1.
Blackburn
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Blackburn /ˈblækbərn/ is a large town in Lancashire, England. It lies to the north of the West Pennine Moors on the edge of the Ribble Valley,9 miles east of Preston,20.9 miles NNW of Manchester and 9 miles north of the Greater Manchester border. Blackburn is bounded to the south by Darwen, with which it forms the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen, Blackburn is its administrative centre. At the time of the UK Governments 2001 census, Blackburn had a population of 105,085, Blackburn had a population of 106,537 in 2011, a slight increase since 2001. Blackburn is made up of fifteen wards in the Northeast of the surrounding borough, a former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when wool was woven in peoples houses in the domestic system. Flemish weavers who settled in the area during the 14th century helped to develop the woollen cottage industry, Blackburn was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution and amongst the first industrialised towns in the world. Blackburn has had significant investment and redevelopment since 1958 through government funding, Blackburn was recorded in the Domesday Book as Blacheborne in 1086. The origins of the name are uncertain and it has been suggested that it may be a combination of an Old English word for bleach, together with a form of the word burn, meaning stream, and may be associated with a bleaching process. Alternatively, the name of the town may mean black burn. There is little evidence of settlement in the Blakewater valley. Evidence of activity in the form of two urn burials has been discovered from the Bronze Age in the hills around Blackburn. In 1879, an urn was discovered at a tumulus at Revidge, north of the town, another was excavated in 1996 at Pleasington Cemetery, west of the town. The presence of a sacred spring—perhaps in use during the Iron Age—provides evidence of activity in the town centre. Blackburn is located where a Roman military road crossed the river Blakewater, the road linked Bremetennacum Veteranorum and Mamucium. The route of the road passed east of Blackburn Cathedral and probably crossed the river in the Salford neighbourhood just east of the town centre. It is not clear whether the road predated the settlement, christianity is believed to have come to Blackburn by the end of the 6th century, perhaps in 596 as there is a record of a church of Blagbourne in that year, or 598 AD. The town was important during the Anglo-Saxon era when the Blackburnshire Hundred came into existence as a division of the kingdom of Northumbria. The name of the town appears in the Domesday Book as Blachebourne, archaeological evidence from the demolition of the medieval parish church on the site of the cathedral in 1820 suggests that a church was built during the late 11th or early 12th century
2.
Nantwich
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Nantwich is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 17,424, the origins of the settlement date to Roman times, when salt from Nantwich was used by the Roman garrisons at Chester and Stoke-on-Trent as both a preservative and a condiment. Salt has been used in the production of Cheshire cheese and in the tanning industry, nant comes from the Welsh for brook or stream. Wich and wych are names used to denote brine springs or wells, in 1194 there is a reference to the town as being called Nametwihc, which would indicate it was once the site of a pre-Roman Celtic nemeton or sacred grove. In the Domesday Book, Nantwich is recorded as having eight salt houses and it had a castle and was the capital of a barony of the earls of Chester, and of one of the seven hundreds of medieval Cheshire. Nantwich is one of the few places in Cheshire to be marked on the Gough Map and it was first recorded as an urban area at the time of the Norman conquest, when the Normans burned the town to the ground leaving only one building standing. The town is believed to have been a centre from the 10th century or earlier. The Norman castle was built at the crossing of the Weaver before 1180, although nothing remains of the castle above ground, it affected the towns layout. During the medieval period, Nantwich was the most important salt town, by the 14th century, the town held a weekly cattle market at the end of what is today is Beam Street, and it was also important for its tanning industry centred on Barker Street. A fire in December 1583 destroyed most of the town to the east of the Weaver, elizabeth I contributed financially to the towns rebuilding, which occurred rapidly and followed the plan of the destroyed town. Beam Street was so renamed to reflect the fact that timber to rebuild the town was transported along it, a plaque marking the 400th anniversary of the fire and of Nantwichs rebuilding was unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester on 20 September 1984. During the English Civil War Nantwich declared for Parliament, and consequently it was besieged several times by Royalist forces, the name comes from the sprigs of holly worn by the townsfolk in their caps or clothing in the years after the battle, in its commemoration. The salt industry peaked in the century, with around 400 salt houses in 1530, and had almost died out by the end of the 18th century. Nikolaus Pevsner considers the decline in the industry to have been the critical factor in preserving the towns historic buildings. The last tannery closed in 1974, the towns location on the London to Chester road meant that Nantwich began to serve the needs of travellers in medieval times. During the mid-17th century, the mill was acquired by local land-owners, the Cholmondeleys, who retained it until the 1840s. Originally a corn mill, it became a mill from 1789 to 1874. Around 1890 a turbine was installed to replace the water wheel and it was demolished in the 1970s after a fire
3.
