1.
Television Centre, London
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Television Centre in White City, West London was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type, parts of the building are Grade II listed, including the central ring and Studio 1. Live television events from studios and routing of national and international sporting events took place within the Television Centre before being passed to the Broadcast Centre for transmission and it was announced on 21 September 2010 that the BBC would cease broadcasting from Television Centre in 2013. BBC Worldwide moved into space in the Stage 6 building following extensive refurbishment in 2015. The radio and television news departments moved to Broadcasting House in central London, the building is 4 miles west of central London, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The nearest Underground stations are White City and Wood Lane, London broadcasts at the time came from Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove Studios. It was to be the largest television centre in the world, riverside Studios in Hammersmith were used from 1954. It was planned to be 6 acres, but turned out to be twice as big, on 24 August 1956 the main contract was awarded to Higgs and Hill, which also built The London Studios for ITV in 1972. The building was planned to cost £9M, when it opened, the Director of BBC television was Gerald Beadle, and the first programme broadcast was First Night with David Nixon in Studio Three. In 1997 the BBC News Centre was opened, in a new complex at the front of the building, the building featured a central circular block around which were studios, offices, engineering areas and the News Centre. In the centre of the block was a statue designed by T. B. Huxley-Jones of Helios. At the foot of the statue were two reclining figures, symbolising sound and vision, the components of television, even though there was a foundation stone marked BBC1956 in the basement of the main building, construction began in 1951. With the migration of staff and functions to complexes in Salford and London W1, the overall design from the air appeared to resemble a question mark in shape. The architect, Graham Dawbarn CBE, drew a question mark on an envelope while thinking about the design of the building, an article in The BBC Quarterly, July 1946, proposed a circular design, several years before Dawbarn drew up his plans. The building was commissioned in 1949 with work starting in 1950, work resumed in 1953 on the TVC scenery block and work began in 1954 on the canteen block, which doubled as a rehearsal space. Work on Stage 3, the central office block and studios. The shells of TC1, TC6 and TC7 were constructed around the same time, BBC Television Centre officially opened with TC3 operational on 29 June 1960. Arthur Hayes worked on the building from 1956 to 1970 and was responsible for the creation of the iconic BBC Television Centre lettering on the façade of Studio 1, the lettering was later used all over the building, even in tile work outside lift entrances
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
United Kingdom
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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
4.
Television licensing in the United Kingdom
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In the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies, any household watching or recording live television transmissions as they are being broadcast is required to hold a television licence. Businesses, hospitals, schools and a range of organisations are also required to hold television licences to watch. A television licence is required to receive on-demand programme services provided by the BBC. Income from the licence is used to fund the television, radio. The total income from licence fees was £3.7428 billion in 2015–16 of which £621.7 million or 16. 6% was provided by the Government through concessions for those over the age of 75. Thus, the fee made up the bulk of the BBCs total income of £4.827 billion in 2015–2016. The Government’s White Paper of May 2016 announced that the fee will rise with inflation for the first five years of the Charter period. The TV licence fee is a tax collected by the BBC and primarily used to fund the radio, television and this type of tax is known as a hypothecated tax. Licence fee collection is the responsibility of the BBCs Finance and Business division, although the money is raised for its own use, the BBC does not directly use the collected fees. The money received is first paid into the Governments Consolidated Fund and it is subsequently included in the vote for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in that years Appropriation Act, and passed back to the BBC for the running of the BBCs own services. The money also finances programming for S4C and the BBC World Service as well as to run BBC Monitoring at Caversham, in 1991, the BBC assumed the role of TV Licensing Authority with responsibility for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The BBC is authorised by the Communications Act 2003 to collect, Section 363 of the Act makes it against the law to install or use a television receiver to watch or record any television programmes as they’re being broadcast without a TV Licence. Section 365 of the same Act requires the payment of the TV Licence fee to the BBC, the licence fee is formally set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by the use of Statutory Instruments. The relevant Statutory Instruments are the Communications Regulations 2004 and amendments since that such as the Communications Regulations 2010. As well as prescribing the fees, the regulations also define television receiver for the purposes of the law, for people living in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, TV licensing law is extended to their areas by Orders made by their own Governments. The BBC is permitted by the order to use surveillance equipment to detect unlicensed use of television receivers. As the public body responsible for issuing TV licences, licensing information held by the BBC, the TV Licence Management Team, which is part of the Finance and Business division of the BBC, oversees the TV Licensing system. The TV Licence Management Team is based at the BBC White City buildings in London, the majority of TV licensing administration and enforcement activities are carried out under contract by private companies
5.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide and it was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and this position is regarded as one of the four most prestigious appointments in the Cabinet, alongside those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Together with the Prime Minister, these are the Great Offices of State, the FCO is managed from day-to-day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who also acts as the Head of the Her Majestys Diplomatic Service. This position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015, safeguarding the UK’s national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, and working to reduce conflict. Building the UK’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, supporting British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services. The two departments foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office, the Home Office is technically the senior. One of the most influential Times journalists was Valentine Chirol, British Ambassadors across Europe communicated with him on a number of political and local issues. Twentieth century During World War I, the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department, the FCO was formed in 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for development issues between 1970 and 1974, and again between 1979 and 1997. From 1997, this became the responsibility of the separate Department for International Development, the National Archives website contains a Government timeline to show the departments responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1945. When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, one of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, the new strategic framework consists of three core elements, A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government. Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and these services are delivered through UK Trade & Investment, consular teams in Britain and overseas, and UK Visas and Immigration. In August 2005 a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay, the report severely criticised the FCOs management structure, noting, The Foreign Office could be slow to act. Delegation is lacking within the management structure, the FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs. At least £48 million could be saved annually, the Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had implemented the reports recommendations
6.
