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.
Cheltenham
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The town hosts several festivals of culture, often featuring nationally and internationally famous contributors and attendees. As the home of the race of British steeplechase horse racing. Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt, which rises nearby at Dowdeswell, as a royal manor, it features in the earliest pages of the Gloucestershire section of Domesday Book where it is named Chintenha. The town was awarded a charter in 1226. Though little remains of its history, Cheltenham has been a health. Captain Henry Skillicorne, is credited with being the first entrepreneur to recognise the opportunity to exploit the mineral springs, the retired master mariner became co-owner of the property containing Cheltenhams first mineral spring upon his 1732 marriage to Elizabeth Mason. Her father, William Mason, had little in his lifetime to promote the healing properties of the mineral water apart from limited advertising and building a small enclosure over the spring. Skillicornes wide travels as a merchant had prepared him to see the potential lying dormant on this inherited property, after moving to Cheltenham in 1738, he immediately began improvements intended to attract visitors to his spa. He built a pump to regulate the flow of water and erected an elaborate well-house complete with a ballroom, the beautiful walks and gardens were naturally adorned with sweeping vistas of the countryside. Soon the gentry and nobility from across the county were enticed to come, the visit of George III with the queen and royal princesses in 1788 set a stamp of fashion on the spa. Cheltenhams success as a spa town is reflected in the station, which is still called Cheltenham Spa. Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll were regular visitors to a house in Cudnall Street, horse racing began in Cheltenham in 1815, and became a major national attraction after the establishment of the Festival in 1902. Most of this materiel was reshipped to the continent for and after the D-Day invasion, lee and his primary staff had offices and took residence at Thirlestaine Hall in Cheltenham. On 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, four parishes—Swindon Village, Up Hatherley, Leckhampton and Prestbury—were added to the borough of Cheltenham from the borough of Tewkesbury in 1991. The first British jet aircraft prototype, the Gloster E. 28/39, was manufactured in Cheltenham, manufacturing started in Hucclecote near Gloucester, but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High Street, considered a location safer from bombing during the Second World War. Cheltenham Borough Council is the authority for Cheltenham, which is split into 20 wards. Since 2002 elections have been every two years with half of the councillors elected at each election. The Doughnut, the office of the British Government Communications Headquarters is located in Cheltenham
3.
Great Britain at the Olympics
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Great Britain or Team GB is the team that sends athletes from the United Kingdom, all but three of its overseas territories, and the three Crown dependencies, to the Olympic Games. From 1896 to 2016 inclusive, Great Britain has won 847 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and it is organised by the British Olympic Association as the National Olympic Committee for the UK. Great Britain was one of 14 teams to compete in the first Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, and is one of only three nations to have competed at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Sir Chris Hoy holds the record for medals in different events, having reached the top step in four different disciplines - mens kilo, mens team sprint, mens match sprint. Cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins has the most overall medals by a British Olympian with eight, Sir Steve Redgrave is the only British Olympian to win a Gold Medal in five consecutive Olympic Games, winning his first in 1984 Los Angeles and last in 2000 Sydney. With five golds and a bronze, Redgrave is the most successful Olympic male rower of all time, alongside five time gold medalist Redgrave, Grainger, Ainslie, Wiggins and Jack Beresford are the only British Olympians to win medals of any colour in five successive Games. The most successful Winter Olympians from Great Britain are Jeannette Altwegg, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, each with one gold and one bronze medal, as a non-alpine nation, Great Britain has found the bulk of its success in the Summer Olympics. Prior to the 2014 Games all Britains winter olympic medals had been won in sports performed on ice. Snowboarder Jenny Jones became the first British athlete to win a medal on snow in the 90 years of the games when she won a bronze medal in the womens slopestyle event. Great Britain has hosted the Summer Games on three occasions -1908,1948 and 2012, all in London - second only to the United States, under the IOC charter, the Olympic Council of Ireland is responsible for the entire island of Ireland. However, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent either the UK or Ireland at the Olympics, a number of Northern Ireland born athletes, particularly in boxing, have won medals for Ireland at the Games. London is the city in the UK that has hosted the games. *Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil, according to official data of the International Olympic Committee. This is a list of people who have won three or more Olympic gold medals for Great Britain, medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings, kathleen McKane Godfree also won five medals, but were one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes. Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Ben Ainslie and Alastair Brownlee are the most successful Olympic competitors in their sports, as of 2016. Steve Redgrave and Reginald Doherty are the most successful athletes in their respective sports, rowing and tennis. Great Britain has competed in all Badminton events held at the Summer Olympics since badminton made its debut as an Olympic sport in 1992
4.
