Question: Girls Aloud are an English-Irish pop girl group, which was created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles in the United Kingdom, including four number ones.

The group Girls Aloud was formed on 30 November 2002, in front of millions of viewers on ITV's Popstars: The Rivals. The concept of the programme, hosted by Big Brother presenter Davina McCall was to produce a boyband and a girlgroup who would be "rivals" and compete for the 2002 Christmas number one single. Following the initial success of Hear'Say (winners of the original Popstars show), several thousand applicants attended auditions across the United Kingdom in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell. However, two of these were disqualified before the live shows began: Hazel Kaneswaran was found to be too old to participate while Nicola Ward refused to sign the contract, claiming the pay the group would receive was too low. Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts, who had made it into the final fifteen but not the final ten, were chosen as their replacements.  During October and November, the finalists took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating week-by-week between the girls and boys). Each week the contestant polling the fewest phone votes was eliminated, until the final line-ups of the groups emerged. The five girls who made it into the group were (in the order announced by the host) Cheryl, Nicola, Nadine, Kimberley and Sarah; Javine Hylton missed out on a place in the group, despite previous expectations that she would be placed in the line-up. The group was named Girls Aloud and were managed by Louis Walsh until 2005 when Hilary Shaw replaced him.  The new group competed with the boys' winning group, One True Voice to have 2002's Christmas number one single. Girls Aloud won the battle with their single "Sound of the Underground", produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. The song spent four consecutive weeks at number one and was certified platinum in March 2003. The song received critical acclaim; Alexis Petridis of The Guardian stated that "it proved a first: it was a reality pop record that didn't make you want to do physical harm to everyone involved in its manufacture".

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: Was there any hit songs on the album?
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Answer: Sound of the Underground


Question: The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress), and fourth largest in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. The library has branches in the boroughs of Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island, and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the metropolitan area of New York State.

The notable New York author Washington Irving was a close friend of Astor for decades and had helped the philanthropist design the Astor Library. Irving served as President of the library's Board of Trustees from 1848 until his death in 1859, shaping the library's collecting policies with his strong sensibility regarding European intellectual life. Subsequently, the library hired nationally prominent experts to guide its collections policies; they reported directly to directors John Shaw Billings (who also developed the National Library of Medicine), Edwin H. Anderson, Harry Miller Lydenberg, Franklin F. Hopper, Ralph A. Beals, and Edward Freehafer (1954-70). They emphasized expertise, objectivity, and a very broad worldwide range of knowledge in acquiring, preserving, organizing, and making available to the general population nearly 12 million books and 26.5 million additional items. The directors in turn reported to an elite board of trustees, chiefly elderly, well-educated, philanthropic, predominantly Protestant, upper-class white men with commanding positions in American society. They saw their role as protecting the library's autonomy from politicians as well as bestowing upon it status, resources, and prudent care.  Representative of many major board decisions was the purchase in 1931 of the private library of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909), uncle of the last tsar. This was one of the largest acquisitions of Russian books and photographic materials; at the time, the Soviet government had a policy of selling its cultural collections abroad for gold.  The military drew extensively from the library's map and book collections in the world wars, including hiring its staff. For example, the Map Division's chief Walter Ristow was appointed as head of the geography section of the War Department's New York Office of Military Intelligence from 1942 to 1945. Ristow and his staff discovered, copied, and loaned thousands of strategic, rare or unique maps to war agencies in need of information not available through other sources.

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: Is it successful?
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Answer: nearly 12 million books and 26.5 million additional items.


Question: Regine Velasquez was born in Tondo, Manila, on April 22, 1970. Her father, Gerardo Velasquez, was a construction estimator, and her mother, Teresita (nee Ansong), was a homemaker. The singer has three younger sisters, Cacai, Diane and Deca, and a younger brother, Jojo. The family moved to Hinundayan, Southern Leyte where Velasquez spent the early years of her life.

After winning Ang Bagong Kampeon, Velasquez was signed to OctoArts International (now PolyEast Records). She was introduced as 'Chona' Velasquez--her nickname--and recorded the single "Love Me Again", which was released in early 1986. However, the single was commercially unsuccessful. On February 16, 1986, at the behest of another OctoArts recording artist, Pops Fernandez, Velasquez was invited to appear on her live late night musical television show, The Penthouse Live!  While she was rehearsing for the live show, the producer and talent manager Ronnie Henares showed interest and signed her. At the suggestion of Fernandez's husband and the show's co-host, Martin Nievera, Velasquez adopted the stage name "Regine".  Under Henares' management, Velasquez was introduced to the head of VIVA Records, Vicente del Rosario Jr., who signed her and started production of her debut album. Del Rosario enlisted top songwriters, including Joaquin Francisco Sanchez, Vehnee Saturno and Christine Bendebel. He and Henares, who were both serving as executive producers, planned to market Velasquez as one of their main female pop artists, hoping to attain commercial success as they had done with Nora Aunor and Sharon Cuneta. After Velasquez completed her debut album, Regine, VIVA released the lead single "Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang" in 1987. Despite a weak start, the album gained mainstream appeal after Velasquez's promotional appearances on the ABS-CBN television variety shows Triple Treat and Teen Pan Alley. The album produced two more singles--"Urong Sulong" and "Isang Lahi".  Two years after the release of her debut album, Velasquez represented the Philippines in the 1989 Asia Pacific Singing Contest. She was initially apprehensive and skeptical of the idea of participating in another competition at that stage in her career. At Henares' urging she agreed to compete and won the contest in Hong Kong, performing the songs "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from the musical Dreamgirls.

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: How old was she when she won that award?
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Answer: