performance in After Dark, My Sweet (1990). De Bont was skeptical of featuring a relatively unknown actor such as Patric, but was reminded by the studio that Bullock and Reeves were also relatively unknown prior to Speed, and chose Patric based on his role in Sleepers (1996). Patric was paid a reported \$4.5–\$8 million for his role in Speed 2 and used his salary to finance a 1998 drama, Your Friends & Neighbors. After accepting the role, Patric stated that he never saw Speed or had any intentions of seeing it; Reeves said he was looking forward to seeing Patric star in the sequel. After Reeves declined to appear in Speed 2, the screenplay was rewritten to remove his character from the story, which De Bont wanted to deal with early in the film. His absence is explained in the first scene, where Annie talks about how her relationship with Jack did not work out, and mentions her current relationship with Alex (Patric), before his character is introduced in the film.

Gary Oldman turned down the role of the villain, Geiger, to star as another villain in Air Force One (1997). Willem Dafoe was cast as Geiger after he wanted to star in a "big movie" and once again play a villain. De Bont cast New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison as Juliano based on his role in Once Were Warriors (1994). Although he did not like the script, Brian McCardie accepted the role as Merced as his agents assured him it would be good for his career.

Comedian Royale Watkins was hired by De Bont for the part of Dante after discovering Watkins performing at a comedy club. Glenn Plummer was cast as a character named Maurice whose boat is hijacked by Alex, reprising his role from Speed as a Jaguar owner whose car is hijacked by Jack. To add comic relief, De Bont cast comedian Tim Conway as Annie's driving instructor, and hoped it would be a comeback role for him. Singer Tamia was cast as Sheri, an entertainer on the ship, because De Bont wanted a singer who could also act. She did not plan on doing any film acting that early in her career, as she had yet to release her debut album, but said the part was "too perfect for [her] to resist." Joe Morton reprised his role from Speed as SWAT lieutenant Herb "Mac" McMahon in an uncredited cameo appearance in the beginning of the film.

### Filming

Principal photography took place from September 23, 1996, to late February 1997. Film crews moved to West Palm Beach and Miami, Florida in July 1996 anticipating shooting in each location for several weeks later that year. However, due to scheduling issues with Patric, production did not take place in West Palm Beach and there were "just a few days" filming in Miami. The Miami production took place in a gymnasium and boat hangar at the Dinner Key marina complex, rented by Fox. After spending over \$55,000 on repairs to the facilities, Fox refused to pay the \$35,000 in rental fees to the City of Miami. The city sued for the rent since Fox did not seek approval for the repairs, and a compromise was reached when the city credited some repair costs, resulting in Fox paying around \$26,000 rent.

Seabourn Legend was rented for six weeks at a reported cost of \$38,000 per day; the ship served as the film's primary setting and provided accommodation for the cast and crew. The evacuation sequence was among the first scenes filmed on the ship, and was shot in Key West, Florida over a two-week period. Approximately 30 hoses and the ship's fire sprinkler system were used to simulate heavy rainfall in the scene. Severe weather conditions from Hurricane Lili delayed production activity on the ship for several days, and caused seasickness among the cast and crew for the remainder of the production at sea. To make the ship appear faster, all exterior shots were filmed from a moving vehicle. Scenes on the bridge were filmed in a mockup dubbed the "bridge ship", a large-scale reconstruction of the bow and bridge built atop the hull of a cargo ship. Additional ship interiors were filmed at Sony Pictures Studios and Warren Entertainment in Los Angeles County, California. Full-scale replicas of the ship's atrium, cabins, and engine rooms were constructed on sound stages where production took place for over a month. The scene where Alex rescues Drew while the ship is being flooded was filmed by camera operators wearing wet suits inside a sound stage tank, which was constructed with plywood and a hydraulic lift to give the effect that the water level was rising.

For the climactic scene when the ship crashes into an island, De Bont wanted to create and destroy an actual town. He opted against miniature scale models or computer-generated imagery (CGI) to provide a sense of realism for the actors and the audience. A \$5 million, 35-building set was constructed in Marigot, Saint Martin based on the town's local architecture, which temporarily housed production offices. Despite De Bont's reason for choosing Saint Martin for filming, a hurricane struck the town and destroyed the set during construction. It had to be rebuilt with hurricane-proof buildings. Exteriors of the bow mockup on the bridge ship were used in the first part of the scene when the Seabourn Legend is crashing into sailboats in the harbor; the bridge ship was used in place of the actual Seabourn Legend, as the latter could not navigate the harbor's shallow waters. The captain of the bridge ship had great difficulty hitting the sailboats during filming, despite cameras placed on the boats for the captain to view. A second mockup was constructed for the latter part of the scene, which featured a 150-foot (46 m) long replica of the Seabourn Legend's bow. This mockup, referred to as the "rail ship", weighed 300 short tons (270 t), and sat atop a set of wheels along a 1,000-foot long (300 m) track built 60 feet (18 m) underwater.