Gloucestershire
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Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
5.
Lake Placid, New York
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Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,521, the village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba,50 miles southwest of Plattsburgh. Lake Placid, along with nearby Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake, Lake Placid hosted the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics. Lake Placid also hosted the 1972 Winter Universiade and the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games, roy suffering from malnutrition had a vision in which he was told to till the land til fertile. From this he decided that is was his duty to bring civilized man unto the land of lake placid. Roys delusions worsened and he began to believe that his salted fish meal had turned to men and he scattered 44 fish across the land gave each a name, proceeded to declare himself mayor of this land, then he died from malnutrition. The abolitionist John Brown heard about Gerrit Smiths reforms, and left his anti-slavery activities in Kansas to buy 244 acres of land here and this parcel later became known as the Freed Slave Utopian Experiment, Timbucto. Shortly before his execution in 1859, John Brown asked to be buried on his farm, as leisure time increased in the late 19th century, Lake Placid was discovered for resort use by the rich and famous, who were drawn to the fashionable Lake Placid Club. Melvil Dewey, who invented the Dewey Decimal System, designed what was then called Placid Park Club in 1895 and this inspired the village to change its name to Lake Placid, which became an incorporated village in 1900. Dewey kept the club open through the winter in 1905, which aided the development of sports in the area. Nearby Saranac Lake had hosted an international sporting event as early as 1889. The mountain air was considered good for them, by 1921, the Lake Placid area could boast a ski jump, speed skating venue and ski association. In 1929, Dr. Godfrey Dewey, Melvils son, convinced the International Olympic Committee Lake Placid had the best winter sports facilities in the United States, the Lake Placid Club was the headquarters for the IOC for the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Lake Placid is best known as the site of the Winter Olympics. Lake Placid first hosted in 1932 and again 48 years later in 1980, in the U. S. the village is especially remembered as the site of the 1980 USA–USSR hockey game. Dubbed as the Miracle on Ice, a group of American college students and amateurs upset the heavily favored Soviet national ice hockey team, 4–3, another highpoint during the Games was American speed-skater Eric Heidens performance, who won five gold medals. During the 1932 games, the trails outside of the served for the cross-country skiing events. Lake Placid, St Moritz and Innsbruck are the sites to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games
6.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
7.
West Germany
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West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany
8.
