1.
National Health Service (England)
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The National Health Service is the publicly funded national healthcare system for England and one of the four National Health Services of the United Kingdom. It is the largest and the oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world, Some services, such as emergency treatment and treatment of infectious diseases are free for everyone, including visitors. Free healthcare at the point of use comes from the principles at the founding of the National Health Service by the Labour government in 1948. Some specific NHS services do however require a financial contribution from the patient, for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions. However, these charges are often free to vulnerable or low income groups, the NHS provides the majority of healthcare in England, including primary care, in-patient care, long-term healthcare, ophthalmology, and dentistry. The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948, private health care has continued parallel to the NHS, paid for largely by private insurance, it is used by about 8% of the population, generally as an add-on to NHS services. The NHS is largely funded from taxation with a small amount being contributed by National Insurance payments. The UK government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, the Department of Health had a £110 billion budget in 2013-14, most of this being spent on the NHS. Sources do not always clear if they refer to the whole of the NHS or only to England. There is no unified British NHS, the National Health Service in Scotland and Northern Ireland were always separate, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 came into effect in April 2013, giving GP-led groups responsibility for commissioning most local NHS services. Starting in April 2013 Primary Care Trusts are being replaced by General Practitioner -led organisations called Clinical Commissioning Groups, under the new system, a new NHS Commissioning Board, called NHS England, oversees the NHS from the Department of Health. The Act has also associated with the perception of increased private provision of NHS services. NHS Trusts are responding to the Nicholson challenge which involved making £20 billion in savings across the service by 2015, Some NHS organisations are using referral management centres to help reduce inappropriate referrals in an attempt to save the NHS money. Millions of pounds have been spent for these services, 32% of which are provided by private companies, of the 211 clinical commissioning groups surveyed by the British Medical Journal in 2016,184 responded and 72 of those said they had used such schemes. Of those CCGs using these services, 14% could show savings, 12% showed no overall savings, because these services can prevent GPs from referring patients to hospitals, there are some concerns they may delay diagnosis and compromise patient safety. Dr A. J. Cronins controversial novel The Citadel, published in 1937, had fomented extensive debate about the severe inadequacies of health care. The authors innovative ideas were not only essential to the conception of the NHS, a national health service was one of the fundamental assumptions in the Beveridge Report. The Emergency Hospital Service established in 1939 gave a taste of what a National Health Service might look like, Healthcare prior to the war had been an unsatisfactory mix of private, municipal and charity schemes
2.
Hospital
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A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. Specialised hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals, a teaching hospital combines assistance to people with teaching to medical students and nurses. The medical facility smaller than a hospital is called a clinic. Hospitals have a range of departments and specialist units such as cardiology, some hospitals have outpatient departments and some have chronic treatment units. Common support units include a pharmacy, pathology, and radiology, Hospitals are usually funded by the public sector, by health organisations, by health insurance companies, or by charities, including direct charitable donations. Historically, hospitals were founded and funded by religious orders, or by charitable individuals. During the Middle Ages, hospitals served different functions from modern institutions, Middle Ages hospitals were almshouses for the poor, hostels for pilgrims, or hospital schools. The word hospital comes from the Latin hospes, signifying a stranger or foreigner, another noun derived from this, hospitium came to signify hospitality, that is the relation between guest and shelterer, hospitality, friendliness, and hospitable reception. By metonymy the Latin word then came to mean a guest-chamber, guests lodging, hospes is thus the root for the English words host hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel. The German word Spital shares similar roots, the grammar of the word differs slightly depending on the dialect. Some patients go to a hospital just for diagnosis, treatment, or therapy and then leave without staying overnight, while others are admitted and stay overnight or for several days or weeks or months. Hospitals usually are distinguished from other types of facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients whilst the others. Larger cities may have several hospitals of varying sizes and facilities, some hospitals, especially in the United States and Canada, have their own ambulance service. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. In California, district hospital refers specifically to a class of healthcare facility created shortly after World War II to address a shortage of beds in many local communities. Twenty-eight of Californias rural hospitals and 20 of its critical-access hospitals are District hospitals, Californias District hospitals are formed by local municipalities, have Boards that are individually elected by their local communities, and exist to serve local needs
3.
