1.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
2005 in England
–
Events from 2005 in England Monarch – Elizabeth II5 January - Funeral of Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra, takes place at St. Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle. 8 January After a night of stormy weather, extensive flooding has occurred in Carlisle as well as other locations,12 January - Britains tallest self-supporting sculpture, the B of the Bang, is unveiled in Manchester by Linford Christie. 15 January - Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Jackson, MP for Wantage, Oxfordshire, defects to the Labour Party. 26 January Closure of Ellington Colliery at Ellington, Northumberland, the last remaining operational deep coal mine in North East England, and the last in the UK to extract coal from under the sea. Rodney Marsh, the former England national football star, is dismissed from his position as a pundit on Sky Sports because of a joke he made live on air concerning the Asian tsunami. 29 January - Chris Smith, the former British Culture Secretary,2 February Two firefighters and a member of the public die in a fire on the 14th and 15th floors of a 17-storey tower block in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Seven other people are hospitalised, one in serious condition, and 70 people are evacuated from the block,7 February - Englishwoman Ellen MacArthur sets a record for the quickest round-the-world solo sail. 10 February - Clarence House announces that The Prince of Wales is to marry Camilla Parker Bowles on Friday 8 April in a ceremony at Windsor Castle. She has been styled HRH The Duchess of Cornwall since, and it was announced that,14 February Hare coursing, As the final Waterloo Cup event in England starts in Altcar, four anti-coursing protesters are arrested. The event is expected to attract up to 10,000 spectators over its 3 days, Londons mayor Ken Livingstone is censured by the London Assembly for comparing a Jewish journalist for the Evening Standard to a concentration camp guard. Livingstone refuses to withdraw his comments,17 February - The BNFL nuclear plant at Sellafield, in the United Kingdom, reports that 30 kg of plutonium is unaccounted for. This amount of missing plutonium would be sufficient to make seven atomic bombs, the UK Atomic Energy Authority states that the discrepancy in the record keeping is merely an auditing issue, and that there was no real loss of plutonium. 18 February - The Hunting Act, the ban on hunting dogs in England. Its opponents intend to challenge the law and hunt,1 March - The New Forest in Hampshire becomes Englands twelfth national park. 9 April - The Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in a 20-minute ceremony at Windsor Guildhall,12 May - Malcolm Glazer gains control of Manchester United after securing a 70% share, ending more than 30 years of ownership by the Edwards family. 21 May - Arsenal become the first team to win the FA Cup on penalties after they defeat Manchester United in a shoot-out that follows a goalless draw,27 May - Mark Hobson is sentenced to life imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court after admitting four charges of murder. On a killing spree in July last year, 35-year-old Hobson killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, Claires sister Diane Sanderson, as well as pensioners James, the trial judge recommends that Hobson is never released from prison. 17 June - The Ugandan-born bishop of Birmingham, John Sentamu is named the new Archbishop of York and he is the first ever black person to be appointed an Archbishop of the Church of England
3.
2005 in Northern Ireland
–
The following details notable events from the year 2005 in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland and it is variously described as a country, province or region of the UK, amongst other terms. Northern Ireland shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south, monarch - Elizabeth II20 January – Belfast man Robert McCartney was murdered outside a bar in the city by members of the Provisional IRA. January – During a storm, a lorry was blown off the Foyle Bridge, the surviving members of the families were released in 1989 when the scientific evidence against them was discredited. 17 February – Seven people were detained by Gardaí for suspected activities in relation to the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in December 2004, £2.3 million sterling was seized in County Cork. 3 March – Sinn Féin suspended seven members over their involvement in the murder of Belfast man Robert McCartney. 17 March – Saint Patricks Day, The sisters and fiancée of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney met United States President George W. Bush in the United States, may – The Police Service of Northern Ireland took delivery of its first helicopter, a Eurocopter EC135. 5 May – United Kingdom general election,20057 May – Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble resigned the leadership after losing his seat in the general election. 24 June – The IRA apologised unreservedly to the family of 14-year-old Kathleen Feeney, the IRA had previously blamed the British Army for the killing, and murdered a British soldier in retaliation. 28 July – In what was described as an historic day, the organisation also ordered its members not to engage in any other activities of any kind. 2 August – The British Army began to dismantle the observation post on top of Divis Tower in Belfast, September – Historical Enquiries Team, unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, was established to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles. 7 September – At Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland beat England 1–0 and it was the first time since 1927 that the team beat England at home. 20–22 November – The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso paid a visit, his second to Northern Ireland. He visited the Corrymeela Community in Ballycastle, County Antrim, a peace and reconciliation centre and he officially opened the headquarters of Mediation Northern Ireland in Belfast on the 21st, and attended the 2005 Way of Peace celebration in Saint Annes Cathedral the next day. He last visited Northern Ireland in October 2000,24 November – Abbas Boutrab became the first non republican or loyalist to be convicted in the diplock courts of Northern Ireland. He was convicted of having information that could be used to bomb an airliner,25 November – The footballer George Best died in London after several months of declining health. 3 December – Parliament Buildings hosted the service for George Best. Approximately 25,000 people gathered in the grounds, with thousands more lining the cortege route,8 December – President Mary McAleese met Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle
4.
