1.
Bevis Marks
–
Bevis Marks, classified as part of the A1211, is a short street in the ward of Aldgate in the City of London. Traffic runs northwest in a direction into Camomile Street. The street name has recorded as Bewesmarkes, Bevys Marke, Bevesmarkes, Bevers-market. The antiquarian John Stow believed the name to derive from the Abbots of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, at that time, their possessions were passed to Sir Thomas Heneage, a gentleman of the Privy chamber in attendance on King Henry VIII. He is commemorated in the name of nearby Heneage Lane, Bevis Marks is mentioned several times in Charles Dickenss The Old Curiosity Shop as the street where solicitor Sampson Brass has his offices. Bevis Marks is home to the Grade I listed Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom still in use
Bevis Marks
–
Looking east down Bevis Marks towards
St. Botolph's Aldgate
2.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
London
–
Palace of Westminster,
Buckingham Palace and
Central London skyline
London
London
London
–
The name London may derive from the
River Thames
3.
EC postcode area
–
The EC postcode area, also known as the London EC postal area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London and parts of the London Boroughs of Islington, Camden, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, the area covered is of very high density development. Deliveries for the EC postcode area are made from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, the current postcode districts are relatively recent divisions of the EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4 districts established in 1917. Where the districts are used for other than the sorting of mail, such as use as a geographic reference and on street signs. Postcode Address File List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom London postal district Royal Mails Postcode Address File A quick introduction to Royal Mails Postcode Address File
EC postcode area
–
EC postcode area map, showing postcode districts in red and post towns in grey text, with links to nearby
E,
N,
SE and
WC postcode areas.
4.
List of religions and spiritual traditions
–
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, beliefs and world views that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes to moral values. While religion is hard to define, one model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz. A critique of Geertzs model by Talal Asad categorized religion as an anthropological category, many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws, or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos, according to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, Certain religions also have a sacred language often used in liturgical services. Religious beliefs have also used to explain parapsychological phenomena such as out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences and reincarnation. A group of monotheistic traditions sometimes grouped with one another for comparative purposes, oriental Orthodox Churches, Includes the Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, as well as a portion of the St. Thomas Christians in India. Greek Old Calendarists Russian Old Believers Bezpopovtsy Popovtsy Spiritual Christianity Doukhobor Molokan Certain Christian groups are difficult to classify as Eastern or Western, irenaeus wrote polemics against them from the standpoint of the then-unified Catholic Church. They are definitely of ancient Israelite origin, but their status as Jews is disputed, falasha or Beta Israel Noahidism Noahidism is a monotheistic ideology based on the Seven Laws of Noah, and on their traditional interpretations within Rabbinic Judaism. According to Jewish law, non-Jews are not obligated to convert to Judaism and they derive from African traditional religions, especially of West and Central Africa, showing similarities to the Yoruba religion in particular. co. uk section on major world religions
List of religions and spiritual traditions
–
Religious symbols in clock-wise order:
Judaism,
Christianity,
Islam,
Bahá'í Faith,
Hinduism,
Taoism,
Buddhism,
Sikhism,
Slavic neopaganism,
Celtic polytheism,
Heathenism (German paganism),
Semitic neopaganism,
Wicca,
Kemetism (Egyptian paganism),
Hellenism,
Italo-Roman neopaganism.
5.
Orthodox Judaism
–
Orthodox Judaism includes movements such as Modern Orthodox Judaism and Ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Judaism. As of 2001, Orthodox Jews and Jews affiliated with an Orthodox synagogue accounted for approximately 50% of British Jews,26. 5% of Israeli Jews, among those affiliated to a synagogue body, Orthodox Jews represent 70% of British Jewry, and 27% of American Jewry. Orthodoxy is not one single movement or school of thought, there is no single rabbinical body to which all rabbis are expected to belong, or any one organization representing member congregations. In the 20th century, a segment of the Orthodox population disagreed with Modern Orthodoxy, such rabbis viewed innovations and modifications within Jewish law and customs with extreme care and caution. This form of Judaism may be referred to as Haredi Judaism or Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, several local Jewish papers, including New Yorks Jewish Week and Philadelphias Jewish Exponent have also dropped use of the term. According to Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, the term Orthodox Judaism was coined as a response to the rise of Reform Judaism in early 19th century Germany, some researchers attempted to argue that the importance of daily practice and punctilious adherence to Jewish Law relegated theoretical issues to an ancillary status. Others dismissed this view entirely, citing the many debates in ancient rabbinic sources which castigated various heresies without any reference to observance, however, while lacking a uniform doctrine, Orthodox Judaism is basically united in affirming several core beliefs, disavowal of which is considered major blasphemy. As in other aspects, Orthodox positions reflect the mainstream of traditional Rabbinic Judaism through the ages, attempts to codify these were undertaken by several medieval authorities, including Saadia Gaon and Joseph Albo. Yet the 13 Fundamentals expounded by Maimonides in his Commentary on the Mishnah, but in recent centuries the 13 Principles became standard, and are considered binding and cardinal by Orthodox authorities in a virtually universal manner. More specific doctrines refer to the times of Godly salvation and afterlife – in Judaism, Olam haBa and these include belief in divine reward for those who observe the Lords commandments and likewise, punishment meted unto the transgressors. Maimonides reserved one article for this tenet, oft mentioned in sources, stating merely that God rewards. This issue has been subject to debate and interpretation. Nahmanides offered a comprehensive system, with divine remuneration for better or worse both in this world, via natural means, and in a celestial heaven and hell. One of the most important teachings concerning afterlife in Judaism is the Resurrection of the Dead, the Talmud listed deniers of this faith as heretics who shall have no part in the World to Come. Maimoindes specified it apart as a separate article and this particular notion is closely linked with Reward and Punishment. They will live ordinary, corporeal life but will not die, then all mankind shall be resuscitated and be given each his just due. The eternal reward shall be preserved for their soul, as beforehand, preceding the miraculous events linked with afterlife is the Advent of the Messiah, also independently listed among Maimonides Thirteen as a tenet of faith. Orthodox Judaism maintains the historical understanding of Jewish identity, a Jew is someone who was born to a Jewish mother, or who converts to Judaism in accordance with Jewish law and tradition
Orthodox Judaism
–
The
Shulchan Aruch, published in 1565, is the authoritative legal code for Orthodox Jews
Orthodox Judaism
–
Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein, a leading 20th-century American Orthodox authority.
Orthodox Judaism
–
The Babylonian
Talmud
Orthodox Judaism
–
The
New York City Metropolitan Area is home to the largest American Orthodox Jewish population.
6.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
–
Over half of Spains Jewish origin population had converted to Catholicism as a result of the religious anti-Jewish persecution and pogroms which occurred in 1391. Between 40,000 and 80,000 did not convert, many of Spains Jews who left Spain as Jews also initially moved to Portugal, where they were subsequently forcibly converted to the Catholic Church. It is the collective of these communities, and their descendants, which are known as Western Sephardim, the main Western Sephardic Jewish communities developed in Western Europe, Italy, and the non-Iberian regions of the Americas. The term Western Sephardim is frequently used in research literature to refer to Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Similar considerations may have played a role for ethnic Sephardic Jews in the French regions of Bayonne and Bordeaux, as the term Sephardim necessarily connotes a link with Spain, the distinguishing feature of Portuguese Jews or Jews of the Portuguese Nation was the added link with Portugal. Thus, as a subset of the Sephardim, Portuguese and Spanish, finally, almost all organised communities in this group traditionally employed Portuguese rather than Spanish as their official or working language. In Italy, the term Spanish Jews is frequently used, but it includes descendants of Jews expelled as Jews from the Kingdom of Naples, as well as Spanish and Portuguese Jews proper. In Venice, Spanish and Portuguese Jews were often described as Ponentine, occasionally Italian Jews distinguish between the Portuguese Jews of Pisa and Livorno and the Spanish Jews of Venice, Modena and elsewhere. The scholar Joseph Dan distinguishes medieval Sephardim from Renaissance Sephardim, in reference to the times of each groupings formative contacts with Spanish language. The term Sephardi means Spanish or Hispanic, and is derived from Sepharad, the location of the biblical Sepharad is disputed, but Sepharad was identified by later Jews as Hispania, that is, the Iberian Peninsula. Sepharad still means Spain in modern Hebrew, during their period as New Christians, many conversos continued to practise their Jewish faith in secrecy as best they could. Those New Christian conversos of Jeiwsh origin who maintained crypto-Jewish practices in secret were termed marranos by Old Christian Spaniards, for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, their historical period as conversos has shaped their identity, culture, and practices. For centuries, the Sephardic Jewish communities under Ottoman rule provided spiritual leadership to the dispersed Sephardim through their contributions to the Responsa literature, the common feature shared by Western Sephardim to Sephardic Bnei Anusim and Neo-Western Sephardim is that all three are descended from conversos. The Oporto communitys return to Judaism was led by the returnee to Judaism Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, as mentioned, these communities of modern-day returnees to Judaism are among the first in the emergence of the nascent Neo-Western Sephardim. Neo-Western Sephardim are the returnees to Judaism throughout Iberia and Ibero-America emerging from among the population of Sephardic Bnei Anusim. Even more recent examples of such Neo-Western Sephardim communities include the Belmonte Jews in Portugal, and the Xuetes of Spain. In the last five to ten years, organized groups of Benei Anusim have been established in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, some members of these communities have formally reverted to Judaism. Spanish and Portuguese Jews were originally descended from New Christian conversos whose descendants later left the Iberian peninsula, the main wave of conversions, often forced, followed the massacre of 1391 in Spain
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
–
Baruch Spinoza
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
–
Painting of the
Amsterdam Esnoga —considered the mother synagogue by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews—by
Emanuel de Witte (ab. 1680).
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
–
Emma Lazarus
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
–
The Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue,
Shearith Israel (1829–1851) on
West 21st Street in
Manhattan, New York City is now surrounded by tall buildings
7.
United Kingdom
–
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
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
8.
Listed building
–
A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
Listed building
–
The
Forth Bridge, designed by
Sir Benjamin Baker and
Sir John Fowler, opened in 1890, and now owned by
Network Rail, is designated as a Category A listed building by
Historic Scotland.
Listed building
–
Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the British monarch, listed Grade I.
Listed building
–
Royal Festival Hall, London was the first postwar building to gain Grade I-listed status.
Listed building
–
The Grade I listed
King's College London Chapel on the Strand Campus seen today was redesigned in 1864 by
Sir George Gilbert Scott
9.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew street sign, above in
Hebrew alphabet, below in
Latin transliteration. Aluf Batslut veAluf Shum (he) ("The Onion Champion and the Garlic Champion") is a
play by
Hayim Nahman Bialik.
Hebrew language
–
Portion of the
Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran
Hebrew language
–
The
Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in
Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
10.
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom
–
The designation oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom requires careful definition. A second set of synagogues post-dates the legal return of Jews to England in the seventeenth century, some synagogues have been destroyed or demolished and rebuilt on the same site, so that, while the site or congregation may be very old, the building may be modern. And some very old synagogues have been in use as synagogues for many centuries. Jews Court, Lincoln, built between 1150 and 1180, a recent architectural survey of the existing building has shown that there is very little medieval stonework above basement level in the existing building. Documentary evidence of 1290 when the Jewish community of Lincoln were expelled now shows that the Jews Court has always divided into two houses. A charter of 1316 mentions that a Jewish scola or synagogue had stood to the west in the tenement behind these two houses, bevis Marks Synagogue in London, built in 1701 is the oldest synagogue building in the United Kingdom in continuous use. The Plymouth Synagogue, built in 1762, is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue building in the English-speaking world, the Exeter Synagogue, built in 1763 originally for a Sephardic Congregation. Oldest synagogues in the world Oldest synagogues in Canada Oldest synagogues in the United States
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom
–
Bevis Marks Synagogue in
London, built in 1701
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom
–
Garnethill Synagogue in Glasgow, Scotland
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom
–
Frontage of Jew's Court, Lincoln
11.
City of London
–
The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, however, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area. One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was later buried at Ludgate
City of London
–
The City of London skyline in December 2013
City of London
–
The
Waterloo Helmet, c. 150–50 BC, found in the
River Thames
City of London
–
A surviving fragment of the
London Wall, built around 200 AD, close to
Tower Hill
City of London
–
Plaque near
Southwark Bridge noting the activities around the time of
King Alfred.
12.
Simchat Torah
–
Simchat Torah or Simhat Torah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the main celebrations of Simchat Torah take place in the synagogue during evening and morning services. In Orthodox as well as many Conservative congregations, this is the time of year on which the Torah scrolls are taken out of the ark. In the morning, the last parashah of Deuteronomy and the first parashah of Genesis are read in the synagogue. On each occasion, when the ark is opened, the leave their seats to dance. The morning service is also characterized by the calling up of each male member of the congregation for an aliyah. There is also a special aliyah for all the children, on the Hebrew calendar, the seven-day holiday of Sukkot in the autumn is immediately followed by the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. In Orthodox and Conservative communities outside Israel, Shemini Atzeret is a two-day holiday, the first day is referred to as Shemini Atzeret and the second day as Simchat Torah, although both days are officially Shemini Atzeret according to Halakha, and this is reflected in the liturgy. Many Hasidic communities have Hakafot on the eve of the first day of Shemini Atzeret as well, in Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated on the same day. Reform congregations, even outside Israel, may do likewise, many communities in Israel have Hakafot Shniyot on the evening following the holiday, which is the same day as Simchat Torah evening in the diaspora. The custom was started by the former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, the Simhat Torah festivities begin with the evening service. All the synagogues Torah scrolls are removed from the ark and are carried around the sanctuary in a series of seven hakafot. Although each hakafa need only one circuit around the synagogue, the dancing and singing with the Torah often continues much longer. In Orthodox and Conservative Jewish synagogues, each circuit is announced by a few melodious invocations imploring God to Hoshiah Na and ending with the refrain, congregations may also sing other, popular songs during the dancing. Children are often given flags, candies and other treats, the vigour of the dancing and degree of festive merriment varies with congregational temperament. In Orthodox synagogues, the dancing is mainly carried out by men and boys, women and older girls often have their own dancing circles sometimes with the Torah scrolls, or look on from the other side of a mechitza, in accordance with the value of tzniut. In 2014, an Israeli modern Orthodox rabbinical organization called Beit Hillel ruled that women are permitted to dance with a Torah scroll on Simchat Torah, in Conservative and progressive congregations, men and women dance together. In some congregations, the Torah scrolls are carried out into the streets, after the hakafot, many congregations recite a portion of the last parashah of the Torah, VZot HaBerachah in Deuteronomy
Simchat Torah
–
Torah scroll
Simchat Torah
–
Throwing cakes to children on Simḥat Torah, by
Johann Leusden in Philologus Hebræo-Mixtus,
Utrecht, 1657
Simchat Torah
–
The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Livorno, Italy by
Solomon Hart, 1850 (
Jewish Museum)
Simchat Torah
–
Rituals
13.
Samuel Pepys
–
Samuel Pepys FRS was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary that he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Pepys had no experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy, the detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War. Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London on 23 February 1633, the son of John Pepys, a tailor and his great uncle Talbot Pepys was Recorder and briefly Member of Parliament for Cambridge in 1625. His fathers first cousin Sir Richard Pepys was elected MP for Sudbury in 1640, appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654, Pepys was the fifth of eleven children, but child mortality was high and he was soon the oldest survivor. He was baptised at St Brides Church on 3 March, Pepys did not spend all of his infancy in London, for a while, he was sent to live with nurse Goody Lawrence at Kingsland, just north of the city. In about 1644, Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School before being educated at St Pauls School, London and he attended the execution of Charles I in 1649. In 1650, he went to Cambridge University, having received two exhibitions from St Pauls School and a grant from the Mercers Company. In October, he was admitted as a sizar to Magdalene College, he moved there in March 1651, later in 1654 or early in 1655, he entered the household of another of his fathers cousins, Sir Edward Montagu, who was later created 1st Earl of Sandwich. From a young age, Pepys suffered from stones in his urinary tract – a condition from which his mother and brother John also later suffered. He was almost never without pain, as well as other symptoms, by the time of his marriage, the condition was very severe. In 1657 Pepys decided to undergo surgery, not an option, as the operation was known to be especially painful. Nevertheless, Pepys consulted surgeon Thomas Hollier and, on 26 March 1658, Pepys stone was successfully removed and he resolved to hold a celebration on every anniversary of the operation, which he did for several years. However, there were long-term effects from the operation, the incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life. The procedure may have left him sterile, though there is no evidence for this. In mid-1658 Pepys moved to Axe Yard, near the modern Downing Street and he worked as a teller in the Exchequer under George Downing. On 1 January 1660, Pepys began to keep a diary and he recorded his daily life for almost ten years
Samuel Pepys
–
Portrait of Samuel Pepys by
J. Hayls. Oil on canvas, 1666, 756 mm × 629 mm
National Portrait Gallery, London.
Samuel Pepys
–
Bookplate c.1680–1690 with arms of Samuel Pepys:
Quarterly 1st & 4th: Sable, on a bend or between two nag's heads erased argent three fleurs-de-lis of the field (Pepys); 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a
lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or (Talbot). Samuel Pepys was descended from the John Pepys who married Elizabeth Talbot, the heiress of
Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. The Pepys arms are borne by the Pepys family,
Earls of Cottenham
Samuel Pepys
–
Elisabeth de St Michel, Pepys' wife. Stipple engraving by
James Thomson, after a 1666 painting (now destroyed) by
John Hayls.
Samuel Pepys
–
Samuel Pepys' bookplate. The motto reads "Mens cujusque is est Quisque" – "Mind Makes the Man"
14.
Rabbi
–
In Judaism, a rabbi /ˈræbaɪ/ is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רַבִּי rabi, meaning My Master, the word master רב rav literally means great one. The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic era, the first sage for whom the Mishnah uses the title of rabbi was Yohanan ben Zakkai, active in the early to mid first century CE. Within the various Jewish denominations there are different requirements for rabbinic ordination, for example, Orthodox Judaism does not ordain women as rabbis, but other movements have chosen to do so for halakhic reasons as well as ethical reasons. Although the usage rabbim many the majority, the multitude occurs for the assembly of the community in the Dead Sea scrolls there is no evidence to support an association with the later title Rabbi, the root is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning lord. As a sign of respect, some great rabbis are simply called The Rav. The titles Rabban and Rabbi are first mentioned in the Mishnah, the term was first used for Rabban Gamaliel the elder, Rabban Simeon his son, and Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai, all of whom were patriarchs or presidents of the Sanhedrin. The title Rabbi occurs in the books of Matthew, Mark, and John in the New Testament, other variants are rəvī and, in Yiddish, rebbə. The word could be compared to the Syriac word ܪܒܝ rabi, in ancient Hebrew, rabbi was a proper term of address while speaking to a superior, in the second person, similar to a vocative case. While speaking about a superior, in the person one could say ha-rav or rabbo. Later, the term evolved into a title for members of the Patriarchate. Thus, the title gained an irregular form, רַבָּנִים rabbanim. Rabbi as a title does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. All of the above personalities would have expected to be steeped in the wisdom of the Torah and the commandments. And honor is due only for Torah, as it is said, The wise shall inherit honor, and only Torah is truly good, as it is said, I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake My Torah. This was eventually encoded and codified within the Mishnah and Talmud and subsequent rabbinical scholarship, the title Rabbi was borne by the sages of ancient Israel, who were ordained by the Sanhedrin in accordance with the custom handed down by the elders. They were titled Ribbi and received authority to judge penal cases, Rab was the title of the Babylonian sages who taught in the Babylonian academies. After the suppression of the Patriarchate and Sanhedrin by Theodosius II in 425, a recognised scholar could be called Rab or Hacham, like the Babylonian sages
Rabbi
–
Rabbi instructing children in 2004
Rabbi
–
Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein, a leading Rabbinical authority for Orthodox Judaism of the second half of the twentieth century.
Rabbi
–
Rabbi
Regina Jonas, the first ordained female rabbi. Ordained in Germany in 1935, she died in
Auschwitz in 1944.
15.
David Nieto
–
David Nieto was the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in London, later succeeded in this capacity by his son, Isaac Nieto. He first practised as a physician and officiated as a Jewish preacher at Livorno and he explained that nature was a modern word, and in reality referred to the action of God in governing natural phenomena. This work provoked opposition against him, including accusations of Spinozism, tzvi Ashkenazi, who was called in as arbitrator, decided in his favor. Not only was he exonerated, but he was praised for his teachings. Nieto was also praised by Rabbi Chaim Azulay. He also waged war untiringly on the supporters of the Shabbethaian heresies, which he regarded as dangerous to the best interests of Judaism, and in this connection wrote his Esh Dat against Hayyun. Nieto was one of the most accomplished Jews of his time and was distinguished as philosopher, physician, poet, mathematician, astronomer. A prolific writer, his connection with Christian scholars was extensive, especially with Ungar, Nieto was the first to fix the time for the beginning of Sabbath eve for the latitude of England. Bodl. col.881 Meyer Kayserling, Gesch, der Juden in Portugal, pp. 325–326 Jewish World, Dec.19,1879 Wolf, Johann Christoph, Bibliotheca Hebræa iii Cat. Exh.1887 Portrait in Jewish Chronicle, June 28,1901 This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Joseph Jacobs. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Company
David Nieto
–
Rabbi David Nieto
David Nieto
–
Grave of David Nieto
16.
Sephardi Jews
–
They established communities throughout Spain and Portugal, where they traditionally resided, evolving what would become their distinctive characteristics and diasporic identity. Spoken by Sephardim in the Eastern Mediterranean, Haketia, an Arabic influenced Judaeo-Spanish variety also derived from Old Spanish, with numerous Hebrew and Aramaic terms. Taken with them in the 15th century after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Early Modern Spanish and Early Modern Portuguese, including in a mixture of the two. Traditionally spoken or used liturgically by the ex-converso Western Sephardim, taken with them during their later migration out of Iberia in the 16th to 18th centuries as conversos, after which they reverted to Judaism. In most cases these varieties have incorporated loanwords from the languages of the Americas introduced following the Spanish conquest. This article deals with Sephardim within the narrower ethnic definition, the name Sephardi means Spanish or Hispanic, derived from Sepharad, a Biblical location. The location of the biblical Sepharad is disputed, but Sepharad was identified by later Jews as Hispania, that is, Sepharad still means Spain in modern Hebrew. In its most basic form, this broad definition of a Sephardi refers to any Jew, of any ethnic background. The term Sephardi in the sense, thus describes the nusach used by Sephardi Jews in their Siddur. A nusach is defined by a liturgical traditions choice of prayers, order of prayers, text of prayers, Sephardim traditionally pray using Minhag Sefarad. Additionally, Ethiopian Jews, whose branch of practiced Judaism is known as Haymanot, have come under the umbrella of Israels already broad Sephardic Chief Rabbinate. The divisions among Sephardim and their descendants today is largely a result of the consequences of the Royal edicts of expulsion. In the case of the Alhambra Decree of 1492, the purpose was to eliminate their influence on Spains large converso population. Indeed, a number of those Jews who had not yet joined the converso community finally chose to convert. While the stipulations were similar in the Portuguese decree, King Manuel then largely prevented Portugals Jews from leaving, by blocking Portugals ports of exit. This failure to leave Portugal was then reasoned by the king to signify a default acceptance of Catholicism by the Jews, actual physical forced conversions, however, were also experienced throughout Portugal. Sephardi Jews, therefore, encompass Jews descended from those Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula as Jews by the expiration of the respective decreed deadlines. This group is divided between those who fled south to North Africa, as opposed to those who fled eastwards to the Balkans, West Asia
Sephardi Jews
–
Elias Canetti
Sephardi Jews
–
Sephardi Jewish couple from Sarajevo in traditional clothing. Photo taken in 1900.
Sephardi Jews
–
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Sephardi Jews
–
Benjamin Disraeli
17.
Religious Society of Friends
–
Quakers are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements generally known as the Religious Society of Friends. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, to differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers, in 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry, the first Quakers lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, some of these early Quaker ministers were women. They emphasized a personal and direct experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity, in the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Frys, and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, during and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man named George Fox was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith, the central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, in 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to George Foxs autobiography, Bennet was the first that called us Quakers and it is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66,2 or Ezra 9,4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Foxs admonition, Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689, with the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women, Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and they were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported, in 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony
Religious Society of Friends
–
Heritage-listed Quaker meeting house,
Sydney,
Australia
Religious Society of Friends
–
Symbol used by Friends' service organizations since the late 19th century
Religious Society of Friends
–
James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader, being pilloried and whipped
Religious Society of Friends
–
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, as a young man
18.
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
–
Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death, Anne was born in the reign of her uncle Charles II, who had no legitimate children. Her father, James, was first in line to the throne and his suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England, and on Charless instructions Anne was raised as an Anglican. Three years after he succeeded Charles, James was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Annes Dutch Protestant brother-in-law and cousin William III became joint monarch with his wife, Annes elder sister Mary II. Although the sisters had been close, disagreements over Annes finances, status and choice of acquaintances arose shortly after Marys accession, William and Mary had no children. After Marys death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until he was succeeded by Anne upon his death in 1702, as queen, Anne favoured moderate Tory politicians, who were more likely to share her Anglican religious views than their opponents, the Whigs. The Whigs grew more powerful during the course of the War of the Spanish Succession and her close friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, turned sour as the result of political differences. Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life, from her thirties onwards, she grew increasingly lame and obese. Despite seventeen pregnancies by her husband, Prince George of Denmark, she died without any surviving children and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Anne was born at 11,39 p. m. on 6 February 1665 at St Jamess Palace, London, the child and second daughter of James, Duke of York. At her Anglican baptism in the Chapel Royal at St Jamess, her sister, Mary, was one of her godparents, along with the Duchess of Monmouth. The Duke and Duchess of York had eight children, but Anne, as a child, Anne suffered from an eye condition, which manifested as excessive watering known as defluxion. For medical treatment, she was sent to France, where she lived with her grandmother, Queen Henrietta Maria. Following her grandmothers death in 1669, Anne lived with an aunt, Henrietta Anne, on the sudden death of her aunt in 1670, Anne returned to England. Her mother died the following year, as was traditional in the royal family, Anne and her sister were brought up separated from their father in their own establishment at Richmond, London. On the instructions of Charles II, they were raised as Protestants, placed in the care of Colonel Edward and Lady Frances Villiers, their education was focused on the teachings of the Anglican church. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was appointed as Annes preceptor, around 1671, Anne first made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who later became her close friend and one of her most influential advisors
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
–
Portrait by
Michael Dahl, 1705
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
–
Anne (centre) and her sister Mary (left) with their parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, painted by
Sir Peter Lely and
Benedetto Gennari II
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
–
Anne, circa 1684, painted by
Willem Wissing and
Jan van der Vaardt
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
–
Mary of Modena and James Francis Edward, Anne's stepmother and half-brother
19.
Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)
–
The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is a late 17th-century Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, completed in 1675. Esnoga is the Ladino word for synagogue, the Amsterdam Sephardic community was one of the largest and richest Jewish communities in Europe during the Dutch Golden Age, and their very large synagogue reflected this. The synagogue remains a place of worship and is also a popular tourist attraction. The Sephardim were issued with the Spanish Royal Alhambra Decree in 1492, whereby they were given the choice of exile from Spain, or conversion to Catholicism, or failing to do either and they became Spains Jewish-origin New Christians or conversos. Of the other half of Spains Jews who did not convert, and instead chose exile, some sailed south, others went east, but most crossed the border west to Portugal. In Portugal, Jewish life was interrupted only a few years later, thus the Jews in Portugal were forced to convert to Catholicism in 1496 after the decree and, all but a few who did manage to flee, became Portugals Jewish-origin New Christians or conversos. For the next few centuries, the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal continued to investigate the conversos, many in fact did continue to practice Judaism behind closed doors, while publicly professing to be Catholics, in Spanish and Portuguese these were called Marranos. The persecutions and trials by the inquisition against conversos lasted well into the late 1800s, furthermore, the legal distinction between so-called Old Christians and New Christians was maintained for centuries, with a persons pedigree always on record. This was often a pretext for the confiscation of their property, many of them wished to have freedom of religion again and to be free from this institutionalized anti-Semitism. Amsterdam, then one of the greatest cities in the world, in this historical context, a substantial migration of conversos from the Iberian Peninsula to Amsterdam took place from the 1600s to the early 1800s. Once in Amsterdam, many returned to Judaism openly and publicly and they called themselves Portuguese Jews, even those who came directly from Spain. They wanted to avoid being identified with Spain, which was at war with the Dutch Republic at the time during the Eighty Years War and this branch of Judaism is also known as the Western Sephardim. Their religious life was focused primarily on the synagogue, religious calendar of Jewish life, the Sephardic Jews used both the Portuguese and Spanish language to communicate with one another and other people. Although Portuguese was the language spoken in the community, it was still beneficial to the Sephardic Jews to know both languages. When Amsterdam started to more and more populated with Jews. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, the land of Judaism. Amsterdam being nicknamed after this city is a way of saying that it is becoming the start of a Jewish city. The Jewish neighborhood that formed in this city was called the “Joodse buurt. ”Being the center of Jewish settlement, the community had both a Spanish-Portuguese synagogue and a German-Jewish synagogue
Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)
–
Exterior of the Portuguese Synagogue in 2015
Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)
–
Painting of the interior of the Esnoga by
Emanuel de Witte (c. 1680)
Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)
–
General view with the synagogue at left, 18th century
Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)
–
Exterior, side view
20.
London Blitz
–
By September 1940—two months into the battle—faulty German intelligence suggested that the Royal Air Force was close to defeat at the hands of the Luftwaffe. The German air fleets were ordered to attack London, thereby drawing up the last remnants of RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation, Adolf Hitler and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, sanctioned the change in emphasis on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, one year into the war, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days, on 15 September 1940, a large daylight attack against London was repulsed with significant German losses. Thereafter, the Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of nocturnal attacks, ports and industrial centres outside London were also attacked. The main Atlantic sea port of Liverpool was bombed, the North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, was subjected to raids in the Hull Blitz during the war. More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, by May 1941, the threat of an invasion of Britain had ended, and Hitlers attention turned to Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The bombing failed to demoralise the British into surrender or significantly damage the war economy, the eight months of bombing never seriously hampered British production and the war industries continued to operate and expand. The German offensives greatest effect was forcing the dispersal of aircraft production, British wartime studies concluded that cities generally took 10 to 15 days to recover when hit severely but exceptions like Birmingham took three months. The German air offensive failed for several reasons, discussions in OKL revolved around tactics rather than strategy. Poor intelligence on British industry and economic efficiency was also a factor, in the 1920s and 1930s, air power theorists Giulio Douhet and Billy Mitchell espoused the idea that air forces could win wars, without a need for land and sea fighting. It was thought there was no defence against air attack, particularly at night, enemy industry, seats of government, factories and communications could be destroyed, taking away their means to resist. It was also thought the bombing of residential centres would cause a collapse of civilian will, democracies, where the populace was allowed to show overt disapproval of the state, were thought particularly vulnerable. This thinking was prevalent in both the RAF and the United States Army Air Corps, the policy of RAF Bomber Command became an attempt to achieve victory through the destruction of civilian will, communications and industry. In the Luftwaffe, there was a view of strategic bombing. OKL did not believe that air power alone could be decisive, contrary to popular belief, evidence suggests that the Luftwaffe did not adopt an official bombing policy in which civilians became the primary target until 1942. The vital industries and transport centres that would be targeted for shutdown were valid military targets and it could be claimed civilians were not to be targeted directly, but the breakdown of production would affect their morale and will to fight. German legal scholars of the 1930s carefully worked out guidelines for what type of bombing was permissible under international law. Wever outlined five points of air strategy, To destroy the air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories
London Blitz
–
The undamaged
St Paul's Cathedral surrounded by smoke and bombed-out buildings in December 1940 in the iconic
St Paul's Survives photo
London Blitz
–
Walter Wever
London Blitz
–
Hitler and Göring, March 1938
London Blitz
–
RAF pilots with one of their
Hawker Hurricanes, October 1940
21.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
–
It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971. The IRAs primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland and it used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political. The IRA called a ceasefire in July 1997, after Sinn Féin was re-admitted into the Northern Ireland peace talks. It supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and in 2005 it disarmed under international supervision, the campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups. As a result, the IRA launched a new strategy known as the Long War and this saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity, via the political party Sinn Féin. The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy, with more time, the British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK. The IRA ceasefire was reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks. The IRAs armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, the dead included around 1,100 members of the British security forces, and about 640 civilians. The IRA itself lost 275–300 members and an estimated 10,000 imprisoned at times over the 30-year period. The organisation remains classified as a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, two small groups split from the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986, and the Real IRA in 1997. Both reject the Good Friday Agreement and continue to engage in paramilitary activity and this new IRA group is estimated by Police Service of Northern Ireland intelligence sources to have between 250 and 300 active militants and many more supporting associates. The Provisional IRA was organised hierarchically, at the top of the organisation was the IRA Army Council, headed by the IRA Chief of Staff. All levels of the organisation were entitled to send delegates to IRA General Army Conventions, the GAC was the IRAs supreme decision-making authority. Since 1969, there have only three, in 1970,1986, and 2005, owing to the difficulty in organising such a large gathering of an illegal organisation in secret
Provisional Irish Republican Army
–
IRA members showing an
improvised mortar and an
RPG (1992)
Provisional Irish Republican Army
–
IRA re-enactment in
Galbally, County Tyrone (2009)
Provisional Irish Republican Army
–
Republican colour party in Dublin, March 2009. The blue flag being carried at the front is that of "Dublin Brigade IRA".
Provisional Irish Republican Army
–
An IRA badge – the
phoenix is frequently used to symbolise the origins of the Provisional IRA.
22.