Filming the final scene with the rail ship was initially delayed because it could not be hoisted onto the track because of large waves caused by the hurricane. The scene was filmed using 14 cameras, with the rail ship traveling 50 feet (15 m) at a time into the set, with debris from the destruction cleared between each take. The mockup was powered by four diesel engines and pulled by a large chain at a speed of 18 miles per hour (29 km/h). The scene's three planned collisions were aided by explosives and hydraulics to ensure the set's structures collapsed precisely. Concrete was also removed from the buildings and replaced with sand-coated balsa wood so the buildings would "crumble" more effectively after being hit by the rail ship. In the scene's final shot, it had to stop successfully within a 6-inch (15 cm) area on the first take. The five-minute scene cost \$25 million to produce, roughly one quarter of the film's entire budget, and set records as both the largest and the most expensive stunt ever filmed.

The underwater scene where Alex swims underneath the ship was filmed in the Tongue of the Ocean off the coast of New Providence in the Bahamas. The location was chosen due to its water clarity, however, after viewing dailies of the scene, De Bont felt the water was too clear, so it was reshot with divers above the camera dusting the area in front of the lens with sediment to alter the clarity of the footage. The scene was filmed underneath a propeller-less barge that was designed to resemble the Seabourn Legend. To provide a sense of velocity in the scene, the barge was towed by tugboats at one and a half knots. The production crew did not have a winch system available for the underwater shoot as depicted in the scene, so a pulley system was created by feeding Patric a rope that was attached to the axle of a car that drove along the barge.

Instead of using stunt doubles, De Bont persuaded Bullock, Patric, and Dafoe to perform their own stunts, so the scenes would appear more realistic; the lead actors were required to engage in physical exercise sessions before and during filming. Stunt coordinator Dick Ziker was very impressed with Patric's stuntwork, and said that he "is so physical he probably could be one of the top stunt men in the world." His stunts included being dragged by a seaplane through the water, jumping onto collapsing buildings, and scuba diving while pulled by a moving ship. He was also required to tread water for multiple hours at a time. During a motorcycle stunt on a Ducati 916 on the second day of filming, Patric flew off the bike 30 feet (9 m) into the air and landed on a small bush; Bullock said the incident was so serious that Patric "should be dead." After surviving a traumatic surfing incident as a teenager, Bullock had to overcome her fear of water to perform necessary stuntwork in the film. During production at sea, Bullock was smacked into the ship on multiple occasions, and was saved by Patric from dangerous situation by the ship's rudder in one scene. Bullock and Patric also had a scene filmed in an underwater tank where they had to kiss underwater with Bullock's hands tied together. Navy SEALs with scuba gear were present inside the tank during shooting, as the actors had to hold their breath during the scene. According to Bullock, she performed all of her own stuntwork "except for a quarter of one stunt"; her stunt double worked for only three days during production. Of all the stunt-related incidents during production, De Bont said the most frightening was when a stunt woman was hit in the face by a boat cable and required reconstructive surgery. Following the production at sea, De Bont said that filming on water "was 100 percent more difficult than [he] imagined."

### Music

#### Score

Composer Mark Mancina wrote the film score for Speed 2 having previously composed the scores for Speed and Twister. He started composing the music in March 1997 and it was recorded at the end of April. He began by creating themes and melodies, then worked them into the film where he felt they would fit. The score includes a reworking of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, in which the final chord is sustained and "slithers down" into the opening theme, while the studio logo fades into a traveling shot of the ocean on screen. Fox was initially hesitant to feature an altered version of their fanfare, but allowed the alteration after being convinced by De Bont and hearing it performed by an orchestra.

Specific action cues were scored on the piano down to each second of film. Noting how the film was set in the Caribbean and had a different, slower pace than Speed, Mancina gave the score a "Jamaican/Latin feel" by incorporating reggae music between action sequences. The reggae music was written to give the feel of being on vacation and serve as a love theme for the characters. Some themes from Speed were included in the score between sections of the newly written material. He wrote new themes for Annie and Alex because he felt the original themes written for Reeves' character would not work well with Patric. After viewing the scene where Geiger attaches leeches to his body to cleanse his blood, Mancina felt the scene was "so gross" that he wrote a "slimy theme" for the character, which is distinctively different from the rest of the music. He mixed the score at the same time the film was being edited, which meant the music had to be constantly re-edited into the film. During the scoring of Speed 2, Mancina said in an interview that keeping up with the editing of the film was the "hardest thing [he had] ever done."

