1.
Kensington Gardens
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Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde Park, the gardens cover an area of 270 acres. The open spaces of Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, Kensington Gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The Gardens are fenced and more formal than Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens are open only during the hours of daylight, whereas Hyde Park is open from 5 am until midnight all year round. Kensington Gardens has been regarded as smart because of its more private character around Kensington Palace. However, in the late 1800s, Hyde Park was considered fashionable, because of its location nearer to Park Lane. Kensington Gardens was originally the section of Hyde Park, which had been created by Henry VIII in 1536 to use as a hunting ground. Bridgeman created the Serpentine between 1726 and 1731 by damming the outflow of the River Westbourne from Hyde Park. The part of the Serpentine that lies within Kensington Gardens is known as The Long Water, at its north-western end in an area known as The Italian Garden, there are four fountains and a number of classical sculptures. At the foot of the Italian Gardens is a boundary marker. The land surrounding Kensington Gardens was predominantly rural and remained undeveloped until the Great Exhibition in 1851. Many of the original features survive along with the Palace, and now there are public buildings such as the Albert Memorial, the Serpentine Gallery. The park also contains the Elfin Oak, an elaborately carved 900-year-old tree stump, the park is the setting of J. M. Barries book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, a prelude to the characters famous adventures in Neverland. The fairies of the gardens are first described in Thomas Tickells 1722 poem Kensington Gardens, both the book and the character are honoured with the Peter Pan statue by George Frampton located in the park. Rodrigo Fresáns novel Kensington Gardens concerns in part the life of J. M. Barrie and of his creation Peter Pan, the Infocom interactive fiction game Trinity begins in the Kensington Gardens. The player can walk around many sections of the gardens, which are described in moderate detail, list of public art in Kensington Gardens Citations Bibliography Official website The Garden a poem by Ezra Pound set in Kensington Gardens
2.
Hallfield Estate
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Following the dissolution of Tecton, the project was realised by Denys Lasdun and Lindsay Drake in the 1950s. Construction took place in two phases during 1951–55 and 1955–58, the estate is at grid reference TQ260812, south of the Bishops Bridge Road in Bayswater. It comprises 15 blocks spread over roughly 17 acres, a laundry, architecturally, the design shares much with similar Tecton projects of the period, including the Priory Green and Spa Green Estates, and the Finsbury Health Centre. Hallfield was designated an area by Westminster City Council in 1990. John Penrose, the Minister responsible for the 2011 listing, commented, These blocks show real flair and beauty, sixty years on, they have become a distinctive part of the London landscape, still looking good and remaining popular with residents and visitors alike. The estate now exists amongst a group of 16 listed post war housing estates estate in London – estates that are successful as places to live and are cared for by their residents”. In 2010, a £10 million pound project managed by CityWest Homes – Westminster Councils Arms-length management organisation – commenced to refurbish the building, however, during 2012 and early in 2013 a number of issues began to appear in the project. Commenting on the issues, Hallfield resident Edward Newnham, said its blind leading the blind, another resident Mr. James Killeen, said, “ The problem is with CityWest Homes. They were the managers of the thing and they should have been clearer, one of the outcome of the controversy, is that the leaseholders on the Hallfield estate are considering taking legal action against CityWest Homes
3.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
4.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
5.
Regions of England
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The regions are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within Government, while they no longer fulfil this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament, Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics regions within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, the London region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities, the remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside of London, the regions also had an associated Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009, Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development and they had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding the central government as well. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories – Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, the boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwells Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England, proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament, the Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or Home Rule All Round. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a widely anticipated. In 1946 nine standard regions were set up, in central government bodies, statutory undertakings. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s, creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, one-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the eight now existing for economic planning purposes, a minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain, some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards
6.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
7.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
9.
London postal district
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The London postal district is the area in England of 241 square miles to which mail addressed to the LONDON post town is delivered. It was integrated by the Post Office into the national system of the United Kingdom during the early 1970s and corresponds to the N, NW, SW, SE, W, WC, E. The postal district has also known as the London postal area. The County of London was much smaller at 117 square miles, by the 1850s, the rapid growth of the metropolitan area meant it became too large to operate efficiently as a single post town. A Post Office inquiry into the problem had been set up in 1837, in 1854 Charles Canning, the Postmaster General, set up a committee at the Post Office in St. Martins Le Grand to investigate how London could best be divided for the purposes of directing mail. In 1856, of the 470 million items of mail sent in the United Kingdom during the year, approximately one fifth were for delivery in London, the General Post Office thus at the control of the Postmaster General devised the area in 1856 project-managed by Sir Rowland Hill. Hill produced an almost perfectly circular area of 12 miles radius from the central post office at St. Martins Le Grand, within the district it was divided into two central areas and eight compass points which operated much like separate post towns. Each was constituted London with a suffix indicating the area it covered, the system was introduced during 1857 and completed on 1 January 1858. The remaining eight letter prefixes have not changed, at the same time, the London postal district boundary was retracted in the east, removing places such as Ilford for good. In 1868 the S district was split between SE and SW, the NE and S codes have been re-used in the national postcode system and now refer to the NE postcode area around Newcastle upon Tyne and the S postcode area around Sheffield. In 1917, as a measure to improve efficiency, the districts were further subdivided with a number applied to each sub-district. Exceptionally and esoterically, W2 and SW11 are also head districts, the numbered sub-districts became the outward code of the postcode system as expanded into longer codes during the 1970s. Ad hoc changes have taken place to the organisation of the districts, subdivisions of postcode sub-districts Owing to heavier demand, seven high-density postcode districts in central London have been subdivided to create new, smaller postcode districts. This is achieved by adding a letter after the postcode district. Where such sub-districts are used such as on street signs and maps. The districts subdivided are E1, N1, EC SW1, W1, WC1, similarly, there are solely non-geographic suffixed sub-districts for PO boxes in NW1 and SE1. The London postal district has never been aligned with the London boundary, when the initial system was designed, the London boundary was restricted to the square mile of the small, ancient City of London. The wider metropolitan area covered parts of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex
10.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
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Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
11.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
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Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are administered by the UK governments Office of Communications. For this purpose Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, since 28 April 2001, almost all geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers have 9 or 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code. All mobile telephone numbers have 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code, regions with shorter area codes, typically large cities, permit the allocation of more telephone numbers as the local number portion has more digits. Local customer numbers are four to eight figures long, the total number of digits is ten, but in a very few areas the total may be nine digits. The area code is referred to as an STD or a dialling code in the UK. The code allocated to the largest population is for London, the code allocated to the largest area is for all of Northern Ireland. The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—even though they are not part of the UK itself. Possible number formats for UK telephone numbers are as follows, Number ranges starting 01 can have NSN length as 10 or 9 digits, the 0800 range can have NSN length as 10,9 or 7 digits. The 0845 range can have NSN length as 10 or 7 digits, the 0500 range has NSN length as 9 digits only. There are no numbers in the UK with an NSN length of 8 digits. Geographic telephone numbers in the UK always have nine or ten digits, four-digit area codes have either six-digit subscriber numbers or a mix of five- and six-digit subscriber numbers. Xxxxxx This is the used by most areas. It has an area code and a six digit subscriber number. These area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995. Just short of 581 areas use this format, and the area range from 01200 to 01998. A small number of areas also have a few subscriber numbers that have only five digits. That is, almost all area codes now have only six digit local numbers, six of the four-digit area codes are known as mixed areas as they share those four digits with the twelve five-digit area codes. The numbers therefore have only nine digits after the initial zero trunk code and these area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the initial zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995
12.
