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Friday 9th April 2021

It's fair to say all of our sights are now firmly set on the end of lockdown, but whilst many destinations and pursuits remain shut, there's still plenty of time to indulge your comedy senses.

If you're missing any BBC comedy classics from your shelves, HMV are currently running a 20% sale, with titles ranging from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em to Outnumbered and Victoria Wood to Morecambe & Wise.

Coming soon

Bob Mortimer - And Away...

Bob Mortimer - And Away...

Pre-order. Hardback, eBook, Audiobook

The long-awaited first autobiography by national treasure Bob Mortimer.

Bob's life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him, but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his "hilarious and moving" memoir, And Away....

Although his childhood in Middlesbrough was normal on the surface, it was tinged by the loss of his dad, and his own various misadventures (now infamous from his appearances on Would I Lie To You?), from burning down the family home to starting a short-lived punk band called Dog Dirt. As an adult, he trained as a solicitor and moved to London. Though he was doing pretty well (the South London Press once crowned him 'The Cockroach King' after a successful verdict), a chance encounter in a pub in the 1980s with a young comedian going by the name Vic Reeves set his life on a different track. And now, six years on, the heart condition that once threatened his career has instead led to new success on BBC Two's Gone Fishing.

"Warm, profound, and irrepressibly funny", And Away... is Bob's full life story (with a few lies thrown in for good measure).

Jules Verne's Rocket To The Moon

Jules Verne's Rocket To The Moon

Pre-order. Blu-ray, DVD

A brand new restoration of Jules Verne's Rocket To The Moon, based on an original work by the great pre-science-fiction author Jules Verne: a British comedy directed by Don Sharp and starring Oscar winner Burl Ives, Troy Donahue and Gert Frobe, plus Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas and many more.

Contestants from all over the world compete in a competition to be the first scientist to construct and launch a rocket to the moon. Phineas T. Barnum, the great American showman, comes to England to escape his creditors. Always on the lookout for an opportunity to make money, he enters the competition in an ambitious attempt to launch a rocket to the moon with the aid of a powerful, new explosive. Money troubles, spies and saboteurs ensure that the plan is doomed before it even starts.

Lucy Beaumont - Drinking Custard: Diary Of A Confused Mum

Lucy Beaumont - Drinking Custard: Diary Of A Confused Mum

Pre-order. Hardback, eBook, Audiobook

From TV's award-winning comedy mum, Lucy Beaumont, comes her "hilarious debut on the trials and tribulations of motherhood". Known for her sharp, witty and surreal view on everyday life, Lucy shares the unpredictable craziness of being a mum in this "brilliant and laugh-out-loud 'mumoir'".

Mums everywhere will recognise the madness of it all. Like when Lucy was hospitalised with indigestion in her third trimester (blame the burrito), or when she was *this close* to slapping her hypo-birthing instructor. Or the efforts she made to infiltrate the local mum's social groups and when she embarrassingly forgot her own new-born baby's name!

"Heart-warming and laugh-out-loud funny", Drinking Custard also captures Lucy's marriage to comedian Jon Richardson, as they navigate Lucy's raging pregnancy hormones and balk at pram prices together.

Zena Barrie - Your Friend Forever

Zena Barrie - Your Friend Forever

Pre-order. Paperback, eBook

Preston, 1981. Maud, who is twelve and lives with her dysfunctional parents and her elder brother, spends a lot of her time in her bedroom writing letters to her favourite popstar, Tom Harding, the lead singer of a punk band called Horsefly. No one really understands her or tries to and she thinks Tom just might have some answers to her many, many questions...

Blue Juice

Blue Juice

Pre-order. DVD

JC (Sean Pertwee) is a dedicated surfer who was king of the surfing waves, when he was younger. Now approaching thirty, his girlfriend Chloe (Catherine Zeta Jones) wants him to stop playing around on the waves and make a commitment. But when his wild friends turn up he has to make the big decision: his girlfriend or his surfboard.

Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit

Pre-order. DVD, Blu-ray

Best-selling crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens) is struggling with catastrophic writer's block and a stressful deadline for his first screenplay, whilst his picture perfect second wife Ruth (Isla Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focussed in the hope of fulfilling her dream of heading to Hollywood. Charles's desperate search for inspiration leads him to invite Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), a medium recently exposed as a fraud, to perform a séance in their home.

They all get more than they bargained for when Arcati accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife: the fiery and jealous Elvira (Leslie Mann), who embarks on a mission to kill Charles so she can spend eternity with him - leading to an increasingly comical and deadly love triangle!

Criterion Collection: Secrets & Lies

Criterion Collection: Secrets & Lies

Pre-order. Blu-ray

Writer-director Mike Leigh reached "new levels of expressive power and intricacy in his ongoing contemplation of unembellished humanity" with this resonant exploration of the deceptions, small and large, that shape our relationships to those we love.

When Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a black optometrist who was adopted as a child, begins the search for her birth mother, she doesn't expect that it will lead her to Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), a desperately lonely white factory worker whose tentative embrace of her long-lost daughter sends shock waves through the rest of her already fragile family.

Born from a process of rehearsal and improvisation with a powerhouse ensemble cast, Secrets & Lies is a Palme d'Or-winning "tour de force of sustained tension and catharsis" that lays bare the emotional fault lines running beneath the surface of everyday lives. This special edition release features a new HD digital restoration of the film, supervised by Leigh and director of photography D. Pope.

The Pot Carriers

The Pot Carriers

Pre-order. Blu-ray, DVD

Ronald Fraser reprises his role as a petty career criminal in this big-screen remake of a hit 1960 Play Of The Week comedy drama of the same name.

An authentic and original look at life behind bars, The Pot Carriers also stars Paul Massie as a first-time prisoner, Carole Lesley as the girl he left outside and Dennis Price in a memorable turn as the charming-but-unprincipled Smooth-Tongue Bertie. It is featured here as a brand new high definition transfer from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

James Rainbow is sentenced to twelve months for GBH. Assigned to prison kitchen duties he is taken under the wing of several old lags led by Redband and becomes involved in some of their fiddles. Redband, however, is due to be released soon and wants to pull one really big fiddle before he goes!

Mo Gilligan - That Moment When: Life Stories From Way Back Then

Mo Gilligan - That Moment When: Life Stories From Way Back Then

Pre-order. eBook, Audiobook, Hardback

You might know Mo as the critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, BAFTA-winning presenter, Masked Singer judge and social media mega star. But do you know the moments that really made him? Opening up on the turning points, the good times, the challenges and the lessons learned, this is Mo as you've never seen him before.

Journeying through childhood memories in South London, Mo reminisces about school days and old-school raving, and takes us behind the scenes of his first comedy gigs, the creation of the original Geezer, selling out national tours and becoming one of TV's most in-demand stars. Share the moment that Mo decided he wanted to be a comedian, the moment he went viral, the moment he realised he was famous (and how to deal with it), the moment his Netflix special dropped, the moment he won his BAFTA and the moments he still has to come.

In among "the laugh-out-loud observations, life lessons and candid storytelling", there lies the bigger influences in Mo's life - the unsung heroes of the black British comedy scene, the power of community and the feel-good legacy he wants to create.

Michael Palin - Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988 (Volume 2)

Michael Palin - Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988 (Volume 2)

Pre-order. Audiobook

The second volume of Michael Palin's diaries covers the 1980s, a decade in which the ties that bound the Pythons loosened as they forged their separate careers. After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, they made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful Monty Python's Meaning Of Life. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda.

Volume 1 is also newly released on audiobook for the first time.

Just William

Just William

Pre-order. DVD

Daniel Roche (Outnumbered) stars as William in this 2010 adaptation of Richmal Crompton's timeless Just William stories, penned by Simon Nye.

There is only one boy whose irrepressible incorrigibility has delighted children and adults for nearly a century; only one boy who can prick adult pomposity with such satisfying regularity. He reminds us of a time when the country really was the country - a time when children were as free as birds with nothing to feed on but their imaginations - a time when they could leave the house at breakfast and not come home until teatime. His enduring appeal is as fresh today as it has ever been - which is perhaps why he is still making so many of us laugh today - he's Just William.

Hear My Song

Hear My Song

Pre-order. DVD

Singer Josef Locke (Ned Beatty) fled to Ireland 25 years ago to escape the clutches of the tax man and police Chief Jim Abbott (David McCallum). What he also left behind was the love of his life Cathleen Doyle (Shirley Anne Field). Now, Micky O'Neill (Adrian Dunbar) is desperate to save both his ailing Liverpool nightclub 'Heartly's' and his failing relationship with the beautiful Nancy (Tara Fitzgerald), Cathleen's daughter. The solution? Book the infamous Josef Locke.

Mr. X. (is he or isn't he the real Josef Locke?), is booked to play the club. Disaster strikes when he is revealed as an imposter, Micky loses the club and his girlfriend in one night. Next solution? This time book the real Josef Locke! What follows can only be described as magical mayhem as Micky travels to Ireland in search of the elusive man.

Ellie Taylor - My Child And Other Mistakes

Ellie Taylor - My Child And Other Mistakes

Pre-order. eBook, Hardback

My Child And Other Mistakes is the honest lowdown on motherhood and all its grisly delights, asking the questions no one wants to admit to asking themselves - do I want a child? Do I have a favourite? Do I wish I hadn't had one and spent the money on a kitchen island instead?

Stand-up comic, broadcaster and actress Ellie Taylor is relatable, clever and interested in how women can have it all. Her "honest, hilarious and moving account" of the whys and hows of having a baby makes perfect reading for expectant mothers and fathers everywhere, as well as those who've been there, done that, and wonder how on earth they did.

In her new book she writes candidly about her own personal experience exploring the decision to have a baby when she doesn't even like them, the importance of cheese during pregnancy, why she took hair straighteners to the labour ward, plus the apocalyptic new-born days, childcare, work and the inevitable impact on life and love and most importantly, her breasts.

The Playboy Of The Western World

The Playboy Of The Western World

Pre-order. DVD, Blu-ray

Brian Desmond Hurst adapts and directs JM Synge's comedy in what was to be the final film of a highly successful career stretching back to the mid-1930s.

Featuring stunning cinematography of County Kerry by multiple Oscar-winner Geoffrey Unsworth and a memorable soundtrack from influential composer Seán Ó Riada, The Playboy Of The Western World stars Siobhán McKenna and Gary Raymond alongside a host of players from Dublin's Abbey Theatre. It is featured here as a brand new high definition transfer from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Weary and dishevelled, Christy Mahon stumbles into a remote inn on the Irish coast and tells anyone who'll listen how he's murdered his tyrannous father with a spade. As he enthrals the locals and charms the girls, his tale growing in its telling... until the day Christy's father turns up and he's not as dead as expected!

Street And Lane

Street And Lane

Pre-order. Audio Download

Johnny Street is a university dropout and would-be writer and his worker-of-the-world mate Arthur Lane are an unlikely pairing of Yorkshire builders. In their white van, they battle out their partnership and their future under a plethora of unusual situations as they go about household repairs. When financial irregularities threaten the business, can the unlikely duo save it?

Starring Nick Lane, Fine Time Fontayne and Shaun Dooley.

Fawlty Towers: For The Record

Fawlty Towers: For The Record

Pre-order. Vinyl

For the first time ever, a complete vinyl LP collection of the audio versions of all twelve Fawlty Towers TV episodes - with an exclusive frameable print signed by the legendary John Cleese. This is strictly limited to just 1,500 copies!

Four decades on from its original BBC TV broadcast, Fawlty Towers continues to shine as a masterclass in comedy writing and performance. Now the original four BBC vinyl albums - Fawlty Towers, Second Sitting, At Your Service and A La Carte - are joined by two newly created collections, Plat du Jour and Enjoy Your Stay, to form a box set of all 12 TV episodes. Much of the special linking narration - supplied by hapless waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) - is unique to the vinyl versions and hasn't been available since their original pressings. Features the original BBC Records LP edits.

Locked Down

Locked Down

Pre-order. DVD

Just as they decide to separate, Linda (Anne Hathaway) and Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) find life has other plans when they are stuck at home in a mandatory lockdown. Co-habitation is proving to be a challenge, but fuelled by poetry and copious amounts of wine, it will bring them closer together in the most surprising way.

Filmed this time last year during the real covid lockdown, on location in London including at a very empty Harrod's, this romantic, comic-tinged story is coming soon to DVD.

The Indian Doctor - Series 1, 2, 3

The Indian Doctor - Series 1, 2, 3

Pre-order. DVD

The complete Series 1, 2 & 3 of the hit BBC comic drama.

The life of a South Wales mining village is changed for ever when a doctor and his wife arrive from the Indian sub-continent in the Sixties. Starring Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me), Ayesha Dharker (Coronation Street) and Mark Williams (The Fast Show), the series tells the story of Dr Prem Sharma, a high-flying Delhi graduate who arrives in the UK in 1963 as part of the "first wave" of Indian doctors wooed by the then health minister, Enoch Powell.

Prem and his wife, Kamini, want to build a new life for themselves following a family tragedy but, rather than finding a glamorous job as a consultant in London, they find themselves in the sleepy Welsh coal mining village of Trefelin. The local doctor has died and Prem is his replacement. Prem isn't quite the new doctor that the locals expected to get and they're not the only ones who are shocked: Prem's regal wife isn't too happy with the situation either.

Alfie Moore: It's A Fair Cop - Series 4 - 6

Alfie Moore: It's A Fair Cop - Series 4 - 6

Pre-order. Audio Download

Ever wondered what sort of a police officer you might make? In Series 4-6 of his stand-up series, comedian Alfie Moore dives into deeper topics than before.

How many times were you filmed without your knowledge today? What is the legacy of ASBOs? Alfie takes the audience with him as he navigates the twisted world of government surveillance, having spent 18 years on the Humberside police force before turning to comedy.

Shappi Khorsandi - Kissing Emma

Shappi Khorsandi - Kissing Emma

Pre-order. Paperback, eBook

From widely acclaimed comedian and author Shappi Khorsandi comes a modern fable about the rise and fall of a beautiful, but vulnerable, young woman in a world obsessed with fame and fortune.

Emma and her mother are down on their luck. They're taking turns sleeping on the sofa in her nan's tiny flat - and desperately trying to come up with an escape plan. Emma is struggling with her family, struggling at school where the girls are bitchy towards her and the boys only seem to want one thing, and struggling with never having enough money for anything, ever. Just as she's contemplating quitting school to get a real job, she meets two men who convince her that she has a shot at modelling. But their motives are far from innocent, and Emma is soon pulled into a dark world. And then she meets Con, who is rich, handsome and so romantic! Has Emma's luck finally changed?

Kissing Emma is inspired by the real life and untold story of Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson's mistress. But Shappi Khorsandi's modern Emma is going to get the happy ending her namesake never did - and stick two fingers up at the men who dare to take advantage of young women while she's doing it.

Adam Kay - Kay's Marvellous Medicine

Adam Kay - Kay's Marvellous Medicine

Pre-order. eBook, Hardback

The new comic kids' factual book from bestselling, record-breaking author Adam Kay.

The olden days were pretty fun if you liked wearing chainmail or chopping people's heads off but there was one TINY LITTLE problem back then... doctors didn't have the slightest clue about how our bodies worked. It's time to find out why Ancient Egyptians thought the brain was just a useless load of old stuffing that might as well be chucked in the bin, why teachers forced their pupils to smoke cigarettes, why hairdressers would cut off their customers' legs, and why people used to get paid for farting. (Unfortunately that's no longer a thing - sorry.)

You'll get answers to questions like: Why did patients gargle with wee? How did a doctor save people's lives using a washing machine, a can of beans and some old sausages? What was the great stink? (No, it's not what doctors call your bum.) If you're sure you're ready, then pop a peg on your nose (there was a lot of stinky pus back then), pull on your wellies (there was a lot of poo there too), wash your hands (because they certainly didn't) and explore this gross and gruesome history of the human body!

For more, see our full list of new releases and products coming soon.

Out now

Catch Us If You Can

Catch Us If You Can

Out now. Blu-ray, DVD

John Boorman makes his directorial debut with this 1965 cult classic in which Dave Clark stars as stuntman Steve, who gives up the rat-race to see the real world, closely followed by his four friends (played by The Dave Clark Five).

Escaping London with pretty model Dinah who's also sick of the humdrum, money-driven world, they hot-foot westwards for the idyllic island off the Devon coast that she hopes to buy. Mixing with drug-addled beatniks on Salisbury Plain and society hipsters in Bath, the group press onwards whilst the police, ad men and the national press try to catch them...if they can.

The sparkling supporting cast includes Yootha Joyce, Robin Bailey, Clive Swift, Ronald Lacey, Julian Holloway and Sheila Fearn, in this all-new high definition restoration of the comic, music-punctuated road trip.

LADS

LADS

Out now. Download

Created by and starring British comedians Kat Ronson and Katerina Robinson, this improvised mock-documentary comedy series takes a "hilarious no-boundaries look at the lives of two lads from East London", Charlie and Dave. Dave, 17, has severe anger issues. Charlie, also 17, still can't tie his shoe laces.

The creators wrote an article for us recently, in which they described their experiences of being female comedians in a male dominated industry.

Frank Skinner - A Comedian's Prayer Book

Frank Skinner - A Comedian's Prayer Book

Out now. Hardback, eBook, Audiobook

A Comedian's Prayer Book. The title is a worry, isn't it?...

God is a tough audience as far as audible response is concerned, but at least you don't have to explain the references. In this collection of prayers, much-loved comedian, broadcaster and radio host Frank Skinner has tried to retain the bare candour of the rehearsal-room improvisation - to show what faith feels like, from the inside - but infused it with all the production values required to make it a passable public entertainment. In it are his convictions, his questions, his fears, his doubts, his elations - all presented in an eavesdropper-friendly form. Hell, Judgement, atheism, money, faith and the X-Men all feature: it's a bit like reading the Bible, except you only get one side of the conversation, and all the jokes are left in.

Matt Lucas - My Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Silly Book Of Pranks

Matt Lucas - My Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Silly Book Of Pranks

Out now. Paperback, eBook

A new book of pranks from multi-award-winning actor and comedian Matt Lucas - star of The Great British Bake Off and creator of Thank You, Baked Potato, an official UK download chart-topper and Amazon bestseller, with "laugh-out-loud artwork" from Sarah Horne, illustrator of the bestselling Charlie Changes Into A Chicken. Perfect for readers age 7+.

Do you love to make your friends and family laugh? Thought so! There is nothing like a prank for putting smiles on everyone's faces. So come on and get creative ... Discover super silly pranks to play at home, clever pranks to play when you're out and about, the most hair-raising hoaxes of all time, epic prank fails, the world's greatest pranksters ... and much, much more. Look no further for hours of family-friendly fun and creativity!

Tony Nicholson - The Squire Of Knotty Ash And His Lady: An Intimate Biography Of Sir Ken Dodd

Tony Nicholson - The Squire Of Knotty Ash And His Lady: An Intimate Biography Of Sir Ken Dodd

Out now. Hardback

Sir Ken Dodd was a national institution. He worked tirelessly as one Britain's most popular comedians for a staggering seven decades. His five hour stage shows were legendary, and he was still performing these hilarious theatrical marathons right up to the age of ninety. He was also a talented ballad singer, and enjoyed a hugely successful chart-topping career in the 1960s. In fact his was the only name, apart from The Beatles, to appear in the top five best-selling singles of that iconic pop music decade.

Despite his nationwide fame and his crazy, larger-than-life stage persona, he was actually a very private person, away from the limelight. A quiet, well-read, deeply religious thinker. He consciously separated 'the two Ken Dodds', as he referred to them, and always declined to cooperate with biographers, in order to keep the private Ken Dodd just that - private. This book, thanks to Ken's wife, Lady Dodd, gives his many fans the first ever in-depth account of his astonishing story, and unravels 'the other Ken Dodd' - the fascinating, kind and complicated private man with whom she spent her life.

Patterson

Patterson

Out now. Audio Download

Against his better judgement, Andrew Patterson accepts a job as a lecturer in English literature at a remote Northern redbrick university. His departmental colleagues are an eccentric bunch: doddery Head of English Professor Misty, who looks like he went to school with Little Dorrit; Amy Spade, who's suffering from an identity crisis and given to sending anonymous letters, and man-eating Melissa Murgatroyd, the honeypot of the Senior Common Room.

University life soon throws up bewildering challenges, from tracking down Misty's lawnmower to surviving his inaugural lecture, writing a soft porn novel and dealing with the demands (both erotic and otherwise) of his students. Meanwhile, his wife Jane is becoming worryingly keen on their nerdy neighbour Cuthbertson, and the English department is in crisis.... Can Patterson salvage his marriage and make it through term without getting fired?

Nish Kumar - It's In Your Nature To Destroy Yourselves Part 2

Nish Kumar - It's In Your Nature To Destroy Yourselves Part 2

Out now. Audio Download

Recorded at the Hackney Empire over two nights - March 29th and April 1st 2019, this is the show that Kumar toured the UK with in 2018 & 2019 and then took to New York and Montreal. It's about Brexit, Trump losing heroes and getting arrested. It also covers his "unlikely (and ill-advised) transformation from comedian into news commentator".

Part 1, which entered the UK album download charts at #21, is also available.

A Run For Your Money

A Run For Your Money

Out now. Blu-ray, DVD

Alec Guinness, Donald Houston, Moira Lister and Hugh Griffith star in this classic piece of BAFTA-nominated Welsh whimsy from Ealing Studios.

Made during their golden, post-war period, A Run For Your Money was directed by Charles Frend and is presented here as a brand new high definition transfer from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Dai Number 9 and his friend Twm win a newspaper contest: £100 each and a trip to London to see Wales play England at Twickenham. But when the two colliers arrive at Paddington they miss their contact and fall in with an attractive blonde who just happened to overhear that they're in the money...

Tony's - Complete Series 1-2

Tony's - Complete Series 1-2

Out now. Audio Download

Victor Spinetti stars in this BBC radio sitcom about the misadventures of a corner-shop barber.

North London barber Tony's might not be the trendiest salon in town, but it's definitely the cheapest and the cheeriest. Run by exuberant Italian Tony Fucetti, it's the place to go if you want a bargain cut and blow-dry from apprentice Maisie, or a short back and sides courtesy of Scottish hairdresser Hector (just watch out for his razor). These 12 episodes follow the highs and lows of Tony and his team, as they prepare to beat Boris the Russian in a hair-styling showdown, give the corner shop a makeover, take on new stylist Stanley and try and avoid the attentions of the taxman.

Staged - Series 1 And 2

Staged - Series 1 And 2

Out now. DVD

David Tennant and Michael Sheen (playing themselves) were due to star in a production of Six Characters In Search Of An Author in the West End. The pandemic has put paid to that, but their director (Simon Evans - also playing himself) is determined not to let the opportunity pass him by. He knows how big a chance this is for him and turns his attention to cajoling his stars into rehearsing over the internet.

Includes all episodes from Series 1 & 2 of the critically acclaimed BBC One comedy.

Sailors Three

Sailors Three

Out now. Blu-ray, DVD

A broad naval comedy that kept cinemagoers highly entertained during the early years of World War Two, Sailors Three was Walter Forde's last film for Ealing and Tommy Trinder's first. Co-starring Claude Hulbert and Michael Wilding, this is a delightful mix of music hall and propaganda, and featured here in an all-new HD restoration.

On shore leave from HMS Ferocious at a neutral South American port, three sailors have one shandy too many before re-boarding their ship. Unfortunately it's not their ship and they wake up to find they've drunkenly boarded the German pocket battleship Ludendorf!

For more, see our full list of new releases and products coming soon.

Thanks for reading

You can find our full comedy shop on our website at any time, and some of the best new release news, competitions and bargains on Twitter: @BritComedyShop.

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