1.
Hambledon Hill
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Hambledon Hill is a prehistoric hill fort in Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale five miles northwest of Blandford Forum. The hill itself is an outcrop, on the southwestern corner of Cranborne Chase. It is owned by the National Trust and its earliest occupation was in the Neolithic when a pair of causewayed enclosures were dug at the top of the hill, one smaller than the other. They were linked by a bank and ditch running northwest–southeast, two long barrows, one 68 m in length, also stood within the complex and a third enclosure is now known to underlie later earthworks. In all, the area of activity covered more than 1 km2, excavations in the 1970s and 1980s by Roger Mercer produced large quantities of Neolithic material. Environmental analysis indicated the site was occupied whilst the area was wooded with forest clearances coming later. The charcoal recovered seems to have come from timber lacing within the Neolithic earthworks, radiocarbon analysis gives a date of 2850 BC. At least one skeleton, of a man killed by an arrow was found, seemingly connected with the burning of the timber defences. A single grape pip and a fragment is evidence of vine cultivation. The ditches of the enclosures also contained significant quantities of pottery as well as red deer antler picks used to excavate them, human skulls had been placed right at the bottom of one of the enclosure ditches possibly as a dedicatory or ancestral offering. Animal bone analysis suggests that most of the meat was consumed in summer and early autumn. Different material was found in different areas of the site suggesting that Hambledon Hill was divided up into zones of activity, little remains of the Neolithic activity and the site is more easily identified as a prime example of an Iron Age hill fort. It was originally univallate but further circuits of banks and ditches were added increasing its size to 125,000 m2, three entrances served the fort, the southwestern with a 100 m long hornwork surrounding it. Hut platforms can be seen on the hillside, the site appears to have been abandoned around 300 BC possibly in favour of the nearby site of Hod Hill. Hambledon Hill is the first in a series of Iron Age earthworks, the Iron Age port at Hengistbury Head forms a final Iron Age monument in this small chain of sites. The Clubmen were a force in the English Civil War, aligned to neither crown nor parliament. They armed themselves with clubs and agricultural implements and gathered in numbers to protect their fields. Between 2,000 and 4,000 of them encamped on Hambledon Hill in August 1645, there were large numbers of Cromwells troops in the area at that time, after the siege of Sherborne Castle
2.
Child Okeford
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Child Okeford is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated 3 miles east of the small town of Sturminster Newton in the North Dorset administrative district. Child Okeford lies downstream from Sturminster, along the River Stour, in the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 1,114. On Hambledon Hill to the east of the village are a Neolithic ceremonial burial site, the latter has multiple ramparts enclosing 31 acres and is rich in occupation remains. It occupies the northern spur of the hill above 140 metres and has been described as one of the most impressive earthworks in southern England. In the Domesday Book of 1086 Child Okeford was recorded as Acford and it had 39 households and a total taxable value of 10 geld units. By 1227 the village was known as Childacford, the villages name derives from the Old English cild, meaning a noble-born son, plus ac and ford, also Old English, meaning an oak-tree ford. The noble-born son likely referred to an early owner, under the leadership of the rector of nearby Compton Abbas,2,000 of them assembled on the hill and defied Oliver Cromwells requests to lay down their arms. Cromwell sent in troops and defeated them, then locked up 300 prisoners in the church at Iwerne Courtney, cromwell wrote of them as being poor silly creatures who promise to be very dutiful for time to come. A century later General James Wolfe used the hills steeper sides to prepare his troops, a World War I war memorial in the form of a stone cross stands at the road junction known in the village as The Cross. The Somerset and Dorset Railway ran to the west of the village, through neighbouring Shillingstone, the Shillingstone Station, however, is being refurbished under the Shillingstone Station Project. Child Okeford parish covers 1,570 acres at an altitude of about 40 to 190 metres, the underlying geology is Kimmeridge clay, upper and lower greensand, gault, some chalk in the east and river gravels by the River Stour. In the 2011 census Child Okeford civil parish had 533 dwellings,503 households, gold Hill Farm, a small business community, is home to an organic food shop, a café, a rushwork workshop and an art gallery. In 1561 William Kethe was appointed vicar of the parish and he remained in the village until his death in 1594. Kethe wrote the hymns O worship the King, all glorious above and All people that on earth do dwell, knight, Peter, Ancient Stones of Dorset,1998. Media related to Child Okeford at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Watermill
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A watermill or water mill is a mill that utilizes hydropower. It is a structure that uses a wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling, rolling. Such processes are needed in the production of material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles. Thus watermills may be comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills. The former type can be divided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot. Another way to water mills is by an essential trait about their location, tide mills use the movement of the tide. The earliest evidence of a wheel is probably the Perachora wheel. The earliest written reference is in the technical treatises Pneumatica and Parasceuastica of the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium, the British historian of technology M. J. T. The sakia gear is, already developed, for the first time attested in a 2nd-century BC Hellenistic wall painting in Ptolemaic Egypt. The Greek geographer Strabon reports in his Geography a water-powered grain-mill to have existed near the palace of king Mithradates VI Eupator at Cabira, Asia Minor, before 71 BC. The Roman engineer Vitruvius has the first technical description of a watermill, dated to 40/10 BC and he also seems to indicate the existence of water-powered kneading machines. The Greek epigrammatist Antipater of Thessalonica tells of an overshot wheel mill around 20 BC/10 AD. He praised for its use in grinding grain and the reduction of human labour, Hold back your hand from the mill, you grinding girls, even if the cockcrow heralds the dawn, sleep on. If we learn to feast toil-free on the fruits of the earth, the Roman encyclopedist Pliny mentions in his Naturalis Historia of around 70 AD water-powered trip hammers operating in the greater part of Italy. There is evidence of a mill in 73/4 AD in Antioch. It is likely that a stamp mill was used at Dolaucothi to crush gold-bearing quartz. The stamps were operated as a batch of four working against a large conglomerate block, similar anvil stones have been found at other Roman mines across Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal. The 1st-century AD multiple mill complex of Barbegal in southern France has been described as the greatest known concentration of power in the ancient world
4.