2005 British Grand Prix
–
The 2005 British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Silverstone Circuit on 10 July 2005. It was the race of the 2005 Formula One season. This was the last race for Patrick Friesacher, for the second consecutive race, Renaults Fernando Alonso took pole position while his championship rival, McLarens Kimi Räikkönen, was demoted ten places on the grid following an engine failure. Räikkönen, who had qualified second with a time just 0.027 seconds slower than Alonsos. Jordans Tiago Monteiro started at the rear of the grid after failing to set a time, before the race, a minute of silence was held as a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives in the London bombings three days earlier. The weather was hot, with air temperature at 30 °C, Sato would eventually rejoin the race, two laps behind the leaders. Montoya made a fast start, passing Button off the grid, Button held third, while Barrichello and Fisichella passed a slow-starting Trulli, who in turn was holding up Michael Schumacher. Räikkönen, already up four places, was able to close up behind Schumacher and Trulli. Montoya made his first pit stop on lap 21, a lap earlier than planned due to traffic, Alonso followed on lap 23, rejoining the race almost side-by-side with Montoya, who again held his line. Fisichella led for the two laps, setting the fastest lap in the process, before making his first stop. On lap 28, with every driver except Sato having pitted, on lap 32 Barrichello, on a three-stop strategy, made his second stop. This enabled Räikkönen, now the fastest man on the track, Montoya responded to his team-mates pace, and to Alonso, by setting back-to-back fastest laps on laps 40 and 41, increasing his lead over the Spaniard to over six seconds. On lap 43, Räikkönen took fourth when Button made his second stop, Montoya pitted on lap 44, putting Alonso back in front, before Barrichello made his third stop on lap 45. Alonso led for five laps before pitting on lap 49, and this meant that he did not have a big enough lead to make his stop and rejoin the race in front of Montoya, though he was comfortably ahead of Räikkönen. In the end, the Colombian took his first win for McLaren by 2.7 seconds, Räikkönen set the fastest race lap on the final circuit to finish less than 12 seconds behind Alonso, while Fisichella ended up 3.5 seconds behind the Finn. Button finished a distant fifth, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, there was only one retirement in the race, Jordans Narain Karthikeyan dropping out on lap 11 with an electrical failure. The result allowed Alonso to increase his lead over Räikkönen in the Drivers Championship by two points,77 to 51, Michael Schumacher remained in third on 43 points, while Montoya moved up to sixth with 26. In the Constructors Championship, McLaren reduced the deficit to Renault by three points,102 to 87, Ferrari remaining in third on 74, † For the second race in a row, Kimi Räikkönen received a ten-position grid penalty for an engine change
5.
2005 English cricket season
–
Before the beginning of the 2005 English cricket season began, a resurgent English cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series. This was followed by a tri-nations one-day tournament that also featured Australia, however, all eyes were on the Ashes. Australia still started as favourites, but England, for the first time in years, were expected to put up a challenge to Aussie supremacy. Indeed, so they did, despite losing the first Test by 239 runs, England came back to win the second and fourth Tests, and draw the third and fifth, to win the Ashes for the first time since 1986–87. It was the 72nd test series between the two sides with England finally winning 2-1, Andrew Flintoff dominated with both bat and ball for England, scoring 402 runs – more than any Australian – and taking 24 wickets – more than any Australian bar Shane Warne. In domestic cricket, Nottinghamshire won the County Championship, for the first time since 1987, Surrey, the 2000 and 2002 Championship winners, were relegated in the Championship, and played in Division Two in both the Championship and the National League in 2006. The Australian women also toured England at the time as the men. However, the Australian women won the ODI series 3–2, to round off the season, investors in partnership with Leicestershire arranged an International 20,20 Club Championship, which Pakistani side Faisalabad Wolves won. Test series, England beat Bangladesh 2–0 over two Tests, England regained the Ashes, beating Australia 2–1. ODI series, England and Australia shared the NatWest Series, Australia beat England 2–1 in the three-match ODI NatWest Challenge. Twenty20 International, England beat Australia in the one Twenty20 International that was played, the other games played were all between the first-class counties and university sides. The first matches showed a bumper crop of centuries, with joy for bowlers. The MCC ended up beating Warwickshire, away from the cricket field, on 8 April the ECB announced that triangular One Day International tournaments would no longer be played in England. The first round of the Frizzell County Championship saw Warwickshire gain maximum points, Durham replicated Warwickshires feat in Division Two, where Worcestershire also won. The first round of the totesport National Cricket League was held on 17 April,5 results were possible in the 8 matches. Rain continued to bedevil the second round of the County Championship, with only Yorkshire, in the MCC University matches, Bradford/Leeds UCCE shocked an injury-weakened Surrey by beating them at the Oval. In the second division, Essex and Lancashire beat Somerset and Worcestershire respectively, however, Durham, who sat this round out, led the table at the end of April, from Essex and Worcestershire, with Derbyshire and Leicestershire propping the table up
6.
2005 in British music
–
This is a summary of 2005 in music in the United Kingdom. On 14 January pop band Busted announced that they were to split, the band had released two albums and topped the singles chart four times. Other British artists who did well in the charts included The Chemical Brothers, James Blunt, McFly, Sugababes, Arctic Monkeys, Damon Albarns Gorillaz, Oasis, stereophonics earned their first number-one single with Dakota. Kate Bush returned to the world after a 12-year absence with the single King of the Mountain. 4, and was followed on 7 November by the double album Aerial. The Comic Relief single of the year, the double A-side of All About You and Youve Got a Friend by McFly, reached the top of the chart on 13 March. It was knocked off by a second Comic Relief single – a reissue of Tony Christies Is This the Way to Amarillo with the video that featured comedian Peter Kay alongside various guest stars. Headliners at the festivals included, The Foo Fighters and Green Day at T in the Park, Faithless, Morrissey. The world of jazz and avant garde music lost one of its pioneers at the end of this year, in addition to his appearance at the Pink Floyd reunion, Roger Waters released his first opera, Ça Ira. as a CD, with Bryn Terfel among the performers. Another crossover composer, Christian Forshaw, brought out Mortal Flesh, master of the Queens Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, continued his series of Naxos Quartets with nos.6 and 7. 22 January – The Tsunami Relief concert is held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff,17 April – Digital downloads are included in the chart for the first time, but only for sales of a record with an equivalent physical release. 2 May - Legendary blues-rock group Cream reunites for four shows in Londons Royal Albert Hall,12 June – Pink Floyd announce that they will reunite with former bassist Roger Waters, who left the band in 1985, on July 2 for the Live 8 London concert. This would be the first time the band played together as a quartet since The Wall tour in 1981,21 December – Elton John marries David Furnish in London. This marriage comes in the wake of new British laws affording gay unions the same legal protection enjoyed within straight marriages,6 Naxos Quartet No.7 John Tavener - Fragment for the Virgin, written for violinist Nicola Benedetti. A Musical, by Mat Fraser, is premièred at Battersea Arts Centre, the Record of the Year was awarded to You Raise Me Up by Westlife
7.
