1.
BBC
–
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, the BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own. Thus the BBC was granted sufficient leeway to pursue the Governments objectives largely in a manner of its own choosing, supporters of the strike nicknamed the BBC the BFC for British Falsehood Company. Reith personally announced the end of the strike which he marked by reciting from Blakes Jerusalem signifying that England had been saved, Reith argued that trust gained by authentic impartial news could then be used
BBC
–
BBC Television Centre at
White City, West London, which opened in 1960 and closed in 2013
BBC
–
BBC Pacific Quay in
Glasgow, which was opened in 2007
BBC
–
BBC New Broadcasting House, London which came into use during 2012–13.
BBC
–
The headquarters of the BBC at
Broadcasting House in
Portland Place, London, England. This section of the building is called 'Old Broadcasting House'.
2.
Opinion poll
–
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions, since Jackson won the popular vote in that state and the whole country, such straw votes gradually became more popular, but they remained local, usually city-wide phenomena. In 1916, The Literary Digest embarked on a national survey, then, in 1936, its 2.3 million voters constituted a huge sample, but they were generally more affluent Americans who tended to have Republican sympathies. The Literary Digest was ignorant of this new bias, the week before election day, at the same time, George Gallup conducted a far smaller survey, in which he polled a demographically representative sample. Gallup correctly predicted Roosevelts landslide victory, the Literary Digest soon went out of business, while polling started to take off. Elmo Roper was another American pioneer in political forecasting using scientific polls and he predicted the reelection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt three times, in 1936,1940, and 1944. Louis Harris had been in the field of opinion since 1947 when he joined the Elmo Roper firm. Looking for popular support or dissent with this question asked by appeasement politician, the Allied occupation powers helped to create survey institutes in all of the Western occupation zones of Germany in 1947 and 1948 to better steer denazification. By the 1950s, various types of polling had spread to most democracies, in long-term perspective, advertising had come under heavy pressure in the early 1930s. The Great Depression forced businesses to cut back on their advertising spending. Layoffs and reductions were common at all agencies, the New Deal furthermore aggressively promoted consumerism, and minimized the value of advertising. Historian Jackson Lears argues that By the late 1930s, though, George Gallup, the vice president of Young and Rubicon, and numerous other advertising experts, led the way. Moving into the 1940s, the played a leading role in the ideological mobilization of the American people for fighting the Nazis. As part of effort, they redefined the American Way of Life in terms of a commitment to free enterprise. Advertisers, Lears concludes, played a crucial role in creating the consumer culture that dominated post-World War II American society. Opinion polls for many years were maintained through telecommunications or in person-to-person contact, Methods and techniques vary, though they are widely accepted in most areas. Over the years, technological innovations have also influenced survey methods such as the availability of electronic clipboards, verbal, ballot, and processed types can be conducted efficiently, contrasted with other types of surveys, systematics, and complicated matrices beyond previous orthodox procedures. Opinion polling developed into popular applications through popular thought, although rates for some surveys declined
Opinion poll
–
Voter polling questionnaire on display at the
Smithsonian Institution
Opinion poll
–
2000 Palm Beach County voting stand and ballot box
3.
British people
–
British people, or Britons, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown dependencies, and their descendants. British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, although early assertions of being British date from the Late Middle Ages, the creation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity. The notion of Britishness was forged during the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and the First French Empire, and developed further during the Victorian era, because of longstanding ethno-sectarian divisions, British identity in Northern Ireland is controversial, but it is held with strong conviction by unionists. Modern Britons are descended mainly from the ethnic groups that settled in the British Isles in and before the 11th century, Prehistoric, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse. The British are a diverse, multi-national and multicultural society, with regional accents, expressions. Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the time of the Roman Empire made much reference to them, the group included Ireland, which was referred to as Ierne inhabited by the different race of Hiberni, and Britain as insula Albionum, island of the Albions. The term Pritani may have reached Pytheas from the Gauls, who used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands. Greek and Roman writers, in the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, name the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland as the Priteni, the origin of the Latin word Britanni. It has been suggested that name derives from a Gaulish description translated as people of the forms. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, the term Britannia persisted as the Latin name for the island, during the Middle Ages, and particularly in the Tudor period, the term British was used to refer to the Welsh people and Cornish people. At that time, it was the held belief that these were the remaining descendants of the ancient Britons. This notion was supported by such as the Historia Regum Britanniae. Wales and Cornwall, and north, i. e. Cumbria, Strathclyde and this legendary Celtic history of Great Britain is known as the Matter of Britain. The indigenous people of the British Isles have a combination of Celtic, Norse, Anglo-Saxon, oppenheimer continues that the majority of the people of the British Isles share genetic commonalities with the Basques, ranging from highs of 90% in Wales to lows of 66% in East Anglia. Oppenheimers opinion is that. by far the majority of male gene types in the British Isles derive from Iberia, ranging from a low of 59% in Fakenham, Norfolk to highs of 96% in Llangefni, north Wales. The English had been unified under a single state in 937 by King Athelstan of Wessex after the Battle of Brunanburh. However, historian Simon Schama suggested that it was Edward I of England who was responsible for provoking the peoples of Britain into an awareness of their nationhood in the 13th century
British people
–
Medieval tapestry showing
King Arthur, a legendary
ancient British ruler who had a leading role in the
Matter of Britain, a
national myth used as propaganda for the ancestral origins of the
British Royal Family and their
British subjects.
British people
British people
–
The Battle of Trafalgar by
J. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1822–1824) combines events from several moments during the
Napoleonic Wars '
Battle of Trafalgar —a major British naval victory upon which Britishness has drawn influence.
British people
–
Britannia became the figure of
national personification of the United Kingdom during the 18th century
4.
Guy Fawkes
–
Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes was born and educated in York and his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries and he travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England, Wintour introduced Fawkes to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords, prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Fawkes guarding the explosives. Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes fell from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of the mutilation that followed. Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in Britain since 5 November 1605 and his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a fireworks display. Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in Stonegate, York and he was the second of four children born to Edward Fawkes, a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York, and his wife, Edith. Guys mothers family were recusant Catholics, and his cousin, Richard Cowling, Guy was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir Guy Fairfax of Steeton. The date of Fawkess birth is unknown, but he was baptised in the church of St. Michael le Belfrey on 16 April, as the customary gap between birth and baptism was three days, he was probably born about 13 April. In 1568, Edith had given birth to a daughter named Anne and she bore two more children after Guy, Anne, and Elizabeth. Both were married, in 1599 and 1594 respectively, in 1579, when Guy was eight years old, his father died. His mother remarried years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge of Scotton. A governor of the school had spent about 20 years in prison for recusancy, and its headmaster, John Pulleyn, came from a family of noted Yorkshire recusants, the Pulleyns of Blubberhouses. Fawkess fellow students included John Wright and his brother Christopher and Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne and Robert Middleton, after leaving school Fawkes entered the service of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. The Viscount took a dislike to Fawkes and after a short time dismissed him, he was employed by Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu. At least one source claims that Fawkes married and had a son, in October 1591 Fawkes sold the estate in Clifton that he had inherited from his father. He travelled to the continent to fight in the Eighty Years War for Catholic Spain against the new Dutch Republic and, from 1595 until the Peace of Vervins in 1598, France
Guy Fawkes
–
George Cruikshank 's illustration of Guy Fawkes, published in
William Harrison Ainsworth 's 1840 novel
Guy Fawkes
–
Fawkes was baptised at the church of St. Michael le Belfrey
Guy Fawkes
–
A contemporary engraving of eight of the thirteen conspirators, by
Crispijn van de Passe. Fawkes is third from the right.