Kentucky
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Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
7.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
8.
Shilling
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The shilling is a unit of currency formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and other British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, a term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, and from there back to Old Norse. Slang terms for the old shilling coins include bob and hog, while the derivation of bob is uncertain, John Camden Hotten in his 1864 Slang Dictionary says the original version was bobstick and wonders if it is connected with Sir Robert Walpole. One abbreviation for shilling is s, often it was represented by a solidus symbol, which may have originally stood for a long s or ſ, thus 1/9 would be one shilling and ninepence. A price with no pence was sometimes written with a slash, the solidus symbol is still used for the shilling currency unit in former British East Africa, rather than sh. During the Great Recoinage of 1816, the mint was instructed to coin one troy pound of silver into 66 shillings. This set the weight of the shilling, and its subsequent decimal replacement 5 new pence coin, at 87.2727 grains or 5.655 grams from 1816 until 1990, in the past, the English world has had various myths about the shilling. One myth was that it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere, a shilling was a coin used in England from the reign of Henry VII. The term shilling was in use in Scotland from early medieval times, the common currency created in 1707 by Article 16 of the Articles of Union continued in use until decimalisation in 1971. In the traditional pounds, shillings and pence system, there were 20 shillings per pound and 12 pence per shilling, three coins denominated in multiple shillings were also in circulation at this time. In the Irish Free State and Republic of Ireland the shilling was issued as scilling in Irish and it was worth 1/20th of an Irish pound, and was interchangeable at the same value to the British coin, which continued to be used in Northern Ireland. The coin featured a bull on the reverse side, the first minting, from 1928 until 1941, contained 75% silver, more than the equivalent British coin. The original Irish shilling coin ) was withdrawn from circulation on 1 January 1993, Australian shillings, twenty of which made up one Australian pound, were first issued in 1910, with the Australian coat of arms on the reverse and King Edward VII on the face. The coat of arms design was retained through the reign of King George V until a new head design was introduced for the coins of King George VI. This design continued until the last year of issue in 1963, in 1966, Australias currency was decimalised and the shilling was replaced by a ten cent coin, where 10 shillings made up one Australian dollar. The slang term for a coin in Australia was deener. The slang term for a shilling as currency unit was bob, after 1966, shillings continued to circulate, as they were replaced by 10-cent coins of the same size and weight. New Zealand shillings, twenty of which made up one New Zealand pound, were first issued in 1933, in 1967, New Zealands currency was decimalised and the shilling was replaced by a ten cent coin of the same size and weight
9.
BBC
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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
10.
Radio Times
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Radio Times is a British weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. It was the worlds first broadcast listings magazine when it was founded in 1923 by John Reith and it was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 1937 until 2011 when the BBC Magazines division was merged into Immediate Media Company. Radio Times was first issued on 28 September 1923, carrying details of BBC radio programmes, initially, Radio Times was a combined enterprise between the BBC and the publisher George Newnes, who type-set, printed and distributed the magazine. But in 1925 the BBC assumed full control, and by 1937 the publication was fully in-house. The Radio Times established a reputation for using leading writers and illustrators, in 1928, Radio Times announced a regular series of ‘experimental television transmissions by the Baird process for half an hour every morning. The launch of the first regular 405-line television service by the BBC was reflected with television listings in the Radio Times edition of 23 October 1936, thus Radio Times became the first television listings magazine in the world. Initially only two pages in each edition were devoted to television, however, in January 1937 the magazine published a lavish photogravure supplement and by September 1939, there were three pages of television listings. Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and television broadcasting ceased, Radio listings continued throughout the war for a reduced service, but by 1944, paper rationing meant editions were only 20 pages of tiny print on thin paper. After the war resumed and the Radio Times expanded too. In 1953 the television listings, which so far had been in the back of the magazine, were alongside the radio schedules. By the 1950s Radio Times had grown to be the magazine with the largest circulation in Europe, today both publications carry listings for all major terrestrial, cable and satellite television channels in the United Kingdom. A number of magazines, from independent publishers, also exist. Radio Times is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the following Saturday through to Friday, since Christmas 1969, a double-sized issue has been published each December containing listings for two weeks of programmes. Originally, this covered Christmas and New Year listings, but in some years these appear in separate editions, by the early 2000s, advertisements for the publication had become sparse on the BBC. The Radio Times has not been promoted on BBC television and radio channels since 2005, the latest circulation figure for the Radio Times is 831,591 making it third in the TV listings magazine market behind TV Choice and Whats on TV. There are several editions, which each contain different listings for regional programming. All editions carry variations for adjoining regions and local radio listings, the number of English regional editions has been reduced since the 1990s due to there being fewer variations in the schedules. The most recent of these was in August 2007 when the Midlands, the exception to this process of merging is Wales, which used to be part of a larger Wales/West version, mirroring the HTV region
11.