2005
–
2005 was designated as, International Year for Sport and Physical Education International Year of Microcredit The year 2005 was the end of the International Decade of the Worlds Indigenous People. January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral with the purpose of studying the comet Tempel 1, january 14 – The Huygens spacecraft lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. February 10 – North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States, february 14 – Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut. February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol officially goes into effect, march 14 – The Peoples Republic of China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence. March 24 – The President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev is overthrown following mass anti-government demonstrations, march 28 – The 8.6 Mw Nias–Simeulue earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI, leaving 915–1,314 people dead and 340–1,146 injured. April 2 – Pope John Paul II dies, over 4 million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him, Pope Benedict XVI succeeds him on April 19, becoming the 265th pope. April 9 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a ceremony at Windsors Guildhall. Camilla acquires the title Duchess of Cornwall, April 26 – Syria withdraws the last of its military garrison from Lebanon, ending its 29-year military occupation of the country. April 27 – The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, may 13 – Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops massacre at least 200 protesters in the city of Andijan. May 15 – A passenger ferry capsizes and sinks in strong winds in the Bura Gauranga River in Bangladesh, june 21 – A Volna booster rocket carrying the first light sail spacecraft fails 83 seconds after its launch, destroying the spacecraft. June 28 – Three U. S. Navy SEALs and 16 American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. Only one SEAL survives the battle, july 2 – Live 8, a set of 10 simultaneous concerts, takes place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign. July 6 – The European Parliament rejects the Proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading, july 7 – Four coordinated suicide bombings rock central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700. July 23 – A series of hit the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. July 28 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces an end to the campaign it has pursued since 1969. August 12 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched from Cape Canaveral, august 16 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 160 passengers. August 18 – Peace Mission 2005, the first joint China–Russia military exercise, august 29 – Hurricane Katrina makes landfall along the U. S. Gulf Coast, causing severe damage and killing over a thousand people and dealing an estimated $108 billion in damage. August 31 – A stampede at the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad, Iraq, september 7 – Egypt holds its first ever multi-party presidential election, which is marred with allegations of fraud
8.
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
–
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and its overseas territories. The monarchs title is King or Queen, the current monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. The monarch and his or her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic, as the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is, by tradition, commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces, from 1603, when the Scottish monarch King James VI inherited the English throne as James I, both the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, the Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married Catholics, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the British monarch became nominal head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the worlds surface at its greatest extent in 1921. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth monarchies that share the person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the Monarch is the Head of State, oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors. God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, and the monarch appears on postage stamps, coins, the Monarch takes little direct part in Government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majestys Government, which comprises Ministers, primarily the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and they have the direction of the Armed Forces of the Crown, the Civil Service and other Crown Servants such as the Diplomatic and Secret Services. Judicial power is vested in the Judiciary, who by constitution, the Church of England, of which the Monarch is the head, has its own legislative, judicial and executive structures. Powers independent of government are legally granted to public bodies by statute or Statutory Instrument such as an Order in Council. The Sovereigns role as a monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions. This role has been recognised since the 19th century, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the dignified part rather than the efficient part of government. Whenever necessary, the Monarch is responsible for appointing a new Prime Minister, the Prime Minister takes office by attending the Monarch in private audience, and after kissing hands that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument. Since 1945, there have only been two hung parliaments, the first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilsons Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party, the second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II
9.
Elizabeth II
–
Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
10.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
–
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign
11.
Tony Blair
–
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
12.
Labour Party (UK)
–
The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
13.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
–
It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
14.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
–
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level, the Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by Dr David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act is believed by Ben Robertson to have been diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition, the full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellors Department, the Act led to the renaming of the Data Protection Commissioner, who is now known as the Information Commissioner. The Office of the Information Commissioner oversees the operation of the Act, a second freedom of information law is in existence in the UK, the Freedom of Information Act 2002. It was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2002, to public bodies over which the Holyrood parliament. For these institutions, it fulfils the same purpose as the 2000 Act, around 120,000 requests are made each year. Private citizens made 60% of them, with businesses and journalists accounting for 20% and 10% respectively, journalists requests took up more of officials time than businesses and individuals requests. The Act cost £35.5 million in 2005, the act implements what was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election. Before its introduction, there had no right of access to government by the general public. The act was preceded by a 1998 white paper, entitled Your Right to Know by Dr David Clark, the white paper was met with widespread enthusiasm, and was described at the time as being almost too good to be true by one advocate of freedom of information legislation. The final act was more limited in scope than the initial white paper. Public Authorities, publicly owned companies and designated bodies performing public functions, in principle, the freedom of information act applies to all public authorities within the United Kingdom, a full list of public authorities for the purposes of the act is included in Schedule 1. A few government departments are expressly excluded from the scope of the act, as government departments are closed and created, the act must be continually updated. It is important to note that for public authorities listed under Schedule 1 the act has limited effect. For example, the BBC is subject to the act only for information which is not held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, to prevent its journalistic activities from possible compromise. The scope of this provision was considered in the recent High Court decision of BBC v Sugar an internal BBC document examining the BBC coverage of the Middle East for potential bias. The appellants in that case argued that the document had been produced for both operational and journalistic reasons, and so should not be covered by the partial exemption provided in the act
15.
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
–
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 is a UK Statutory Instrument that provides a statutory right of access to environmental information held by UK public authorities. The regulations came into force on 1 January 2005, the Regulations covers UK Central Government and public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish public authorities are covered by the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the implement the European Council Directive 2003/4/CE on public access to environmental information in the UK. The Directive in turn has as its source the Aarhus Convention, recognising the reality of a wide diversity of information, the Regulations allow alternative formats, but require that they be easily accessible to the public. There is no denying that the obligation placed on holders of Environmental Information is public electronic dissemination. Environmental information includes information about air, water, soil, land, flora and fauna, energy, noise, waste, Environmental Information also includes information about decisions, policies and activities that affect the environment. It is accepted by the UK Government that most maps will contain environmental information, the Freedom of Information Act sets out a list of the bodies and classes of bodies that are public authorities, the EIR is less prescriptive. MI5 acknowledge that they are covered by the EIR and have published Environmental Information on their website, the regulations were originally interpreted by the Information Commissioner to include water companies, however, the Upper Tribunal has ruled that they are not subject to the Regulations. This has now superseded by the CJEU ruling which extends public authorities to a much wider definition including private companies. Requests for information under the Regulations can be made in writing or verbally, the exceptions that public authorities can use to withhold information under the Regulations are narrower in their scope and application than the exemptions contained in the Act. As with the Act, public authorities have 20 working days from the receipt of a request to provide the information to the requester or to explain the exceptions that apply, the Information Commissioner is responsible for dealing with complaints against public authorities related to EIR. The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for dealing with complaints against public authorities related to equivalent Scottish regulations
16.
