1.
Grosvenor House Hotel
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Grosvenor House is a hotel in the Mayfair area of London. The hotel is owned by Sahara India Pariwar, an Indian conglomerate, the hotel is managed by JW Marriott Hotels, which is a brand of Marriott International. Grosvenor House was the first hotel in London at that time to have a bathroom and entrance lobby for each bedroom. When the hotel first opened it was also the headquarters of the International Sportsmen’s Club and its facilities included Turkish baths, a swimming pool, squash courts and a gymnasium. The hotel has an entrance on Park Lane in Mayfair. The official address of the hotel is 86-90 Park Lane and it is an outpost of Londons largest cluster of luxury hotels, which is centred on Hyde Park Corner. The Great Room at the Grosvenor House is the venue of many prominent awards evenings, charity balls, although now not used as such, the Great Room was originally built as an ice-rink and much of the machinery lies dormant under the current flooring. In 1933, Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, sonja Henie, Cecilia Colledge, and other famous skaters frequently displayed their skill. Anticipating competition from other ice rinks, in 1935 the rink was converted into a hall measuring 1,902 square metres. It has hosted parties, galas, awards ceremonies, dinners and balls to mark most significant national events and celebrations. The Grosvenor House Hotel was built in the 1920s and opened in 1929 on the site of Grosvenor House, the hotel owed its existence to Albert Octavius Edwards who conceived and built it, then presided over it as chairman for 10 years. Key to the story of the hotel was A. H. Jones, in January 1929, six months after the completion of the first block of apartments, and six months before completion of the hotel, Edwards brought Jones to Grosvenor House as accountant. In 1936, at the age of 29, Jones became general manager of Grosvenor House, apart from the war years, when he served with the Royal Artillery and later in the NAAFI, Jones held this position until he retired in 1965. The hotel was not finally completed until the 1950s because Baron Bruno Schröder, Schröder remained in the house until his death in 1943, and permission to demolish the house was finally given in 1956. The house was replaced with a 92-bedroom extension which was opened in 1957 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Peter Thorneycroft. Grosvenor House managed to have a ‘good’ World War II, ten thousand sandbags and five miles of blackout material protected the building, and its entertaining space was used in the war effort. The Great Room initially became home to the Officers’ Sunday Club and then, in 1943, generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton were regular visitors. It underwent a renovation and restoration costing £142 million
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
Lauren Laverne
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Lauren Cecilia Fisher, known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, television presenter, author, singer and comedian. Laverne has written a novel entitled Candypop, Candy and the Broken Biscuits. Laverne was born and brought up in Sunderland in a large family, One grandfather had been a shipbuilder, another a coalminer. Her father was a lecturer at Newcastle University, Dr Lesley Gofton. She first attended St. Marys R. C, primary School in 1982, where she befriended Marie Nixon, later to become a fellow Kenickie guitarist, and then St. Anthonys Girls School between 1989 and 1994, where she and Nixon met Emma Jackson. Laverne went on to study at City of Sunderland College from 1994 to 1996, in all, Kenickie achieved four top 40 hits and a top ten album. She was also working on an album at this time. She subsequently provided guest vocals on the Divine Comedys 2004 single Come Home Billy Bird, Lavernes first television presenting job was Play UKs series The Alphabet Show, with Chris Addison, made while Kenickie were still together. She also presented a documentary for Sky One on the rise of popularity of the US hit TV Show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, called Buffy and this was done when the show was returning for its sixth season in 2001. In 2003 Lauren was a team captain, along with Jason Byrne. In 2004 she was a regular guest on the quiz show HeadJam, the show finished in April 2006. in April 2006, she appeared as guest host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In August, Laverne presented Channel 4s coverage of the V Festival, in March 2007, she presented the NME Awards live from the Hammersmith Palais. In July 2007, Laverne appeared on the comedy show Mock the Week. She appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 10 January 2008, in September 2008, Laverne appeared again on Mock the Week. In March 2008, Laverne appeared on the Lily Allen and Friends show with fellow Sunderland musicians the Futureheads, from 2006 to 2010, she was a regular presenter with the weekly BBC arts magazine programme The Culture Show, alongside Mark Kermode. She also presented the series of the late-night Channel 4 music show Transmission with T-Mobile opposite Steve Jones. Laverne replaced radio DJ Jo Whiley on the talent show Orange Mobile Act Unsigned, Laverne became a regular presenter in the new magazine format third series of Its Not Easy Being Green, first broadcast on BBC Two in January 2009. She also narrated Tough Guy or Chicken, on BBC Three in August 2009
5.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (film)
