1.
Ian Fleming
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Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva and his wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952 and it was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966, the novels revolved around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the series of fictional books of all time. Fleming also wrote the childrens story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction, in 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Fleming was married to Ann Charteris, who was divorced from the second Viscount Rothermere owing to her affair with the author, Fleming and Charteris had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a smoker and drinker for most of his life. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously, other writers have since produced Bond novels, Flemings creation has appeared in film twenty-six times, portrayed by seven actors. Ian Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at 27 Green Street in the wealthy London district of Mayfair and his mother was Evelyn St Croix Rose, and his father was Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910. As an infant he lived, with his family, at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. Fleming was the grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust, in 1914, with the start of the First World War, Valentine joined C Squadron, Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and rose to the rank of major. He was killed by German shelling on the Western Front on 20 May 1917, because the family owned an estate at Arnisdale, Valentines death was commemorated on the Glenelg War Memorial. Flemings elder brother Peter became a writer and married actress Celia Johnson. Fleming also had two brothers, Michael and Richard, and a younger maternal half-sister born out of wedlock, cellist Amaryllis Fleming. Amaryllis was conceived during an affair between John and Evelyn that started in 1923, some six years after the death of Valentine
2.
James Bond
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The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015, additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character has also adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games. As of 2017, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series, the most recent Bond film, Spectre, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond, he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015, the franchise was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, the Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bonds cars, his guns, the films are also noted for Bonds relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as Bond girls. Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway. Aside from Flemings brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bonds make up, including Conrad OBrien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill Biffy Dunderdale. The name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. He further explained that, When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is certainly good-looking. Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way and that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow
3.
Jonathan Cape
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Jonathan Cape was a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the house in 1921. They established a reputation for quality design and production and a fine list of English-language authors, fostered by the firms editor. Capes list of writers ranged from poets including Robert Frost and C, day Lewis, to childrens authors such as Hugh Lofting and Arthur Ransome, to James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, to heavyweight fiction by James Joyce and T. E. Lawrence. After Capes death, the firm later merged successively with three other London publishing houses, in 1987 it was taken over by Random House in 1987. Its name continues as one of Random Houses British imprints, Herbert Jonathan Cape was born in London on 15 November 1879, the youngest of the seven children of Jonathan Cape, a clerk from Ireby in what is now Cumbria, and his wife Caroline, née Page. He received a basic schooling and in his teens he was taken on by Hatchards bookshop in Piccadilly as an errand-boy. In 1904 he joined the house of Duckworth as London traveller. In 1914, on the outbreak of the Great War, he took over the charge of the business when the proprietor. In December of that year Cape joined the army, serving for the rest of the war, Cape returned to Duckworth in 1918. In 1920 he was appointed manager of the Medici Society, known mainly for publishing prints of paintings, while in this post he met George Wren Howard,14 years his junior, who was learning the publishing trade at the Medici Society. Capes biographer Rupert Hart-Davis writes, Cape quickly saw that Howard had a sense of design in book production, as well as a good business head. After some months they decided there was no future for them where they were. Howard was able to raise money from his family, Cape, with no such option, raised his share of the starting capital by selling cheap paperback reprints of novels by Elinor Glyn. Duckworth held the rights to her books, but did not wish to issue cut-price editions, Cape negotiated the rights in early 1920, with just enough starting capital, the firm of Jonathan Cape began trading on 1 January 1921 at 11 Gower Street, Bloomsbury. Cape and Howard recruited Edward Garnett as their editor and reader, Garnett, described by The Times as the prince of publishers readers, remained with the firm until his death in 1937. Hart-Davis credits Garnetts literary judgment and Howards production with gaining the firm an outstanding reputation for quality during the two decades. The firms first publication was regarded as a gamble, Cape published a new two-volume edition, at the high price of nine guineas
4.