Child Trust Funds Act 2004
–
The Child Trust Funds Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This section is amended by section 1 of the Savings Accounts and this section was repealed by Part 2 of Schedule 27 to the Finance Act 2007. The Child Trust Funds Act 2004, as originally enacted from the National Archives, explanatory notes to the Child Trust Funds Act 2004
17.
EMV
–
EMV is a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines that can accept them. EMV cards are cards that store their data on integrated circuits in addition to magnetic stripes. These include cards that must be inserted into a reader. Payment cards that comply with the EMV standard are often called Chip and PIN or Chip and Signature cards, EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, the three companies that originally created the standard. The standard is now managed by EMVCo, a consortium with control split equally among Visa, MasterCard, JCB, American Express, China UnionPay, there are standards based on ISO/IEC7816 for contact cards, and standards based on ISO/IEC14443 for contactless cards. Visa and MasterCard have also developed standards for using EMV cards in devices to support card not present transactions over the telephone, MasterCard has the Chip Authentication Program for secure e-commerce. Its implementation is known as EMV-CAP and supports a number of modes, Visa has the Dynamic Passcode Authentication scheme, which is their implementation of CAP using different default values. Under that system, the customer hands their card to the clerk at the point of sale, in the former case, the system verifies account details and prints a slip for the customer to sign. In the case of an imprint, the transaction details are filled in. In either case, the clerk verifies that the customers signature matches that on the back of the card to authenticate the transaction. This system has a number of security flaws, including the ability to steal a card in the post, more recently, technology has become available on the black market for both reading and writing the magnetic stripes, making cards easy to clone and use without the owners knowledge. The first standard for smart payment cards was the Carte Bancaire M4 from Bull-CP8 deployed in France in 1986, geldkarte in Germany also predates EMV. EMV was designed to allow cards and terminals to be compatible with these standards. France has since migrated all its card and terminal infrastructure to EMV, the EMV standard was initially written in 1993 and 1994. JCB joined the consortium in February 2009, China UnionPay in May 2013, there are two major benefits to moving to smart-card-based credit card payment systems, improved security, and the possibility for finer control of offline credit-card transaction approvals. One of the goals of EMV was to provide for multiple applications on a card. With current processing regulations in the United States, new issue debit cards contain two applications — a card association application, and a common debit application, the common debit application ID is somewhat of a misnomer as each common debit application actually uses the resident card association application. The use of a PIN and cryptographic algorithms such as Triple DES, RSA and SHA provide authentication of the card to the processing terminal, whether or not PIN authentication takes place depends upon the capabilities of the terminal and programming of the card
18.
Angus Ogilvy
–
Sir Angus James Bruce Ogilvy, KCVO PC was a British businessman, best known as the husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. Ogilvy is also remembered for his role in a scandal involving the breaking of sanctions against the regime in Rhodesia in the 1970s in the Lonrho affair, in later years, he was heavily involved in charity work. The Hon. Angus Ogilvy was born in London, the son of the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke. Many of his relatives had close links with the British Royal Family and his grandmother, Mabell Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, was a close friend and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary. His father was a Lord-in-Waiting to King George V and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth and he was a second cousin of Diana Mosley, second cousin of Lavinia Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, and a second cousin once removed of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury. He was also third cousin, once removed of Pamela Harriman, Ogilvy was educated at Heatherdown School, near Ascot in Berkshire, and later at Eton College. Between 1946 and 1948, while on National service, he was commissioned as an officer in the Scots Guards, in 1947 he attended Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1950 with a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. After university, Ogilvy worked at the Drayton company, later working with the tycoon Tiny Rowland in Draytons subsidiary, London and Rhodesia Mining and his career ended in 1976 after he was criticised in a Department of Trade report into the companys activities. On 24 April 1963, Ogilvy married Princess Alexandra of Kent, a granddaughter of King George V, the wedding ceremony was attended by all the members of the Royal Family and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people. The Queen had offered Ogilvy an earldom on his wedding, which he declined and he also rejected a grace-and-favour apartment at one of the Royal Palaces. Instead, he leased Thatched House Lodge in Richmond, London from the Crown Estate for him and Princess Alexandra to live in, however, Princess Alexandra retained an apartment at St Jamess Palace, which is customary for the royal family. Together, the couple had two children, James Robert Bruce Ogilvy, married Julia Caroline Rawlinson on 30 July 1988 at St Mary the Virgin Church in Saffron Walden, in the 1997 New Year Honours, he was made a Privy Counsellor. After his business career was blighted, Ogilvy was involved with charity work and he served as president of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and as chairman of Youth Clubs UK, the biggest non-uniformed youth organisation in Britain. He was also a member of the Royal Company of Archers and he suffered from throat cancer in later years and his last public appearance with his wife was when he accompanied her to Thailand for an official tour. Ogilvy died in Kingston upon Thames, London, on 26 December 2004 and his funeral took place at St. Georges Chapel, Windsor in Windsor Castle on 5 January 2005. He was buried at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore at Windsor,14 September 1928 –31 December 1988, The Hon. Angus Ogilvy 31 December 1988 –1997, The Hon. Sir Angus Ogilvy, KCVO1997 –26 December 2004, The Rt Hon, Sir Angus Ogilvy, KCVO PC KCVO, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order,31 December 1988 Guardian obituary BBC News- Royals attend Sir Anguss funeral
19.
