1.
Doncaster
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Doncaster, is a large market town in South Yorkshire, England. Together with its suburbs and settlements, the town forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town itself has a population of 109,805, the Doncaster Urban Area had a population of 158,141 in 2011 and includes Doncaster and the neighbouring small village of Bentley as well as some other villages. Possibly inhabited by people, Doncaster grew up at the site of a Roman fort constructed in the 1st century at a crossing of the River Don. The 2nd century Antonine Itinerary and the early 5th century Notitia Dignitatum called this fort Danum, julius Agricola during the late 70s. Doncaster provided a direct land route between Lincoln and York. The main route between Lincoln and York was Ermine Street, which required parties to break into smaller units to cross the Humber in boats, as this was not always practical, the Romans considered Doncaster to be an important staging post. The Roman road through Doncaster appears on two recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. The itinerary include the section of road between Lincoln and York, and list three stations along the route between these two coloniae. Routes 7 and 8 are entitled the route from York to London, several areas of known intense archaeological interest have been identified in the town, although many—in particular St Sepulchre Gate—remain hidden under buildings. The Roman fort is believed to have located on the site that is now covered by St Georges Minster. The Register names the unit as under the command of the Duke of the Britons, Doncaster is generally believed to be the Cair Daun listed as one of the 28 cities of Britain in the 9th century History of the Britons traditionally attributed to Nennius. It was certainly an Anglo-Saxon burh, during which period it received its present name, Don- from the Roman settlement, the settlement was mentioned in the 1003 will of Wulfric Spott. Shortly after the Norman Conquest, Nigel Fossard refortified the town, by the time of the Domesday Book, Hexthorpe in the wapentake of Strafforth was described as having a church and two mills. The historian David Hey says that these represent the settlement at Doncaster. He also suggests that the street name Frenchgate indicates that Fossard invited fellow Normans to trade in the town, as the 13th century approached, Doncaster matured into a busy town, in 1194 King Richard I granted it national recognition with a town charter. Doncaster had a fire in 1204, from which it slowly recovered. At the time, buildings were built of wood, and open fireplaces were used for cooking and heating, in 1248 a charter was granted for Doncaster Market to be held around the Church of St Mary Magdalene, built in Norman times
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
Furlong
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A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U. S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet,220 yards,40 rods, or 10 chains. Using the international definition of the inch as exactly 25.4 millimetres, however, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states and this variation is too small to have many practical consequences. Five furlongs are about 1.0 kilometre, the name furlong derives from the Old English words furh and lang. Dating back at least to early Anglo-Saxon times, it referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a ploughed open field. The system of long furrows arose because turning a team of oxen pulling a heavy plough was difficult and this offset the drainage advantages of short furrows and meant furrows were made as long as possible. An acre is an area that is one long and one chain wide. For this reason, the furlong was once called an acres length. The term furlong, or shot, was used to describe a grouping of adjacent strips within an open field. Among the early Anglo-Saxons, the rod was the unit of land measurement. A furlong was forty rods, a four by 40 rods, or four rods by one furlong. At the time, the Saxons used the North German foot, when England changed to the shorter foot in the late 13th century, rods and furlongs remained unchanged, since property boundaries were already defined in rods and furlongs. The only thing changed was the number of feet and yards in a rod or a furlong. The definition of the rod went from 15 old feet to 16 1⁄2 new feet, the furlong went from 600 old feet to 660 new feet, or from 200 old yards to 220 new yards. The acre went from 36,000 old square feet to 43,560 new square feet, the furlong was historically viewed as being equivalent to the Roman stade, which in turn derived from the Greek system. In the Roman system, there were 625 feet to the stadium, eight stadia to the mile, a league was considered to be the distance a man could walk in one hour, and the mile consisted of 1,000 passus. After the fall of the Roman Empire, medieval Europe continued with the Roman system, around the year 1300, by royal decree England standardized a long list of measures. Among the important units of distance and length at the time were the foot, yard, rod, furlong, and the mile
4.
Doncaster Cup
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The Doncaster Cup is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs, the event was established in 1766, and it was originally called the Doncaster Gold Cup. It pre-dates Doncasters St. Leger Stakes by ten years, and is the venues oldest surviving race and it was initially held at Cantley Common, and moved to its present location in 1776. During the early part of its history the race was contested over 4 miles and it was shortened to 2 miles and 5 furlongs in 1825, and reduced to 2 miles and 2 furlongs in 1891. It was cut by another furlong in 1908, and restored to its previous length in 1927, the present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and for a period the Doncaster Cup was classed at Group 3 level. It was promoted to Group 2 in 2003, the Doncaster Cup is one of Britains leading events for stayers – horses which specialise in racing over long distances. It is the leg of the Stayers Triple Crown, preceded by the Gold Cup. The race is held on the third day of Doncasters four-day St. Leger Festival. b The 2006 running took place at York. * The 1901 and 1953 races were dead-heats and have joint winners, horseracing in Great Britain List of British flat horse races Recurring sporting events established in 1766 – this race is included under its original title, Doncaster Gold Cup. The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records
5.