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
–
A news photographer was killed in the explosion and 44 people were injured, the damage cost £350 million to repair. In early 1993 the Northern Ireland peace process was at a delicate stage, Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin and John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party had been engaged in private dialogue since 1988, with a view to establishing a broad Irish nationalist coalition. British Prime Minister John Major had refused to enter into talks with Sinn Féin until the IRA declared a ceasefire. During the Troubles the IRA had bombed targets in London on a number of occasions. In March 1993 an Iveco tipper truck was stolen in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, a 1 tonne ANFO bomb made by the IRAs South Armagh Brigade had been smuggled into England and was placed in the truck disguised underneath a layer of tarmac. At approximately 9 am on 24 April, two volunteers from an IRA active service unit drove the truck containing the bomb onto Bishopsgate, two police officers were already making inquiries into the truck when the warnings were received, and police began evacuating the area. The bomb exploded at 10,27 am causing extensive damage to buildings along a significant stretch of Bishopsgate, buildings up to 500 metres away were damaged, with 1,500,000 sq ft of office space being affected and over 500 tonnes of glass broken. Damage extended as far north as Liverpool Street station and south beyond Threadneedle Street, St Ethelburgas church, seven metres away from the bomb, collapsed as a result of the explosion. Civilian casualties were low as it was a Saturday morning and the City was typically occupied by only a number of residents, office workers, security guards, builders. Forty-four people were injured by the bomb and News of the World photographer Ed Henty was killed after ignoring police warnings, the truck-bomb produced explosive power of 1,200 kg of TNT. The business community and media called for increased security in the City, Prime Minister John Major received a telephone call from Francis McWilliams, the Lord Mayor of London, reminding him that the City of London earned £17 billion last year for the nation as a whole. Its operating environment and future must be preserved, Major later gave an account of the public stance taken by his government on the bombing, Frankly, we thought it was likely to bring the whole process to an end. And we told them repeatedly that that was the case and they assumed that if they bombed and put pressure on the British at Bishopsgate or with some other outrage or other, it would affect our negotiating position to their advantage. In that judgment they were wholly wrong, every time they did that, they made it harder not easier for any movement to be made towards a settlement. They hardened our attitude, whereas they believed that their actions would soften it and that is a fundamental mistake the IRA have made with successive British governments throughout the last quarter of a century. John Hume and Gerry Adams issued their first joint statement on the day as the bombing, stating. This is a view shared by a majority of the people of this island, though not by all its people, and that, The exercise of self-determination is a matter for agreement between the people of Ireland. There was also a message from the IRA leadership, calling for the British establishment to seize the opportunity and to take the steps needed for ending its futile and we again emphasise that they should pursue the path of peace or resign themselves to the path of war
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
–
Wormwood Street pictured in the aftermath of the bombing which occurred on nearby Bishopsgate
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
–
An
Iveco tipper truck, the type used to carry the bomb.
23.
Jamaica
–
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
Jamaica
–
Henry Morgan was a famous
Caribbean pirate and privateer; he had first come to the West Indies as an indentured servant, like most of the early English colonists.
Jamaica
Jamaica
–
Prince Charles and the
Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to Jamaica in 2008.
Jamaica
–
Inside the
Jamaican Parliament.
24.
Barbados
–
Barbados is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles, in the Americas. It is 34 kilometres in length and up to 23 km in width, Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt. Inhabited by Kalinago people since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Amerindians, Barbados was visited by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century and it first appeared in a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese visited the island in 1536, but they left it unclaimed, an English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1625, its men took possession of it in the name of King James I. In 1627, the first permanent settlers arrived from England, and it became an English, in 1966, Barbados became an independent state and Commonwealth realm with the British Monarch as hereditary head of state. It has a population of 280,121 people, predominantly of African descent, despite being classified as an Atlantic island, Barbados is considered to be a part of the Caribbean, where it is ranked as a leading tourist destination. Forty percent of the come from the UK, with the US. In 2014, Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Barbados joint second in the Americas, the name Barbados is either the Portuguese word Barbados or the Spanish equivalent los Barbados, both meaning the bearded ones. In 1519, a map produced by the Genoese mapmaker Visconte Maggiolo showed and named Barbados in its correct position, furthermore, the island of Barbuda in the Leewards is very similar in name and was once named Las Barbudas by the Spanish. It is uncertain which European nation arrived first in Barbados, one lesser known source points to earlier-revealed works predating contemporary sources indicating it could have been the Spanish. Others believe the Portuguese, en route to Brazil, were the first Europeans to come upon the island, colloquially Barbadians refer to their home island as Bim or other nicknames associated with Barbados includes Bimshire. The origin is uncertain but several theories exist, the name could have arisen due to the relatively large percentage of enslaved Igbo people from modern-day southeastern Nigeria arriving in Barbados in the 18th century. The words Bim and Bimshire are recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary, another possible source for Bim is reported to be in the Agricultural Reporter of 25 April 1868, where the Rev. N. Greenidge suggested the listing of Bimshire as a county of England. Expressly named were Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Bimshire, lastly, in the Daily Argosy of 1652 there is a reference to Bim as a possible corruption of Byam, the name of a Royalist leader against the Parliamentarians. That source suggested the followers of Byam became known as Bims, amerindian settlement of Barbados dates to about the 4th to 7th centuries AD, by a group known as the Saladoid-Barrancoid. In the 13th century, the Kalinago arrived from South America, the Spanish and Portuguese briefly claimed Barbados from the late 16th to the 17th centuries. The Arawaks are believed to have fled to neighbouring islands, apart from possibly displacing the Caribs, the Spanish and Portuguese made little impact and left the island uninhabited. Some Arawaks migrated from British Guiana in the 19th century and continue to live in Barbados, during the Cromwellian era this included a large number of prisoners-of-war, vagrants and people who were illicitly kidnapped, who were forcibly transported to the island and sold as servants
Barbados
–
Bathsheba on the east coast of the island.
Barbados
–
Flag
Barbados
–
Barbados, seen from the
International Space Station.
Barbados
–
The parliament building in Bridgetown.
25.
Gibraltar
–
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
Gibraltar
–
View of the northern face of the
Moorish Castle 's Tower of Homage. Built in the 14th century, it is the only
Marinid construction outside Africa.
Gibraltar
–
Flag
Gibraltar
–
The last of Gibraltar, by
Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.
Gibraltar
–
John Mackintosh Square entrance to the
Gibraltar Parliament.
26.
History of the Jews in Ireland
–
The history of the Jews in Ireland extends back nearly a thousand years. Although the Jewish community has always been small in numbers, it is established and has generally been well-accepted into Irish life. Jews in Ireland have historically enjoyed a relative tolerance that was absent elsewhere in Europe. The earliest reference to the Jews in Ireland was in the year 1079, the Annals of Inisfallen record Five Jews came from over sea with gifts to Toirdelbach, and they were sent back again over sea. They were probably merchants from Normandy, Toirdelbach was the grandson of Brian Boru, a previous High King of Ireland. No further reference is found nearly a century later in the reign of Henry II of England. That monarch, fearful lest an independent kingdom should be established in Ireland, strongbow, however, went in defiance of the kings orders and, as a result, his estates were confiscated. This grant contains the instruction that all Jews in Ireland shall be intentive. The Jews of this period probably resided in or near Dublin, in the Dublin White Book of 1241, there is a grant of land containing various prohibitions against its sale or disposition by the grantee. Part of the prohibition reads vel in Judaismo ponere, the last mention of Jews in the Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland appears about 1286. As the next paragraph illustrates, Jews were certainly living in Ireland long before Oliver Cromwell revoked the English Edict of Expulsion nearly 400 years later, a permanent settlement of Jews was definitely established in the late fifteenth century. Following their expulsion from Portugal in 1497, some of these Sephardic Jews settled on Irelands south coast, one of them, William Annyas, was elected mayor of Youghal, County Cork, in 1555. Francis Annyas, was a three-time Mayor of Youghal in 1569,1576 and 1581, Irelands first synagogue was founded in 1660 near Dublin Castle. A plot of land was acquired in 1718 as a ground, called Ballybough Cemetery. It is situated in the Fairview district of Dublin, where there was a small Jewish colony, in December 1714, the Irish philosopher John Toland issued a pamphlet entitled Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews in Great Britain and Ireland. In 1746 a bill was introduced in the Irish House of Commons for naturalising persons professing the Jewish religion in Ireland and this was the first reference to Jews in the House of Commons up to this time. Another was introduced in the year, agreed to without amendment and presented to the Lord Lieutenant to be transmitted to England. These Irish bills, however, had one important result, namely, the formation of the Committee of Diligence
History of the Jews in Ireland
–
The former Jewish school in Bloomfield Avenue, Portobello, Dublin.
History of the Jews in Ireland
–
Jewish wedding at the Waterford Courthouse, early September 1901.
History of the Jews in Ireland
–
Grave of an unknown Jew in
Castletroy, Limerick
27.
Moses Montefiore
–
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, FRS was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Moses Montefiore was born in Leghorn, Tuscany, in 1784 and his grandfather, Moses Vita Montefiore, had emigrated from Livorno to London in the 1740s, but retained close contact with the town, then famous for its straw bonnets. The family returned to Kennington in London, where Montefiore went to school and began his career as an apprentice to a firm of grocers and he then entered a counting house in the City of London, and ultimately became one of the twelve Jew brokers licensed by the city. His brother Abraham joined him in the business, and their firm gained a high reputation, in 1812, Moses Montefiore married Judith Cohen, daughter of Levy Barent Cohen. Her sister, Henriette, married Nathan Mayer Rothschild, for whom Montefiores firm acted as stockbrokers, Nathan Rothschild headed the familys banking business in Britain, and the two brothers-in-law became business partners. Montefiore retired from his business in 1824, and used his time and fortune for communal and civic responsibilities. In 1836 he became a governor of Christs Hospital, the Bluecoat school, after assisting in the case of a man who had appealed to Montefiore to help his soon-to-be-widowed wife. Physically imposing at 6 ft 3 in, he was elected Sheriff of London in 1837 and he was also knighted that same year by Queen Victoria and received a baronetcy in 1846 in recognition of his services to humanitarian causes on behalf of the Jewish people. Though somewhat lax in religious observance in his life, after his first visit to the Holy Land in 1827. He was in the habit of traveling with a personal shohet, following this shift he exerted a strong influence in limiting the growth of the Reform Jewish movement in England of the time. In 1831, Montefiore purchased an estate with twenty-four acres on the East Cliff of the then fashionable seaside town of Ramsgate. The property had previously been a house of Queen Caroline. It had then been owned by the Marquess Wellesley, a brother of the Duke of Wellington, soon afterwards, Montefiore purchased the adjoining land and commissioned his cousin, architect David Mocatta, to design a private synagogue, known as the Montefiore Synagogue. It opened with a public ceremony in 1833. Montefiore died in 1885, at age 100 and he had no known children and his principal heir in both name and property was a nephew, Joseph Sebag Montefiore. After retiring from business in 1824, Montefiore devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy and he was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1835 to 1874, a period of 39 years, the longest tenure ever, and member of Bevis Marks Synagogue. As president, his correspondence with the British consul in Damascus Charles Henry Churchill in 1841–42 is seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism. In business, he was an innovator, investing in the supply of piped gas for lighting to European cities via the Imperial Continental Gas Association
Moses Montefiore
–
Sir Moses Montefiore in middle age
Moses Montefiore
–
Montefiore synagogue and tomb of Montefiore in Ramsgate, England
Moses Montefiore
–
Sir Moses H. Montefiore
Moses Montefiore
–
Montefiore on his 100th birthday
28.