Metropolitan Police Service
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As of March 2016, the Met employed 48,661 full-time personnel. This included 32,125 sworn police officers,9,521 police staff and this number excludes the 3,271 Special Constables, who work part-time and who have the same powers and uniform as their regular colleagues. This makes the Metropolitan Police the largest police force in the United Kingdom by a significant margin, the post of Commissioner was first held jointly by Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne. The post is occupied by the now-outgoing Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. The Commissioners deputy, the Deputy Commissioner, is currently Craig Mackey, a number of informal names and abbreviations exists for the Metropolitan Police Service, the most common being the Met. In colloquial London, it is referred to as the Old Bill. The Met is also referred to by the metonym Scotland Yard after the location of its headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The Mets current headquarters is New Scotland Yard, in Victoria, the Metropolitan Police Service, whose officers became affectionately known as bobbies, was founded in 1829 by Robert Peel under the Metropolitan Police Act 1829. In 1839, the Marine Police Force, which had formed in 1798, was amalgamated into the Metropolitan Police. In 1837, it also incorporated with the Bow Street Horse Patrol that had organised in 1805. Since January 2012, the Mayor of London is responsible for the governance of the Metropolitan Police through the Mayors Office for Policing, the mayor is able to appoint someone to act on his behalf, the current office-holder is Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden. The work of MOPAC is scrutinised by the Police and Crime Committee of the London Assembly, the area policed by the Metropolitan Police Service is known as the Metropolitan Police District. In terms of policing, the Met is divided into a number of Borough Operational Command Units. The City of London is a police area and is the responsibility of the separate City of London Police. The British Transport Police are responsible for policing of the network in the United Kingdom. Within London, they are responsible for the policing of the London Underground, Tramlink, The Emirates Air Line. There is also a park police force, the Kew Constabulary, responsible for the Royal Botanic Gardens. Officers also have limited powers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, within the MPD, the Met will take over the investigation of any serious crime from the British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police, if it is deemed appropriate
13.
Fire services in the United Kingdom
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The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty fire and rescue services, many FRS were previously known as brigades or county fire services, but almost all now use the standard terminology. They are distinct from and governed by an authority, which is the legislative, public and administrative body. Fire authorities in England and Wales, and therefore fire and rescue services, Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire and rescue services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. The devolved government in Scotland has an agency, HMFSI Scotland. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain,1947, Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire,1959, Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act, it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act,1999, Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of fire strikes. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the action still ongoing. Bains report ultimately led to a change in the relating to firefighting. 2002, Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, generally only applying to England and it came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises,2006, The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on Fire, promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation. But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries, There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee, in June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office, Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Cllr Brian Coleman and Cllr James Pearson from the Local Government Association, also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association
14.
London Fire Brigade
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The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for London. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act of 1865 under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. Dany Cotton is the Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Planning, which includes the position of Chief Fire Officer, statutory responsibility for the running of the brigade lies with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2013/14 the LFB handled 171,067999 emergency calls, of the calls it actually mobilised to,20,934 were fires, including 10,992 that were of a serious nature, making it one of the busiest fire brigades in the world. In the same 12-month period, it received 3,172 hoax calls, the highest number of any UK fire service, in 2015/16 the LFB received 171,488 emergency calls. These consisted of,20,773 fires,30,066 special service callouts and it also conducts emergency planning and performs fire safety inspections and education. He introduced a uniform that, for the first time, included personal protection from the hazards of firefighting. With 80 firefighters and 13 fire stations, the unit was still a private enterprise, funded by the insurance companies, in 1904 it was renamed as the London Fire Brigade. The LFB moved into a new headquarters built by Higgs and Hill on the Albert Embankment in Lambeth in 1937, during the Second World War the countrys brigades were amalgamated into a single National Fire Service. The separate London Fire Brigade for the County of London was re-established in 1948, in 1986 the Greater London Council was disbanded and a new statutory authority, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority, was formed to take responsibility for the LFB. The LFCDA was replaced in 2000 by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, at the same time, the Greater London Authority was established to administer the LFEPA and coordinate emergency planning for London. Consisting of the Mayor of London and other elected members, the GLA also takes responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Authority, Transport for London, in 2007 the LFB vacated its Lambeth headquarters and moved to a site in Union Street, Southwark. In the same year, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced that LFB Commissioner Ken Knight had been appointed as the first Chief Fire, Knight was succeeded as Commissioner at that time by Ron Dobson, who served for almost ten years. Dany Cotton took over in 2017, becoming the brigades first female commissioner, dany Cotton is the current commissioner, having taken up the role on 1 January 2017. She holds the Queens Fire Service Medal, frank Jackson, CBE1938 to 1941, Cdr. Sir Aylmer Firebrace, CBE1933 to 1938, Maj. Cyril Morris 1918 to 1933, Arthur Reginald Dyer 1909 to 1918, sir Sampson Sladen 1903 to 1909, RAdm. James de Courcy Hamilton 1896 to 1903, Capt, lionel de Latour Wells 1891 to 1896, James Sexton Simmonds 1861 to 1891, Capt. Both divisions were divided into three districts, each under a Superintendent with his headquarters at a superintendent station, the superintendent stations themselves were commanded by District Officers, with the other stations under Station Officers
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Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
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Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are also a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles. There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have also provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are also monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
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London Ambulance Service
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It is one of the busiest ambulance services in the world, and the busiest in the United Kingdom, providing care to more than 8.6 million people, who live and work in London. The service is currently under the leadership of chief executive Dr Fionna Moore MBE, the service employ around 4,500 staff. In exceptional cases, or where the service deems in necessary, specialist teams can be deployed from within the service, such as the Hazardous Area Response Team and these teams are specially trained and equipped to deal with incidents such as working at height or in confined spaces. It is one of 10 ambulance trusts in England providing emergency medical services, there is no charge to patients for use of the service, as every person in England has the right to the attendance of an ambulance in an emergency. The LAS responded to over 1.8 million calls for assistance, incidents rose by 20,000 in 2015/16, putting more pressure on the service. All 999 calls from the public are answered at the Emergency Operations Centre in Waterloo, to assist, the services command and control system is linked electronically with the equivalent system for Londons Metropolitan Police. This means that police updates regarding specific jobs will be updated directly on the computer-aided dispatch log, to be viewed by the EOC, the first became operational at The South Eastern Fever Hospital, Deptford, in October 1883. In all, six hospitals operated horse-drawn land ambulances, putting almost the whole of London within three miles of one of them, each ambulance station included accommodation for a married superintendent and around 20 drivers, horse keepers and attendants, nurses, laundry staff and domestic cleaners. At Deptford, in order to transfer patients between the hospitals at Joyce Green and Long Reach near Gravesend, a horse-drawn ambulance tramway was constructed in 1897, in 1902, the MAB introduced a steam driven ambulance and in 1904, their first motor ambulance. The last horse-drawn ambulances were used on 14 September 1912, although the MAB was legally supposed to be transporting only infectious patients, it increasingly also carried accident victims and emergency medical cases. Also in 1915, the MAB Ambulance Section were the first public body to women drivers. By July 1916 the London County Council Ambulance Corps was staffed entirely by women, the LCC also took control of the River Ambulance Service, but it was disbanded in 1932. During World War II, the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service was operated by over 10,000 auxiliaries, mainly women and they ran services from 139 Auxiliary Stations across London. A plaque at one of the last to close, Station 39 in Weymouth Mews, near Portland Place, in 1948 the National Health Service Act made it a requirement for ambulances to be available for anyone who needed them. On 1 April 1996, the LAS left the control of the South West Thames Regional Health Authority, as an NHS Trust, the LAS has a Trust Board consisting of 12 members. The board includes, a chairman, five of the Service’s executive directors. Special events in London are co-ordinated from the Services event control room, also located in east London, during mass casualty incidents, the command structure works on three levels, gold, silver and bronze. Silver control, tactical command, from a point in the vicinity of the incident, Bronze control