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 Cold War espionage film directed by Tomas Alfredson. The screenplay was written by Bridget OConnor and Peter Straughan, based on John le Carrés 1974 novel of the same name, the film was produced through the British company Working Title Films and financed by Frances StudioCanal. It premiered in competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival and it was a critical and commercial success, and was the highest-grossing film at the British box office for three consecutive weeks. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, the film also received three Academy Awards nominations, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and for Oldman, Best Actor. The novel had previously adapted into the award-winning BBC TV miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In October 1973, Control, head of British intelligence, sends agent Jim Prideaux to Budapest to meet a Hungarian general wishing to defect. Prideaux is shot and captured and amidst the international incident that follows, Control and his right-hand man George Smiley are forced into retirement, percy Alleline becomes the new Chief, Bill Haydon his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as lieutenants. Smiley chooses a trustworthy agent, Peter Guillam and retired Special Branch officer Mendel to help him and he interviews former Circus analyst Connie Sachs, who was sacked by Alleline after deducing that Alexei Polyakov, a Soviet cultural attaché in London, was a spy. Tarr tells Smiley that on a mission to Istanbul, he had an affair with Irina, concluding that the mole had intercepted his message, Tarr went into hiding, suspected of defecting and murdering the British station chief. Smiley sends Guillam to steal the Circus logbook for the night Tarr had called and he finds the pages for that night have been cut out, Smiley interviews Prideaux, who after brutal interrogation was exchanged by the Soviets but sacked from the service. Prideaux says the purpose of the mission to Hungary was to get the name of the mole, Control had codenamed the suspects Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poorman and Beggarman. Smiley blackmails the location of the house out of Esterhase, whose exile status makes him vulnerable to deportation. Smiley then has Tarr appear at the Paris office, implying he knows who the mole is, the mole meets Polyakov at the safe house, where Smiley arrests him. The project was initiated by Peter Morgan when he wrote a draft of the screenplay, Morgan dropped out as the writer for personal reasons but still served as an executive producer. Following Morgans departure as writer, Working Title hired Peter Straughan, park Chan-wook considered directing the film, but ultimately turned it down. Tomas Alfredson was confirmed to direct on 9 July 2009, the production is his first English language film. The film was backed financially by Frances StudioCanal and had a budget corresponding to $21 million, the film is dedicated to OConnor, who died of cancer during production. The director cast Gary Oldman in the role of George Smiley, and described the actor as having a great face and the quiet intensity and intelligence thats needed
6.
Drive (2011 film)
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Drive is a 2011 American neo-noir crime film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and written by Hossein Amini, based on the 2005 novel by James Sallis. It stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, the film is about an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. After he becomes attracted to a neighbor whose husband owes money to local gangsters. Reviews from critics were positive, and many comparisons to work from previous eras. The film was nominated for Best Film and Best Direction at the 65th British Academy Film Awards, the unnamed Driver works as a mechanic, a movie double, and a stunt driver, as well as a criminal-for-hire getaway driver. He is managed in all jobs by auto shop owner Shannon, the Driver meets his new neighbor, Irene, and becomes close to her and her young son, Benicio. Irenes husband, Standard Gabriel, is in prison, after Standard is released, Irene still asks the Driver to visit them. Standard owes protection money from his time in prison and is beaten up by Albanian gangster Cook, Cook gives Benicio a bullet as a symbol that he and his mother are in danger. The Driver, concerned for the safety of Irene and Benicio, the job goes awry when Standard is shot and killed by the pawnshop owner while the Driver is waiting for him and Cooks accomplice, Blanche. The Driver and Blanche escape after a car chase with a mysterious adversary. The Driver hides with Blanche in a motel, where he learns that the bag contains a million dollars, two of Cooks men ambush them in the motel room, killing Blanche before the Driver manages to kill them both. At the auto shop, Shannon offers to hide the money and he hunts down Cook in a strip club, smashes his fingers with a hammer, threatens to kill him, and force-feeds him the bullet that was given to Benicio. Cook reveals that Nino was behind the robbery, the Driver decides to return the money, but Nino dismisses the offer and instead sends a hitman to the Drivers apartment building. Entering the elevator with Irene, the Driver encounters the hitman and he then kisses Irene and brutally beats the hitman to death. Afterwards, Irene exits the elevator stunned and horrified, Bernie warns Nino that nobody steals from the Italian Mob. Nino is angry because the Italian Mob has marginalized and insulted him due to his Jewish heritage and he convinces Bernie to follow his plan. Bernie then murders Cook, as he is the witness to their agreement. After Shannon refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the driver, Bernie kills him at the shop with a straight razor