Damascus Affair
–
The Damascus affair of 1840 refers to the arrest of thirteen notable members of the Jewish community of Damascus who were accused of murdering a Christian monk for ritual purposes. The anti-semitic blood libel resulted in the accused being imprisoned and tortured by the Ottoman authorities, the affair drew widespread international attention which resulted in negotiations conducted in Alexandria from August 4 till August 28. Under Ottoman Islamic rule, Christians and Jews were considered dhimmis—a class of non-Muslims possessing some limited rights under Muslim rule—and were allowed to practice their religious precepts. In return, they had to pay a tax, or jizya, in 1831-32, Syria came under the rule of the Egyptians under Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali was said to have ruled at the sufferance of the European powers, led by France, and under his rule and this aroused a grudge among the Muslim majority toward its non-Muslim population. In the economic struggle between the Jews and the Christians, each side needed the backing and support of the Muslim majority, the Christians in Damascus complained about their cruel treatment by the Muslim judges. These priests reportedly brought the previously European blood libel myth with them, on February 5,1840, Father Thomas, a French citizen originally from Sardinia, and the superior of a Franciscan convent at Damascus, disappeared along with his servant. Their teeth and beards were pulled out, they were burned, lañado, a feeble old man, died under this treatment. Moses Abulafia became a Muslim in order to escape the torture, in spite of the stoic courage displayed by the sufferers, Sherif Pasha and Ratti-Menton agreed to the trumped up charges. While Ratti-Menton published libels against the Jews in French and in Arabic, Sherif Pasha wrote to his master, Muhammad Ali, in the meantime the populace fell upon the synagogue in the suburb of Jobar, pillaged it, and destroyed the scrolls of the Law. While occasional outbreaks of violence erupted during this time, far more serious outbreaks of violence occurred between Muslims and Christians and Christians and Druze. In 1840, G. W. Pieritz also exposed the matter in the Times to public indignation, negotiations in Alexandria continued from August 4 to August 28 and secured the unconditional release and recognition of innocence of the nine prisoners still remaining alive. Later in Constantinople, Montefiore persuaded Sultan Abdülmecid I to issue a firman intended to halt the spread of blood libel accusations in the Ottoman Empire. In a new and groundbreaking effort, the American Jewish community of 15,000 protested in six American cities on behalf of their Syrian brethren, for the first time in American Jewish life, Jews. Organized themselves politically to help Diaspora Jewry in distress, the United States consul in Egypt expressed the protest. The incident and its repercussions were considerable, according to Johannes Valentin Schwarz, the events also encouraged the growth of the modern Jewish press. As a result, a sense of solidarity was evoked among the Jewish communities of Europe they had never experienced before, one major repercussion of the 1840 Damascus Affair was the introduction in the Middle East of the French education system later integrated into Alliance Israélite Universelle. Accusations of the affair were published in the Egyptian daily Al Akhbar in 2000, in 2002, the Middle East Media Research Institute reported that some of the 1840 accusations emerged in a 1983 book The Damascus Blood Libel by the Syrian Minister of Defense, Mustafa Tlass
Damascus Affair
–
The
Rhodes blood libel and the Damascus affair, reported together in The Times, Apr 18, 1840
29.
Mortara Affair
–
The Mortara case was an Italian cause célèbre that captured the attention of much of Europe and North America in the 1850s and 1860s. Mortara grew up as a Catholic under the protection of Pope Pius IX—who refused his parents desperate pleas for his return—and eventually became a priest, the domestic and international outrage against the pontifical states actions may have contributed to its downfall amid the unification of Italy. Police came to the Mortara home late on 23 June 1858, international protests mounted, but the Pope would not be moved. After pontifical rule in Bologna ended in 1859, Father Feletti was prosecuted for his role in Mortaras seizure, with the Pope as a substitute father, Mortara trained for the priesthood in Rome until the Kingdom of Italy captured the city in 1870, ending the Papal States. Leaving the country, he was ordained in France three years later at the age of 21, Father Mortara spent most of his life outside Italy and died in Belgium in 1940, aged 88. For many, the Vaticans actions encapsulated all that was wrong with the Papal States and exposed pontifical rule as an anachronism. Several historians highlight the affair as one of the most significant events of Pius IXs papacy, the case notably altered the policy of the French Emperor Napoleon III, who shifted from opposing the movement for Italian unification to actively supporting it. For more than a millennium, starting around 754, the Papal States were territories in Italy under the sovereign rule of the Pope. The Catholic Churchs control over Rome and a swathe of central Italy was generally seen as a manifestation of the Popes secular temporal power. The French occupation during the 1790s had led the Popes popularity and spiritual authority to greatly increase, the historian David Kertzer suggests that by the 1850s what had once appeared so solid—a product of the divine order of things—now seemed terribly fragile. When the revolutions of 1848 broke out, however, he refused to support a campaign against the Austrian Empire. Rome was thereafter guarded by French troops while Austrians garrisoned the rest of the Papal States, Pope Pius shared the traditional pontifical view that the Papal States were essential to his independence as head of the Catholic Church. He regained some of his popularity during the 1850s, but the drive for Italian unification spearheaded by the Kingdom of Sardinia continued to unsettle him and he had also torn down the gates of the Roman Ghetto despite the objections of many Christians. However, Jews remained under many restrictions and the vast majority lived in the ghetto. The family had moved in 1850 from the Duchy of Modena, Bolognas Jewish population of about 900 had been expelled in 1593 by Pope Clement VIII. Some Jews, mostly merchants like Edgardos father, had started to settle in Bologna again during the 1790s, the Jews of Bologna practised Judaism discreetly, with neither a rabbi nor a synagogue. In practice Church authorities turned an eye, and almost every Jewish family in Bologna employed at least one Catholic woman. A few months after Edgardos birth, the Mortara family engaged a new servant, Anna Nina Morisi, like all her family and friends, Morisi was illiterate
Mortara Affair
–
Edgardo Mortara (right) with his mother and possibly one of his brothers, c. 1880
Mortara Affair
–
The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, painting by
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, 1862
30.
Jacob Sassoon
–
Two Sassoon baronetcies, both now extinct, were created in 1890 and 1909 respectively, for members of the Anglo-Indo-Iraqi and Indo-Iraqi branches of the Sassoon family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. The Sassoon baronetcy, of Kensington Gore, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 22 March 1890 for the Anglo-Iraqi businessman Albert Sassoon, whose family hailed from Baghdad. The second baronet Sir Edward Sassoon represented Hythe as a Liberal Unionist Party Member of Parliament from May 1899 to his death in 1912 and he was appointed Privy Councillor in 1929. On his death in 1939 the baronetcy became extinct, the Sassoon baronetcy, of Bombay, was created 9 February 1909 for Sir Alberts nephew Jacob Elias Sassoon. He had no children, so a special remainder enabled his younger brother to inherit, the third baronet was also childless, and the title died out with him in 1961. Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet, father of Sir Edward Albert Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, father of Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon, sasson was the elder son of Elias David Sassoon. He had no children and was succeeded under a special remainder in the patent by his younger brother Edward. He also built the Knesset Eliyahoo in Mumbai, Ohel Leah in Hong Kong, Sir Edward Elias Sassoon, 2nd Baronet. Sassoon was the son of Elias David Sassoon and succeeded in the baronetcy on the death of his brother. Sassoon was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Victor, Sassoon family Leigh Rayments list of baronets Article on the second branch of the family – the Chinese Sassoons
Jacob Sassoon
–
Illustration of Albert Sassoon from
Vanity Fair, 16 August 1879
31.
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
–
The Ohel Rachel Synagogue is a Sephardi synagogue in Shanghai, China. Built by Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon in memory of his wife Rachel, it was completed in 1920, Ohel Rachel is the largest synagogue in the Far East, and one of the only two still standing in Shanghai. It was reopened for some Jewish holidays from 1999 and briefly held more regular Shabbat services as part of the 2010 Shanghai Expo. The Ohel Rachel Synagogue was constructed by Sirs Jacob Elias and Edward Elias Sassoon of the wealthy Sassoon family of Baghdadi-Jewish origin, who built many of Shanghais historic structures. It replaced its predecessor, the Beth El Synagogue, which was established in 1887 and it was built on Seymour Road, in the western section of the Shanghai International Settlement. The building was opened in March 1920 and consecrated by the recently arrived Rabbi W. Hirsch, the synagogue was named after Jacob Sassoons late wife, Rachel, but, as he also died shortly before its dedication, it was dedicated to the couple together. It was also known as the Seymour Synagogue from its former address. Ohel Rachel was the first purpose-built synagogue in Shanghai, Ohel Rachels cavernous sanctuary, overlooked by a second floor with wide balconies, has a capacity of 700 people. Its walk-in ark, which held 30 Torah scrolls, was flanked by marble pillars, the facility also included a library, ritual bath, and playground. Ohel Rachel is the largest synagogue in the Far East and is described as second to none in the East, the Jewish Club Ahduth opened in the Ohel Rachel compound in 1921. It held both Sephardi and Ashkenazi social events, though the former tended to dominate, the Shanghai Jewish School also moved in 1932 from Dixwell Road in Hongkou to a building adjacent to Ohel Rachel. The school served both Ashkenazi and Sephardi students, during the Second World War, the foreign concessions—including the area around Ohel Rachel—continued under international control even after the Japanese victory in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, however, the act cut off American funds to the citys Jewish community, swollen with thousands of recent refugees from Europe. The Japanese imposed restrictions on the Jews of Shanghai and, in 1943, required most of them to move to the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees and this was located in Hongkou, well away from Ohel Rachel, which was converted into a stable. The Communist Party of China took Shanghai near the close of the Chinese Civil War and they permitted Shanghais Jewish community to continue using Ohel Rachel until 1952, when the property was seized and stripped of its furnishings. It was then included in the compound for the Shanghai Education Commission, almost all of the citys Jews had emigrated by 1956. During the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, the building was used as a warehouse and suffered damage, with its windows. One of them, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, extracted a promise from Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi to protect Ohel Rachel, restore it, the Municipality of Shanghai allocated $60 000 to restore the synagogue under the direction of its former caretaker Aha Toeug
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
–
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
–
A wedding ceremony held at the Ohel Rachel in January 1951
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
–
Hillary Clinton (in white) and
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (in black, at right) touring Ohel Rachel in July 1998
Ohel Rachel Synagogue
–
Ohel Rachel Synagogue in 2013
32.