Over 100 minutes of score are present in Speed 2, more than Mancina wrote for Speed and Twister combined. After the score was written, he created a demo of the entire score on a synthesizer to play for De Bont. While the score for Speed only used strings, French horns, and percussion, Speed 2 used a wider variety of instruments including trombones, large woodwinds, bass clarinets, and contrabassoons. The score was recorded by a 96-person orchestra, including Mancina, who performed on a classical guitar on several cues. The reggae music featured a band with steel drums, in addition to Cuban drums and Latin percussion. De Bont wanted 16 steel drum players, but due to a lack of available players, Mancina used eight drums which were double-tracked.

Mancina's score was not initially released on CD to avoid competition with sales of the soundtrack album. De Bont made a deal with Virgin Records that it could not be released until at least six months after the release of the soundtrack. The score was not officially released until June 2010, when it was sold by La-La Land Records as a 3000-unit limited edition album. The album features 70 minutes of music across 14 tracks and, according to La-La Land, it also features a "notable amount of music" that was not used in the film, due to the constant re-edits prior to its release date. Daniel Schweiger of Film Music Magazine said that Mancina's score was "arguably a better one than Speed", praising the album's "thrilling themes", "epic orchestrations", and "Jamaican-style grooves." Filmtracks.com gave the release four out of five stars, saying the album was "perhaps [La-La Land's] finest offering of a previously unreleased score", although it also stated that "some of the action and suspense material in the latter half of the score becomes a bit generic."

#### Soundtrack

To complement the film's Caribbean setting, the soundtrack consists of mostly reggae music. De Bont wanted musicians to appear in the film as entertainers on the cruise ship. A cameo appearance for reggae band UB40 was written into the script after the filmmakers heard a demo of their song "Tell Me Is It True", and wanted them to perform it in the film. Brazilian reggae musician Carlinhos Brown was also chosen to be featured as a performer on the ship because De Bont wanted music that was "lively" and felt that Brown's music was "full of energy." Tamia worked with De Bont and producer Quincy Jones to choose a song for her character to perform in the film, and selected "Make Tonight Beautiful", which was written by Diane Warren.

In addition to UB40 and Brown, the soundtrack features reggae music from: Jimmy Cliff, Common Sense, Maxi Priest, Shaggy, Rayvon, and Betty Wright. Mark Mancina wrote a techno track for the soundtrack based on his film score, titled "Speed TK Re-mix", performed by Japanese musician Tetsuya "TK" Komuro. Other songs recorded specifically for the soundtrack include Priest's cover of "The Tide Is High" and Cliff's re-recording of his 1972 song "You Can Get It If You Really Want". The Speed 2: Cruise Control soundtrack album was released by Virgin Records on May 20, 1997, about one month before the film's release. The album features 12 songs, all of which are featured in the film; five of them were released as singles.

## Reception

Speed 2: Cruise Control did not receive the same positive feedback as its predecessor. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 4% based on reviews from 75 critics, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Speed 2 falls far short of its predecessor, thanks to laughable dialogue, thin characterization, unsurprisingly familiar plot devices, and action sequences that fail to generate any excitement." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.

Time magazine stated that Patric's character was "fundamentally uninteresting", but blamed De Bont and the screenwriters for "not providing their actors with stuff to act." Many critics stated that a major issue with the film was the lack of thrills due to the setting on the slow-moving ship. Entertainment Weekly heavily criticized the lack of story and said the film is "as slow-moving as a garbage scow." According to the Los Angeles Times, even children who saw the film felt it was strange that it took place on a ship "not capable of going more than a few knots per hour [sic]", and claimed that Speed was "much more logical." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated, "Even the film's big-ticket closing stunts are more impressive for their size than for any excitement they generate."

It is also considered to be one of the worst film sequels of all time, and many publications have placed Speed 2 on their lists of the worst film sequels. Complex ranked the film first on a list of The 50 Worst Sequels of All Time, calling it "one of the worst 'event' movies ever conceived", while praising Reeves' choice not to return for the sequel, and referring to Patric as "wooden and woefully miscast." In 2010, New York film critic David Edelstein featured an article on Speed 2 that described it as the "Worst Sequel of All", mainly due to the film's explanation for the absence of Reeves' character. In addition to being ranked among the worst sequels, Empire ranked the film at number 24 on its list of The 50 Worst Movies Ever.

Bullock later regretted starring in the film, and stated that the script was to blame for the film's negative reception. She admitted to having been skeptical about its success during production and "knew it was going to be a big flop" once she saw the final product. Patric also admitted "it wasn't a good movie" and said that its lack of success was due to de Bont's direction, while praising Bullock and the rest of the film's crew. Mark Gordon and Graham Yost stated they felt "bitter and happy" after initially not being asked to be involved in Speed 2, then seeing that the film was unsuccessful.

