IN: Cantona was born in Marseille, to Albert Cantona, a nurse and a painter, and Eleonore Raurich, a dressmaker. The family home was a cave in one of the hills in the Les Caillols area of Marseille, between the city's 11th and 12th arrondissements, and it was rumoured to have been used as a look-out post for the German Army, towards the end of the Second World War. The site was chosen in the mid-1950s by Cantona's paternal grandmother, Lucienne, whose husband, Joseph, was a stonemason. By the time Cantona was born in 1966, the hillside cave had become little more than a room in the family's house, which was now up to a liveable standard.

Cantona made his first appearance for Manchester United in a friendly match against Benfica in Lisbon to mark Eusebio's 50th birthday, wearing the number 10 shirt. He made his competitive debut as a second-half substitute against Manchester City at Old Trafford on 6 December 1992, wearing the number 12 shirt. Manchester United won 2-1, though Cantona made little impact that day. He had arrived too late to register to play in Manchester United's 1-0 win at Arsenal on 28 November, but was in the crowd at Highbury as his new team secured a vital win.  Manchester United's season had been disappointing up to Cantona's signing. They were falling behind the likes of big spending Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers in the race for the first Premier League title, as well as surprise challengers including Norwich City and Queen's Park Rangers. Goalscoring had been a problem since the halfway point of the previous season - when it had cost them the league title as they suffered defeats or were held to draws at the hands of teams they had been expected to beat.  Alex Ferguson had first tried to sign Alan Shearer from Southampton during the 1992 close season, but lost out to Blackburn Rovers. He then spent PS1 million on Dion Dublin, who suffered a broken leg a few games into the season and was out of action for six months. A PS3 million bid for Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst was turned down, and by 7 November, Manchester United were 10th in the Premier League.  However, Cantona quickly settled into the team, slotting in alongside Mark Hughes, while Brian McClair was switched to midfield. Cantona contributed greatly to a quick upturn in the team's fortunes, not only scoring goals but also creating chances for the other players. His first Manchester United goal came in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 19 December 1992, and his second came on Boxing Day in a 3-3 draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough where they claimed a point after being 3-0 down at half time. However, controversy was never far away, and on his return to Elland Road to play Leeds a few weeks later, he spat at a fan and was fined PS1,000 by the FA. Manchester United only lost twice in the league after Cantona's arrival, and finished the season as champions for the first time in 26 years.  In Cantona's first season at Old Trafford, Manchester United won the inaugural Premier League by 10 points - winning the top division title for the first time since 1967. In doing so, he became the first player to win consecutive English top division titles with different clubs. He had won a domestic league title with different clubs for three successive seasons, having helped Marseille win the French league title in 1991.

What was the highlight of the 1992-93 season?

OUT: Manchester United only lost twice in the league after Cantona's arrival, and finished the season as champions for the first time in 26 years.


IN: The Shadow is the name of a collection of serialized dramas, originally in 1930s pulp novels, and then in a wide variety of media, and it is also used to refer to the character featured in The Shadow media. One of the most famous adventure heroes of the 20th century United States, the Shadow has been featured on the radio, in a long-running pulp magazine series, in American comic books, comic strips, television, serials, video games, and at least five films. The radio drama included episodes voiced by Orson Welles. Originally simply a mysterious radio narrator who hosted a program designed to promote magazine sales for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was developed into a distinctive literary character, later to become a pop culture icon, by writer Walter B. Gibson in 1931.

In print, The Shadow's real name is Kent Allard, and he was a famed aviator who fought for the French during World War I. He became known by the alias the Black Eagle, according to The Shadow's Shadow (1933), although later stories revised this alias as the Dark Eagle, beginning with The Shadow Unmasks (1937). After the war, Allard finds a new challenge in waging war on criminals. Allard falsifies his death in the South American jungles, then returns to the United States. Arriving in New York City, he adopts numerous identities to conceal his existence.  One of the identities Allard assumes--indeed, the best known--is that of Lamont Cranston, a "wealthy young man-about-town." In the pulps, Cranston is a separate character; Allard frequently disguises himself as Cranston and adopts his identity (The Shadow Laughs, 1931). While Cranston travels the world, Allard assumes his identity in New York. In their first meeting, Allard, as The Shadow, threatens Cranston, saying he has arranged to switch signatures on various documents and other means that will allow him to take over the Lamont Cranston identity entirely unless Cranston agrees to allow Allard to impersonate him when he is abroad. Although alarmed at first, Cranston is amused by the irony of the situation and agrees. The two men sometimes meet in order to impersonate each other (Crime over Miami, 1940). The disguise works well because Allard and Cranston resemble each other (Dictator of Crime, 1941).  His other disguises include businessman Henry Arnaud, who first appeared in The Black Master (March 1, 1932), which revealed that like Cranston, there is a real Henry Arnaud; elderly Isaac Twambley, who first appeared in No Time For Murder; and Fritz, who first appeared in The Living Shadow (April 1931); in this last disguise, he sometimes takes the place of the doddering old slow-witted, uncommunicative janitor who works at Police Headquarters in order to listen in on conversations and to look at evidence.  For the first half of The Shadow's tenure in the pulps, his past and identity are ambiguous. In The Living Shadow, a thug claims to have seen the Shadow's face, and thought he saw "a piece of white that looked like a bandage." In The Black Master and The Shadow's Shadow, the villains both see The Shadow's true face and remark that The Shadow is a man of many faces with no face of his own. It was not until the August 1937 issue, The Shadow Unmasks, that The Shadow's real name is revealed.  In the radio drama, the Allard secret identity was dropped for simplicity's sake. On the radio, The Shadow was only Lamont Cranston; he had no other aliases or disguises.

What was the story about?

OUT:
Allard, as The Shadow, threatens Cranston, saying he has arranged to switch signatures on various documents and other means that will allow him to take over the Lamont Cranston