History of the Jews in China
–
Jews and Judaism in China have had a long history. Jewish settlers are documented in China as early as the 7th or 8th century CE, relatively isolated communities developed through the Tang and Song Dynasties all the way through the Qing Dynasty, most notably in the Kaifeng Jews. By the time of the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, few if any native Chinese Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, some international Jewish groups have helped Chinese Jews rediscover their heritage, in the first half of the 20th century, thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from the 1917 Russian Revolution arrived in China. By the 9th century, ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels of Jewish merchants called Radhanites, Jacob of Ancona, the supposed author of a book of travels, was a scholarly Jewish merchant who wrote in vernacular Italian, and reached China in 1271, although some authors question it. During the period of opening and quasi-colonialism, the first group to settle in China were Jews who arrived in China under British protection following the First Opium War. Many of these Jews were of Indian or Iraqi origin, due to British colonialism in these regions, the second community came in the first decades of the 20th century when many Jews arrived in Hong Kong and Shanghai during those cities periods of economic expansion. Many more arrived as refugees from the Russian Revolution of 1917, a surge of Jews and Jewish families was to arrive in the late 1930s and 1940s, for the purpose of seeking refuge from the Holocaust in Europe and were predominantly of European origin. Shanghai was notable for its volume of Jewish refugees, most of whom left after the war, over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese population and is not recognized by the Chinese government as a separate ethnic minority. This is as a result of having maintained already-Jewish and adopted many Han Chinese customs including patrilineal descent, since their religious practices are considered to be functionally extinct, they are not eligible for expedited immigration to Israel under the Law of Return unless they explicitly convert. Today, some descendants of the Jews still live in the Han Chinese, some of them, as well as international Jewish communities, are beginning to revive their interest in this heritage. The study of Judaism in China has been, like other Abrahamic religions, a subject of interest to some Westerners, traces of some ancient Jewish rituals have been observed in some places. There is a tradition that the first Jews immigrated to China through Persia following the Roman Emperor Tituss capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE. A large number of Jews emigrated from Persia during the reign of Emperor Ming of Han, writing in 1900, Father Joseph Brucker hypothesized that Jews came to China from India by a sea route during the Song dynasty between 960 and 1126. Three steles with inscriptions found at Kaifeng bear some historical suggestions, the second table, dated 1512 details the Jews religious practices. The third is dated 1663 and commemorates the re-rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and it was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a greater number of Jews in Hangzhou. This could be taken to suggest that loyal Jews fled south along with the soon-to-be crowned Emperor Gaozong to Hangzhou, in fact, the 1489 stele mentions how the Jews abandoned Bianliang after the Jingkang Incident. Many Jewish communities were established in China in the Middle Ages, however, not all left evidence of their existence
History of the Jews in China
–
History of China
History of the Jews in China
–
Jews of Kaifeng, late 19th or early 20th century
History of the Jews in China
–
Section of the 1512 stele which mentions Yue's famous tattoo.
History of the Jews in China
–
Bird's eye view of the
synagogue of Kaifeng.
33.
Far East
–
The Far East is an alternate geographical term in English, that usually refers to East Asia, the Russian Far East, and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons, since the 1960s, East Asia has become the most common term for the region in international mass media outlets. Far East is often deprecated as archaic and Eurocentric, along with the terms Near East and Middle East. The term Far East came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 12th century, for the same reason, Chinese people in the 19th and early 20th centuries called Western countries Tàixī —i. e. anything further west than the Arab world. Prior to the era, Far East referred to anything further east than the Middle East. In the 16th century, King John III of Portugal called India a rich, the term was popularized during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India. Many European languages have terms, such as the French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Polish, Norwegian. Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as separation, the Far East is not just geographically distant. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of Australia and New Zealand and this combination of cultural and geographic subjectivity was well illustrated in 1939 by Robert Menzies, a Prime Minister of Australia. Reflecting on his countrys geopolitical concerns with the onset of war, Menzies commented that, what Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the Near North. Far East in its sense is comparable to terms such as the Orient, which means East. Southeast Asia, the Russian Far East, and occasionally the Indian Subcontinent might be included in the Far East to some extent, for the people who live in that part of the world, however, it is neither East nor West and certainly not Far. A more generally acceptable term for the area is East Asia, furthermore, the United Kingdom and United States have historically used Far East for several military units and commands in the region, British Far East Command RAF Far East Air Force U. S. Far East Air Force The U. S. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations, Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western
Far East
–
Location of the Far East, geographically defined
34.
Haham
–
Hakham is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man, it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. The word is used to designate a cultured and learned person, He who says a wise thing is called a hakham. Hence in Talmudic-Midrashic literature wise and learned gentiles are commonly called hakme ummot ha-olam wise men of the nations of the world, in Sephardic usage it is a synonym for rabbi. Another hakham mentioned by name was Simon, the son of Judah the Prince, who after the death of his father officiated as hakham with his elder brother, just what were the functions of the hakham is not clear. Rapoports suggestion that he was the arbiter in matters of ritual prohibition and permission is highly improbable, the origin of the office of hakham is as doubtful as its duration. Frankel thinks that Joshua ben Hananiah, who lived in the beginning of the second century C. E. was the first hakham, the office seems to have existed in Palestine as long as the academy of the nasi. Here hakham was merely the term for a Jewish scholar who studied chiefly oral traditions, while the terms sofer and qara were applied to Bible scholars. The Syrian Aphrahat, who had met only Babylonian Jews, mentions a man who is called the hakkima of the Jews, but this too may mean the wise man of the Jews. The plural, hakhamim, is used in the Talmud. Among Sephardi Jews, hakham is the title of the local rabbi. Shlomo ben Aderet addresses some of his responsa to people with lehakham Rabbi, but it is possible that lehakham simply means to the wise. The surname Hacham is found among both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews, including such as Hachami, Hachamovich, Hachamson. In the Muslim world, a rabbi was often called a ḥākhām because al-Rab is one of the names of God in Islam, thus the Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire was called the Hakham Bashi. The term is cognate to the Arabic words حاكم ḥākim and حكيم ḥakīm, in Karaite Judaism, spiritual leaders are called hakham to distinguish them from their Rabbinic counterparts. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Solomon Schechter. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 345-349 idem, Darkhe ha-Mishnah, p.154, and Supplement, pp.7,8 Halévy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, ii.20 Rapoport, Erekh Millin, p.2
Haham
–
The Hakham of
Moinești (Hahamul din Moineşti),
Ştefan Luchian, 1909.
35.
Moses Gaster
–
Moses Gaster was a Romanian, later British scholar, the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation, London, and a Hebrew and Romanian linguist. Moses Gaster was an active Zionist in Romania as well as in England and he was the father of Jack and Theodor Gaster and the grandfather of Marghanita Laski. He was also son-in-law to Michael Friedländer and father-in-law to Neville Laski, Gaster was born in Bucharest into a renowned Jewish Austrian family which had settled in Wallachia at the beginning of the 19th century. He was the eldest son of Chevalier Abraham Emanuel Gaster, who was the consul of the Netherlands in Bucharest and the grandson of Asriel Gaster and his mother, Phina Judith Rubinstein, came from a rabbinical dynasty which included Rabbi Levi Isaac ben Meir. His history of Romanian popular literature was published in Bucharest in 1883 and he was lecturer on the Romanian language and literature at the University of Bucharest, inspector-general of schools, and a member of the council for examining teachers in Romania. He also lectured on the Romanian apocrypha, the whole of which he had discovered in manuscript. In 1895, at the request of the Romanian government, he wrote a report on the British system of education, in 1887 Gaster was appointed hakham of the Sephardic or Spanish and Portuguese Congregation in London, in which capacity he presided over the bicentenary of Bevis Marks Synagogue. He was invited to give the Ilchester Lectures at Oxford which were published in 1887 as Ilchester Lectures on Greeko-Slavonic literature, appointed as principal of Judith Lady Montefiore College, Ramsgate, from 1891 to 1896, he wrote valuable collection of essays accompanying the yearly reports of that institution. He was a member of the councils of the Folklore, Biblical, Archaeological, Gaster made a special study of the Samaritans and became a recognised authority on their language and literature. He visited Nablus in Palestine, the headquarters of the Samaritan community, where he could not secure the originals he had copies made for him by Samaritan priests. Gaster was among the most active leaders of the Zionist movement in England, rising in worldwide Jewish affairs he became vice-president of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, and was a prominent figure in each succeeding congress. Gasters residence, Mizpah 193 Maida Vale in London served as the venue for talks between prominent Zionists and the Foreign Office in 1917. The first draft of the Balfour Declaration was written at the Gaster home on 7 February 1917 in the presence of Chaim Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, Baron Rothschild, Sir Mark Sykes, other visitors to the Gaster home included Churchill, Lenin and Sigmund Freud. He was a collector of manuscripts, having over two thousand, mainly Hebrew, Samaritan and Slavonic. At the outbreak of the second World War his collection was moved for safekeeping to cellars in the centre of London, however, water used to quench London fires saturated a large part of the collection, which made some of the items illegible in whole or in part. Fortunately many of them had previously been transliterated into Hebrew typescript, in 1954 the collection was purchased by the John Rylands Library, where it remains. The Rylands Cairo Genizah Project has been in progress for a number of years on the identification of fragments and digitisation of images of the texts. The Gaster Collection, a number of mainly Karaite and Yemenite manuscripts were purchased from the library of Dr. Moses Gaster in 1927, and are currently housed at the British Library
Moses Gaster
–
Moses Gaster in 1904
36.
Daniel Mendoza
–
Daniel Mendoza was an English prizefighter, who was boxing champion of England in 1792–1795. According to the Ring Boxing Record Book, Mendoza was undefeated in 27 straight fights prior to 1788, bare-knuckle fights ended when an opponent was knocked out or unable to continue or by foul or a draw. Dates and exact locations are unknown, except that all fights were in England, before Mendoza, boxers generally stood still and merely swapped punches. Mendozas style consisted of more than simply battering opponents, his style included much defensive movement. He developed a new style of boxing, incorporating defensive strategies, such as what he called side-stepping, moving around, ducking, blocking. At the time, this was revolutionary, and Mendoza was able to much heavier opponents as a result of this new style. In 1789 he opened his own boxing academy and published the book The Art of Boxing on modern scientific style boxing which every subsequent boxer learned from, Mendoza helped transform the popular English stereotype of a Jew from a weak, defenceless person into someone deserving of respect. He is said to have been the first Jew to talk to the King, Mendoza was second for Tom Molineaux, a freed Virginia slave, in his fights. Daniel Mendoza’s first fight occurred in 1780 when he was aged 16, Mendoza was working for a tea dealer in Aldgate. The fight was not a fight for a purse but a contest to settle a dispute with a porter over his remuneration for a consignment of tea. Mendoza stated that the porter, rather than charging his regular fee, behaved in an unfit for a gentleman. After much arguing between the proprietor of the tea dealership and the porter, the porter suggested that they should settle the dispute in a duel with fists, Mendoza believing that the porter was bullying his employer accepted the challenge on his employer’s behalf. The duel took place in the street outside the tea dealership in a hastily constructed ring, the fight lasted for forty five minutes ending when the porter declared that he was unable to continue. His early boxing career was defined by three bouts with his former mentor Richard Humphries between 1788 and 1790, the first of these was lost because Humphries’ second blocked a blow. The third bout set history in another way and it was the first time spectators were charged an entry-payment to a sporting event. The fights were hyped by a series of letters in the press between Humphries and Mendoza. Mendozas memoirs report that he got involved in three fights whilst on his way to watch a boxing match, the reasons were, someones cart cut in, he felt a shopkeeper was trying to cheat him, he did not like how a man was looking at him. In 1795 Mendoza fought Gentleman John Jackson for the championship at Hornchurch in Essex, Jackson was five years younger,4 inches taller, and 42 pounds
Daniel Mendoza
–
Daniel Mendoza
Daniel Mendoza
–
This article needs additional citations for
verification. Please help improve this article by
adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2013)
37.
