1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
Lewis's
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Lewiss was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The parent companies of Lewiss have gone into many times over the years. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became the flagship of the chain of stores operating under the Lewiss name and this store was sold in 2007 to the Vergo Retail Ltd and closed in 2010. The first Lewiss was opened in 1856 in Liverpool by entrepreneur David Lewis, as a mens and boys clothing store, in 1864, Lewiss branched out into womens clothing. In the 1870s, the expanded and added departments, including shoes in 1874. Also in 1879, Lewiss opened one of the worlds first Christmas grottoes in Lewiss Bon Marché, Church Street and his motto was Friends of the People, and he intended the shopping experience to be inclusive. The first Lewiss outside Liverpool opened in nearby Manchester in 1877, the Manchester store included a full scale ballroom on the fifth floor, which was also used for exhibitions. Buying offices were located on the fifth floor until a takeover by Liverpool-based competitor Owen Owen. A fourth store opened in Sheffield in 1884 but proved unprofitable, Louis Cohen took over the business after Lewiss death, and oversaw a period of consolidation. After Louis Cohens death, control passed to Harold and Rex Cohen, New stores were once again opened, in Glasgow, Leeds, Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent and Leicester. Lewiss were generally among the largest department stores in their respective localities, in 1951, the Lewiss group purchased the famous London department store Selfridges and in 1965 became part of the Sears Group headed by Charles Clore. In 1966, the group launched Miss Selfridge Fashions, which would become a store chain in its own right. A branch was opened on Blackpool promenade, next to Blackpool Tower, the building had a distinctive 1960s design, with a turquoise tiled exterior. The companys Manchester store was one of several targets attacked by the Provisional IRA on 27 January 1975, the worlds first Christmas grotto opened in Lewiss in 1879, entitled Christmas Fairyland. A staple of Liverpools festive season, many generations first visited Father Christmas here, since Christmas 2010, the Lewiss grotto manager, display team and staff moved the Lewiss Christmas Grotto to the 4th floor of Rapid Hardware, in the former George Henry Lee building. The company went into administration in 1991 as a result of a combination of problems, including the recession and this resulted in Liverpool competitor Owen Owen buying up several branches of Lewiss. Sir Philip Green revived the selling of toys on a scale, by launching the brand Kids HQ in four Lewiss Owen Owen Stores, including those in Liverpool. The Leicester branch traded independently for a short while, following a management buyout, as Lewiss of Leicester, other branches including the Birmingham store closed down
3.
Selfridges
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Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co. is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flagship store on Londons Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and opened 15 March 1909. Other Selfridges stores opened in the Trafford Centre, Exchange Square in Manchester, Lewiss and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group owned by Charles Clore. Expanded under the Sears group to include branches in Manchester and Birmingham, the shops early history was dramatised in ITVs 2013 series Mr Selfridge. The basis of Selfridges success was his innovative marketing, which was elaborately expressed in his Oxford Street store. Originally from America himself, Selfridge attempted to dismantle the idea that consumerism was strictly an American phenomenon and these techniques have been adopted by modern department stores around the world. Either Selfridge or Marshall Field is popularly held to have coined the phrase the customer is always right, in 1909, after the first cross-Channel flight, Louis Blériots monoplane was put on display at Selfridges, where it was seen by 12,000 people. John Logie Baird made the first public demonstration of moving images by television from the first floor of Selfridges from 1 to 27 April 1925. In the 1920s and 1930s, the roof of the store hosted terraced gardens, cafes, a golf course. The roof, with its views across London, was a popular place for strolling after a shopping trip and was often used for fashion shows. During the Second World War the store was bombed but survived comparatively unscathed besides the famous roof gardens, a Milne-Shaw seismograph was set up on the Oxford Street stores third floor in 1932 attached to one of the buildings main stanchions, where it remained unaffected by traffic or shoppers. It successfully recorded the Belgian earthquake of 11 June 1938, which was felt in London. In 1947, it was given to the British Museum, in 1926 Selfridges set up the Selfridge Provincial Stores company which had expanded over the years to include sixteen provincial stores, but these were sold to the John Lewis Partnership in 1940. The Liverpool-based Lewiss chain of department stores acquired the remaining Oxford Street Shop in 1951 until it was taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group owned by Charles Clore. Under the Sears group, branches in Ilford and Oxford opened, in 1990, Sears Holdings split Selfridges from Lewiss and placed Lewiss in administration a year later. In March 1998, Selfridges acquired its current logo in tandem with the opening of the Manchester Trafford Centre store, in September 1998, Selfridges expanded and opened a department store in the newly-opened Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester. Following its success, Selfridges announced they would open an additional 125, 000-square-foot store in Exchange Square, the Exchange Square store opened in 2002 as Manchester city centre started to return to normal following the 1996 Manchester bombing. A260, 000-square-foot store opened in 2003 in Birminghams Bull Ring, anne Pitcher is the Managing Director of Selfridges, while Irish retailer, Paul Kelly, who has worked for the Weston organisation since the mid-1980s is Managing Director of Selfridges Group
4.
