1.
Shoreditch
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Shoreditch is an inner city district in the historic East End of London and modern Central London within the London Borough of Hackney, lying immediately to the north of the City of London. The districts of Hoxton and Haggerston are part of Shoreditch, but the Shoreditch High Street railway station, lies just outside, the etymology of Shoreditch is debated. One legend holds that the place was originally named Shores Ditch, after Jane Shore, the mistress of Edward IV, however, the area was known as Soersditch long before Jane Shores life. A more plausible origin for the name is Sewer Ditch, in reference to a drain or watercourse in what was once a boggy area and it may have referred to the headwaters of the river Walbrook, which rose in the Curtain Road area. In a further theory, antiquarian John Weever claimed that the derived from Sir John de Soerdich. Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland road are a small sector of the Roman Ermine Street, known also as the Old North Road, it was a major coaching route to the north, exiting the City at Bishopsgate. The east–west course of Old Street–Hackney Road was also originally a Roman Road, connecting Silchester with Colchester. Shoreditch Church is of ancient origin and features in the line when I grow rich say the bells of Shoreditch, from the nursery rhyme Oranges. Shoreditch was the site of a house of canonesses, the Augustinian Holywell Priory and this priory was located between Shoreditch High Street and Curtain Road to east and west and Batemans Row and Holywell Lane to north and south. In 1576 James Burbage built the first playhouse in England, known as The Theatre, some of Shakespeares plays were performed here and at the nearby Curtain Theatre, built the following year and 200 yards to the south. It was here that Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet gained Curtain plaudits, in 1599 Shakespeares Company literally upped sticks and moved the timbers of The Theatre to Southwark at expiration of the lease to construct The Globe. The Curtain continued performing plays in Shoreditch until at least 1627, the suburb of Shoreditch was attractive as a location for these early theatres because it was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. During the 17th century, wealthy traders and Huguenot silk weavers moved to the area, by the 19th century Shoreditch was also the locus of the furniture industry, now commemorated in the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road. However the area declined along with textile and furniture industries and by the end of the 19th century Shoreditch was a byword for crime, prostitution. This situation was not improved by extensive devastation of the stock in the Blitz during World War II. In the late 19th century this was one of the largest theatres in London, in 1926 it was converted into a cinema called The New Olympia Picturedrome. The building was demolished in 1940, sims Reeves, Mrs Marriott and James Anderson all appeared here, also performed were programmes of classical opera and even Shakespeare, with such luminaries as Henry Irving. There was considerable rivalry with the West End theatres, with real rain, a real flood, and a real balloon
2.
London Borough of Hackney
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The London Borough of Hackney is a North East London Borough within Inner London, United Kingdom. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly regarded as being part of east London, the London Plan issued by the Greater London Authority assigns whole boroughs to sub-regions for statutory monitoring, engagement and resource allocation purposes. The most recent iteration of this plan assigns Hackney to the ‘East’ sub-region, while the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to ‘North’ and ‘East’ sub-regions respectively. Hackney is bounded by Islington to the west, Haringey to the north, Waltham Forest to the north-east, Newham to the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east and the City of London to the south-west. Much of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in places as Dalston large housing estates have been joined by newly developed gated communities. In South Hackney, near Victoria Park, terraced Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian housing still survives, the historical and administrative heart of Hackney is the area roughly extending north from Mare Street and surrounding the Church of St John-at-Hackney, known as Hackney Central. To the north of the borough are Upper Clapton and Lower Clapton, Stamford Hill, to the east is the large open space of Hackney Marshes and the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries in the area around the River Lea employ over 3,000 people, some of the area was used for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The borough was formed in 1965 from the area of the metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch. The shield is surmounted by a representation of St. Augustines Tower, the old metropolitan borough of Hackney was closely based on the unusually large ancient parish of the same name. The council displays, in Hackney Town Hall, a portrait of the Queen wearing the robes of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem, in the 13th century the name appears as Hackenaye or Hacquenye, but no certain derivation is advanced. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place Names discusses the origin of the name, the first surviving records of the place name are as Hakney and Hakeneye. This was once a much wilder place than today, the Dictionary suggests that the ‘Hack’ element may also derive from, The Old English ‘Haecc’ meaning a hatch – an entrance to a woodland or common. Or alternatively from ‘Haca’ meaning a hook, and in this context, given the island context, the ‘hatch’ option is unlikely to be correct, so the favoured Hakas Island or the Island on the bend seem more likely. The place name will have originally referred to just the island or possibly both the island and the manor of the name based around it. Subsequently, the name Hackney was applied to the ancient parish of Hackney. At one time most of the area was covered with oak and hazel woodlands, with marshland around the rivers. In Roman times and for a time after, the River Lea was an estuary
3.