Benjamin Disraeli
–
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS was a British politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies. Disraeli is remembered for his voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone. He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and he is the only British Prime Minister of Jewish birth. Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury, then part of Middlesex and his father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue, young Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837, in 1846 the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain. Disraeli clashed with Peel in the Commons, Disraeli became a major figure in the party. When Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s and he also forged a bitter rivalry with Gladstone of the Liberal Party. Upon Derbys retirement in 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister briefly before losing that years election and he returned to opposition, before leading the party to a majority in the 1874 election. He maintained a friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 created him Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraelis second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire, Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company. This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europes leading statesmen, World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support and he angered British farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a speaking campaign, his Liberals bested Disraelis Conservatives in the 1880 election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in opposition and he had throughout his career written novels, beginning in 1826, and he published his last completed novel, Endymion, shortly before he died at the age of 76. Disraeli was born on 21 December 1804 at 6 Kings Road, Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, London, the child and eldest son of Isaac DIsraeli, a literary critic and historian. The family was of Sephardic Jewish Italian mercantile background, All Disraelis grandparents and great grandparents were born in Italy, Isaacs father, Benjamin, moved to England from Venice in 1748. Disraelis siblings were Sarah, Naphtali, Ralph, and James and he was close to his sister, and on affectionate but more distant terms with his surviving brothers
Benjamin Disraeli
–
Disraeli, photographed by Cornelius Jabez Hughes in 1878
Benjamin Disraeli
–
Disraeli as a young man—a retrospective portrayal painted in 1852
Benjamin Disraeli
–
John Murray and
J G Lockhart
Benjamin Disraeli
38.
West London Synagogue
–
The West London Synagogue of British Jews, abbreviated WLS, is a Reform synagogue and congregation near Marble Arch in London. It was established on 15 April 1840, the current synagogue building in Upper Berkeley Street, dedicated in 1870, is Grade II listed. It is the oldest house of prayer affiliated with the Movement for Reform Judaism and is one of the oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom, the Mocattas and Goldsmids were quarrelling with the wardens and complaining over lack of decorum for years. The new prayer group, convening in Burton Street, hired Reverend David Woolf Marks in March 1841, Marks and the congregation adopted a unique, bibliocentric approach often termed neo-Karaism by their critics, largely rejecting the authority of the Oral Torah. They abolished the day of festivals and excised various prayers grounded in rabbinic tradition. It was only after almost a century that the congregation adopted mainstream Reform Judaism, on 27 January 1842, the West London Synagogue of British Jews was consecrated in its first permanent building, at Burton Street Chapel. By 1848, it had become too crowded for the congregation, a new location was found, in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, at a cost of £5,000. It was dedicated on 25 January 1849, in 1867, a new location was required again. Eventually, the current synagogue building in Upper Berkeley Street was opened on 22 September 1870 and it cost £20,000 and had capacity for 1,000 congregants at the time. With Marks retirement in 1895, he was replaced by Rabbi Morris Joseph, who abandoned his predecessors philosophy and he brought West London closer to mainland Reform, excising petitions for the restoration of sacrifices in Jerusalem though virtually nothing else. During the 1920s, mixed seating was introduced, in 1929, the synagogue appointed Hebrew Union College graduate Rabbi Harold F. Reinhart, who brought it into the World Union for Progressive Judaism. In 1942, West London Synagogue was a member of the Associated British Synagogues. Rabbi Werner van der Zyl served as Senior Rabbi from 1958 to 1968, Rabbi Hugo Gryn succeeded van der Zyl in 1968, until his death in 1996. Mark Winer then served as Senior Rabbi for 12 years, retiring in September 2010, Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger became Senior Rabbi in 2011. The current rabbinic team also includes Rabbi Helen Freeman, Rabbi David Mitchell, Rabbi Neil Janes, the current wardens are, David Chapman & Orlando Ortega-Medina, Paul Jaffa & Michelle Ross, and Stewart Sether & Gillian Westwood. The synagogues archives, from 1841 to 1942, are held in the University of Southampton Libraries Special Collections, services at West London Synagogue follow the prayer books of the Movement for Reform Judaism, which incorporate material from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions. A choir and organ, located behind a screen to the rear of the dais, accompany the congregation in all parts of the service except for the aleinu. Men and women sit together during services, and also play equal parts in leading them, male worshippers are required to wear a kippah, females can wear one if they wish to do so
West London Synagogue
–
The synagogue, shown from the junction of Hampden Gurney Street and Upper Berkeley Street
39.
Bayswater
–
Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in central London. It is a district located 2.5 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Kensington Gardens. Bayswater is one of Londons most cosmopolitan areas, a local population is augmented by a high concentration of hotels. There is also a significant Arab community present here, the area has attractive streets and garden squares lined with Victorian stucco terraces, mostly now subdivided into flats and boarding houses. The property ranges from very expensive apartments to small studio flats, Queensway and Westbourne Grove are its busiest main streets, both having many ethnic-cuisine restaurants. In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter are described to be the occupation of Alexander Bond, of Bears Watering, after their divorce in 1975 Catherine married jazzman Chris Barber. Trudie Styler, now his wife, lived in a basement flat two doors down, luigi Sturzo Catholic priest and politician. One of the fathers of Christian democracy and a founder of the Italian Peoples Party John Tenniel, artist and cartoonist, was born at 22 Gloucester Place, New Road, Bayswater on 28 February 1820. The Bayswater area elects a total of six councillors to Westminster City Council, currently, all six are of the Conservative Party, with the Bayswater Ward showing a more than 250-vote Conservative majority and Lancaster Gate being a safe Conservative ward. Paddington Notting Hill St Johns Wood Knightsbridge Little Venice Kensington The nearest London Underground stations are Bayswater, Queensway, Paddington, Royal Oak, in le Carrés Smileys People, the retired Russian major lives in a dingy flat on Westbourne Grove. Many of the characters in Samuel Selvons novel The Lonely Londoners live in Bayswater, the Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy was filmed in the area. In Martin Amiss Success, the two characters live together in a flat in Bayswater, which he calls the district of transients. In Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell indicates that the perambulator was found standing by itself in a corner of Bayswater. In Sakis short story Cross Currents, Vanessa Pennington lives on a Bayswater back street, in Evelyn Waughs novel Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryders father lives in Bayswater. Whiteleys is frequently seen in film, e. g. Love Actually, Closer and it also has Princess Productions studios on the top floor. Scenes in Alfie were filmed around Chepstow Road, the main character in Iris Murdochs novel A Word Child, Hilary Burde, has a flatlet near Bayswater Tube Station. Scenes in The Black Windmill refer to, and were filmed around, in the Italian comics series Dylan Dog the main character lives in Craven Road. Nick Jenkins meets Uncle Giles for tea at the Ufford Hotel, riding at anchor on the sluggish Bayswater tide, in The Acceptance World, the Poisonous Seed a novel by Linda Stratmann is set almost entirely in Victorian Bayswater
Bayswater
–
Bayswater from a
Hallfield Estate tower block rooftop, looking south towards
Kensington Gardens.
Bayswater
–
Bayswater station
Bayswater
–
Districts
40.
Maida Vale
–
Maida Vale is an affluent residential district comprising the northern part of Paddington in west London, west of St Johns Wood and south of Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster, the name derives from the Hero of Maida inn which used to be on Edgware Road near the Regents Canal. The pub was named after General Sir John Stuart who was made Count of Maida by King Ferdinand IV of Naples, the area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, with many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats. It is home to the BBC Maida Vale Studios and it makes up most of the W9 postal district. The southern part of Maida Vale at the junction of Paddington Basin with Regents Canal, parts of Maida Vale were also included within this. Just to the east of Maida Vale is St Johns Wood, the actor Alec Guinness was born in this road. The first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, lived within sight of this synagogue on Warrington Crescent, the pioneer of modern computing, Alan Turing, was born at what is now the Colonnade Hotel in Warrington Crescent. Maida Vale tube station was opened on 6 June 1915, on the Bakerloo line, Maida Vale is home to some of BBC network radios recording and broadcast studios. The building on Delaware Road is one of the BBCs earliest premises, pre-dating Broadcasting House, the building houses a total of seven music and radio drama studios, and most famously was home to John Peels BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Little Venice is a recent name for parts of Maida Vale. It consists of the surrounding the Little Venice Lagoon and its canals. It is known for and defined by its Regency style white stucco buildings and its canals, according to one story, the poet Robert Browning, who lived in the area from 1862 to 1887, coined the name. However, this was disputed by Lord Kinross in 1966 and by London Canals, both assert that Lord Byron humorously coined the name, which now applies more loosely to a longer reach of the canal system. Brownings Pool is named after the poet, and is the junction of Regents Canal, a regular waterbus service operates from Little Venice eastwards around Regents Park, calling at London Zoo and on towards Camden Town. Since 1983, the Inland Waterways Association has hosted the Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice, Maida Vale is noted for its wide tree-lined avenues, large communal gardens and red-brick mansion blocks from the late Victoria and Edwardian eras. The first mansion blocks were completed in 1897, with the arrival of the identically-designed Lauderdale Mansions South, Lauderdale Mansions West, among the buildings of architectural interest was the Carlton Tavern, a pub which stood on Carlton Vale. Built in 1920–21 for Charrington Brewery, it was thought to be the work of the architect Frank J Potter and was noted for its unaltered 1920s interiors and faience tiled exterior. The building was being considered by Historic England for Grade II listing when it was demolished in March 2015 by the property developer CLTX Ltd to make way for a new block of flats
Maida Vale
–
The
Grand Union Canal at Little Venice
Maida Vale
–
The canal junction at Little Venice
Maida Vale
–
The Carlton Tavern (1922), an example of 1920s architecture
Maida Vale
–
Districts
41.
Renaissance
–
The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
Renaissance
–
David, by
Michelangelo (
Accademia di Belle Arti,
Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.
Renaissance
–
Renaissance
Renaissance
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's
Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in
Vitruvius '
De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
Renaissance
–
Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (
Simonetta Vespucci) by
Sandro Botticelli
42.
Ark (synagogue)
–
The ark in a synagogue is generally a receptacle, or ornamental closet, which contains each synagogues Torah scrolls. Most arks feature a parokhet placed either outside the doors of the ark or inside the doors of the ark, the ark is known in Hebrew as the aron kodesh by the Ashkenazim and as the hekhál among most Sefardim. Aron Kodesh comes from Hebrew אָרוֹן קׄדֶש ʼārōn qōdeš, Holy Ark, similarly, Hekhál, also written hechal, echal or heichal — and sometimes also Echal Kodesh comes from Hebrew הֵיכָל ‘palace’, was used in the same time period to refer to the inner sanctuary. The hekhal contained the Menorah, Altar of Incense, and Table of the Showbread, the ark is often placed on the wall of the sanctuary which is facing Jerusalem, however it is sometimes placed on the north wall or another wall for architectural reasons. In those cases where the ark does not show the direction to Jerusalem, the Torah was brought into the synagogue for reading purposes. Ark of the Covenant Bimah Three hares Church tabernacle “Aron Kodesh” in Jewish Encyclopedia
Ark (synagogue)
–
Torah Ark of the
Szeged Synagogue
Ark (synagogue)
–
Bnei Brak,
Israel
Ark (synagogue)
–
Modena,
Italy (1505)
Ark (synagogue)
–
Beth Jakov synagogue in
Macedonia
43.
Torah
–
The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. It has a range of meanings and it can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the rabbinic commentaries. In rabbinic literature the word Torah denotes both the five books and the Oral Torah, the Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the presence of a congregation, reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life. The word Torah in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, the meaning of the word is therefore teaching, doctrine, or instruction, the commonly accepted law gives a wrong impression. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, the earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been The Torah of Moses. This title, however, is neither in the Torah itself. It appears in Joshua and Kings, but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus, in contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were The Book of Moses and The Book of the Torah, Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the Pentateuch, a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria, meaning five books, or as the Law. The Torah starts from the beginning of Gods creating the world, through the beginnings of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and it ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the teachings given explicitly or implicitly embedded in the narrative. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs, Joseph and the four matriarchs, God gives to the patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt due to a regional famine. They had heard there was a grain storage and distribution facility in Egypt. Exodus begins the story of Gods revelation to his people of Israel through Moses, Moses receives the Torah from God, and teaches His laws and Covenant to the people of Israel. It also talks about the first violation of the covenant when the Golden Calf was constructed, Exodus includes the instructions on building the Tabernacle and concludes with its actual construction. Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following Gods commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Numbers tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai, set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan, even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land
Torah
–
Sefer Torah at old
Glockengasse Synagogue (reconstruction),
Cologne
Torah
–
Silver Torah Case,
Ottoman Empire Museum of Jewish Art and History
Torah
–
Reading of the Torah
Torah
–
Tanakh (Judaism)
44.