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
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The pre-decimal penny was a coin worth 1/240th of a pound sterling. Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius and it was a continuation of the earlier English penny, and in Scotland it had the same monetary value as one pre-1707 Scottish shilling. The penny was minted in silver, but from the late 18th century it was minted in copper. The plural of penny is pence when referring to a quantity of money, thus 8d is eight pence, but eight pennies means specifically eight individual penny coins. Before Decimal Day in 1971 twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound, values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e. g.42 pence would be three shillings and sixpence, pronounced three and six. Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence and this version of the penny was made obsolete in 1971 by decimalisation, and was replaced by the decimal penny which had a value 140% more. The kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged by the 1707 Act of Union to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the penny replaced the shilling of the pound scots. The design and specifications of the English penny were unchanged by the Union, Queen Annes reign saw pennies minted in 1708,1709,1710, and 1713. These issues, however, were not for circulation, instead being minted as Maundy money. The prohibitive cost of minting silver coins had meant the size of pennies had been reduced over the years, the practice of minting pennies only for Maundy money continued through the reigns of George I and George II, and into that of George III. In 1797, the government authorised Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his Soho Mint in Birmingham. At the time it was believed that the value of a coin should correspond to the value of the material it was made from. This requirement meant that the coins would be larger than the silver pennies minted previously. The large size of the coins, combined with the rim where the inscription was incuse i. e. punched into the metal rather than standing proud of it. These pennies were minted over the course of years. By 1802, the production of privately issued provincial tokens had ceased, however, in the next ten years the intrinsic value of copper rose. The return of privately minted token coinage was evident by 1811 and endemic by 1812, the Royal Mint undertook a massive recoinage programme in 1816, with large quantities of gold and silver coin being minted. To thwart the further issuance of private token coinage, in 1817 an Act of Parliament was passed which forbade the manufacture of private token coinage under very severe penalties
12.
Lonely Planet
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Lonely Planet is the largest travel guide book publisher in the world. The company is owned by American billionaire Brad Kelleys NC2 Media, originally called Lonely Planet Publications, the company changed its name to Lonely Planet in July 2009 to reflect its broad travel industry coverage and an emphasis on digital products. As of 2011, the company had sold 120 million books since inception and by early 2014, it had sold around 11 million units of its travel apps. As of 2014, Lonely Planets largest office is located in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, other Lonely Planet offices are spread throughout the world, in locations such as London, United Kingdom, Beijing, China, and Delhi, India. Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler, Tony Wheeler graduated from the University of Warwick and London Business School, and was a former engineer at the Chrysler corporation. The pair met in London in 1970 and, in July 1972, they embarked on a trip through Europe and Asia. The route that followed was first undertaken by vehicle on the 1955 Oxford-Cambridge Overland Expedition. Lonely Planets first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, consisting of 94 pages, was written by the couple in their home, the original print run consisted of stapled booklets and sold out. In October 2007 Observer writer Carol Cadwalladr—who also coauthored Travellers Survival Kit Lebanon—described the book as canonical, across Asia on the Cheap offered the advice of amateur travelers who had completed the overland trip from London to Sydney, Australia in just under six months. During the 1970s, traveling was considered an aspect of the counterculture and Tony Wheeler said in 2013, what became known as the hippie trail was a popular route for such travelers, as the price of travel dropped and numerous Asian travel companies were launched. Cadwalladr further states that Wheelers peers throughout the world made the decision to travel. Other travel guide brand names also emerged in the early 1970s, such as Rough Guides, the popularity of the hippy trail, combined with the success of the original Lonely Planet publications, led the Wheelers to further develop the brand they had founded. The couple discovered writers in bars and also people that if they could return to Australia with a completed book. Tony Wheeler explained, You couldn’t just look for travel book writers because they weren’t out there and we just told people that if you turn up in a year and a half with a book, we’ll publish it, and we did. It was very rough and ready, the popularity of the overland route taken by the Wheelers in 1972 declined when Irans borders closed in 1979. For a long time we had a problem that every writer wanted to rewrite the history, we’d say, “Why are we rewriting the history of India for the 10th time. Surely, it’s not changing every two years, in a 2007 interview, Tony Wheeler discussed one of the original Lonely Planet writers, Geoff Crowther, who wrote guides for India, South America, Africa and Korea. His writing was instrumental to the rise of Lonely Planet, however, Crowther at the time was not living in Goa, nor was he a broken man, instead he was living in the rainforests of East Coast Australia
