document_title: List of Drop Dead Diva characters

question_text: who played jillian ford on drop dead diva

text: List of Drop Dead Diva characters

text: Cast[edit]

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Main cast of Drop Dead Diva

Actor

Character

Season

1

2

3

4

5

6

Brooke Elliott

Jane Bingum

Main

Margaret Cho

Teri Lee

Main

April Bowlby

Stacy Barrett

Main

Kate Levering

Kim Kaswell

Main

Jackson Hurst

Grayson Kent

Main

Josh Stamberg

Jay Parker

Main

Ben Feldman

Fred

Recurring

Main

Recurring

Guest Star

Lex Medlin

Owen French

Recurring

Main

Carter MacIntyre

Luke Daniels

Main

Guest Star

Justin Deeley

Paul

Main

text: Jane Bingum and Stacy Barrett[edit]

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Episode count

Jane Bingum/ Deborah "Deb" Dobkins
Brooke Elliott
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
N/A
78

Prior to the start of the series, Jane Bingum was a hard working, intelligent lawyer whose best friend was her assistant, Terri and was often teased by her co-worker Kim Kasswell due to her size. In the pilot episode, Jane was shot by a disgruntled gunman who was angry at Parker for sleeping with his wife. At the same time, when Deb pressed the return button in Heaven, her soul entered Jane's body and she struggles to balance her identity along with the Old Jane's.
When Deb took over her body, she was equipped with all of Jane's legal smarts but none of her memories. Deb/Jane usually avoids suspicion by claiming the shooting affected her memory. Initially, Deb struggled to adjust to Jane's size 16 body by refusing snacks and being horrified when she found out Jane is eight years older. However, she quickly made peace with her new body by updating Jane's wardrobe, eating snacks, and becoming less self-absorbed. She is pleased that as Jane she can make a difference in people's lives.
Over the course of the series, we learn more about Jane's early life: she once appeared in a weight loss commercial, which proved to be embarrassing when the firm was asked to sue the company; Jane was unnoticed in high school and went to prom with a gay classmate; and Jane has an excellent singing voice. Also, unlike Deb, Jane is distant with her parents, something Deb tries to remedy and eventually succeeds with Elaine. As Jane, Deb is passionate in the courtroom and tries to fight for what is right as much as she can.
At the beginning of the series, the only people who knew about Jane's true identity were Fred, Jane's guardian angel, and Stacy, Deb's former best friend. Complications arise when Deb's former fiancee Grayson Kent also comes to work for the law firm. In the beginning, Jane struggled to watch Grayson move on, especially when he began dating her co-worker Kim Kasswell. She was forbidden from telling him her true identity by Fred, who warns her that she is already in trouble for being back on Earth in the first place.
A romance between Grayson and Jane starts to develop but is interrupted when Jane's husband Ethan arrives. As it turns out, Ethan and Jane only married so he could get insurance for his cancer treatments but Jane was truly in love with him and was hurt when Ethan left. Deb becomes surprised when she starts to channel the real Jane's emotions when Ethan returns. However, she soon shows her disgust towards Ethan and tells him to get lost. Jane also dates Tony, a fellow lawyer, who asks her to move to Washington D.C. with him. Jane, however, turns him down as her life is with the firm.
After Tony moves away, Jane resumes her romantic feelings for Grayson, who begins dating Vanessa Hemmings. In the second season finale, Grayson tells Jane that he is planning on proposing to Vanessa and wants Jane to be his best man. Hurt, Jane storms out and when Grayson attempts to follow her, he gets hit by a car. When Jane rushes over to him, he says Deb's name. In the third season premiere, Grayson is revealed to have survived with minor injuries although he has short-term amnesia. Jane agrees to be his best man and gives up any hope of telling Grayson who she truly is. She briefly dates Grayson's neurosurgeon, Ben.
In season three, she finds a new flame in Judge Owen French but complications when arise when Stacey tells Grayson about Jane's true identity and it turns out that Owen's sister Olivia and Jane feuded in high school, something of which Deb also tries to remedy. However, the two work out their differences and Olivia gives her blessing to the relationship. He asks her to come to New Zealand but she turns him down to go to Italy by herself. Owen follows her to Italy and eventually proposes. The two become engaged, with Jane not knowing that Grayson has fallen in love with her. Owen has a heart attack and offers to break the engagement but Jane insists on staying together, regardless of his health problems.
In the fourth season, Jane is called back to Los Angeles to help Kim sort out the firm's financial problems and begins planning her wedding. She misses her own mother so she attempts to reconcile with Jane's mother, Elaine. On the day of her wedding, Grayson declares her love for Jane and the two kiss and Owen sees them, which causes him to have another heart attack. Up in Heaven, the real Jane uses the opportunity to press the return button to reclaim a body. However, it is later discovered that Owen recovered from his attack and he and Jane break up.
In season five, Elaine returns announce her terminal illness and reveals that she knows that Jane is truly not her daughter. Jane struggles to get over Grayson and work professionally with Owen in addition with the Old Jane, who has returned to Earth . In the season finale, Old Jane tells Grayson about Jane's real identity. Jane eventually confesses to Grayson, who has some trouble accepting it. Eventually, they do start dating and get together. When Grayson is shot, he plans to propose to Jane but dies in the hospital. He is reborn into the body of Ian Holt, a Death Row inmate whose innocence Jane proves. She helps Grayson adjust to a new life but they face trouble as Owen and Kim are convinced "Ian" is using Jane for her money and Jane is simply rebounding badly. When they confront her on how it can hurt the firm, Jane quits. In the series finale, Jane became an independent lawyer with help from Ian, and buried the hatchet with Kim and Owen now that she had found her soul mate in "Ian."
Deborah "Deb" Dobkins (played in the pilot and flashbacks by Brooke D'Orsay; appeared in 9 episodes). Deb was a self-centered diva who died in a car accident. She was a typical size two blonde with the intentions of being a model on The Price Is Right. In Heaven, she was dismayed to find out that she was a 0/0--someone who wasn't truly bad nor good, just shallow. Determined to return to Earth, she pressed a button on Fred's computer. Unfortunately for her, she did not return in her original body and struggled to adjust living in Jane's body. Deb's image has shown up throughout the series in the form of memories and flashbacks. Jane later learned that a photo of her former life was photoshopped as an internet hoax by a professor's assistant when Jane represented the professor in a trial.
The "Old" Jane Bingham went to Heaven after the shooting and spent the last four years in Heaven unhappily watching the way Deb has used her body. In season 4, she returns to Earth in the body of a recently deceased model named Brittney (played by Natalie Hall; appeared in 3 episodes). As Brittany, she shows up on Jane's doorstep, intent on reclaiming her life. But after seeing the good Deb has accomplished in her body and after the two team up to solve a murder case, the Old Jane gives Deb her blessing. However, she becomes upset when she finds out Elaine died and she didn't get to say goodbye, so she tells Grayson about Jane's true identity out of spite. Eventually, the Old Jane forgives Deb and leaves for Paris to start a new life, encouraged by Luke and her own strict guardian angel (whom Jane briefly sees with Brittney).
Young Deb (played in flashback by Maddie Ziegler; appeared in 1 episode). In the episode "Lady Parts", while Jane represents Bobbie in a case where a dance client is suing her, Jane remembers dancing for her mom as Deb and how she wasn't able to do a dance routine and disappointing her mom. At the end of the episode, Stacy manages to procure a tape which Jane watches with Bobbie and they learned that despite falling down, Deb was able to complete her dance routine.

Stacy Barrett
April Bowlby
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
N/A
78

 April Bowlby
An aspiring model/actress and Deb's best friend who is one of the few people who knows about the Jane/Deb body switch. She is outgoing and sweet, although occasionally shallow and ditzy. Stacy once confessed to Jane that she worried she would be left behind as she is less intelligent than Jane. However, Stacy is much smarter than she appears—she often helps Jane with her cases by noticing small details and is a novice inventor. Stacy has had various jobs throughout the series, including running a small business from her patented inventions, writing a successful fashion blog, and eventually landing a role on a television show.
Stacy is initially oblivious to Fred's feelings for her but the two eventually date but break up when her TV role causes her to act more egotistical and she cheats on Fred with her co-star. When she finds out her co-star was cheating on her, she slaps him and is sued for assault. Grayson represents her and the two kiss while working on the case. The two both realize it was a mistake, with Grayson stating that Stacy just reminded him so much of Deb. Stacy then told Grayson that she's not Deb, but "Jane is." She and Fred break up when he returns to Heaven but she loses her memories of him since he confesses that he is an angel.
Stacy meets a woman named Nikki, who encourages her to open a unique bakery, after Stacy accidentally crossed a pie recipe with a cake recipe. Stacy refuses to listen to Jane's suspicions that Nikki is a con artist and is devastated when Nikki scams her out of her money.   Nikki gets caught and Jane encourages Stacy to continue her dream of opening a "pakery" where she will sell "pakes", a combination of a cake and a pie. However, she encountered trouble again when a man named Jonah Pierce claimed that Stacy stole the idea from him. However, in court, Stacy is able to prove that it was her idea and is granted a patent.
Stacy later sells the business to concentrate on becoming a mother via artificial insemination. She asks Jane for permission to ask Owen to be her sperm donor and the two date on-and-off throughout her pregnancy. It is later revealed that Stacy will have twins, a boy and girl, which she later gives birth to just hours before the wedding, which was postponed temporarily until they were delivered.