Dr. No (novel)
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No is the sixth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the novel in early 1957 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica and it was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 31 March 1958. The novel centres on Bonds investigation into the disappearance in Jamaica of two fellow MI6 operatives and he establishes that they had been investigating Doctor No, a Chinese operator of a guano mine on the fictional Caribbean island of Crab Key. Bond travels to the island and meets Honeychile Rider and later Doctor No, the novel began as a 1956 screenplay for the producer Henry Morgenthau III for a proposed television show entitled Commander Jamaica. When those plans foundered, Fleming adapted the ideas as the basis for a novel, the books eponymous villain was influenced by Sax Rohmers Fu Manchu stories. No was the first of Flemings novels to face widespread negative criticism in Britain, Paul Johnson of the New Statesman dismissed the book as one of Sex, Snobbery, when released on the American market it was received more favourably. No was serialised in The Daily Express, first in a story form. The story was adapted in 1962 as the first film in the Bond series, with Sean Connery in the role, in 2008 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a version. After recovering from tetrodotoxin poisoning inflicted by the SMERSH agent Rosa Klebb the MI6 agent James Bond is sent by his superior, M, while there he is instructed to investigate the disappearance of Commander John Strangways, the head of MI6s Station J in Kingston, and his secretary. Bond is briefed that Strangways had been investigating the activities of Doctor Julius No, the island has a colony of roseate spoonbills at one end while local rumour is that a vicious dragon also lives there. The spoonbills are protected by the American National Audubon Society, two of whose representatives died when their plane crashed on Nos airstrip. With the help of an old friend, Quarrel, Bond surreptitiously visits Crab Key to establish whether there is a connection between No and the disappearance of the MI6 personnel, Bond and Quarrel meet Honeychile Rider, who is there to collect valuable shells. Bond and Rider are captured by Nos men after Quarrel is burned to death by the doctors dragon—a flamethrowing armoured swamp buggy designed to keep away trespassers. Bond discovers that No is working with the Russians and has built an underground facility from which he can sabotage US test missiles launched from Cape Canaveral. No had previously been a member of a Chinese tong, but after he stole an amount of money from their treasury. The tongs leaders had Nos hands cut off as a warning to others, because Nos heart was on the right side of his body, the bullet missed it and he survived. Interested in the ability of the body to withstand and survive pain. Bond is kept under observation as he suffers electric shocks, burns, Bonds ordeal ends in a fight with a captive giant squid, which he defeats by using improvised weapons
5.
For Your Eyes Only (short story collection)
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For Your Eyes Only is a collection of short stories by the British author Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond. It was first published by Jonathan Cape on 11 April 1960 and it marked a change of format for Fleming, who had previously written James Bond stories only as full-length novels. The collection contains five stories, From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace, Risico. Four of the stories were adaptations of plots for a series that was never filmed, while the fifth Fleming had written previously. Fleming undertook some minor experiments with the format, including a story written as an homage to W. Somerset Maugham, an author he greatly admired. Elements from the stories have been used in a number of the Eon Productions James Bond film series, including the 1981 film, For Your Eyes Only, the film used some elements and characters from the short stories For Your Eyes Only and Risico. From a View to a Kill also gave part of its title to the fourteenth Bond film, plot elements from The Hildebrand Rarity were used in the sixteenth Bond film, Licence to Kill, and the twenty-fourth Bond film Spectre references the title. Quantum of Solace was used as the title for the twenty-second Bond film, Bond investigates the murder of a motorcycle dispatch-rider and the theft of his top-secret documents by a motorcycle-riding assassin. The rider was en route from SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, then located in Versailles, to his base, Station F, since Bond is already in Paris, his superior, M, sends him to assist in the investigation in any way he can. Bond disguises himself as a dispatch-rider and follows the journey to Station F as the previous rider, as expected. Bond, however, is ready and kills the assassin and he then uncovers the assassins hidden base of operations. They are killed by two Cuban hitmen at the direction of their leader, Major Gonzales, all three work for von Hammerstein, the Havelocks turn out to be close friends of M, who served as the grooms best man during their wedding in 1925. When Bond arrives on the scene, he finds the Havelocks daughter, Judy, Judy kills von Hammerstein by shooting him in the back with an arrow from 100 yards away at the exact moment that he dives into a lake. A shoot-out then occurs between Bond and Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen, Bond kills all of them and returns to Canada with Judy, who has been wounded during the gunfight. After completing a mission in the Bahamas, Bond is in Nassau, when the other guests have left, Bond remarks that, if he ever marries, he imagines it would be nice to marry an air hostess. The Governor then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a civil servant Philip Masters and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London, the married and went to live in Bermuda. As a result, Masters work deteriorated, and he suffered a nervous breakdown, after recovering, he was given a break from Bermuda by the Governor and sent on an assignment to Washington
6.