City of London
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The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, however, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area. One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was later buried at Ludgate
4.
Bastion
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A bastion is an angular structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly at the corners. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the wall and also the adjacent bastions. It is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries, Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced. By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower, during the Eighty Years War Dutch military engineers developed the concepts further lengthening the faces and shortening the curtain walls of the bastions. To augment this change they placed v shaped outworks in front of the bastions, Bastions differ from medieval towers in a number of respects. Bastions are lower than towers and are normally of similar height to the adjacent curtain wall, the height of towers, although making them difficult to scale, also made them easy for artillery to destroy. A bastion would normally have a ditch in front, the side of which would be built up above the natural level then slope away gradually. This glacis shielded most of the bastion from the cannon while the distance from the base of the ditch to the top of the bastion meant it was still difficult to scale. In contrast to late medieval towers, bastions were flat sided rather than curved. This eliminated dead ground making it possible for the defenders to fire upon any point directly in front of the bastion, Bastions also cover a larger area than most towers. This allows more cannons to be mounted and provided space for the crews to operate them. Surviving examples of bastions are usually faced with masonry, unlike the wall of a tower this was just a retaining wall, cannonball were expected to pass through this and be absorbed by a greater thickness of hard-packed earth or rubble behind. The top of the bastion was exposed to fire. If a bastion was successfully stormed, it could provide the attackers with a stronghold from which to further attacks. Some bastion designs attempted to minimise this problem and this could be achieved by the use of retrenchments in which a trench was dug across the rear of the bastion, isolating it from the main rampart. Various kinds of bastions have been used throughout history, solid bastions are those that are filled up entirely, and have the ground even with the height of the rampart, without any empty space towards the centre. Void or hollow bastions are those that have a rampart, or parapet, only around their flanks and faces, so that a void space is left towards the centre. The ground is so low, that if the rampart is taken, no retrenchment can be made in the centre, but what will lie under the fire of the besieged
5.
William Shakespeare
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William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
6.
Romeo and Juliet
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Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeares most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays, today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of quality, however. Shakespeares use of his dramatic structure has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill. The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops, Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet over the course of the play. Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical, during the English Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. David Garricks 18th-century version also modified several scenes, removing material then considered indecent, Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte Cushmans, restored the original text and focused on greater realism. John Gielguds 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeares text and used Elizabethan costumes, the play, set in Verona, Italy, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death, later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet, but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliets nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Pariss courtship, meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montagues son, about Romeos recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulets nieces, persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet, Juliets cousin, Tybalt, is enraged at Romeo for sneaking into the ball but is only stopped from killing Romeo by Juliets father, who does not wish to shed blood in his house. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married, with the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their childrens union, they are secretly married the next day. Tybalt, meanwhile, still incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalts insolence, as well as Romeos vile submission, Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight
7.