text: Jane's guardian angels[edit]

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Fred
Ben Feldman
2, 3
1, 4
38

 Ben Feldman
The angel who was in charge of Deb's case when she arrived to Heaven. After she pressed the return button, he was demoted to be her guardian angel and work as a mail clerk in the firm to keep an eye on her. Fred lives in the Old Jane's apartment as he struggles to adjust to human life.
Stacy was his first crush and he spends the majority of season one attempting to win her over. When the two finally begin dating, Fred struggles to hide his guardian angel affairs from Stacy, eventually going so far as to hire actors to play his parents a later season. During season one, Fred and Stacy share a kiss, which in turn breaks the rules of his guardianship and causes him to be called back to Heaven, erasing everyone's memory of him, including Stacy and excluding Deb/Jane. However, he returns a few episode later, revealing that he has decided to become fully human to be with Stacy, who still has no memory of him. After asking the real Jane's mother for advice about Stacy, she tells him that although he may feel like she's the one, he won't know until he sees what else is out there in the world, so he informs Jane that he is leaving to go explore the world and try to live a normal life for a while.
It is later revealed in season two that even though he is human, he is still employed by Heaven and must continue to watch over Deb/Jane, so he returns as Kim's assistant to keep an eye on her. When questioned he tells Deb/Jane that he had been traveling the world but later admits he'd never really left Los Angeles as he had been assigned back to looking over her. This was not a complete let-down as eventually Fred and Stacy start dating.
In season three, Stacy breaks up with Fred to date her TV co-star which hurts Fred, but doesn't stop him from wanting to propose to her. It is only after Deb/Jane tells Fred that Grayson and Stacy kissed that he is completely heartbroken. After the two break up for good, he decides to travel to world to learn more about what it means to be human, all before being called back to Heaven for eventually confessing that he is angel, again wiping everyone's memory of him except for Deb/Jane.
We don't see much of Fred after this. He makes a few short appearances in season four when he mistakenly tells the real Jane how to return to Earth causing her to press the return key, being reborn in a model's body. However, when Grayson is shot and killed in season six, Fred is assigned as his gatekeeper, although Grayson does not remember him from his stay on Earth. Fred informs Grayson that he was assigned to Deb when she died and was held responsible when she pressed the return key which sent her back to Earth. He then tells Grayson that because of all his return button mistakes all the return keys were removed from the keyboards. Feeling he owes Deb for not properly guiding her in her new life as Jane by indulging in his own interests, Fred helps Grayson return to Earth by finding the one remaining keyboard with a return button. He warns Grayson that since the keyboard is the only one with a return button, he will only get one chance. Fred mentions should his superiors find out about this, he will be punished again with demotion or a worse punishment.

Luke Daniels
Carter MacIntyre
4
5
14

 Carter MacIntyre
Luke is a guardian angel sent to replace Fred to oversee Jane. He attempts to convince her to let go of Deb's soul and live as Jane permanently. His human cover is that he is an investor in Kasswell & Parker. He also bought the house where Jane and Stacy live so he can keep an eye on Jane. He tries to prevent Jane from telling Grayson who she really is as much as possible by sabotaging Grayson's attempt to declare his love for Jane. He and Jane often do not get along, but later made peace with each other. Luke also becomes briefly interested in Kim. He is called back to Heaven for failing to prevent Grayson from falling in love with Jane. Before leaving, Luke warns Deb that Old Jane is back and can be in anyone's body, later confirmed to be in a recently deceased model, Brittney.

Paul
Justin Deeley
5, 6
N/A
17

Paul is Jane's third guardian angel after Luke leaves. He lives with Jane and Stacy, while also pursuing a modeling career. He takes an internship with the law firm and becomes fast friends with Teri. However, his earthy cluelessness often gets him into trouble as he tries to pursue mortal desires. In the episode "Identity Crisis", Jane tells Paul that she is going to tell Grayson about Paul being her guardian angel. Paul warns her that if she does, he will be sent back to Heaven and no one will remember him except Jane. Jane tells him she will miss him but she doesn't want to lie to Grayson. Later in the episode, Paul tells her that he gives her his blessing on telling Grayson and they say their goodbyes. When Grayson is killed and then reborn into the body of Ian Holt, Paul reveals the truth about himself and how he is now Grayson's guardian angel. Paul attempts to convince Kim and Owen that Ian loves Jane but instead makes them think Ian is using her.[1]

text: Harrison & Parker employees[edit]

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Kim Kaswell
Kate Levering
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
N/A
70

Kim is an ambitious and cut-throat lawyer at the firm who has always looked down on Jane for her weight. It is hinted that Kim is actually jealous of Jane's success and smarts and the two are rivals in the workplace, always attempting to one up the other. She and Teri dislike each other and constantly make snide remarks to each other.
In season one, Kim becomes interested in Grayson, much to Jane's dismay. The two eventually kiss but Kim refuses to date him because Grayson isn't ready for a relationship. In season two, Kim becomes closer with Parker after she has a pregnancy scare and the two begin to date but their relationship is threatened by Claire Harrison. After Claire sabotages Kim's court case, Kim is fired from the firm. She breaks up with Parker before she leaves. In the third season, she is working as a freelance lawyer from out of a coffee shop. Parker attempts to apologize to her and coax her back into law but she rebuffs him. When she is approached by a former client to handle her divorce, Kim re-enters law. When she threatens to take all of her clients away from the firm, Parker makes her partner to stay.
In season four, Kim reluctantly promotes Jane to secondary partner to handle the firm's financial troubles while Parker is away. She and Luke date but she does not pursue a relationship with him as she is pregnant with Parker's child. However, when she tells Parker, he tells her that he is getting back together with his ex-girlfriend and makes her the new head of the firm, leaving her heartbroken.
Kim refuses to let her impending motherhood keep her from being an excellent lawyer, going as so far to insist on finishing her summation via video when she goes into labor. She gives birth to a son and while recovering at the hospital, she is informed that Parker wants to sell the firm. Jane convinces Kim to block the deal and Kim agrees to fight to keep the firm. Kim would later find romance with a writer who was working as a temporary. After he is fired for posting about being part of a club that hunts for Bigfoot, Kim represented him in a lawsuit against the company, and although they would lose the case Kim and the writer would end up kissing and they became a couple. She defended Hank against a lawsuit from a man who attempted to mug her. She forced him to drop his lawsuit against Hank by reminding the man that since she was the victim in his attempt, Kim will let this go to court and make sure he receives nothing less than consecutive life sentences. She defends him again when he loses his job as a bailiff and later on helped get him a job on the police force.

Jay Parker
Josh Stamberg
1, 2, 3, 4
N/A
52

 Josh Stamberg
Jay Parker is the firm's boss whose dalliance with another man's wife led to Jane being shot. He likes Jane's work ethic although he hates the way new Jane fights to always do what is right instead of just collecting billable hours. Despite his dislike for her actions, Parker does save Jane's job after she was threatened with disbarment. He is also a fan of a men's magazine article, which is where he get most of his fashion style and tips on seducing a woman.
Parker and Kim begin dating in the second season but their relationship is complicated when the co-owner of the firm, Claire Harrison kisses him. Kim breaks up with Parker for cheating on her and Parker becomes enraged when he finds out Claire used the firm to commit fraud. He demands her resignation and attempts to win Kim back in the third season. When he promotes her to partner, the two resume dating. Parker's ex-girlfriend Elisa returns and he hires her as his new secretary, making Kim jealous. Eventually, Elisa reveals that he is the father of her son. When she sued him for sole custody of Eric, Parker hired Kim to counter it and she refused based on the fact that maybe it was better that he stayed away from them. When Parker learns of her pregnancy, he originally promised Kim that he would be there for her. However when he calls, Parker admitted leaving for Toronto to form a family with Elisa, selling his share of the company to Kim and effectively ending his relationship with her. In season 5, Parker tries to sell the firm unexpectedly. However, Jane conspires with a client to make the firm too expensive for Parker to hang onto and he surrenders his partnership rights.

Claire Harrison
Natasha Henstridge
N/A
2
2

 Natasha Henstridge
At the end of season two, Claire is the co-owner and 50% equity partner in the law firm. She had a romance with Parker prior to the beginning of the series and left after the romance ended. Claire returned to the firm after suing her husband for divorce. Claire broke up Kim and Parker's developing romance by kissing Parker. Parker later demanded Claire's resignation after it was revealed that Claire committed fraud to overturn a prenuptial agreement with her husband.