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London (European Parliament constituency)
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London is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 8 MEPs using the method of party-list proportional representation. The constituency corresponds to the Greater London region of England, in the south east of the United Kingdom, prior to 1999, London was represented by a number of single-member constituencies. The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 reduced this to a constituency returning a number of MEPs. Below are all the members since the creation of the London constituency, the number of seats allocated to London has been reduced from 10 to 8 between 1999 and 2009 due to EU enlargement. Members elected in 1999 who previously represented a London constituency were Pauline Green, elected candidates are shown in bold. Brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won, the 2014 results were delayed by Tower Hamlets, where there were recounts needed for six local election wards
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Westminster North (UK Parliament constituency)
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Westminster North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 recreation by Karen Buck, a member of the Labour Party. Its previous 1983 to 1997 existence is also covered by this article and it was based largely on Paddington but also took in the abolished St Marylebone constituency. Political history The seat was held with modest majorities for the first creation, Paddington constituency, its main predecessor was often marginal, by length of a single partys representation and by majorities achieved. The far less contributory precursor, St Marylebone, was a Conservative safe seat, the 1997 boundary changes expanded the constituency to the west, taking in Labour-voting areas of north Kensington and tilting the seat towards Labour. Wheeler decided that he did not wish to contest such unfavourable territory, however he was unsuccessful in finding a new safe seat and thus retired at the 1997 general election. The 2015 result gave the seat the 21st most marginal majority of Labours 232 seats by percentage of majority. The seat has electoral wards, Abbey Road, Bayswater, Church Street, Harrow Road, Lancaster Gate, Little Venice, Maida Vale, Queens Park, Regents Park, and Westbourne in the City of Westminster. From 1983–1997 the constituency had the wards, Bayswater, Church Street, Hamilton Terrace, Harrow Road, Lancaster Gate, Little Venice, Lords, Maida Vale, Queens Park, Regents Park, Kensington Cities of London and Westminster Notes References
19.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
20.
City of Westminster
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The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough which also holds city status. It occupies much of the area of Greater London including most of the West End. It is to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it was created with the 1965 establishment of Greater London. Upon creation, Westminster was awarded city status, which had previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. Aside from a number of parks and open spaces, the population density of the district is high. Many sites commonly associated with London are in the borough, including St. Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, much of the borough is residential, and in 2008 it was estimated to have a population of 236,000. The local authority is Westminster City Council, the current Westminster coat of arms were given to the city by an official grant on September 2,1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had an identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington. The original arms had a portcullis as the charge, which now forms the crest. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England, in the mid-11th Century king Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct, Westminster briefly became a city in 1540 when Henry VIII created the short-lived Diocese of Westminster. Following the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, a court of burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, Jamess, Strand, Westminster, Pimlico, Belgravia, and Hyde Park. The Westminster Metropolitan Borough was itself the result of an amalgamation which took place in 1900. Sir John Hunt O. B. E was the First Town Clerk of the City of Westminster, the boundaries of the City of Westminster today, as well as those of the other London boroughs, have remained more or less unchanged since the Act of 1963. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard, five people - three pedestrians, one police officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. More than 50 people were injured, an investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors, Westminster City Council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 16 Labour Party members
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Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
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The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an inner London borough of Royal borough status, to the west of the centre. As the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England, the borough is immediately to the west of the City of Westminster and to the east of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It contains major museums and universities in Albertopolis, department stores such as Harrods, Peter Jones and Harvey Nichols and it is home to the Notting Hill Carnival, Europes largest. It contains many of the most expensive places in the world. The local authority is Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, the boroughs motto is Quam Bonum in Unum Habitare, which can be roughly translated as How good to dwell in unity. The borough was created in 1965 from the boroughs of Kensington. Kensingtons Royal Borough status was inherited by the new borough, the new borough was originally to be called just Kensington – the inclusion of Chelsea was locally supported. Due to its high French population it has held the unofficial title of the 21st arrondissement of Paris. In 2005, the borough had more of its covered by domestic buildings than anywhere else in England at 19%. It also had the fifth highest proportion of land covered by buildings at 12%. As of 2010, statistics released by the Office for National Statistics showed that life expectancy at birth for females was 89.8 years in 2008–2010, male life expectancy at birth for the same period was 85.1 years. The figures in 1991–1993 were significantly lower,73.0 years for males and 80.0 for females, the borough has a higher proportion of high earners than any other local government district in the country. It has the highest proportion of workers in the financial sector, in December 2006, Sport England published a survey which showed that the boroughs residents were the fourth most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 27. 9% of the population participate at least three times a week for 30 minutes, the top quarter earn at least £41 per hour, three and a half times the level of the lowest quarter at £12 per hour or less. Two of its more notable leaders were Nicholas Freeman, from 1977 until 1989. The Council has 42 Conservative,9 Labour and 3 Liberal Democrat councillors, the borough has combined a number of services and departments with its neighbours, Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster City Council. Chelsea has less Underground access than Kensington, the station within Chelsea being Sloane Square. There are long-term plans for the Chelsea-Hackney line, with a station in the Kings Road near Chelsea Old Town Hall, buses Many London bus routes pass through the borough, most of them along Kings Road, Fulham Road, Kensington High Street and Ladbroke Grove
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Central London
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Central London is the innermost part of London, UK. Over time a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and it had a 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together and this was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. However, districts at the edge of this subregion such as Streatham, Dulwich. During the Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill, the first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics. It had an population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres. The area had an population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres. During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the used at the 1961 census. The population was estimated to be 270,000
23.
Charing Cross
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Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London. It gives its name to several landmarks, including Charing Cross railway station, Charing Cross is named after the Eleanor cross that stood on the site, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross has been occupied since 1675 by a statue of King Charles I. A loose Victorian replica of the cross, the Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross, was erected a short distance to the east outside the railway station. Until 1931, Charing Cross referred to the part of Whitehall between Great Scotland Yard and Trafalgar Square, at least one property retains a Charing Cross postal address, Drummonds Bank, on the corner of Whitehall and The Mall, which is designated 49 Charing Cross. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has often been regarded as the centre of London. Erect a rich and stately carved cross, Whereon her statue shall with glory shine, George Peele The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First The name of the area, Charing, is derived from the Old English word cierring, referring to a bend in the River Thames. Folk etymology suggests the name derives from chère reine — dear queen in French — and this wooden sculpted cross was the work of the medieval sculptor, Alexander of Abingdon. It was destroyed in 1647 on the orders of Parliament during the Civil War, a 70 ft -high stone sculpture in front of Charing Cross railway station is a copy of the original cross. Erected in 1865, it is situated a few hundred yards to the east of the original cross and it was designed by the architect E. M. Barry and carved by Thomas Earp of Lambeth out of Portland stone, Mansfield stone and Aberdeen granite. It is not a replica, being more ornate than the original. A variation on the name appears to be Charygcrouche, near St Martin in the Fields, since 1675 the site of the cross has been occupied by a statue of King Charles I mounted on a horse. The site is recognised by convention as the centre of London for the purpose of indicating distances by road in favour of other measurement points. Charing Cross is marked on maps as a road junction. Since 1 January 1931 this section of road has been designated part of the Whitehall thoroughfare, the cross has given its name to a railway station, a tube station, police station, hospital, a hotel, a theatre, and a music hall. Charing Cross Road the main route from the north was named after the railway station, at some time between 1232 and 1236, the Chapel and Hospital of St Mary Rounceval was founded at Charing. It occupied land at the corner of the modern Whitehall and into the centre of Northumberland Avenue and it was an Augustinian house, tied to a mother house at Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. The house and lands were seized for the king in 1379, protracted legal action returned some rights to the prior, but in 1414, Henry V suppressed the alien houses
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English people
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The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
25.
Greeks
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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
26.
St Sophia's Cathedral, London
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Saint Sophia Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox church on Moscow Road in the Bayswater area of London. The cost of £50,000 was raised in three years by the Greek community, including prosperous and influential London merchants and financiers, the first Liturgy was celebrated on 1 June 1879,18 months after Eustratios Ralli laid the first stone. The cathedral recently opened a museum to display some of the treasures donated to the cathedral by its 19th-century patrons. In 1922 the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate chose St Sophia as a Cathedral of the Metropolis of Thyateira and Great Britain, encompassing all Orthodox Christians in the British Isles and Malta. During World War II London became the seat of the Greek government in exile and it was bombed during the Blitz, but was subsequently repaired. In 2006 a museum opened in the basement of the church, St Sophia is a Byzantine Revival design by architect John Oldrid Scott. Scott was responsible for many significant British churches, and was commissioned by Ralli to build St Stephens Greek Orthodox Chapel in West Norwood Cemetery in 1873. From the outside the Cathedral appears relatively modest, only hinting at its style through the domed roof, inside it is elaborately decorated with polychromatic marble. The iconostasis was painted by Ludwig Thiersch, who had studied painting in Athens. He had suggested that the walls were not decorated with frescos, instead, the trustees commissioned Byzantine-inspired mosaics from G M Mercenero & Co, to the designs of A G Walker. From 1926 more mosaics were commissioned from Boris Anrep, the Legacy of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia, London
27.
French people
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The French are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural, modern French society can be considered a melting pot. To be French, according to the first article of the French Constitution, is to be a citizen of France, regardless of origin, race. The debate concerning the integration of this view with the underlying the European Community remains open. A large number of foreigners have traditionally been permitted to live in France, indeed, the country has long valued its openness, tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries, the European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in the state sector. Seeing itself as a nation with universal values, France has always valued. However, the success of such assimilation has recently called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno-cultural enclaves, the 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration, the name France etymologically derives from the word Francia, the territory of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire, in the pre-Roman era, all of Gaul was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58-51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar, the area then became part of the Roman Empire. Over the next five centuries the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo-Roman culture, the Gaulish vernacular language disappeared step by step to be replaced everywhere by Vulgar Latin, which would later develop under Frankish influence into the French language in the North of France. With the decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture, the Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti, already during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present-day Netherlands, at the beginning, they served in the Roman army and reached high commands. Their language is spoken as a kind of Dutch in northern France. Another Germanic people immigrated massively to Alsace, the Alamans, which explains the Alemannic German spoken there and they were competitors of the Franks, thats why it became at the Renaissance time the word for German in French, Allemand. By the early 6th century the Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern-day France, the Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process
28.
Americans in the United Kingdom
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The 2001 UK Census recorded 158,434 people born in the United States. According to the 2011 UK Census, there were 173,470 US-born residents in England,3,715 in Wales,15,919 in Scotland, the Office for National Statistics estimates that 197,000 US-born immigrants were resident in the UK in 2013. The largest single cluster of Americans in Britain recorded by the 2001 Census was in Mildenhall in north-west Suffolk – the site of RAF Mildenhall. This is because of the legacy of the Cold War and NATO cooperation,17.28 percent of Mildenhalls population were born in the US. In London, the majority of Americans are businesspeople and their families which ties in with the economic relations between London and New York City or Washington DC. Chelsea and Kensington, have large American populations, at its height in the early 1990s around a quarter of Dunoons population was American. Some Americans in the UK are older, ex-servicemen who returned to Britain after being based in the UK during World War II. African American immigration to the UK began as early as the late 18th century after American slaves failed in their attempt to defend the British Crown in the American Revolution, the Revolution began in the thirteen American colonies and United States in the late 1770s. The British promised freedom to any slave or rebel who fought the Americans on their behalf, the largest regiment was the Black Pioneers who followed troops under Sir General Henry Clinton. Working as soldiers, labourers, pilots, cooks, and musicians, the British-American Commission identified the Black people who had joined the British before the surrender, and issued certificates of freedom signed by General Birch or General Musgrave. Those who chose to emigrate were evacuated by ship, musician Jimi Hendrix, an African American of Native American heritage, lived most of his career in London as part of his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Sean Lennon is a resident in the United Kingdom and the U. S. He is the son of the Beatles singer British-born John Lennon and Japanese-born Yoko Ono, English musician Dhani Harrison is the son of George Harrison of The Beatles and Mexican-American Olivia Trinidad Arias. In 2001,306 Puerto Rican born people alone were residing in the United Kingdom, notable British residents of Puerto Rican origin or descent include actress Micaela Nevárez and former Miss World, Wilnelia Merced. Sir Richard Grenville captured the Roanoke Island Native American Raleigh and brought him to Bideford following a skirmish in 1586 and he had his baptism at Saint Mary the Virgins Church in March 1588. He died from influenza in Grenvilles house on April 2,1589 and his interment was at that same church five days later. Raleigh was the first Native American to have a Christian conversion, chief Powhatans daughter, Pocahontas spent some of her life in London two years after she married English colonist John Rolfe. At age twenty-one, Pocahontas died due to an unknown disease and she was buried at St Georges Church in Gravesend afterwards
29.
Brazilians
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A Brazilian can also be a person born abroad to a Brazilian father or a Brazilian mother or a person who acquired Brazilian citizenship. According to the Constitution of Brazil, a Brazilian citizen is, Anyone born in Brazil, according to the Constitution, all people who hold Brazilian citizenship are equal, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or religion. A foreigner can apply for Brazilian citizenship after living for 4 uninterrupted years in Brazil, a native person from an official Portuguese language country can request the Brazilian nationality after only 1 uninterrupted year living in Brazil. Brazilians are mostly descendants of colonial settlers, post-colonial immigrant groups, African slaves. The three principal groups were Native Brazilians, European colonizers and African labor, Brazil was inhabited by an estimated 2.4 million Amerindians before the first settlers arrived in the 16th century. The European diseases spread quickly along the trade routes. The country was discovered by Portugal in 1500 and received about 724,000 Portuguese colonizers, mostly males. But other sources claim that the given numbers of total entrances were clearly surpassed. The Jesuits asked the Portuguese Crown to ship orphaned women under royal wardship for marriage with the settlers, daughters of noblemen who died overseas administrating captaincies in the colonies or in battle for the king would marry settlers of higher rank. Bahias port in the Northeast received one of the first groups of orphans in 1551, Portugal remained the only significant, but not an exclusive source of European immigration to Brazil until the early 19th century. These other people came from different nationalities - but the by far most mentioned are the Dutch and these Jews founded the first Synagogue in the Americas, named Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue in the city of Recife. It is estimated more than 20,000 Dutch entered Brazil, however. The remaining families mostly fled to parts of the interior of Northeastern Brazil or changed their names to Portuguese ones. The proven excess of Y-chromosomes of the haplogroup 2 in northeasterners probably results from the miscegenation of Dutch settlers with the local population. The Jews who mostly left Brazil took off to what was then named New Amsterdam, today New York City, and founded the oldest Jewish congregation in the USA, the Congregation Shearith Israel. The ones who stayed, converted into Christianity and were known as New Christians or Marranos. They entered Brazil fleeing from the Inquisition or were deported by the Kingdom of Portugal and also Spain, latter being known as Degredados and this also included Romani People from the Iberian Peninsula, what partially explains the curiously high numbers for a western country. Brazil has the second largest Gypsy population in the Americas after the US, having also received Roma people from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Baltic countries during the 20th century
30.
Stucco
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Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime, sand, and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand, and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat
31.
Interwar period
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There were numerous new nations in Eastern Europe, most of them small in size. The United States gained dominance in world finance, by the middle of the decade, prosperity was widespread, with the second half of the decade known, especially in Germany, as the Golden Twenties. The Roaring Twenties highlighted novel and highly social and cultural trends. These trends, made possible by sustained economic prosperity, were most visible in major cities like New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin, the Jazz Age began and Art Deco peaked. For women, knee-length skirts and dresses became socially acceptable, as did bobbed hair with a marcel wave, the women who pioneered these trends were frequently referred to as flappers. Not all was new, “normalcy” returned to politics in the wake of hyper-emotional wartime passions in the United States, France, and Germany. The leftist revolutions in Finland, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Spain were defeated by conservatives, but succeeded in Russia, in Italy the fascists came to power under Mussolini after threatening a march on Rome. Most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918. There were a few countries that held out until after the Second World War. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Greece did especially well, in advanced economies the prosperity reached middle class households and many in the working class. With radio, automobiles, telephones, and electric lighting and appliances, there was unprecedented industrial growth, accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle and culture. The media began to focus on celebrities, especially sports heroes, major cities built large sports stadiums for the fans, in addition to palatial cinemas. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. The depression originated in the United States, after a decline in lofty stock prices. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession
32.
Public housing in the United Kingdom
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Public housing in the United Kingdom provides the largest proportion of rented accommodation in the country. Houses built for public or social housing use are built by local authorities, before 1865 housing for the poor was provided solely by the private sector. Council houses were built on estates, where frequently other amenities like schools. From the 1950s blocks of flats and three or four blocks of maisonnettes were widely built too. Flats and houses were built in mixed estates. Council homes were built to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at reasonable rents to primarily working-class people, Public housing in the mid-20th century included many large suburban council estates and numerous urban developments featuring tower blocks. Many of these developments did not live up to the hopes of their supporters, in 1979, the role of council housing was to change. Housing stock has sold off through Right to Buy legislation. A substantial part of the UK population still lives in council housing, approximately 55% of the countrys social housing stock is owned by local authorities, and 45% by housing associations. In Scotland, council estates are known as schemes, the history of public housing is the history of the housing of the poor. Even that statement is controversial, as before 1890 the state was not involved in housing policy, Public housing became needed to provide homes fit for heroes in 1919, then to enable slum clearance. Standards were set to high quality homes. The Labour government of Harold Wilson built houses and flats to the point where there was a surplus in the late 1960s. The documented history of housing in Britain starts with almshouses which were established from the 10th century, to provide a place of residence for poor, old. The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Æthelstan, the public workhouse was the final fall back solution for the destitute. Rural poverty had been increased by the Enclosure Acts leaving many in need of assistance. This was divided into outside relief, or handouts to keep the family together, the workhouse provided for two groups of people - the transient population roaming the country looking for seasonal work, and the long-term residents. The two were kept separate where possible, the City of London Corporation built tenements in the Farringdon Road in 1865, but this was an isolated instance
33.
Denys Lasdun
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Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE was an eminent British architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun 1879-1920, and Julie 1884-1963. Lasdun studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and was a junior in the practice of Wells Coates, Lasduns son is the author James Lasdun. Before and after Second World War service in the army, Lasdun worked for a while with Berthold Lubetkins Tecton practice, in this period he also completed one private house in Paddington in Le Corbusiers style. Lasduns Hallfield School was the first clue to his style, in its use of bare concrete and angularity. In the 1950s he was a partner with Jane Drew, Maxwell Fry and Lindsay Drake, in Fry, Drew, Drake and his originality became more evident in his cluster blocks in Bethnal Green. These were a response to the critique of much development for creating an isolating environment. The cluster blocks grouped flats around a tower, and tenants were intended to be able to pick out their own flats in the structure. The earlier blocks at Usk Street of 1954 were medium-sized, while the later block, Keeling House was sold to a private developer by Tower Hamlets council, and is now a block of luxury flats. Lasdun made an excursion into private housing in 1958, with his St James Flats, more extensive was his design for the University of East Anglia. This consisted of a series of classrooms and laboratories connected by walkways, the expressed staircases make references to Wells Coates and Louis Kahn and Lasduns masterplanning created a new public square. The building is now listed Grade II*, the most famous and disputed of the architects work is his Royal National Theatre on Londons South Bank. Prince Charles compared it to a power station but it was popular with other traditionalists. Lasdun designed the neighbouring IBM headquarters as a continuity with the theatre and his European Investment Bank in Luxembourg was similar. Lasdun was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1977 and his drawings and papers are available for consultation at the RIBA Drawings & Archives Collections. Despite the controversy of much of his work, most of Lasduns surviving buildings are listed, Lasdun died on 11 January 2001 aged 86. Hallfield Primary School, Paddington, London, Grade II* listed Keeling House and Bradley House, Bethnal Green, east London Peter Robinson department, Strand, London. R. Curtis, Denys Lasdun, Architecture, City, Landscape Barnabas Calder, The Education of an Architect, Denys Lasdun in the 1930s in British Modern
34.