The film did receive some positive feedback. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune both gave Speed 2 three out of four stars, two of the film's three positive reviews included on Rotten Tomatoes. On their film review TV series Siskel & Ebert, they collectively gave Speed 2 a positive rating of "Two Thumbs Up", calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story", although Ebert criticized Bullock's more limited role in the sequel while Patric "stole all the action sequences." Since his original review, Ebert claimed that he enjoyed Speed 2 more than Bullock, and wrote an article in 2013 that his favorable review of the film "inspired more disbelief" than any other he had written and was frequently cited as an example of him being a poor film critic. At the Conference on World Affairs in 1999, Ebert spoke about the difficulty of making films such as Speed 2 and defended his review by offering a "Speed 3" contest for anyone to create a five-minute short film that takes place on something that cannot stop moving.

Speed 2 was listed on About.com's Top 9 Cruise Ship or Ocean Liner Movies, and said it had "good shots of the ship and a spectacular ending", but also described the plot as "lame." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Daily News, and The Sacramento Bee each gave favorable reviews, while stating that the film was not as good as Speed. Empire Magazine's Andrew Collins gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, while commenting "...top-billed Sandra Bullock, formerly an accidental heroine, is insultingly sidelined here to boyfriend's little helper and hostage-in-waiting. Patric is the film's actual seaborne legend, and a watchable one, but the pair's gooey relationship sorely lacks Speed's thrown-together dynamic."

### Box office

Speed 2: Cruise Control premiered at the Cineplex Odeon in Century City, Los Angeles on June 9, 1997, and was released into theaters on June 13. The release date was rescheduled twice—originally set for July 2 and pushed up to June 6 to avoid competition with Men in Black and Titanic (which was then scheduled for July), then moved back one week to avoid competition with Con Air.

During its opening weekend, Speed 2 was shown on 2,615 screens and grossed \$16.2 million. It ranked at number one in the box office, grossing just \$500,000 more than Con Air in second place. Box office sales for Speed 2 dropped 54% the following weekend, grossing only \$7.8 million and ranking at number five behind Batman & Robin, My Best Friend's Wedding, Con Air and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

The film grossed \$48 million in the United States, and had a total gross of \$164.5 million worldwide. Moviefone and Time have both ranked the film among the biggest box office bombs of all time, with estimated losses for the studio ranging from \$40–70 million.

### Awards

The film received eight Razzie Award nominations out of 12 possible categories at the 18th Golden Raspberry Awards, and had the second-highest number that year following Batman & Robin (1997), which had 11 nominations. Speed 2 won the award for "Worst Remake or Sequel", but lost the award for "Worst Picture" to The Postman (1997). At the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was nominated for three awards. It won Worst Sequel but lost both Worst Director and Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing Over \$100M to Batman & Robin.

## Home media

Speed 2: Cruise Control was released on VHS on December 2, 1997. A LaserDisc version would be released that same month. The film would be released for the first time on DVD on November 3, 1998. It was once again released on DVD on July 30, 2002 along with its predecessor. This THX certified DVD release features animated menus that resemble Geiger's computer. Bonus features include a half-hour HBO special called "The Making of Speed 2: Cruise Control" and three trailers. These are a single trailer for Speed and two others for its sequel. On May 6, 2014, Speed 2: Cruise Control was released on Blu-ray as part of the Speed Collector Pack.

## Legacy

Speed 2: Cruise Control has been referenced and parodied in pop culture. A 1998 episode of the Irish sitcom Father Ted titled "Speed 3" involves a bomb planted on a milk float that will explode if the float travels under 4 mph (6.4 km/h). While the plot is a parody of Speed, writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews got the idea for the episode after asking themselves if it was possible to come up with a "worse idea for a sequel than Speed 2." The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye Nerdie" (2001) features a scene on a racing school bus where character Milhouse Van Houten says "It's like Speed 2, only with a bus instead of a boat!" The Family Guy episode "Blind Ambition" (2005) includes a parody of the film's finale where a cruise ship crashes into a pier and through a city before stopping in the middle of an airport.

## Potential sequel

In September 2013, Keanu Reeves stated that he believed that an opportunity for his return in a sequel had passed. By September of the following year however, the actor stated that he would be open to reprising his lead role in a sequel. In May 2019, Reeves once again expressed his interest in a potential third movie. By November 2020, Jan de Bont stated that a third film may be developed, while acknowledging that he would want the original cast to return. In December 2021, Reeves expressed his desire to work again with Bullock in the future, and said "never say never" while acknowledging that the realization of a third installment may become a reality. By March 2022, Bullock expressed interest in reprising her role while joking about how much older they both are at this point in time. Later that month she stated that though she was taking a hiatus from acting, she would like to make a third Speed film alongside Reeves. During the interview, she and Daniel Radcliffe brainstormed comedic ideas for the potential project.