Grayson Kent
Jackson Hurst
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
N/A
76

Grayson was Deb's boyfriend until her death. He was planning to propose to her and was in deep mourning for the beginning of the series. He is hired by the firm, unaware that Deb was still near him in the form of Jane's body. He had a short fling with Kim and also dated a lawyer named Vanessa, although he was initially unsure about getting serious with her. However, he tells Jane that he did not want to lose another great woman and reveals his plan to propose. Jane stormed out and he followed her, not understanding why she was upset. As he followed her, he was hit by a car. When Jane ran to him, he smiled at her and said Deb's name.
In the third season, Grayson wakes up from his coma although he has short term memory loss. He eventually regains his memories but only up until he asked Jane to be his best man. He continues with his wedding plans but Vanessa leaves him at the altar as she feels he does not love her the same way he loved Deb. He shares a kiss with Stacy when he represents her in a case and confesses the reason he likes her so much is because she reminds him of Deb. When Stacy turns him down, he realizes he has feelings for Jane and finally declares his love for her on Jane's wedding day.
Grayson kisses Jane at the hospital after Elaine's passing, only to be interrupted by the Old Jane, who reveals the truth that Jane was Deb all along. Grayson scolds Jane for thinking he couldn't love her as Deb in Jane's body. He tells Jane that he wants to begin their relationship anew. He was planning to propose to Jane and was shot. He survived and arrived to the hospital but the bullet in his chest caused complications, and despite efforts by the hospital staff to save him, he was pronounced dead. In Heaven, Grayson is startled to run into Fred and learns he was Deb's guardian angel. Grayson ends up hitting the "return" button and is reborn on Earth, calling Jane to let him know he is in the body of a convict in jail, Ian Holt (Jeffrey Pierce), who was wrongfully convicted of murder and was about to be executed but died before the event could take place. Jane (who later told Stacy about Grayson taking Ian's body) would eventually clear Ian of the crime before the execution and upon his release the two were reunited and restart their wedding plans. He faces trouble from those who see him as Ian as Kim and Owen believe he is just using Jane for her money. Paul does reveal he knows the truth and tells Grayson he is now his guardian angel too. It is later revealed that Teri knew of Ian's past, as it turns out that Ian was a gifted pianist while they were in high school and was responsible for ruining Teri's chances at stardom (he was supposed to help Teri audition for Star Search but showed up completely drunk to play piano and unintentionally humiliated her), prompting Grayson to allow Ian to "make up" for disappointing Teri. In the end, Grayson used Ian's talents to serenade Jane with a rendition of "It Had To Be You."

Teri Lee
Margaret Cho
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
N/A
72

 Margaret Cho
Teri is Jane's assistant and one of her best friends. She is never afraid to speak her mind and is one of Jane's biggest supporters at work. She often does detective work for Jane. She is also an aspiring musician and singer, and she performed at the grand opening of Stacy's "pakery". Jane gave legal aid to her brother and mother at one point in the series. However, when she tried to help Paul out with his debt by pretending to be a lawyer, she wound up in jail for impersonating a lawyer. In her time in prison, Teri discovers she has a following and decides to quit the firm to pursue a music career full-time. She was a high school classmate  and friend of Ian Holt, who she holds responsible for ruining her chance at being a singer, thus prompting Grayson (who now inhabits Ian's body) to make up for the mistake, and she forgives him. In the series finale, Teri tells Jane that she'll continue pursuing her music career and turns down her offer to come back as her assistant.

Owen French
Lex Medlin
4, 5, 6
3
41

Owen is a no-nonsense, but offbeat judge, who wooed Jane after he first met her when he was presiding over a case she was handling in the third season. There were some conflicts between them as Jane still had to argue cases in front of him and the two struggled to remain professional at work. At the end of the third season, Owen asked Jane to spend a year with him in New Zealand, but she declined. Owen surprised her by joining her on her trip to Italy but because of the firm's financial difficulties, their vacation was cut short so jane could return to Los Angeles.
Owen has a sister named Olivia, who went to high school  model U. N. with Old Jane and still held a grudge against her for breaking her best friend's heart, as well as a younger brother named Charlie who is the black sheep of the family for being a lazy moocher. Owen was embarrassed by his brother and cut him off for good   after Charlie attempted to a sue a strip club. He was previously married once and initially told Jane that he did not believe in marriage after his first divorce.
However, in season four, Owen proposed to Jane and he leaves her to plan the wedding to go visit a friend but Teri uncovers evidence that proves Owen lied. Jane believes it was because he was having second thoughts about marriage and is devastated. Yet when Owen returns, he admits that he had a heart attack and was in a coma after surgery. He offers to break up with Jane so she can find someone younger and healthier. Jane insists on staying engaged, much to his delight.
On their wedding day, Owen suffers another heart attack when he sees Jane and Grayson kissing. He collapses and the wedding is called off. The season four finale left ambiguity as to whether Owen had died and been inhabited by the spirit of the old Jane.
In season five, it was revealed that 'old Jane' did indeed return to Earth, but that she never entered Owen's body - he survived the heart attack and eventually recovered. Jane attempts to reconcile with him but Owen refuses all her apologies. Shortly after, Kim approaches Owen about becoming a partner in Harrison-Parker and he agrees, becoming Jane's new boss. He assigns Jane cases specifically targeted to make her feel guilty, such as the case of a woman suing her fiancé who jilted her. Later in the season, Owen accepts Jane's apology and also tells her that he is sorry for treating her poorly at work.
Owen is approached by Stacy to be her sperm donor and he accepts. The two date on and off throughout her pregnancy and when he learns that she is having twins, he tells her that he wants to part of her life with the children and proposed, although in the series finale they postponed the wedding so the twins can be born after Stacy goes into labor and delivers.

text: Other legal professionals[edit]

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Hank
David Berman
N/A
1, 2, 3, 6
4

Old Jane dated Hank before she was shot. Later in the first season, Hank tried to restart their relationship; however, new Jane was not interested. During the second season, Jane and Stacey invite Hank to have dinner at their house as a guise for a date. However, Hank brings his new girlfriend to the dinner leading to an awkward evening of conversation. Hank later described it as the best night of his life. In the fifth episode of Season 3, "Prom", he went to Teri and asked her if she could get Jane to help him with a legal case involving his current wife, Irina, leaving him after two months being married. Teri suggested that Hank ask Grayson to help him instead because he's dealing with a similar heartbreak from his previous bride, Vanessa, leaving him at the altar. After telling his story on how he met Irina and despite Kim's warning, Grayson agrees to take the case. After winning his case, Hank begins dating Teri at an alternate prom hosted by Jane and Stacy. Hank appeared again saving Kim in his superhero alter-ego form from a mugger. Later Hank is being sued for assault charges, Kim forces the mugger to drop the lawsuit against Hank. Hank loses his job as a bailiff and later joins the police force.

Vanessa Hemmings
Jaime Ray Newman
N/A
1, 2, 3
10

 Jaime Ray Newman
Vanessa is a lawyer at Dewey and Pearce. She met Grayson and Jane while defending Confetti from murder charges. Grayson and Vanessa hit it off quickly romantically. Jane, who still harbors intense romantic feelings for Grayson, was very envious of their relationship. At the end of season two, Grayson proposed marriage to Vanessa who accepted. Within the show's universe, Vanessa's father is a judge sitting on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Vanessa left Grayson at the altar because she felt he could never love her the way he had loved Deb. Vanessa returned to represent a couple in a case against a client that Kim was representing (which Vanessa would lose), and later apologize to Grayson for dumping him at the altar.

Tony Nicastro
David Denman
N/A
1, 2
8

 David Denman
Tony first appears as a charming lawyer who works for Bogart and Markov. He seems to be very interested in Jane, and, although she still has feelings for Grayson, Jane agrees to move on and accepts Tony's request to go out. Their relationship starts off well with Tony asking Jane to spend some time at a Bed & Breakfast in Napa with him after only a few dates. Jane, at first, is wary about being intimate with a man in her new body but accepts his invitation anyway. Tony is also eager to represent Jane at her disbarment hearing but later turns her down when he learns she was married to Ethan during the course of their relationship and that she was married to Ethan so he could be on her insurance. Tony says he can't represent her anymore because now he knows about her insurance fraud and he tells her that they need to take things slow. Jane is very hurt about him not returning her calls and finds out where is having lunch and storms in on Tony having lunch with a slim, blonde woman, believing them to be on a date. After confronting Tony and essentially embarrassing herself in front of them, Tony later angrily informs her that that was a job interview and she probably ruined his chances at getting the job. He then breaks up with her for good. The two then enter a very heated battle in court when Tony represents a man being sued for having two wives at the same time while Jane represents the women but in the end Jane wins the case. They then make up and their relationship heats up again only to be ended when Tony tells her that he got the job in Washington D.C. and asks her to move with him but she declines.

