1.
Public holidays in the United Kingdom
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Public holidays in the United Kingdom are days where most businesses and non-essential services are closed, although an increasing number of retail businesses do open on some of the public holidays. There are restrictions on trading on Sundays and Christmas Day in England and Wales and on New Years Day, in Northern Ireland, once again, bank holidays other than New Years Day and Christmas Day are not necessarily public holidays. Good Friday and Christmas Day are common law holidays, except in Scotland, in Scotland the holiday on 1 January is statutory. If New Years Day is Saturday a substitute holiday is given on 4 January by Royal Proclamation,2 January is given by Royal Proclamation, with a substitute holiday on 4 January if it is Saturday and 3 January if it is Sunday or Monday. Outside Scotland,1 January is given by Royal Proclamation, or 3 January if it is Saturday and 2 January if it is Sunday, in Scotland,25 December is a statutory holiday. 26 December is given by Royal Proclamation if it is neither Saturday, Sunday or Monday,27 and 28 December are given by Royal Proclamation if Christmas Day is Saturday. 28 December only is given if Boxing Day is Saturday, outside Scotland, if Christmas Day is a Sunday there is an additional statutory holiday on 27 December. By Royal Proclamation, if Christmas Day is a Saturday there is a holiday on 28 December. If Boxing Day is a Sunday there is again a statutory holiday on 27 December, effectively what happens is that if a holiday falls at the weekend a substitute day is given in lieu. The United Kingdom has no national day holiday marked and/or celebrated for its founding date. Increasingly, there are calls for public holidays on the saints days in England, Scotland. An online petition to the Prime Minister for a holiday in Wales on St. Georges Day. The two terms bank holidays and public holidays are often used interchangeably, although strictly and legally there is a difference, a government website describes the difference as follows, Bank holidays are holidays when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day. Public holidays are holidays which have been observed through custom and practice, Bank holidays may be declared in two ways, by statute - Holidays specifically listed in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1. Unlike the USA, where public holidays falling on a Saturday are sometimes observed on the preceding Friday, British bank holidays are always moved to a later date, not an earlier one. Although there is no right for workers to take paid leave on bank holidays, where paid leave is given. Likewise, if people are required to work on a holiday, there is no statutory right to an enhanced pay rate nor to a day off in lieu. Any rights in this respect depend on the contract of employment
Public holidays in the United Kingdom
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In 1995 the May Bank Holiday was moved to 8 May for the 50th anniversary of
VE Day
2.
British Commonwealth
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The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
British Commonwealth
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Flag
British Commonwealth
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The prime ministers of five members at the 1944
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. (L-R)
Mackenzie King (Canada);
Jan Smuts (South Africa);
Winston Churchill (United Kingdom);
Peter Fraser (New Zealand);
John Curtin (Australia)
British Commonwealth
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Queen
Elizabeth II,
Head of the Commonwealth
British Commonwealth
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Marlborough House, London, the headquarters of the
Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth's principal intergovernmental institution
3.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
Hong Kong
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The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in WWI and WWII.
Hong Kong
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Flag
Hong Kong
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Stamp with portrait of
Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
Hong Kong
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Development of
Hong Kong Island in 1986
4.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
Republic of Ireland
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The
Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891).
Republic of Ireland
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Flag
Republic of Ireland
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In 1922 a new parliament called the
Oireachtas was established, of which
Dáil Éireann became the
lower house.
Republic of Ireland
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Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)
5.
Bank Holidays Act 1871
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The Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the first bank holidays in the United Kingdom. The Act designated four bank holidays in England, Wales and Ireland, in England, Wales and Ireland, Good Friday and Christmas Day were considered traditional days of rest and therefore it was felt unnecessary to include them in the Act. The Act was repealed in 1971 and superseded by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, history of Bank & Public Holidays. Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, archived from the original on 7 December 2008
Bank Holidays Act 1871
6.
Good Friday
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Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday and it is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Black Friday, or Easter Friday, though the last term properly refers to the Friday in Easter week. The date of the holiday on the Gregorian calendar varies from one year to the next and it is a widely instituted legal holiday in many national governments around the world, including in most Western countries as well as in 12 U. S. states. Some countries, such as Germany, have laws prohibiting certain acts, such as dancing and horse racing, the etymology of the term good in the context of Good Friday is contested. Some sources claim good to mean pious or holy, while others contend that it is a corruption of God Friday. In German-speaking countries, Good Friday is generally referred to as Karfreitag, the Kar prefix is an ancestor of the English word care in the sense of cares and woes, it meant mourning. The day is known as Stiller Freitag and Hoher Freitag. According to the accounts in the Gospels, the Temple Guards, guided by Jesus disciple Judas Iscariot, Judas received money for betraying Jesus and told the guards that whomever he kisses is the one they are to arrest. Following his arrest, Jesus was taken to the house of Annas, there he was interrogated with little result and sent bound to Caiaphas the high priest where the Sanhedrin had assembled. Conflicting testimony against Jesus was brought forth by many witnesses, to which Jesus answered nothing. Finally the high priest adjured Jesus to respond under solemn oath, saying I adjure you, by the Living God, to us, are you the Anointed One. Jesus testified ambiguously, You have said it, and in time you see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty. The high priest condemned Jesus for blasphemy, and the Sanhedrin concurred with a sentence of death, Peter, waiting in the courtyard, also denied Jesus three times to bystanders while the interrogations were proceeding just as Jesus had predicted. In the morning, the assembly brought Jesus to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate under charges of subverting the nation, opposing taxes to Caesar. Pilate questioned Jesus and told the assembly there was no basis for sentencing. Upon learning that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate referred the case to the ruler of Galilee, King Herod, Herod questioned Jesus but received no answer, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate told the assembly that neither he nor Herod found guilt in Jesus, under the guidance of the chief priests, the crowd asked for Barabbas, who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection. Pilate asked what they would have him do with Jesus, and they demanded, pilates wife had seen Jesus in a dream earlier that day, and she forewarned Pilate to have nothing to do with this righteous man
Good Friday
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A
Stabat Mater depiction, 1868
Good Friday
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The Judas Kiss by
Gustave Doré, 1866
Good Friday
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Antonio Ciseri 's depiction of
Ecce Homo with Jesus and
Pontius Pilate, 19th century
7.
Bank of England
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The Bank of England, formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world, after the Sveriges Riksbank, and it was established to act as the English Governments banker and is still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom. The Bank was privately owned by stockholders from its foundation in 1694 until it was nationalised in 1946, in 1998, it became an independent public organisation, wholly owned by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the government, with independence in setting monetary policy. The Banks Monetary Policy Committee has a responsibility for managing monetary policy. The Banks Financial Policy Committee held its first meeting in June 2011 as a macro prudential regulator to oversee regulation of the UKs financial sector, the Banks headquarters have been in Londons main financial district, the City of London, on Threadneedle Street, since 1734. It is sometimes known by the metonym The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street or The Old Lady, the busy road junction outside is known as Bank junction. Until 2016, the bank provided banking services as a popular privilege for employees. Englands crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, England had no choice but to build a powerful navy. No public funds were available, and the credit of William IIIs government was so low in London that it was impossible for it to borrow the £1,200,000 that the government wanted. To induce subscription to the loan, the subscribers were to be incorporated by the name of the Governor, the Bank was given exclusive possession of the governments balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue bank notes. The lenders would give the government cash and issue notes against the government bonds, the £1. 2m was raised in 12 days, half of this was used to rebuild the navy. This helped the new Kingdom of Great Britain – England and Scotland were formally united in 1707 – to become powerful, the power of the navy made Britain the dominant world power in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The establishment of the bank was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, the plan of 1691, which had been proposed by William Paterson three years before, had not then been acted upon. The Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694, the first governor was Sir John Houblon, who is depicted in the £50 note issued in 1994. The charter was renewed in 1742,1764, and 1781, the Bank moved to its current location in Threadneedle Street in 1734, and thereafter slowly acquired neighbouring land to create the edifice seen today. When the idea and reality of the National Debt came about during the 18th century, the 1844 Bank Charter Act tied the issue of notes to the gold reserves and gave the Bank sole rights with regard to the issue of banknotes. Private banks that had previously had that right retained it, provided that their headquarters were outside London, a few English banks continued to issue their own notes until the last of them was taken over in the 1930s. Scottish and Northern Irish private banks still have that right, the bank acted as lender of last resort for the first time in the panic of 1866
Bank of England
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Headquarters
Bank of England
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Logo
Bank of England
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The sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694)
Bank of England
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The main Bank of England façade, c. 1980
8.
Liberal Party UK
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The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory, by the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives main rival. The party went into decline and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections, apart from notable by-election victories, the partys fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, at the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989 and it was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals. Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the Liberal Party grew out of the Whigs, who had their origins in an aristocratic faction in the reign of Charles II, and the early 19th century Radicals. The Whigs were in favour of reducing the power of the Crown, although their motives in this were originally to gain more power for themselves, the more idealistic Whigs gradually came to support an expansion of democracy for its own sake. The great figures of reformist Whiggery were Charles James Fox and his disciple, after decades in opposition, the Whigs returned to power under Grey in 1830 and carried the First Reform Act in 1832. The Reform Act was the climax of Whiggism, but it brought about the Whigs demise. As early as 1839 Russell had adopted the name of Liberals, the leading Radicals were John Bright and Richard Cobden, who represented the manufacturing towns which had gained representation under the Reform Act. They favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England, avoidance of war and foreign alliances, for a century, free trade remained the one cause which could unite all Liberals. This allowed ministries led by Russell, Palmerston, and the Peelite Lord Aberdeen to hold office for most of the 1850s and 1860s, a leading Peelite was William Ewart Gladstone, who was a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer in most of these governments. The formal foundation of the Liberal Party is traditionally traced to 1859 and this was brought about by Palmerstons death in 1865 and Russells retirement in 1868. After a brief Conservative government Gladstone won a victory at the 1868 election. The establishment of the party as a membership organisation came with the foundation of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. John Stuart Mill was a Liberal MP from 1865 to 1868, for the next thirty years Gladstone and Liberalism were synonymous. William Ewart Gladstone served as prime minister four times, called the Grand Old Man later in life, Gladstone was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to the working class and to the lower middle class
Liberal Party UK
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A crowd waits outside
Leeds Town Hall to see them elect a Liberal Party candidate during the
1880 general elections.
Liberal Party UK
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Liberal Party
Liberal Party UK
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Viscount Palmerston
Liberal Party UK
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William Gladstone
9.
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
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John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC FRS, known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath. He was a banker and worked with his family’s company, but also significant contributions in archaeology, ethnography. He helped establish archaeology as a discipline, and was also influential in nineteenth-century debates concerning evolutionary theory. He introduced the first law on the protection of the UKs archaeological and architectural heritage. John Lubbock was born in 1834, the son of Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet, a London banker, the youth was soon a frequent visitor to Down House, and became the closest of Darwin’s younger friends. Their relationship stimulated young Lubbock’s passion for science and evolutionary theory, in 1845, Lubbock began studies at Eton College, and after graduation was employed by his fathers bank, of which he became a partner at the age of twenty-two. In 1865 he succeeded to the baronetcy, in the early 1870s Lubbock became increasingly interested in politics. In 1870, and again in 1874, he was elected as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Maidstone and he lost the seat at the election of 1880, but was at once elected member for London University, of which he had been vice-chancellor since 1872. He was successful with numerous enactments in parliament, including the Bank Holidays Act of 1871, when the Liberals split in 1886 on the issue of Irish Home Rule, Lubbock joined the breakaway Liberal Unionist Party in opposition to Irish home rule. A prominent supporter of the Statistical Society, he took a part in criticizing the encroachment of municipal trading. In 1879 Lubbock was elected the first president of the Institute of Bankers, in 1881 he was president of the British Association, and from 1881 to 1886 president of the Linnean Society of London. In March 1883 he founded the Bank Clerks Orphanage, which in 1986 became the Bankers’ Benevolent Fund – a charity for bank employees, past and present, in January 1884 he founded the Proportional Representation Society, later to become the Electoral Reform Society. From 1888 to 1892 he was president of the London Chamber of Commerce, from 1889 to 1890 vice-chairman, in February 1890 he was appointed a privy councillor, and was chairman of the committee of design for the new coinage in 1891. He was President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1900 to 1902, the quotation, We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth, is widely attributed to Lubbock. This variation appears in his book The Pleasures of Life, in addition to his work at his father’s bank, Lubbock took a keen interest in archaeology and evolutionary theory. A collection of Iron Age antiquities Lubbock and Sir John Evans excavated at the site of Hallstatt in Austria is now in the British Museums collection and he spoke in support of the evolutionist Thomas Henry Huxley at the famous 1860 Oxford evolution debate. During the 1860s, he published articles in which he used archaeological evidence to support Darwin’s theory. In 1864, he one of the founding members of the elite X Club
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
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Woodburytype print of Lord Avebury in middle age
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
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Kingsgate Castle in Kent was rebuilt by Lord Avebury.
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
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Lord Avebury speaking during the presentation of the first replica of Diplodocus carnegii to the trustees of the
British Museum of Natural History, 12 May 1905
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury
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Battersea Library plaque
10.
Hogmanay
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Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Years Day or, the origins of Hogmanay are unclear, but it may be derived from Norse and Gaelic observances. Customs vary throughout Scotland, and usually include gift-giving and visiting the homes of friends and neighbours, with attention given to the first-foot. The etymology of the word is obscure, the earliest proposed etymology comes from the 1693 Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, which held that the term was a corruption of the Greek agía mína, or holy month. The three main modern theories derive it from a French, Norse or Gaelic root, the word is first recorded in a Latin entry in 1443 annals as hagnonayse. The first appearance in English came in 1604 in the records of Elgin, subsequent 17th-century spellings include Hagmena, Hogmynae night, and Hagmane in an entry of the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence. It may have introduced to Middle Scots via French. Compare also the apparent Spanish cognate aguinaldo/aguilando, with a suggested Latin derivation of hoc in anno in this year, the second element would appear to be lan neuf, with some sources suggesting a druidical origin of the practice overall. Compare those to Norman hoguinané and the customs in Jersey of crying ma hodgîngnole. In Québec, la guignolée was a collection for the poor. Other suggestions include au gui mener, à gueux mener, au gui lan neuf (at the mistletoe the new year, the word may have come from the Goidelic languages. Fraser and Kelley report a Manx new-year song that begins with the line To-night is New Years Night, Hogunnaa, Kelley himself uses the spelling Og-u-naa. Tro-la-la whereas other sources parse this as hog-un-naa and give the modern Manx form as Hob dy naa, Manx dictionaries though give Hop-tu-Naa, generally glossing it as Halloween, same as many of the more Manx-specific folklore collections. In this context it is recorded that in the south of Scotland, there is no ⟨m⟩, the word thus being Hunganay. Overall, Gaelic consistently refers to the New Years Eve as Oidhche na Bliadhn Ùir and Oidhche Challainn. Some authors reject both the French and Goidelic theories, and instead suggest that the ultimate source both for the Norman French, Scots, and Goidelic variants of this word have a common Norse root. Repp furthermore makes a link between Trollalay/Trolla-laa and the recorded in Percys Relics, Trolle on away, trolle on awaye. Synge heave and howe rombelowe trolle on away, which he reads as an invocation of troll-banning
Hogmanay
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Hogmanay fireworks over
Edinburgh
Hogmanay
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Stonehaven Fireballs Ceremony 2003
Hogmanay
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Catalonian Sun Goddess from the Hogmanay Street Party,
Edinburgh 2005
Hogmanay
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John Masey Wright and John Rogers' c. 1841 illustration of
Auld Lang Syne.
11.
Whit Monday
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Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter, Whit Monday gets its English name from Whitsunday, an English name for Pentecost, one of the three baptismal seasons. The origin of the name Whit Sunday is generally attributed to the white garments worn by those newly baptized on this feast. In many of countries, Whit Monday is known as the second day of Pentecost or the second Whitsun. In France, it became a day for many workers from 2005 to 2007. This was to raise extra funds following the lack of preparation for a summertime heat wave. It continues to be a public holiday in France. In Liechtenstein, Whit Monday is considered to be a favorite holiday, in Germany, Whit Monday is a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. In South Tyrol, it replaces the holiday of the patron saint celebrated elsewhere in Italy. Until 1973, Whit Monday was a holiday in Ireland. It was a holiday in the United Kingdom until 1967. It was formally replaced by the fixed Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May in 1971 and it was also a public holiday in various former British colonies, especially in the Pacific. It remains a holiday in some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. In Sweden, Whit Monday was a holiday until 2004 as it was replaced by the National Day of Sweden from 2005. Although Whit Monday is a holiday in many countries, it is not a Catholic religious holiday any more than the other weekdays that follow Pentecost Sunday. Until the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, they were part of the octave of Pentecost, the Monday after Pentecost is now the first day of the resumption of Ordinary Time. While the details differ from diocese to diocese, the most widespread practice in Germany is to have a compulsory votive Mass of the Holy Spirit outranking even solemnities, the day following is known as Third Day of the Trinity. In the services on the Monday of the Holy Spirit many of the hymns are sung as on the day of Pentecost itself
Whit Monday
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Medieval
Russian icon of the
Old Testament Trinity by
Andrei Rublev, used as the icon of the
feast for Whit Monday.
12.
Boxing Day
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Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day. It originated in the United Kingdom, and is celebrated in a number of countries that formed part of the British Empire. Boxing Day is on 26 December, although the bank holiday or public holiday may take place either on that day or a day later. In the liturgical calendar of Western Christianity, Boxing Day is the day of Christmastide. In some European countries, notably Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, there are competing theories for the origins of the term, none of which is definitive. In Britain, it was a custom for tradespeople to collect Christmas boxes of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys diary entry for 19 December 1663 and this custom is linked to an older British tradition, since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. The European tradition, which has included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be in reference to the Alms Box placed in areas of worship to collect donations to the poor, Boxing Day is a secular holiday that is traditionally celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. 26 December is also St. Stephens Day, a religious holiday, when 26 December falls on the weekend, the Boxing Day public holiday is moved to the following day. In the UK, Boxing Day is a bank holiday, on the occasions when Christmas Day is on a Sunday, the following Monday is Boxing Day and Tuesday the substitute bank holiday for Christmas Day. In Scotland, Boxing Day has been specified as a bank holiday since 1974, by Royal Proclamation under the Banking. In Ireland – when the island as a whole was part of the United Kingdom – the Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the feast day of St. Stephen as a public holiday on 26 December. Following partition in 1920, Northern Ireland reverted to the British name, in Australia, Boxing Day is a federal public holiday. The Australian state of South Australia instead observes a public holiday known as Proclamation Day on the first weekday after Christmas Day or the Christmas Day holiday. In New Zealand, Boxing Day is a holiday, penalty rates. In Canada, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday
Boxing Day
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Boxing Day crowds shopping at the
Toronto Eaton Centre in Canada, 2007
Boxing Day
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Boxing Day Meet of the Blencathra Foxhounds in Keswick, 1962
13.
Royal assent
–
Royal assent is the method by which a countrys constitutional monarch formally approves an act of that nations parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies, however, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the Governor-General merely signs the bill, in Canada, the Governor-General may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill. Before the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541 became law, the last time royal assent was given by the sovereign in person was during the rule of Queen Victoria at a prorogation on the 12th of August 1854. The Act was repealed and replaced by the Royal Assent Act of 1967, Royal assent is the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law. -the sovereign may delay the bills assent through the use of his or her powers in near-revolutionary situations. -the sovereign may refuse royal assent on the advice of his or her ministers, under modern constitutional conventions, the sovereign acts on the advice of his or her ministers. Since these ministers most often maintain the support of parliament and are the ones who obtain the passage of bills, it is highly improbable that they would advise the sovereign to withhold assent. Hence, in practice, royal assent is always granted. The Monarch does not have the power to withhold a Bill from assenting, the last bill that was refused assent by the sovereign was the Scottish Militia Bill during Queen Annes reign in 1708. The so-called Model Parliament included bishops, abbots, earls, barons, in 1265, the Earl of Leicester irregularly called a full parliament without royal authorization. The body eventually came to be divided into two branches, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons formed the House of Lords, while the shire, the King would seek the advice and consent of both houses before making any law. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 provide a second potential preamble if the House of Lords were to be excluded from the process, the power of parliament to pass bills was often thwarted by monarchs. Charles I dissolved parliament in 1629, after it passed motions critical of, during the eleven years of personal rule that followed, Charles performed legally dubious actions, such as raising taxes without parliaments approval. After the English Civil War, it was accepted that parliament should be summoned to meet regularly, the last Stuart monarch, Anne, similarly withheld on 11 March 1707, on the advice of her ministers, her assent from a bill for the settling of Militia in Scotland. No monarch has since withheld royal assent on a passed by the British parliament. During the rule of the succeeding Hanoverian dynasty, power was gradually exercised more by parliament, the first Hanoverian monarch, George I, relied on his ministers to a greater extent than did previous monarchs. However, George IV reluctantly granted his assent upon the advice of his ministers, thus, as the concept of ministerial responsibility has evolved, the power to withhold royal assent has fallen into disuse, both in the United Kingdom and in the other Commonwealth realms
Royal assent
–
George VI grants royal assent to laws in the
Canadian Senate, 19 May 1939. Seated beside him is his consort,
Queen Elizabeth.
Royal assent
–
Start of the parchment roll of the
Reform Act 1832, with the clerk's record of the royal assent of King
William IV written above the bill, reading in full Le Roy Veult soit baillé aux Seigneurs. A cette Bille avecque des amendemens les Seigneurs sont assentuz. A ces Amendemens les Communes sont assentuz.
Royal assent
–
Henry VIII introduced a new method of granting royal assent.
14.
Royal proclamation
–
A proclamation is an official declaration. In many British protectorates the high commissioner or administrator was empowered to legislate by proclamation, in the old system of real property law in England, fines, levied with proclamations, i. e. These proclamations were originally made sixteen times, four times in the term in which the fine was levied, afterwards the number of proclamations was reduced to one in each of the four terms. The proclamations were endorsed on the back of the record, the system was abolished by the Fines and Recoveries Act 1833. Introduction, Proclamations of Accession of English and British Sovereigns, Heraldica,2007
Royal proclamation
–
Royal proclamation granting Lord Mayoralty to Oxford.
15.
Glasgow Fair
–
The Glasgow Fair is a holiday usually held during the second half of July in Glasgow, Scotland. The Fair is the oldest of similar holidays and dates to the 12th century, the fairs earliest incarnation occurred in 1190, when Bishop Jocelin obtained permission from King William the Lion to hold the festivities. Until the 1960s, most local businesses and factories closed on Fair Friday to allow workers and their families to attend and this practice was known as going doon the watter. The Glasgow Fair was originally held within the boundaries of Glasgow Cathedral, from the 1800s onward, in its earliest incarnations, the fair focused on economic practicalities such as the sale of horses and cattle. In the modern era, the fair has become known for its amusements, with circus, the Glasgow Fair has been a nexus for traveling showmen, who congregate in order to take advantage of the large audiences. This provided the fair with a roster of entertainers and performances. The 1912 fair, for example, featured a traditional penny gaff as well as short melodramas, the Glasgow Fair also served to introduce attendees to changes in industry and commerce. The 1912 fair also presented a railway that took visitors on a simulated ride through Japan. Starting in the 1900s, the Glasgow Fair focused on introducing attendees to global events, IV, Charter of the kings peace to all frequenting Glasgow fair
Glasgow Fair
–
History
16.
Patron saints
–
Catholics believe that patron saints, having already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges. Historically, a practice has also occurred in many Islamic lands. With regard to the omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote. Traditionally, it has been understood that the saint of a particular place prays for that places wellbeing and for the health. Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active, professions sometimes have a patron saint owing to that individual being involved somewhat with it, although some of the connections were tenuous. Lacking such a saint, an occupation would have a patron whose acts or miracles in some way recall the profession and it is, however, generally discouraged in some Protestant branches such as Calvinism, where the practice is considered a form of idolatry. In Islam, the veneration or commemoration and recognition of saints is found in many branches of traditional Sunnism
Patron saints
–
Saint Matthew the Apostle, depicted with an angel, is the patron saint of
Salerno, Italy, bankers and tax collectors
Patron saints
–
A branch of
Saint Honore Cake Shop, a
Hong Kong chain bakery, in Hong Kong.
Saint Honorius (Honoré) is the patron saint of bakers and confectioners.
17.
William Shakespeare
–
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
William Shakespeare
–
The
Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed.
National Portrait Gallery, London.
William Shakespeare
–
John Shakespeare's house, believed to be
Shakespeare's birthplace, in
Stratford-upon-Avon.
William Shakespeare
–
Shakespeare's coat of arms, as it appears on the rough draft of the application to grant a coat-of-arms to John Shakespeare. It features a spear as a
pun on the family name.
William Shakespeare
–
Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon.
18.
Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
Northern Ireland
–
Scrabo Tower,
County Down
Northern Ireland
–
Location of Northern Ireland (dark green) – in
Europe (green & dark grey) – in the
United Kingdom (green)
Northern Ireland
–
Cannon on
Derry 's
city walls
Northern Ireland
–
Signing of the
Ulster Covenant in 1912 in opposition to Home Rule
19.
Department of Culture, Media and Sport
–
The department was also responsible for the delivery of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and the building of a Digital Economy. The DCMS originates from the Department of National Heritage, which itself was created on 11 April 1992 out of other departments. The former Ministers for the Arts and for Sport had previously located in other departments. The DNH was renamed as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 14 July 1997, the June 2007 Cabinet reshuffle led to Tessa Jowell MP taking on the role of Paymaster General and then Minister for the Cabinet Office while remaining Minister for the Olympics. Ministerial responsibility for the Olympics was shared with Ms Jowell in the Cabinet Office, following the 2010 general election, ministerial responsibility for the Olympics returned to the Secretary of State. Although Jeremy Hunts full title was Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, on 4 September 2012, Hunt was appointed Health Secretary in a cabinet reshuffle and replaced by Maria Miller. Maria Miller later resigned due to controversy over her expenses and her replacement was announced later that day as Sajid Javid. After the 2015 general election, John Whittingdale was appointed as Secretary of State, DCMS received full responsibility for the digital economy policy, formerly jointly held with BIS, and sponsorship of the Information Commissioners Office from the Ministry of Justice. The department also gained two additional ministers, Baroness Shields and Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Whittingdale was replaced by Karen Bradley after the referendum on the UKs membership of the EU in July 2016. The Secretary of State has responsibility for the maintenance of the land, DCMS continues to make a separate small grant to the Royal Household for the maintenance of Marlborough House The Department also has responsibility for state ceremonial occasions and royal funerals. However, responsibility for the Civil List element of Head of State expenditure, DCMS organises the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph and has responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance in the event of a disaster. In the Governments response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings the department coordinated humanitarian support to the relatives of victims, the main offices are at 100 Parliament Street, occupying part of the building known as Government Offices Great George Street. The DCMS Ministers are as follows, The Permanent Secretary is Sue Owen CB, the DCMS has policy responsibility for three statutory corporations and two public broadcasting authorities. These bodies and their operation are largely independent of Government policy influence, the Museum of London transferred to the Greater London Authority from 1 April 2008. DCMS formerly sponsored eight Regional Cultural Consortiums with NDPB status, media-related policy is generally reserved to Westminster i. e. not devolved. United Kingdom budget Digital Economy Act 2010 Culture, Media and Sport Committee Official website DCMS YouTube channel
Department of Culture, Media and Sport
–
100 Parliament Street – partly occupied by DCMS
Department of Culture, Media and Sport
–
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Welsh: Yr Adran Diwylliant, Cyfryngau a Chwaraeon
20.
London Gold Pool
–
The central banks coordinated concerted methods of gold sales to balance spikes in the market price of gold as determined by the London morning gold fixing while buying gold on price weaknesses. The United States provided 50% of the gold supply for sale. The price controls were successful for six years until the system no longer workable. The pegged price of gold was too low, and after runs on gold, the British pound, the London Gold Pool collapsed in March 1968. The IMF was charged with the maintenance of a system of currency exchange rates which became known as the Bretton Woods system. Foreign exchange market rates were fixed, but were allowed adjustments when necessary, for this purpose, all currencies had to be backed by either physical gold reserves, or a currency convertible into gold. The United States dollar was recognized as the reserve currency. The price of one ounce of gold was pegged to US$35. This agreement did not affect the independent global or regional markets in which gold was traded as a precious metal commodity, there was still an open gold market. The Bretton Woods system was challenged by several crises, as the economic post-war upswing proceeded, international trade and foreign exchange reserves rose, while the gold supply increased only marginally. In the recessions of the 1950s, the US had to convert vast amounts of gold, after oil import quotas and restrictions on trade outflows were insufficient, by 1960, targeted efforts began to maintain the Bretton Woods system and to enforce the US$35 per ounce gold valuation. The United States sought means of ending the drain on its gold reserves, in November 1961, eight nations agreed on a system of regulating the price of gold and defending the $35/oz price through measures of targeted selling and buying of gold on the world markets. Thus, the London Gold Pool came under increased pressures of failure, causing France to announce in June 1967 a withdrawal from the agreements and moving large amounts of gold from New York to Paris. The 1967 devaluation of the British currency, followed by another run on gold, by spring 1968, the international financial system was moving toward a crisis more dangerous than any since 1931. Despite policy support and market efforts by the United States, the 1967 attack on the British pound, further protective measures in the US tried to avert a continued run on gold and attacks on the US dollar. On 14 March 1968, a Thursday evening, the United States requested of the British government that the London gold markets be closed the day to combat the heavy demand for gold. The events of the led the Congress of the United States to repeal the requirement for a gold reserve to back the US currency as of Monday. The London gold market stayed closed for two weeks, while markets in other countries continued trading with increasing gold prices, the events ended the London Gold Pool
London Gold Pool
–
Gold bull market prices and their decline after the collapse of the London Gold Pool in 1968 (in nominal US$ and inflation adjusted US$/oz)
21.
Harold Wilson
–
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, in 1969 Wilson sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 general election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 general election resulted in a hung parliament. A period of crisis was now beginning to hit most Western countries. He took little action to pursue the Labour Party constitutions stated dedication to such nationalisation, Labour Party historians see his years in office as lost opportunities for major reforms. However, in keeping with the mood of the 1960s his government sponsored liberal changes in a number of social areas and his stated ambition of substantially improving Britains long-term economic performance remained largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second government 1974–76 and accomplished little as the split over Europe. Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and he came from a political family, his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage, and her brother, when Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He was a supporter of his football club, Huddersfield Town. Wilson won a scholarship to attend Royds Hall Grammar School, his grammar school in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. In December 1930, his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and he moved to Spital on the Wirral, Cheshire in order to do so. Wilson was educated in the Sixth Form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, at Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by G. D. H. Cole. He graduated in PPE with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper in the examinations. Biographer Roy Jenkins says, Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, and no one else. What he was superb at was the assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind. He continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford dons of the century at the age of 21 and he was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College
Harold Wilson
–
The Right Honourable The Lord Wilson of Rievaulx
KG OBE PC FRS
Harold Wilson
–
Harold Wilson in 1964.
Harold Wilson
–
Harold and Mary Wilson with
Richard and
Pat Nixon at the White House in 1970.