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
–
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, KG, GCVO is the youngest granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy, as of January 2017, she is 50th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 states, at the time of her birth in 1936, she was sixth. Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square and her parents were Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. She received the name Christabel because she was born on Christmas Day, like her aunt by marriage, Princess Alice and her birth was the last to have the tradition of having the Home Secretary present to verify the birth of potential heirs to the throne. Secretary Sir John Simon was present and was the last to do this, as a male-line granddaughter of the British monarch, she was styled as a British princess with the prefix Her Royal Highness. She was born two weeks after the abdication of her uncle King Edward VIII, of her godparents, only the King and Queen and Lord Athlone were present. Princess Alexandra spent most of her childhood at her familys house, Coppins. She lived with her grandmother, Queen Mary, the widow of George V and her father was killed in an aeroplane crash near Caithness, Scotland on 25 August 1942 while serving in the Royal Air Force. Princess Alexandra has the distinction of being the first British princess to have attended a boarding school and she was also trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She was a bridesmaid at the 1946 wedding of Captain Lord Brabourne, the following year, she served as bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the then-Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 November 1947. The Queen is Princess Alexandras paternal first cousin, the Duke of Edinburgh is Princess Alexandras maternal first cousin once removed and she was also a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and her second cousin, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark. On 24 April 1963, she married the Hon. Angus James Bruce Ogilvy, the wedding ceremony was attended by the royal family and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people. The bride wore a gown of Valenciennes lace, with matching veil and train. Angus Ogilvy declined the Queens offer to be created an earl upon marriage, Angus Ogilvy was knighted in 1988, later being sworn of the Privy Council in 1997. Taking part in roughly 120 engagements each year, Princess Alexandra is one of the most active members of the royal family, the number of her engagements in 2012 were 110. However, in late June 2013 she cancelled all future engagements due to arthritis, Princess Alexandra was almost 16 years old when her cousin acceded to the throne. In 1959, she carried out a tour of Australia. The Alexandra Waltz was composed for this visit by radio legend, Russ Tyson and it was sung for the princess by teen-aged Gay Kahler, who later changed her name to Gay Kayler
20.
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
–
St Georges Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England, United Kingdom. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter, the chapel is governed by the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The chapel is located in the Lower Ward of the castle, the Society of the Friends of St Georges and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter, a registered charity, was established in 1931 to assist the College in maintaining the chapel. In 1348, King Edward III founded two new colleges, St Stephens at Westminster and St Georges at Windsor. The new college at Windsor was attached to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor which had constructed by Henry III in the early thirteenth century. The chapel was rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Edward the Confessor. Edward III also built the Aerary Porch in 1353–1354 and it was used as the entrance to the new college. St Georges Chapel became the Mother Church of the Order of the Garter, and their heraldic banners hang above the upper stalls of the choir where they have a seat for life. The period 1475–1528 saw a redevelopment of St Georges Chapel, set in motion by Edward IV and continued by Henry VII. The Horseshoe Cloister was constructed for the new community of 45 junior members,16 vicars, St Georges Chapel was a popular destination for pilgrims during the late medieval period. The chapel was purported to contain several important relics, the bodies of John Schorne and Henry VI of England and these relics all appear to have been displayed at the east end of the south choir aisle. The Chapel suffered a great deal of destruction during the English Civil War, parliamentary forces broke into and plundered the chapel and treasury on 23 October 1642. Further pillaging occurred in 1643 when the chapter house was destroyed, lead was stripped off the chapel roofs. Following his execution in 1649, Charles I was buried in a vault in the centre of the choir at St Georges Chapel which also contained the coffins of Henry VIII. A programme of repair was undertaken at St Georges Chapel following the Restoration of the monarchy, the reign of Queen Victoria saw further changes made to the architecture of the chapel. On the roof of the chapel, standing on the pinnacles, the original beasts dated from the sixteenth century, but were removed in 1682 on the advice of Sir Christopher Wren, the present statues date from 1925, when the chapel was restored. Members of the meet at Windsor Castle every June for the annual Garter Service. After lunch in the State Apartments in the Upper Ward of the Castle they process on foot, wearing their robes and insignia, if any new members have been admitted to the Order they are installed at the service
21.
Windsor Castle
–
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its association with the English and later British royal family. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror, since the time of Henry I, it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St Georges Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be one of the achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic design. Gradually replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a siege during the First Barons War at the start of the 13th century. Edwards core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment. Windsor Castle survived the period of the English Civil War, when it was used as a military headquarters for Parliamentary forces. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rebuilt much of Windsor Castle with the help of the architect Hugh May, Queen Victoria made a few minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge for the family during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns of the Second World War. It is a popular tourist attraction, a venue for hosting state visits, today, more than 500 people live and work in Windsor Castle, making it the largest inhabited castle in the world. Windsor Castle occupies 13 acres, and combines the features of a fortification, a palace, the present-day castle was created during a sequence of phased building projects, culminating in the reconstruction work after a fire in 1992. It is in essence a Georgian and Victorian design based on a medieval structure, since the 14th century, architecture at the castle has attempted to produce a contemporary reinterpretation of older fashions and traditions, repeatedly imitating outmoded or even antiquated styles. Although there has some criticism, the castles architecture and history lends it a place amongst the greatest European palaces. At the heart of Windsor Castle is the Middle Ward, a formed around the motte or artificial hill in the centre of the ward. The motte is 50 feet high and is made from chalk originally excavated from the surrounding ditch, the Round Tower is in reality far from cylindrical, due to the shape and structure of the motte beneath it. The western entrance to the Middle Ward is now open, the eastern exit from the ward is guarded by the Norman Gatehouse. Wyatville redesigned the exterior of the gatehouse, and the interior was later converted in the 19th century for residential use. The Upper Ward of Windsor Castle comprises a number of major buildings enclosed by the bailey wall
22.
BBC
–
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. 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
23.
Jerry Springer: The Opera
–
Jerry Springer, The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The musical contains irreverent treatment of Christian themes, extensive profanity, the musical is completely sung through, with only two exceptions, the title character, Jerry, who speaks throughout the production, and Steve Wilkos, who has a brief speech. The musical ran for 609 performances in London from April 2003 to February 2005 before touring the UK in 2006, the production won four Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. The musical has been performed by a number of American regional theatre companies, harvey Keitel starred as Jerry Springer. Jerry Springer, The Opera was the subject of controversy beginning in January 2005, the Christian Institute attempted to bring a private prosecution against the BBC, but the Magistrates Court refused to issue a summons, a decision which was later upheld by the High Court of Justice. Protests continued at venues in 2006 and on the Internet. Jerry — The talk show host, jonathan Weiruss/Satan — Weiruss, the warm-up man whom Jerry fires for incompetence. Steve Wilkos — Head of Security at the Jerry Springer Show, dwight/God — Dwight, a guest on the show who is cheating on his fiancee with two other people. Peaches/Baby Jane — Peaches, a guest on the show, who is Dwights fiancee, Baby Jane is an adult baby in Act III. Tremont/Angel Gabriel — Tremont, a guest on the show, who is a trans woman, angel Gabriel appears in Act III. Zandra/Irene/Mary — Zandra, a guest on the show, is the best friend of Peaches, montel/Jesus — Montel, a guest on the show, enjoys dressing as a baby and fouling his own underwear. Andrea/Archangel Michael — Andrea, a guest on the show, is Montel’s lover, archangel Michael appears in Act III. Chucky/Adam — Chucky, a guest on the show, is Shawntels redneck husband, shawntel/Eve — Shawntel, a guest on the show, dreams of becoming an exotic dancer, but her husband, Chucky, disapproves. Jerry Springers frenzied audience greets Jerry as he arrives at his notorious TV talk show and his first guest, Dwight, is cheating on Peaches with Zandra. The three fight, and Jerrys security men break up the battle, Jerry is briefly admonished by his inner Valkyrie. Dwight is also cheating with a transsexual, Tremont. After a commercial break, Jerrys second guest, Montel, tells his partner, Andrea, that he likes to dress as a baby and that he is cheating on her with Baby Jane, Jerrys Warm-Up Man contributes to Andreas humiliation and is fired. Jerry again wrestles with his inner Valkyrie, Jerrys final guests are Shawntel and her husband, Chucky
24.