Valley
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A valley is a low area between hills, often with a river running through it. In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide, the terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of two main types or a mixture of them, with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides. A valley in its broadest geographic sense is known as a dale. A valley through which a river runs may also be referred to as a vale, a small, secluded, and often wooded valley is known as a dell or in Scotland as a glen. A wide, flat valley through which a river runs is known in Scotland as a strath, a mountain cove is a small valley, closed at one or both ends, in the central or southern Appalachian Mountains which sometimes results from the erosion of a geologic window. A small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges is sometimes known as a hollow, a deep, narrow valley is known as a cwm. Similar geological structures, such as canyons, ravines, gorges, gullies, chines, a valley formed by erosion is called an erosional valley, a valley formed by geologic events such as drop faults or the rise of highlands is called a structural valley. A valley formed by flowing water, or river valley, is usually V-shaped, the exact shape will depend on the characteristics of the stream flowing through it. Rivers with steep gradients, as in mountain ranges, produce steep walls, shallower slopes may produce broader and gentler valleys. However, in the lowest stretch of a river, where it approaches its base level, it begins to deposit sediment, in prehistory, the rivers were used as a source of fresh water and food, as well as a place to wash and a sewer. The proximity of water moderated temperature extremes and provided a source for irrigation, most of the first civilizations developed from these river valley communities. In geography, a vale is a river valley, usually with a particularly wide flood plain or flat valley bottom. In Southern England, vales commonly occur between the escarpment slopes of pairs of chalk formations, where the dome has been eroded, exposing less resistant underlying rock. Rift valleys, such as the Albertine Rift, are formed by the expansion of the Earths crust due to tectonic activity beneath the Earths surface, there are various forms of valley associated with glaciation that may be referred to as glacial valleys. A valley carved by glaciers is normally U-shaped, the valley becomes visible upon the recession of the glacier that forms it. When the ice recedes or thaws, the remains, often littered with small boulders that were transported within the ice. Floor gradient does not affect the shape, it is the glaciers size that does
5.
South Somerset
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South Somerset is a local government district in Somerset, England. The South Somerset district covers and area of 370 square miles ranging from the borders with Devon, Wiltshire and it has a population of approximately 158,000. The administrative centre of the district is Yeovil, the district was formed on 1 April 1974, and was originally known as Yeovil, adopting its present name in 1985. The Council covers the whole of the Yeovil constituency, and part of Somerton and it is currently Liberal Democrat controlled, and has Beacon Council status. Its main towns include, Bruton Castle Cary Chard Crewkerne Ilminster Langport Milborne Port Somerton Wincanton Yeovil The electoral wards include, Camelot, for a full list of schools see, List of schools in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset South Somerset District Council
6.
Wiltshire
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Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
7.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
8.