Secret Intelligence Service
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The Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, is the foreign intelligence agency of the British government. The SIS Chief is held accountable to the Foreign Secretary, SIS is bound by the Intelligence Services Act 1994. The name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience during the First World War when it was known by many names, the existence of the SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. It forms a part of the UKs intelligence machinery alongside GCHQ, MI5, in late 2010, the head of SIS delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its then 101-year history. The remarks of Sir John Sawers primarily focused on the relationship between the need for secrecy and the goal of maintaining security within the UK and his remarks acknowledged the tensions caused by secrecy in an era of leaks and pressure for ever-greater disclosure. Since 1995, the SIS headquarters have been at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank of the River Thames, the service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded in 1909. The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities and this specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy. This specialisation was formalised before 1914 and its first director was Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who often dropped the Smith in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink and this usage evolved as a code name, and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity. The services performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself, most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. After the war, resources were reduced but during the 1920s. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, the post of Passport Control Officer provided operatives with diplomatic immunity. Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed the intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office, the debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at length after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. In the immediate post-war years under Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was focused on Communism, in particular, Russian Bolshevism. Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 June 1923, shortly before he was due to retire, an economic intelligence section, Section VII, to deal with trade, industrial and contraband. A clandestine radio communications organisation, Section VIII, to communicate with operatives, Section N to exploit the contents of foreign diplomatic bags Section D to conduct political covert actions and paramilitary operations in time of war. Section D would organise the Home Defence Scheme resistance organisation in the UK, with the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazis, in the early 1930s attention was shifted in that direction. Sinclair died in 1939, after an illness, and was replaced as C by Lt Col. Stewart Menzies, the extensive double-cross system run by MI5 to feed misleading intelligence to the Germans Imagery intelligence activities conducted by the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
7.
Auric Goldfinger
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Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film Goldfinger, based on Ian Flemings novel of the same name. His first name, Auric, is a meaning of gold. According to a 1965 Forbes article and The New York Times, in 2003, the American Film Institute declared Auric Goldfinger the 49th greatest villain in the past 100 years of film. In a poll on IMDb, Auric Goldfinger was voted the most sinister James Bond villain, beating out in order Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Dr. No, Max Zorin, Auric Goldfinger was played by German actor Gert Fröbe. Fröbe, who did not speak English well, was dubbed in the film by Michael Collins, in the German version, Fröbe dubbed himself back again. Goldfinger was banned in Israel after it was revealed that Fröbe had been a member of the Nazi Party, however, he left the party before the outbreak of World War II. After several years, the ban was lifted, as it was found that Fröbe helped out hiding two Jews in his basement during the war, in the novel, Auric Goldfinger is a 42-year-old expatriate from Riga, Latvia, who emigrated in 1937 at the age of 20. He is 5 feet tall, has eyes, red hair. Goldfingers name was borrowed from Ian Flemings neighbour in his Hampstead home, architect Ernő Goldfinger, Goldfinger is typically a German-Jewish name, and the protagonists of the novel know this, but neither Bond nor Mr. Du Pont think Goldfinger is Jewish. Instead, Bond thinks the red-haired, blue-eyed man to be a Balt, Goldfinger is the treasurer of SMERSH, a Soviet counterintelligence agency, which is Bonds nemesis. Goldfinger fancies himself a pistol shot who never misses. He tells Bond he has done so with four Mafia heads at the end of the novel. Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to have yellow-bound erotic photographs and he is also a jeweller, a metallurgist, and a smuggler. When Goldfinger first meets Bond in Miami, he claims that he is agoraphobic, Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this, and blackmails him by forcing him to admit his deception. This incident also establishes Goldfinger as boundlessly greedy, as whatever sums he can gain by this elaborate cheating are negligible compared with what he already has in his possession. Goldfinger is also a golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater there. When Bond contrives to play a match with Goldfinger, he cheats the cheater by switching Goldfingers Slazenger 1 golf ball with a Slazenger 7 he had found while playing. In both the novel and film, Goldfinger is aided in his crimes by his manservant, Oddjob, Goldfinger is the owner of Auric Enterprises A. G. in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture, which is purchased by many airlines including Air India
8.
