1.
Cardiff city centre
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Cardiff city centre is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is bound by the River Taff to the west. Cardiff became a city in 1905, compared to nearby cities, the new St Davids Centre has more retail space than the whole of Newport or Swansea. In 2008–9, the footfall of shoppers was 55 million. Cardiff is the sixth most successful shopping destination in the United Kingdom – behind London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff was granted city status by Edward VII in 1905. In the 1960s, planners described Cardiff city centre as worn out, inconvenient, drab, the centre had escaped the extensive wartime bomb damage inflicted on other cities, so little redevelopment took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The Buchanan Plan of 1964 envisaged a highly ambitious extended city centre, by the time the legal agreement to implement Centreplan 70 was signed, the 1973 property crash had made it unviable. Development in the 1970s and 80s was more piecemeal than envisaged in Centreplan, the latter became, according to official publicists, one of the icons of Cardiffs new image. Development of the began in February 2010 and is expected to be completed by July 2011. Cardiff Council says that work to create the Castle Quarter as a friendly environment for High Street. Castle Street follows on from Cowbridge Road East from Canton and begins after Cardiff Bridge and it becomes Duke Street after the junction with High Street before turning north and becoming Kingsway, leading to Cardiff Civic Centre. From west to east, streets that begin from the side of this stretch are Westgate Street, Womanby Street, High Street, St Johns Street, Queen Street. Cardiff Castle and Bute Park dominate the northern side of the street, on the southern side are pubs, bars, retail and hotel units. Castle Arcade and Duke Street Arcades begin from this stretch, St. Mary Street and High Street. The former street is named after the 11th century church of St. Mary, today the stretch of road is the home of a number of bars, night clubs and restaurants, as well as branches of many major banks. Also fronting onto the street is Howells department store, which stretches from just after Cardiff Central Market to the corner of Wharton Street, from August 2007 the street was closed to private vehicles, leaving only buses, cycles and taxis allowed to access the whole street. The street is closed to all traffic every Friday and Saturday night to allow the efflux from night clubs and pubs located in that part of the street to clear. It is also closed when major events take place such as at the Millennium Stadium, the Prince Of Wales is a prominent J D Wetherspoon establishment at the junction with Wood Street, which leads to Central Station
2.
Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Cardiff Central railway station
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Cardiff Central railway station is a major railway station on the South Wales Main Line in Cardiff, United Kingdom and one of two hubs of the citys urban rail network. Cardiff Central is a Grade II listed building managed by Arriva Trains Wales and it is an interchange between the rest of South and West Wales, and other major British cities. Arriva Trains Wales operate services to West Wales, Holyhead, Crewe and Manchester, in the early 1840s the South Wales Railway was trying to find a suitable site for a railway station, but the area that is now Cardiff Central railway station was prone to flooding. It was Isambard Kingdom Brunels solution to divert the River Taff to the west, the initial part of the South Wales Railway between Chepstow and Swansea through Cardiff was opened on 18 June 1850, with all trains operated by the Great Western Railway under a lease agreement. The Great Western Railway has its full name carved onto the façade, as a result of representations by the GWR, a nearby working-class district, Temperance Town, was cleared during the late 1930s in order to improve the outlook of the rebuilt station. The formerly separate Cardiff Riverside suburban station of 1893 was integrated into the station in 1940. Initially named Cardiff, the station was renamed Cardiff General in July 1924, the station, its entrances and platforms, are Grade II listed. There are two entrances to the station, the northern main entrance leads to the main concourse and is on Central Square, the plaza that accommodates Cardiff Central bus station, a multi-storey car park and two main city centre taxi ranks. Three main city centre landmarks are visible here, the Millennium Stadium, Stadium House. The southern entrance is at the rear of the station on Tresillian Way, accessed from St. Mary Street, the railway lines are above the stations concourses. A valid ticket is required to pass through a barrier and gain access to the platforms, the station has the only First Class waiting room in Wales. Outside, an NCP pay-and-display car park provides 248 spaces, British Transport Police maintains a presence at Cardiff Central. In December 2009, the force announced a pilot scheme to arm officers at the station, as well as in London and Manchester. Cardiff Central has eight platforms, numbered 0,1,2, there is no longer, despite signage, a Platform 5, this was a west-facing bay platform situated between Platforms 3 and 4. Platforms 3 and 4 are divided into A and B sections and are capable of holding two local trains or a single HST train, other platforms can be used by more than one train, but are not sectioned. Platform 6 is used by Valley Lines trains to the north and east of Cardiff, every train from Platform 6 calls at Cardiff Queen Street. Valley Line trains from Cardiff Queen Street call at Platform 7 and 8 and continue to north-west Cardiff, some of these trains were operated by Class 67 and Class 57 locomotives with four Mk2 coaches for a time. Platform 4a/4b Arriva Trains Wales, Fishguard Harbour, Swansea via Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway and Neath Maesteg via Pontyclun and Bridgend, usually Class 158 or Class 150 Sprinter units from Cheltenham Spa
5.
Cardiff Central bus station
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Cardiff Central bus station was the main bus transport interchange in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. With 34 stands, it was the largest bus station in the city and it was located adjacent to Cardiff Central railway station forming a major bus-rail-cycle-taxi interchange. The station used to handle the vast majority of bus and coach services run in. Notable exceptions to this are the Megabus service, Stagecoach route 122, the site of Cardiffs bus station had previously been an area of housing and shops known as Temperance Town. However, demolition of Temperance Town commenced in 1937 after the Great Western Railway persuaded the Cardiff Corporation to improve the view from their new railway station, the Central bus station was opened in 1954. Demolition and reconstruction of the bus began in 2008 with the terminus building being demolished. Before work began, there were 8 concourses lettered A-F and W with each concourse having numbered stands, redevelopment of the bus station began in 2008. Demolition of the old buildings started on 11 January 2008, with buses instead picking up at Castle Street. On 6 May 2008, Stand A at the bus station closed for demolition of the terminal buildings, as of 4 January 2009, some services reverted to using the bus station, whilst others remained split between the alternative terminal points. A multi-million-pound modernisation of Cardiff central bus station was announced in December 2010, in December 2011 the Council announced that the existing bus station would close in early 2013 and the new bus station would be built on the site of the neighbouring Wood Street NCP Car Park. The new bus station would open in Summer 2014, and provide 19 bays and have access to Westgate Street. Part of the proceeds from the sale would be put towards redesign and redevelopment of Central Square and these plans were put into doubt in May 2012 with the election of a new Labour-led council. In October 2014 a new masterplan was revealed for the area, produced by architects Foster, BBC Wales had earmarked the bus station as the site for their new headquarters. Proposals for a replacement bus station were to be put to Cardiff Council later in 2014, in June 2015 Foster and Partners were chosen as the preferred architects and images were revealed of the new bus station, which would be completed by mid-2018. The new bus station would have 11-storeys above the ground floor bus terminus, eating and drinking facilities such as a Burger King, as well as other shops and bus company offices, faced the stands on Central Square. Taxi ranks were located on both sides of the station, toilets and a newsagent were located at stand A which was demolished in summer 2008 as part of the redevelopment of the station. However, these services are available in the adjacent Cardiff Central railway station, there were 34 stands at the station, which were located on Central Square, off Wood Street and opposite the Millennium Stadium, in the city centre of Cardiff. Bus transport in Cardiff Transport in Wales List of bus stations in Wales
6.
Cardiff Athletic Club
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Cardiff Athletic Club is a multi-sport club based in Cardiff, Wales. It is the owner of the Cardiff Arms Park site, however, it is also a shareholder of Cardiff Rugby Football Club Ltd. Cardiff Athletic Club was established in 1922, and has been the body responsible for much of the premier amateur sporting activities in Cardiff. The Athletic Club has cricket, rugby union, field hockey, tennis, in 1922 Cardiff Football Club, later renamed Cardiff Rugby Football Club, and Cardiff Cricket Club amalgamated to form the Cardiff Athletic Club. Before that in 1878, the two Clubs had been granted the use of Cardiff Arms Park at a rate, by the 3rd Marquess of Bute. The two clubs wanted to preserve their grounds, and so the cricket and rugby clubs joined forces, by 1935, the 4th Marquis of Bute built a new block of flats on his land adjoining Westgate Street. Later the Cardiff Arms Park Company Limited was formed by Cardiff Athletic Club, Arms Park Greyhound Racing Company Limited, by 1933 the Cardiff Athletic Club acquired a 99-year lease from the Cardiff Arms Park Company Limited on a rental of £200 per annum. After an agreement between Cardiff Athletic Club and the WRU, the freehold of the ground was transferred solely to the WRU in July 1968. Work could then begin on the new National Stadium, although the hockey section still play at the Sophia Gardens complex. By 1999, the National Stadium had been replaced by the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Athletic Club has five sports sections, the rugby section, the cricket section, the hockey section, the bowls section and the tennis section. Each section is represented on the Management Committee of the Club, the Athletic Club is one of the few multi-sport clubs in the United Kingdom. A former president of Cardiff Athletic Club was the ex-Welsh International rugby player Bleddyn Williams. It was announced on 19 September 2007, that the Cardiff Blues team were to move from Cardiff Arms Park for the 2009-2010 season, the Cardiff Athletic Club management committee at the time had voted to support this. A decision by Cardiff Athletic Club on the future of Cardiff Arms Park could be made later, the Arms Park has its own choir, called the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir. It was formed in 1966 as the Cardiff Athletic Club Male Voice Choir, in 2000, the choir changed their name to become the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir
7.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
8.