Blandford Forum
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Blandford Forum, commonly Blandford, is a market town in the North Dorset district of Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about 24 km northwest of Poole. It is the headquarters of North Dorset District Council. Blandford is notable for its Georgian architecture, the result of rebuilding after the majority of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1731, Blandford Camp, a military base, is sited on the hills two miles to the north east of the town. It is the base of the Royal Corps of Signals, the wing of the British Army. Dorset County Council estimates that in 2013 the towns parish had a population of 10,610. The towns economy is based on a mix of the sector and light industry. Blandford has been a point since Anglo-Saxon times, when it was recorded as Blaen-y-ford. The name Blandford derives from the Old English blǣge, and probably means ford where gudgeon or blay are found, by the 13th century it had become a market town with a livestock market serving the nearby Blackmore Vale with its many dairy farms. At the start of the 14th century it returned two members of parliament and was known as Cheping Blandford. The Latin word Forum, meaning market, was recorded in 1540, in Survey of Dorsetshire, written by Thomas Gerard of Trent in the early 1630s, Blandford was described as a faire Markett Towne, pleasantlie seated upon the River. Well inhabitted and of good Traffique, in the 17th-century English Civil War Blandford was a Royalist centre, most inhabitants supported the king. In the 18th century Blandford was one of several lace-making centres in the county, I think I never saw better in Flanders, France or Italy. In the 17th and 18th centuries Blandford was also a malting and brewing centre of some significance. Almost all of Blandfords buildings were destroyed on 4 June 1731 by the great fire, the fire began in a tallow chandlers workshop on a site that is now The Kings Arms public house. Within a few hours almost 90% of the fabric had gone, all fire-fighting equipment had been lost to the fire. An Act of Parliament was introduced that stated that work must be in brick and tile. With assistance from the rest of the country—including £1,000 given by George II—the town was rebuilt over the ten years to the designs of local architects John. Bottlenecks were removed and streets realigned in the new town plan, as well as residential and commercial property, new buildings included a new town hall, school and church
9.
Thomas Hardy
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Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the status of rural people in Britain. While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the dUrbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. During his lifetime, Hardys poetry was acclaimed by poets who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra Pound, W. H. Auden, Two of his novels, Tess of the dUrbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, were listed in the top 50 on the BBCs survey The Big Read. Jemima was well-read, and she educated Thomas until he went to his first school at Bockhampton at the age of eight, for several years he attended Mr. Lasts Academy for Young Gentlemen in Dorchester, where he learned Latin and demonstrated academic potential. Because Hardys family lacked the means for a university education, his formal education ended at the age of sixteen, when he apprenticed to James Hicks. Hardy trained as an architect in Dorchester before moving to London in 1862 and he won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architectural Association. He joined Arthur Blomfields practice as assistant architect in April 1862 and worked with Blomfield on All Saints parish church in Windsor, a reredos, possibly designed by Hardy, was discovered behind panelling at All Saints in August 2016. Hardy never felt at home in London, because he was conscious of class divisions. During this time he became interested in reform and the works of John Stuart Mill. He was also introduced by his Dorset friend Horace Moule to the works of Charles Fourier, after five years, concerned about his health, he returned to Dorset, settling in Weymouth, and decided to dedicate himself to writing. In 1870, while on a mission to restore the parish church of St Juliot in Cornwall, Hardy met and fell in love with Emma Gifford. In 1885 Thomas and his wife moved into Max Gate, a designed by Hardy. In 1914, Hardy married his secretary Florence Emily Dugdale, who was 39 years his junior, however, he remained preoccupied with his first wifes death and tried to overcome his remorse by writing poetry. In 1910, Hardy had been awarded the Order of Merit and was also for the first time nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and he would be nominated for the prize eleven years later. His funeral was on 16 January at Westminster Abbey, and it proved a controversial occasion because Hardy had wished for his body to be interred at Stinsford in the grave as his first wife
10.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Tess of the dUrbervilles, A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper The Graphic in 1891, the novel is set in impoverished rural England, Thomas Hardys fictional Wessex, during the Long Depression of the 1870s. Tess is the oldest child of John and Joan Durbeyfield, uneducated peasants, however, John is given the impression by Parson Tringham that he may have noble blood, as Durbeyfield is a corruption of DUrberville, the surname of an extinct noble Norman family. Knowledge of this goes to Johns head. That same day, Tess participates in the village May Dance, where she meets Angel Clare, youngest son of Reverend James Clare and he stops to join the dance and partners several other girls. Angel notices Tess too late to dance with her, as he is late for a promised meeting with his brothers. Tesss father gets too drunk to drive to the market that night, however, she falls asleep at the reins, and the familys only horse encounters a speeding wagon and is fatally wounded. She is unaware that, in reality, Mrs dUrbervilles husband Simon Stoke adopted the surname even though he was unrelated to the real dUrbervilles. Tess does not succeed in meeting Mrs dUrberville, but chances to meet her son, Alec. Although Tess tells them about her fear that he try to seduce her, her parents encourage her to accept the job. Tess dislikes Alec but endures his persistent unwanted attention to earn enough to replace her familys horse, late one night, walking home from town with some other Trantridge villagers, Tess inadvertently antagonizes Car Darch, Alecs most recently discarded favourite, and finds herself in physical danger. When Alec rides up and offers to rescue her from the situation, Alec returns to find Tess asleep, and it is implied that he rapes her, although there remains a degree of ambiguity. Mary Jacobus, a commentator on Hardys works, speculates that the ambiguity may have forced on the author to meet the requirements of his publisher. Tess goes home to her fathers cottage, where she keeps almost entirely to her room, the following summer, she gives birth to a sickly boy who lives only a few weeks. On his last night alive, Tess baptises him herself, because her father would not allow the parson to visit, the child is given the name Sorrow, but despite the baptism Tess can only arrange his burial in the shabby corner of the churchyard reserved for unbaptised infants. Tess adds a cross to the grave with flowers in an empty marmalade jar. More than two years after the Trantridge debacle, Tess, now twenty, has found employment outside the village and she works for Mr. and Mrs. Crick as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy. There, she befriends three of her fellow milkmaids, Izz, Retty, and Marian, and meets again Angel Clare, although the other milkmaids are in love with him, Angel singles out Tess, and the two fall in love
11.