Jowett Cars
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Jowett was a manufacturer of light cars and light commercial vehicles in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England from 1906 to 1954. Jowett was founded in 1901 by brothers Benjamin and William Jowett with Arthur V. Lamb and they started in the cycle business and went on to make V-twin engines for driving machinery. Some early engines found their way locally into other makes of cars as replacements, in 1904 they became the Jowett Motor Manufacturing Company based in Back Burlington Street, Bradford. Their intention was to provide a low weight vehicle at a low price, the prototype could be described as the United Kingdoms first real light car. Engine and gearbox were specifically designed for a car and made largely of aluminium. Its low speed torque and gear ratios were ideally suited to the hills about Bradford, construction of the engine and the rest of the car was robust. The Jowett engine was designed and built for a light car, the production car quickly became popular. It used an 816 cc flat twin water-cooled engine of 6.4 hp, the body was a lightweight open two-seater. Learning popular opinion was that 10 hp was a minimum Jowett advertised their third car as being 8 hp without changing the specification and it became a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1935. That year,1919, a new site was bought at Springfield, Bradford Road, Idle, outside Bradford. Car making started in the new factory in 1920, the first vehicle was the Jowett Seven using an enlarged version of the pre-war flat twin. First it was enlarged to 831 cc then to 907 cc in 1921 when the claim to 8 hp was dropped from advertising, thereafter all Jowetts were Sevens until the introduction of the four-cylinder engine in 1936. The engine developed its maximum torque at low revs and was famed for its pulling power, reliability. Commercial vehicles based on the car chassis were built from 1922. Jowett first exhibited at the London Motor Show in 1921 and gradually broke out of their previous local market, in 1929, the engine received removable cylinder heads to ease maintenance and braking was on all four wheels. Production was briefly suspended in September 1931 when fire swept through the works,1934 saw the launch of the Jowett Kestrel with four-speed gearbox and in 1935 there was the oddly named Jowett Weasel sports tourer. In 1935 the company went public and in 1936 Benjamin Jowett retired, brother William carried on until 1940. Production of cars stopped in 1940 but engine production for motor-generator sets continued alongside aircraft components, the engine was also used in the Jowett engine powered Fire Pump
5.
Tate Britain
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Tate Britain is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in England, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and it is the oldest gallery in the network, having opened in 1897. It is one of the largest museums in the country, the gallery is situated on Millbank, on the site of the former Millbank Prison. Construction, undertaken by Higgs and Hill, commenced in 1893, however, from the start it was commonly known as the Tate Gallery, after its founder Sir Henry Tate, and in 1932 it officially adopted that name. As a consequence, it was renamed Tate Britain in March 2000, the front part of the building was designed by Sidney R. J. Smith with a classical portico and dome behind, and the central sculpture gallery was designed by John Russell Pope. Tate Britain includes the Clore Gallery of 1987, designed by James Stirling, crises during its existence include flood damage to work from the River Thames, and bomb damage during World War II. However, most of the collection was in storage elsewhere during the war. In 1970, the building was given Grade II* listed status, the museum stayed open throughout the three phases of renovation. Completed in 2013, the newly designed sections were conceived by the architects Caruso St John and included a total of nine new galleries, with reinforced flooring to accommodate heavy sculptures. A second part was unveiled later that year, the centrepiece being the reopening of the buildings Thames-facing entrance as well as a new spiral staircase beneath its rotunda, the circular balcony of the rotundas domed atrium, closed to visitors since the 1920s, was reopened. The gallery also now has a dedicated entrance and reception beneath its entrance steps on Millbank. The front entrance is accessible by steps, a side entrance at a lower level has a ramp for wheelchair access. The gallery provides a restaurant and a café, as well as a Friends room and this membership is open to the public on payment of an annual subscription. As well as offices the building complex houses the Prints and Drawings Rooms, as well as the Library. The restaurant features a mural by Rex Whistler, Tate Britain and Tate Modern are now connected by a high speed boat along the River Thames, which runs from Millbank Millennium Pier immediately outside Tate Britain. The boat is decorated with spots, based on paintings of similar appearance by Damien Hirst, the lighting artwork incorporated in the piers structure is by Angela Bulloch. The main display spaces show the permanent collection of historic British art, the gallery also organises career retrospectives of British artists and temporary major exhibitions of British Art. Every three years the gallery stages a Triennial exhibition in which a guest curator provides an overview of contemporary British Art, the 2003 Tate Triennial was called Days Like These
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
J. M. W. Turner
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, RA was an English Romanticist landscape painter. Turner was considered a figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting and he is commonly known as the painter of light. Joseph Mallord William Turner was baptised on 14 May 1775, and it is generally believed he was born between late April and early May. Turner himself claimed he was born on 23 April, but there is no proof and he was born in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, in London, England. His father, William Turner, was a barber and wig maker and his mother, Mary Marshall, came from a family of butchers. A younger sister, Mary Ann, was born in September 1778, the earliest known artistic exercise by Turner is from this period—a series of simple colourings of engraved plates from Henry Boswells Picturesque View of the Antiquities of England and Wales. Around 1786, Turner was sent to Margate on the north-east Kent coast, here he produced a series of drawings of the town and surrounding area foreshadowing his later work. Turner returned to Margate many times in later life, by this time, Turners drawings were being exhibited in his fathers shop window and sold for a few shillings. His father boasted to the artist Thomas Stothard that, My son, in 1789, Turner again stayed with his uncle who had retired to Sunningwell in Berkshire. A whole sketchbook of work from time in Berkshire survives as well as a watercolour of Oxford. The use of sketches on location, as the foundation for later finished paintings. By the end of 1789, he had begun to study under the topographical draughtsman Thomas Malton. Turner learned from him the tricks of the trade, copying and colouring outline prints of British castles. He would later call Malton My real master, topography was a thriving industry by which a young artist could pay for his studies. In the same year of 1789 he entered the Royal Academy of Art schools, when he was 14 years old, Sir Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy, chaired the panel that admitted him. At first Turner showed a keen interest in architecture, but was advised by the architect Thomas Hardwick to continue painting and his first watercolour painting A View of the Archbishops Palace, Lambeth was accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1790 when Turner was 15. As a probationer in the academy, he was drawing from plaster casts of antique sculptures
8.
Profumo affair
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In March 1963, Profumo denied any impropriety in a personal statement to the House of Commons, but was forced to admit the truth a few weeks later. He resigned from the government and from Parliament, the repercussions of the affair severely damaged Macmillans self-confidence, and he resigned as prime minister on health grounds in October 1963. His Conservative Party was marked by the scandal, which may have contributed to its defeat by Labour in the 1964 general election, Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her friendship with Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite who had taken her under his wing. The exposure of the affair generated rumours of other scandals, and drew attention to the activities of Ward. Profumo subsequently sought private atonement as a worker at Toynbee Hall. By 1975 he had been rehabilitated, although he did not return to public life. Keeler found it difficult to escape the negative image attached to her by press, law, in various, sometimes contradictory accounts, she has challenged Dennings conclusions relating to security issues. Wards conviction has been described by analysts as an act of Establishment revenge, in January 2014 his case was under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, with the possibility of a later reference to the Court of Appeal. Dramatisations of the Profumo affair have been shown on stage and screen, in October 1962 Vassall was jailed for 18 years. After suggestions in the press that Vassall had been shielded by his political masters, John Profumo was born in 1915, of Italian descent. He lost his seat in the 1945 general election, but was elected in 1950 for Stratford-on-Avon, from 1951 he held junior ministerial office in successive Conservative administrations. In 1960, Macmillan promoted him to Secretary of State for War, after his marriage in 1954 to Valerie Hobson, one of Britains leading film actresses, he may have conducted casual affairs, using late-night parliamentary sittings as his cover. Profumos tenure as war minister coincided with a period of transition in the forces, involving the end of conscription. His performance was watched with an eye by his opposition counterpart George Wigg. Christine Keeler, born in 1942, left school at 15 with no qualifications and took a series of short-lived jobs in shops, offices and she aspired to be a model, and at 16 had a photograph published in Tit-Bits magazine. In August 1959, she work as a topless showgirl at Murrays Cabaret Club in Beak Street. This long-established club attracted a clientele who, Keeler wrote, could look. Shortly after starting at Murrays, Keeler was introduced to a client, captivated by his charm, she agreed to move into his flat, in a relationship she has described as like brother and sister—affectionate but not sexual