Artificial turf
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Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are played on grass. However, it is now being used on lawns and commercial applications as well. The main reason is maintenance—artificial turf stands up to use, such as in sports. Domed, covered, and partially covered stadiums may require artificial turf because of the difficulty of getting enough sunlight to stay healthy. But artificial turf does have its downside, limited life, periodic cleaning requirements, petroleum use, toxic chemicals from infill, artificial turf first gained substantial attention in the 1960s, when it was used in the newly constructed Astrodome. The specific product used was developed by Monsanto and called AstroTurf, AstroTurf remains a registered trademark, but is no longer owned by Monsanto. The first generation systems of the 1960s have been largely replaced by the second generation. That accomplishment led Sports Illustrated to declare Chaney as the man responsible for major league baseball. Artificial turf was first installed in 1964 on a school recreation area in Rhode Island. The material came to prominence in 1966, when AstroTurf was installed in the Astrodome in Houston. The use of AstroTurf and similar surfaces became widespread in the U. S. and Canada in the early 1970s, more than 11,000 artificial turf playing fields have been installed nationally. More than 1,200 were installed in the U. S. in 2013 alone, maintaining a grass playing surface indoors, while technically possible, is prohibitively expensive. Artificial turf was first used in Major League Baseball in the Houston Astrodome in 1966, for most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass. The solution was to install a new type of grass on the field, ChemGrass. Because the supply of AstroTurf was still low, only a limited amount was available for the first home game, there was not enough for the entire outfield, but there was enough to cover the traditional grass portion of the infield. The outfield remained painted dirt until after the All-Star Break, the team was sent on an extended road trip before the break, and on 19 July 1966, the installation of the outfield portion of AstroTurf was completed. The Chicago White Sox became the first team to install artificial turf in a stadium, as they used it in the infield
9.
Cardiff Blues
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Cardiff Blues are one of the four professional Welsh regional rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the play at Cardiff Arms Park and are owned by Cardiff Rugby Football Club. Cardiff Blues are responsible for developing rugby union in the city of Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, there are 75 associate clubs within this wider Cardiff Blues region including semi professional Pontypridd RFC and the Cardiff RFC Welsh Premiership side. The Cardiff Blues compete in the Pro12 league, which teams from the Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In addition, Cardiff Blues compete in the Anglo-Welsh Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup and they previously won the 2008–09 Anglo-Welsh Cup and the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup. Until the beginning of the 2003–04 season, Welsh rugby was organised in a league pyramid, the system was similar to the English Premiership and French Top 14 club systems. However, by the 2002–03 season it was clear for reasons that Wales could not support nine professional teams. In a process instigated by the then CEO of the Welsh Rugby Union, David Moffett, an agreement was reached whereby Cardiff RFC would be allowed to form a standalone club, meaning that they would not have to amalgamate with any of the other eight professional clubs. As a result, Cardiff RFC was rebranded as the Cardiff Blues, by the end of 2003, they had lost 12 matches and only won three, all the wins coming at home. Increasingly, there were calls for head coach Dai Young to step down, the 43–6 win over Ospreys was notable for the performance of fireman Lee Abdul. The semi-professional had been brought into the squad as cover during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, unfortunately for Abdul, he suffered a serious injury in the next home game against the Newport Gwent Dragons. In January the Cardiff Blues recorded Heineken Cup victories over English club Sale, Cardiff Blues finished the season as the lowest ranked Welsh club in the Celtic League having only managed one win against another Welsh side. They were however the highest try scorers in the league, scoring 73 tries, Cardiff Blues finished the Celtic League 9th place, and recorded only one win in the Heineken Cup. Calls for Head Coach Dai Young to be removed intensified between November and January when the team went eight games without recording a victory, following the 15–38 loss to Stade Français the players were booed from the field by their own supporters. Finishing in a low position in the league meant that in order to qualify for the Heineken Cup, Cardiff Blues won this game 38–9, thus qualifying for the Heineken Cup through what the media described as the cat flap. This was only the away win of the season. In the summer of 2005 funds were made available to sign new players allowing Dai Young to start rebuild the side. Former New Zealand No.8 Xavier Rush was among several new signings who gave the squad a much stronger look on paper, also, a new custom-built training headquarters was established at Hensol in the outskirts of Cardiff
10.
Cardiff RFC
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Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens and they built a reputation as one of the great clubs in world rugby largely through a series of wins against international touring sides. Both South Africa and New Zealand have been beaten by Cardiff, through its history Cardiff RFC have provided more players to the Welsh national side and British and Irish Lions than any other Welsh club. The first recognised team to begin playing rugby in Cardiff was Glamorgan Football Club, the team was formed by a group of young men during the 1873/74 season, after a circular letter was sent to interested parties by S. Campell Cory. Playing under the Cheltenham College rules, Glamorgan FC had increased its membership to sixty six by November 1874,1874 saw Glamorgans first away game, against Cowbridge Grammar School, and by 1875 the team played its first encounter with Newport. Of the three teams, Glamorgan and Wanderers became the most notable, but both teams rarely travelled, and both had difficulty beating the now established clubs of Newport and Swansea. The supporters of both clubs started an agitation in the summer of 1876 for the two clubs to amalgamate, to give Cardiff town a chance of beating the neighbouring teams. On Friday 22 September 1876 members of the Glamorgan and Wanderers clubs met at the Swiss Hall in Queen Street, Cardiff and decided to make a single club, the first team captain was Donaldson Selby of Glamorgan and the vice-captain W. D. Phillips of Wanderers. Cardiff FC played their first fixture on 2 December 1876, versus Newport at Wentloog Marshes, in 1881, Cardiff beat Llanelli to win the South Wales Challenge Cup, though the tournament was scrapped soon after due to persistent crowd trouble. In 1881, Newport based sports administrator, Richard Mullock, formed the first Welsh international rugby team, despite the team losing heavily to England, Mullock had chosen four players from Cardiff to represent the team, club captain William David Phillips, vice-captain B. B. Mann, Barry Girling and Leonard Watkins, a reflection on the clubs importance at the time, a month later, on 12 March 1881, Cardiff RFC was one of the eleven clubs present at the formation of the Welsh Rugby Union in Neath. A notable early player was Frank Hancock, a skilful centre, Hancock first played for Cardiff due to an injury to a first regular. The system was adopted by the Welsh national team and the seven backs. Cardiff RFC and Hancock were jointly recognised by the International Rugby Board in 2011 for this innovation with induction to the IRB Hall of Fame, in 1898, Cardiff were unofficial club champions of Wales for the first time. One year later, centre Gwyn Nicholls became the first Cardiff player to play for the British and Irish Lions, Nicholls would also go on to captain Wales between 1902 and 1906. In 1904, Cardiff players fly-half Percy Bush, centre Rhys Gabe and Arthur Boxer Harding all went on the Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand. Bush scored in the first and second test against Australia, as Nicholls had, and thanks to his tries and goal-kicking during the first three Tests, finished as the top Test points scorer. In 1905, there were four Cardiff players in the Wales team that famously beat New Zealand, Harding, Nicholls, Bush, Gabe and Bert Winfield, after an eight-year wait, Cardiff also managed to win the unofficial Welsh club championship in 1906 and 1907
11.
2008 IRB Junior World Championship
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The 2008 IRB Junior World Championship was the first annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. All players who were twenty years of age or under on 1 January 2008 were eligible for selection and this competition replaced the now defunct Under 19 Rugby World Championship and Under 21 Rugby World Championship. The event, organised by rugbys governing body, the International Rugby Board, was contested by sixteen mens under-20 national teams, the tournament was held in June and hosted by Wales, at four separate venues, and won by New Zealand. 13th-16th Places Playoffs 9th-12th Place Playoffs 5th-8th Places Playoffs 1st place playoffs 2008 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy Official website
12.