Harold Wilson
–
Wilson with West German Chancellor
Ludwig Erhard.
22.
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
–
He was a leader of the Labour Partys trade union right wing, and an effective election campaigner. Ultimately, however, he was unable to cope with the pressures of office without excessive drinking. Soon after the birth, his left and moved to the Peabody Trust block at Peabody Square, Blackfriars Road, Southwark. His father, also called George Brown, had worked as a packer, lorry driver. Brown had already adopted his parents left-wing views and later claimed to have delivered leaflets for the Labour Party in the 1922 general election when he was 8 years old. The school wanted Brown to stay on beyond the age of 15 and he started work as a junior clerk in the ledger department of a City firm, but was made redundant after pressing his fellow clerks to join a trade union. From 1932, he worked as a fur salesman for the John Lewis Partnership, Brown earned a great deal on commission. During this time, Brown continued his education through London County Council evening schools, the poverty of his upbringing led Brown in later life to resent those who had a more privileged background and a university education. By now Brown was active within the Labour Party and the Labour League of Youth and he ran as a moderate candidate for the Chairmanship but at the Labour Party conference in 1937 he was defeated by Ted Willis, a left-wing candidate later known as a television scriptwriter. At the 1939 Labour Party conference Brown made his mark by a speech demanding the expulsion of Stafford Cripps for his advocacy of a Popular Front. For the rest of his life, Cripps refused to speak to Brown, after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Brown volunteered for the RAF but Ernest Bevin, the minister of labour, kept Brown and other trade union officials in their civilian jobs. Bevin was one of the Labour leaders brought into the coalition government. Brown himself served as a civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture from 1940 onwards. As a TGWU official, Brown was a candidate to Labour constituencies seeking a candidate, as the TGWU would sponsor him. He was selected for Belper, a mixed constituency near Derby which was one of the top Labour target seats, in the 1945 general election Brown won the seat with a majority of nearly 9,000. He was invited as one of a dozen Young Victors to a dinner given by Hugh Dalton on 30 July 1945 who was talent-spotting and networking. Brown was immediately chosen to be a Parliamentary Private Secretary by George Isaacs, who had followed the promoted Bevin as Minister of Labour, Brown was both adept at understanding political issues and how to communicate them, and convivial and generally popular within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Brown launched a plot to have Clement Attlee replaced as Prime Minister by Ernest Bevin
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
–
The Right Honourable The Lord George-Brown
PC
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
–
George Brown with Harold Wilson in 1967 at
The Hague
23.
Argos (retailer)
–
Argos is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a subsidiary of Sainsburys. BAT Industries purchased the company in 1979, and in 1990, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange, in April 1998, GUS plc bought the company, and it became part of Home Retail Group when GUS split in October 2006. In August 2013, it was estimated that 96% of the population of the United Kingdom was within 10 miles of an Argos branch, in April 2016, Argos parent Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4 billion takeover by the UK supermarket chain Sainsburys. Sainsburys intend to close a number of separate Argos stores and integrate them into its Sainsburys supermarkets, the acquisition was completed on 2 September 2016 and the business became part of a division named Sainsburys Argos led by its own chief executive. The company was founded by Richard Tompkins who had previously established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. Whilst on holiday in the Greek city of Argos, he came up with the idea that people could purchase goods from his Green Shield Gift House with cash rather than savings stamps. He rebranded the original Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos beginning in July 1973, Green Shield House was in Station Road, Edgware. Argos was launched with thousands of staff, taking £1,000,000 during a week in November, Argos was purchased by BAT Industries in 1979 for £32 million. In 1980, Argos opened its Elizabeth Duke jewellery counter and by 1982 was the United Kingdoms fourth biggest jewellery retailer, the Elizabeth Duke brand has since been phased out, and replaced with the Jewellery and Watches brand. The company was demerged from BAT Industries and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1990, in April 1998, it was then acquired by GUS plc. In October 2006, it became part of Home Retail Group which was demerged from its parent company, GUS plc. In October 2009, it was announced that the Argos visual branding would be undergoing changes from 2010 and this began on 23 January, with the relaunch of the main shopping website, and a new logo. The websites claim to make shopping with Argos more accessible, the careers website, and the release of the spring/summer 2010 catalogue were also relaunched. The company expect that the process will take an number of years. As part of the Autumn/Winter 2010 rebrand, all Argos Extra stores were planned to be branded simply as Argos when they are refitted, former Extra marked lines will be available in all stores. However, stock levels will entirely depend on the demand for that particular line. If it does not sell, then the item will have to be ordered in to that store, Argos stores in city centres will theoretically have a slightly different stocked-in range than those on retail parks. In September 2013, Argos announced a click and collect scheme, in partnership with eBay, in January 2016, the sale of sister company Homebase for £340 million was announced
Argos (retailer)
–
A rebranded Argos branch in
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
Argos (retailer)
–
Argos Ltd
Argos (retailer)
–
A
Homebase branch incorporating a branch of Argos in
Moor Allerton,
Leeds. Since 2014, the Home retail group has been creating hybrid branches, within formerly solely Homebase branches.
Argos (retailer)
–
An out of town Argos in
Craigavon, Northern Ireland, August 2009
24.
Amazon.com
–
Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries
Amazon.com
–
amazon.com homepage
Amazon.com
–
Amazon founder
Jeff Bezos
Amazon.com
–
Amazon.com's former headquarters in the
Pacific Medical Center building in
Beacon Hill, Seattle
Amazon.com
–
Customer Service Center in Huntington, West Virginia
25.
Easter Sunday
–
It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. The First Council of Nicaea established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified, these were worked out in practice and it has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, in many languages, the words for Easter and Passover are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the area of churches on this day. Additional customs that have associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally, however, it is possible that Bede was only speculating about the origin of the term since there is no firm evidence that such a goddess actually existed. In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Πάσχα, Pascha, the word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek, Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith, the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness. For those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, death is swallowed up in victory, any person who chooses to follow Jesus receives a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through faith in the working of God those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the room during the Last Supper he prepared himself. He identified the matzah and cup of wine as his soon to be sacrificed
Easter Sunday
–
Icon of the Resurrection, with Christ, having kicked down the gates of Hades and pulling Adam and Eve out of the tombs. Christ is flanked by saints, and Satan, depicted as an old man, is bound and chained. (See
Resurrection of Jesus in Christian art.)