Queensway, London
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Queensway is a bustling cosmopolitan street in Bayswater, an area of west London. It is home to Whiteleys, many restaurants, cafés, pubs, souvenir shops, Queensway and Westbourne Grove are identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The street is numbered the B411 in the British road numbering scheme, Bayswater and Lancaster Gate were first developed as residential suburbs of London in the early XIX century. Near the northern end of the street is Whiteleys shopping, on the site of Londons first department store, the store was awarded a Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria in 1896. The facade of the current building is from 1911, but the building itself was demolished, in recent years, Queensway has become a centre for the entertainment and leisure industry in London. Londons biggest ice rink, the Queens Ice & Bowl in Queensway was recently renovated after investment and development by Robert Bourne and Bourne Capital and this has led the way for further developments in the areas entertainment and leisure industry. Queensways retail industry is booming with the famous Queensway Market showing significant growth in recent years. The purchases include the Queensway Estate, location of the ice skating rink and Queensway Market, both Bayswater and Queensway London Underground stations are located on Queensway. An important painting of the former by Walter Sickert can be seen here, list of eponymous roads in London
35.
Westbourne Grove
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Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster, a section of west London. It runs from Kensington Park Road in the west to Queensway in the east and it contains a mixture of independent and chain retailers, and has been termed both fashionable and up-and-coming. The Notting Hill Carnival passes along the part of Westbourne Grove. There are a number of popular shopping destinations located on Westbourne Grove and adjoining streets, pre-eminently, Portobello Market, Queensway and it was here that Madonna headed during breaks in filming Evita - to the funky boutiques, the avant-garde florists, the designer jewellery and futuristic furniture. In February 2004, the London Plan was first issued and, paired with Queensway, around 2007, the roads eastern Bayswater-end, underwent a rapid period of transformation, east of Chepstow Road. Upon lease expiry, rents increased significantly and pricing-out many incumbent family businesses, the development of Westbourne Grove began in the 1840s and proceeded from the east to the west, where it became the principal east-west artery into the Ladbroke Estate. The far western end of the street became known as Westbourne Grove relatively recently in 1938. Cronin opened his own practice at 152 Westbourne Grove. Westbourne Grove takes its name from Westbourne Green - a settlement that developed to the west of the bourne that later took the name River Westbourne and this river currently runs underground at Ossington Street. The area is first recorded in 1222 as Westeburn, Westbourne Green is first recorded as Westborne Grene in 1548. Westbourne Green formed part of the parish of Paddington, there was a small settlement to the north of what is now Westbourne Grove at Westbourne Green. The central third was topped by a pediment and contained the main door. The lower two storeys were formed into bays at each end, which contained three windows each, the house was demolished in 1836 to make way for the houses and gardens of what is now Westbourne Park Villas. Thomas Hardy lived in area, mainly at no 16 Westbourne Park Villas. Also north of what is now Westbourne Grove was Westbourne Farm which was the home, the Farm was at the point where the Harrow Road, the Westway and the canal converge. Mrs Siddons was buried at St Marys Church, the church of Paddington, on Paddington Green. He was known for his violent evictions of tenants with legally fixed rents and he operated from an office in Westbourne Grove. Part of the area, including streets between Ledbury Rd & Shrewsbury Road to the south of Westbourne Park Road, became derelict and was compulsorily purchased and demolished
36.
High Street
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High Street is a metonym for the concept of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations. To distinguish it from centres of nearby places it is frequently preceded unofficially by the name of its settlement, in a town it implies the focal point for business, especially shops and street stalls in town and city centres. The equivalent in the United States and some parts of Canada, as well as some Northern English, the smallest High Street in Britain is located in a small market town in Devon called Holsworthy. The street itself is no more than 100 yards long and there are three shops located on Holsworthys High Street. High Street is the most common name in the UK. Already in Middle English the word denoted a metaphorical meaning of excellence or superior rank. High also applied to roads as they improved, highway was a new term taken up by the church, High Street gradually adopted a narrower meaning to describe thoroughfares with significant retail in large villages and towns. In the United Kingdom geographic concentration of goods and services has reduced the share of the economy contributed to by workers in the high street, High street refers to only a part of commerce. The town centre in many British towns combines a group of outdoor shopping streets, the continued vitality of towns is predicated on a number of different variables. The way that consumers perceive and use town centres has also fundamentally changed, in order to address the issues threatening the sustainability of towns it is increasingly important to consider consumer behaviour and customer experience. High Streets are less seen in Ireland. Neither of Dublins two main shopping streets carry this name, nor does its main thoroughfare, while Dublin has a High Street near Christchurch, it is not a shopping street. The city of Corks main shopping street is St. Patricks Street, Limericks, Main Street is used in many smaller towns and villages. For example, the OSI North Leinster Town Maps book lists sixteen Main Streets, similarly, the OSI Dublin Street Guide lists twenty Main Streets and only two High Streets. Killarney and Galway are two of the few large Irish towns in which the streets are named High Street. Nonetheless, the high street is often used in the Irish media to refer generically to shopping streets. The phrase High Street banks is used to refer to the banking sector in the United Kingdom. The equivalent in the United States, sometimes in Canada and Ireland is Main Street, in Jamaica, North East England and some sections of Canada and the United States, the main commercial district is Front Street
37.
Domesday Book
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Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states, Then, at the midwinter, was the king in Glocester with his council. After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land, how it was occupied and it was written in Medieval Latin, was highly abbreviated, and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The assessors reckoning of a mans holdings and their values, as recorded in Domesday Book, was dispositive, the name Domesday Book came into use in the 12th century. As Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario, for as the sentence of that strict and terrible last account cannot be evaded by any skilful subterfuge and its sentence cannot be quashed or set aside with impunity. That is why we have called the book the Book of Judgement, because its decisions, like those of the Last Judgement, are unalterable. The manuscript is held at The National Archives at Kew, London, in 2011, the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online. The book is a primary source for modern historians and historical economists. Domesday Book encompasses two independent works, Little Domesday and Great Domesday, no surveys were made of the City of London, Winchester, or some other towns, probably due to their tax-exempt status. Most of Cumberland and Westmorland are missing, the omission of the other counties and towns is not fully explained, although in particular Cumberland and Westmorland had yet to be fully conquered. Little Domesday – so named because its format is smaller than its companions – is the more detailed survey. It may have represented the first attempt, resulting in a decision to avoid such level of detail in Great Domesday, some of the largest such magnates held several hundred fees, in a few cases in more than one county. For example, the chapter of the Domesday Book Devonshire section concerning Baldwin the Sheriff lists 176 holdings held in-chief by him, as a review of taxes owed, it was highly unpopular. Each countys list opened with the demesne lands. It should be borne in mind that under the system the king was the only true owner of land in England. He was thus the ultimate overlord and even the greatest magnate could do no more than hold land from him as a tenant under one of the contracts of feudal land tenure. In some counties, one or more principal towns formed the subject of a separate section and this principle applies more specially to the larger volume, in the smaller one, the system is more confused, the execution less perfect. Domesday names a total of 13,418 places and these include fragments of custumals, records of the military service due, of markets, mints, and so forth
38.
Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
39.
William the Conqueror
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William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward, after a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England six years later. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Roberts mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, during his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy and his marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and his consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine. In the 1050s and early 1060s William became a contender for the throne of England, then held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson. William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. After further military efforts William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066 and he made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 Williams hold on England was mostly secure, Williams final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his eldest son, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. William died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France and his reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, the settling of a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, Williams lands were divided after his death, Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, and his second surviving son, William Rufus, received England. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century, permanent Scandinavian settlement occurred before 911, when Rollo, one of the Viking leaders, and King Charles the Simple of France reached an agreement surrendering the county of Rouen to Rollo. The lands around Rouen became the core of the duchy of Normandy. Normandy may have used as a base when Scandinavian attacks on England were renewed at the end of the 10th century. In an effort to improve matters, King Æthelred the Unready took Emma of Normandy, sister of Duke Richard II, as his second wife in 1002
40.
Baynard's Castle
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Baynards Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in London, between where Blackfriars station and St Pauls Cathedral now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard and demolished by King John in 1213, the second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the southeast and destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. According to Sir Walter Besant, There was no house in more interesting than this, the original castle was built at the point where the old Roman walls and River Fleet met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars station. The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by King John in 1213 and it appears to have been rebuilt after the barons revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the great priory of Blackfriars. About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had reclaimed from the Thames. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, both King Edward IV and Queen Mary I of England were crowned at the castle. The house was reconstructed as a palace by Henry VII at the end of the 15th century. After Henrys death the house came into the hands of Catherine Parrs brother-in-law, the Pembroke family took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and after the Restoration the house was occupied by the Earl of Shrewsbury, a Royalist. Baynards Castle was left in ruins after the Great Fire of London in 1666, the site is now occupied by a BT office called Baynard House, but the castle is commemorated in Castle Baynard Street and the Castle Baynard ward of the City of London. It formed the boundary of the Roman city of London and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet. Richard of Cirencester suggests that Canute spent Christmas at such a fort in 1017 and this fort was apparently rebuilt after the Norman invasion by Ralph Baynard, a follower of William the Conqueror and sheriff of Essex. It was on the riverfront inside the Roman walls, a second Norman fort, the site of Baynards Castle was adjacent to the church of St. This may be the Bainiardus mentioned in the Domesday Survey who gave his name to springs near Paddington called Baynards Watering, after a few years in the hands of the king, the castle passed to Eustace, Count of Boulogne by 1106. John Stow gives 1111 as the date of forfeiture, later in Henrys reign, the lordship of Dunmow and honour or soke of Baynards Castle were granted to the kings steward, Robert Fitz Richard. The soke was coterminous with the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, which was adjacent to the Norman castle, both Dunmow and Baynards Castle were eventually inherited by his grandson, Robert Fitzwalter. Fitzwalter was the leader of the revolt against King John which culminated in the Magna Carta of 1215. The Chronicle of Dunmow relates that King John desired Fitzwalters daughter, Matilda the Fair and this romantic tale may well be propaganda giving legitimacy to a rebellion prompted by Fitzwalters reluctance to pay tax or some other dispute. He plotted with the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and Eustace de Vesci of Alnwick Castle in 1212, John got wind of the plot and exiled Fitzwalter and de Vesci, who fled to France and Scotland respectively
41.
Damon Albarn
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Damon Albarn, OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the singer of the British rock band Blur as well as co-founder, vocalist, instrumentalist. After spending long periods of time touring the US, Albarns songwriting became influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result of these came in the form of Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife. All three albums received critical acclaim while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop rivalry with Oasis, subsequent albums such as Blur,13, Think Tank and The Magic Whip contained influences from lo-fi, electronic and hip hop music. Along with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998, drawing influences from alternative rock, trip hop, hip hop, electronica, dub, reggae and pop music, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success. Although Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, the albums feature collaborations from a range of artists. Gorillaz are cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band and he has also ventured into the world of opera with Dr Dee and Monkey, Journey to the West. In 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked Albarn number 18 in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture, in a 2010 UK poll for Q magazine Albarn was voted the fourth-greatest frontman of all time. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music, Albarn was born on 23 March 1968, is the eldest child of artist Keith Albarn and his wife Hazel, née Dring. Their daughter Jessica, born in 1971, also went on to become an artist, Keith Albarn, originally from Nottinghamshire, was briefly the manager of Soft Machine and once a guest on BBCs Late Night Line-Up. He was head of The School of Art and Design at Colchester Institute, damons paternal grandfather Edward, an architect, had been a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was involved in a farming community in Lincolnshire, becoming a peace activist. In 2002 Edward Albarn died, Damon stated in an interview that Edward did not want to any longer. The Apollo Cumfycraft and The Tailendcharlie produced by his fathers company Keith Albarn & Partners Ltd under the trade-name of Playlearn, when Damon and Jessica were growing up, their family moved to Leytonstone, East London. The household was described as bohemian and their upbringing as liberal, Albarn agreed with his parents views, later claiming, I always thought my parents were absolutely dead right. I went against the grain in a weird way – by continually following them and his parents primarily listened to blues, Indian ragas and African music. The population of the area was predominantly white as opposed to the ethnically mixed part of London which he had used to. He described himself as not really fitting in with the politics of the place, Albarn was interested in music from an early age, attending an Osmonds concert at the age of six
42.
Brett Anderson
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Brett Lewis Anderson is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, Anderson is known for his distinctive wide ranging voice and during Suedes early days, an androgynous style. Anderson was born and grew up in Lindfield, Sussex, a two miles east of Haywards Heath. His mother was an artist and a dressmaker, his father was a driver who Anderson described as an obsessive classical-music fan. He attended Lindfield Junior School, then Oathall Comprehensive School, then Haywards Heath Sixth Form College, in his teens, Anderson played guitar for garage bands such as The Pigs and Geoff, the latter featuring future Suede bassist Mat Osman. After they had received temporary percussional help from former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and it was around this time that Frischmann left Anderson for Blur frontman Damon Albarn, which created an early rift in the burgeoning Britpop scene of the early 1990s. After missing too many rehearsals and flaunting her relationship with Albarn while still living with Anderson, Frischmann was fired from the group, even before Suedes first album appeared in stores, Andersons androgynous style and vague confessions about his sexuality stirred controversy in the British music press. His infamous comment that he was a man who never had a homosexual experience was indicative of how he both courted controversy and a sexually ambiguous, alienated audience. In 1993, Suede hit number one on the UK charts, combining Morrisseys homoerotic posturing with David Bowies glam theatrics, Anderson achieved rapid fame in the UK. America, however, was spellbound by the grunge revolution and Andersons grim yodellings clashed with the raw anger of Nirvanas Kurt Cobain. Furthering complications across the Atlantic, due to a dispute with the American lounge singer Suede. The band went on to release Head Music in 1999, but A New Morning was a disappointment in 2002. In 2003, following the release of their Singles collection, Suede disbanded, Anderson has commented that the history of Suede is. ridiculous. Its like Machiavelli rewriting Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and it involves a cast of thousands. Its like a pram thats just been pushed down a hill and its always been fiery and tempestuous and really on the edge and it never stops. I don’t think it ever will, as a solo musician during Suedes career, Anderson collaborated with Stina Nordenstam and his guest vocals can be heard on the album This Is Stina Nordenstam. He also sang a duet with Jane Birkin in 1995 which appeared in 1998 on Birkins Best of album, in addition he sang the lyric Youre going to reap just what you sow in the Children in Need charity single Perfect Day. Following persistent rumours, the boss of the former label, Nude Records Saul Galpern
43.