Scotland
–
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
25.
Carlisle, Cumbria
–
Carlisle is a city and the county town of Cumbria. Historically in Cumberland, it is also the centre of the City of Carlisle district in North West England. Carlisle is located at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and it is the largest settlement in the county of Cumbria, and serves as the administrative centre for both Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council. At the time of the 2001 census, the population of Carlisle was 71,773, ten years later, at the 2011 census, the citys population had risen to 75,306, with 107,524 in the wider city. The early history of Carlisle is marked by its status as a Roman settlement, the castle now houses the Duke of Lancasters Regiment and the Border Regiment Museum. In the early 12th century, Henry I allowed the foundation of a priory in Carlisle, the town gained the status of a city when its diocese was formed in 1133, and the priory became Carlisle Cathedral. The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution began a process of transformation in Carlisle. This, combined with its position, allowed for the development of Carlisle as an important railway town. Nicknamed the Great Border City, Carlisle today is the cultural, commercial and industrial centre for north Cumbria. It is home to the campuses of the University of Cumbria. The former County Borough of Carlisle had held city status until the Local Government Act 1972 was enacted in 1974, what is known of the ancient history of Carlisle is derived mainly from archaeological evidence and the works of the Roman historian Tacitus. The earliest recorded inhabitants were the Carvetii tribe of Britons who made up the population of ancient Cumbria. According to Boethius and John of Fordun, Carlisle existed before the arrival of the Romans in Britain and was one of the strongest British towns at the time, in the time of the emperor Nero, it was said to have burned down. The Roman settlement was named Luguvalium, based on a name that has been reconstructed as Brittonic *Luguwaljon, of Luguwalos. This walled civitas, possibly the one in northwest Britain. In the year 79, the two Roman generals Cn, petillius Cerealis advanced through Solway as they continued their campaign further north. As a result, it is likely that control was achieved at Carlisle over anti-imperial groups. This is possibly indicated from the reconstruction of the fort at Carlisle in 83 using oak timbers from further afield, at this time the Roman fort was garrisoned by a 500-strong cavalry regiment, the Ala Gallorum Sebosiana
26.
B of the Bang
–
It was taller and leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie, in which he said that he started his races not merely at the bang of the starting pistol, but at the B of the Bang. The sculpture was commissioned in 2003, construction overran and the unveiling was delayed until 12 January 2005. Six days before the launch, the sculpture suffered the first of three visible structural problems as the tip of one of the detached and fell to the ground. Legal action started a year later, resulting in an out-of-court settlement totalling £1.7 million, in February 2009, Manchester City Council announced that the sculpture would be dismantled and placed in storage. Despite the promise of storage and potential reassembly, the core, the core was sold for scrap in July 2012, while the 180 spikes remain in storage. B of the Bang originally stood 56 metres tall with 180 hollow tapered steel columns or spikes radiating from a central core and it was angled at 30 degrees and supported by five 25 m long, tapered steel legs which connected to the spikes 22 m above the ground. The sculpture weighed 165 tonnes, with the concrete in the foundations weighing over 1,000 tonnes, the foundations are 20 m deep. The sculpture was made from the weathering steel as the Angel of the North sculpture. This layer inhibits further corrosion by reducing its permeability to water, as part of the design, the spikes swayed slightly in the wind in order to withstand gusts in excess of 100 mph. At the time of construction a time capsule was placed in one of the spikes of the sculpture, containing childrens poems and paintings, the location of the time capsule after dismantling is currently unknown. B of the Bang was located next to the City of Manchester Stadium at Sportcity, in Beswick, at the corner of Alan Turing Way and Ashton New Road. It took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie in which he said that he started his races not merely at the bang of the starting pistol, the artwork had been nicknamed KerPlunk by the locals after the popular childrens game from the 1970s. Prior to the construction of Aspire at the University of Nottingham, B of the Bang was Britains tallest sculpture at well over twice the height of the Angel of the North, which stands at 66 feet. It was designed to look like an exploding firework and was taller and it was commissioned by New East Manchester Limited to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The design was selected by a panel consisting of local residents and art experts via a competition in 2002 and was designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The sculpture was constructed in Sheffield by Thomas Heatherwick Studio, Packman Lucas, Flint and Neill and it was approved at the start of 2003, with the central core arriving in Manchester on 13 June 2004. This was the largest load that could be transferred via road from the factory and this central core was lifted into place in August 2004, after which the 180 spikes could begin being attached
27.
Manchester
–
Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 514,414 as of 2013. It lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million, Manchester is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council and it was historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated during the 20th century. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a township but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century. Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and its fortunes declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation. The city centre was devastated in a bombing in 1996, but it led to extensive investment, in 2014, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK and it is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station and in the city scientists first split the atom, the name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunium and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians. These are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name, both meanings are preserved in languages derived from Common Brittonic, mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh. The suffix -chester is a survival of Old English ceaster and their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. Central Manchester has been settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell, much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North. Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral, the premises of the college house Chethams School of Music. The library, which opened in 1653 and is open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having a market in 1282, around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the regions textile industry
28.
