Balham is a neighbourhood in South West London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The area appears in the Domesday Book as Belgeham; the settlement appears in the Domesday Book as Belgeham. Bal refers to ` rounded enclosure' and ham to a village or river enclosure, it was held by Geoffrey Orlateile. Its Domesday Assets were: 8 acres of meadow, it rendered: £2. The Balham area has been settled since Saxon times. Balham Hill and Balham High Road follow the line of the Roman road Stane Street to Chichester –. Balham is recorded in several maps in the 1600s as Balham Manor; the village was within the parish of Streatham. Large country retreats for the affluent classes were built there in the 18th century. On 14 October 1940 Balham Underground station was badly damaged by air raids on London during World War II. People took shelter in the tube station during the raids. A bomb fell in the High Road and through the roof of the Underground station below, bursting water and gas mains and killing around 64 people.

This particular incident was featured in a 2001 novel by Ian McEwan. An image of the aftermath is of the No. 88 bus. On the morning of 17 July 1974 a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA exploded near government buildings in Balham, causing substantial damage to buildings; that day the group detonated a fatal attack on the Tower of London. Balham is in encompasses the A24 north of Tooting Bec and the roads radiating off it; the Balham SW12 postcode includes the southern part of Clapham Park otherwise known as Clapham South and the Hyde Farm area, both east of Cavendish Road and within Lambeth as well as a small detached part of Clapham south of Nightingale Lane, part of Battersea. The southern part of Balham, towards Tooting Bec, near the 1930s block of Art Deco flats called Du Cane Court and the area to the south of Wandsworth Common, comes under the SW17 postcode; the Heaver Estate lies to the south of Balham in Tooting. The Estate comprises substantial houses, was built in the grounds of the old Bedford Hill House and was the work of local Victorian builder, Alfred Heaver.

Balham is situated between four south London commons: Clapham Common to the north, Wandsworth Common to the west, Tooting Graveney Common to the south, the adjoining Tooting Bec Common to the east – the latter two distinct areas are referred to by both Wandsworth Council and some local people as Tooting Common. Other nearby areas include Tooting, Brixton, Wandsworth Common, Clapham South or the southern part of Clapham Park. Balham's town centre has a variety of bars and shops including major chains. There are local services, including independent stores, coffee houses and brasseries. There are two car parks serving the vicinity, one behind the Sainsbury's and one in front of Waitrose. Balham is diverse both in terms of economic and cultural demographics with an professional middle class population; the Polish population in Balham has hugely increased since 2006, though Balham has been one of the centres of the community in London since World War II. The White Eagle Club is a thriving Polish community centre, its traditional Saturday night dance draws people from across London.

Opposite the White Eagle is The Polish Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King. The Irish, Somali and Brazilian communities are well represented; the Bedford is a pub venue for live comedy on Bedford Hill. Performers at the Banana Cabaret have included Stephen K Amos, Omid Djalili, Harry Hill, Eddie Izzard, Al Murray and Catherine Tate; the pub has won various awards including the Publican Music Pub of the Year 2002. In 1876, the pub building housed the coroner's inquest into the notorious unsolved murder of Charles Bravo, a resident and lawyer, poisoned by his wife; the Priory, where the alleged murder took place, is a landmark noted for the specific architectural style. The Bedford Hill area of Balham was associated with street prostitution throughout the 1970s and 80s; the problem has since been eradicated. Du Cane Court was the largest block of flats in Europe built for private occupation rather than as social housing at the time, its 676 flats range from studios up to 4-bedroom penthouses.

The block has had a number of notable residents, including comedian Tommy Trinder and actress Dame Margaret Rutherford. Scenes from Agatha Christie's Poirot were filmed in the building. Oak Lodge School is a secondary school for deaf children aged 11 to 19, it accepts pupils from all over London. Balham has its own leisure centre; the UK's first pedestrian diagonal X-crossing was installed at the intersection of Balham High Road, with Balham Station Road and Chestnut Grove in 2005. This was adopted at Oxford Circus in 2009, the second X-crossing in the UK; the world's first "intelligent" pedestrian crossings have been trialled at Balham station. Balham station is an interchange between rail and Underground services, in London fare zone 3; the stations connect Balham to both the City of the West End. Balham is one of the underground stations on the Northern Line. Clapham South Underground station is technically in Balham, lying at the meeting point of Clapham and Balham. Curren

Lorraine Elizabeth Wooster was an educator and attorney from the U. S. state of Kansas. She was the first woman to hold a statewide elected office in Kansas, serving as State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1919 until 1923. Wooster was born in Ohio, she began her teaching career in a local one-room schoolhouse when she was 16. She began writing textbooks. Wooster first ran for Kansas State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1916. Though her campaign failed, she ran again two years and was elected, making her the first woman elected to a statewide office in Kansas. In her campaigns, she had argued that as 80% of Kansas' teachers were female, she was well suited to represent them. Kansas' early support for women's suffrage helped her, as women earned the right to vote in 1912 and were active voters by the time of her election; as state superintendent, Wooster promoted more funding for schools, longer school years for rural students, requiring students to attend school through 16. However, she was known for the strict codes of moral behavior which she applied to the state's teachers.

She insisted that teachers not smoke, dance, or wear makeup. She was reelected in 1920. After leaving office, Wooster continued her career as an attorney, she served as Vice President of the National Association of Women Lawyers and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Kansas Attorney General in 1932. She moved to Chicago in 1934, where she lived until her death in 1953

"Indonesia Maharddhika" is a song by Indonesian progressive rock band Gipsy, consisting of Chrisye, Keenan Nasution, Oding Nasution, Roni Harahap, Abadi Soesman, together with Guruh Sukarnoputra. It was released in 1976 on the album Guruh Gipsy with the names of its contributors hidden in the bilingual lyrics. In 2009, Rolling Stone Indonesia selected it as the 59th best Indonesian song of all time; the lyrics and melody to "Indonesia Maharddhika" were written in Guruh Sukarnoputra's house in South Jakarta 1975 by Guruh Sukarnoputra and Roni Harahap. Seeing Guruh struggling to compose a melody, Roni played the introduction to KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way" with the accentuation reversed. Pleased, Guruh wrote some lyrics; when recording, Guruh played the piano. Chrisye and Keenan Nasution provided vocals, with Chrisye playing the bass and Keenan playing the drums. Roni played the piano, Oding Nasution was on guitar, Abadi Soesman on synthesizers; the Hutauruk Sisters provided female backing vocals.

The lyrics to "Indonesia Maharddhika" are a mix of Indonesian. While writing the lyrics to "Indonesia Maharddhika", Guruh Sukarnoputra decided to hide the names of the six contributors to Guruh Gipsy: Oding, Kinan, Roni and Guruh. Shown below is the name Abadi in the lyrics; the initials of the name is indicated in bold. "Indonesia Maharddhika" was released as the lead track of Guruh Gipsy in 1976. "Indonesia Maharddhika" was well received. In December 2009, "Indonesia Maharddhika" was selected by Rolling Stone Indonesia as the 59th best Indonesian song of all time. Ginting, Asrat. Musisiku. Jakarta: Republika. ISBN 978-979-1102-52-0. OCLC 227000099. Sakrie, Denny. "150 Lagu Indonesia Terbaik Sepanjang Masa". Rolling Stone Indonesia. Jakarta: 32–103. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16