Judge Madeline Summers
Rosie O'Donnell
N/A
1
4

 Rosie O'Donnell
Summers is a no nonsense judge who employed Jane as her law clerk after Jane graduated from law school. Despite their professional relationship, Jane and Madeline are personal friends. They have a running Scrabble competition, and during the episode "Make Me a Match", after the old Jane had encouraged Madeline to buy an online personals subscription, but having no luck, new Jane urges Madeline to sue the company to get her $25,000 back and represents her in the case. During the trial, Jane discovers Madeline high expectations of men after looking for another man like her late husband.

Judge Rita Mayson
Vickie Eng
N/A
1, 2
10

Mayson appears in several episodes as a fair judge in several Harrison Parker cases.

Judge Warren Libby
Gregory Alan Williams
N/A
1, 2, 3
15

Another judge who frequently presides over Harrison Parker cases.

text: Jane's family[edit]

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Ethan
Devon Gummersall
N/A
1
2

Unknown to New Jane, Ethan is Old Jane's husband. Old Jane married him when he was unemployed and diagnosed leukemia, because she knew it was the only way to provide him with insurance coverage. New Jane meets him when he came back to ask for a divorce. She is at first fine and tells him that she'll draw up divorce papers and sign them but she starts to think that the reaction she has towards him is attraction and becomes confused as she is dating Tony. Fred makes her realize that it isn't love that is making her feel that way but anger and Jane reprimands Ethan for how he treated old Jane, how he just used her and tells him to get his own lawyer.

Elaine Bingum
Faith Prince
N/A
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
6

Elaine is Jane's mother. Her parents divorced after Elaine's bipolar disorder caused her to behave erratically. She has also shown to be helpful at times in important cases, evident in Season 4's Crushed when she asked Jane to help out with a case involving a former babysitting charge being accused of murder. When Jane learned there was more than meets the eye, she asked Elaine for help in what happened to Chloe's dad that led to Peg barring her from seeing both her daughters again. When she told Jane about it, Elaine learns the truth of Mr. Surnow's real fate when she notified the police to search the backyard of the Surnow's home. In the season five finale, Elaine comes to Los Angeles, falling ill and it turns out she has a terminal brain tumor. On her hospital bed, she reveals she's always known Deb wasn't really Jane but is still proud of her as her daughter before dying.

Henry Bingum
Kurt Fuller
N/A
1
1

Henry is Jane's father. Her parent's divorced and Jane had a close relationship with her mother but lost contact with her father until Elaine was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Bobbie Dobkins
Sharon Lawrence
N/A
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
6

 Sharon Lawrence
Bobbie is Deb's mother. Jane has represented Bobbie in several cases involving her parents getting divorced where Grayson represented Deb's father, also led her to remember more of her own past life as Deb. In "Lady Parts", when Bobbie was sued by a mother whose daughter, Kiera, is a student at her dance school. Jane learns about a 911 call that was made outside Bobbie's dance studio and Kiera makes a tearful confession that she never shared her mother's passion for dance. She wanted to skateboard with her friends and asks her to drop the charges against Bobbie. Later on, Stacy manages to procure a tape which Jane watches with Bobbie and they learned that despite falling down, Deb was able to complete her dance routine.
In the episode "Guess Who's Coming", Jane represents Bobbie again after Bobbie is arrested for hiring a male prostitute while not knowing he was a prostitute. Bobbie didn't technically pay for him but offered him dance lessons which the opposing council said was solicitation. Jane discovers later that Bobbie had a procedure done to enlarge her G-spot and every now and then she gets a rush of sensation. Jane uses it as a defense and says her client was suffering from heightened sexuality and was unable to make sound judgment. The judge accepts it and the case gets thrown out.

Joe Dobkins
Mark Moses
N/A
1
1

Deb's father. He and Bobbie sought representation at Harrison and Parker when they chose to divorce. Jane eventually discovered the truth from Grayson that they stayed married for Deb's benefit, despite their mutually unsatisfying marriage.

Sam Colby
Leelee Sobieski
N/A
2
1

Sam is Bobbie's daughter and Deb's half-sister. Sam developed "Rainbow Nailpolish," which changes color under high-intensity light. Bobbie arranged for Jane to intervene when Sam was accused of stealing computer equipment from her employer.

text: Other supporting characters[edit]

text:
hideCharacter

Actor/actress

Starring seasons

Recurring seasons

Episode count

Dr. Bill Kendall
Ben Shenkman
N/A
3
5

Dr. Kendall is a neurologist that tended to Grayson after he was hit by a car. The Doctor and Jane share a fleeting moment of attraction and date a few times. But the relationship ends when Dr. Kendall reveals that Jane is one of several women he's dating.

Elisa Shayne
Brandy
N/A
3, 4
5

 Brandy
Elisa Shayne was a registered nurse who originally hired Parker to represent her in a case against a company that was withholding money to help pay for her father's medical bills. It also turned out that she also had an affair with Parker eight years earlier, so he had Jane represent her in the case, which she later won. However, Elisa also had to turn in her license to practice nursing because she illegally went to Canada to buy prescription pills for her father, and is awaiting a decision from the medical board to see if she will continue nursing. Seeing that she needs a job until that matter is settled, Parker decides to hire her as an assistant, thus making Kim totally jealous. When Parker learns that Kim had Elisa stay late at the office, he put his foot down and told Kim that Elisa will only answer to him. But this may have revealed that Parker hasn't gotten over his feelings for Elisa.
Further complicating things, Elisa has a son, Eric, who has yet to know who his father is. When Jane asked Elisa how old the boy was, Jane knew it was Parker's, but Elisa wanted to keep the child a secret from Parker and asked Jane to do the same, knowing the consequences of what would happen if Parker found out. Unfortunately, Parker later learned the truth after he went to the hospital to see Elisa, and he became angry with her for hiding this secret from him. This prompted her to abruptly quit the firm and move back to Chicago with her son. Kim eventually convinced Parker to go after her and their son, leading Parker to make her partner so that she could take charge while he was away. (Kim had also threatened to quit and take her clients with her unless Parker made her a partner.) Elisa returned in season four when Eric disobeyed her orders and went to the firm to see Parker, telling her he wanted to be a lawyer. Elisa brought her own attorney over to Parker with intent to sue him for full custody of Eric and live in Toronto away from him. When Parker countered it by having Kim as his lawyer, she even agreed with Elisa it is in the best interest that he stayed away from her and Eric. It's presumed that Parker headed to Toronto to reconcile with Elisa and start their family.

Eric Shayne
Jaden Harmon
N/A
3, 4
5

Eric Shayne is the son of Elisa and Parker, which Parker discovered eight years after Eric's birth.

Nikki LePree
Kim Kardashian
N/A
4
4

 Kim Kardashian
Nikki LePree is a so-called "love guru" whom Stacy befriends when asking for advice about Fred coming back with another love interest in Season 4. Nikki becomes fast friends with Stacy, and goes as far as convincing Stacy to start a business venture selling her "pake" creations. This so-called "friendship" was viewed with suspicion from Jane when Nikki asked both Jane and Stacy to invest $10,000 into this deal.  However, as they were about to go over the deal, Grayson discovered that Nikki had fled two previous residences in a seeming rush, leading him and Jane to believe that Nikki was a con artist who was scamming Stacy. Nikki made up a story that she had left her last home because of an abusive boyfriend, which resulted in Stacy turning on Jane for not believing in her dream. But the partnership abruptly ends when Nikki turns out to truly be a scam artist, taking Stacy's money and leaving town. She would eventually get caught and ends up in jail after she used Stacy's identity, which was later traced back with a record of traffic violations that Stacy had forgotten to pay.

text: Celebrity guest stars[edit]

text: Many celebrities have made guest appearances on the show.

text:
Actor

Character

Episode(s)

Notes

Paula Abdul[2]

Herself

5

She appears in some of Jane's dream sequences.

Candice Accola[3]

Jessica Orlando

"Begin Again"

Sister of Tina Orlando; see Mackenzie Mauzy. Member of fictional band Confetti accused of murdering their agent. She made a deal with the ADA to plead guilty in exchange for testifing against her sister. Jessica was represented by Vanessa Hemmings.

Clay Aiken[4]

Tyler Callahan

"Prom"

One of Irina's ex-husbands whom was involved with her in a scam to rip off Hank from his money. Though he claimed he was unemployed, Grayson was able to prove his guilt that lead to Callahan confessing.

Louis Van Amstel[5]

Himself

"The Wedding"

Diedrich Bader[6]

Wallace Haft

"The Chinese Wall"

Lance Bass[4]

Jamie

"Prom"

Amanda Bearse[7]

Judge Jodi Corliss

2

Judge Corliss presided over two cases. One of which involved a mail order bride scam to rip off Hank "see Tyler Callahan".