Guy Fawkes
–
Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot (c. 1823),
Henry Perronet Briggs
5.
Parliament of England
–
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. Over the centuries, the English Parliament progressively limited the power of the English monarchy which arguably culminated in the English Civil War, the Act of Union 1707 merged the English Parliament with the Parliament of Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Britain. When the Parliament of Ireland was abolished in 1801, its members were merged into what was now called the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under a monarchical system of government, monarchs usually must consult, early kings of England had no standing army or police, and so depended on the support of powerful subjects. The monarchy had agents in every part of the country, however, under the feudal system that evolved in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the laws of the Crown could not have been upheld without the support of the nobility and the clergy. The former had economic and military bases of their own through major ownership of land. The Church was virtually a law unto itself in this period as it had its own system of law courts. In order to seek consultation and consent from the nobility and the clergy on major decisions. A typical Great Council would consist of archbishops, bishops, abbots, barons and earls, when this system of consultation and consent broke down, it often became impossible for government to function effectively. The most prominent instances of prior to the reign of Henry III are the disagreements between Thomas Becket and Henry II and between King John and the barons. Becket, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1162 and 1170, was murdered following a long running dispute with Henry II over the jurisdiction of the Church. John, who was king from 1199 to 1216, aroused such hostility from many leading noblemen that they forced him to agree to Magna Carta in 1215, johns refusal to adhere to this charter led to civil war. The Great Council evolved into the Parliament of England, the term itself came into use during the early 13th century, deriving from the Latin and French words for discussion and speaking. The word first appears in documents in the 1230s. As a result of the work by historians G. O. Sayles and H. G. Richardson, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the kings began to call Knights of the Shire to meet when the monarch saw it as necessary. A notable example of this was in 1254 when sheriffs of counties were instructed to send Knights of the Shire to parliament to advise the king on finance, initially, parliaments were mostly summoned when the king needed to raise money through taxes. Following the Magna Carta this became a convention and this was due in no small part to the fact that King John died in 1216 and was succeeded by his young son Henry III. Leading peers and clergy governed on Henrys behalf until he came of age, among other things, they made sure that Magna Carta would be reaffirmed by the young king
Parliament of England
–
Parliament of England
Parliament of England
–
Royal coat of arms of England, 1558–1603
Parliament of England
–
Medieval parliament
6.
Oliver Cromwell
–
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Cromwell was born into the gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIIIs minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a conversion in the 1630s. He was a religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short and he entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles Is death warrant in 1649 and he was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. Cromwells forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, during this period, a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics, and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651, as a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell, sponsored by military historian Richard Holmes was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Katherine married Morgan ap William, son of William ap Yevan of Wales, Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he use Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. They had ten children, but Oliver, the child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII and great uncle of Henry VIII, Cromwells paternal grandfather Sir Henry Williams was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire. Cromwells father Robert was of modest means but still a part of the gentry class, as a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes, Cromwell himself in 1654 said, I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity. He was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St Johns Church and he went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos
Oliver Cromwell
–
A 1656
Samuel Cooper portrait of Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
–
Portrait of Cromwell's wife Elizabeth Bourchier, painted by Robert Walker
Oliver Cromwell
–
Oliver Cromwell's house in
Ely
Oliver Cromwell
–
Engraving of Oliver Cromwell
7.
Richard III of England
–
Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, at the age of 32, in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty and his defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare, when his brother King Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edwards son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. As the young king travelled to London from Ludlow, Richard met and escorted him to lodgings in the Tower of London, on 25 June, an assembly of Lords and commoners endorsed the claims. The following day, Richard III began his reign, and he was crowned on 6 July 1483. The young princes were not seen in public after August, and accusations circulated that the boys had been murdered on Richards orders, there were two major rebellions against Richard. The first, in October 1483, was led by allies of Edward IV and Richards former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. In August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Henry Tudor landed in southern Wales with a small contingent of French troops and marched through his birthplace, Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henrys force engaged Richards army and defeated it at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, Richard was struck down in the conflict, making him the last English king to die in battle on home soil and the first since Harold Godwinson. Henry then ascended the throne as Henry VII, after the battle Richards corpse was taken to Leicester and buried without pomp. His original tomb monument is believed to have been removed during the Reformation, in 2012, an archaeological excavation was commissioned by the Richard III Society on a city council car park on the site once occupied by Greyfriars Priory Church. Richards remains were reburied in Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015 and they returned to England following the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton and participated in the coronation of Richards eldest brother as King Edward IV in June 1461. At this time Richard was named Duke of Gloucester and made a Knight of the Garter and Knight of the Bath, by the age of seventeen, he had an independent command. With some interruptions, Richard stayed at Middleham either from late 1461 until early 1465, while at Warwicks estate, he probably met Francis Lovell, a strong supporter later in his life, and Warwicks younger daughter, his future wife Anne Neville. As the relationship between the king and Warwick became strained, Edward IV opposed the match, during Warwicks lifetime, George was the only royal brother to marry one of his daughters, the eldest, Isabel, on 12 July 1469, without the kings permission. George joined his father-in-laws revolt against the king, while Richard remained loyal to Edward, in 1468, Richards sister Margaret had married Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, and the brothers could expect a welcome there. Although only eighteen years old, Richard played crucial roles in the battles of Barnet, during his adolescence, Richard developed idiopathic scoliosis. Following a decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard married Anne Neville, by the end of 1470 Anne had previously been wedded to Edward of Westminster, only son of Henry VI, to seal her fathers allegiance with the Lancastrian party
Richard III of England
–
The earliest surviving portrait of Richard (c. 1520, after a lost original), formerly belonging to the
Paston family (
Society of Antiquaries, London)
Richard III of England
–
Contemporary illumination (Rous Roll) of Richard III, his queen
Anne Neville whom he married in 1472, and their son Edward the Prince of Wales
Richard III of England
–
Stained glass depiction of Richard and Anne Neville in
Cardiff Castle
Richard III of England
–
Penny of Richard III - the few positively identifiable coins are highly prized, almost irrespective of condition
8.