Naseem Hamed
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Naseem Hamed, commonly known as Prince Naseem or Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He held multiple championships at featherweight, including the WBO title from 1995 to 2000, the IBF title in 1997. He also reigned as champion from 1998 to 2001, IBO champion from 2002 to 2003. Hamed is ranked as the third best British featherweight boxer of all time by BoxRec, in 2015 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Hamed was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England to Yemeni parents, a protege of Brendan Ingles Wincobank gym, his talent and flashy southpaw style marked him out from an early age. Hamed started boxing professionally at flyweight in 1992 and he soon began rising through the ranks as he knocked out a series of opponents in the opening rounds. Age 20 he won the European bantamweight title, comprehensively beating the beleaguered Vincenzo Belcastro over twelve rounds, after one defence he won the WBC International super bantamweight title in 1994, overwhelming Freddy Cruz in Sheffield, whom he severely punished and stopped in six rounds. Hameds popularity grew, his unorthodox style winning a fan base. After signing for Frank Warren, Hamed, employing more spectacular entrances, knocked out better opposition in Enrique Angeles and Juan Polo Pérez, later in 1995, after controversially being named the WBO #1 featherweight contender, Hamed moved up to face Wales defending WBO champion Steve Robinson. The fight was held in front of Robinsons home crowd at the ground, Cardiff Arms Park, with rain pouring down on the fighters. His first defence came against Austria based Nigerian, Said Lawal and this was the fastest world title fight ever held in Scotland, much to the displeasure of the crowd. Hameds second defence was against undefeated Puerto Rican Daniel Alicea, televised in the United States by Showtime, Hamed was carried to the ring on a grand throne, something which Hamed later stated he was not comfortable with. After a fast, lively start from Alicea, Hamed suffered a surprising brief knockdown in round 1, however, Hamed won the fight in his favoured round 2 with two knockdowns, the second of which forced the referee to wave the fight off instantly. Hameds next defence was in Dublin against former world featherweight title holder Manuel Medina. After knocking Medina down heavily in round 2, Hamed struggled to finish the fight until finally knocking Medina down twice in round 11, the end came when the ring side doctor advised Medinas corner to stop the fight. Hamed revealed in his interview that hed fought with a heavy cold. Medina would go on to have many more tough title fights, Hameds next opponent was the 27–0 Remigio Molina of Argentina, who was stopped in two rounds. In February 1997, Hamed defeated long-time IBF champion Tom Boom Boom Johnson in eight rounds in a bout at the London Arena
13.
Welsh Rugby Union
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The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the sports international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU are responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clubs, the WRU is headed by the President and Chairman. The rugby rules will be the code adopted, in 1880, Richard Mullock, secretary of the Newport Athletic Club, decided to take matters into his own hands and without the backing of the SWFU organised an international match against England. The match took place on 19 February 1881, and was won by England seven goals, one dropped goal and this heavy defeat lay the seeds for further reforms that would lead to the creation of the WRU. There is confusion regarding the date of creation of the Welsh Rugby Union. In March 1880 nine teams supposedly met at the Tenby Hotel and these teams are thought to have been, Cardiff RFC, Chepstow RFC, Haverfordwest RFC, Llandaff RFC, Llanelli RFC, Neath RFC, Newport RFC, Pontypridd RFC and Swansea RFC. The issue with accepting this meeting is that there is no written evidence, on 12 March 1881, eleven clubs met in the Castle Hotel, Neath to form what would be accepted as a Welsh rugby union. After a humiliating defeat in the first Wales international rugby game, strangely the oldest rugby club in Wales, Neath RFC are not recorded as being present, even though the meeting took place in the town of Neath. It is unknown if this was an oversight by the committee to record the presence of the club and it wasnt until 1934 that the name, the Welsh Rugby Union, was adopted. The WRU are responsible for the running of Welsh rugby, including 320 member clubs, the Welsh Rugby Union has a major role in the development of coaches, referees and players throughout all ages for both men and women. They also own the home of Welsh rugby union, the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, after the national team the next highest level of representation in Wales is the four regions based around top club sides, but representing a larger area. The WRU had hoped to reduce the teams to four regions but Cardiff, after one year the Celtic Warriors region was closed down by David Moffett and WRU Chairman David Pickering leaving Wales with only four regions. The four surviving regional clubs are Cardiff Blues, Scarlets, Ospreys and they play in the Pro12, European Professional Club Rugby and Anglo-Welsh Cup competitions. Each region may call up players from a set of teams within their area. These top club sides play in the 14-strong Welsh Premier Division, in August 2008 WRU chief Roger Lewis confirmed that the body was looking at a proposal to reinstate a fifth Welsh region, based in North Wales. Lewis admitted that he regretted the decision in 2004 to close down Celtic Warriors, in the same month Llanelli Scarlets changed their name to simply Scarlets, believing the new name would better represent their region beyond Llanelli. Cyril Chambers Victor Albert George Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey Sir J. T. D, llewellyn Horace Lyne MBE Sir David Rocyn-Jones CBE Ernest Davies W. R. Thomas MBE Major T. H. Vile MBE Glyn Stephens Enoch H. Rees F. G, Davies Wilf Faull MBE D. Ewart Davies Nathan Rocyn-Jones David Jones T. C
14.
Lawn
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Lawns are used around houses, apartments, commercial buildings and offices. Many city parks also have large lawn areas, in recreational contexts, the specialised names turf, pitch, field or green may be used, depending on the sport and the continent. The term lawn, referring to a managed grass space, dates to no earlier than the 16th century, in many suburban areas, there are bylaws in place requiring houses to have lawns and requiring the proper maintenance of these lawns. In some jurisdictions there are water shortages, local government authorities are encouraging alternatives to lawns to reduce water use. Lawn is a cognate of llan which is derived from the Common Brittonic word landa that originally means heath, barren land, Lawns may have originated as grassed enclosures within early medieval settlements used for communal grazing of livestock, as distinct from fields reserved for agriculture. The word laune is first attested in 1540, and is related to the Celtic Brythonic word lan/llan/laun. Lawns became popular with the aristocracy in northern Europe from the Middle Ages onward, the early lawns were not always distinguishable from pasture fields. It is speculated that the association between the word pasture and biblical mentions made lawns a cultural affinity for some, the damp climate of maritime Western Europe in the north made lawns possible to grow and manage. They were not a part of gardens in other regions and cultures of the world until contemporary influence, before the invention of mowing machines in 1830, lawns were managed very differently. They were an element of wealthy estates and manor houses, in most situations, they were also pasture land maintained through grazing by sheep or other livestock. Areas of grass grazed regularly by rabbits, horses or sheep over a period often form a very low. This was the meaning of the word lawn, and the term can still be found in place names. Some forest areas where extensive grazing is practiced still have these seminatural lawns, for example, in the New Forest, England, such grazed areas are common, and are known as lawns, for example Balmer Lawn. It was not until the 17th and 18th century that the garden and they were made up of meadow plants, such as camomile, a particular favorite. In the early 17th century, the Jacobean epoch of gardening began, during this period, in the early 18th century, landscape gardening for the aristocracy entered a golden age, under the direction of William Kent and Lancelot Capability Brown. They refined the English landscape garden style with the design of natural, or romantic, Brown, remembered as Englands greatest gardener, designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure. His influence was so great that the contributions to the English garden made by his predecessors Charles Bridgeman and his work still endures at Croome Court, Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle, Harewood House, Bowood House, Milton Abbey, in traces at Kew Gardens and many other locations. His landscapes were fundamentally different from what they replaced, the formal gardens of England which were criticised by Alexander Pope
15.
Wales national rugby union team
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The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy, Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 26 times outright. Wales most recent championship win came in 2013, the governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union, was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales performances in the Home Nations Championship continued to improve, experiencing their first golden age between 1900 and 1911 and they first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the two World Wars, but experienced a golden age between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships. Wales played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best ever result of third, following the sport allowing professionalism in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and, in 2005, won their first Six Nations Grand Slam. That was the first Grand Slam won by a team playing most of the matches away from home, Wales won two more Grand Slams in 2008 and in 2012, and in 2011 came fourth in the Rugby World Cup. Their home ground is the Millennium Stadium, currently known for reasons as Principality Stadium. Eight former Welsh players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, Rugby union took root in Wales in 1850, when Reverend Rowland Williams became Vice-Principal at St Davids College, Lampeter, where he introduced the sport. Wales played their first international on 19 February 1881, organised by Newports Richard Mullock, Wales played against England, losing by seven goals, one drop goal, on 12 March 1881, the Welsh Rugby Union was formed at The Castle Hotel, Neath. Two years later, the Home Nation Championship – now the Six Nations Championship – was first played, however, rugby in Wales developed and, by the 1890s, the Welsh had developed the four three-quarters formation. This formation – with seven backs and eight forwards, instead of six backs and nine forwards – revolutionised the sport and was adopted almost universally at international. With the four three-quarter formation Wales became Home International Champions for the first time in 1893, Wales next won the Championship in 1900, heralding the first golden age of Welsh rugby which was to last until 1911. They won two more Triple Crowns in 1902 and 1905, and were runners up in 1901,1903 and 1904, when Wales faced New Zealands All Blacks at Cardiff Arms Park in late 1905 they had not lost at home since 1899. The referee ruled a scrum to Wales and the score did not change, the loss was the All Blacks only loss on their 35-match tour. In 1906, Wales again won the Home Championship, and later that played the South African national side. Wales were favourites to win the match, but instead South Africa dominated in the forwards, two years later, on 12 December 1908, Wales played the touring Australians, the Wallabies, who they defeated 9–6. In 1909, Wales won the Home Championship and then, in 1910 – with the inclusion of France – the first Five Nations and it would be nearly forty years before they achieved a Grand Slam again
16.