Easter Sunday
–
One of the earliest known depictions of the
crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus (
Rabbula Gospel illuminated manuscript, 6th century)
Easter Sunday
–
The
Last Supper celebrated by Jesus and his disciples. The early Christians too would have celebrated this meal to commemorate Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection.
Easter Sunday
–
A stained glass window depicting the
Passover Lamb, a concept integral to the foundation of Easter
26.
Easter Monday
–
Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is a holiday in some countries. Easter Monday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar is the day of Eastertide. Formerly, the post-Easter festivities involved a week of secular celebration, in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, this day is called Bright Monday or Renewal Monday. In Australia, Easter Monday is a public holiday, people enjoy outdoor sporting events, such as the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival in South Australia, Australian Three Peaks Race in Tasmania as well as the Stawell Gift in Victoria. In Egypt, the ancient festival of Sham El Nessim is celebrated on the Coptic Easter Monday and it is celebrated by both Egyptian Christians and Muslims as an Egyptian national holiday rather than as a religious one. Traditional activities include painting eggs, taking meals outdoors, and eating feseekh, in the Republic of Ireland it is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died in the Easter Rising which began on Easter Monday 1916. Until 1966, there was a parade of veterans, past the headquarters of the Irish Republican Army at the General Post Office on OConnell Street, Śmigus-dyngus is the name for Easter Monday in Poland and the diaspora. In the Czech Republic it is called velikonoční pondělí, in Slovakia veľkonočný pondelok, also called Šibačka/Polievačka or Oblievačka. All countries practice a unique custom on this day, another related custom, unique to Poland, is that of sprinkling bowls of ashes on people or houses, celebrated a few weeks earlier at the półpoście. This custom is almost forgotten, but still practiced in the area around the borders of Mazuria and Masovia, in Germany, people go out into the fields early in the morning and hold Easter egg races. For Roman Catholics, Easter Monday is also a Holy Day of Obligation in Germany. Though not largely observed in the United States, the day remains informally observed in areas such as the state of North Dakota, and some cities in New York, Michigan. Easter Monday was a holiday in North Carolina from 1935 to 1987. Texas and Maryland schools often have two holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday, in some states and districts, public schools and universities are closed on Easter Monday, often part of spring break. Traditionally Polish areas of the such as Chicago, and more recently Cleveland. Dyngus Day celebrations are widespread and popular in Buffalo, New York, Wyandotte and Hamtramck in Michigan, South Bend and La Porte in Indiana, the worlds largest organized Dyngus Day celebration occurs in Buffalo, New York. In Buffalos eastern suburbs and the citys Historic Polonia District, Dyngus Day is celebrated with a level of enthusiasm. Although Dyngus Day was celebrated in traditional Polish neighborhoods of Buffalo dating back to the 1870s, judge Ann T. Mikoll and her late husband Theodore V. Mikoll held the first party at the Societys clubrooms in the Buffalo Central Terminal
Easter Monday
–
Blessing with holy water during an Eastern Orthodox Bright Week procession.
Easter Monday
–
Two children enjoy treats during the annual
Easter egg roll at the
White House lawn on Easter Monday, 1911
27.
May Day
–
May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on May 1. It is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the celebrations that the day includes, in the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers Day by the Socialists and Communists of the Second International to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago. International Workers Day may also be referred to as May Day and it is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane, most commonly held on April 30. The day was a summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of spring, May 1 was the first day of summer, hence, as Europe became Christianised, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and May Day changed into a popular secular celebration. A significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany where it is one of days on which St. Walburga. The secular versions of May Day, observed in Europe and America, may be best known for their traditions of dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of May baskets, small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours doorsteps. May 1 is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus. Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers Day celebrations on May Day. In the late 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing traditions, traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole. Historically, Morris dancing has been linked to May Day celebrations, much of this tradition derives from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during Þrimilci-mōnaþ along with many Celtic traditions. May Day has been a day of festivities throughout the centuries. May Day is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes, seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons, the spring bank holiday on the first Monday in May was created in 1978, May Day itself – May 1 – is not a public holiday in England. Unlike the other Bank Holidays and common law holidays, the first Monday in May is taken off from schools by itself and this is because it has no Christian significance and does not otherwise fit into the usual school holiday pattern. May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by Puritan parliaments during the Interregnum, may 1,1707, was the day the Act of Union came into effect, joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain
May Day
–
Maypole dancing at Bishopstone Church,
Sussex, UK.
May Day
–
May Queen on village green,
Melmerby, England
May Day
–
Morris dancing on May Day in
Oxford, England, in 2004.
May Day
–
May blossom, the flower of the
May tree or common hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna
28.
Isle of Man TT
–
The International Isle of Man TT Race is a motorcycle sport event held annually on the Isle of Man in May or June of each year since the inaugural race in 1907. The Isle of Man TT for many years has been the most prestigious race in the world and also seen as the ultimate test for competitors. In 2016, the Vision Nine Group was appointed by the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development in a deal as a race promoter for the 2017 Isle of Man TT onwards. The Isle of Man TT has been run in a time-trial format on public roads closed for racing by the provisions of an Act of Tynwald. The event consists of one week of practice sessions followed by one week of racing, the first Isle of Man TT race was held on Tuesday 28 May 1907 and was called the International Auto-Cycle Tourist Trophy. From 1911 the Isle of Man TT transferred to the much longer Snaefell Mountain Course of 37.40 miles, the race did not take place from 1915 to 1919 due to the First World War. A 250cc Lightweight TT race was added to the Isle of Man TT programme in 1922 followed by a Sidecar TT race in 1923, there was no racing on the Isle of Man between 1940 and 1945 due to the Second World War. It recommenced with the Manx Grand Prix in 1946 then the Isle of Man TT in 1947 with an expanded format that included the new Clubmans TT races. The Isle of Man TT became part of the FIM Motor-cycle Grand Prix World Championship as the British round of the World Motor-Cycling Championship during the period 1949–1976. It is still billed in popular culture as the most dangerous motorsport event in the world, with over 250 fatalities in its history. In 1976, the Isle of Man TT lost its world championship status and was transferred to the United Kingdom by the FIM, the event was redeveloped by the Isle of Man Department of Tourism as the Isle of Man TT Festival from 1989 onwards. Motor racing began on the Isle of Man in 1904 with the Gordon Bennett Eliminating Trial, restricted to touring automobiles. The 1905 Gordon Bennett Trial was held on 30 May 1905 and was won by Clifford Earl driving a Napier automobile in 6 hours and 6 minutes for six laps of the Highroads Course.90 mph. The 1905 International Motor-Cycle Cup Race for five laps was won by J. S, campbell despite a fire during a pit stop in 4 hours,9 minutes and 36 seconds at an average race speed of 30.04 mph. The TT Races since the first race in 1907 have been in the format of time-trial, the current format is a clutch start and race competitors will be started singly at 10-second intervals. Start Preliminaries First Signal –45 minutes before the start with a warm-up of engines in the Race Paddock, Second Signal –30 minutes before start. Third Signal –15 minutes before start, race competitors move to the start-line, fourth Signal –5 minutes before start, signal to clear the grid and race competitors move towards the exit-gate. Entrants must be in possession of a valid National Entrants or FIM Sponsors Licence for Road Racing. 5-mile Snaefell Mountain Course
Isle of Man TT
–
The Norton twin motorcycle which won one of the first TT races in 1907
Isle of Man TT
–
Isle of Man Tourist Trophy
Isle of Man TT
–
Competitors line up at the start of the
2010 Senior TT race
Isle of Man TT
–
Winner of the 2012 Lightweight TT
Ryan Farquhar 650 cc Kawasaki, (2) at the startline
29.
