1.
Building Design Partnership
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BDP, formerly known as Building Design Partnership, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the UK and internationally. The associates were made full equity partners in 1964, BDP was the end result of a series of experiments in profit sharing and multidisciplinary working begun by Grenfell-Baines in 1941 with the Grenfell Baines Group. A1962 policy statement committed BDP to “the principle of equal status for all professions”, the firm expanded rapidly over the following decades and had 30 partners and 700 staff by the time of Grenfell-Baines’s retirement in 1974. BDP’s principal offices, inherited from Grenfell Baines & Hargreaves, were in London, Manchester, by 1970, there were branch offices in Belfast, Glasgow and Guildford plus international offices in Memphis, Rome and Johannesburg. BDP ceased to be a partnership in 1997 and became a limited company, as of 2016 BDP was reported to be the UKs third largest architecture firm, with 950 employees. In March 2016, the Japanese engineering firm Nippon Koei bought all of the stock of BDP for a sale price of £102.2 million. Khandekar Website
2.
John Lewis (department store)
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John Lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating throughout the United Kingdom. The chain is owned by the John Lewis Partnership, which was created alongside the first store in the mid-1800s, the first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 in Oxford Street, London. The chains slogan is Never Knowingly Undersold which has been in use since 1925, there are 46 stores throughout England, Scotland and Wales, including 12 At Home stores, and flexible format stores in Exeter and York. The first John Lewis concession opened in New South Wales, Australia in November 2016, on 1 January 2008, the Oxford Street store was awarded a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen as, suppliers of haberdashery and household goods. John Lewis Reading is also the holder of a Royal Warrant from the Queen in 2007 as suppliers of household, the flagship store on Oxford Street began as a drapery shop, opened by John Lewis in 1864. In 1905 Lewis acquired a store, Peter Jones in Sloane Square. His son, John Spedan Lewis, founded the John Lewis Partnership in 1920 after thinking up the idea during his days in charge of Peter Jones, John Spedan Lewis also thought up the idea of the Gazette, the partnerships in-house magazine, first published in 1918. In 1933 the partnership purchased its first store outside London, the long established Jessop & Son in Nottingham, Jessops only rebranded itself as John Lewis on 27 October 2002. In 1940 the partnership bought Selfridge Provincial Stores, caleys, Windsor was also included but closed in 2006. In 1949, it was reported that London branches included Peter Jones, John Barnes, John Pound, the provincial branches were Robert Sayle, of Peterborough and Cambridge, Tyrell & Green, of Southampton and Lance and Lance Ltd. of Weston-super-Mare. They also had silk shops at Hull, Edinburgh and Newcastle, in 1953 the famous Reading Department Store Heelas became part of the John Lewis group and remained named as such under the Heelas name until 2001 when it adopted the John Lewis name. Also in 1953 the partnership bought Herbert Parkinson, a textile manufacturer, the first John Lewis store constructed as part of a shopping centre was Jessops in Nottingham which has been a feature of Victoria Centre since it opened in 1972. The announcement of an anchor tenant such as John Lewis contributes to the certainty of developers proposals, before the relaxation of UK Sunday trading laws in 1994, John Lewis stores closed on Mondays to allow staff a full two-day weekend. The John Lewis Partnership were the first department store group in the UK to adopt central buying, launching the Jonell name for own brand merchandise in 1937 and that brand name has gradually been replaced with the John Lewis name since 2001. Additional own brands include Collection by John Lewis as well as John Lewis & Co. a selection of Waitrose own brand products, such as cleaning materials and party stationery, are also available from John Lewis. All have now been rebranded John Lewis, with the exception of Peter Jones in south west London, investment has been made across the group over recent years. This has included the renovation of Peter Jones at a cost of £107 million, the original Oxford Street shop is still the flagship and largest branch in the partnership. A complete refurbishment of the building was completed in late 2007 at a cost of £60 million and this introduced the new Place To Eat restaurant and a brasserie and bistro in the store
3.
