Prior to 1947, the only definition of first-class cricket had been one in Great Britain that dated from a meeting at Lord's in May 1894 between the Marylebone Cricket Club ( MCC ) committee and the secretaries of the clubs involved in the official County Championship, which had begun in 1890.

Prior to Verdi's body's being driven from the cemetery to the official memorial service and its final resting place at the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, Arturo Toscanini conducted a chorus of 820 singers in " Va, pensiero ".

Prior to signing the accords, Arafat — as Chairman of the PLO and its official representative — signed two letters renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel.

Prior to the introduction of standard time, each municipality around the civilized world set its official clock, if it had one, according to the local position of the Sun ( see solar time ).

Prior to his election as FIFA President, Blatter was a senior FIFA official for 23 years.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the African Union Commission praised the election for taking place with " calm and serenity " Prior to the 2009 election, Tunisia amended its constitution to allow more candidates to run for president, allowing the top official from each political party to compete for the presidency regardless of whether they held seats in parliament.

Prior to July 1999, official estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners as high as 60 to 70 million nationwide, rivaling membership in the Communist Party.

Prior to the official engagement announcement, he abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and became a naturalised British subject, adopting the surname Mountbatten from his British maternal grandparents.

Prior to the invention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation ( CPR ), defibrillation, epinephrine injection, and other treatments in the 20th century, the absence of blood circulation ( and vital functions related to blood circulation ) was historically considered to be the official definition of death.

Prior to Blaze's debut, the Trail Blazers never had any official mascot.

Prior to the opening of the area, the United States platted five official townships: Randlett, Ahpeatone, Isadore, Quanah and Eschiti.

Prior to the official opening of the Burbank lot in 1940, The Walt Disney Studios was located at several different locations in Los Angeles and Hollywood.

Prior to official release on VHS and Laserdisc in 1996, the film was re-released to select theaters on March 8, 1996 taking in $ 550, 000.

Prior to the establishment of official rules by the Afghan Olympic Federation the sport was mainly conducted based upon rules such as not whipping a fellow rider intentionally or deliberately knocking him off his horse.

Prior to 1998, the official releases were handled by Vans via Uni Distribution in 1996 and Epitaph Records in 1997 respectively.

Prior to the building ’ s use as a museum, it was the site of the first official government press in the state, founded in 1821.

Prior to a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 24, 2012, head coach Gregg Popovich decided to give Duncan a night off by listing him on the official scorecard as ' DNP-OLD ', poking fun at his 36-year old body.

Prior to the official autopsy reports being released publicly, Haim's mother stated that the coroner had given her a " courtesy call " to state his preliminary findings that Haim died of pulmonary edema and was suffering from an enlarged heart and water in the lungs.

Prior to their early-20th century demolitions, the Province House and the Hancock Manor were also proposed as official residences.

Prior to its official April 15 opening, 60, 000 people toured the new facility during a two day open house event.

Prior to devolution, Bute House was the official residence of the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Prior to 1974, Quebec had no official language and was subject only to the requirements on the use of English and French contained in Article 133 of the British North America Act, 1867.

Prior to this, the only Tory / Conservative party in Scotland was the official Conservative Party, which had never achieved parity with the dominant Whig and Scottish Liberal Party ascendancy since the election reforms of 1832.

Prior to the dissolution of the National Assembly, the ADQ had held only five seats, and as a result did not have official party status.

Prior to the novel's publication, two excerpts were published: " Calla Bryn Sturgis " was published in 2001 on Stephen King's official site, and " The Tale of Gray Dick " was published in 2003 in McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales.

Prior to the album release, Glenn Danzig noted how the band had improved in the interim between the debut recording and the recording of Lucifuge: “ Everybody's much more comfortable with each other now.

Prior to the release of their debut album in 2000, they had already contributed songs to film soundtracks and made featurings on high profile albums.

Prior to the debut of professional football in the city, an amateur team from Canton was mentioned as being a superior team in Stark County, Ohio.

Prior to the recording of their debut album, Weiland took material that the band had previously written to his studio, Lavish, in Toluca Lake.

Prior to the debut of Corner Gas, the cast had appeared on Gabereau's CTV talk show, during which Brent Butt promised to get the talk show host a guest appearance.

Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior have since accomplished this feat, but Ganguly's 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at the ground.

Prior to becoming a full-fledged movie star, De Carlo also became a character actress, and made her debut on a 1952 episode of Lights Out.

Prior to making his first-class debut, Lee played for Mosman and played in the final of the 1996-97 Sydney Grade Cricket competition.

Prior to the debut of Joker!

Prior to his wrestling debut, Tomko served as a bodyguard to nu metal band Limp Bizkit.

Prior to his debut, Ashinano worked as an assistant to manga artist Kōsuke Fujishima.

Prior to that, she had made her television debut, on a telenovela named " La Verdadera Eva ".

Prior to the release of their debut title, Nodes of Yesod, in 1985, Odin had previously released a number of games under the name Thor.

Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals.

Prior to making her stage debut at the age of 19, Ruthie Henshall trained at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey.

Prior to Rudy's debut, Clark also faced an opponent with a similar power debuted in Season One " Leech ", and once in Season Three, " Asylum ".

Prior to releasing their debut album, the duo issued several singles, of which " Nanningo ", " Rangoon Moon ", and " Woman of the World " were the most popular, & Nanningo, of which, unlike their later albums, it began with Post-punk.

Prior to his death, Wilson played the guitar on the song " Breakin ' In My Heart " on Tom Verlaine's self-titled debut album.

Prior to the debut album's release the band was called Star 69, but was forced to change the name after a band from New York threatened to sue.

Prior to their major label debut in 2001, approximately 8, 000 people came to watch.

Prior to her debut as an author, Ms. McKy accrued more than twenty years of experience working directly as a teacher to disadvantaged, learning disabled, and emotionally disturbed students.

Prior to the series ' debut, Entertainment Weekly described Alf's Hit Talk Show as " a one-shot, a lead-in " for TV Land's marathon of the original ALF sitcom.

Prior to The Mambo Kings, Assante had appeared in minor supporting roles, and had not yet broken out as a major star ; Banderas, a Spanish actor, had moved to Los Angeles, California, hoping to make an international debut with his first English speaking role.