James Connolly
–
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader, aligned to syndicalism and the Industrial Workers of the World. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland and he left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. He also took a role in Scottish and American politics and he was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916. Connolly was born in an Irish immigrant slum in Edinburgh in 1868 and his parents had moved to Scotland from Monaghan, Ireland and settled in Cowgate, an Irish ghetto where thousands of Irish people lived. He spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life and he was born in St Patricks Roman Catholic parish, in the Cowgate district of Edinburgh known as Little Ireland. His father and grandfathers were labourers and he had an education up to the age of about ten in the local Catholic primary school. He then left and worked in labouring jobs, because of the economic difficulties he was having, like his eldest brother John, he joined the British Army. He enlisted in the British Army at age 14, falsifying his age and giving his name as Reid and he served in Ireland with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment for nearly seven years, during a turbulent period in rural areas known as the Land War. He would later involved in the land issue. He developed a hatred for the British Army that lasted his entire life. When he heard that his regiment was being transferred to India, Connolly had another reason for not wanting to go to India, a young woman by the name of Lillie Reynolds. Lillie moved to Scotland with James after he left the army, there, Connolly began to get involved in the Scottish Socialist Federation, but with a young family to support, he needed a way to provide for them. He briefly established a shop in 1895, but this failed after a few months as his shoe-mending skills were insufficient. He was also active with the socialist movement at the time. He became secretary of the Scottish Socialist Federation, during this time, Connolly became involved with the Independent Labour Party which Keir Hardie had formed in 1893. At some time during this period, he took up the study of, and advocated the use of, by 1892 he was involved in the Scottish Socialist Federation, acting as its secretary from 1895. Two months after the birth of his daughter, word came to Connolly that the Dublin Socialist Club was looking for a full-time secretary. Connolly and his moved to Dublin, where he took up the position
James Connolly
–
James Connolly
James Connolly
–
Statue of James Connolly in Dublin
9.
Irish nationalism
–
Irish nationalism asserts that the Irish people are a nation. Since the partition of Ireland, the term refers to support for a united Ireland. Irish nationalists assert that rule from London has been to the detriment of Irish interests and this vision sought to overcome the old ethnic divide between Gaeil and Gaill which had been a feature of Irish life since the 12th century. Protestantism in England introduced an element to the 16th century Tudor conquest of Ireland, as many of the native Gaels. The Plantations of Ireland dispossessed many native Catholic landowners in favour of Protestant settlers from England and Scotland, in addition, the Plantation of Ulster, begun in 1609, planted a sizeable colony of English and Scottish Protestant settlers into the north of Ireland. Irish aristocrats waged many campaigns against the English presence, a prime example is the rebellion of Hugh ONeill which became known as the Nine Years War of 1594–1603, which aimed to expel the English and make Ireland a Spanish protectorate. The Confederate Catholics of Ireland, also known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, emphasised the idea of Ireland as a Kingdom independent from England and they demanded autonomy for the Irish Parliament, full rights for Catholics and an end to the confiscation of Catholic-owned land. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland destroyed the Confederate cause and resulted in the permanent dispossession of the old Catholic landowning class. A similar Irish Catholic monarchist movement emerged in the 1680s and 1690s, the Jacobites demanded that Irish Catholics have a majority in an autonomous Irish Parliament, the restoration of confiscated Catholic land, and an Irish-born Lord Deputy of Ireland. Like the Confederates, they suffered defeat, in the Williamite War in Ireland. Thereafter, the largely English Protestant Ascendancy dominated Irish government and landholding, the Penal Laws discriminated against non-Anglicans. However, the Irish Catholic movements of the 16th century were led by a small landed. Professor Kevin Whelan has traced the emergence of the modern Catholic-nationalist identity that formed in 1760–1830, parliamentarians who wanted more self-government formed the Irish Patriot Party, led by Henry Grattan, who achieved substantial legislative independence in 1782–83. Grattan and radical elements of the Irish Whig party campaigned in the 1790s for Catholic political equality and he wanted useful links with Britain to remain, best understood by his comment, The channel forbids union, the ocean forbids separation. Grattans movement was notable for being both inclusive and nationalist as many of its members were descended from the Anglo/Irish minority, many other nationalists such as Samuel Neilson, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet were also descended from plantation families which had arrived in Ireland since 1600. From Grattan in the 1770s to Parnell up to 1890, nearly all the leaders of Irish separatism were Protestant nationalists, modern Irish nationalism with democratic aspirations began in the 1790s with the founding of the Society of the United Irishmen. It sought to end discrimination against Catholics and Presbyterians and to found an independent Irish republic and they were sponsored by the French Republic, which was then the enemy of the Holy See. The United Irishmen led the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which was repressed with great bloodshed, as a result, the Irish Parliament voted to abolish itself in the Act of Union of 1800–01 and thereafter Irish MPs sat in London
Irish nationalism
–
Government Buildings in
Dublin
Irish nationalism
–
The
national flag of the
Republic of Ireland, considered by Irish nationalists to be the flag of all of
Ireland
Irish nationalism
–
"Daniel O'Connell: The Champion of Liberty" poster published in Pennsylvania, 1847.
10.
Socialism
–
Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, to citizen ownership of equity, or to any combination of these. Although there are varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. Socialist economic systems can be divided into both non-market and market forms, non-market socialism aims to circumvent the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend, the feasibility and exact methods of resource allocation and calculation for a socialist system are the subjects of the socialist calculation debate. Core dichotomies associated with these concerns include reformism versus revolutionary socialism, the term is frequently used to draw contrast to the political system of the Soviet Union, which critics argue operated in an authoritarian fashion. By the 1920s, social democracy and communism became the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, by this time, Socialism emerged as the most influential secular movement of the twentieth century, worldwide. Socialist parties and ideas remain a force with varying degrees of power and influence in all continents. Today, some socialists have also adopted the causes of social movements. The origin of the term socialism may be traced back and attributed to a number of originators, in addition to significant historical shifts in the usage, for Andrew Vincent, The word ‘socialism’ finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas and this latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen. The term socialism was created by Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism. Simon coined socialism as a contrast to the doctrine of individualism. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the ownership of resources. The term socialism is attributed to Pierre Leroux, and to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud in France, the term communism also fell out of use during this period, despite earlier distinctions between socialism and communism from the 1840s. An early distinction between socialism and communism was that the former aimed to only socialise production while the latter aimed to socialise both production and consumption. However, by 1888 Marxists employed the term socialism in place of communism, linguistically, the contemporary connotation of the words socialism and communism accorded with the adherents and opponents cultural attitude towards religion. In Christian Europe, of the two, communism was believed to be the atheist way of life, in Protestant England, the word communism was too culturally and aurally close to the Roman Catholic communion rite, hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists. Friedrich Engels argued that in 1848, at the time when the Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable on the continent and this latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany
Socialism
–
Charles Fourier, influential early French socialist thinker
Socialism
–
The celebration of the election of the Commune, 28 March 1871. The
Paris Commune was a major early implementation of socialist ideas
Socialism
–
G. D. H. Cole, English socialist theorist who was a member of the
Fabian Society as well as the main theorist of
guild socialism
Socialism
–
Leon Trotsky,
Vladimir Lenin, and
Lev Kamenev at the Second Communist Party Congress, 1919.