Linford Christie
–
Linford Cicero Christie OBE is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He was the first European to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m and he is a former world indoor record holder over 200 metres, and a former European record holder in the 60 metres,100 m and 4 ×100 metres relay. Christie was born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica, where he was brought up by his grandmother, at the age of seven he followed his parents, who had emigrated to Acton, London, England, five years before. He was educated at Henry Compton Secondary School in Fulham, London and he competed in the very first London Youth Games in 1977 for the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. He also joined the Air Training Corps in 1978,336 Squadron and he did not take up athletics seriously until he was 19. Christies early track career was not promising and he failed to make the Great Britain team for the 1984 Summer Olympics, not even being included in the sprint relay squad. It was not until he began to work in earnest under the coaching of Ron Roddan that he began to fulfill his potential. In 1986, he was the winner of the 100 m at the European Championships and finished second in the same event at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Christies time was 9.97 seconds, a new European record by 0.03 seconds and only the time anyone had ever broken the ten-second barrier. Christie faced a disciplinary hearing himself in Seoul because of a drug test for the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine after he ran in the heats of the 200 m. The hearing panel decided by a vote to give Christie the benefit of the doubt. In the absence of his great rival Lewis, Christie ran 9.96 s in the final, and at the age of 32 years 121 days became the oldest Olympic 100 m champion by four years 38 days. In 1993, he became the first man in history to hold the Olympic, World, European and he was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. After 1994, he was less successful, Christie was disqualified in the 1996 Olympic final after two false starts. He retired from international competition in 1997, although he continued to make appearances at invitation meetings. In February 1999, Christie competed in a meet in Dortmund. A routine unannounced drug test found the banned substance nandrolone, after a six-month delay, a disciplinary hearing was convened by the British Athletic Federation which found Christie to be not guilty. But the IAAF overruled and confirmed a two-year suspension, Christie is also banned for life from British Olympic Association teams
29.
Prince Harry
–
Prince Henry of Wales, KCVO, familiarly known as Prince Harry, is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. After an education at schools in the United Kingdom and spending parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, Harry chose a military career, undergoing officer training at RMA Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals, serving temporarily with his brother, in 2007–2008, he served for 77 days in Helmand, Afghanistan, but was pulled out following publication of his presence there by an Australian magazine. He returned to Afghanistan for a 20-week deployment in 2012–2013 with the Army Air Corps and he left the army in June 2015. Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014, and remains patron of its Foundation and he also gives patronage to several other organisations, including the HALO Trust, the London Marathon Charitable Trust, and Walking With The Wounded. Harry was born at St Marys Hospital in Paddington, London, on 15 September 1984 at 4,20 pm and he was baptised on 21 December 1984 at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. His godparents are Prince Andrew, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Carolyn Bartholomew, Bryan Organ, Gerald Ward and Celia, Harry began to accompany his parents on official visits at an early age, his first overseas tour was with his parents to Italy in 1985. Harrys parents divorced in 1996, and his mother died following a car accident in Paris the following year, Harry and William were staying with their father at Balmoral at the time, and the Prince of Wales told his sons about their mothers death. Like his father and brother, Harry was educated at independent schools and he started at Jane Mynors nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School, and, after passing the exams, was admitted to Eton College. In June 2003, Harry completed his education at Eton with two A-Levels, having decided to drop history of art after AS level and he excelled in sports, particularly polo and rugby union. Passing two A-levels, Harry was eligible to apply for a commission in the British Army. One of Harrys former teachers, Sarah Forsyth, has assessed that Harry was a weak student, both Eton and Harry denied the claims. While a tribunal made no ruling on the claim, it accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level expressive project. After school, Harry took a gap year, during which he spent time in Australia, working on a cattle station and he also travelled to Lesotho, where he worked with orphaned children and produced the documentary film The Forgotten Kingdom. Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 8 May 2005, where he was known as Officer Cadet Wales, and joined the Alamein Company. Within a year, in April 2006, Harry completed his training and was commissioned as a Cornet in the Blues and Royals. He was given the service number 564673, on 13 April 2008, when he reached two years seniority, Harry was promoted to lieutenant
30.
Nazism
–
National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and Nazi Germany, as well as other far-right groups. Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying Germans as part of what Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race and it aimed to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous society, unified on the basis of racial purity. The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, the Nazi Partys precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organisation, following the Holocaust and German defeat in World War II, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism. The full name of Adolf Hitlers party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the shorthand Nazi was formed from the first two syllables of the German pronunciation of the word national. The term was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a peasant, characterizing an awkward. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the first word of the name, Nationalsozialistische. The NSDAP briefly adopted the Nazi designation, attempting to reappropriate the term, the use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, and so on was popularised by German exiles abroad. From them, the spread into other languages and was eventually brought back to Germany after World War II. In English, Nazism is a name for the ideology the party advocated. The majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics, far-right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms, a major inspiration for the Nazis were the far-right nationalist Freikorps, paramilitary organisations that engaged in political violence after World War I. The Nazis stated the alliance was purely tactical and there remained substantial differences with the DNVP, the Nazis described the DNVP as a bourgeois party and called themselves an anti-bourgeois party. After the elections in 1932, the alliance broke after the DNVP lost many of its seats in the Reichstag, the Nazis denounced them as an insignificant heap of reactionaries. The DNVP responded by denouncing the Nazis for their socialism, their violence. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured to abdicate the throne and flee into exile amidst an attempted communist revolution in Germany, there were factions in the Nazi Party, both conservative and radical
31.