England cricket team
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The England cricket team is the team that represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match, and these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also played the first One Day International on 5 January 1971, Englands first Twenty20 International was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia. As of 9 March 2017, England has played 983 Test matches, winning 351, the team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions, the same number as their opponents Australia. England has played 683 ODIs, winning 332, and its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups, and also in two ICC Champions Trophys, England has also played 89 T20Is, winning 43. They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, and were runners-up in 2016, England are currently ranked fourth in Tests, fifth in ODIs and fifth in T20Is by the ICC. England currently holds the record for the highest ever ODI total of 444, such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century. In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven and this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players, the first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861-62 with this first tour organised as a venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were against odds and this first Australian tour were mostly against odds of at least 18/11. The tour was so successful that George Parr led a tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876 and they would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match, the combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhites XI v Combined Victoria, the teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter,1877, when Lillywhites team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious, – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. As a result of loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as the quest to regain the ashes
4.
Lancashire County Cricket Club
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Lancashire County Cricket Club, one of eighteen first-class county clubs in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales, represents the historic county of Lancashire. The clubs limited overs team is called Lancashire Lightning, when the County Championship was officially founded in December 1889, Lancashire was one of eight clubs to feature in the competition’s first season in 1890. In 1895, Archie MacLaren scored 424 in an innings for Lancashire, Lancashire won their first two County Championship titles in 1897 and 1904. Between 1926 and 1934, Lancashire won the County Championship five times, in 1950, they shared the title with Surrey. Cyril Washbrook became Lancashire’s first professional captain in 1954, Lancashire next won the County Championship in 2011, a gap of 77 years. Johnny Briggs, whose career lasted from 1879 to 1900, was the first player to score 10,000 runs, Ernest Tyldesley, younger brother of Johnny Tyldesley, is the club’s leading run-scorer with 34,222 runs in 573 matches for Lancashire between 1909 and 1936. Fast bowler Brian Statham took a club record 1,816 wickets in 430 first-class matches between 1950 and 1968, Lancashire won the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1984, three times between 1990 and 1996, and the Sunday League in 1989,1998 and 1999. The County Championship was restructured in 2000 with Lancashire in the first division, since then they have been relegated three times, and each time were promoted the following season. On 23–25 July 1849, the Sheffield and Manchester clubs played each other at Hyde Park in Sheffield and it was the first match to involve a team using Lancashire as its name and is generally reckoned to have been the first Roses Match. Teams called Yorkshire, though based on the Sheffield club, had been active since 1833, the Roses Match is one of crickets oldest and most famous rivalries. In 1857, the Manchester club moved to Old Trafford, which has been the home of Lancashire cricket ever since, the club was committed to playing matches in different parts of the county to introduce. Cricket into every part of Lancashire, the early Lancashire side was reliant upon amateurs, which led to problems, although they were happy to play at Old Trafford, they were less willing to travel to away fixtures. During the early 1870s, the team was dominated by Monkey Hornby’s batting, the team’s standard of cricket improved with the arrival of two professional players, Dick Barlow and Alex Watson. The impact of Barlow and Hornby was such that their partnership was immortalised in the poem At Lord’s by Francis Thompson. The team was further enhanced by A. G. Steel – an amateur considered second only to W. G, as Lancashire’s consistency improved, so did their support, in 1878,28,000 over three days watched Lancashire play Gloucestershire. The club’s first success came in 1879, when the majority of the cricket press – except for Wisden – agreed that Lancashire and Nottinghamshire were joint champions, Lancashire was the champion county in 1881 and again shared the title with Nottinghamshire in 1882. Dick Barlow carried his bat for just 5 not out in Lancashire’s total of 69 in two and a half hours against Nottinghamshire on a treacherous, rain-affected Trent Bridge pitch in July 1882. Barlow and his opening partner Hornby are the opening batsmen immortalised in the famous poem by Francis Thompson
5.