Reredos
–
A reredos or raredos is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. A reredos can be made of stone, wood, metal, ivory, the images may be painted, carved, gilded, composed of mosaics, and/or embedded with niches for statues. Sometimes a tapestry is used, or other such as silk or velvet. The term reredos is sometimes confused with the term retable, while a reredos is generally placed on the floor behind an altar, a retable is placed either on the altar or immediately behind and attached to the altar. In French, a reredos is called a retable, in Catalan a retaule, in Spanish a retablo, reredos is derived through Middle English from the 14th century Anglo-Norman areredos, which in turn is from arere behind +dos back, from Latin dorsum. The term referred generally to a hearth of a fireplace or a screen placed behind a table. Used in the 14th and 15th centuries, reredos had become obsolete until revived in the 19th century. Many altars have both a reredos and a retable, but this distinction may not always be observed. The retable may have part of the reredos when an altar was moved away from the wall. For altars that are still against the wall, the retable often sits on top of the altar, at the back, the retable may hold flowers and candlesticks. The term may also be used for structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture
Reredos
–
An altar and reredos from
St. Josaphat Catholic Church in
Detroit,
Michigan. This would be called a
retable in many other languages and countries.
Reredos
–
Modern glass reredos,
Saint Matthew's Church ("the Glass Church"), Millbrook,
Jersey.
Reredos
–
This reredos in Holy Trinity Church, West Bromwich, was provided as part of the war memorials in thanksgiving for the safe return of those serving in the Great War, 1914 - 1919.
Reredos
–
This reredos is found under the altar in Ansgar Chapel, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC.
45.
Marble
–
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the marble to refer to metamorphosed limestone, however. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material and this stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning marble-like. In Hungarian it is called márvány, Marble is a rock resulting from metamorphism of sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite rock. Metamorphism causes variable recrystallization of the carbonate mineral grains. The resulting marble rock is composed of an interlocking mosaic of carbonate crystals. Primary sedimentary textures and structures of the carbonate rock have typically been modified or destroyed. Pure white marble is the result of metamorphism of a very pure limestone or dolomite protolith, green coloration is often due to serpentine resulting from originally magnesium-rich limestone or dolostone with silica impurities. These various impurities have been mobilized and recrystallized by the intense pressure, examples of historically notable marble varieties and locations, White marble has been prized for its use in sculptures since classical times. This preference has to do with its softness, which made it easier to carve, relative isotropy and homogeneity, construction marble is a stone which is composed of calcite, dolomite or serpentine which is capable of taking a polish. More generally in construction, specifically the dimension stone trade, the marble is used for any crystalline calcitic rock useful as building stone. For example, Tennessee marble is really a dense granular fossiliferous gray to pink to maroon Ordovician limestone that geologists call the Holston Formation. Ashgabat, the city of Turkmenistan, was recorded in the 2013 Guinness Book of Records as having the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings. According to the United States Geological Survey, U. S. domestic marble production in 2006 was 46,400 tons valued at about $18.1 million, compared to 72,300 tons valued at $18.9 million in 2005. Crushed marble production in 2006 was 11.8 million tons valued at $116 million, of which 6.5 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate and the rest was construction aggregate. For comparison,2005 crushed marble production was 7.76 million tons valued at $58.7 million, of which 4.8 million tons was finely ground calcium carbonate, U. S. dimension marble demand is about 1.3 million tons. The DSAN World Demand for Marble Index has shown a growth of 12% annually for the 2000–2006 period, the largest dimension marble application is tile. In 1998, marble production was dominated by 4 countries that accounted for almost half of production of marble
Marble
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Marble in Carrrara marble quarry, Italy
Marble
Marble
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The
Taj Mahal is entirely clad in marble.
Marble
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Carlo Franzoni's sculptural marble
chariot clock depicting
Clio, the Greek
muse of history.
46.
Oak
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An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks, the common name oak also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, the second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species. Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins in many species, also, the acorns contain tannic acid, as do the leaves, which helps to guard from fungi and insects. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring, in spring, a single oak tree produces both male flowers and small female flowers. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a structure known as a cupule, each acorn contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature. The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen, but are not actually a distinct group, the oak tree is a flowering plant. Oaks may be divided into two genera and a number of sections, The genus Quercus is divided into the following sections, Quercus, the white oaks of Europe, Asia and North America. Styles are short, acorns mature in 6 months and taste sweet or slightly bitter, the leaves mostly lack a bristle on their lobe tips, which are usually rounded. The type species is Quercus robur, Mesobalanus, Hungarian oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia. Styles long, acorns mature in about 6 months and taste bitter, the section Mesobalanus is closely related to section Quercus and sometimes included in it. Cerris, the Turkey oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia, styles long, acorn mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the shell is hairless. Its leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Protobalanus, the live oak and its relatives, in southwest United States. Styles short, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter, the inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. Leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Lobatae, the red oaks of North America, Central America, styles long, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter
Oak
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Oak
Oak
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Oak at Schönderling
Oak
–
A hybrid white oak, possibly
Quercus stellata ×
Q. muhlenbergii
Oak
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Heart of oak
beams of the frame of Saint-Girons church in
Monein, France
47.
Candelabrum
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A candelabrum /ˌkændəlˈɑːbrəm, -æbrəm/, sometimes called a candle tree, is a candle holder with multiple arms. In modern usage the plural form candelabra is frequently used in the singular sense, likewise, candelabra and candelabras are preferred over candelabrums as the plural form. In Judaism and the Philippine church Iglesia ni Cristo, the menorah is a kind of candelabrum. In the United States and Canada, the plural term candelabra is a nickname for radio masts, baltimores TV stations, WMAR-TV, WBAL-TV, and WJZ-TV in 1959 built the world’s first three-antenna candelabra tower,730 feet tall
Candelabrum
–
A candelabrum with three branches, empty of candles.
Candelabrum
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Candelabra used for state occasions at the Belgian court
Candelabrum
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Crystal candelabrum from Portieux
48.
Ner tamid
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A sanctuary lamp, chancel lamp, altar lamp, everlasting light, or eternal flame is a light that shines before the altar of sanctuaries in many Christian places of worship. Prescribed in Exodus 27, 20-21 of the Torah, this icon has taken on different meanings in each of the religions that have adopted it and it also symbolizes Gods eternal presence and is therefore never extinguished. It is also intended to draw parallels between God and fire, or light, which is emphasized throughout the book of Exodus in the Torah. These lights are never allowed to dim or go out, and in the case of electric problems, though once fueled by oil, most today are electric lights, including some that are solar-powered. The eternal light is central to one of many stories behind the celebration of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, when the ancient Maccabees rebelled and reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem, they rekindled the eternal light. However, there was only enough oil to keep the flame burning for one day, miraculously, according to the story as recounted in the Talmud, the flame continued to burn until the new oil arrived. Today, Jewish celebrations of Hanukkah include the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, Christian churches often have at least one lamp continually burning before the tabernacle, not only as an ornament of the altar, but for the purpose of worship. It is also found in the chancel of Lutheran and Methodist churches to indicate the presence of Christ in the sanctuary, the sanctuary lamp may also be seen in Eastern Orthodox Churches. Other Christian denominations burn the lamp to show that the light of Christ always burns in a sin-darkened world, with influence from Judaism in the Old Testament, God told Moses that a lamp filled with the pure oil should perpetually burn in the Tabernacle. This is the precedent for the Catholic Churchs custom of burning a candle before the tabernacle – the gold house where the Eucharistic Body of Christ is reserved under lock, in Jewish practice, this Altar lamp is known for its Hebrew name, ner tamid. Such sanctuary or tabernacle lamps are often coloured red, though this is not prescribed by law and this serves to distinguish this light from other votive lights within the church. In the Catholic Church, red is used despite the preference for white expressed by Fortescue. Martins church, Kortrijk, Belgium, in the article Church tabernacle, oil lamps or candles may be used. In the United States, the Boy Scout Jewish religious emblem, there is a song by Matisyahu called Aish Tamid that appears on his albums Shake off the Dust. Eternal flame Media related to Sanctuary lamps at Wikimedia Commons Catholic Encyclopedia Altar Lamp
Ner tamid
–
A ner tamid hanging over the
ark in a
synagogue
Ner tamid
–
Contemporary blown glass and bronze ner tamid (eternal flame) by artist
David Ascalon
Ner tamid
–
A sanctuary lamp in a Roman Catholic church
49.
Charles, Prince of Wales
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Charles, Prince of Wales is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Known alternatively in South West England as Duke of Cornwall and in Scotland as Duke of Rothesay, he is the heir apparent in British history. He is also the oldest person to be next in line to the throne since Sophia of Hanover, Charles was born at Buckingham Palace as the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. After earning a bachelor of degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer and they had two sons, Prince William later to become Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, in 1996, the couple divorced, following well-publicised extramarital affairs. Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year, in 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles has sought to raise awareness of the dangers facing the natural environment. As an environmentalist, he has received awards and recognition from environmental groups around the world. His support for alternative medicine, including homeopathy, has been criticised by some in the medical community and he has been outspoken on the role of architecture in society and the conservation of historic buildings. Subsequently, Charles created Poundbury, a new town based on his theories. He has authored a number of books, including A Vision of Britain, A Personal View of Architecture in 1989 and he was baptised in the palaces Music Room by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on 15 December 1948. When Prince Charles was aged three his mothers accession as Queen Elizabeth II made him her heir apparent. As the monarchs eldest son, he took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince. Charles attended his mothers coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, seated alongside his grandmother, as was customary for upper-class children at the time, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed and undertook his education between the ages of five and eight. Buckingham Palace announced in 1955 that Charles would attend school rather than have a private tutor, Charles then attended two of his fathers former schools, Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire, England, followed by Gordonstoun in the north-east of Scotland. He reportedly despised the school, which he described as Colditz in kilts. Upon his return to Gordonstoun, Charles emulated his father in becoming Head Boy and he left in 1967, with six GCE O-levels and two A-levels in history and French, at grades B and C, respectively. Tradition was broken again when Charles proceeded straight from school into university
Charles, Prince of Wales
–
The Prince of Wales in
Jersey, July 2012
Charles, Prince of Wales
–
Signature
Charles, Prince of Wales
–
Telegram announcing the birth of Prince Charles to the
Governor-General of New Zealand
Charles, Prince of Wales
–
Queen Elizabeth II formally invests the Prince of Wales with
his coronet, 1969
50.
Tony Blair
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Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
Tony Blair
–
Blair in January 2014
Tony Blair
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Blair addressing a crowd in
Armagh in 1998
Tony Blair
–
Tony Blair and
George W. Bush shake hands after their press conference in the East Room of the White House on 12 November 2004.
Tony Blair
–
Jacques Chirac,
George W. Bush, Tony Blair and
Silvio Berlusconi during the G8 Summit in
Évian, June 2003
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Bevis Marks Synagogue". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