11.
Michael Crawford
–
Michael Patrick Smith, CBE, known as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, comedian and singer. He has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film. He is best known for playing the hapless Frank Spencer in the popular 1970s British sitcom, Some Mothers Do Ave Em, Michael Crawford was born in Salisbury, England as Michael Patrick Smith. He was brought up by his mother, Doris Agnes Mary Pike and his maternal grandmother was born in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and lived to be 99 years old. His mothers first husband, Arthur Dumbbell Smudge Smith, who was not his father, was killed, aged 22, in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Sixteen months after Smiths death, Crawford was born, the result of a short-lived relationship, there he attended St Michaels, a Catholic school run by nuns, who Crawford later described as not being shy in their use of corporal punishment, in Bexleyheath. At the end of the war, his mother remarried, to a grocer, the couple moved to London, where Crawford attended Oakfield Preparatory School, Dulwich, where he was known as Michael Ingram. His mothers second marriage, however, was stormy and abusive, according to Crawford, after his mothers death, young Michael was taken under the wing of an acting family, the Kendalls, led by music hall star Marie Kendall. He also participated in the recording of that made that same year. Then in 1958 he was hired by the English Opera Group to create the role of Jaffet in another Britten opera, Noyes Fludde, based on the story of Noah and the Great Flood. Crawford remembers that it was working in this production that he realised he seriously wanted to become an actor. He went on to perform in a wide repertoire and he appeared as the cabin boy John Drake in the television series Sir Francis Drake, a 26-part adventure series made by ITC starring Terence Morgan and Jean Kent. He made his debut in 1958 with leading roles in two childrens films, Blow Your Own Trumpet and Soapbox Derby, for The Childrens Film Foundation in Britain. Crawford appears in the surviving episode of the 1960 British crime series Police Surgeon alongside Ian Hendry. This series would spawn the much better-known The Avengers, at age nineteen, he was approached to play an American, Junior Sailen, in the film The War Lover, which starred Steve McQueen. To prepare for the role, he would spend hours listening to Woody Woodbury and it was this character that attracted film director Richard Lester to hire him for the role of Colin in The Knack …and How to Get It in 1965. The film was a success in the UK. Lester also cast him in the adaptation of Stephen Sondheims musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and How I Won the War
Michael Crawford
–
Crawford in
Sydney in 2012
12.
John Lennon
–
John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music. He and fellow member Paul McCartney formed a songwriting partnership. Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the craze as a teenager, his first band, the Quarrymen, first became the Silver Beatles. After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he added Ono as one of his middle names, Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release, Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. By 2012, Lennons solo album sales in the United States exceeded 14 million and, as writer, co-writer, or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 1988 as a member of the Beatles and in 1994 as a solo artist. Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman of Irish descent and his parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John Jack Lennon, and then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, after her sister, Mimi Smith, twice complained to Liverpools Social Services, Julia handed the care of Lennon over to her. In July 1946 Lennons father visited Smith and took his son to Blackpool, Julia followed them—with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins—and after a heated argument his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her, according to author Mark Lewisohn, Lennons parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home as Alf left again. A witness who was there that day, Billy Hall, has said the scene often portrayed with a young John Lennon having to make a decision between his parents never happened. It would be 20 years before he had contact with his father again, Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence he lived at Mendips,251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton with his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, who had no children of their own. His aunt purchased volumes of stories for him, and his uncle. In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature, Part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society, but I cannot be what I am not. I was the one who all the other boys parents—including Pauls father—would say, the parents instinctively recognised I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friends home, partly out of envy that I didnt have this so-called home
John Lennon
–
John Lennon, 1969
John Lennon
–
251 Menlove Avenue, where Lennon lived for most of his childhood
John Lennon
–
Lennon (right) performing with
the Beatles in 1964 at the height of
Beatlemania
John Lennon
–
Lennon (right) performing "
All You Need Is Love " with
The Beatles in 1967 to 400 million viewers of
Our World.
13.
Diana, Princess of Wales
–
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry and was the child and third daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp. She grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, in 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became known as Lady Diana Spencer. She came to prominence in February 1981 when her engagement to Prince Charles was announced and her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Pauls Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, the marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and she was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She was involved with dozens of charities including Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, Diana was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, the Spencer family has been closely allied with the British Royal Family for several generations. Both of Dianas grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, with wealthy commoners as godparents. Diana had three siblings, Sarah, Jane, and Charles and her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an added strain to the Spencers marriage. Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, the Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with Princes Andrew, Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later had an affair with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969, Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents separation in 1967, but during that years Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Ruth Roche, in 1972, Lord Althorp began a relationship with Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Dame Barbara Cartland. They married at Caxton Hall, London in 1976, as an upper-class child at the time, Diana was first educated under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Diss
Diana, Princess of Wales
–
The Princess of Wales raising money for cancer research in
Chicago, Illinois, June 1996
Diana, Princess of Wales
–
Charles and Diana's wedding commemorated on a 1981 British
Crown
Diana, Princess of Wales
–
The Prince and Princess of Wales after the
wedding of
the Duke and
Duchess of York in 1986
Diana, Princess of Wales
–
Charles and Diana visit
Uluru, Australia, March 1983
14.
William Shakespeare
–
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
William Shakespeare
–
The
Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed.
National Portrait Gallery, London.
William Shakespeare
–
John Shakespeare's house, believed to be
Shakespeare's birthplace, in
Stratford-upon-Avon.
William Shakespeare
–
Shakespeare's coat of arms, as it appears on the rough draft of the application to grant a coat-of-arms to John Shakespeare. It features a spear as a
pun on the family name.
William Shakespeare
–
Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon.
15.
Aleister Crowley
–
Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
Aleister Crowley
–
Aleister Crowley, c. 1912
Aleister Crowley
–
Crowley in
Golden Dawn garb
Aleister Crowley
–
Crowley during the K2 Expedition
Aleister Crowley
–
Kangchenjunga, as seen from
Darjeeling
16.