Henry IV, Part 1
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Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the play in Shakespeares tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV. From the start it has been a popular play both with the public and critics. Henry Bolingbroke—now King Henry IV—is having an unquiet reign and his personal disquiet at the usurpation of his predecessor Richard II would be solved by a crusade to the Holy Land, but broils on his borders with Scotland and Wales prevent that. Moreover, he is increasingly at odds with the Percy family, who helped him to his throne, and Edmund Mortimer, adding to King Henrys troubles is the behaviour of his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Hal has forsaken the Royal Court to waste his time in taverns with low companions and this makes him an object of scorn to the nobles and calls into question his royal worthiness. Hals chief friend and foil in living the low life is Sir John Falstaff, fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a charisma and a zest for life that captivates the Prince. The play features three groups of characters that interact slightly at first, and then together in the Battle of Shrewsbury. First there is King Henry himself and his immediate council and he is the engine of the play, but usually in the background. Next there is the group of rebels, energetically embodied in Henry Percy and including his father, the Scottish Earl of Douglas, Edmund Mortimer and the Welshman Owen Glendower also join. Finally, at the centre of the play are the young Prince Hal and his companions Falstaff, Poins, Bardolph, streetwise and pound-foolish, these rogues manage to paint over this grim history in the colours of comedy. As the play opens, the king is angry with Hotspur for refusing him most of the prisoners taken in a recent action against the Scots at Holmedon, Hotspur, for his part, would have the king ransom Edmund Mortimer from Owen Glendower, the Welshman who holds him. Henry refuses, berates Mortimers loyalty, and treats the Percys with threats, stung and alarmed by Henrys dangerous and peremptory way with them, they proceed to make common cause with the Welsh and Scots, intending to depose this ingrate and cankered Bolingbroke. By Act II, rebellion is brewing, meanwhile, Henrys son Hal is joking, drinking, and thieving with Falstaff and his associates. He likes Falstaff but makes no pretense at being like him, Hal believes that this sudden change of manner will amount to a greater reward and acknowledgment of prince-ship, and in turn earn him respect from the members of the court. The revolt of Mortimer and the Percys very quickly gives him his chance to do just that, the high and the low come together when the Prince makes up with his father and is given a high command. He vows to fight and kill the rebel Hotspur, and orders Falstaff to take charge of a group of foot soldiers, Henry needs a decisive victory here. He outnumbers the rebels, but Hotspur, with the hope of despair
8.
Henry IV, Part 2
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Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1. Several scenes specifically parallel episodes in Part 1, the play picks up where Henry IV, Part One left off. Its focus is on Prince Hals journey toward kingship, and his rejection of Falstaff. However, unlike Part One, Hals and Falstaffs stories are almost entirely separate, the tone of much of the play is elegiac, focusing on Falstaffs age and his closeness to death, which parallels that of the increasingly sick king. Falstaff is still drinking and engaging in petty criminality in the London underworld and he first appears, followed by a new character, a young page whom Prince Hal has assigned him as a joke. Falstaff enquires what the doctor has said about the analysis of his urine, Falstaff delivers one of his most characteristic lines, I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. Falstaff promises to outfit the page in vile apparel and he then complains of his insolvency, blaming it on consumption of the purse. They go off, Falstaff vowing to find a wife in the stews, the Lord Chief Justice enters, looking for Falstaff. Falstaff at first feigns deafness in order to avoid conversing with him, as the Chief Justice attempts to question Falstaff about a recent robbery, Falstaff insists on turning the subject of the conversation to the nature of the illness afflicting the King. He then adopts the pretense of being a younger man than the Chief Justice. Finally, he asks the Chief Justice for one thousand pounds to help outfit a military expedition and he has a relationship with Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute, who gets into a fight with Ancient Pistol, Falstaffs ensign. After Falstaff ejects Pistol, Doll asks him about the Prince, Falstaff is embarrassed when his derogatory remarks are overheard by Hal, who is present disguised as a musician. Falstaff tries to talk his way out of it, but Hal is unconvinced, when news of a second rebellion arrives, Falstaff joins the army again, and goes to the country to raise forces. There he encounters an old friend, Justice Shallow. Shallow brings forward potential recruits for the loyalist army, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble, Shadow and Wart, Falstaff and his cronies accept bribes from two of them, Mouldy and Bullcalf, not to be conscripted. In the other storyline, Hal remains an acquaintance of London lowlife and his father, King Henry IV is again disappointed in the young prince because of that, despite reassurances from the court. Another rebellion is launched against Henry IV, but this time it is defeated, not by a battle, King Henry then sickens and appears to die
9.