In March 2023, Reeves stated that he would reprise his role under the condition that the story justifies the movie with a great script. By April, Graham Yost expressed interest in returning to serve as screenwriter.

1997 film by Jan de Bont

Films with screenplays by Jeff Nathanson


Mike Jackson (British Army officer)

General Sir Michael David Jackson, GCB, CBE, DSO, DL (born 21 March 1944) is a retired British Army officer and one of its most high-profile generals since the Second World War. Originally commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1963, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment in 1970, with which he served two of his three tours of duty in Northern Ireland. On his first, he was present as an adjutant at the events of the Ballymurphy massacre (1971), where eleven unarmed civilians were shot dead by British troops, and then at Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing fourteen. On his second, he was a company commander in the aftermath of the Warrenpoint ambush (1979), the British Army's heaviest single loss of life during the Troubles. He was assigned to a staff post at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 1982 before assuming command of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, in 1984. Jackson was posted to Northern Ireland for the third time, as a brigade commander, in the early 1990s.

In 1995–1996, Jackson served his first tour in the Balkans, where he commanded a multi-national division of the Implementation Force. Following a staff job in the UK, he was appointed commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in 1997. He returned to the Balkans with the ARRC during the Kosovo War, during which he famously refused to obey an order from American General Wesley Clark, his immediate superior in the NATO chain of command, to block the runways of Pristina Airport and isolate the Russian contingent that was positioned there. He reportedly told Clark, "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". The incident attracted controversy, particularly in the United States, and earned Jackson the nickname "Macho Jacko" in the British tabloid press. Jackson established a working relationship with the Russian general commanding the detachment at Pristina, giving him a bottle of whisky, of which Jackson is known to be fond, and providing the Russians with the protection of a squad of British soldiers, commanded by his son, Mark.

Upon his return to the UK, Jackson was promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Land Command, the second-most senior position in the British Army. After three years as Commander-in-Chief, Jackson was appointed Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, in 2003. He took up the post a month before the start of the Iraq War, amid disputes over the legality of the invasion and claims that the Army was under-equipped. However, he dismissed suggestions that the Army was at "breaking point". The most controversial point of his tenure as CGS was the restructuring of the regiment system and amalgamation of many regiments into larger ones, leading to the loss of historic regiment names. He was succeeded as CGS by General Sir Richard Dannatt in 2006, and retired from the Army after serving for almost 45 years.

Jackson continues to speak on military matters and works as a consultant and guest lecturer, and has published an autobiography. He has three children, from two marriages, and four grandchildren.

## Early life

Jackson's father, George, served as a soldier in the Household Cavalry before being commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps. On D-Day, George Jackson assumed command of a squadron of amphibious landing vehicles after his commanding officer was killed in action, and he was later awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and mentioned in despatches for his actions. Jackson was born at his mother's home in Sheffield on 21 March 1944. After the Second World War, George Jackson was eventually posted to Tripoli, Libya, where the family lived for two years, during which time Jackson's younger sister was born. After suffering a heart attack, George retired with the rank of major after 40 years in the Army. Jackson's mother, Ivy (née Bower), was a curator at a museum in Sheffield.

Jackson was educated at various primary schools as the family moved with his father's postings before being sent to Stamford School, an independent boarding school in south Lincolnshire, where he became a house prefect. He joined the school's Combined Cadet Force along with John Drewienkiewicz, who eventually became a major general. By the age of 15 Jackson had decided that he wanted to be a soldier.

## Early military career

Despite being advised by the headmaster at Stamford to consider university, Jackson applied to join the British Army in 1961. He was accepted, and started at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in January 1962, graduating on 20 December 1963. While at Sandhurst, he became increasingly interested in the Parachute Regiment, but eventually applied to, and was commissioned into, the Intelligence Corps as a second lieutenant at the age of 19. After his commissioning, Jackson took up an opportunity offered by the Intelligence Corps to undertake platoon commanders' training with a combat regiment, and opted to do so with the Parachute Regiment. Before leaving Sandhurst, he had applied to take an "in-service degree"—a degree sponsored by the Army at a civilian university—and was accepted to read Russian studies at the University of Birmingham. The course required students to reside in the USSR for several months; as the Ministry of Defence refused to allow Jackson to travel to the country, the university agreed to waive the requirement. Jackson returned to the army after graduation as a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Russian Language and Literature in 1967. His first promotion was to lieutenant on 20 June 1965, and he served with the Parachute Regiment in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Anguilla—where he served as adjutant when his battalion relieved the force sent to restore order during the 1969 emergency—after which he was promoted to the rank of captain. Following Anguilla, his tenure with the Parachute Regiment ended and he reluctantly returned to the Intelligence Corps. He became increasingly determined to rejoin the Parachute Regiment and, after almost a year, was eventually allowed to transfer, retaining the rank of captain in 1970.