Republic of Ireland
–
Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
Republic of Ireland
–
The
Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891).
Republic of Ireland
–
Flag
Republic of Ireland
–
In 1922 a new parliament called the
Oireachtas was established, of which
Dáil Éireann became the
lower house.
Republic of Ireland
–
Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)
17.
Bono
–
Paul David Hewson, known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of rock band U2, Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Alison Stewart, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, frequently using religious, social, during U2s early years, his lyrics contributed to their rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members, Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organised and played in several concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised for his activism and involvement with U2, together with Bill and Melinda Gates, Bono was named Time Person of the Year in 2005, among other awards and nominations. Bono was born in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, on 10 May 1960. He was raised in the Northside suburb of Finglas with his brother by their mother, Iris, a member of the Church of Ireland, and their father, Brendan Robert Bob Hewson and his parents initially agreed that the first child would be raised Anglican and the second Catholic. Although Bono was the child, he also attended Church of Ireland services with his mother and brother. He went to the local primary Glasnevin National School, Bonos mother died on 10 September 1974, after suffering a cerebral aneurysm at her fathers funeral. Many U2 songs, including I Will Follow, Mofo, Out of Control, Lemon, Bono attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a multi-denominational school in Clontarf. During his childhood and adolescence, Bono and his friends were part of a surrealist street gang called Lypton Village, Bono met one of his closest friends, Guggi, in Lypton Village. The gang had a ritual of nickname-giving, Bono had several names, first, he was Steinhegvanhuysenolegbangbangbang, then just Huyseman, followed by Houseman, Bon Murray, Bono Vox of OConnell Street, and finally just Bono. Bono Vox is an alteration of Bonavox, a Latin phrase which translates to good voice and it is said he was nicknamed Bono Vox by his friend Gavin Friday. He initially disliked the name, however, when he learned it translated to good voice, Hewson has been known as Bono since the late 1970s. Although he uses Bono as his name, close family and friends also refer to him as Bono. After he left school, his father Bob Hewson, told him he could live at home for one year but if he was not able to pay his own way, Bono is married to Alison Hewson. The couple have four children, daughters Jordan and Memphis Eve and sons Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q, Bono is almost never seen in public without sunglasses, as he suffers from glaucoma
Bono
–
Bono in 2014
Bono
–
The hearing aid shop, Bonavox, that provided Hewson with the nickname "Bono Vox".
Bono
–
Bono on stage in 1983
Bono
–
Bono (right) with
Sting during
A Conspiracy of Hope in 1986
18.
Bob Geldof
–
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof, KBE, is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor, and political activist. He rose to prominence as the singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band had hits with his compositions Rat Trap and I Dont Like Mondays and he co-wrote Do They Know Its Christmas. One of the singles of all time, and starred in Pink Floyds 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall as Pink. Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa, in 1984 he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year, a single father, Geldof has also been outspoken for the fathers rights movement. In 2005 he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, Geldof was born and brought up in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, a son of Robert and Evelyn Geldof. His paternal grandfather, Zenon Geldof, was a Belgian immigrant and his paternal grandmother, Amelia Falk, was an English Jew from London. When Geldof was six or seven, his mother, Evelyn,41, Bob Geldof attended Blackrock College, where he was bullied for being a poor rugby player and for his middle name, Zenon. After work as a slaughterman, a navvy and pea canner in Wisbech, he was hired as a music journalist in Vancouver. He briefly guest hosted the CBC childrens program Switchback, returning to Ireland in 1975, he became lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the punk movement. In 1978, The Boomtown Rats had their first No.1 single in the UK with Rat Trap, in 1979, they gained international attention with their second UK No. This was both successful and controversial, Geldof had written it in the aftermath of Brenda Ann Spencers attempted massacre at an elementary school in San Diego, California in 1979. In 1980, The Boomtown Rats released the album Mondo Bongo and its single Up All Night was a hit in the U. S. and its video was played frequently on MTV. Geldof became known as an interview subject. He responded to nuns in the audience who tried to shout him down by saying they had a life with no material worries in return for which they gave themselves body. The interview caused uproar, making it impossible for The Boomtown Rats to play in Ireland again, in January 2013, Geldof announced The Boomtown Rats would be reforming to play together for the first time since 1986 at that year’s Isle of Wight Festival in June. They have subsequently announced further tour dates and released a new CD Back to Boomtown, Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986, to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, Is That It. which was a UK best-seller
Bob Geldof
–
Geldof in 2014
Bob Geldof
–
Geldof performing as a solo artist in 1987
Bob Geldof
–
Geldof performing with
Die Toten Hosen at Your Voice Against Poverty concert in
Rostock, Germany on 7 June 2007
Bob Geldof
–
Geldof at a Live 8: DVD signing
19.
Sir Ernest Shackleton
–
Born in Kilkea, Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, Shackleton and his Anglo-Irish family moved to Sydenham in suburban south London when he was ten. Also, members of his team climbed Mount Erebus, the most active Antarctic volcano, for these achievements, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home. After the race to the South Pole ended in December 1911 with Roald Amundsens conquest, Shackleton turned his attention to the crossing of Antarctica from sea to sea, to this end he made preparations for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17. Disaster struck this expedition when its ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice and was slowly crushed before the shore parties could be landed. In 1921, he returned to the Antarctic with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, at his wifes request he was buried there. Away from his expeditions, Shackletons life was generally restless and unfulfilled, in his search for rapid pathways to wealth and security, he launched business ventures which failed to prosper, and he died heavily in debt. Upon his death, he was lauded in the press, but was largely forgotten. Ernest Shackleton was born on 15 February 1874 in Kilkea near Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, ernests father was Henry Shackleton, and his mother was Henrietta Letitia Sophia Gavan. His fathers family was Anglo-Irish, originally from Yorkshire, England and his mothers family was Irish, from counties Cork and Kerry. Ernest was the second of their ten children and the first of two sons, the second, Frank, achieved notoriety as a suspect, later exonerated, in the 1907 theft of the Irish Crown Jewels. In 1880, when Ernest was six, Henry Shackleton gave up his life as a landowner to study medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, four years later, the family moved again, from Ireland to Sydenham in suburban London. From early childhood, Shackleton was a reader, a pursuit which sparked a passion for adventure. He was schooled by a governess until the age of eleven, at the age of thirteen, he entered Dulwich College. The young Shackleton did not particularly distinguish himself as a scholar and he was quoted later as saying, I never learned much geography at school. Literature, too, consisted in the dissection, the parsing, teachers should be very careful not to spoil taste for poetry for all time by making it a task and an imposition. In his final term at the school he was able to achieve fifth place in his class of thirty-one. Shackletons restlessness at school was such that he was allowed to leave at 16 and his father was able to secure him a berth with the North Western Shipping Company, aboard the square-rigged sailing ship Hoghton Tower. In August 1894, he passed his examination for Second Mate, two years later, he had obtained his First Mates ticket, and in 1898, he was certified as a Master Mariner, qualifying him to command a British ship anywhere in the world
Sir Ernest Shackleton
–
Shackleton in 1917
Sir Ernest Shackleton
–
Shackleton as a young man
Sir Ernest Shackleton
–
Dulwich College, south London (a modern photograph).