Tynwald Day
–
Tynwald Day is the National Day of the Isle of Man, usually observed on 5 July. On this day, the Islands legislature, Tynwald, meets at St Johns, the session is held partly in the Royal Chapel of St John the Baptist and partly in the open air on the adjacent Tynwald Hill. The meeting, the first recorded instance of which dates to 1417, is known as Midsummer Court and it is attended by members of the two branches of Tynwald, the House of Keys, and the Legislative Council. The Lieutenant Governor, the representative of the Lord of Mann, all bills that have received Royal Assent are promulgated on Tynwald Day, any Act of Tynwald which is not so promulgated within 18 months of passage ceases to have effect. Other proceedings include the presentation of petitions and the swearing in of public officials. Since the first recorded Tynwald Day in 1417, Tynwald Day had traditionally held on 24 June. In 1753, the Isle of Man legislated to replace the Julian Calendar with the Gregorian Calendar after Great Britain had done so in the previous year, making a difference of 11 days. But the legislation retained the Julian Calendar for the purpose of determining Tynwald Day, it provided that Midsummer Tynwald Court shall be holden and kept. Upon or according to the same natural Days upon or according to which the same should have been so kept or holden. in case this Act had never been made. Hence Tynwald Day occurred on 24 June in the Julian Calendar and it was not subsequently moved back to 7 July, even though the Gregorian Calendar is now 13 days ahead of the Julian Calendar as the Gregorian Calendar had no leap day in 1800 or 1900. If Tynwald Day occurs on a Saturday or Sunday, it is commemorated on the next Monday. After the Duke of Atholl presided in 1736, over two centuries passed before a Lord of Mann participated in Tynwald Day ceremonies, George VI presided in 1946, his successor Elizabeth II presided in 1979 and again in 2003. Occasionally another member of the Royal Family may preside, as HRH The Prince Edward did in 1986, the Lieutenant Governor is preceded by the Sword-Bearer, who wears a scarlet uniform and bears the Sword of State. The Sword of State probably dates from the 15th century, the Sword, which is blunt for the sake of safety, displays the Manx triskelion. Members of the House of Keys and of the Legislative Council are also in attendance, the Speaker of the House of Keys wears a wig and black robes with gold decorations. The President of Tynwald wears a wig and blue robes with silver decorations, the Presidents robes also display the triskelion. The Isle of Mans highest judicial officers, the Deemsters, participate in the ceremony, wearing scarlet robes, there are currently three Deemsters, including the First and Second Deemster. Some individuals are invited to attend as Guests of Honour, Guests of Honour include representatives of the United Kingdom and of other nations, usually including the Republic of Ireland and some Scandinavian countries
Tynwald Day
–
Tynwald Hill before the Tynwald Day proceedings
Tynwald Day
–
Tynwald Hill, Isle of Man
30.
The Twelfth
–
The Twelfth is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It originated during the late 18th century in Ulster and it celebrates the Glorious Revolution and victory of Protestant king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne, which began the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are bedecked with British flags and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, but smaller celebrations are held in parts of the world where Orange lodges have been set up. The Twelfth involves thousands of participants and spectators, although not all Protestants celebrate it, in Ulster, where about half the population is from a Protestant background and half from a Catholic background, the Twelfth has been accompanied by violence since its beginning. Many Catholics and Irish nationalists see the Orange Order and its marches as sectarian, the Order is also politically a unionist/loyalist organisation. Violence related to the Twelfth in Northern Ireland worsened during the 30-year ethno-political conflict known as the Troubles, the Drumcree conflict is the most well-known dispute involving Orange marches. Attempts have recently made to downplay the political aspects of the marches and present the Twelfth as a cultural. Although most events pass off peacefully, some continue to result in violence, when 12 July falls on a Sunday, the parades are held on the 13th instead. The first such commemoration was the anniversary of the 1641 rebellion on 23 October, the second major day was the birthday of William of Orange, Protestant victor of the Williamite war in the 1690s, on 4 November. Both of these anniversaries faded in popularity by the end of the 18th century, the Twelfth itself originated as a celebration of the Battle of Aughrim, which took place on 12 July 1691 in the Julian calendar then in use. Aughrim was the battle of the Williamite war, in which the predominantly Irish Catholic Jacobite army was destroyed. The Twelfth in the early 18th century was a commemoration of this battle. The Battle of the Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July, however, the two events were combined in the late 18th century. The second reason was the foundation of the Orange Order in 1795, the Order preferred the Boyne, due to William of Oranges presence there. It has also suggested that in the 1790s the Boyne, where the Jacobites were routed, was more appealing to the Order than Aughrim. The Orders first ever took place on 12 July 1796 in Portadown, Lurgan. The Twelfth parades of the early 19th century often led to disorder, so much so that the Orange Order
The Twelfth
–
Orangemen parading in
Bangor, 12 July 2010
The Twelfth
–
A
Lambeg drumming contest,
County Tyrone
The Twelfth
–
The
Shankill Road decorated with flags and bunting for The Twelfth
The Twelfth
–
An "Orange Arch" and bunting raised over a road in
Annalong (see here for more pictures)
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bank Holidays". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 320.