The Ashes
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The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The Ashes are regarded as being held by the team that most recently won the Test series, the term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australias 1882 victory at The Oval, their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated, the mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to regain those ashes. The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes, after England had won two of the three Tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women including Florence Morphy, whom Bligh married within a year. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail and it is not clear whether that tiny silver urn is the same as the small terracotta urn given to the MCC by Blighs widow after his death in 1927. The urn has never been the trophy of the Ashes series. However, replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series. Since the 1998–99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the trophy of that series. An Ashes series is traditionally of five Tests, hosted in turn by England, as of August 2015, England holds the Ashes, having won three of the five Tests in the 2015 Ashes series. Australia and England have won 32 series each and five series have been drawn, the first Test match between England and Australia was played in Melbourne, Australia, in 1877, though the Ashes legend started later, after the ninth Test, played in 1882. On their tour of England that year the Australians played just one Test and it was a low-scoring affair on a difficult wicket. Australia made a mere 63 runs in its first innings, and England, led by A. N. Hornby, took a 38-run lead with a total of 101. In their second innings, the Australians, boosted by a spectacular 55 runs off 60 deliveries from Hugh Massie, managed 122 and this thing can be done, he declared. Spofforth went on to devastate the English batting, taking his final four wickets for two runs to leave England just eight runs short of victory. When Ted Peate, Englands last batsman, came to the crease, his side needed just ten runs to win, an astonished Oval crowd fell silent, struggling to believe that England could possibly have lost to a colony on home soil. When it finally sank in, the crowd swarmed onto the field, cheering loudly and chairing Boyle, when Peate returned to the pavilion he was reprimanded by his captain for not allowing his partner, Charles Studd, to get the runs. Peate humorously replied, I had no confidence in Mr Studd, sir, the momentous defeat was widely recorded in the British press, which praised the Australians for their plentiful pluck and berated the Englishmen for their lack thereof. A celebrated poem appeared in Punch on Saturday,9 September and it read, In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29 August 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R. I. P
6.
Blackburn Rovers F.C.
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The club was established in 1875, becoming a founding member of The Football League in 1888. It is one of three clubs to have been both a founder member of the Football League and the Premier League. In 1890, Rovers moved to Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers have been English champions three times, and have won six FA Cups and one Football League Cup. Blackburn are the only extant club to have won three consecutive FA Cups, the club has spent the majority of its existence in the top flight of English football. In 1992, Rovers gained promotion to the new Premier League a year after being taken over by local entrepreneur Jack Walker, in 1995, Rovers became Premier League champions. In the 1998–99 season, the club was relegated and it was promoted back to the Premier League two years later, in the 2000–01 season. It has qualified for the UEFA Cup four times, once as League Cup winners, twice as the Premier Leagues sixth-placed team, the 2011–12 season marked the clubs 72nd, non-consecutive, year in the top flight. Rovers are currently one of six clubs to have won the Premier League, along with Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City. The clubs motto is Arte et Labore, By Skill and Hard Work in Latin, the club was founded following a meeting, at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn, on 5 November 1875. The meeting was organised by two men, namely John Lewis and Arthur Constantine. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a club to play under Association rules. The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, on 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association. On 1 November 1879 the club played in the F. A, Cup for the first time, beating the Tyne Association Football Club 5–1. Rovers were eventually put out of the competition in the round after suffering a heavy 6–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest. On 25 March 1882 the club won through to the final of the F. A, Blackburn Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final, but the result was a 1–0 defeat by the Old Etonians. Cup on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queens Park, the same teams played the F. A. Cup final again the season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious. Rovers repeated this success yet again the season, winning the final replay 2–0 against West Bromwich Albion
7.
Harrow School
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Harrow School /ˈhæroʊ/ is an independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, London, England. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243, Harrow is one of the original nine public schools that were regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868. For the academic year 2016/17, Harrow charges boarders up to £12,450 per term, being the fourth most expensive boarding school in the Headmasters, the school has an enrolment of 805 boys spread across twelve boarding houses, all of whom board full-time. It remains one of four all-boys, full-boarding schools in Britain, harrows uniform includes straw hats, morning suits, top hats and canes. The school in its current form was founded in February 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I to John Lyon, a wealthy local farmer. In the original charter, six governors were named, including two members of the Gerard family of Flambards, and two members of the Page family of Wembley and Sudbury Court. It was only after the death of Lyons wife in 1608 that the construction of the first school building began and it was completed in 1615 and remains to this day, however it is now much larger. Lyon died in 1592, leaving his assets to two causes, the lesser was the School, and by far the greater beneficiary was the maintenance of a road to London,10 miles away. The school owned and maintained road for many years following Lyons death. At first the subject taught was Latin, and the only sport was archery. Both subjects were compulsory, archery was dropped in 1771, although most boys were taught for free, their tuition paid for by Lyons endowment, there were a number of fee-paying foreigners. It was their presence that amplified the need for boarding facilities, by 1701 for every local there were two foreign pupils, these generated funds for the School as fees increased. It is now known as The John Lyon School and is a prominent independent school and it maintains close links with Harrow. The majority of the boarding houses were constructed in Victorian times. The 20th century saw the innovation of a dining hall. Presently there are about 800 boys boarding at Harrow, according to a 2009 article, the school has expanded overseas, opening additional schools in Beijing, China, Shanghai, China, Bangkok, Thailand, and New Territories, Hong Kong. Boys at Harrow have two uniforms, the photograph was placed on the front cover of the News Chronicle the next morning under the tagline Every picture tells a story. The picture was reproduced in other national publications and became
8.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
9.