Brigid Brannagh[8]

Molly Hagen

"Secret Lives"

Molly is a woman whose deadbeat husband wins a fortune at a casino, only to hide it from her while filing for a quickie divorce. (Based on a true story.)

Delta Burke[9]

Tessa Wells

"Make Me a Match"

One of two sisters in a legal dispute over the inheritance of their dead father. Both sisters work a psychics and are stuck in a bitter sibling rivalry. Grayson resolves the issue by encouraging the sisters to use their "powers" contact their father. See Liza Minnelli (Lily Wells).

Sandra Bernhard[8]

Judge Ada Brown

"Secret Lives"

Judge who sympathizes with Molly's situation. See Brigid Brannagh (Molly Hagen)

Vivica A. Fox[10]

Maria Ellis

"The Long Road to Napa"

Maria Ellis discovers that her husband, Charles, is married to another woman named Emily Parcelles. Both women team up to expose him, and are both represented by Jane.

Jorja Fox[11]

Marianne Neely

"Second Chances"

Elliott Gould[12]

Larry Baxter

"Second Chances"

Nancy Grace[13]

Herself

4

Appears on her actual show Nancy Grace, and is either talking about a case Jane is in or interviewing Jane, to which she accidentally knocks Nancy out.[14]

Kathy Griffin[15]

Jenna Kaswell-Bailey

"He Said, She Said"

Kim's Sister

Tim Gunn[11]

Himself

"Second Chances"

Gunn appeared in a dream sequence where Jane practiced telling Grayson her true identity.

Jasmine Guy[16]

Judge Nona Daniels

"Last Year's Model"

Judge Daniels supervised the sexual harassment trial of Charlotte Perkins. See Lauren Stamile

Gregory Harrison[17]

Brandon Tharpe

"Crazy"

Star Jones[18]

Judge Grace Lyford

"Pick's & Pakes"

Judge Lyford supervised the patent case for the pake between Stacy and Mr. Pierce see Jonah Pierce. After giving Stacy the patent for the pake, she tells Pierce off that no one likes a "Patent Troll" and will have him charged for fraud, even review his patent claims.

Ricki Lake[19]

Susan Semler

"Back from the Dead"

Selmer wrote an advice column for young adult professional men under the pen name Jonathan Noble. Parker personally defended Semler when she sued to protect her intellectual property. After Parker used "Noble's advice" to woo Semler, she killed off the character and began writing under her own name.

Chad Lowe[20]

Daniel Porter

"Back from the Dead"

Porter suffered a psychogenic fugue after a plane crash and emerged from it just before a judge declared him dead. When Daniel attempted to reunite with his wife, she sued him for divorce. He pressed for custody of their son until he discovered that it was his second fugue state. Daniel then withdrew his contest and lets his wife have full custody of their son. Before leaving, he and his mother explained to Jane that it was for the better that he withdraws now than to abandon his son again. Once they return to Seattle, Daniel and his mother intends to visit a specialist dealing with his condition so he would have a better understanding of it.

Cameron Mathison[13]

Jonah Pierce

"Pick's & Pakes"

Jonah Pierce is a "patent troll" who took Stacy to court and sued her for the patent on the pake, claiming he invented it. He was later exposed for his scam during the taste test of his pake that allowed Stacy to have the patent for the pake. see Judge Lyford.

MacKenzie Mauzy[21]

Tina Orlando

"Begin Again"

Sister of Jessica Orlando; see Candice Accola. Member of fictional band Confetti accused of murdering their agent. Jane cleared Tina's name by tying a rival singer to a CD found in the murdered man's boom-box.

Liza Minnelli[9]

Lily Wells

"Make Me a Match"

See Delta Burke (Tessa Wells)

Kathy Najimy[22]

Claire Porter

"The Magic Bullet"

Kelly Osbourne[23]

Joyce Keck

"Jane's Getting Married"

Jake Pavelka[20]

Toby Davlin

"Good Grief"

Toby Davlin, a suitor on Finding the One, a dating show whose producer is being sued for "intentionally inflicting emotional harm" when Toby spurns one bachelorette for another.

Teri Polo[22]

Jillian Ford

"The Magic Bullet"

John Ratzenberger[8]

Larry Kaswell

2

Kim's Dad

LeAnn Rimes[2]

Lana Kline

"Hit and Run"

See Nick Zano (Tim Kline)

Cybill Shepherd[24]

Ellie Tannen

"Queen of Mean"

Tannen is a high-end fashion designer who is famous for her reputation as a "total monster." She sues a former assistant who wrote a book that would have disclosed Tannen's degenerative eye disorder.

Lauren Stamile[25]

Charlotte Perkins

"Last Year's Model"

Perkins is a pharmaceutical sales representative who was demoted to customer service. Perkins sued for sexual harassment. Jane and Kim alleged that Perkins’ company maintained a workplace that encouraged female sales reps to dress provocatively and flirt with doctors, which Perkins refused to do. Perkins won a multimillion-dollar settlement.

David Sutcliffe[10]

Charles Ellis

"The Long Road to Napa"

See Vivica A. Fox (Maria Ellis)

Wanda Sykes[26]

Judge Yvonne Wright

"Prom"

A surly judge presiding over the case of a teenage woman being kept from her high school prom because she’s a lesbian and wants to bring a female date.

Gina Torres[27]

Diana Hall

"Make Me a Match"

Steve Valentine[28]

Henri Malik

"The Dress"

Nia Vardalos[9]

Lisa Shane

"What If?"

Wendy Williams[29]

Judge Mary Rudd

"Hit and Run"

Judge Rudd presides over a "booty call" case

Chuck Woolery[30]

Himself

"Do Over"

He appears in one of Jane's dreams as a gameshow host

Nick Zano[31]

Tim Kline

"Hit and Run"

Appears as a famous actor accused of a hit and run that leaves a child dead. His wife, Lana, plays a key witness in his case. See LeAnn Rimes (Lana Kline)


document_title: Currie Cup

question_text: who won the most currie cups in south africa

root

text: Currie Cup

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: The Currie Cup is one of the oldest rugby competitions,[1] with the first games played in 1889 but it was only in 1892 that it became officially known as the Currie Cup. The competition had its humble beginnings as an inter-province competition in 1884, but when the South African Rugby Board was founded in 1889 it decided to organize a national competition that would involve representative teams from all the major unions. The original participating unions were Western Province, Griqualand West, Transvaal and Eastern Province. The first tournament was held in Kimberley and was won by Western Province. For a prize they received a silver cup donated by the South African Rugby Board, now displayed at the SA Rugby Museum in Cape Town. The story of how the Currie Cup came to be comes from the first overseas rugby team to tour South Africa in 1891, The British Isles, who carried with them a particularly precious bit of cargo. Among the bags, boots and balls was a golden cup given to them by Sir Donald Currie, owner of Union-Castle Lines, the shipping company that transported them to the southern tip of Africa. Sir Donald was clear with his instructions – hand this trophy over to the team in South Africa that gives you the best game; and after a spirited display where the unbeaten British Lions narrowly won 3-0, Griqualand West became the first ever holders of the Currie Cup. They then handed the trophy over to the South African rugby board and it became the floating trophy for the Currie Cup competition. The inaugural Currie Cup tournament was thus held in 1892 with Western Province earning the honour of holding it aloft as the first official winners.

tag: p

text: The competition missed a few years here and there for reasons such as war and the like, but in 1968 it became a fully fledged annual showpiece. Western Province dominated the competition's early years, and by 1920 the team from Cape Town had already secured the trophy 10 times. Only Griqualand West could halt the rampant WP side and win the trophy in 1899 and 1911. In 1922 the Transvaal won the competition for the first time, however Western Province would continue to dominate the Currie Cup throughout the 1920s and 1930s, winning the trophy a further 4 times and sharing it twice with Border. In 1939 the trophy returned to Johannesburg for only the second time after Transvaal defeated Western Province in Cape Town. This was the first time WP had lost a final at their home ground Newlands. The Currie Cup went into hiatus during the Second World War but resumed in 1946 when Northern Transvaal claimed their first ever trophy by beating Western Province 11-9 in the final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. The late 1940s and early 1950s were dominated by Transvaal who would win the trophy in 1950 and 1952, however in 1954 the Currie Cup would finally return south following Western Province's narrow 11-8 victory over Northern Transvaal in the final at Newlands in Cape Town.