Ben Jonson
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Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic of the 17th century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours, Ben Jonson said that his family originally came from the folk of the Anglo-Scottish border country, which genealogy is attested by the three spindles in the Jonson family coat of arms. One spindle is a heraldic device shared with the Border-country Johnstone family of Annandale. Jonsons clergyman father died two months before his birth, his mother married a master bricklayer two years later, Jonson attended school in St. Martins Lane. Later, a family friend paid for his studies at Westminster School, on leaving Westminster School, Jonson was to have attended the University of Cambridge, to continue his book learning but did not, because of his unwilled apprenticeship to his bricklayer stepfather. According to the churchman and historian Thomas Fuller, Jonson at this time built a wall in Lincolns Inn. After having been a bricklayer, Ben Jonson went to the Netherlands. After his military activity on the Continent, Jonson returned to England and worked as an actor, as an actor, Jonson was the protagonist “Hieronimo” in the play The Spanish Tragedy, by Thomas Kyd, the first revenge tragedy in English literature. Regarding his marriage Jonson described his wife to William Drummond as a shrew, concerning the family of Anne Lewis and Ben Jonson, the St. Martins Church registers indicate that Mary Jonson, their eldest daughter, died in November 1593, at six months of age. Moreover,32 years later, a son, also named Benjamin Jonson. By summer 1597, Jonson had an engagement in the Admirals Men, then performing under Philip Henslowes management at The Rose. John Aubrey reports, on authority, that Jonson was not successful as an actor, whatever his skills as an actor. By this time Jonson had begun to write plays for the Admirals Men. None of his early tragedies survive, however, an undated comedy, The Case is Altered, may be his earliest surviving play. In 1597 a play which he co-wrote with Thomas Nashe, The Isle of Dogs, was suppressed after causing great offence, arrest warrants for Jonson and Nashe were issued by Queen Elizabeth Is so-called interrogator, Richard Topcliffe. Jonson was jailed in Marshalsea Prison and charged with Leude and mutynous behaviour, two of the actors, Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaw, were also imprisoned. A year later, Jonson was again imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison. While in jail Jonson converted to Catholicism, possibly through the influence of fellow-prisoner Father Thomas Wright, in 1598 Jonson produced his first great success, Every Man in His Humour, capitalising on the vogue for humorous plays which George Chapman had begun with An Humorous Days Mirth
10.
Cambridge University Press
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Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the worlds oldest publishing house and it also holds letters patent as the Queens Printer. The Presss mission is To further the Universitys mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, Cambridge University Press is a department of the University of Cambridge and is both an academic and educational publisher. With a global presence, publishing hubs, and offices in more than 40 countries. Its publishing includes journals, monographs, reference works, textbooks. Cambridge University Press is an enterprise that transfers part of its annual surplus back to the university. Cambridge University Press is both the oldest publishing house in the world and the oldest university press and it originated from Letters Patent granted to the University of Cambridge by Henry VIII in 1534, and has been producing books continuously since the first University Press book was printed. Cambridge is one of the two privileged presses, authors published by Cambridge have included John Milton, William Harvey, Isaac Newton, Bertrand Russell, and Stephen Hawking. In 1591, Thomass successor, John Legate, printed the first Cambridge Bible, the London Stationers objected strenuously, claiming that they had the monopoly on Bible printing. The universitys response was to point out the provision in its charter to print all manner of books. In July 1697 the Duke of Somerset made a loan of £200 to the university towards the house and presse and James Halman, Registrary of the University. It was in Bentleys time, in 1698, that a body of scholars was appointed to be responsible to the university for the Presss affairs. The Press Syndicates publishing committee still meets regularly, and its role still includes the review, John Baskerville became University Printer in the mid-eighteenth century. Baskervilles concern was the production of the finest possible books using his own type-design, a technological breakthrough was badly needed, and it came when Lord Stanhope perfected the making of stereotype plates. This involved making a mould of the surface of a page of type. The Press was the first to use this technique, and in 1805 produced the technically successful, under the stewardship of C. J. Clay, who was University Printer from 1854 to 1882, the Press increased the size and scale of its academic and educational publishing operation. An important factor in this increase was the inauguration of its list of schoolbooks, during Clays administration, the Press also undertook a sizable co-publishing venture with Oxford, the Revised Version of the Bible, which was begun in 1870 and completed in 1885. It was Wright who devised the plan for one of the most distinctive Cambridge contributions to publishing—the Cambridge Histories, the Cambridge Modern History was published between 1902 and 1912
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