Ascot Gold Cup
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The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs and it is Britains most prestigious event for stayers – horses which specialise in racing over long distances. It is traditionally held on day three of the Royal Ascot meeting, which is colloquially as Ladies Day. Contrary to popular belief the actual title of the race does not include the word Ascot, in 2016 it will be run as the Gold Cup in Honour of The Queens 90th Birthday. The event established in 1807, and it was open to horses aged three or older. The inaugural winner, Master Jackey, was awarded money of 100 guineas. The first race took place in the presence of King George III, the 1844 running was attended by Nicholas I of Russia, who was making a state visit to England. That years winner was unnamed at the time of his victory, in return Nicholas offered a new trophy for the race — the Emperors Plate — and this became the title of the event for a short period. Its original name was restored nine years, during the Crimean War. The Gold Cup is the first leg of Britains Stayers Triple Crown, followed by the Goodwood Cup, the last horse to win all three races in the same year was Double Trigger in 1995. The Gold Cup is one of three trophies at the Royal Ascot meeting, along with the Royal Hunt Cup and the Queens Vase. A number of horses have won it more than once, and the most successful is Yeats, horseracing in Great Britain List of British flat horse races Paris-Turf,1978. The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records
6.
William Hill (bookmaker)
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William Hill plc is a bookmaker based in the United Kingdom and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company was founded by William Hill in 1934 at a time when gambling was illegal in Britain and it changed hands many times, being acquired by Sears Holdings in 1971, then by Grand Metropolitan in 1988, then by Brent Walker in 1989. In September 1996, Brent Walker recouped £117m of the £685m it had paid for William Hill when Grand Metropolitan were found to have exaggerated the companys profits at the time of the sale, the company was eventually listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002. The following year Chief Executive David Harding was awarded a £2. 84m bonus and it acquired Sunderland Greyhound Stadium in 2002 and Newcastle Greyhound Stadium in 2003. In June 2004, Chief Executive David Harding sold £5. 2m of shares to fund his divorce, the Office of Fair Trading made William Hill sell 78 of the 624 Stanley shops due to concerns over anti-competitive practices. Amidst fears that William Hill had overpaid for the Stanley shops, in 2008, Ralph Topping was appointed Chief Executive. In November 2008, William Hill went into partnership with Orbis, under the terms of the deal, William Hill paid Playtechs founder Teddy Sagi £144. 5m for various assets and affiliate companies. These included several online sites which William Hill continues to run under the name WHG. Playtech took a 29% stake in the new William Hill Online entity, the company wrote-off a reported £26m when scrapping their previous in-house system. In June 2009 William Hill backed Playtech despite their partner having a quarter of its market value wiped out following a profits warning. They are the largest UK operator, representing around 25 per cent of the market throughout the UK, in addition to its online sportsbook operations, the company offers online casino games, skill games, online bingo and online poker. Since the Gambling Act 2005, gaming machines have strengthened profits to counteract falling revenues in other areas, in August 2010, William Hill launched a training programme for its 10, 000+ workforce to combat underage gambling in its retail outlets. The company has been criticised by trade unions Community and Unite for its treatment of shop-workers, in November 2008, analysts at UBS noted concern at the Companys level of debt, which stood at over £1bn and was later reported as £1. 5bn. In 2009 the company enacted both a rights issue and a bond issue, in an effort to restructure its debt. From 2001 until 2009, William Hill paid George Howarth MP £30,000 pa. to act as a Parliamentary advisor, while on William Hills payroll he tabled amendments to the 2003 budget proposing tougher levels of taxation for person-to-person betting exchanges. Howarth left the role in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal, in May 2015, William Hill presented prototype of Get In The Race - a virtual horse racing application. In 2015 William Hill had a drop of 22% of operational profit which amounted £291. 4m comparing with £372. 2m in 2014 and it happened due to point of consumption tax which increased duty on machine games from 20% to 25% introduced by government in December,2014. The company owns 2,370 betting shops, in 2009, William Hill moved its online and fixed-odds games division to Gibraltar, for tax avoidance purposes