text: At the end of the 1980s, South African rugby supporters were treated to two of the most memorable Currie Cup finals. In 1989 winger Carel du Plessis scored a last-minute try as WP managed to draw with Northern Transvaal 16-all, Riaan Gouws missed the conversion which would have given WP its 6th title of the decade a feat which has never been achieved. The following year the Blue Bulls slipped up, though, and Natal sneaked home 18-12, inspired by fly-half Joel Stransky. The 1990s saw further improvement by Natal and the rise of Francois Pienaar’s Transvaal. Since the age of professionalism in rugby union in the early 1990s, the Currie Cup has become much more competitive with no team able to carve out an era of dominance like that of WP in the early years or Northern Transvaal in the 1970s and 1980s. All five of the so-called 'big unions' have won the Currie Cup on at least one occasion in the last 20 years; the Golden Lions (formerly Transvaal) have won the trophy 3 times in 1999, 2011 and 2015; Western Province have won the trophy on six occasions in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2012, 2014, and 2017;[2] the Blue Bulls (formerly Northern Transvaal) have wom the trophy 5 times in 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009; the Free State Cheetahs have won the trophy 3 times in 2005, 2007 and 2016 and the Sharks have won the trophy 3 times in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2006 the trophy was shared by the Free State Cheetahs and Blue Bulls following their 28-28 all draw in a tense final in Bloemfontein. Whilst these days the competition lags behind Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship (previously the Tri-Nations) in the order of importance, the Currie Cup still holds a special place amongst South African rugby supporters and players, with the trophy very much still the holy grail of the South African domestic rugby scene.[citation needed]

text: Teams[edit]

text: From 1996 to 2015, the following 14 provincial unions participated in the Currie Cup:

text:
Currie Cup teams

Team
Home base
Region

Blue Bulls
Pretoria
The Pretoria metropolitan area and the entire Limpopo province

Boland Cavaliers
Wellington
Northern and central districts of the Western Cape province

Border Bulldogs
East London
Eastern districts of the Eastern Cape province

Eastern Province Kings
Port Elizabeth
Western districts of the Eastern Cape province

Falcons
Kempton Park
The East Rand and other municipalities to the east and south of Johannesburg in Gauteng province

Free State Cheetahs
Bloemfontein
Central and western districts of the Free State province

Golden Lions
Johannesburg
Johannesburg and the West Rand

Griffons
Welkom
Northern and eastern districts of the Free State province

Griquas
Kimberley
The entire Northern Cape province

Leopards
Potchefstroom
The entire North West province

Pumas
Nelspruit
The entire Mpumalanga province

Sharks
Durban
The entire KwaZulu-Natal province

SWD Eagles
George
Eastern districts of the Western Cape province

Western Province
Cape Town
Cape Town metropolitan area

text: From 2016, the Currie Cup added Welwitschias, a team from Namibia.[3][4]

text: Champions and Finals[edit]

text: Between 1892 and 1920, the competition was held as a centralised tournament, with the team with the best record crowned as the winner. Between 1922 and 1936 (as well as in three tournaments between 1957 and 1966), the winner was the team with the best record following a round-robin competition. In all the other seasons, a final was played to determine the champion.

text:
Currie Cup Champions and Finals Results

Season
Champions
Runner-Up
Final Result
Final Venue

1892
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1894
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1895
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1897
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1898
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

18991
Griqualand West
N/A
N/A
N/A

1904
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1906
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1908
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1911
Griqualand West
N/A
N/A
N/A

1914
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1920
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1922
Transvaal
N/A
N/A
N/A

1925
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1927
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1929
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1932
Border & Western Province (shared)
N/A
N/A
N/A

1934
Border & Western Province (shared)
N/A
N/A
N/A

1936
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1939
Transvaal
Western Province
17–6
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1946
Northern Transvaal
Western Province
11–9
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1947
Western Province
Transvaal
16–12
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1950
Transvaal
Western Province
22–11
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

1952
Transvaal
Boland
11–9
Wellington

1954
Western Province
Northern Transvaal
11–8
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1956
Northern Transvaal
Natal
9–8
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

1957–19592
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1964
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1966
Western Province
N/A
N/A
N/A

1968
Northern Transvaal
Transvaal
16–3
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1969
Northern Transvaal
Western Province
28–13
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1970
Griqualand West
Northern Transvaal
11–9
De Beers, Kimberley

1971
Northern Transvaal & Transvaal (shared)
N/A
14–14
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

1972
Transvaal
Eastern Transvaal
25–19
Pam Brink Stadium, Springs

1973
Northern Transvaal
Free State
30–22
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1974
Northern Transvaal
Transvaal
17–15
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1975
Northern Transvaal
Free State
12–6
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

1976
Free State
Western Province
33–16
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

1977
Northern Transvaal
Free State
27–12
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1978
Northern Transvaal
Free State
13–9
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

1979
Northern Transvaal & Western Province (shared)
N/A
15–15
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1980
Northern Transvaal
Western Province
39–9
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1981
Northern Transvaal
Free State
23–6
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1982
Western Province
Northern Transvaal
24–7
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1983
Western Province
Northern Transvaal
9–3
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1984
Western Province
Natal
19–9
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1985
Western Province
Northern Transvaal
22–15
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1986
Western Province
Transvaal
22–9
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1987
Northern Transvaal
Transvaal
24–18
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

1988
Northern Transvaal
Western Province
19–18
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1989
Northern Transvaal & Western Province (shared)
N/A
16–16
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1990
Natal
Northern Transvaal
18–12
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1991
Northern Transvaal
Transvaal
27–15
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1992
Natal
Transvaal
14–13
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

1993
Transvaal
Natal
21–15
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

1994
Transvaal
Free State
56–33
Springbok Park, Bloemfontein

1995
Natal
Western Province
25–17
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

1996
Sharks6
Golden Lions3
33–15
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

1997
Western Province
Free State Cheetahs4
14–12
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

1998
Blue Bulls5
Western Province
24–20
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

1999
Golden Lions
Sharks
32–9
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

2000
Western Province
Sharks
25–15
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

2001
Western Province
Sharks
29–24
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

2002
Blue Bulls
Golden Lions
31–7
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

2003
Blue Bulls
Sharks
40–19
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

2004
Blue Bulls
Free State Cheetahs
42–33
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

2005
Free State Cheetahs
Blue Bulls
29–25
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

2006
Blue Bulls & Free State Cheetahs (shared)
N/A
28–28
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

2007
Free State Cheetahs
Golden Lions
20–18
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

2008
Sharks
Blue Bulls
14–9
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

2009
Blue Bulls
Free State Cheetahs
36–24
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

2010
Sharks
Western Province
30–10
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

2011
Golden Lions
Sharks
42–16
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

2012
Western Province
Sharks
25–18
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

2013
Sharks
Western Province
33–19
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

2014
Western Province
Golden Lions
19–16
Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

2015
Golden Lions
Western Province
32–24
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

2016
Free State Cheetahs
Blue Bulls
36–16
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

2017
Western Province
Sharks
33–21
Kings Park Stadium, Durban

text: In addition to the winners above, Western Province also won the South African Rugby Board Trophy in 1889. This tournament was effectively the precursor to the Currie Cup, which started in 1892.

text:
1 Western Province and Transvaal did not compete.
2 Contested over two seasons.
3 Transvaal were renamed the Gauteng Lions; now known as Golden Lions.
4 Orange Free State were renamed the Free State Cheetahs.
5 Northern Transvaal were renamed the Blue Bulls.

text: Overall winners[edit]

text:
Team
Number of wins
Notes
Most recent

Western Province
34
Four shared
2017

Northern Transvaal/Blue Bulls
23
Four shared
2009

Transvaal/Gauteng Lions/Golden Lions
11
One shared
2015

Natal/Sharks
7

2013

Orange Free State/Free State Cheetahs
5
One shared
2016

Griqualand West/Griquas
3

1970

Border/Border Bulldogs
2
Two shared
1934

text: Since the competition become established as an annual competition in 1968 (see History above).

text:
Team
Number of wins
Notes
Most recent

Northern Transvaal/Blue Bulls
21
Four shared
2009

Western Province
13
Two shared
2017

Natal/Sharks
7

2013

Transvaal/Gauteng Lions/Golden Lions
7
One shared
2015

Orange Free State/Free State Cheetahs
5
One shared
2016

Griqualand West/Griquas
1

1970

text: Records and statistics[edit]

text: Most career matches

tag: ul

text:
Name
Team/s
Seasons
Games

Jacques Botes
Pumas/Sharks
2002–2014

156

Helgard Müller
Free State Cheetahs
1983–1998

142

Rudi Visagie
Free State/Natal/Mpumalanga
1980–1996

141

Chris Badenhorst
Free State Cheetahs
1987–1999

136

Burger Geldenhuys
Blue Bulls
1977–1989

128

André Joubert
Free State/Natal
1986–1999

126

text:
Most career points

1. 1699 Naas Botha (Northern Transvaal) 1977–1992
2. 1412 Willem de Waal (Leopards/Free State/WP) 2002–2010
3. 1402 Eric Herbert (Northern Free State(Griffons)/Free State) 1986–2001
4. 1210 De Wet Ras (Free State/Natal) 1974–1986
5. 1165 André Joubert (Free State/Natal) 1986–1999