Wales national football team
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The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales, the body for football in Wales. During their history, Wales have qualified for two international tournaments. They reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 FIFA World Cup and they reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016 after beating Belgium in the quarter-final match on 1 July 2016. This was, therefore, the first time that Wales had reached the semi-final of a major tournament, Wales also progressed through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-final, which was played on a home and away leg basis but they did not feature in the finals tournament. At all levels including the teams the Welsh national team draws players primarily from clubs in the English football league system. The main professional Welsh clubs play in the English leagues, with some full-time and part-time professional clubs playing in the Welsh football league system. Wales played its first competitive match on 25 March 1876 against Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland took the spoils winning 2–0. Wales first match against England came in 1879 – a 2–1 defeat at the Kennington Oval, London and in 1882 Wales faced Ireland for the first time, the associations of the four Home Nations met in Manchester on 6 December 1882 to set down a set of worldwide rules. This meeting saw the establishment of the International Football Association Board to approve changes to the rules, the 1883–84 season saw the formation of the British Home Championship, a tournament which was played annually between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, until 1983–84. Wales were champions on 12 occasions, winning seven times whilst sharing the title five times. As a result, Wales did not enter the first three World Cups, in 1932 Wales played host to the Republic of Ireland, the first time they played against a side from outside the four home nations. A year later, Wales played a match outside the United Kingdom for the first time when they travelled to Paris to take on France in a match which was drawn 1–1. The top two teams were to qualify for the finals in Brazil, but Wales finished bottom of the group. The 1950s were an age for Welsh football with stars such as Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones, Alf Sherwood, Jack Kelsey, Trevor Ford, Ronnie Burgess, Terry Medwin. Wales made its only World Cup finals tournament appearance in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, however, their path to qualification was unusual. In the Asian/African qualifying zone Egypt and Sudan had refused to play against Israel following the Suez crisis, as a result, FIFA proclaimed Israel winners of their respective group. However, FIFA did not want a team to qualify for the World Cup finals without actually playing a match and so lots were drawn of all the second placed teams in UEFA
17.
1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
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The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Cardiff, Wales from 18–26 July 1958. The Cardiff Games introduced the Queens Baton Relay, which has conducted as a prelude to every British Empire. The Commonwealth Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, were held at the Cardiff Arms Park in the centre Cardiff, a new Wales Empire Pool was constructed for the event. The Sophia Gardens Pavilion was used for the boxing and wrestling events,178,000 tickets were eventually sold during the Games. 36 countries and territories were represented, being the largest number to date, with a significant number of competing for the first time at the 1958 British Empire. South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961 and next appeared at the Games in 1994, host nation Boxing Events were at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. The track cycling events were held at the Maindy Stadium in Cardiff, the rowing events were held on Llyn Padarn in Llanberis. Swimming events were held at the Wales Empire Pool in Cardiff, diving events were held at the Wales Empire Pool in Cardiff. Commonwealth Games Official Site Pathe news, Commonwealth Games Cardiff 1958 reel 1 Pathe news, Commonwealth Games Cardiff 1958 reel 2
18.
1991 Rugby World Cup
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Following on from the success of the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, the 1991 World Cup received increased attention and was seen as a major global sporting event for the first time. This however resulted in one new side qualifying for the tournament. The same sixteen team format was used with just minor changes to the points system. Also notable in pool play was that Canada finished second in their pool to qualify for the quarterfinals in what remains Canadas best performance in the Rugby World Cup, Scotland beat Ireland to top their pool, again both teams qualifying. In the quarter-finals, neither Canada nor Western Samoa proved a match for New Zealand or Scotland, meanwhile, England knocked out 1987 finalist France in a bruising encounter. The World Cup Final was played at Twickenham Stadium in London, the following 16 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Of the 16 teams, eight of those places were filled by quarterfinalists from the 1987 World Cup. 25 nations competed in a process designed to fill the remaining eight spots. In the event, there was one change from the 1987 tournament. Nations were awarded 2 points for a win,1 for a draw and zero for a loss, the runners-up of each pool faced the winners of a different pool in the quarter finals. The winners moved on to the finals, with the winners then moving onto the final. The event was broadcast in the United Kingdom by ITV who took over the rights from the BBC, official Rugby World Cup Site Full Results and Statistics at ESPN World Cup Referees on RugbyRefs. com
19.
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
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Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the county of Glamorgan a. k. a. Founded in 1888, Glamorgan held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship before the First World War, in 1921, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to senior status as an official first-class team. Glamorgan has been classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963, Glamorgan is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. They have won the English County Championship competition in 1948,1969 and 1997, Glamorgan have also beaten international teams from all of the Test playing nations, including Australia whom they defeated in successive tours in 1964 and 1968. The clubs limited overs team is called simply Glamorgan, kit colours are blue and yellow for limited overs matches. The club is based in Cardiff and plays most of its games at Sophia Gardens. Matches have also occasionally played at Swansea, Colwyn Bay. Cricket probably reached Wales and Glamorgan by the end of the 17th century, the earliest known reference to cricket in Glamorgan is a match at Swansea in 1780. The formation of Glamorgan CCC took place on 6 July 1888 at a meeting in the Angel Hotel, the club competed in the Minor Counties Championship for many years and then applied for first-class status after the First World War. Glamorgan CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Cardiff Arms Park on 18–20 May 1921, riches, Glamorgan won this first match by 23 runs. Only one more victory was achieved that summer, Glamorgan lost 14 games, Glamorgan won the county championship in 1948 under the captaincy of Wilf Wooller, whose advocacy of high fielding standards was the key to beating stronger batting and bowling teams. Glamorgan was the venue for a piece of cricket history on 31 August 1968 when, during Glamorgan v Notts at Swansea. Glamorgan won the championship again under Tony Lewis in 1969 and Matthew Maynard in 1997, Lewis is the only Glamorgan player to captain England in Tests, when he became the first Glamorgan cricketer to lead an England tour abroad to play series against India and Pakistan in 1972-73. Maynard, who retired at the end of the 2005 season, was one of the most successful batsmen in first class cricket over the previous 20 years. The 2005 captain, off spinner Robert Croft, proved effective on England tours, the club had plans in April 2006 to extend its grounds in the Grade 2 Listed Heritage Park that is Sophia Gardens, with a 17,500 seat super-stadium. Sophia Gardens became a Test cricket venue in 2009 when the First Test in the Ashes series against Australia was held there and it is currently known as The SSE SWALEC due to the clubs commercial partnership with electricity supply and distribution company SWALEC. Denotes the players number, as worn on the back of their shirt
20.
Cardiff Cricket Club
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Cardiff Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Whitchurch, Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1819 and forms the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club with its headquarters at Cardiff Arms Park, the first team plays in the South Wales Premier Cricket League. It is one of the oldest sporting organisations in the whole of Wales, Cardiff Cricket Club was established in 1819. The club initially played on cricket grounds, mostly in eastern Cardiff. The club then moved to Cardiff Arms Park, but it was more of a gentlemens club, by 1867 the Bute Estate agreed that the cricket club could rent the eastern part of the Arms Park at only one shilling per annum. By April 1875 the Bute Estate decided to access to the Arms Park to Cardiff Cricket Club. In 1922 Cardiff Football Club, later renamed Cardiff Rugby Football Club, the cricket section of the Athletic Club acquired a 99 lease from the company at a rental of £200 per annum, with Glamorgan County Cricket Club paying rent for the use of the park for county cricket. The existing wooden cricket and rugby pavilion had been demolished and new changing rooms included in the new North Stand, in 1937 a new cricket pavilion was built for the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club. Cardiff Athletic Club however wanted to develop new facilities for both the bowls and tennis sections, and did not allow new seating to be erected just for county games, Cardiff Cricket Club played their final game at Cardiff Arms Park against Lydney Cricket Club on 17 September 1966. In 1997 the club moved to their permanent home of the Diamond cricket ground at Forest Farm, Whitchurch, Cardiff, Cardiff Cricket Club have won the South Wales Premier Cricket League in both 2009 and 2011. Sport in Cardiff Cardiff Athletic Club – Cardiff Cricket Club section Official website of Cardiff Cricket Club
21.