Sir Ernest Shackleton
–
Shackleton in 1901, aged 27.
20.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
–
His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britains military heroes. Wellesley was born in Dublin, belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland and he was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons and he was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, following Napoleons exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the army which defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellesleys battle record is exemplary, he participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career. Wellington is famous for his defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time, after ending his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as part of the Tory party, from 1828 to 1830 and he oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829, but opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the figures in the House of Lords until his retirement. As such, he belonged to the Protestant Ascendancy and his biographers mostly follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in saying that he was born 1 May 1769, the day that he was baptised. He was most likely born at his parents townhouse,24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, but his mother Anne, Countess of Mornington, recalled in 1815 that he had been born at 6 Merrion Street, Dublin. He spent most of his childhood at his familys two homes, the first a house in Dublin and the second Dangan Castle,3 miles north of Summerhill on the Trim Road in County Meath. In 1781, Arthurs father died and his eldest brother Richard inherited his fathers earldom and he went to the diocesan school in Trim when at Dangan, Mr Whytes Academy when in Dublin, and Browns School in Chelsea when in London. He then enrolled at Eton, where he studied from 1781 to 1784, moreover, Eton had no playing fields at the time. In 1785, a lack of success at Eton, combined with a shortage of funds due to his fathers death, forced the young Wellesley. Until his early twenties, Arthur showed little sign of distinction and his mother grew concerned at his idleness, stating. A year later, Arthur enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he progressed significantly, becoming a good horseman and learning French, upon returning to England in late 1786, he astonished his mother with his improvement
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
–
Wellesley spent much of his early childhood at his family house in
Dangan Castle, engraving 1842.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
–
The Duke of Wellington, by
Sir Thomas Lawrence. Painted in 1814, a few months before the
Battle of Waterloo.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
–
Beginning in 1787, Wellesley served at
Dublin Castle (pictured) as
aide-de-camp to two successive
Lords Lieutenant of Ireland.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
–
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Wellesley, aged 26, in the
33rd Regiment.
21.
Alexander Fleming
–
Sir Alexander Fleming FRS FRSE FRCS was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy, Fleming was knighted for his scientific achievements in 1944. In 1999, he was named in Time magazines list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century, hugh Fleming had four surviving children from his first marriage. He was 59 at the time of his marriage. Fleming went to Loudoun Moor School and Darvel School, and earned a scholarship to Kilmarnock Academy before moving to London. After working in an office for four years, the twenty-year-old Fleming inherited some money from an uncle. Fleming had been a private in the London Scottish Regiment of the Volunteer Force since 1900, in 1908, he gained a BSc degree with Gold Medal in Bacteriology, and became a lecturer at St Marys until 1914. Fleming served throughout World War I as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps and he and many of his colleagues worked in battlefield hospitals at the Western Front in France. In 1918 he returned to St Marys Hospital, where he was elected Professor of Bacteriology of the University of London in 1928, in 1951 he was elected the Rector of the University of Edinburgh for a term of three years. During World War I, Fleming witnessed the death of soldiers from sepsis resulting from infected wounds. Antiseptics, which were used at the time to treat infected wounds, at St Mary’s Hospital Fleming continued his investigations into antibacterial substances. Testing the nasal secretions from a patient with a heavy cold and this was the first recorded discovery of lysozyme, an enzyme present in many secretions including tears, saliva, skin, hair and nails as well as mucus. Although he was able to obtain larger amounts of lysozyme from egg whites, the enzyme was only effective against small counts of harmless bacteria, by 1927, Fleming had been investigating the properties of staphylococci. He was already well-known from his work, and had developed a reputation as a brilliant researcher. On 3 September 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory having spent August on holiday with his family, before leaving, he had stacked all his cultures of staphylococci on a bench in a corner of his laboratory. Fleming showed the culture to his former assistant Merlin Price. Fleming grew the mould in a culture and found that it produced a substance that killed a number of disease-causing bacteria. He identified the mould as being from the Penicillium genus, and, after months of calling it mould juice
Alexander Fleming
–
Sir Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
–
Miracle cure.
Alexander Fleming
–
Modern antibiotics are tested using a method similar to Fleming's discovery.
Alexander Fleming
–
Display of Fleming's awards, including his Nobel Prize. Also shows a sample of penicillin and an example of an early apparatus for preparing penicillin.
22.
Margaret Thatcher
–
She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her The Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics, as Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. A research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959, Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and she became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies and she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 1984. Thatcher was re-elected for a term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge was widely unpopular and she resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a peerage as Baroness Thatcher which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. After a series of strokes in 2002, she was advised to withdraw from public speaking. Despite this, she managed to pre-record a eulogy to Ronald Reagan prior to his death, in 2013, she died of another stroke in London, at the age of 87. Always a controversial figure, she has described as one of the greatest and most influential politicians in British history. Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13 October 1925, in Grantham and her father was Alfred Roberts, originally from Northamptonshire, and her mother was Beatrice Ethel from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned two grocery shops, Prior to the Second World War, in 1938 the Roberts family gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany. Thatcher was to describe this in her memoirs as among the significant events of her formative years, Alfred Roberts was an alderman and a Methodist local preacher, and brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church. He came from a Liberal family but stood as an Independent and he was Mayor of Grantham in 1945–46 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Margaret Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement, her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43, in her upper sixth year she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, but she was initially rejected and was offered a place only after another candidate withdrew. Her dissertation was on the structure of the antibiotic gramicidin, even while working on chemistry, she was already thinking towards law and politics
Margaret Thatcher
–
Margaret Thatcher's birthplace, in
Grantham, above her father's grocery shop
Margaret Thatcher
–
The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher
LG OM PC FRS
Margaret Thatcher
–
Margaret Thatcher abolished school milk in 1970
Margaret Thatcher
–
Margaret Thatcher,
Leader of the Opposition, 18 September 1975
23.