Most career tries

1. 74 John Daniels (Golden Lions/Boland Cavaliers)
2. 66 Breyton Paulse (Western Province)
3. 65 Chris Badenhorst (Free State)
4. 58 André Joubert (Free State/Natal)
5. 51 Gerrie Germishuys (Free State/Transvaal)
5. 51 Carel du Plessis (Western Province/Transvaal)
5. 51 Niel Burger (Western Province)
5. 51 Jan-Harm Van Wyk (Free State/Pumas)

Most individual points in a season

1. 268 Johan Heunis (Northern Transvaal) 1989
2. 263 Gavin Lawless (Golden Lions) 1996
3. 252 Casper Steyn (Blue Bulls) 1999
4. 230 Kennedy Tsimba (Cheetahs) 2003
5. 228 Kennedy Tsimba (Cheetahs) 2002

Most team points in a season

Sharks (792 in 1996)

Most individual tries in a season

1. 21 Bjorn Basson (Griquas) 2010
2. 19 Carel Du Plessis (Western Province) 1989
2. 19 Colin Lloyd (Leopards) 2006
4. 18 Ettiene Botha (Blue Bulls) 2004
5. 16 Jan-Harm Van Wyk (Free State) 1997
6. 15 Phillip Burger (Cheetahs) 2006

Most team tries in a season

Sharks (112 in 1996)

Most points in match

Jannie de Beer – 46 v. Northern Free State in 1997

Most tries in a match

Jacques Olivier – 7 v SWD in 1996

Most final appearances

Burger Geldenhuys 11 (Northern Transvaal—between 1977 and 1989)
Naas Botha 11 (Northern Transvaal—between 1977 and 1991)

text: Broadcasting rights[edit]

text:
SuperSport broadcasts live Currie Cup matches in South Africa.
Setanta Sports Asia broadcasts live Currie Cup matches in Asia.
Sky Sports broadcasts live Currie Cup matches in the United Kingdom. WatchESPN airs live Currie Cup matches in the Americas via online streaming.


document_title: Arabian Peninsula

question_text: where is arabian peninsula located on a map

text: Arabian Peninsula

text: Geography[edit]

text: The Arabian Peninsula is located in the continent of Asia and bounded by (clockwise) the Arabian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast and south, the Gulf of Aden on the south, the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the southwest and the Red Sea, which is located on the southwest and west.[12] The northern portion of the peninsula merges with the Syrian Desert with no clear border line, although the northern boundary of the Arabian Peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.[12]

text: The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest there are mountain ranges, which receive greater rainfall than the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. Harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from the northwestern Arabian Peninsula into Jordan and southern Syria.[13]

text: Political boundaries[edit]

text: The peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise north to south) Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east, Oman on the southeast, Yemen on the south and Saudi Arabia at the center.[12] The island nation of Bahrain lies off the east coast of the peninsula.

text: Six countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman) form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). However, this is a disputed term. Iranians assert that it is a historical and internationally recognized convention to name it the Arabian Gulf, while Arab States, and most notably the six GCC member countries, have been claiming that the Gulf is Arabian since its shallow marine depths are a geological continuity of the Arabian peninsula's Eastern low-lying coasts, from Kuwait to the UAE's Northern Emirates.[14]

text: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the peninsula. The majority of the population of the peninsula live in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. The peninsula contains the world's largest reserves of oil. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, a small peninsula in the Arabian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home of the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera and its English-language subsidiary Al Jazeera English. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

text: Population[edit]

text:
Historical population

Year
Pop.
±%

1950
9,481,713
—

1960
11,788,232
+24.3%

1970
15,319,678
+30.0%

1980
23,286,256
+52.0%

1990
35,167,708
+51.0%

2000
47,466,523
+35.0%

2010
63,364,000
+33.5%

2014
77,584,000
+22.4%

Political Definition: Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen
Sources:1950–2000[15] 2000–2014[16]

text:
Historical population

Year
Pop.
±%

1950
356,235
—

1970
1,329,168
+273.1%

1990
4,896,491
+268.4%

2010
11,457,000
+134.0%

2014
17,086,000
+49.1%

4 smallest states (area) of Gulf Cooperation Council with entire coastline in Persian Gulf: UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait
Sources:1950–2000[17] 2000–2014[16]

text: Though historically lightly populated, political Arabia is noted for a high population growth rate – as the result of both very strong inflows of migrant labor as well as sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be relatively young and heavily skewed gender ratio dominated by males. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry. The four smallest states (by area), which have their entire coastlines on the Persian Gulf, exhibit the world's most extreme population growth, roughly tripling every 20 years.

text: In 2014, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936 (including expatriates).[18]

text: Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Arabia (Yemen,[19] Oman,[20] Qatar,[21] Kuwait,[22] Saudi Arabia[23] and the United Arab Emirates) [24][25][26]

text: Haplogroup J is the most abundant component in the Arabian peninsula, embracing more than 50% of its Y-chromosomes. Its two main subclades (J1-M267 and J2-M172), show opposite latitudinal gradients in the Middle East. J1-M267 is more abundant in the southern areas, reaching a frequency around 73% in Yemen, whereas J2-M172 is more common in the Levant.

text: J (L222.2) Accounts for the majority of (L147.1) in Saudi Arabia. It seems to be an exclusively Adnani marker.[23][27][28] Haplogroup J 54.8% Haplogroup E 17.5% R 11.6% Haplogroup T-M184 5.1%

text: Landscape[edit]

text: Geologically, this region is perhaps more appropriately called the Arabian subcontinent because it lies on a tectonic plate of its own, the Arabian Plate, which has been moving incrementally away from the rest of Africa (forming the Red Sea) and north, toward Asia, into the Eurasian plate (forming the Zagros mountains). The rocks exposed vary systematically across Arabia, with the oldest rocks exposed in the Arabian-Nubian Shield near the Red Sea, overlain by earlier sediments that become younger towards the Arabian Gulf. Perhaps the best-preserved ophiolite on Earth, the Semail Ophiolite, lies exposed in the mountains of the UAE and northern Oman.

text: The peninsula consists of:

text:
A central plateau, the Najd, with fertile valleys and pastures used for the grazing of sheep and other livestock
A range of deserts: the Nefud in the north,[29] which is stony; the Rub' al Khali or Great Arabian Desert in the south, with sand estimated to extend 600 ft (180 m) below the surface; between them, the Dahna
In Hejaz, ranges of mountains, paralleling the Red Sea coast on the west (e.g. Asir province) but also at the southeastern end of the peninsula (Oman). The mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen The highest, Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb in Yemen, is 3666 m high
Stretches of dry or marshy coastland with coral reefs on the Red Sea side (Tihamah)
Oases and marshy coast-land in Eastern Arabia on the Arabian Gulf side

tag: ol

text: Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most areas are drained by ephemeral watercourses called wadis, which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancient aquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces, oases form (e.g. Al-Hasa and Qatif, two of the world's largest oases) and permit agriculture, especially palm trees, which allowed the peninsula to produce more dates than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot and arid, although there are exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the Arabian Sea coastline can receive surprisingly cool, humid breezes in summer due to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests. Desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout the region.

text: According to NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data (2003–2013) analysed in a University of California, Irvine (UCI)-led study published in Water Resources Research on 16 June 2015, the most over-stressed aquifer system in the world is the Arabian Aquifer System, upon which more than 60 million people depend for water.[30] Twenty-one of the thirty seven largest aquifers "have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted" and thirteen of them are "considered significantly distressed."[30]

text: A plateau more than 2,500 feet (760 m) high extends across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Arabian Gulf. The interior is characterised by cuestas and valleys, drained by a system of wadis. A crescent of sand and gravel deserts lies to the east.

text: Land and sea[edit]

text: Most of the Arabian Peninsula is unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation and land reclamation projects essential. The narrow coastal plain and isolated oases, amounting to less than 1% of the land area, are used to cultivate grains, coffee and tropical fruits. Goat, sheep, and camel husbandry is widespread elsewhere throughout the rest of the Peninsula. Some areas have a summer humid tropical monsoon climate, in particular the Dhofar and Al Mahrah areas of Oman and Yemen. These areas allow for large scale coconut plantations. Much of Yemen has a tropical monsoon rain influenced mountain climate. The plains usually have either a tropical or subtropical arid desert climate or arid steppe climate. The sea surrounding the Arabian Peninsula is generally tropical sea with a very rich tropical sea life and some of the world's largest, undestroyed and most pristine coral reefs. In addition, the organisms living in symbiosis with the Red Sea coral, the protozoa and zooxanthellae, have a unique hot weather adaptation to sudden rise (and fall) in sea water temperature. Hence, these coral reefs are not affected by coral bleaching caused by rise in temperature as elsewhere in the indopacific coral sea. The reefs are also unaffected by mass tourism and diving or other large scale human interference. However, some reefs were destroyed in the Arabian Gulf, mostly caused by phosphate water pollution and resultant increase in algae growth as well as oil pollution from ships and pipeline leakage[citation needed].