He went on to serve in Northern Ireland as adjutant to 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), and was present at the events of the Ballymurphy massacre, where 11 unarmed civilians were shot dead by British troops in August 1971 and at the events of Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972, when 14 unarmed civilian civil rights protesters were shot dead by soldiers from 1 PARA in Derry. He was in the tactical headquarters of the Army's operation to contain the protests immediately before the Bloody Sunday shooting began and he accompanied the battalion commander, Derek Wilford, when Wilford decided to join the soldiers on the ground. The shooting was over by the time Jackson reached the soldiers' position, but he recalls seeing several bodies in the back of an Army vehicle. In 1976, he was promoted to major and attended the Staff College, Camberley, before being posted to Germany as chief of staff to the Berlin Infantry Brigade. After Berlin, Jackson served his second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, this time as a company commander. While there, he witnessed the aftermath of the 1979 Warrenpoint ambush, the British Army's single largest loss of life during The Troubles. He acted as the incident commander, arriving on the scene shortly after the second explosion, and had to identify Major Peter Fursman, a close friend, from the remains of Fursman's face, which had been blown clear of his skull. He later spoke of the effect the incident had on him, saying, "It greatly disturbed me. Still does". He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1979 Queen's Birthday Honours and was mentioned in despatches in 1981, in recognition of his service in Northern Ireland.

Having attended the National Defence College, Jackson joined the directing staff at the Army Staff College and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1981. He served as a member of the directing staff at the Staff College, Camberley, for two and a half years. During his tenure at Camberley, he was seconded to a staff position at the Ministry of Defence in 1982 during the Falklands War, and thus missed the opportunity to serve in the conflict directly. He took command of 1 PARA in March 1984, who, at the time, were deployed in Norway, training for the possibility of a Soviet attack. Concerned that he was insufficiently prepared for the weather conditions, he left Camberley early to train with the Royal Marines. He was appointed Senior Directing Staff (Army) at the Joint Service Defence College from 1986 to 1988 and was promoted to colonel in 1987.

While serving as a colonel, Jackson considered resigning his commission. He wondered if he had missed his chance for promotion to brigadier at the age of 44, and believed he might have "reached [his] ceiling" as it was unusual for older officers to be selected for promotion. He was persuaded to try again the next year and was promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1989, after spending six months on a Service Fellowship writing a paper on the future of the Army and taking the Higher Command and Staff Course. He went on to serve his third tour in Northern Ireland, commanding 39 Infantry Brigade—a post he held until 1992, thus missing the Gulf War. He was promoted from Member to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1992.

## High command

Jackson attained general officer status with promotion to acting major general in May 1992, after holding only one post as a brigadier; in peacetime, senior officers are normally expected to have held two posts before promotion. He was appointed Director General Personal Services (Army) at the Ministry of Defence, reporting to the Adjutant General. He was granted the substantive rank of major general in June 1992, with his promotion backdated to October 1991. After two years at the MoD, Jackson took command of the 3rd Mechanised Division in April 1994. During the Yugoslav Wars in 1995, Jackson had been due to succeed Rupert Smith as commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), which would have entailed early promotion to lieutenant general (three-star rank) and a blue beret, signifying UN command. As a result of the Dayton Agreement, however, UNPROFOR became the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR), and Jackson remained a major general (two-star rank), commanding the 3rd Division and troops from several other countries who made up Multinational Division South-West. Jackson retained command of the 3rd Division until July 1996 and went on to serve briefly in a staff post as the Army's Director General of Development and Doctrine. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in November 1996.

After he was appointed Commander of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), Jackson was promoted to acting lieutenant general in January 1997, a rank he was granted substantively in April 1997. Jackson served in the NATO chain of command, reporting to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, American four-star General Wesley Clark. Under Jackson's command, the ARRC deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1999, where Jackson served his second tour of duty in the Balkans, commanding KFOR, NATO's multi-national peacekeeping force established at the end of the Kosovo War. He gained significant media attention in June 1999 after a confrontation with Clark in which he refused to block the runways of the Russian-occupied Pristina Airport and isolate the Russian troops there, thus preventing them from flying in reinforcements. In one heated discussion with Clark, Jackson reputedly told him "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". He later told the BBC he believed that obeying the order would have led to the possibility of an armed confrontation with Russian troops, which he felt was not "the right way to start off a relationship with Russians". The point became moot when the US government prevailed upon neighbouring countries, including Hungary and Romania, to prevent Russian use of their airspace to fly in reinforcements. Jackson was criticised for his actions by American military officers and politicians, including General Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who called the incident "troubling", and Senator John Warner, who accused Jackson of insubordination.