Sydney Riot of 1879
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The Sydney Riot of 1879 was a civil disorder that occurred at an early international cricket match. The riot was sparked by an umpiring decision, when star Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by George Coulthard. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators, many of whom surged onto the pitch and assaulted Coulthard. It was alleged that illegal gamblers in the New South Wales pavilion, another theory given to explain the anger was that of intercolonial rivalry, that the New South Wales crowd objected to what they perceived to be a slight from a Victorian umpire. The pitch invasion occurred while Gregory halted the match by not sending out a replacement for Murdoch, the New South Wales skipper called on Lord Harris to remove umpire Coulthard, whom he considered to be inept or biased, but his English counterpart declined. The other umpire, Edmund Barton, defended Coulthard and Lord Harris, saying that the decision against Murdoch was correct, eventually, Gregory agreed to resume the match without the removal of Coulthard. However, the continued to disrupt proceedings, and play was abandoned for the day. Upon resumption after the Sunday rest day, Lord Harriss men won convincingly by an innings, in the immediate aftermath of the riot, the England team cancelled the remaining games they were scheduled to play in Sydney. The incident also caused much comment in England and Australia. In Australia, the newspapers were united in condemning the unrest, viewing the chaos as a national humiliation and a public relations disaster. An open letter by Lord Harris about the incident was published in English newspapers. A defensive letter written in response by the New South Wales Cricket Association further damaged relations, the affair led to a breakdown of goodwill that threatened the future of Anglo-Australian cricket relations. England cricket tours to Australia started in 1861, and while successful, were still in their infancy in 1879, the teams were of variable quality, while promoters sought the best cricketers, they still had to agree to terms. In addition, many could not afford the time for the boat trip, the tour itself. Aside from a tour by an Australian Aboriginal team in 1868, despite the presence of two professionals in the team, the Englishmen were described as Gentlemen, a euphemism for amateurs. Now that Ulyett and Emmett were in the team, they did a part of the bowling. At the time, English cricket was dominated by amateurs, in contrast, the Australians were regarded—by the social standards of the 19th century—as coarse, rowdy and uncultured. The likes of bushranger Ned Kelly heightened perceptions that Australia had a bandit culture, there were many instances of concerning player behaviour during the 1878 tour of England, and Gregorys men were considered to be unrefined and raucous
10.
The Oval
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The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London. The Oval has been the ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since it was opened in 1845. It was the first ground in England to host international Test cricket in September 1880, the final Test match of the English season is traditionally played there. In addition to cricket, The Oval has hosted a number of historically significant sporting events. In 1870, it staged Englands first international match, versus Scotland. It hosted the first FA Cup final in 1872, as well as those between 1874 and 1892, in 1876, it held both the England v Wales and England v Scotland rugby international matches, and in 1877, rugbys first Varsity match. The Oval is built on part of the former Kennington Common, Cricket matches were played on the common throughout the early 18th century. The earliest recorded match was the London v Dartford match on 18 June 1724. However, as the common was used regularly for public executions of those convicted at the Surrey Assizes. Kennington Common was eventually enclosed in the mid 19th century under a scheme sponsored by the Royal Family, in 1844, the site of the Kennington Oval was a market garden owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Hence, Surrey County Cricket Club was established in 1845, the popularity of the ground was immediate and the strength of the SCCC grew. On 3 May 1875 the club acquired the remainder of the leasehold for a term of 31 years from the Otter Trustees for the sum of £2,800. In 1868,20,000 spectators gathered at The Oval for the first game of the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England, the first tour of England by any foreign side. Thanks to C. W. Alcock, the Secretary of Surrey from 1872 to 1907, the Oval, thereby, became the second ground to stage a Test, after Melbourne Cricket Ground. In 1882, Australia won the Test by seven runs within two days, the Sporting Times printed a mocking obituary notice for English cricket, which led to the creation of the Ashes trophy, which is still contested whenever England plays Australia. The first Test double century was scored at The Oval in 1884 by Australias Billy Murdoch, surreys ground is noted as having the first artificial lighting at a sports arena, in the form of gas-lamps, dating to 1889. The current pavilion was completed in time for the 1898 season, in 1907, South Africa became the 2nd visiting Test team to play a Test match at the ground. In 1928, the West Indies played its first Test match at The Oval, in 1936, India became the fifth foreign visiting Test side to play at The Oval, followed by Pakistan in 1954 and Sri Lanka in 1998
Media related to AN Hornby at Wikimedia Commons