Welsh language
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Welsh is a member of the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages. It is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, historically it has also been known in English as the British tongue, Cambrian, Cambric and Cymric. The United Kingdom Census 2011 counted 3.1 million residents of Wales, 27% of whom had been born outside Wales, and 73% of whom reported having no Welsh language skills. Of residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and this can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20. 8% of the population reported being able to speak Welsh. 787,854 of residents in Wales aged three and over had one or more skills in Welsh, in surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language. An estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people speak Welsh in England, Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric. The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, the name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning foreign speech. The native term for the language is Cymraeg, and for the name of the country of Wales it is Cymru, Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons. Classified as Insular Celtic, the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. An 8th century inscription in Tywyn shows the language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns, the next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language. Both the works of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin were in this era, Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells, in his Descriptio Cambriae, during one of the Kings many raids in the 12th century, Henry asked an old man of Pencader, Carmarthenshire whether the Welsh people could resist his army
22.
BT Sport
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BT Sport is a group of sports television channels provided by BT Consumer, a division of BT Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland that was launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, BT Sport is available on the BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media television platforms in the UK. BT Sport also holds shared rights to the FA Cup with the BBC, the Scottish Professional Football League with Sky Sports and BBC Alba and the Rugby Champions and Challenge Cups with Sky Sports. On 2 May 2013, BT Sport 1 and 2 were added to the BT TV EPG, on Sky, the channels replaced BTs placeholders, Sailing 1 and 2. The BT-owned terrestrial feeds of Sky Sports 1 and 2, which were used for Top Up TV, were dropped on 1 July in favour of BT Sport 1 and 2. The terrestrial feeds were available to BT TV subscribers in non-BT Infinity enabled areas. These were removed from the platform in 2015, BT signed a wholesale deal with Virgin Media on 15 August 2013 bringing the channels free of charge to customers in the TV XL package. In Ireland BT Sport is bundled with eir Sports subscriptions, the deal means BT Sport 1,2,3 & ESPN is part of the eir Sports Pack in Ireland, along with eir Sports 1 and eir Sports 2. An interactive service, BT Sport Extra, launched in September 2014, One video stream was available at launch which expanded to seven in August 2015. BT Sport Extra can be accessed directly from the EPG on BT TV and from the red button on Sky, on 4 August 2016, BT Sport Europe was renamed BT Sport 3 and BT Sport Ultra HD to BT Sport 4K UHD. Customers who wish to view the channels can subscribe to the BT Sport Pack for £6 per month. BT also provide broadband access to the channels via the BT Sport online player. Sky customers in the UK who subscribe to the BT Sport Pack also have access to the AMC from BT channel. BT showed 38 live matches from the Premier League each season, including 18 first pick matches, from the 2013/14 season to the end of the 2015/16 season. In October 2012 BT announced it had also agreed deals to air Serie A, Ligue 1, Brasileirão and Major League Soccer, all of which were previously broadcast on ESPN, in January 2013 BT announced they will also broadcast Womens Tennis Association matches from 21 tournaments. This led to the shutting down of ESPN Classic and ESPN America in favour of the BT Sport channels, on 7 May 2013, BT Sport acquired the rights to air Ultimate Fighting Championship events and taped programming in the UK and Ireland for three years, from 1 August. BT Sport also broadcasts the FA WSL, A-League and programming from Red Bull Media House, on 9 May 2013, BT announced that they had acquired the exclusive UK TV rights to MotoGP along with the Moto2 and Moto3 championships. Later in May BT Sport acquired rights to the Football Conference for two years with 25-30 live games a season, including the end-of-season play-offs
23.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
24.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
25.
Bowling green
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A bowling green is a finely-laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on them, the worlds oldest surviving bowling green is the Southampton Old Bowling Green, which was first used in 1299. Bowling green specifications for the lawn bowls variation of the sport are stipulated in World Bowls Laws of the Sport of Bowls. For the variant known as crown green bowls, no such stipulation is documented by the governing body and bowls clubs are free to form the dimensions. Several games of bowls can be played on a green at the same time. The number of games depends on the dimensions of the green, each game is played on its own portion of the green. These divided portions of the green are called rinks, the length of a green in the direction of play will be between 31 metres and 40 metres. The green should have a level playing surface made of grass or of an approved synthetic material. The green is surrounded by a ditch between 200 millimetres and 380 millimetres wide, and between 50 millimetres and 200 millimetres deep, the ditch has a bank against its outer edge. The top of the bank should be at least 230 millimetres about the level of the green. Generally, greens are built in a shape as close to 40 metres as possible. This allows for games to be played in either direction, the advantages of playing in different directions are that, the wear on the green is more even, and, the players do not need to face towards the sun when playing. In cities, where space is limited, greens are rarely 40 metres in length. It is not unusual to find greens that are rectangular in shape, on rectangular greens games are played in one direction only. The length of a rectangular green is still between 31 metres and 40 metres, the width can vary from as little as 8 metres to as much as 60 metres or more. The width of a rink for outdoor play will be between 4.3 metres and 5.8 metres, the centre line of the rink can be marked along the surface of the green starting at 2 metres from each end ditch. The side boundaries of each rink are shown by boundary pegs, the side boundary of the outside rink should be at least 600 millimetres from the side ditch. Laws of the Game for Crown Green Bowls Crown Green Bowling at Bowls. org. uk
26.
European Rugby Champions Cup
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The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby. It is the competition for clubs whose countries national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues, introduced in 2014, the competition replaced the Heineken Cup, which had run since 1995, following disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition. Saracens are the current holders of the cup, having won their first cup by beating Racing 92 in the 2016 final, Toulouse have won the competition a record four times, the last of which was in 2010. The Heineken Cup was launched in the summer of 1995 on the initiative of the then Five Nations Committee to provide a new level of cross border competition. Twelve sides representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, Romania and France competed in four pools of three with the winners going directly into the semi-finals. English and Scottish teams did not take part in the inaugural competition, from an inauspicious beginning in Romania, where Toulouse defeated Farul Constanţa 54–10 in front of a small crowd, the competition gathered momentum and crowds grew. Toulouse went on to become the first European cup winners, eventually beating Cardiff in extra time in front of a crowd of 21,800 at Cardiff Arms Park, clubs from England and Scotland joined the competition in 1996–97. European rugby was further expanded with the advent of the European Challenge Cup for teams that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup, the Heineken Cup now had 20 teams divided into four pools of five. Only Leicester and Brive reached the stages with 100 per cent records and ultimately made it to the final, Cardiff. After 46 matches, Brive beat Leicester 28–9 in front of a crowd of 41,664 at Cardiff Arms Park, the season 1997–98 saw the introduction of a home and away format in the pool games. The five pools of four teams, which guaranteed each team a minimum of six games, Brive reached the final again but were beaten late in the game by Bath with a penalty kick. Ironically, English clubs had decided to withdraw from the competition in a dispute over the way it was run, without English clubs, the 1998–99 tournament revolved around France, Italy and the Celtic nations. Sixteen teams took part in four pools of four, French clubs filled the top positions in three of the groups and for the fourth consecutive year a French club, in the shape of Colomiers from the Toulouse suburbs, reached the final. Despite this it was to be Ulsters year as they beat Toulouse and reigning French champions Stade Français on their way to the final at Lansdowne Road, Ulster then carried home the trophy after a 21–6 win over Colomiers in front of a capacity 49,000 crowd. For the first time clubs from four different nations – England, Ireland, France, munsters defeat of Toulouse in Bordeaux ended Frances record of having contested every final and Northampton Saints victory over Llanelli made them the third English club to make it to the final. The competition was decided with a final between Munster and Northampton, with Northampton coming out on top by a point to claim their first major honour. England supplied two of the 2000–01 semi-finalists – Leicester Tigers and Gloucester – with Munster and French champions Stade Français also reaching the last four
27.
Bleacher
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In the United States, bleachers or stands are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row of benches. Benches range from simple planks to elaborate ones with backrests, many bleachers are open to the ground below so that there are only the planks to sit and walk on. Some bleachers have vertical panels beneath the benches, either partially or completely blocking the way to the ground, the term bleachers used in this sense can be traced back to at least 1889. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary states that the seating area was called the bleaching boards. Dickson lists as a secondary definition the fans sitting in them, by the early 1900s, the term bleachers was being used for both the seating area and its occupants. In modern usage the term bleachers almost always only to the seating area. Terms such as Chicagos bleacher bums, or Yankee Stadiums Bleacher Creatures are also used, Bleacher structures vary depending on the location, but most outdoor modern bleachers have either an aluminium tube or steel angle understructure or steel I-beams. Most smaller bleachers are frame-type bleachers and most larger bleachers are I-Beam bleachers, bleachers range in size from small, modular, aluminum stands that can be moved around soccer or hockey fields to large permanent structures that flank each side of an American football field. Some bleachers have locker rooms underneath them, in indoor gyms, bleachers can be built in so that they slide on a track or on wheels and fold in an accordion-like, stacking manner. These type of bleachers are known as telescoping bleachers, in baseball stadiums, the bleachers are usually located beyond the outfield fences. However, center-field bleachers are located in the line of sight of the batter, as a result, most stadiums have vacant areas or black backgrounds where the seats would be. This is known as either the Backdrop or the Batters eye, the old Yankee Stadium featured black-painted vacant bleachers, nicknamed the black by baseball fans. The popularity of American football has made seating on outdoor and indoor football fields a necessity, professional football, colleges, high schools, and even middle schools have bleacher systems set up to accommodate their fans. They vary in size from 10 feet wide that seat 25 all the way to full stadiums that seat thousands and it is not uncommon to see football bleachers that rise hundreds of feet into the air. American Football bleachers are commonly made from concrete or aluminum with concrete footings or superstructure underneath, all-seater Mobile bleacher Grandstand Terrace The gods Nosebleed seats Nussli Group, Various Grandstand and Bleacher Systems Euro Group UK explanation of different types of bleacher seating
28.