Ringo Starr
–
Richard Starkey, MBE, known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He occasionally sang lead vocals, usually for one song on an album, including With a Little Help from My Friends, Yellow Submarine and their cover of Act Naturally. He also wrote the Beatles songs Dont Pass Me By and Octopuss Garden, Starr was twice afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, and as a result of prolonged hospitalisations fell behind in school. In 1955, he entered the workforce and briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer, soon afterwards, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze, developing a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he cofounded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, when the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success with that band in the UK and Hamburg, he quit the Hurricanes and joined the Beatles in August 1962, Starr played key roles in the Beatles films and appeared in numerous others. After the bands break-up in 1970, he released several singles including the US number four hit It Dont Come Easy. In 1972, he released his most successful UK single, Back Off Boogaloo and he achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top ten release in both the UK and the US. He has been featured in a number of documentaries and hosted television shows, since 1989, he has toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Ringos popularity brought forth a new paradigm and we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. Starr, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988, was inducted for his solo career in 2015. Richard Starkey was born on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle and he is the only child of confectioners Elsie and Richard Starkey. Elsie enjoyed singing and dancing, a hobby that she shared with her husband, an avid fan of swing. Prior to the birth of their son, whom they nicknamed Ritchie, the couple had spent much of their time on the local ballroom circuit. Elsie adopted an approach to raising her son that bordered on fixation. Subsequently, Big Ritchie, as Starkeys father became known, lost interest in his family, choosing instead to spend hours drinking and dancing in pubs
Ringo Starr
–
In Sydney, Australia, February 2013
Ringo Starr
–
Starr's birthplace in Madryn Street, Dingle, Liverpool
Ringo Starr
–
Starr's childhood residence at
10 Admiral Grove, Dingle, Liverpool
Ringo Starr
–
The Beatles arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on 7 February 1964. Ringo is on the right.
24.
The Beatles
–
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. They acquired the nickname the Fab Four as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, from 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, after their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in November 2001. The Beatles are the band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act, according to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazines list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, as of 2016 and they have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were also collectively included in Time magazines compilation of the twentieth centurys 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he, in February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, after a month of Harrisons persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennons Quarry Bank friends had left the group, the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer. By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles, allan Williams, the Beatles unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960
The Beatles
–
The "Fab Four" Beatles lineup in 1964 Top: Lennon, McCartney Bottom: Harrison, Starr
The Beatles
–
Abbey Road Studios main entrance
The Beatles
–
McCartney, Harrison, Swedish pop singer
Lill-Babs and Lennon on the set of the Swedish television show Drop-In, 30 October 1963
The Beatles
–
The Beatles arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964
25.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–
Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering, though Brunels projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. Brunel set the standard for a railway, using careful surveys to minimise grades and curves. This necessitated expensive construction techniques, new bridges, new viaducts, one controversial feature was the wide gauge, a broad gauge of 7 ft 1⁄4 in, instead of what was later to be known as standard gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in. Brunel astonished Britain by proposing to extend the Great Western Railway westward to North America by building steam-powered iron-hulled ships and he designed and built three ships that revolutionised naval engineering, the Great Western, the Great Britain, and the Great Eastern. In 2002, Brunel was placed second in a BBC public poll to determine the 100 Greatest Britons, in 2006, the bicentenary of his birth, a major programme of events celebrated his life and work under the name Brunel 200. Brunels name is an amalgamation of his parents names and he inherited the family name of his father, and his middle name is his mothers surname. Brunels first name, Isambard, comes from his fathers middle name, Isambard is a Norman name of Germanic origin, meaning iron-bright. A cognate name is the German surname Eisenbarth, which can still be found today among Bavarians and German-Americans and he had two older sisters, Sophia and Emma, and the whole family moved to London in 1808 for his fathers work. Brunel had a childhood, despite the familys constant money worries. His father taught him drawing and observational techniques from the age of four, during this time he also learned fluent French and the basic principles of engineering. He was encouraged to draw interesting buildings and identify any faults in their structure, when Brunel was eight he was sent to Dr Morrells boarding school in Hove, where he learned the classics. When Brunel was 15, his father Marc, who had accumulated debts of over £5,000, was sent to a debtors prison. After three months went by with no prospect of release, Marc let it be known that he was considering an offer from the Tsar of Russia. In August 1821, facing the prospect of losing a prominent engineer, Brunel subsequently studied under the prominent master clockmaker and horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet, who praised Brunels potential in letters to his father. In late 1822, having completed his apprenticeship, Brunel returned to England, Brunels father, Marc, was the chief engineer, and the project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company. The composition of the riverbed at Rotherhithe was often more than waterlogged sediment. The latter incident, in 1828, killed the two most senior miners, and Brunel himself narrowly escaped death and he was seriously injured, and spent six months recuperating
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–
Isambard Kingdom Brunel by the launching chains of the
SS Great Eastern by
Robert Howlett, 1857 (detail)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–
The
Thames Tunnel in 2005.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–
The
Clifton Suspension Bridge spans
Avon Gorge, linking
Clifton in Bristol to
Leigh Woods in North
Somerset.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
–
The
Maidenhead Railway Bridge, at the time the largest span for a brick arch bridge.
26.
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
–
The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games took place on the evening of Friday 27 July in the Olympic Stadium, London. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal opening of this international sporting event with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nations culture. The 2012 Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II, the spectacle was entitled Isles of Wonder and directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle. Prior to London 2012 there had been considerable apprehension about Britains ability to stage a ceremony that could reach the standard set at the Beijing Summer Games of 2008. The 2008 ceremony had been noted for its scale, extravagance and expense, hailed as the greatest ever, in contrast, London spent an estimated £27m, which was nevertheless about twice the original budget. Nonetheless, the London opening ceremony was seen as a tremendous success, widely praised as a masterpiece. The ceremony began at 21,00 BST and lasted almost four hours and it was watched by an estimated worldwide television audience of 900 million, becoming the most-viewed Olympic opening ceremony in both the UK and US. The content had largely been kept secret before the performance, despite involving thousands of volunteers, two shorter sections drew particular comment, involving a filmed cameo appearance of the Queen, and a live performance by the London Symphony Orchestra joined by comedian Rowan Atkinson. These were widely ascribed to Britains sense of humour, the ceremony featured children and young people in most of its segments, reflecting the inspire a generation aspiration of Londons original bid for the Games. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games approached Danny Boyle to be the director of the ceremony in June 2010 and he said it felt weirdly more like a. civic or national responsibility to take the job. He said. obviously Im not going to try and build on Beijing and we cant, and you wouldnt want to, so were going back to the beginning. Were going to try and give the impression that were rethinking and restarting, theyve tried to top themselves each time and you cant do that after Beijing. Beijings budget had been £65m, whereas Londons final budget was £27m, the London stadium had the same number of seats as Beijings, but was half the size, this intimacy of scale meant that Boyle felt he could achieve something personal and connecting. K. Chesterton aphorism, The world shall not for lack of wonders. In July 2010 Boyle started brainstorming ideas with designer Mark Tildesley, writer Frank Cottrell Boyce and they considered what was essentially British, with the non-British Larlarb able to offer a view of what the world thought Britain meant. Cottrell Boyce had given Boyle a copy of Pandaemonium, by Humphrey Jennings and it had become traditional during the opening ceremony to produce the Olympic rings in a spectacular manner. Boyle decided that the journey from the pastoral to the industrial, at the same time the team moved to the Three Mills studio complex in east London, where a 4x4 metre scale model of the stadium was built. For security reasons, a single CGI-assisted version of the ceremony was kept on editor Sascha Dhillons laptop, the cast included professional performers and 7,500 volunteers
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
–
Final rehearsal on 25 July
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
–
Danny Boyle, the director of the opening ceremony
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
–
The
2012 Tour de France winner
Bradley Wiggins opening the ceremony
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
–
Scene representing
Industrial Britain. Rehearsal 23 July 2012 before the ceremony four days later.