Emergency department
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The emergency department is usually found in a hospital or other primary care center. In some countries, emergency departments have become important entry points for those without means of access to medical care. The emergency departments of most hospitals operate 24 hours a day, griswold also equipped police and fire vehicles with medical supplies and trained officers to give emergency care while en route to the hospital. Today, a hospital has its emergency department in its own section of the ground floor of the grounds. As patients can present at any time and with any complaint, triage is normally the first stage the patient passes through, and consists of a brief assessment, including a set of vital signs, and the assignment of a chief complaint. Most emergency departments have an area for this process to take place. Most patients will be assessed at triage and then passed to another area of the department, or another area of the hospital. Conversely, patients with serious conditions, such as cardiac arrest, will bypass triage altogether. The resuscitation area, commonly referred to as Trauma or Resus, is a key area in most departments, the most seriously ill or injured patients will be dealt with in this area, as it contains the equipment and staff required for dealing with immediately life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Typical resuscitation staffing involves at least one attending physician, and at least one and these personnel may be assigned to the resuscitation area for the entirety of the shift, or may be on call for resuscitation coverage. Examples of majors include chest pain, difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, Advanced diagnostic testing may be conducted at this stage, including laboratory testing of blood and/or urine, ultrasonography, CT or MRI scanning. Medications appropriate to manage the condition will also be given. Depending on underlying causes of the chief complaint, he or she may be discharged home from this area or admitted to the hospital for further treatment. Patients whose condition is not immediately life-threatening will be sent to an area suitable to deal with them, such patients may still have been found to have significant problems, including fractures, dislocations, and lacerations requiring suturing. Children can present particular challenges in treatment, many hospitals have a separate area for evaluation of psychiatric problems. These are often staffed by psychiatrists and mental health nurses and social workers, there is typically at least one room for people who are actively a risk to themselves or others. Fast decisions on life-and-death cases are critical in emergency rooms. As a result, doctors face great pressures to overtest and overtreat, other common variations include emergency ward, emergency centre or emergency unit
4.
Royal Herbert Hospital
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Initially the Herbert Hospital, renamed in 1900, the Royal Herbert Hospital was built as a restorative facility for British veterans of the Crimean War, and remained a military hospital until 1977. It was situated in southeast London, on the side of Woolwich Common, on the western slopes of Shooters Hill. Today the former hospital buildings form a development known as the Royal Herbert Pavilions. Designed by chief architect Sir Douglas Galton, the hospital is notable for the inputs of Nightingale. It opened on 1 November 1865 and it utilised a new approach to open planning, and was based on the revolutionary pavilion design whereby each ward was connected to a central corridor to maximise daylight and fresh air intake. The revolutionary construction methods included the use of cavity wall construction, fireproof floors, and a system for heating incoming fresh air. Proving an appropriate response to Nightingales reflection that, no ward is in any sense a good ward in which the sick are not at all times supplied with air, light. These are the results to be obtained from hospital architecture, the building work of the hospital cost £209,139 and the land purchase was £6,394. The hospital was considered to be such a forward in design. In 1900 Queen Victoria visited soldiers in the hospital who had injured in the Boer War. The Royal Herbert Hospital was actively involved in the care of the wounded from World War I, during the first, it was the location of Enid Bagnolds A Diary Without Dates when Bagnold was a V. A. D. During World War Two, the Royal Herbert Military Hospital admitted civilian patients when the nearby Royal Arsenal was bombed by the German Luftwaffe. Any downed pilots and navigators were taken as Prisoners of War and treated for their injuries at the Royal Herbert, the hospital provided orthopaedic, general surgical and medical wards for army personnel and their families. At its peak the hospital had 15 wards which accommodated 650 beds and this included a guardroom and prison ward for 28 army prisoners. Before it closed the hospital had become the Armys main orthopaedic centre and contained the Army schools for physiotherapy, x-rays, the hospital closed in 1977 and for a period of time became derelict. Demolition was thought likely, but as a Grade II listed building in the Woolwich Common Conservation Area it was preserved, in 1990, the empty and disused site was purchased by a property developer and developed into 228 luxurious flats and apartments called the Royal Herbert Pavilions. Completed in 1995, todays site incorporates a leisure club, private bar, tennis courts, swimming pool, opposite the hospital, the Royal Army Medical Corps Officers Mess was built in 1909, renamed Victoria House, it was sold by the Ministry of Defence in 2013
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World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
6.