Millennium Stadium
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The Millennium Stadium, currently known for sponsorship purposes as the Principality Stadium, is the national stadium of Wales, located in Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby team and has also staged games of the Wales national football team. It also hosted six FA Cup finals and several other high-profile football fixtures while Wembley Stadium was being redeveloped, the stadium is owned by Millennium Stadium plc, a subsidiary company of the Welsh Rugby Union. The stadium was designed by a led by architects Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture. WS Atkins were the engineers, and the building contractor was Laing. The total construction cost of the stadium was £121 million, of which the Millennium Commission funded £46 million, with a total seating capacity of 74,500, it is the third-largest stadium in the Six Nations Championship behind the Stade de France and Twickenham. It is also the second-largest stadium in the world with a retractable roof and was the second stadium in Europe to have this feature. Listed as a category four stadium by UEFA, the stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, due to take place on 3 June 2017. In 2015, the Welsh Rugby Union announced a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Principality Building Society that saw the renamed as the Principality Stadium from early 2016. Until 1969, Cardiff RFC and Wales both played their matches on the same pitch at Cardiff Arms Park, but all this changed in the 1969–70 season. By 7 April 1984 the National Stadium was officially opened, however, in 1994, a redevelopment committee was set up to consider redeveloping the National Stadium, and by 1995 the WRU had been chosen to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup. France was also about to build the Stade de France, which would have a capacity of more than 80,000 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The original capacity of the National Stadium was 65,000,11,000 of 53,000 capacity was on the East Terrace and the conversion to an all-seater stadium would have reduced the stadium capacity still further to just 47,500. It was only visible from across the River Taff in the west. Access to the ground was very restricted with the main entrance being a narrow opening in Westgate Street to the east which was shared by both vehicles and spectators alike. The options for the new stadium included adding a third tier to the existing National Stadium, the committee eventually chose a new stadium on the same site but with considerable increase in its capacity. It would also involve moving the alignment of the stadium from west-east to north-south and this was the option supported by the Millennium Commission. It would become the fourth redevelopment of the Cardiff Arms Park site and it was also decided that the new stadium should have a sliding roof to accommodate a multi-use venue, with a grass pitch for rugby and football
29.
1999 Rugby World Cup
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The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia and this was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sports professional era. Although the majority of matches were played outside Wales the opening ceremony, the first match, qualification for the final 16 places took place between 63 other nations. The 1999 tournament saw the introduction of a repechage, effectively a chance for teams that had finished runners-up in each qualifying zone. The tournament began with the ceremony in the newly-built Millennium Stadium, with Wales beating Argentina 23–18. The overall attendance for the tournament was 1.75 million, the following 20 teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Of the 20 teams, only four of those places were automatically allocated and these went to the champions, runners-up and the third-placed nations at the 1995 and the tournament host, Wales. A record 65 nations from five continents were involved in the qualification process designed to fill the remaining 16 spots. Wales won the right to host the World Cup in 1999, other venues in Wales were the Racecourse Ground and Stradey Park. An agreement was reached so that the unions in the Five Nations Championship also hosted matches. Venues in England included Twickenham and Welford Road, rugby union venues, as well as Ashton Gate in Bristol and the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield, venues in Ireland included Lansdowne Road, the traditional home of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Ravenhill and Thomond Park. France used five venues, the most of any nation, including the French national stadium, Stade de France, the five pool runners-up and the best third-placed side qualified for the quarter-final play-offs. The unusual format meant that two winners in the quarter-finals would have to play each other. From the quarter-final stage it became a knockout tournament. The semi-final losers played off for third place, the draw and format for the knock-out stage was set as follows. The tournament began on 1 October 1999 in the newly built Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the Pool stage of the tournament played out as was widely expected with the Tri Nations teams of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia all winning their pools easily without losing a single game. For the then Five Nations Championship teams who all played their matches in their own countries it was a case of mixed fortunes with France winning their pool without losing a game. Host Wales also won their pool, though they suffered 31–38 defeat at the hands of Samoa in front of a crowd at the Millennium Stadium
30.
National stadium
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Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a countrys national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to a football stadium. Usually, a stadium will be in or very near a countrys capital city or largest city. It is generally the countrys largest and most lavish sports venue with a history of hosting a major moment in sports. In many, but not all cases, it is used by a local team. Many countries, including Spain and the United States, do not have a national stadium designated as such, Stadium Australia, currently known under a sponsorship deal as ANZ Stadium, the 2000 Sydney Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 84,000. There exists a popular rivalry between ANZ Stadium and the MCG due to lasting rivalries between football codes and the respective cities, there was an implied claim to being the new national stadium when it opened in 1999 with the name Stadium Australia. Cricket is no longer played at the venue, while Australian rules will not be played there beyond 2016, large sports events are commonly held in alternate venues. The second largest and most well known stadium in Brazil is Estádio do Maracanã located at Rio de Janeiro, the national team plays at several venues throughout the country. Likewise, Canadian football and lacrosse, two prominent sports unique to Canadian culture, play at venues across the nation. Prior to confederation into Canada, the Dominion of Newfoundland used King George V Park as its national stadium, Estádio da Várzea Stade Barthélemy Boganda Stade Idriss Mahamat Ouya Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos Beijing National Stadium Chinese football national team does not have a national stadium. The team plays games in Beijing Workers Stadium, Shanghai Hongkou Stadium, Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, Stade Omar Bongo Independence Stadium Boris Paichadze Stadium The German national football team usually plays at different stadiums throughout the country. See the Northern Ireland section for other cases, teddy Stadium Sammy Ofer Stadium Nokia Arena Canada Stadium The Italian national football team usually plays at different stadiums throughout the country. Stadio Olimpico In the case of union, the national team plays matches throughout the country. Previously, Stadio Flaminio served the same purpose, darius and S. Mexicos national baseball and basketball teams play at various venues throughout the country. Zimbru Stadium Stade Louis II Podgorica City Stadium Marrakesh Stadium Hage Geingob Stadium Olympisch Stadion The national football team has no dedicated stadium and it plays at venues around the country. However the most commonly used stadium is the Amsterdam ArenA in Amsterdam, Stadion Narodowy - home stadium of Poland national football team. National Rugby Stadium, rugby union national stadium Estádio do Jamor, however, the national football team very seldom plays there
31.
Cardiff City Stadium
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The Cardiff City Stadium is a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2014, the now officially holds 33,280 supporters - meaning that it is the 24th largest stadium in the United Kingdom in terms of capacity. The stadium replaced Ninian Park as Cardiff Citys home ground in 2009 and it also hosted the home matches of the Cardiff Blues rugby union team until the 2011–12 season, although originally the Blues had a lease until 2029. After the Millennium Stadium, it is the second largest stadium in Cardiff, the stadium is part of the Leckwith development, which also includes the Cardiff International Sports Stadium. A branded sponsor name will be assigned as and when the rights are sold. The stadium was opened on 22 July 2009, with Cardiff City playing a friendly match against Celtic. The stadium was built on the site of the former Cardiff Athletics Stadium, in November 2002 the club and Cardiff Council signed an outline agreement for the development, subject to later agreement for outline planning permission. This was increased in light of Cardiff Citys promotion to the Championship in May 2003 with local fears over traffic, on 9 September 2003 the Welsh Assembly gave approval to the plan. In April 2004, Cardiff Council gave the first phase covering the stadium with a capacity of 30,000 seats, on 1 March 2005 the club delayed the development until at least July 2005. After a 1–0 home loss to Sheffield United and a mobbing by fans, on 6 March 2005 Hammam apologised to fans, on 31 January 2006 the developers secured Asda as the lead retailer of the new development, which enabled the final funding of the stadium to start. This allowed the council timetable to extend by four months to September 2006, on 24 October 2006 Laing ORouke won the contract to develop the 30,000 seat stadium, which Ridsdale stated would be ready for December 2008. In March 2007, the plans were altered to allow construction to begin as soon as possible. The former chairman of Cardiff City, Steve Borley, said in March 2008 that We are working to raise the capacity, the task is to raise that even further, and we believe it could be almost 28,000 when the stadium opens. When work finally commenced Peter Ridsdale stated that he expected the stadium to be ready by Christmas 2008, although some believe this slight delay was caused by Cardiff Citys ongoing legal action with Langston, it was actually caused by unexpectedly poor weather during the summer of 2007. Land clearance started on 21 February 2007, while on 9 May, final finances were put in place for Laing ORourke to bring equipment on site and start construction. Developers and contractors The lead developer was PMG Developments, a Cardiff-based property developer led by Cardiff City director Paul Guy, cowlin was picked as the preferred contractor for the new athletic stadium. Required analysis of soil and water for the site was performed by TES Bretby, schedule Leckwith Road was widened to a dual carriageway over 18 months, with the scheme allowing for an extra access lane to become available on matchdays
32.