1988 Winter Olympics
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The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games, was a Winter Olympics multi-sport event celebrated in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada between February 13 and 28,1988. The host city was selected in 1981 over Falun, Sweden and Cortina dAmpezzo, most events took place in Calgary while several skiing events were held in the mountain resorts of Nakiska and Canmore, west of the city. A then-record 57 nations competed and 1,423 athletes participated, the Soviet Union won the most medals with 29, followed by East Germany with 25. As it had in Montreal in 1976, Canada again failed to win a medal in an official medal event as the host nation. Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen and Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip were individual medal leaders, the bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics was Canadas seventh attempt at hosting a winter games and Calgarys fourth. Previous bids representing Montreal and Vancouver bookended failed attempts by the Calgary Olympic Development Association to host the 1964,1968 and 1972 games. The CODA became dormant in 1966 after losing its bid for the 1972 Olympics, Calgary earned the right to bid on behalf of Canada by the Canadian Olympic Association, defeating a rival challenge from a group representing Vancouver. The defeated organizing group lamented that they lost to Calgarys big-ticket games, the CODA then spent two years building local support for the project, selling memberships to 80,000 of the citys 600,000 residents. The city was one of three finalists, opposed by the Swedish community of Falun and Cortina dAmpezzo, the Italian town that hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. The vote was held September 30,1981, at Baden-Baden, West Germany, during the 84th IOC Session, after Cortina dAmpezzo was eliminated in the first round of balloting, Calgary won the right to host the games over Falun by a 48–31 vote. The announcement of the CODAs victory sent delegates in Baden-Baden and residents of Calgary into celebration and it was the first Winter Olympics awarded to Canada, and the second games overall, following the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. McMahon Stadium, Calgarys primary outdoor facility, was the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies, the first time in 28 years that the venue hosted both events. Three other existing venues served as secondary facilities, The Max Bell Centre hosted the events of curling. The Father David Bauer Olympic Arena hosted some ice hockey matches, as did the Stampede Corral, the Games five primary venues were all purpose-built however, at significant cost. The Olympic Saddledome was the venue for ice hockey and figure skating. Located at Stampede Park, the facility was expected to cost $83 million, the Olympic Oval was built on the campus of the University of Calgary. It was the first fully enclosed 400-metre speed skating venue in the world as it was necessary to protect against the possibility of either bitter cold temperatures or ice-melting chinook winds. Seven world and three Olympic records were broken during the Games, resulting in the facility earning praise as the fastest ice on Earth, Canada Olympic Park was built on the western outskirts of Calgary and hosted bobsled, luge, ski jumping and freestyle skiing
9.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
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The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from October 1,1962 through May 22,1992. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked No.12 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, particularly during the early years of Carsons tenure, his guests included politicians such as former U. S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon, former U. S. Attorney General Robert F. Psychologist Joyce Brothers was also one of Carsons most frequent guests. Carson strongly disliked prop comedy and generally refused to have such comics on his show, gallagher first appeared on The Tonight Show Dec.5,1975, when he demonstrated his prop, The Tonight Show Home Game, and Carson noted that it was his first appearance. Gallagher again appeared on May 9,1979, a show hosted by Carson, mort Sahl recalled, The producer crouches just off camera and holds up a card that says, Go to commercial. So Carson goes to a commercial and the team rushes up to his desk to discuss what had gone wrong. Actor Robert Blake once compared being interviewed by Carson to facing the death squad or Broadway on opening night, the publicity value of appearing on Tonight was so great, however, that most guests were willing to subject themselves to the risk. The shows announcer and Carsons sidekick was Ed McMahon, who from the very first show would introduce Carson with a drawn-out Heeeeeeeeeres Johnny. The catchphrase was heard nightly for 30 years, and ranked top of the TV Land poll of U. S. McMahon, who held the same role in Carsons ABC game show Who Do You Trust. For five years previously, would remain standing to the side as Carson did his monologue, laughing at his jokes, the two would usually interact in a comic spot for a short while before the first guest was introduced. McMahon stated in a 1978 profile of Carson in The New Yorker that the ‘Tonight Show’ is my staple diet, my meat and potatoes—I’m realistic enough to know that everything else stems from that. After a 1965 incident in which he ruined Carsons joke on the air McMahon was careful to, as he said and he wrote in his 1998 autobiography, My role on the show never was strictly defined. I did what had to be done when it had to be done, I was there when he needed me, and when he didnt I moved down the couch and kept quiet. I did the audience warm-up, I did commercials, for a brief period I co-hosted the first fifteen minutes of the show, and I performed in many sketches. On our thirteenth-anniversary show Johnny and I were talking at his desk and he said and he paused long enough for me to recognize my cue, so I asked, How long is it. Thats why youre here, he said, probably summing up my primary role on the show perfectly. I had to him, I had to help him get to the punch line. Many nights Id be listening to Johnny and in my mind Id reach the same ad lib just as he said it, Id have to bite my tongue not to say it out loud
10.