London County Council
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It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council. The LCC was the largest, most significant and most ambitious English municipal authority of its day, by the 19th century the City of London Corporation covered only a small fraction of metropolitan London. From 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works had certain powers across the metropolis, many powers remained in the hands of traditional bodies such as parishes and the counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent. While the Conservative government of the day would have preferred not to create a body covering the whole of London. It was established as a council on 31 January 1889. Shortly after its creation a Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London considered the means for amalgamation with the City of London. The LCC inherited the powers of its predecessor the MBW, but had authority over matters such as education, city planning. It took over the functions of the London School Board in 1903, from 1899 the Council progressively acquired and operated the tramways in the county, which it electrified from 1903. One of the LCCs most important roles during the late 19th and early 20th century, was in the management of the expanding city, in the Victorian era, new housing had been intentionally urban and large-scale tenement buildings dominated. Beginning in the 1930s, the LCC incentivized an increase in suburban housing styles. The LCC set the standard for new construction at 12 houses per acre of land at a time when some London areas had as many as 80 housing units per acre. By 1938,76,877 units of housing had been built under the auspices of the LCC in the city and its periphery, many of these new housing developments were genuinely working-class, though the poorest could rarely afford even subsidized rents. They relied on an expanding London Underground network that ferried workers en masse to places of employment in the city center and these housing developments were broadly successful, and they resisted the slummification that blighted so many Victorian tenement developments. The LCC undertook between 1857 and 1929 to standardize and clarify street names across London, many streets in different areas of the city had similar or identical names, and the rise of the automobile as a primary mode of transportation in the city made these names unworkable. In an extreme case, there were more than 60 streets called Cross Street spread across the city when the LCC began its process of systematic renaming and these were given names from an approved list that was maintained by the LCC, containing only suitably English names. If street names were deemed un-English, they were slated for change, Zulu Crescent in Battersea, for instance. By 1939, the council had the powers and duties. The LCC initially used the Spring Gardens headquarters inherited from the Metropolitan Board of Works, the building had been designed by Frederick Marrable, the MBWs supeintending architect, and dated from 1860
7.
V-2 rocket
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The V-2, technical name Aggregat 4, was the worlds first long-range guided ballistic missile. The V-2 rocket also became the first artificial object to cross the boundary of space with the launch of MW18014 on 20 June 1944. Research into military use of long range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army, a series of prototypes culminated in the A-4, which went to war as the V-2. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans. Eventually, many of the original V-2 team ended up working at the Redstone Arsenal, the US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, in the late 1920s, a young Wernher von Braun bought a copy of Hermann Oberths book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen. Starting in 1930, he attended the Technical University of Berlin, von Braun was working on his doctorate when the Nazi Party gained power in Germany. An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, von Brauns thesis, Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket, was kept classified by the German Army and was not published until 1960. By the end of 1934, his group had launched two rockets that reached heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km. At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddards research, before 1939, German engineers and scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddards plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat series of rockets, during 28–30 September 1939, Der Tag der Weisheit conference met at Peenemünde to initiate the funding of university research to solve rocket problems. By late 1941, the Army Research Center at Peenemünde possessed the essential to the success of the A-4. The four key technologies for the A-4 were large liquid-fuel rocket engines, supersonic aerodynamics, gyroscopic guidance, at the time, Adolf Hitler was not particularly impressed by the V-2, he pointed out that it was merely an artillery shell with a longer range and much higher cost. Hitler was sufficiently impressed by the enthusiasm of its developers, and needed a weapon to maintain German morale. The V-2s were constructed at the Mittelwerk site by prisoners from Mittelbau-Dora, the A-4 used a 74% ethanol/water mixture for fuel and liquid oxygen for oxidizer. The rocket reached a height of 80 km after shutting off the engine, the fuel and oxidizer pumps were driven by a steam turbine, and the steam was produced by concentrated hydrogen peroxide with sodium permanganate catalyst. Both the alcohol and oxygen tanks were an aluminium-magnesium alloy, the combustion burner reached a temperature of 2,500 to 2,700 °C
8.