Greyhound racing
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Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhound dogs are raced around a track. There are two forms of racing, track racing and coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure that travels ahead of the dogs on a rail until the cross the finish line. As with horse racing, greyhound races often allow the public to bet on the outcome, in coursing the dogs chase a lure. In many countries greyhound racing is purely amateur and solely for enjoyment, Animal rights and animal welfare groups are critical of the welfare of dogs in the commercial racing industry where, in some countries, dog trainers illegally use live baiting. A greyhound adoption movement has arisen to assist retired racing dogs in finding homes as pets, modern greyhound racing has its origins in coursing. The first recorded attempt at racing greyhounds on a track was made beside the Welsh Harp reservoir, Hendon, England, in 1876. The industry emerged in its modern form, featuring circular or oval tracks, with the invention of the mechanical or artificial hare, in 1912, by an American. O. P. Smith had altruistic aims for the industry to stop the killing of the jack rabbits, in 1919, Smith opened the first professional dog-racing track with stands in Emeryville, California. The certificates system led the way to parimutuel betting, as quarry and on-course gambling, in the United States during the 1930s. The oval track and mechanical hare were introduced to Britain, in 1926, by another American, Charles Munn, in association with Major Lyne-Dixson, a Canadian, who was a key figure in coursing. Finding other supporters proved to rather difficult however and with the General Strike of 1926 looming, eventually they met Brigadier-General Critchley, who in turn introduced them to Sir William Gentle. The industry was successful in cities and towns throughout the U. K. – by the end of 1927, Betting has always been a key ingredient of greyhound racing, both through on-course bookmakers and the totalisator, first introduced in 1930. Like horse racing, it is popular to bet on the races as a form of parimutuel gambling. Greyhound racing enjoyed its highest UK attendances just after the Second World War— for example, the industry experienced a decline from the early 1960s- after the 1960 UK Betting and Gaming Act permitted off-course cash betting. Sponsorship, limited coverage, and the later abolition of on-course betting tax have partially offset this decline. In addition to the eight countries where commercial greyhound racing exists, in 2016, a bill was passed through the government of the state New South Wales, in Australia to ban greyhound racing. This new law was to come into effect in the middle of 2017 but was reversed in late 2016, Greyhound adoption groups frequently report that the dogs from the tracks have tooth problems, the cause of which is debated
33.
British baseball
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British baseball, sometimes called Welsh baseball, or in the areas where it is popular simply baseball, is a bat-and-ball game played primarily in Wales and England. It is closely related to the game of rounders, and indeed emerged as a sport when governing bodies in Wales. As a traditional game, its roots go back much further. The sport differs in a number of ways from the known game of North American baseball. Delivery of the ball – The ball is thrown underarm, similar to softball, as in cricket the delivery is known as bowling. In North American baseball it is delivered overhand, sidearm, or underarm and is called pitching, number of players – There are 11 players in a team with no substitutions allowed. North American baseball is played by nine players at a time, and while substitutions are allowed, number of innings – In British baseball, each team has 2 innings. An innings ends when all 11 players are dismissed or stranded on base. A regulation game of North American baseball consists of 9 innings, bases – the bases are designated by poles rather than bags. Bat – the bat has a striking surface, where in North American baseball it is entirely round. Scoring system – In British baseball a player scores a run for every base he/she reaches after hitting the ball and he or she will not subsequently score when moving around the bases on another players hit. The equivalent of a home run scores four runs, as in cricket a bonus run can be awarded for excessively-wide deliveries. In North American baseball, a player scores a run only on a circuit of all four bases, whether on his own or another players hit. Field of play – The ball can be hit in any direction, despite these similarities with cricket, the game is much more like North American baseball in style and operates on a near identical, but smaller, diamond. There are also similarities to rounders, which is often considered a transitional game between cricket and baseball. The basic concepts of British baseball cross-blend the basic concepts of cricket, the modern rules of British baseball were codified in 1892, when the term rounders ceased to be the sports official name. During the same time, the South Wales Baseball Association was established to govern the sport which was popular in Cardiff, the first recognised international match was held between England and Wales on 3 August 1908 at the Harlequins Ground in Cardiff, Wales winning 122 –118. The International Baseball Board was founded in 1927 and is the governing body
34.
Boxing
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, however, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from. In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, however, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
35.
Michael Jackson
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Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actor, and philanthropist. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music, dance, the eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music, the popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Jacksons 1987 album Bad spawned the U. S and he continued to innovate with videos such as Black or White and Scream throughout the 1990s, and forged a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and his distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous artists of various music genres. Thriller is the album of all time, with estimated sales of 65 million copies worldwide. Jacksons other albums, including Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous and he is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by Guinness World Records. Jackson won hundreds of awards, making him the most awarded recording artist in the history of popular music. He became the first artist in history to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when Love Never Felt So Good reached number nine on May 21,2014. Jackson traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism, and, in 2000, aspects of Jacksons personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of sexual abuse, but the civil case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of child sexual abuse allegations. While preparing for his concert series, This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25,2009. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician, Jacksons death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and a live broadcast of his public memorial service was viewed around the world. Forbes ranks Jackson as the dead celebrity with earnings of $825 million in 2016. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958 and his mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovahs Witness. She played clarinet and piano and once aspired to be a country-and-western performer, michaels father, Joseph Walter Joe Jackson, a former boxer, was a steelworker at U. S. Steel
36.
David Bowie
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David Robert Jones, known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a figure in music for over five decades, regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music, during his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the worlds best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, in the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, born in Brixton, South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, eventually studying art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. Space Oddity became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969, after a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single Starman and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, in 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station. Heroes and Lodger followed, each reached the UK top five. He then reached his peak in 1983 with Lets Dance. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with styles, including industrial. He stopped concert touring after 2004, and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006, in 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the release of The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar. David Robert Jones was born on 8 January 1947, in Brixton, south London and his mother, Margaret Mary Peggy, was born in Kent, and had Irish ancestry, she worked as a waitress. His father, Haywood Stenton John Jones, from Yorkshire, was an officer for the childrens charity Barnardos. The family lived at 40 Stansfield Road, near the border of the south London areas of Brixton, Bowie attended Stockwell Infants School until he was six years old, acquiring a reputation as a gifted and single-minded child—and a defiant brawler. In 1953, Bowie moved with his family to the suburb of Bromley and his voice was considered adequate by the school choir, and he demonstrated above-average abilities in playing the recorder. Upon listening to Little Richards song Tutti Frutti, Bowie would later say, presleys impact on him was likewise emphatic, I saw a cousin of mine dance to. Hound Dog and I had never seen her get up and be moved so much by anything and it really impressed me, the power of the music
37.
Bon Jovi
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Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, pianist and keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, lead guitarist Phil X. Phil X and McDonald both became members in 2016. In 1986, Bon Jovi achieved widespread global recognition with their third album, the bands fourth album, New Jersey was equally successful in 1988. In 1992, the returned with the album Keep the Faith. Their 2000 single Its My Life, which followed a second hiatus, Bon Jovi have been known to use different styles in their music, which has included country for their 2007 album Lost Highway. Thus far, Bon Jovi has released 13 studio albums, plus six compilations, the band has sold more than 130 million records worldwide and performed more than 2,700 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans. Bon Jovi was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, Jon Bon Jovi began playing piano and guitar in 1975, at the age of 13, with his first band Raze. At 16, Bon Jovi met David Bryan and formed a band called Atlantic City Expressway, still in his teens, Bon Jovi played in the band John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones, playing local clubs like The Fast Lane, and opening for known acts in the area. By 1980, he formed band, The Rest, and opened up for New Jersey acts such as Southside Johnny. Bon Jovi made several demos—including one produced by Billy Squier—and sent them to record companies and his first professional recording was as lead vocals in R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which was part of the Christmas in the Stars album which his cousin co-produced. In 1983, a then-unknown Bon Jovi visited a local radio station WAPP103. 5FM The Apple in Lake Success, New York, and wrote and sang the jingles for the station. He spoke with DJ Chip Hobart and to the director, John Lassman. Bon Jovi was reluctant, but eventually gave them the song, WAPP worked with WOR-TV in nearby Secaucus, NJ on a music video show, Rock 9 Videos, for a short time in 1984. The studio musicians who helped record Runaway—known as The All Star Review—were guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bittan, drummer Frankie LaRocka, the song began to get airplay in the New York area, then other sister stations in major markets picked up the song. In March 1983, Bon Jovi called David Bryan, who in turn called bassist Alec John Such, tapped to play lead guitar was Bon Jovis neighbor, Dave Sabo —though he never officially joined the band. He and Jon promised each other that made it first. Sabo later went on to form the group Skid Row, Jon saw and was impressed with hometown guitarist Richie Sambora
38.