As a result of the incident at Pristina Airport, Jackson was dubbed "Macho Jacko" by the British press. Among his troops, Jackson was christened "Darth Vader" and "Prince of Darkness", owing to his temper and gravelly voice. Following the confrontation with Clark, Jackson went to the airport to meet Viktor Zavarzin, the Russian general leading the detachment, and established a working relationship with him. Jackson, who is fond of whisky and cigars, discovered that the Russian troops were apprehensive about being attacked by the Kosovo Liberation Army, and promised to protect the Russians by sending a detachment of British soldiers commanded by his son Mark, along with a bottle of whisky. Jackson was knighted when he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1998, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1999 for his leadership in Kosovo.

Upon his return to the British chain of command in early 2000, he assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief, Land Command, the second-highest position in the British Army, and a post which entailed promotion to full general and membership of the Army Board. As Commander-in-Chief, Jackson was responsible for assembling forces for the 2000 British intervention in Sierra Leone, which included Brigadier David Richards—later Chief of the Defence Staff—and Jackson's son Mark. He also handled requests from the civilian authorities for assistance with the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, floods and strikes by firefighters and fuel tanker drivers. While still Commander-in-Chief, he stood in for the Chief of the General Staff, marching behind the coffin at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in 2002. At the time of the 11 September 2001 attacks, Jackson was on a visit to the British training facility in Alberta, Canada. He managed to return to the UK the next day aboard a casualty evacuation aircraft and had overall responsibility for force generation for the British Army's contribution to the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

### Chief of the General Staff

Jackson succeeded General Sir Michael Walker as Chief of the General Staff (CGS)—the professional head of, and highest post in, the British Army—on 1 February 2003, just over a month before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He later said that he "did his homework" in researching the disputed legality of the war and had convinced himself that the invasion was legal. Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Jackson ordered an inquiry into the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers. He admitted that the allegations had damaged the Army's reputation, but believed that further damage would be done by covering them up. Several soldiers were eventually convicted in connection with the abuse, after which Jackson publicly apologised on behalf of the British Army and promised to appoint an officer to determine what lessons needed to be learnt. Weeks after becoming CGS, Jackson was summoned to give evidence before the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

The most controversial action of Jackson's tenure as CGS was the Army's modernisation of the regimental structure in 2004, in which many regiments were merged to form larger ones. The amalgamations led to the loss of many regimental names, including the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, which became part of The Rifles and the Black Watch, which, after intervention by Queen Elizabeth II, retained its name but became a battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Jackson insisted that the change was necessary to give the Army greater flexibility and capability, but said he was "acutely aware that this will be sad and unwelcome news for at least some of the infantry". As part of the same review, the arms plot system, which kept infantry units moving around every few years, was also phased out as being inefficient.

During the Iraq War Jackson admitted that the war was putting the service under strain, but called the claim that the Army was "at breaking point", "nonsense". Jackson was dismissive of claims that the Army was under-equipped, recalling his conversation with a soldier: "There's a bit of a fuss going on about boots and bog rolls and whatnot. Are you all right for boots?" He later conceded that this could be seen as "cavalier", and that he "had no intention of belittling the gravity of the situation", but that he "didn't want to send a message to the enemy that we were in any way not ready". Known for speaking his mind, Jackson attracted media attention towards the end of his tenure as CGS in 2006, when he criticised Norman Kember for his apparent lack of gratitude to the soldiers who freed him from Iraqi kidnappers.

Jackson was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in December 2004 in the New Year Honours List. His investiture took place immediately after the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Johnson Beharry, as the VC takes precedence over all other awards. Speaking of Beharry's award, Jackson said he had "never felt more proud of the British Army", and following the investiture said that he was "overshadowed" by Beharry, "and quite rightly so—it was an honour to stand alongside him". He was present at the 2006 Sovereign's Parade at RMA Sandhurst, in which Prince Harry was commissioned—the first Sovereign's Parade to be attended by Elizabeth II in 15 years. One of the most high-profile British Army generals since the Second World War, Jackson was succeeded as Chief of the General Staff by Sir Richard Dannatt and retired from active service in August 2006 after almost 45 years of service.

### Honorary roles

Jackson has held a number of honorary and ceremonial positions in various regiments. His first was as Honorary Colonel, 10 (Volunteer) Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in 1994, which he relinquished in 1999. In 1998 he was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment, until he was relieved by Sir John Reith in 2004, and Colonel Commandant, Adjutant General's Corps, succeeding Sir Jeremy Mackenzie, until he was relieved by Sir Freddie Viggers in 2005.

He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Territorial Army's 2nd Battalion (Volunteers) The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, in 1997. Following their amalgamation in the modernisation of the regimental structure, Jackson was appointed to the newly created position of Honorary Colonel, the Rifle Volunteers, in 1999. He was given the title of Aide de Camp General (ADC) to Queen Elizabeth II in 2001, succeeding Sir Rupert Smith. He relinquished the appointment in 2006. After Jackson's retirement from the Army, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire (DL) in 2007.