The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
9.
The Times
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The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London, England. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, the Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967 and its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in touch with 10 Downing Street. In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope, in November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, the Sunday Times remains a broadsheet. The Times had a daily circulation of 446,164 in December 2016, in the same period. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006 and it has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company where he was working went bankrupt because of the complaints of a Jamaican hurricane. Being unemployed, Walter decided to set a new business up and it was in that time when Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was faster and more precise. Walter bought the patent and to use it, he decided to open a printing house. The first publication of the newspaper The Daily Universal Register in Great Britain was 1 January 1785, unhappy because people always omitted the word Universal, Ellias changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name, the Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its life, the profits of The Times were very large. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig, in 1815, The Times had a circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed editor in 1817
10.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
11.
War Office
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The name War Office is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. During August 2013 it was announced that the former War Office building would be sold on the open market. The War Office developed from the Council of War, an ad hoc grouping of the King and his military commanders which managed the Kingdom of Englands frequent wars. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, the department had several London homes until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722, where it was to remain until 1858. The first War Office Secretary at War is usually said to have been William Blathwayt and it was, however, a fairly minor government job which dealt with the minutiae of administration rather than grand strategy. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments, from 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary was possessed by a minister of the second rank, although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet. Many of his responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for War after the creation of more senior post during 1794. The job of Secretary at War was merged with that of the Secretary of State for War during 1855, during 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during the Crimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all duties during 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army and this was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell during 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britains rivals, the management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H. H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War, making him the first, however, this was thought unsatisfactory, during his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence, the War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. On 1 April 1920, it employed 7,434 civilian staff and its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. During 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister during 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether and appointed himself Minister of Defence. Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power during 1945, during 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. The records of the War Office are kept by The National Archives with the code WO and it contains about 1,000 rooms across seven floors, linked by 2½ miles of corridors
12.
Royal Borough of Greenwich
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The Royal Borough of Greenwich is a London borough in south-east London, England. The local council is Greenwich London Borough Council which meets in Woolwich Town Hall, the councils offices are also based in Woolwich, the main urban centre in the borough. Greenwich is world-famous as the location of the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian running through Greenwich and the Greenwich Observatory is where the designation Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT began, in 2012, Greenwich was listed as a top ten global destination by Frommers – the only UK destination to be listed. Greenwich was one of six host boroughs for the 2012 London Olympics and events were held at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Greenwich Park and it is also the home borough of professional football club Charlton Athletic. It was formed in 1965 by merging the areas of the metropolitan boroughs of Greenwich. The name Charlton was briefly considered for the borough, Greenwich once applied for city status, but was turned down. If the application had been accepted the borough would have known as the City of Greenwich. The borough lies along the bank of the River Thames between Deptford and Thamesmead. It has an area of 5,044 hectares, because of the bends of the river, its waterfront is as long as 8.5 miles. The boroughs population in 2011 was 254,557,52. 3% of the community defined themselves as white British. The largest minority groups represented were of Black and Asian heritage, central Greenwich Town contains a UNESCO World Heritage Site centred on Christopher Wrens Royal Naval College and the Old Royal Observatory. The 2013/14 Mayor was Cllr Angela Cornforth, the 2014/15 Mayor was Cllr M Hayes. The 2015/16 Mayor was Cllr Norman Adams, the 2016/17 Mayor is Cllr Olu Babatola, the first African born individual to be elected to the office. The ‘time-ball’ is set with small rubies, the Executive is composed of ten Labour members, led by Cllr Chris Roberts who has been Leader of the Council since 2001. Arms were originally granted to the London Borough by letters patent dated 1 October 1965, although much of the 1965 design has been retained, the arms have been altered in 2012 by the addition of a representation of the Thames. In addition a crest and supporters were added to the arms, the Royal Borough of Greenwich is twinned with, – Tema, Ghana – Reinickendorf, Berlin, Germany – Maribor, Slovenia Greenwich London Borough Council comprises 51 councillors. The Labour Party currently has a majority on the council, holding 43 seats
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