Marks & Spencer
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Marks and Spencer plc is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index and it specialises in the selling of clothing, home products and luxury food products. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds, the company also began to sell branded goods like Kelloggs Corn Flakes in November 2008. In recent years its clothing sales have fallen whilst food sales have increased after the axing of St. Michaels naming for their own brand. The company was founded by a partnership between Michael Marks, a Polish Jew from Słonim, and Thomas Spencer, a cashier from the English market town of Skipton in North Yorkshire. On his arrival in England, Marks worked for a company in Leeds, called Barran, in 1884 he met Isaac Jowitt Dewhirst while looking for work. Dewhirst lent Marks £5 which he used to establish his Penny Bazaar on Kirkgate Market, Dewhirst also taught him a little English. Dewhirsts cashier was Tom Spencer, a bookkeeper, whose wife, Agnes. In 1894, when Marks acquired a permanent stall in Leeds covered market, in 1901 Marks moved to the Birkenhead open market where he amalgamated with Spencer. The pair were allocated stall numbers 11 &12 in the aisle in 1903. The company left Birkenhead Market on 24 February 1923 and it also accepted the return of unwanted items, giving a full cash refund if the receipt was shown, no matter how long ago the product was purchased, which was unusual for the time. M&S staff raised £5,000 to pay for a Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft called The Marksman in 1941, by 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the St Michael label. M&S lingerie, womens clothes and girls uniform were branded under the St Margaret label until the whole range of general merchandise became St Michael. Simon Marks, son of Michael Marks, died in 1964, Israel Sieff, the son-in-law of Michael Marks, took over as chairman and in 1968, John Salisse became the company Director. A cautious international expansion began with the introduction of Asian food in 1974, M&S opened stores in continental Europe in 1975 and in Ireland four years later. The company put its emphasis on quality, including a 1957 stocking size measuring system. For most of its history, it also had a reputation for offering fair value for money, when this reputation began to waver, it encountered serious difficulties. Arguably, M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of British Quality Goods, the uncompromising attitude towards customer relations was summarised by the 1953 slogan, The customer is always and completely right
4.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
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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
5.
Stained glass
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The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, mosques, although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture. Modern vernacular usage has extended the term stained glass to include domestic leadlight. As a material stained glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together by strips of lead. Painted details and yellow stain are used to enhance the design. The term stained glass is applied to windows in which the colours have been painted onto the glass. Stained glass, as an art and a craft, requires the artistic skill to conceive an appropriate and workable design, and the engineering skills to assemble the piece. A window must fit snugly into the space for which it is made, must resist wind and rain, Many large windows have withstood the test of time and remained substantially intact since the late Middle Ages. In Western Europe they constitute the form of pictorial art to have survived. In this context, the purpose of a glass window is not to allow those within a building to see the world outside or even primarily to admit light. For this reason stained glass windows have been described as illuminated wall decorations, Stained glass is still popular today, but often referred to as art glass. It is prevalent in luxury homes, commercial buildings, and places of worship, artists and companies are contracted to create beautiful art glass ranging from domes, windows, backsplashes, etc. During the late Medieval period, glass factories were set up there was a ready supply of silica. Silica requires very high heat to become molten, something not all glass factories were able to achieve, such materials as potash, soda, and lead can be added to lower the melting temperature. Other substances, such as lime, are added to rebuild the weakened network, Glass is coloured by adding metallic oxide powders or finely divided metals while it is in a molten state. Copper oxides produce green or bluish green, cobalt makes deep blue, much modern red glass is produced using copper, which is less expensive than gold and gives a brighter, more vermilion shade of red. Glass coloured while in the pot in the furnace is known as pot metal glass
6.
James Bond
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The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015, additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character has also adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games. As of 2017, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series, the most recent Bond film, Spectre, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond, he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015, the franchise was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, the Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bonds cars, his guns, the films are also noted for Bonds relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as Bond girls. Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway. Aside from Flemings brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bonds make up, including Conrad OBrien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill Biffy Dunderdale. The name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. He further explained that, When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is certainly good-looking. Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way and that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow
7.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
8.
21st century
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The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1,2001 and will end on December 31,2100 and it is the first century of the 3rd millennium. It is distinct from the time known as the 2000s. The long term effects of increased globalization are not known, the Arab Spring of the early 2010s led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world. The Digital Revolution which began around the 1980s also continues into the present, millennials and Generation Z come of age and rise to prominence in this century. The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 marks the rise of life sciences, making mankinds long-held dreams, such as curing cancer. By the 2010s, gene therapy, first performed somatically in late 1990 and heritably in 1996, showed promise but remains an experimental, by 2013, about 80% of the worlds population used mobile phones. An estimated 33% owned personal computers in 2010, and 46% used the Internet by 2016, the International Energy Agency estimates that 83% of the global population has access to electricity as of 2013 with the percentage projected to increase to 88% by 2030. The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and it had reached 7.3 billion in 2015, and is estimated to reach about 9.37 billion by the year 2050. There is a debate among experts and the public on how to pronounce specific years of the 21st century in English. A less common variation would have been twenty nought-five, the Vancouver Olympics, which took place in 2010, was being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as the twenty-ten Olympics. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020, kubrick said he did this in the hope that if the film became popular, it would influence the pronunciation of that year. See the timeline of the 21st century, genocide still remains a problem in this century with the concern of the war in Darfur and the growing concern in Sri Lanka. Also controversies from past genocides remain commonplace in the minds of victims, 1998–2002 – The Second Congo War continued into the early 21st century. A1999 ceasefire quickly broke down and a UN peacekeeping mission, Laurent Kabila, president of the DRC, was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took power. Throughout 2002 steps were made towards peace and Rwanda and Uganda both removed their troops from the country, on December 17,2002, a massive treaty officially ended the war. However, the DRC only holds power in less than half of the country, with most of the eastern and northern portions still controlled by rebel groups, in addition, Rwanda still supports anti-DRC rebels and anti-Rwandan rebels continue to operate from the DRC. The war killed an estimated 3.9 million people, displaced nearly 5.5 million, Severe human rights violations continue to be reported
9.
Anarchism
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Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates self-governed societies based on voluntary institutions. These are often described as stateless societies, although several authors have defined them more specifically as institutions based on non-hierarchical free associations, Anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful. While anti-statism is central, anarchism entails opposing authority or hierarchical organisation in the conduct of all relations, including, but not limited to. Anarchism does not offer a fixed body of doctrine from a particular world view. Many types and traditions of anarchism exist, not all of which are mutually exclusive, Anarchist schools of thought can differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism. Strains of anarchism have often divided into the categories of social. The term anarchism is a word composed from the word anarchy and the suffix -ism, themselves derived respectively from the Greek ἀναρχία, i. e. anarchy. The first known use of this word was in 1539, various factions within the French Revolution labelled opponents as anarchists although few shared many views of later anarchists. The first political philosopher to call himself an anarchist was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, on the other hand, some use libertarianism to refer to individualistic free-market philosophy only, referring to free-market anarchism as libertarian anarchism. The earliest anarchist themes can be found in the 6th century BC, among the works of Taoist philosopher Laozi, zhuangzis philosophy has been described by various sources as anarchist. Zhuangzi wrote, A petty thief is put in jail, a great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation. Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics, their contemporary Zeno of Citium, Jesus is sometimes considered the first anarchist in the Christian anarchist tradition. Georges Lechartier wrote that The true founder of anarchy was Jesus Christ, the first anarchist society was that of the apostles. This is exemplified when the glorification of the state is viewed as a form of sinful idolatry, the French renaissance political philosopher Étienne de La Boétie wrote in his most famous work the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude what some historians consider an important anarchist precedent. The radical Protestant Christian Gerrard Winstanley and his group the Diggers are cited by authors as proposing anarchist social measures in the 17th century in England. The term anarchist first entered the English language in 1642, during the English Civil War, as a term of abuse, used by Royalists against their Roundhead opponents. By the time of the French Revolution some, such as the Enragés, began to use the term positively, in opposition to Jacobin centralisation of power, by the turn of the 19th century, the English word anarchism had lost its initial negative connotation. Modern anarchism emerged from the secular or religious thought of the Enlightenment, as part of the political turmoil of the 1790s in the wake of the French Revolution, William Godwin developed the first expression of modern anarchist thought
10.
Albert Bridge, London
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The Albert Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames in West London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank. In 1973 the Greater London Council added two concrete piers, which transformed the central span into a beam bridge. As a result, today the bridge is a hybrid of three different design styles. It is an English Heritage Grade II* listed building, built as a toll bridge, it was commercially unsuccessful. Six years after its opening it was taken into public ownership, the tollbooths remained in place and are the only surviving examples of bridge tollbooths in London. Incorporating a roadway only 27 feet wide, and with serious structural weaknesses, the strengthening work carried out by Bazalgette and the Greater London Council did not prevent further deterioration of the bridges structure. In 1992, the Albert Bridge was rewired and painted in a colour scheme designed to make it more conspicuous in poor visibility. At night it is illuminated by 4,000 bulbs, making it one of west Londons most striking landmarks, in 2010–2011, these were replaced with LEDs. Work on the Victoria Bridge, a distance downstream of Battersea Bridge, began in 1851 and was completed in 1858. Meanwhile, the proposal to demolish Battersea Bridge was abandoned, the wooden Battersea Bridge had become dilapidated by the mid-19th century. It had grown unpopular and was considered unsafe, the newer Victoria Bridge, meanwhile, suffered severe congestion. A compromise was reached, and in 1864 a new Act of Parliament was passed, the Act compelled the Albert Bridge Company to purchase Battersea Bridge once the new bridge opened, and to compensate its owners by paying them £3,000 per annum in the interim. Rowland Mason Ordish was appointed to design the new bridge, Ordish was a leading architectural engineer who had worked on the Royal Albert Hall, St Pancras railway station, the Crystal Palace and Holborn Viaduct. The bridge was built using the Ordish–Lefeuvre system, a form of cable-stayed bridge design which Ordish had patented in 1858. While plans for the Chelsea Embankment were debated, Ordish built the Franz Joseph Bridge over the Vltava in Prague to the design as that intended for the Albert Bridge. In 1869, the time allowed by the 1864 Act to build the bridge expired, delays caused by the Chelsea Embankment project meant that work on the bridge had not even begun, and a new Act of Parliament was required to extend the time limit. Construction finally got underway in 1870, and it was anticipated that the bridge would be completed in about a year, in the event, the project ran for over three years, and the final bill came to £200,000. As the law demanded, the Albert Bridge Company then bought Battersea Bridge, ordishs bridge was 41 feet wide and 710 feet long, with a 384-foot-9-inch central span