Michael Atherton
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Michael Andrew Atherton OBE is a broadcaster, journalist and retired England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional bowler, he achieved the captaincy of England at the age of 25. Atherton often played the role at a time when England batting performances lacked consistency. Often hampered by a chronic back complaint which was to contribute to the end of his career, following retirement he became a journalist and is currently a cricket commentator with Sky Sports, and cricket correspondent of The London Times. Atherton was born in Failsworth, Lancashire, England and his family includes several lesser known sportspersons, such as his father Alan, a former Manchester United goalkeeper in the 1960s. During 1st test of India tour of England 2014, he added that his dad played only in the reserves. As a youth, he captained the Manchester Grammar School cricket team for whom he scored almost 3,500 runs and his performances led to selection for the England under-19 team, which he captained aged 16. He also represented Lancashire Schools from 1982 to 1986, in 1983 he won the Jack Hobbs Memorial Award as the Outstanding Schoolboy Cricketer at under-15 level. In a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1984 he took 6–27, entering Downing College, Cambridge, to read history, he was selected at 18 to play for Cambridge University Cricket Club and awarded a blue. A year later he made 73 on his county debut for Lancashire, during this time he represented both his university, the Combined Universities cricket team and his county. This early rise through the ranks, and extensive leadership experience earned him the nickname FEC, which is thought to have stood for future England captain. In his autobiography Opening Up, Atherton is candid about the fact there are more colourful alternatives for FEC. Athertons heady rise continued when he made his debut for England in the fifth test against Australia at Trent Bridge, Athertons chance came when several England players had just announced their decision to go on a rebel tour to South Africa and so were banned from the Test team. However, despite these defections, he was selected as vice-captain of the 1989–90 A team tour to Zimbabwe rather than for the West Indies tour. Atherton returned to the England side in the summer of 1990, partnering Graham Gooch at the top of the order, in his first innings after recall, and his first opening the batting for England, he scored 151 against New Zealand. During the winter of 1990–91, Atherton faced a sterner test on the Ashes tour of Australia, although he made a century in the third Test at Sydney, he averaged just 31 for his 279 runs, and England lost 3–0. When Australia arrived for the 1993 Ashes series, Athertons place in the team was not assured, however, a consistent summer when he scored six 50s in six Tests cemented his place in the side at a fortunate time. Graham Gooch, frustrated by continual losses against Australia, resigned as captain after the fourth Test and Atherton, aged just 25, replaced him
44.
J. M. Barrie
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Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland but moved to London, although he continued to write successfully, Peter Pan overshadowed his other work, and is credited with popularising the name Wendy. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents, Barrie was made a baronet by George V on 14 June 1913, and a member of the Order of Merit in the 1922 New Year Honours. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus to a conservative Calvinist family. His father David Barrie was a successful weaver. His mother Margaret Ogilvy had assumed her mothers household responsibilities at the age of eight. Barrie was the child of ten, all of whom were schooled in at least the three Rs in preparation for possible professional careers. His siblings were, Alexander, Mary Ann, Jane, Elizabeth, Agnes, David Ogilvy, Sarah, Isabella and he was a small child and drew attention to himself with storytelling. He only grew to 5 ft 3 1⁄2 in, when he was 6 years old, Barries next-older brother David died two days before his 14th birthday in an ice-skating accident. This left his mother devastated, and Barrie tried to fill Davids place in his mothers attentions, even wearing Davids clothes, one time, Barrie entered her room and heard her say, Is that you. I thought it was the boy she was speaking to, wrote Barrie in his biographical account of his mother Margaret Ogilvy and I said in a little lonely voice, No, its no him. Barries mother found comfort in the fact that her son would remain a boy forever, never to grow up. Eventually, Barrie and his mother entertained each other stories of her brief childhood and books such as Robinson Crusoe, works by fellow Scotsman Walter Scott. At the age of 8, Barrie was sent to the Glasgow Academy in the care of his eldest siblings Alexander and Mary Ann, when he was 10, he returned home and continued his education at the Forfar Academy. At 14, he left home for Dumfries Academy, again under the watch of Alexander and he became a voracious reader, and was fond of Penny Dreadfuls and the works of Robert Michael Ballantyne and James Fenimore Cooper. At Dumfries, he and his friends spent time in the garden of Moat Brae house and they formed a drama club, producing his first play Bandelero the Bandit, which provoked a minor controversy following a scathing moral denunciation from a clergyman on the schools governing board. Barrie knew that he wished to follow a career as an author, however, his family attempted to persuade him to choose a profession such as the ministry. With advice from Alexander, he was able to out a compromise, he would attend a university
45.
Peter Pan
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Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. In addition to two works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise. These include a 1953 animated film, a 2003 dramatic/live-action film, a TV series and many other works. J. M. Barrie first used Peter Pan as a character in a section of The Little White Bird, an adult novel where he appears as a seven-day-old baby in the chapter entitled Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. He returned to the character of Peter Pan as the centre of his play entitled Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldnt Grow Up. Barrie later adapted and expanded the story line as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter. Barrie never described Peters appearance in detail, even in his novel, leaving it to the imagination of the reader, in the play, Peters outfit is made of autumn leaves and cobwebs. His name and playing the flute or pipes suggest the mythological character Pan, Barrie mentions in Peter and Wendy that Peter Pan still had all his first teeth. He describes him as a boy with a beautiful smile, clad in skeleton leaves. Traditionally, the character has been played on stage by an adult woman. In the original productions in the UK, Peter Pans costume was a tunic and dark green tights. This costume is exhibited in Barries Birthplace, the similar costume worn by Pauline Chase is displayed in the Museum of London. Early editions of adaptations of the story also depict a red costume but a green costume becomes more usual from the 1920s, and more so later after the release of Disneys animated movie. In the Disney films, Peter wears an outfit consists of a short-sleeved green tunic and tights apparently made of cloth. He has pointed ears, brown eyes and his hair is red. In Hook, the character is played as an adult by Robin Williams, with eyes and dark brown hair, in flashbacks to him in his youth. In this film his ears appear pointed only when he is Peter Pan and his Pan attire resembles the Disney outfit. In the live-action 2003 Peter Pan film, he is portrayed by Jeremy Sumpter and his outfit is made of leaves and vines
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