text: The fertile soils of Yemen have encouraged settlement of almost all of the land from sea level up to the mountains at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). In the higher reaches, elaborate terraces have been constructed to facilitate grain, fruit, coffee, ginger and khat cultivation.

text: The Arabian peninsula is known for its rich oil, i.e. petroleum production due to its geographical location.

text: Etymology[edit]

text: During the Hellenistic period, the area was known as Arabia or Aravia (Greek: Αραβία). The Romans named three regions with the prefix "Arabia", encompassing a larger area than the current term "Arabian Peninsula":

text:
Arabia Petraea: for the area that is today southern modern Syria, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia. It was the only one that became a province, with Petra as its capital.
Arabia Deserta ("Desert Arabia"): signified the desert interior of the Arabian peninsula. As a name for the region, it remained popular into the 19th and 20th centuries, and was used in Charles M. Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888).
Arabia Felix ("Fortunate Arabia"): was used by geographers to describe what is now Yemen, which enjoys more rainfall, is much greener than the rest of the peninsula and has long enjoyed much more productive fields.

text: The Arab inhabitants used a north-south division of Arabia: Al Sham-Al Yaman, or Arabia Deserta-Arabia Felix. Arabia Felix had originally been used for the whole peninsula, and at other times only for the southern region. Because its use became limited to the south, the whole peninsula was simply called Arabia. Arabia Deserta was the entire desert region extending north from Arabia Felix to Palmyra and the Euphrates, including all the area between Pelusium on the Nile and Babylon. This area was also called Arabia and not sharply distinguished from the peninsula.[31]

text: The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – Bilad al-Arab (Arabia), and its major divisions were the bilad al-Sham (Syria), bilad al-Yaman (the Land of the southern Peninsula), and Bilad al-Iraq and modern-day Kuwait (the Land of the River Banks).[32] The Ottomans used the term Arabistan in a broad sense for the subcontinent itself starting from Cilicia, where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through Palestine, and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas.[33]

text: The provinces of Arabia were: Al Tih, the Sinai peninsula, Hedjaz, Asir, Yemen, Hadramaut, Mahra and Shilu, Oman, Hasa, Bahrain, Dahna, Nufud, the Hammad, which included the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia.[34][35]

text: History[edit]

text: The history of the Arabian Peninsula goes back to the beginnings of human habitation in Arabia up to 130,000 years ago.

text: Pre-Islamic Arabia[edit]

text: There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago.[36] However, the harsh climate historically prevented much settlement in pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula, apart from a small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula.[37]

text: However, archaeology has revealed the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as Thamud), especially in South Arabia.[38][39] South Arabian civilizations include Sheba, Himyarite Kingdom, Kingdom of Awsan, Kingdom of Ma'īn and Sabaean Kingdom. Central Arabia was the location of Kingdom of Kindah in the 4th, 5th and early 6th centuries AD. Eastern Arabia was home to the Dilmun civilization. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the Peninsula into neighbouring areas.[40]

text: The Arabian peninsula has long been accepted as the original Urheimat of the Semitic languages by a majority of scholars.[41][42][43][44]

text: "Shamir of Dhu-Raydan and Himyar had called in the help of the clans of Habashat for against the kings of Saba; but Ilmuqah granted... the submission of Shamir of Dhu-Raydan and the clans of Habashat."[45]

text: Rise of Islam[edit]

text: The seventh century saw the introduction of Islam to the Arabian Peninsula. The Islamic prophet Muhammad, was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina in 622. From there he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam and created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian peninsula.

text: He established a new unified polity in the Arabian peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, to the Pyrenees.

text: Muhammad began preaching Islam at Mecca before migrating to Medina, from where he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Arab Muslim religious polity. With Muhammad's death in 632 AD, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community. Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad's intimate friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to avenge a recent defeat by Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire) forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".[46]

text: Following Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr became leader of the Muslims as the first Caliph. After putting down a rebellion by the Arab tribes (known as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy"), Abu Bakr attacked the Byzantine Empire. On his death in 634, he was succeeded by Umar as caliph, followed by Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib. The period of these first four caliphs is known as al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn: the Rashidun or "rightly guided" Caliphate. Under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their Umayyad successors, the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the Byzantine army and destroyed the Persian Empire, conquering huge swathes of territory from the Iberian peninsula to India. The political focus of the Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories.[47][48]

text: Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world. The Qur'an requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the five pillars of Islam, to make a pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah at least once in his or her lifetime.[49] The Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca is the location of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, and the Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina is the location of Muhammad tomb; as a result, from the 7th century, Mecca and Medina became the pilgrimage destinations for large numbers of Muslims from across the Islamic world.[50]

text: The Middle Ages[edit]

text: Despite its spiritual importance, in political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of the Islamic world, in which the most important medieval Islamic states were based at various times in such far away cities as Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo.

text: However, from the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, the Hejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities of Mecca and Medina but in the 13th century it was extended to include the rest of the Hejaz. Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the Hejaz, they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of Baghdad, and the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks of Egypt.[51]

text: Modern history[edit]

text: The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered in Syria, which included Palestine, the Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon (Mount Lebanon was, however, a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate). It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula.[52][53] The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as the Najd region.

text: The Damascus Protocol of 1914 provides an illustration of the regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate of Hejaz, asked for a British guarantee of independence. Their proposal included all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraq. They envisioned a new Arab state, or confederation of states, adjoining the southern Arabian Peninsula. It would have comprised Cilicia – İskenderun and Mersin, Iraq with Kuwait, Syria, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Jordan, and Palestine.[54]

text: In the modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman came to refer specifically to the southwestern parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers started to refer to the whole peninsula as 'jazirat al-Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs.[55]

text: Late Ottoman rule and the Hejaz Railway[edit]

text: In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottomans embarked on an ambitious project: the construction of a railway connecting Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and Hejaz with its holiest shrines of Islam which are the yearly pilgrimage destination of the Hajj. Another important goal was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military troops in case of need.

text: The Hejaz Railway was a narrow gauge railway (1050 mm) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of Arabia. It was originally planned to reach the holy city of Mecca, but due to the interruption of the construction works caused by the outbreak of World War I, it eventually only reached Medina. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and was built in order to extend the previously existing line between Istanbul and Damascus (which began from the Haydarpaşa Terminal).

text: The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was built largely by the Turks, with German advice and support. A public subscription was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund the construction. The railway was to be a waqf, an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust.[56]

text: The Arab Revolt and the unification of Saudi Arabia[edit]

text: The major developments of the early 20th century were the Arab Revolt during World War I and the subsequent collapse and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Empire and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen. During World War I, the Sharif Hussein entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans in June 1916.

text: These events were followed by the unification of Saudi Arabia under King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. In 1902, Ibn Saud had captured Riyadh. Continuing his conquests, Abdulaziz subdued Al-Hasa, Jabal Shammar, Hejaz between 1913 and 1926 founded the modern state of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis absorbed the Emirate of Asir, with their expansion only ending in 1934 after a war with Yemen. Two Saudi states were formed and controlled much of Arabia before Ibn Saud was even born. Ibn Saud, however, established the third Saudi state.

text: Oil reserves[edit]

text: The second major development has been the discovery of vast reserves of oil in the 1930s. Its production brought great wealth to all countries of the region, with the exception of Yemen.

text: Civil war in Yemen[edit]

text: The North Yemen Civil War was fought in North Yemen between royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of the Yemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with a coup d'état carried out by the republican leader, Abdullah as-Sallal, which dethroned the newly crowned Muhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to the Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support.

text: The royalist side received support from Saudi Arabia, while the republicans were supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union. Both foreign irregular and conventional forces were also involved. The Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, supported the republicans with as many as 70,000 troops. Despite several military moves and peace conferences, the war sank into a stalemate. Egypt's commitment to the war is considered to have been detrimental to its performance in the Six-Day War of June 1967, after which Nasser found it increasingly difficult to maintain his army's involvement and began to pull his forces out of Yemen.

text: By 1970, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia recognized the republic and a truce was signed. Egyptian military historians refer to the war in Yemen as their Vietnam.[57]

text: Gulf War[edit]

text: In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.[58] The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces led to the 1990–91 Gulf War. Egypt, Qatar, Syria and Saudi Arabia joined a multinational coalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and Palestine resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After the war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC member states.[59]

text: Transport and industry[edit]

text: The extraction and refining of oil and gas are the major industrial activities in the Arabian Peninsula. The region also has an active construction sector, with many cities reflecting the wealth generated by the oil industry. The service sector is dominated by financial and technical institutions, which, like the construction sector, mainly serve the oil industry. Traditional handicrafts such as carpet-weaving are found in rural areas of Arabia.