1994 Winter Olympics
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The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event, Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics in 1988, after beating Anchorage, United States, Östersund, Sweden, and Sofia, Bulgaria. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games, while many events took place in Lillehammer, skating took place in Hamar, some ice hockey matches were placed in Gjøvik, while Alpine skiing was held in Øyer and Ringebu. Sixty-seven countries and 1,737 athletes participated in six sports, fourteen countries made their debut in the Winter Olympics, of which nine were former Soviet republics. The Games also saw the introduction of stricter qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants from warm-weather countries, new events were two new distances in short track speed skating and aerials, while speed skating was moved indoors. Nearly two million people spectated the games, which were the first to have the Olympic truce in effect, the games were succeeded by the 1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March. Manuela Di Centa and Lyubov Yegorova dominated womens cross-country skiing, taking five and four medals, a crowd of over 100,000 saw Italy beat Norway by 0.4 seconds on the mens 4 x 10 km relay. Vreni Schneider won a set of medals in Alpine skiing. Nancy Kerrigan had, before the games, been clubbed by Tonya Hardings associate, Johann Olav Koss won three speed skating events, while 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist. Sweden beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the ice hockey final. With 11 gold medals, Russia won the most events, while with 26, planning of the Lillehammer bid started in 1981, following Falun, Swedens failed bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics. It was supported by the government largely to help stimulate the economy of the inland counties, Lillehammer originally bid for the 1992 Games, but came fourth in the voting. A new bid was launched for the 1994 Games, modified with an speed skating venue. Three other locations bid for the games, Östersund, Anchorage, the 94th IOC Session, held in Seoul on 15 September 1988, voted Lillehammer the host for the Games. The Lillehammer Olympics were the last Winter Games to date to be held in a town,1.21 million tickets were sold for the games. LOOC estimated that an additional 500,000 viewed the games for free along the courses, in addition,180,000 seats were used by the media and VIPs. The overall responsibility for the games was held by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, the government had issued a guarantee for the games, and also covered the expenses related to infrastructure. The games had a revenue of NOK2.71 billion, of which NOK1.43 billion was from television rights, NOK0.65 billion was from sponsors, and NOK0.15 billion was from ticket sales
11.
Lillehammer
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Lillehammer is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer, as of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was 26,639. The city centre is a late 19th-century concentration of houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics and 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, before Oslos withdrawal from consideration, it was included as part of a bid to host events in the 2022 Winter Olympics if Oslo were to win the rights to hold the Games. The municipality was named after the old Hamar farm, since the first church was built there, the name is identical with the word hamarr. To distinguish it from the town and bishopric, both called Hamar, it began to be called little Hamar, Lilþlæ Hamar and Litlihamarr. It is also mentioned in the Old Norse sagas as Litlikaupangr, the coat-of-arms was granted in 1898 and shows a birkebeiner, carrying a spear and a shield, who is skiing down a mountainside. It symbolizes the importance of when the Birkebeiners carried the to-be-King Haakon from Lillehammer to Rena on skis. The area has settled since the Norwegian Iron Age, it is also mentioned as a site for council in 1390. Lillehammer had a market by the 1800s and obtained rights as a merchant city on 7 August 1827. The town of Lillehammer was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, the rural municipality of Fåberg was merged into the municipality of Lillehammer on 1 January 1964. A number of schools are located in Lillehammer including the Hammartun Primary and Lower Secondary School, Søre Ål Primary School and Kringsjå Primary, Lillehammer Public High School consists of two branches, North and South, both situated near the city center. The private High school Norwegian College of Elite Sports, NTG, Lillehammer University College is situated just north of the town itself. Lillehammer is also the home of the Nansen Academy - the Norwegian Humanistic Academy, the Nansen Academy is an educational institution for adult students with varied political, religious, and cultural backgrounds. The Academy was founded on the principles of humanism and aims at strengthening the knowledge of these principles. The 14th World Scout Jamboree was held from July 29 to August 7,1975 and was hosted by Norway at Lillehammer, to the southeast, it is bordered by Ringsaker municipality in Hedmark county. To the northwest is the mountain Spåtind, by Norwegian standards, Lillehammer has an inland climate, with the Scandinavian mountain chain to the west and north limiting oceanic influences
12.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
Great Britain
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