27.
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as A Symphony of British Music, was held on 12–13 August in the Olympic Stadium. The closing ceremony was created by Kim Gavin, Es Devlin, Stephen Daldry, David Arnold, the worldwide broadcast began at 21,00 BST and finished on 13 August 2012 at 00,11, lasting three hours and eleven minutes. The stadium had turned into a giant representation of the Union Flag. Around 4,100 people partook in the ceremony, which reportedly cost £20 million, the 2012 Summer Olympics were officially closed by Jacques Rogge, who called Londons games happy and glorious. The ceremony included a handover to the next host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro and saw the Olympic flame extinguished, the main part of the evening featured a one-hour symphony of British Music as a number of British Pop acts appeared. Tributes to John Lennon and Freddie Mercury and the industry were included in the section. Rio marked the handover with a section known as Embrace created by Cao Hamburger and Daniela Thomas. Sebastian Coe gave a speech, and the volunteers of London 2012 were thanked, an average of 23.2 million viewers in the United Kingdom watched the event, with an estimated 750 million worldwide. Critics were generally positive, but noted that it was not as good as the opening ceremony, some of the foreign reviews questioned whether everyone would have understood the nods to British film and television. George Michael was roundly criticised for his song choice while Kate Moss, some performers were initially reluctant to appear, and other high-profile acts turned down invitations to perform at the ceremony. NBC in the United States and Prime TV in New Zealand were criticised by viewers for their broadcasts of the ceremony, there was also a concert in Hyde Park to close the Olympics, featuring Blur, New Order, and The Specials. The creative director and choreographer was Kim Gavin, with Es Devlin responsible for design, when Arnold was announced in his role he said that doing the closing ceremony was an honour and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While Gavin stated that he was excited and honoured to be involved. Davlin said that she was delighted to be part of the greatest show on earth, hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, stated that he was delighted to have a high-quality team working on the ceremony. While Boris Johnson stated that we have the best of British creating the bookends to our Games, Stephen Daldry was the executive producer and Mark Fisher was in charge of production design. The ceremony cost £20 million, with the artists paid just £1 for contractual purposes, around 4,100 performers took part, comprising 3,500 adult volunteers,380 schoolchildren from the six original host boroughs, and 250 professionals. There had been around 15 rehearsals for the volunteers at the Three Mills Studio and at a site in Dagenham. Gavin said that “the show we are putting on is very shiny and we dont want to bang on about our culture
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
Landmarks in the stadium.
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
Olympic athletes assembled in the shape of the
Union Flag
2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
–
A sculpture of the face of
John Lennon at the closing ceremony.
28.
2012 Summer Olympics
–
It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 25 July to 12 August 2012. The first event, the stage in womens football began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated, London is the first and only city thus far to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability, the main focus was a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid, the Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly. During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Womens boxing was included for the first time, thus the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors and these were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several world and Olympic records were set at the games. Furthermore, the focus on sporting legacy and post-games venue sustainability was seen as a blueprint for future Olympics. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a technical evaluation. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February, throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin and its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris, on 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive, London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, but my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, on 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York, the final two contenders were London and Paris
2012 Summer Olympics
–
Lord Coe – the head of the London 2012 bid
2012 Summer Olympics
–
Games of the XXX Olympiad
2012 Summer Olympics
–
The
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on the
Isle of Portland in Dorset hosted the
sailing events
2012 Summer Olympics
–
Aerial view of the
Olympic Park in April 2012
29.
Winston Churchill
–
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
Winston Churchill
–
The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill
KG OM CH TD DL FRS RA
Winston Churchill
–
Jennie Jerome (1854–1921), the American-born mother of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
–
Churchill, aged seven, in 1881
Winston Churchill
–
Blenheim Palace, the Churchill family home
30.
Kenneth Branagh
–
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh is a Northern Irish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter originally from Belfast. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and he has directed or starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeares plays, including Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet, Loves Labours Lost, and As You Like It. He also narrated the BBC documentary miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, and has won three BAFTAs, and an Emmy. He was appointed a knight bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and was knighted on 9 November 2012, at the age of nine, he moved with his family to Reading, Berkshire, to escape the Troubles. He was educated at Grove Primary School, Whiteknights Primary School, then Meadway School, Tilehurst, at school, he acquired Received Pronunciation to avoid bullying. On his identity today he has said, I feel Irish, I dont think you can take Belfast out of the boy, and he attributes his love of words to his Irish heritage. He is known to have attended the Reading Cine & Video Society as a member and was a member of Progress Theatre for whom he is now the patron. Branagh went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Branagh was part of the new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne, in 1984 he appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry V, directed by Adrian Noble. The production played to full houses, especially at the Barbican in London and it was this production that he adapted for the film version of the play in 1989. This Twelfth Night was later adapted for television, on the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness. A year later in 1989 Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance revival of Look Back in Anger, Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre. In 2002, Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III, in 2003 he starred in the Royal National Theatres production of David Mamets Edmond. Branagh directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001, from September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndhams Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhovs Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the performance of the year by several critics and it won him the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics. In July 2013 he co-directed Macbeth at Manchester International Festival with Rob Ashford, with Branagh in the title role, Alex Kingston played Lady Macbeth and Ray Fearon featured as Macduff. The final performance of the sold out run, was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part of National Theatre Live. He repeated his performance and directorial duties opposite Ashford and Kingston when the production moved to New York Citys Park Avenue Armory in June 2014, the production marked his New York stage debut
Kenneth Branagh
–
Branagh at a press conference for Thor
Kenneth Branagh
–
Branagh in July 2009 at the Roma Fiction Fest, where he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award
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