SMERSH
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SMERSH was an umbrella organisation for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin, the main reason for its creation was to subvert the attempts by German forces to infiltrate the Red Army on the Eastern Front. The organisation was officially in existence until 4 May 1946, when its duties were transferred back to the NKGB, the head of the agency throughout its existence was Viktor Abakumov, who rose to become Minister of State Security in the postwar years. The official liquidation of OO GUGB within NKVD was announced on 12 February by a joint order № 00151/003 of NKVD, the rest of GUGB was abolished and staff was moved to newly created Peoples Commissariat for State Security. Departments of former GUGB were renamed Directorates, for example, former Foreign Department became Foreign Directorate, political police represented by Secret Political Department became Secret Political Directorate, and so on. The former GUGB 4th Department was split into three sections, one section, which handled military counter-intelligence in NKVD troops become 3rd NKVD Department or OKR, the chief of OKR NKVD was Aleksander Belyanov, Commissar State Security 3rd rank. On 25 February 1941, Viktor Abakumov became NKVD deputy Commissar in charge of supervising this, the second and most significant part went to the Defense Commissariat Soviet Armed Forces becoming its 3rd Directorate or. The 3rd NKO Directorate took over most of the 4th GUGB Department Sections and was headed by division commissar Anatolii Mikheev, the third part of former OO became the Navy Commissariat 3rd Directorate. The head of navy KI was Andrei Petrov, a state security captain, UOO on every level was given much more power and a freer hand in decision making than at any time since the creation of Cheka. Also on 19 July, by the order of NKVD №00940, Navy 3rd Directorate was still under Navy control, till 11 January 1942 when it was incorporated into Directorate of Special Departments. On 2 July 1941, NKGB USSR was incorporated back into the NKVD structure, NKGB did not return as GUGB, but as separate units. The NKVD structure organisation from 31 July 1941, shows that there are independent Directorates as in the 1st, foreign intelligence, 2nd, domestic KI, and so on. P 40/91Peoples Commissariat for State Security or was created for the second time and it was based on NKVDs Directorates. For detailed organization please see NKGB, regulations of the Peoples Commissariat of State Security were approved by SNK in order № 621-191ss from 2 June 1943. After losing most of the units to the NKGB, the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs was still a very powerful government apparatus. The same order that created GUKR SMERSH within the NKO created an organisation within the Navy Commissariat. This organization was known as the Navy UKR SMERSH and headed by Peter Gladkov, in reality, Gladkov reported to Abakumov, by then deputy Commissar of the NKO, and Stalins deputy. Formally Gladkov was subordinate to his superior Peoples Commissar Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, OKR SMERSH of the NKVD USSR was subordinate to Lavrentiy Beria, Peoples Commissar of Internal Affairs
9.
Gold reserve
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It has been estimated that all the gold mined by the end of 2011 totaled 171,300 tonnes. At a price of US$1,500 per troy ounce, reached on 12 April 2013, the total value of all gold ever mined would exceed US$8.2 trillion at that valuation. However, there are varying estimates of the amount of gold mined to date. Another reason is that countries are not particularly open about how much gold they are mining. In addition, it is difficult to account for gold output in illegal mining activities, during most of history, a nations gold reserves were considered its key financial asset and a major prize of war. A typical view was expressed in a memorandum by the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff from October 1939. The transport of many hundreds of tons of bullion presents a difficult problem, the ideal would of course be to have the gold transferred to this country or to the United States of America. The gold reserves of Belgium and Holland amount to about £70 million, note, H. M. Treasury has particularly requested that this information, which is highly confidential should in no circumstances be divulged. At present this gold is believed to be stored at Brussels and The Hague respectively, the Belgian government rushed to ship the gold to a safe place, Dakar, the capital of Senegal, then part of the French colonial empire. After the Germans occupied Belgium and France in 1940, they demanded the Belgian gold reserve back, in 1941, Vichy French officials arranged the transport of 4,944 boxes with 198 tons of gold to officials of the German Reichsbank. Since early 2011, the holdings of the IMF have been constant at 90.5 million troy ounces. The IMF regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries and these data are used by the World Gold Council to periodically rank and report the gold holdings of countries and official organizations. On 17 July 2015, China announced that it increased its reserves by about 57 percent from 1,054 to 1,658 metric tons. The gold listed for each of the countries in the table may not be stored in the country listed. Gold leasing by central banks could place into doubt the reported gold holdings in the table below
10.
United States Bullion Depository
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It is estimated to have roughly 2. 3% of all the gold ever refined throughout human history. As a result, the value of the held by the Federal Reserve increased from $4 billion to $12 billion between 1933 and 1937. This left the government with a large gold reserve and no place to store it. In 1936, the U. S. Treasury Department began construction of the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, the Gold Vault was completed in December 1936 for US $560,000. The site is located on what is now Bullion Boulevard at the intersection of Gold Vault Road. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, in recognition of its significance in the history of the United States. It is constructed of granite mined at the North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex, the first gold shipments were made from January to July 1937. The majority of the United States gold reserves were shipped to the site, including old bullion. The transfer used 500 rail cars and was sent by registered mail, protected by the U. S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U. S. Treasury Department agents. In 1974, a Washington attorney named Peter David Beter circulated a theory that the gold in the Depository had been removed by elites. A group of reporters was allowed inside in order to refute the theory, other than this 1974 event, no member of the public has been allowed inside. During World War II, the depository held the original U. S, declaration of Independence and U. S. Constitution. It held the reserves of European countries and key documents from Western history, for example, it held the Crown of St. Stephen, part of the Hungarian crown jewels, given to American soldiers to prevent them from falling into Soviet hands. The repository held one of four copies of the Magna Carta, which had sent for display at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. Below the fortress-like structure lies the gold vault lined with granite walls, members of the Depository staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. Beyond the main door, smaller compartments provide further protection. Both the vault door and emergency door were 21-inches thick and made of the latest torch-, the main vault door weighed 20 tons and the vault casing was 25-inches thick. The facility is ringed with fences and is guarded by the United States Mint Police, the Depository premises are within the site of Fort Knox, a US Army post, allowing the Army to provide additional protection
11.
Saint George
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Saint George, according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Syrian origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity. In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and his memorial, Saint Georges Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23. Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron, accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda. There is little information on the life of Saint George. Two stories tell of his possible origins, one says that he was born in the region of Cappadocia, which is now located in central Turkey. Georges parents were both Christian, and they brought him up to be a Christian and his father died when he was fourteen, and his mother took George back to her homeland of Palestine. At seventeen, he joined the Roman army, a second story says that Georges father came from Cappadocia. His mother was from Lydda, in Palestine, and George was born in Lydda, both of his parents were from noble Syrian families and gave him the Greek name of Georgios. Georges father had been an officer in the Roman army, so George joined the Roman army as soon as he could, an earlier work by Eusebius, Church history, written in the 4th century, contributed to the legend but did not name George or provide significant detail. A critical edition of a Syriac Acta of Saint George, accompanied by an annotated English translation, was published by E. W. Brooks in 1925. Pope Gelasius I stated that George was among those whose names are justly reverenced among men. The traditional legends have offered a narration of Georges encounter with a dragon. The modern legend that follows below is synthesised from early and late hagiographical sources, chief among the legendary sources about the saint is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxtons 15th-century translation. At the age of 14, George lost his father, a few years later, George then decided to go to Nicomedia and present himself to Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with arms, as he had known his father. By his late twenties, George was promoted to the rank of military tribune, however, George objected, and with the courage of his faith, approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune, but George loudly renounced the Emperors edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian
12.
The Open Championship
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The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. Held in the United Kingdom, it is administered by The R&A and is the only major outside the United States, the Open is currently the third major of the year, between the U. S. Open and the PGA Championship, and is played in mid-July. The current champion is Henrik Stenson, who won the 145th Open at Royal Troon in 2016 with a score of −20. The Open was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland, the inaugural tournament was restricted to professionals and attracted a field of eight golfers who played three rounds of Prestwicks twelve-hole course in a single day. Willie Park Sr. won with a score of 174, beating Old Tom Morris, the following year the tournament was opened to amateurs, eight of them joined ten professionals in the field. James Ogilvie Fairlie was the organiser of the first Open Championship held at Prestwick in 1860. With the untimely death of Allan Robertson, aged 43 in 1859, originally, the trophy presented to the events winner was the Challenge Belt, a red leather belt with a silver buckle. The Challenge Belt was retired in 1870, when Young Tom Morris was allowed to keep it for winning the tournament three consecutive times, because no trophy was available, the tournament was cancelled in 1871. In 1872, after Young Tom Morris won again for a time in a row. The present trophy, The Golf Champion Trophy, better known by its name of the Claret Jug, was then created. Prestwick administered The Open from 1860 to 1870, in 1871, it agreed to organise it jointly with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. In 1892 the event was doubled in length from 36 to 72 holes, the 1894 Open was the first held outside Scotland, at the Royal St Georges Golf Club in England. Because of a number of entrants, a cut was introduced after two rounds in 1898. In 1920 full responsibility for The Open Championship was handed over to The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the early winners were all Scottish professionals, who in those days worked as greenkeepers, clubmakers, and caddies to supplement their modest winnings from championships and challenge matches. The Open has always dominated by professionals, with only six victories by amateurs. The last of these was Bobby Jones third Open and part of his celebrated Grand Slam, Jones was one of six Americans who won The Open between the First and Second World Wars, the first of whom had been Walter Hagen in 1922. These Americans and the French winner of the 1907 Open, Arnaud Massy, were the winners from outside Scotland and England up to 1939. The first post-World War II winner was the American Sam Snead, in 1947, Northern Irelands Fred Daly was victorious
13.
Sapper (author)
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Herman Cyril McNeile, MC, commonly known as Cyril McNeile and publishing under the name H. C. McNeile or the pseudonym Sapper, was a British soldier and author, drawing on his experiences in the trenches during the First World War, he started writing short stories and getting them published in the Daily Mail. After the war McNeile left the army and continued writing, although he changed from war stories to thrillers, in 1920 he published Bulldog Drummond, whose eponymous hero became his best-known creation. The character was based on McNeile himself, on his friend Gerard Fairlie, McNeile wrote ten Bulldog Drummond novels, as well as three plays and a screenplay. McNeile interspersed his Drummond work with other novels and story collections that included two characters who appeared as protagonists in their own works, Jim Maitland and Ronald Standish, McNeiles stories are either directly about the war, or contain people whose lives have been shaped by it. His thrillers are a continuation of his war stories, with upper class Englishmen defending England from foreigners plotting against it, McNeile was born in Bodmin, Cornwall. He was the son of Malcolm McNeile, a captain in the Royal Navy who at the time was governor of the prison at Bodmin. The McNeile family had roots from both Belfast and Scotland, and counted a general in the British Indian Army among their members. McNeile did not like either of his given names but preferred to be called Cyril, after attending a prep school in Eastbourne, he was further educated at Cheltenham College. On leaving the college, he joined the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and he underwent further training at the Royal School of Military Engineering before a short posting to Aldershot Garrison. He received promotion to lieutenant in June 1910 and was posted to Canterbury, in 1914 McNeile was promoted to the rank of captain. He was still in Malta when the war broke out and was ordered to France in October 1914, he travelled via England, Baird was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Baird Douglas of the Cameron Highlanders. On 2 November 1914 McNeile travelled to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, few details are known about McNeiles wartime service, as his records were destroyed by incendiary bombs during the Second World War. He spent time with a number of Royal Engineer units on the Western Front, including 1st Field Squadron RE, McNeiles first known published story, Reminiscences of Sergeant Michael Cassidy, was serialised on page four of the Daily Mail from 13 January 1915. McNeile later confided that he had started writing through sheer boredom, some of his stories appeared on page four of the Daily Mail over the following months. Northcliffe was impressed by his writing and attempted, but failed, by the end of 1915, he had written two collections of short stories, The Lieutenant and Others and Sergeant Michael Cassidy, R. E. both of which were published by Hodder & Stoughton. Although many of the stories had appeared in the Daily Mail, between 1916 and 1918 Sergeant Michael Cassidy, R. E. sold 135,000 copies and The Lieutenant. By the end of the war he had published three collections, Men, Women, and Guns, No Mans Land and The Human Touch
14.
John Buchan
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John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War, in 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada R. B. Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough and he occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, Buchan was born in Perth, Scotland. He was the first child of John Buchan—a Free Church of Scotland minister—and Helen Jane Buchan, Buchan was brought up in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and spent many summer holidays with his maternal grandparents in Broughton, in the Scottish Borders. The childhood he and his sister, Anna, shared was documented in her memoir, Unforgettable, after attending Hutchesons Grammar School, Buchan was awarded a scholarship to the University of Glasgow at age 17, where he studied classics, wrote poetry, and became a published author. With a junior Hulme scholarship, he moved on in 1895 to study Literae Humaniores at Brasenose College, Oxford, where his friends included Hilaire Belloc, Raymond Asquith, and Aubrey Herbert. It was at around the time of his graduation from Oxford that Buchan had his first portrait painted, together, Buchan and his wife had four children, Alice, John, William, and Alastair, two of whom would spend most of their lives in Canada. With the outbreak of the First World War, Buchan went to write for the British War Propaganda Bureau and he continued to write fiction, and in 1915 published his most famous work, The Thirty-Nine Steps, a spy-thriller set just prior to World War I. The novel featured Buchans oft used hero, Richard Hannay, whose character was based on Edmund Ironside, a sequel, Greenmantle, came the following year. Buchan then enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps. It was difficult for him, given his close connections to many of Britains military leaders, following the close of the war, Buchan turned his attention to writing on historical subjects, along with his usual thrillers and novels. Robert Graves, who lived in nearby Islip, mentioned his being recommended by Buchan for a position at the newly founded Cairo University. In a 1927 by-election, Buchan was elected as the Unionist Party Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, politically, he was of the Unionist-Nationalist tradition, believing in Scotlands promotion as a nation within the British Empire. Buchan remarked in a speech to parliament, I believe every Scotsman should be a Scottish nationalist, if it could be proved that a Scottish parliament were desirable. He found himself profoundly affected by John Morleys Life of Gladstone, after the United Free Church of Scotland joined in 1929 with the Church of Scotland, Buchan remained an active elder of St. Columbas Church in London, as well as of the Oxford Presbyterian parish. In 1933 and 1934 Buchan was further appointed as the King George Vs Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, beginning in 1930 Buchan aligned himself with Zionism and the related Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group. In recognition of his contributions to literature and education, on 1 January 1932, in 1935 Buchans literary work was adapted for the cinema with the completion of Alfred Hitchcocks The 39 Steps, starring Robert Donat as Richard Hannay, though with Buchans story much altered
15.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street
16.
Goldfinger (film)
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Goldfinger is a British spy film, the third in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the novel of the name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title character Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The films plot has Bond investigating gold smuggling by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger was the first Bond blockbuster, with a budget equal to that of the two preceding films combined. Principal photography took place from January to July 1964 in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the release of the film led to a number of promotional licensed tie-in items, including a toy Aston Martin DB5 car from Corgi Toys which became the biggest selling toy of 1964. The promotion also included an image of gold-painted Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson on the cover of Life, Goldfinger was the first Bond film to win an Academy Award and opened to largely favourable critical reception. The film was a success, recouping its budget in two weeks, and is hailed as the Bond canons quintessential episode. After destroying a drug laboratory in Latin America, James Bond—Agent 007—travels to Miami Beach to receive instructions from his superior, M and he is to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger at the hotel there. Bond sees Goldfinger cheating at gin rummy and stops him by distracting his employee, Jill Masterson, after Bond and Jill consummate their new relationship, Bond is knocked out by Goldfingers Korean manservant, the hulking giant Oddjob. When Bond awakens, he finds Jill dead, covered in gold paint, in London, Bond learns his objective is determining how Goldfinger smuggles gold internationally. The chancellor of the exchequer and M explain that prices vary across the world. Bond arranges to meet Goldfinger socially at his club in Kent. Bond follows him to Switzerland, where Tilly, Jills sister, Bond sneaks into Goldfingers plant and discovers Goldfinger smuggles gold by melting it down and incorporating it into the bodywork of his car, which he takes with him whenever he travels. Bond also overhears Goldfinger talking to Chinese agent Mr. Ling about Operation Grand Slam, leaving, Bond encounters Tilly as she tries to kill Goldfinger again, but trips an alarm in the process, Oddjob kills Tilly with his hat. Captured, Bond is tied to a cutting table underneath an industrial laser, Bond lies to Goldfinger that MI6 knows about Grand Slam, causing Goldfinger to spare Bonds life to mislead MI6 into believing Bond has things in hand. Bond is transported by Goldfingers private jet, piloted by Pussy Galore, to his farm near Fort Knox. Bond escapes and witnesses Goldfingers meeting with US mafiosi, who have brought the materials he needs for Operation Grand Slam. Although they are each promised $1 million, Goldfinger tempts them that they could have the million today, or $10 million tomorrow and he then kills them using some of the neurotoxin he plans to release over Fort Knox
17.
Sean Connery
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Sir Thomas Sean Connery is a retired Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes. He was knighted by Elizabeth II in July 2000 after receiving Kennedy Center Honors in the US in 1999, Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables, Connery has been polled as The Greatest Living Scot and Scotlands Greatest Living National Treasure. In 1989, he was proclaimed Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, Thomas Sean Connery, named Thomas after his grandfather, was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland on 25 August 1930. His mother, Euphemia McBain Effie, was a cleaning woman and his paternal grandfathers parents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid-19th century. The remainder of his family was of Scottish descent, and his maternal great-grandparents were native Scottish Gaelic speakers from Fife and his father was a Roman Catholic, and his mother was a Protestant. He has a brother, Neil. He was generally referred to in his youth as Tommy, although he was small in primary school, he grew rapidly around the age of 12, reaching his full adult height of 6 ft 2 in at 18. He was known during his teen years as Big Tam, and has stated that he lost his virginity to a woman in an ATS uniform at the age of 14. Connerys first job was as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthberts Co-operative Society, one tattoo is a tribute to his parents and reads Mum and Dad, and the other is self-explanatory, Scotland Forever. Connery was later discharged from the navy on medical grounds because of a duodenal ulcer, Scotland, Archie Brennan, a coffin polisher. The modelling earned him 15 shillings an hour, student artist Richard Demarco who painted several notable early pictures of Connery described him as very straight, slightly shy, too, too beautiful for words, a virtual Adonis. Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18, and from 1951 trained heavily with Ellington, Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days. He was offered a trial with East Fife, while on tour with South Pacific, Connery played in a football match against a local team that Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, happened to be scouting. According to reports, Busby was impressed with his physical prowess, Connery admits that he was tempted to accept, but he recalls, I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves, looking to pick up some extra money, Connery helped out backstage at the Kings Theatre in late 1951. He became interested in the proceedings, and a career was launched, the production returned the following year out of popular demand, and Connery was promoted to the featured role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams, which Larry Hagman had portrayed in the West End. While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the notorious Valdor gang, there Connery launched an attack single-handedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and another by a biceps and cracked their heads together
18.
BBC Radio
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BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs. It also oversees online audio content, of the national radio stations, BBC Radio 1,2,3,4 and 5 Live are all available through analogue radio as well as on DAB Digital Radio and internet services through RealMedia, WMA and BBC iPlayer. The remaining stations, BBC Radio 1Xtra,4 Extra,5 Live Sports Extra and 6 Music, all of the BBCs national radio stations broadcast from bases in London, usually in or near to Broadcasting House in Marylebone. However, the BBCs network production units located in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, the BBCs radio services began in 1922. Today radio broadcasting still makes up a part of the corporations output - the title of the BBCs listings magazine, Radio Times. On 1 January 1927 the British Broadcasting Company was succeeded in control of the airwaves by the British Broadcasting Corporation. John Reith, who had been the managing director of the commercial company. He expounded firm principles of centralised, all-encompassing radio broadcasting, stressing programming standards and these he set out in his autobiography, Broadcast Over Britain, influencing modern ideas of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. To this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate, although no other broadcasting organisation was licensed in the UK until 1973, commercial competition soon opened up from overseas. The English language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earliest commercial radio broadcasting to Britain. The IBC began leasing time on transmitters in continental Europe and then reselling it as sponsored English-language programming aimed at audiences in Britain and it was an important forerunner of pirate radio and modern commercial radio in the United Kingdom. The onset of World War II silenced all but one of the original IBC stations, at the start of the Second World War it was renamed The Overseas Service but is now known as the BBC World Service. Beginning in 1964 the first in what became a fleet of 10 offshore pirate radio stations began to ring the British coastline, by 1967 millions were tuning into these commercial operations and the BBC was rapidly losing its radio listening audience. The British government reacted by passing the Marine Offences Act, which all, One of the stations called Radio London was so successful that the BBC was told to copy it as best they could. This led to an overhaul by Frank Gillard the BBCs Director of Radio of the BBC output creating the four analogue channels that still form the basis of its broadcasting today. The creator of BBC Radio One told the press that his family had been fans of Radio London, the BBC hired many out-of-work broadcasting staff who had come from the former offshore stations. Tony Blackburn who presented the very first BBC Radio One morning show had previously presented the morning show on Radio Caroline
19.
Toby Stephens
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Toby Stephens is an English stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. Stephens, the son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, was born in London. He was educated at Aldro and Seaford College and he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Stephens began his career with the role of Othello in 1992s Orlando. He has since made appearances on television and on stage. He played the role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus shortly after graduation from LAMDA. He also played Stanley Kowalski in a West End production of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire and he has appeared on Broadway in Ring Round the Moon. He played the lead in the film Photographing Fairies and played Orsino in Trevor Nunns 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeares Twelfth Night, in 2002 he took on the role for which he is most widely known, that of Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day. Aged 33 at the time of release, he remains the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain. In 2005 he played the role of a British Army captain in the Indian film, The Rising, Ballad of Mangal Pandey, the following year he returned to India to play a renegade British East India Company officer in Sharpes Challenge. During mid-2007, Stephens played the role of Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinters Betrayal under the direction of Roger Michell, later that year, Stephens also starred as Horner in Jonathan Kents revival of William Wycherleys The Country Wife. Various members of the company are expected to star in upcoming productions at the Haymarket Theatre with various artistic directors, the formation of the company is considered by many London theatre critics to be a bold move for West End theatre. In February 2008, the Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a one hour, prime time US television show, Inseparable. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralysed forensic psychologist whose other personality is a charming criminal, Stephens casting was highly unusual, because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the show. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that y the time the network picked up the pilot. In May 2008, Stephens performed the role of James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Flemings Dr. No, as part of the centenary celebration of Flemings birth. The production was reportedly the first BBC radio dramatisation of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, also in May 2008, Stock-pot Productions announced that Stephens will have the lead role in a feature-length film entitled Fly Me, co-starring Tim McInnerny. Stock-pot was also the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film shown at film festivals