## Retirement

Jackson retired in 2006. He spent nearly 45 years in the Army but called it "a regret" that he never fought in a conventional battle—having been in a staff position in 1982 during the Falklands War and serving as a brigade commander in Northern Ireland during the Gulf War. He said that "Fighting is what a young man with good red blood in his veins joins for. It is the ultimate test for the professional soldier". He has continued to voice opinions on military matters in his retirement. He delivered the annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture four months after leaving the Army. In the lecture, titled The Defence of The Realm in the 21st Century, he criticised the Ministry of Defence and questioned the MoD's understanding of the fundamental ethos of the armed forces. He was critical of the treatment of soldiers, calling some soldiers' accommodation "frankly shaming" and saying that the "Armed Forces' contract with the nation ... must be a two-way one", going on to say that "military operations cost in blood and treasure, because risk-free soldiering, which some seem to think is possible, is simply a contradiction in terms". The MoD responded by saying that "while we do not agree with everything Sir Mike has said, we are always the first to recognise—for example in relation to medical services and accommodation—that although we have delivered real improvements, there is more we can do".

At the end of 2006 Jackson took up a consultancy job with PA Consulting Group, and he has given lectures on leadership. He also serves as a non-executive director for ForceSelect and security company Legion and is a member of Rolls-Royce's International Advisory Board. His autobiography, Soldier, was published in 2007 by Transworld. Gary Sheffield, writing in The Independent, called the book "an engaging and honest account that would repay reading by all those who seek to understand the 21st-century British Army", but Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor for The Observer, called it "disappointing" and commented that "in the end it is Jackson's opinions ... rather than any powerful new detail that emerges". He suspected that the book had been heavily edited by the army's lawyers. Determined to keep active in retirement, Jackson recalled advice he had been given by a friend—"whatever you do, don't settle for pruning the roses or soon enough you'll be pushing them up". He appeared on BBC Radio 4's series Great Lives, along with Major General Julian Thompson, RM, in 2008 and nominated Field Marshal Bill Slim. Jackson sits on the Board of Trustees of the John Smith Memorial Trust, a charity set up in 1995 in memory of the late Labour party leader John Smith.

Jackson re-appeared in the headlines when he and other retired generals, including Major General Tim Cross—who was involved in the planning effort and later commanded all British troops in Iraq—criticised the American post-war planning for Iraq and attacked the statement by Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense, at the time of the invasion, that the US does not "do nation-building", calling it "nonsensical" and "intellectually bankrupt". Jackson also joined criticism of the British National Party (BNP) in the midst of the 2009 controversy surrounding party leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the panel show Question Time. He accused the BNP of "hijacking" military symbols, saying "the BNP is claiming that it has a better relationship with the Armed Forces than other political parties. How dare they use the image of the Army, in particular, to promote their policies?" He elaborated that it was not a party political issue, but an issue of the armed forces' reputation. Griffin retaliated by calling Jackson and Sir Richard Dannatt "war criminals". A disagreement between Jackson and then Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth made headlines in 2009, when Ainsworth stated that the UK could only manage a small increase to troop numbers in Afghanistan, saying that the Army had pushed "too hard" when it was engaged in operation in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Jackson countered by saying that the UK should play a decisive role and that the drawdown of troops from Iraq meant the UK had the capability for a larger increase.

After the Saville Report published its findings in June 2010, Jackson gave an interview in which he joined Prime Minister David Cameron in offering a "fulsome apology" for the events. He acknowledged that troops of the First Parachute Battalion, of which he was adjutant, had killed people "without justification", but went on to observe that "Northern Ireland is a very different place [in 2010], not least because of sacrifices made" by the soldiers who had served there, and asked that the report "be seen in this context".

## Personal life

Jackson married while at university in 1966. The marriage produced two children (Amanda and Mark) before ending in a divorce in the early 1980s. He married again in 1985, to Sarah (née Coombe), whom he met when they debated the Falklands War at a dinner party in 1984. The couple had a son, Tom, in 1990. Jackson's daughter Amanda is a mother of four. Mark Jackson joined the Army and served under his father's command in Kosovo. He also served in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, eventually reaching the rank of major, but left the Army in 2002 after being seriously injured in a civilian parachuting accident two years earlier. He now works as an artist and sculptor.

Jackson was well known for having large bags under his eyes, which he had surgically removed shortly after his retirement. He stated that it was a matter of "vision, not vanity", as the bags had been impairing his sight. Jackson lists his interests as music, reading, travel, skiing, and tennis.

British Army general

British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)

Chiefs of the General Staff (United Kingdom)

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley

Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath