Small Faces
The Smashing Bird I Used To Know
Smokescreen
The Snake Pit
Soldier of Fortune
Some Came Running
Some People
Something in the City
Something the Lord Made
Something to Hide
Son of Rambow
The Sorcerers
The Sound of Music
South Riding
The Spanish Gardener
Spanglish
Special Delivery
Speed
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speedy
Spiceworld
The Spitfire Grill
Spring and Port Wine
Spring in Park Lane
Spy Hard
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Squeaker
Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep
Star!
Stardust
Starsky and Hutch
Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
Stay Tuned
Stella Street: The Movie
The Sterile Cuckoo
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Still Crazy
The Sting
The Sting II
St Martin's Lane
Stop Press Girl
Strange Boarders
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Stranger
Stranger than Fiction
The Strange World of Planet X
Street Corner
A Streetcar Named Desire
Strictly Confidential
Stripes
Stuck in the Suburbs
Sullivan's Travels
Summer Holiday
Summer on the Farm
Sunburn
Sunday in New York
The Super Cops
Superhero Suspect
S W A L K
Sweeney!
The Sweet Hereafter
Sweet Liberty
Swordfish
The Smashing Bird I Used To Know
Smokescreen
The Snake Pit
Soldier of Fortune
Some Came Running
Some People
Something in the City
Something the Lord Made
Something to Hide
Son of Rambow
The Sorcerers
The Sound of Music
South Riding
The Spanish Gardener
Spanglish
Special Delivery
Speed
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speedy
Spiceworld
The Spitfire Grill
Spring and Port Wine
Spring in Park Lane
Spy Hard
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Squeaker
Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep
Star!
Stardust
Starsky and Hutch
Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home
Stay Tuned
Stella Street: The Movie
The Sterile Cuckoo
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Still Crazy
The Sting
The Sting II
St Martin's Lane
Stop Press Girl
Strange Boarders
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Stranger
Stranger than Fiction
The Strange World of Planet X
Street Corner
A Streetcar Named Desire
Strictly Confidential
Stripes
Stuck in the Suburbs
Sullivan's Travels
Summer Holiday
Summer on the Farm
Sunburn
Sunday in New York
The Super Cops
Superhero Suspect
S W A L K
Sweeney!
The Sweet Hereafter
Sweet Liberty
Swordfish
Small Faces (1996, Iain Robertson, Joe McFadden, Steven Duffy, Laura Fraser et al)
Has appearances by two very different 1958 preserved Glasgow Corporation buses with consecutive registration numbers, both with Alexander bodywork. LA1 (FYS998) is a Leyland Atlantean PDR1/1, there is external and internal footage:


The Smashing Bird I Used to Know AKA School for Unclaimed Girls OR House of Unclaimed Women (1969, Dennis Waterman, Madeline Hinde)
"Towards the end of film a brief rear shot of an Aldershot & District BET style saloon in traditional livery." (thanks Jon Price)
Smokescreen (1964, Peter Vaughan)
Vaughan alights from an RM class AEC Routemaster on route 30 at the film's beginning; the action switches to Brighton, and several Brighton Corporation/Brighton Hove and District buses are seen in the background, also an open topper. (+Colin Read)The Snake Pit (1948, Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens)
Lester May notes: "Just after ten minutes into this film, there is an unusual double-decker bus - fleet number 2003 of the Chicago Motor Coach Company. It is quite 'futuristic' in design.Right at the very end of the film, a hospital bus/coach is seen." Fans of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still will recognise the 'decker as the unique prototype 1933-built Yellow Coach Model 706 'Queen Mary', a revolutionary 72-seat rear engined design.

Soldier of Fortune (1955, Clark Gable, Susan Hayward)
Has a view of Hong Kong trams and buses. (+Colin Read)Some Came Running (1959, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLean)
Sinatra and MacLean arrive in town on a "Greyhound PD-4104 (the first GM coach type bus with the big windows...built 1953-60)." (thanks Bruce Korusek). A later scene at the bus station features a white/grey/red motorcoach and a green and white motorcoach (with a white star on the front) with Chicago as its destination. The latter appears again at the end of the film, leaving town. (thanks Denise Annells)Something in the City (1950, Richard Hearne)
The opening credits have shots of Central London, featuring RT2294 (KGU323)and RT1613 (KLB735)seen close to Trafalgar Square. Many new RTs and STLs are seen. There is also a brief nearside shot of an STL on route 6 in Fleet Street. Hearne jumps precariously onto an STD driving at speed down the Strand. (+Colin Read)Something the Lord Made (2004, Alan Rickman, Mos Def)
Dramatises the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. Kevin Mueller's Baltimore Transit 1426, a 1947 GM TDH-4507, was used for interior shooting, while Baltimore 1096, a 1945 TDH-4506, was used for exterior shots. (thanks Kevin). Photographs of both these buses can be seen here .Some People (1962, Kenneth More, Ray Brooks, David Hemmings)
Filmed in Bristol and opens with passing Bristol Omnibus buses. These are Bristol KSWs




Something to Hide AKA Shattered (1972, Peter Finch, Shelley Winters)
"There is a scene filmed at Culver Parade (maybe on the beach), Sandown and two Southern Vectis buses are seen passing. First is one of the Hants & Dorset rebuilt full-front open-top Bristol Ks (withdrawn in 1973) [nearside front view] followed by an offside rearview of a Bristol VR (probably one of the flat-front G or J reg). There may also be other Southern Vectis buses in the film." (thanks Mike Ginger)Son of Rambow (2007, Bill Milner, Will Poulter)
Has an appearance by a 1980 Plaxton-bodied Seddon Pennine 7, PRK942W in Arriva-like turqoise and white with fleetname 'Passenger Services'The Sorcerers (1967, Boris Karloff, Ian Ogilvy)
"Only one scene in the film featuring buses, seen in the background through a cafe window: two RMs and 1 Duple and 1 Plaxton Panorama Bedford SB sized coaches both in a blue/black livery." (thanks Jon Price)The Sound of Music (1965, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer)
(updated)"Julie Andrews rides a bus from Salzburg, Austria, to the country mansion where she becomes the governess (during the "I Have Confidence" song)." (thanks Bill Vandervoort) Alexander at the Internet Movie Cars Database identifies the bus as a Steyr 380Q.

South Riding (1938, Edmund Gwenn, Ralph Richardson)
"I recall one of the scenes shows a family living in an old bus on some waste ground. Another scene shows a West Yorkshire Road Car Tilling Stevens single decker." (thanks Andrew Porter)The single decker comes earlier in the movie, driving past in a night scene:



Spanglish (2004, Adam Sandler)
2363 of Regional Transit Service, a TMC T8O206, worked on this movie.The Spanish Gardener (1956, Dirk Bogarde)
Allan Haynes notes "A very fine long bonneted single decker, 1930 style, in grey and blue. Full of people inside and on the roof with the goods! Some Spanish signwriting on the vehicle but didn't catch it for long enough to read it."Special Delivery (1963, sponsored by Superior Coach Corporation)

Part of the Prelinger Archives, themselves part of the Internet Archive, this 25 minute promotional film shows how Superior Coach Corporation school buses move children safely to and from school. Filmed in Mansfield, Ohio in colour. See the screencaps, watch it online or download it (577MB in MPEG2).
Speed (1994, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper) has its own page - CLICK HERE
Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997, Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Defoe)
Closing scenes of the movie feature a GM New Look 'Fishbowl', fleet number 2526 in a nod to the original movie:
Speedy (1928, Harold Lloyd)
The plot concerns the last horse-drawn trolley in New York. A large number of short clips from this movie can be seen at Getty Images: Film Page - key 'Speedy' into the search box.Spiceworld (1998, the Spice Girls)
Customised Bristol VRTSL3/Eastern Coachworks painted in Union Flag colours with lowered roof - played by former East Midland 172 (VTV172S), which later passed to Oxford Bus Museum for spares.The Spitfire Grill (1996, Alison Elliott, Ellen Burstyn)
Nathan Isler reports a Pine Hill Trailways motorcoach; he believes it's an MCI 102C body style. Can anyone enlarge on this?Spring and Port Wine (1970, James Mason, Diana Coupland, Susan George, Hannah Gordon)
Filmed in Bolton and showing a glimpse of at least one Bolton Corporation Leyland Atlantean/East Lancs. (thanks Alan Sinclair)"Some footage in this film shows the characters on a bus. To film this the interior of the Leyland Atlantean demonstrator with Sheffield style Park Royal bodywork registered KTD551C was used. This event was the subject of an article in the Leyland Journal of that time." (thanks Chris Hough)
Stuart Turner adds "Bolton Corporation Metro-Cammell-bodied Leyland Titan PD2/13, 82 (JBN 158) is clearly shown, followed by an unidentified Atlantean, but clearly a Bolton example, and various other PD2s take a supporting role. An excellent example of location filming from this period, which makes these films all the more interesting." Bolton Corporation 82 (JBN158), a Leyland Titan PD2/13 with Metro-Cammell body, is clearly seen:


Spring in Park Lane (1948, Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding)
Opeing and closing credits show street scenes around Marble Arch and Park Lane. Many buses are seen, mainly STLs, STs, LTs, also a 10T10 Green Line coach and possibly a G-type. Identifiable are STL2138 (DLU137) and STL1947 (DLU143) on service 16, and ST610 (GK5449) on service 36. (+Colin Read)Spy Hard (1996, Leslie Nielsen)
A 'Speed' spoof features Nielsen and Ray Charles driving former Stockton Transit 1728, a GM New Look TDH4519 supplied by Regional Transit Service.



The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965, Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Robert Hardy et al)
In one scene several London Transport Leyland PD2 RTLs pass behind Burton; also seen is an RT. Bloom travels supposedly from Wormwood Scrubs prison in either an RT or RTL.


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The Squeaker (1937, Edmund Lowe, Ann Todd)
An STL appears early in the film. (+Colin Read)Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep (1922, Betty Balfour)
Part of this British movie was filmed in London's Piccadilly Circus. Clearly seen is London Transport AEC S-type S13 (XC8346) on route 88

Star! (1968, Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna)
(updated)A chance remark in Buses Illustrated magazine, October 1967, refers to a Leyland Titan TD1 appearing in a movie about the life of Gertrude Lawrence. Without seeing this scene in the movie I'm now confident this is DR4902, a TD1/Leyland new as National 2849 in 1929. The bus in the movie was actually in Eastern Counties livery, but had 'General' fleetnames and an 11E indicator blind fitted for filming. Chris Hough adds the film "featured Gertrude Lawrence played by Julie Andrews. Noel Coward was played by his godson Daniel Massey."
Richard Haughey explains, "The Leyland TD1 DR4902 did in fact carry Eastern Counties livery. The bus used to be a Chivers & Sons (Histon) Ltd staff bus and when it was withdrawn by Chivers, the vehicle was given a full overhaul and repaint by Eastern Counties in Cambridge. Chivers then donated the bus to the British Transport Museum. So that is why it was in ECOC livery." An even earlier vehicle with a starring role is London General K424 (XC8059), a 1920 LGOC-bodied AEC K, seen from every conceivable angle in a lengthy sequence.

Stardust (1974, David Essex, Adam Faith)
A shame we see no more than a glimpse of this 'decker:





Jon Price adds "Near the end of the film there are scenes in a Spanish village which show a coach of some description."

Starsky and Hutch (2004, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg)
Reportedly features a GM New Look T6H, formerly Bellingham Transit (Washington) 4523.Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986, William Shatner)
Much of the film is set in 20th century San Francisco; two orange/cream transit buses are seen, including GM New Look 3513, on which Kirk and Spock travel. The punk on the bus is Kirk Thatcher, the associate producer of the film. Thatcher also wrote the music heard loudly through the ghetto blaster. Streetcar 23 also appears.Stay Tuned (1992, John Ritter, Pam Dawber)
Shot partly in Vancouver and features a Brill trolleybus outside the Niagara Hotel.Stella Street: The Movie (2004, Phil Cornwell, John Sessions, Ronnie Ancona)
Spinoff from the successful BBC comedy show has an appearance by City sightseeing 367 (E767LBT), the 1988 Northern Counties-bodied Leyland Olympian also used in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.



Steptoe and Son (1972, Wilfred Brambell, Harry H Corbett)
Not a good film, but enlivened by footage of the scrapmen driving their horse and cart through Central London at the beginning and end, with various London buses appearing behind them.




Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973, Wilfred Brambell, Harry H Corbett)
"Harold and Albert board a Green Line coach after visiting their horse, Hercules, who has just been retired in a horses' rest home. I think this may have been an RP class coach [AEC Reliance/Park Royal]." (thanks Alan Sinclair). Jon Price confirms it as RP34 (JPA134K).
Chris Brown adds: "At an early point in the film when Harold is out collecting, appearing in the back ground past the cart, is a grey painted Bristol KSW parked on the 'wrong side' of the road. I believe that may have been Bristol KSW5G/Eastern Coachworks HWV294, which was owned by Location facilities and used for catering. I believe they bought the bus after service with Wilts & Dorset, and it was in use up to 1978 when I saw it in Dunstable with Tricentrol Coach Sales. It is now owned by my brother.
Also in the same shot, a red/cream liveried Plaxton coach is seen crossing at a road junction: if I am correct this could have been a vehicle owned by Birch Brothers of London NW5 and would be either NYM30E or NYM31E. Birch Bros had a contract with the BBC, which involved transporting stars and extra for locations for filming. My father occasionally drove the contract vehicle when in London. When Birch sold out to Grey Green, the contract was operated by Link Line of Harlesden and subsequently their vehicle could be seen in background shots of BBC productions."
The Sterile Cuckoo (1969, Liza Minelli)
"Minelli rides a Greyhound MCI MC-5A bus" (thanks Bruce Korusek)Still Crazy (1997, Billy Connolly et al)
This tale of a rock band getting back on the road features Connolly at the wheel of purple Plaxton Supreme IV-bodied Ford R1114 PIW8619 (originally VJT619X) used as the band's tour bus. (thanks Steve Parker)

The Sting (1973, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw)
Features a green Chicago Motor Coach bus - although set in the 1920s a rear engined 1970s school bus was reportedly used.The Sting II (1983, Jackie Gleason, Karl Malden, Teri Garr)
Jon Price notes the appearance in 1940s street scenes of Midland Red BMMO D7 4110 (THA 110), which in 1983 was still owned by Universal Studios, painted blue and white.St Martin's Lane AKA Sidewalks of London (1938, Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison)
Several buses were hired from London Transport for filming. The street outide the famous Holborn Empire was recreated at Elstree Studios, and the LT crews found they had to be careful to avoid the cables, lights and props on set. (+Colin Read)Stop Press Girl (1949)
Has a fairly long sequence with ST228 (GJ7957), and also features T508 (ELP232), both of London Transport. (+Colin Read)Strange Boarders (1938, Irene Handl, Tom Walls)
Early in the film an elderly lady is run down by London Transport ST668 (GN4606), shown working route 136. (+Colin Read)The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946, Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas)
"Largely studio based - except for a couple of establishing and back projection shots showing Southern Pacific Cab Forwards and a slinky GS4 filmed in the back yard (Burbank and Simi Valley, maybe?) - with a nice model Cab Forward hauled freight thrown in - all purporting to be a Pennsylvania steel town! These shots show the cramped and cardboard set of Iverstown Bus Terminal with the two tricked up buses of the Intercity Lines that Lizabeth Scott seems to miss at least twice.


The Stranger (1946, Edward G Robinson, Orson Welles)
First five minutes have a short sequence featuring an American motorcoach lettered 'Connecticut Transportation Co.'. The interior view shows the name 'Gray Line' in the seat moquette. (+Colin Read)Stranger than Fiction (2006, Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Miranda Richardson)
Features a 2000 Novabus LFS owned by the Chicago Transit Authority (thanks Daniel Dey).The Strange World of Planet X AKA Cosmic Monster AKA The Crawling Terror (1958, Forrest Tucker)
Stuart Turner reports on this odd British sci fi movie with an American star: "Spiders and other creepy crawlies start to mutate and grow to enormous sizes, so the army is called in, as is so often the case. In a very short clip a couple of half cab buses are seen, presumably transporting the troops, racing through the night. Absolutely no clue as to whose they were, or even what they were." There are three seen clearly, can anyone suggest what they are?These shots have been lightened; the film is much darker:


Street Corner (1953)
A rear view of a postwar London Transport STD. (+Colin Read)A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Colin Read reports a glimpse of a (New Orleans?) streetcar in the opening scene.Strictly Confidential (1959, Richard Murdoch, William Kendall, William Hartnell)
An entry provided by Bob Wingrove, who supplied the screen captures: "Two con men are put into a company to run it down so that the owner can buy the shares cheap and thus sell it off. Last seen on TV in 1984, you see various members of the RT family including this nice pre-war AEC RT on training duties....

Stripes (1981, Bill Murray, Warren Oates, John Candy)
Army comedy; the recruits, including Murray, arrive for basic training on GMC 4900s owned by Blue Motor Coach, Louisville, Kentucky. The bus station scene was filmed in Louisville, at the old Union station on Liberty Street.Stuck in the Suburbs (2004, Danielle Panabaker, Brenda Song, Taran Killam))
Daniel Dey found a Prevost in this Disney teen movie:
Sullivan's Travels (1941, Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake)
McCrea's film director goes on the road dressed as a tramp to try to get experience of the real world. His staff decide to accompany him in this amazing 'land yacht', a luxury double decked motorcoach equipped with beds, a kitchen, etc etc.:

Preston Sturges directed this classic, which also includes a chase scene!


Summer Holiday (1963, Cliff Richard)
The one everyone remembers! A London Transport AEC Regent III RT is used as a caravan on a trip across Europe to Greece. The film opens with footage of London Transport buses at Aldenham Works. A number of RT-family buses is seen, including two green Country Area RTs, also a green Country Area RF.




British Pathe News filmed Cliff Richard driving a bus at Chiswick, and a low resolution clip is downloadable from their website. See Cliff Drives A Bus for more information.
Summer on the Farm (1943, dir Ralph Keene)
Bob Wingrove supplied these screencaps from this wartime documentary depicting the Women's Land Army and showing how produce farmproduce got to market in Manchester. Oddly, the first screencap shows a London tram, albeit under trolleybus overhead, possibly in Wandsworth. The second view is of a Manchester Corporation 'streamliner'.

Sunburn (1999)
Irish indie film about Irish teenagers who land at Kennedy Airport and are taken to Montauk to work for the summer. "Early on there is a shot from a building showing them arriving in downtown Montauk Village aboard an MC-12 from Alert Coach out of either Bohemia or East Northport, New York" (my id from Alan Aron's description!)Sunday in New York (1963, Jane Fonda)
"Fonda rides a couple of New York City New Look GMs. In some of the scenes you can also see old look GMs in the background. Also a Greyhound Scenicruiser pulls up behind them as they walk down a street." (thanks Bruce Korusek)The Super Cops (1974, Ron Liebman, David Selby)
Alan Aron: "The movie starred Ron Liebman and David Selby as two undercover cops who didn't always play by the rules. I remember the opening scene has one of them riding on the back bumper of a NYC transit bus and jumps off to surprise a perpetrator. Don't remember what style of bus. Also there must be other scenes with buses in the background since the movie was filmed in New York City. You could put this up under movie listing or under mystery sightings until someone confirms this. According to IMDB.com it is not out on video."Superhero (1982, Ray Winstone, Koo Stark)
Leon Daniels notes,"I don't think I have ever told you about 'Superhero' - a 'short' film made with British Film Finance Corporation funding starring long before they were famous Ray Winstone and Koo Stark. Producer was Brian Eastman who is famous now as the man behind Poirot on TV.
We used an RT from Ted Brakell for this film - not only did I drive but was Ray's double. Ray is in a dream and is his own comic book superhero - Nightrider (no not the one with the car). He is chasing some crooks so steals a bus - actually I do. In fact we are both dressed in this 'tights and mask' outfit. Really funny. For a joke the film crew bundled me in my costume and dumped me outside Kings Cross Station in the height of the evening peak. Yep - I looked a real idiot!
Anyhow we do this chase sequence under the arches at London Bridge Station - pursuing a Rover 3500! To keep my Nighrider logo on my chest illuminated, a UV light was taped to the spoke of the RT's steering wheel. First move and it got stuck on the gear lever turret and the bus went off in a gentle arc across the road - 'stop, stop, stop...' cried the director.
We did the chase sequence well enough. Because Ray was portraying a decent superhero he was worried about intending passengers so he winds the ultimate blind from a destination to PRIVATE. This was awful. I made the blind despite protestations that PRIVATE was never an ultimate panel. The shot of that action was made with the vehicle stationary but Ray was also pretending to be driving so was winding the handle without guidance - very difficult to get it set correctly. Also to convey movement ten of us were rocking the bus from side to side by pushing on the lower deck window pans. Sadly we did it on one of those nights when we couldn't film much because of the rain, so during this rocking shot loads of rain ran up our sleeves and made us soaked from the inside!
In one sequence Ray as Nightrider runs out and hides behind a post before then running out to steal the RT from a crew chatting on the pavement. The first run is Ray, the second is me. We used to watch the rushes every evening at a studio near Centrepoint. In the first attempt Ray runs behind the post, knocks into me and we fall out in opposise directions. It looks like Nightrider has become two people in an instant!
Ray and Koo went on to be famous........!!"
Suspect (1987, Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson)
Set in Washington DC and featuring a number of GM Fishbowls; the only identifiable vehicle is 1533. Quaid boards a Fishbowl in one sequence.S W A L K (AKA Melody) (1971, Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Tracy Hyde)
Alan Parker-directed, and in many ways prefigures 'Fame'. There's an early view of Melody herself walking with a London Transport AEC Routemaster from the WLTxxx batch passing:


There's a glimpse of a red Arrow AEC Merlin in Trafalgar Square, and another WLTxxx batch Routemaster:


Sweeney! (1977, John Thaw, Dennis Waterman)
The first screen spin-off from the TV show has a glimpse of a Plaxton-bodied coach in London traffic is followed by another of a London Transport DMS-class Daimler Fleetline:



The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Ian Holm)
"Ian Holm plays a lawyer for the victims of an accident with a school bus sunk in a frozen river." (thanks Carlos Wallberg) more information neededSweet Liberty (1986, Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Michelle Pfeiffer)
Alan Alda is a college professor whose book is being made into a movie. Alan Aron notes "The filming took place in Sag Harbor, New York. The opening scene, rolling the opening credits is of two GM Fishbowls transporting the cast and crew toward the location. If memory serves me correctly, the buses had a white and red livery and the shots were probably done on Sunrise Highway."Swordfish (2001, John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry)
Flashy action thriller includes a sequence in which a Flyer D902 transit bus loaded with 30 people is lifted by Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter onto the roof of a skyscraper. Colin Davidson observes"The 'Making Of -' segment on the DVD reveals that in reality, there were only dummies aboard during flming of the actual Skycrane air-lift sequence, with scenes inside the bus 'in flight' being done in a studio with sophisticated camera technology and a bus mounted on a large rig, akin to the flight simulator platforms used in the aviation industry, that could jostle things around in dramatic fashion." Fleet number 9260 is visible. It's reportedly ex San Francisco Muni.Back to the top of this page - updated 22 January 2010