Douglas Adams
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Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, scriptwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. Adamss contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academys Hall of Fame, a posthumous collection of his works, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002. Adams was known as an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, as a lover of fast cars, cameras, technological innovation and the Apple Macintosh, Adams was born on 11 March 1952 to Janet and Christopher Douglas Adams in Cambridge, England. The following year in 1953, Watson and Crick famously first modelled DNA at Cambridge University, the family moved to East London a few months after his birth, where his sister, Susan, was born three years later. His parents divorced in 1957, Douglas, Susan, and their mother moved to an RSPCA animal shelter in Brentwood, Essex, Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. At nine, he passed the exam for Brentwood School, an independent school whose alumni include Robin Day, Jack Straw, Noel Edmonds. Griff Rhys Jones was a year below him, and he was in the class as Stuckist artist Charles Thomson. He attended the school from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until December 1970. Adams was six feet tall by age 12 and stopped growing at 6 ft 5 in and his form master, Frank Halford, said of him, Hundreds of boys have passed through the school but Douglas Adams really stood out from the crowd — literally. He was unnecessarily tall and in his short trousers he looked a trifle self-conscious, the form-master wouldnt say Meet under the clock tower, or Meet under the war memorial, he joked, but Meet under Adams. Yet it was his ability to write stories that really made him shine. He became the student ever to be awarded a ten out of ten by Halford for creative writing, something he remembered for the rest of his life. He also designed the cover of one issue of the Broadsheet, and had a letter and short story published nationally in The Eagle, in it, Adams rhymes futile with mute, while and exhausted with of course did. On the strength of an essay on religious poetry that discussed the Beatles and William Blake, he was awarded an Exhibition in English at St Johns College, Cambridge. He wanted to join the Footlights, an invitation-only student comedy club that has acted as a hothouse for comic talent, despite doing very little work—he recalled having completed three essays in three years—he graduated in 1974 with a B. A. in English literature. After leaving university Adams moved back to London, determined to break into TV, an edited version of the Footlights Revue appeared on BBC2 television in 1974. A version of the Revue performed live in Londons West End led to Adams being discovered by Monty Pythons Graham Chapman, the two formed a brief writing partnership, earning Adams a writing credit in episode 45 of Monty Python for a sketch called Patient Abuse. He is one of two people outside the original Python members to get a writing credit
12.
Robert Boyle
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Robert William Boyle FRS was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor born in Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyles law, which describes the proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a book in the field of chemistry. He was a devout and pious Anglican and is noted for his writings in theology, Boyle was born in Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland, the seventh son and fourteenth child of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and Catherine Fenton. Richard Boyle arrived in Dublin from England in 1588 during the Tudor plantations of Ireland and he had amassed enormous landholdings by the time Robert was born. As a child, Boyle was fostered to a local family, Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French and when he was eight years old, following the death of his mother, he was sent to Eton College in England. His fathers friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then the provost of the college, during this time, his father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge of Irish, to act as private tutor to his sons in Eton. After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor and they visited Italy in 1641 and remained in Florence during the winter of that year studying the paradoxes of the great star-gazer Galileo Galilei, who was elderly but still living in 1641. Boyle returned to England from continental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research and his father had died the previous year and had left him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset, England and substantial estates in County Limerick in Ireland that he had acquired. They met frequently in London, often at Gresham College, having made several visits to his Irish estates beginning in 1647, Robert moved to Ireland in 1652 but became frustrated at his inability to make progress in his chemical work. In one letter, he described Ireland as a country where chemical spirits were so misunderstood. In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully, an inscription can be found on the wall of University College, Oxford the High Street at Oxford, marking the spot where Cross Hall stood until the early 19th century. It was here that Boyle rented rooms from the apothecary who owned the Hall. An account of Boyles work with the air pump was published in 1660 under the title New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, the person who originally formulated the hypothesis was Henry Power in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a written by Power. In continental Europe the hypothesis is attributed to Edme Mariotte. In 1680 he was elected president of the society, but declined the honour from a scruple about oaths and they are extraordinary because all but a few of the 24 have come true
Media related to Blackmore Vale at Wikimedia Commons