Costume
–
Costume is the distinctive style of dress of an individual or group that reflects their class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. The term also was used to describe typical appropriate clothing for certain activities, such as riding costume, swimming costume, dance costume. Appropriate and acceptable costume is subject to changes in fashion and local cultural norms, before the advent of ready-to-wear apparel, clothing was made by hand. Costume comes from the same Italian word, inherited via French, National costume or regional costume expresses local identity and emphasizes a cultures unique attributes. They are often a source of national pride, examples include the Scottish kilt or Japanese kimono. In Bhutan there is a national dress prescribed for men and women. These have been in vogue for thousands of years and have developed into a dress style. The dress worn by men is known as Gho which is a robe worn up to knee-length and is fastened at the waist by a called the Kera. The front part of the dress which is formed like a pouch, in olden days was used to hold baskets of food and short dagger, but now it is used to keep cell phone, purse and the betel nut called Doma. The dress worn by women consist of three known as Kira, Tego and Wonju. The long dress which extends up to the ankle is Kira, the jacket worn above this is Tego which is provided with Wonju, the inner jacket. However, while visiting the Dzong or monastery a long scarf or stoll, called Kabney is worn by men across the shoulder, women also wear scarfs or stolls called Rachus, made of raw silk with embroidery, over their shoulder but not indicative of their rank. Some stylized theatrical costumes, such as Harlequin and Pantaloon in the Commedia dellarte, exaggerate an aspect of a character, the wearing of costumes is an important part of holidays developed from religious festivals such as Mardi Gras, and Halloween. Christmas costumes typically portray characters such as Santa Claus, in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States the American version of a Santa suit and beard is popular, in the Netherlands, the costume of Zwarte Piet is customary. Easter costumes are associated with the Easter Bunny or other animal costumes, in Judaism, a common practice is to dress up on Purim. During this holiday, Jews celebrate the change of their destiny and they were delivered from being the victims of an evil decree against them and were instead allowed by the King to destroy their enemies. A quote from the Book of Esther, which says, On the contrary is the reason that wearing a costume has become customary for this holiday. Buddhist religious festivals in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia and Lhasa and Sikkim in India perform the Cham dance, parades and processions provide opportunities for people to dress up in historical or imaginative costumes
32.
Mark Thatcher
–
He has two children by his first wife, Diane Burgdorf. He married his wife, Sarah Jane Russell, daughter of Terry Clemence, a wealthy property developer. On the death of his father in 2003 he became Sir Mark Thatcher when he succeeded to the Thatcher baronetcy and his early career in business frequently led to questions being raised that he was benefiting from his mothers position, notably in relation to the Al-Yamamah arms deal. In 2004 the Sunday Times estimated his wealth at £60 million, in 2005 he was convicted and given a four-year suspended jail sentence and a fine in South Africa in relation to the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup détat attempt. He left the UK in 1986, and since then has lived in the US, Switzerland, Monaco, South Africa and more recently in Gibraltar, Barbados, Guernsey and Spain. Thatcher and his sister, Carol Thatcher, were born six weeks prematurely by caesarean section on 15 August 1953. Their early years were spent in Chelsea, London and their mother was narrowly defeated in her bid to become the Conservative candidate in the Orpington by-election,1955. She was elected to Parliament in the 1959 general election, the children, aged six at the time, featured in her first television interview. His sister observed, All my childhood memories of my mother were just someone who was superwoman before the phrase had been invented. She was always flat out, she never relaxed, household chores were done at breakneck speed in order to get back to the correspondence or get on with making up a speech. Mark was sent to board at Belmont, Mill Hill preparatory school at the age of eight and then to Harrow School and he went on to study accountancy but failed his accountancy exams with Touche Ross on three occasions. The children were 16 when their mother entered the Cabinet for the first time as Secretary of State for Education and 25 when she became Prime Minister in the 1979 General Election, a few years later Thatcher caused international embarrassment to his mother. He became lost for six days in the Sahara Desert while competing in the Dakar Rally and his father flew to Dakar, and at the height of the search there were nine aircraft from Algeria, France and Britain involved, in addition to the Algerian land forces. The Prime Minister insisted on paying £2,000 personally towards the cost of the search, Sir Bernard Ingham, the Prime Ministers press secretary, suggested that he could best help the government win the 1987 general election by leaving the country. Thatcher moved to Dallas, Texas in the mid 1980s, where he met his first wife, Diane Burgdorf and their first child, Michael Thatcher, was born in 1989, and their second, Amanda Margaret Thatcher, in 1993. In 1992 he became The Honourable Mark Thatcher when his mother was made a life peer, in 1996 he moved to South Africa following financial scandals in the US. In 2003 he became the Honourable Sir Mark Thatcher when he succeeded to the hereditary Thatcher Baronetcy awarded to his father in 1990 and he and his wife announced their intention to divorce in September 2005 after eighteen years of marriage. His Monaco residency was not renewed as he was said to be on a list of undesirables who would not be allowed further residency and he was refused residency in Switzerland and settled in Gibraltar, where he married his second wife, Sarah Jane Russell, in 2008
33.
South African rand
–
The South African rand is the currency of South Africa. The rand is subdivided into 100 cents, unlike the US dollar, the decimal separator between a rand and cent is expressed by a comma. The ISO4217 code is ZAR, from Dutch Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand, the rand is the currency of the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Namibia. Historical users of the South African rand included South West Africa, the rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand, the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africas gold deposits were found. The cent and rand was introduced in the then Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, a Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the denominations of pounds, shillings, and pence, submitting its recommendation on 8 August 1958. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand to 1 pound, the government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, the rand-cent man. This was accompanied by a jingle, to inform the public about the new currency. By February 1985, it was trading over R2 per dollar, by the time that State President PW Botha made his Rubicon speech on 15 August 1985, it had weakened to R2.40 per dollar. The currency recovered somewhat between 1986–88, trading near the R2 level most of the time and even breaking beneath it sporadically. The recovery was short-lived, however, and by the end of 1989, a host of local and international events influenced the currency after that, most notably the 1994 democratic election which had it weaken to over R3. This sudden depreciation in 2001 led to an investigation, which in turn led to a dramatic recovery. By the end of 2002, the currency was trading under R9 to the dollar again, the currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading around R6.35 to the dollar at the end of the year. At the start of 2006, however, the currency resumed its rally, however, during the second and third quarters of 2006, the rand weakened significantly. In sterling terms, it fell from around 9. 5p to just over 7p, late in 2007, the rand rallied modestly to just over 8p, only to experience a precipitous slide during the first quarter of 2008. This downward slide could be attributed to a range of factors, South Africas worsening current account deficit, the rand depreciation was exacerbated by the Eskom electricity crisis, which arose from the utility being unable to meet the countrys rapidly growing energy demands. By the end of 2014, the rand had weakened to R15.05 per dollar, the rapid drop in value was stemmed when the President back-tracked and announced that the better-known previous Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, would instead be appointed to the post. By mid-January, economists were speculating that the rand could expect to see further volatility for the rest of 2016, by 29 April, it reached its highest performance over the previous 5 months, exchanging at a rate of 14. Coins were introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1⁄2,1, 2 1⁄2,5,10,20, in 1965, 2-cent coins replaced the 2 1⁄2-cent coins
34.
Pound sterling
–
It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
2005 in the United Kingdom