The Rolling Stones
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The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The original line-up consisted of Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as a touring member until his death in 1985. Jones left the less than a month prior to his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor. After Taylor left the band, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and has been on guitar in tandem with Richards ever since, following Wymans departure in 1993, Darryl Jones joined as their touring bassist. Other touring keyboardists for the band have been Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, the band was first led by Jones, but after teaming as the bands songwriters, Jagger and Richards assumed leadership while Jones dealt with legal and personal troubles. The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964, and identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the group began a period of musical experimentation in the mid-1960s that peaked with the psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request. During this period, they were first introduced on stage as The Worlds Greatest Rock, the band continued to release commercially successful records in the 1970s and sold many albums, including Some Girls and Tattoo You, which were their most popular albums worldwide. From 1983 to 1987, tensions between Jagger and Richards almost caused the band to split, however, they managed to patch up their friendship in 1987. They separated temporarily to work on projects and experienced a comeback with Steel Wheels. Since the 1990s, new recorded material from the group has been increasingly less well-received, despite this, the Rolling Stones have continued to be a huge attraction on the live circuit, with stadium tours in the 1990s and 2000s. By 2007, the band had four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time, Voodoo Lounge Tour, Bridges to Babylon Tour, Licks Tour and A Bigger Bang Tour. The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them fourth on the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list and their estimated album sales are above 250 million. They have released 30 studio albums,18 live albums and numerous compilations, Let It Bleed was their first of five consecutive number one studio and live albums in the UK. Sticky Fingers was the first of eight number one studio albums in the US. In 2008, the band ranked 10th on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists chart, in 2012, the band celebrated its 50th anniversary. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were childhood friends and classmates in Dartford, Kent, Jagger had formed a garage band with Dick Taylor, mainly playing Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin Wolf and Bo Diddley material. Jagger met Richards again in 1960 on platform two of Dartford railway station, the Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records that Jagger carried revealed a common interest that prompted their musical partnership
39.
U2
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U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, initially rooted in post-punk, U2s sound grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music, yet has maintained an anthemic sound. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes, popular for their live performances, the group has staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career. The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency, within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album War, by the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The groups fifth album, The Joshua Tree, made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US, With or Without You, facing a backlash and creative stagnation, U2 reinvented themselves in the 1990s through a new musical direction and public image. This experimentation continued through their album, Pop, and the PopMart Tour. U2 regained critical and commercial favour with the records All That You Cant Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history. The groups thirteenth album, Songs of Innocence, was released at no cost through the iTunes Store, U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the worlds best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The band formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976, Larry Mullen Jr. then a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, posted a note on the schools notice board in search of musicians for a new band—six people responded. Mullen later described it as The Larry Mullen Band for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge. Martin, who had brought his guitar and amplifier to the first practice but could not play, did not remain with the group, the group settled on the name Feedback because it was one of the few technical terms they knew. Most of their material consisted of cover songs, which the band admitted was not their forte. Some of the earliest influences on the band were emerging punk rock acts, such as the Jam, the Clash, Buzzcocks, the popularity of punk rock convinced the group that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to being successful. In April 1977, Feedback played their first gig for an audience at St. Fintans High School. Shortly after, the changed their name to The Hype
40.
Sir Thomas Morgan, 1st Baronet
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Major-General Sir Thomas Morgan, 1st Baronet was a Welsh soldier during the English Civil War, and Commander-in-Chief in Scotland during the Restoration. At 16, having at that time little knowledge of any language but Welsh, Morgan fought in the Low Countries and in particular assisted the Dutch in the decisive victory at the battle of the Slaak in 1631. He fought under Fairfax in the English Civil War, in 1645 he was appointed parliamentary governor of Gloucester. In 1646 he took Chepstow Castle and Monmouth, and besieged Raglan Castle, from 1651 to 1657 he assisted General George Monck in Scotland and was promoted to major-general. He was second in command in Flanders in 1657 and knighted on his return in 1658 and he rejoined Monck in Scotland, and played a conspicuous part in the Restoration in Edinburgh. He established the English Expedition to Portugal to help the Portuguese fight the Spanish and he was appointed Governor of Jersey in 1665 repairing the Jersey forts and reorganising the militia. A pamphlet narrating his acts in France and Flanders in 1657 and 1658 and his family home was the Old Court at Llangattock Lingoed, Monmouthshire
41.
Charles I of England
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Charles I was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles was the son of King James VI of Scotland, but after his father inherited the English throne in 1603, he moved to England. He became heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones on the death of his brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Two years later, he married the Bourbon princess Henrietta Maria of France instead, after his succession, Charles quarrelled with the Parliament of England, which sought to curb his royal prerogative. Charles believed in the right of kings and thought he could govern according to his own conscience. Many of his subjects opposed his policies, in particular the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent and he supported high church ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud, and failed to aid Protestant forces successfully during the Thirty Years War. From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War, after his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. Charles refused to accept his captors demands for a constitutional monarchy, re-imprisoned on the Isle of Wight, Charles forged an alliance with Scotland, but by the end of 1648 Oliver Cromwells New Model Army had consolidated its control over England. Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a called the Commonwealth of England was declared. The monarchy was restored to Charless son, Charles II, in 1660, the second son of King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born in Dunfermline Palace, Fife, on 19 November 1600. James VI was the first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in mid-July 1604, Charles left Dunfermline for England where he was to spend most of the rest of his life. His speech development was slow, and he retained a stammer, or hesitant speech. In January 1605, Charles was created Duke of York, as is customary in the case of the English sovereigns second son, Thomas Murray, a Presbyterian Scot, was appointed as a tutor. Charles learnt the usual subjects of classics, languages, mathematics, in 1611, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Eventually, Charles apparently conquered his physical infirmity, which might have been caused by rickets and he became an adept horseman and marksman, and took up fencing. Even so, his public profile remained low in contrast to that of his stronger and taller elder brother, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. However, in early November 1612, Henry died at the age of 18 of what is suspected to have been typhoid, Charles, who turned 12 two weeks later, became heir apparent
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Marquess of Bute
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Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute and this John Stewart was granted the lands of Bute, Arran and Cumbrae by his father. He was known as the Black Stewart because of his dark complexion, the grant of lands was confirmed in 1400 by a charter of Robert III. About 1385, John Stewart of Bute was granted the office of Sheriff of Bute by his father Robert II. He died in 1449, aged 89, at about the time of Mary, Queen of Scots, the family adopted the spelling of Stuart, which she had used while living in France. James Stuart, seventh in descent from the Black Stewart, was created a Baronet, of Bute and his grandson, the third Baronet, represented Bute in the Parliament of Scotland and was one of the Commissioners that negotiated the Union between Scotland and England. In 1703, he was raised to the Peerage of Scotland as Lord Mount Stuart, Cumra and Inchmarnock, Viscount of Kingarth and he was succeeded by his son, the 2nd Earl of Bute and 2nd Lord Mountstuart, Cumra and Inchmarnock, and 4th Baronet. He sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish Representative Peer, on his early death the titles passed to his son, the third Earl. He was a politician and favourite of George III, and served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763, Lord Bute married Mary, daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu and his wife, the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. They were both succeeded by their eldest son, the fourth Earl, in 1766, he married the Hon. Through this marriage vast estates in south Wales came into the Stuart family. In 1796, he was honoured when he was created Earl of Windsor and Viscount Mountjoy, in the Isle of Wight, revivals of the titles held by his wifes family. These titles are also in the Peerage of Great Britain, Lord Butes eldest son and heir, John Stuart, Lord Mount Stuart, married Lady Elizabeth Penelope, daughter and heiress of Patrick McDouall, 6th Earl of Dumfries. Lord Mount Stuarts eldest son John succeeded his grandfather as seventh Earl of Dumfries in 1803. In 1805, he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Crichton before Stuart. He was succeeded by his child, the third Marquess. He was an antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist and architectural patron and it was the 3rd Marquess who first converted to Catholicism, since which time the family have remained Catholic. His son, the fourth Marquess, was also Lord-Lieutenant of Buteshire and his grandson, John Crichton-Stuart, 6th Marquess of Bute, was Lord-Lieutenant of Buteshire from 1967 to 1975
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Wales
Western Samoa
Argentina
Australia
New Zealand
Scotland
England def. 
France 14–6
