High Speed 1 the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is a 67-mile high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. The line carries international passenger traffic between the United Continental Europe; the line crosses the River Medway, tunnels under the River Thames, terminating at St Pancras International station on the north side of central London. It cost £5.8 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains run at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour on HS1. Intermediate stations are at Stratford International in London, Ebbsfleet International Station and Ashford International in Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with journey times of London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes, St Pancras to Brussels-South in 1 hour 51 minutes; as of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of 300 kilometres per hour and 320 kilometres per hour Class 374 trains. Domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009.

The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour. DB Cargo UK run freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time; the CTRL project saw new bridges and tunnels built, with a combined length nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself, significant archaeological research undertaken. In 2002, the CTRL project was awarded the Major Project Award at the British Construction Industry Awards; the line was transferred to government ownership in 2009, with a 30-year concession for its operation being put up for sale in June 2010. The concession was awarded to a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in November 2010, but does not include the freehold or rights to any of the associated land. In July 2017 HS1 Ltd. was acquired by a consortium of funds advised and managed by InfraRed Capital Partners Limited and Equitix Investment Management Limited.

A high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnel's opening in 1994. This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h for this part of their journey. A similar high-speed line in Belgium, from the French border to Brussels, HSL 1, opened in 1997. In Britain, Eurostar trains had to run at a maximum of 160 km/h on existing tracks between London Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel; these tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, jeopardising reliability. The case for a high-speed line similar to the continental part of the route was recognised by policymakers, the construction of the line was authorised by Parliament with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, amended by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 2008. An early plan conceived by British Rail in the early 1970s for a route passing through Tonbridge met considerable opposition on environmental and social grounds from the Leigh Action Group and Surrey & Kent Action on Rail.

A committee was set up to examine the proposal under Sir Alexander Cairncross. The next plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, an underground terminus in the vicinity of King's Cross station. A late change in the plans, principally driven by the Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine's desire for urban regeneration in east London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east; this opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station. The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, it was rejected in 1994 by the Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, as too difficult to construct and environmentally damaging; the idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 20 kilometres of specially built tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford. London & Continental Railways was chosen by the UK government in 1996 to build the line and to reconstruct St Pancras station as its terminus, to take over the British share of the Eurostar operation, Eurostar.

The original LCR consortium members were National Express, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric. While the project was under development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of LCR. On 14 November 2006, LCR adopted High Speed 1 as the brand name for the completed railway. Official legislation and line-side signage have continued to refer to "CTRL"; as the 1987 Channel Tunnel Act made government funding for a Channel tunnel rail link unlawful, construction did not take place as it was not financially viable. Construction was delayed until passage of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 which provided construction powers that ran for the following 10 years; the chief executive of the time Rob Holden stated that it was the "largest land acquisition programme since the Second World War". The whole route was to have been built as a single project, but in 1998 serious financial difficulties arose, extensive changes came with a British government

The Imperieuse-class cruiser was a class of two armoured cruisers launched between 1883 and 1884 for the Royal Navy. In an 1886 magazine article, Sir Edward Reed complained that these ships did not deserve to be called "armoured", as they were not armoured at bow or stern, only along the middle 140 feet of each side; this armour belt was additionally only 8 feet wide, as designed would have extended 3 feet 3 inches above the waterline. As completed, the two ships were overweight, with the result that the belt was submerged, leaving them armoured in name only; the layout of the main armament was unusual for the time, having one gun each forward and aft, another gun mounted on either beam – in a lozenge arrangement similar to that employed by the French. The original secondary battery comprised ten 6-inch guns, but the overweight condition of these ships forced the elimination of four of these weapons. Intended for prolonged deployments on distant foreign stations, the ships were sheathed with wood and copper to prevent marine growth on the hull, were fitted with a brig sailing rig to economize on coal.

After trials showed them to be sluggish under sail, the masts and yards were removed and replaced by a single pole mast between the funnels. This reduction in rig and the weight saved thereby allowed the reinstallation of two 6-inch guns, for a total of eight. Imperieuse – launched in 1883, converted to a depot ship in 1905 and renamed Sapphire II reverted to Imperieuse in 1909, sold in 1913. Warspite – launched in 1884, scrapped 1906. One of Warspite's 9.2-inch breech-blocks is/was held at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham. The following table gives the build details and purchase cost of the members of the Imperieuse class. Standard British practice at that time was for these costs to exclude armament and stores. In the table: Machinery meant "propelling machinery". Hull included "hydraulic machinery, gun mountings, etc." Brassey, T. A; the Naval Annual 1895 Brassey, T. A; the Naval Annual 1903 Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. eds.. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905.

Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4. Friedman, Norman. British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-59114-068-9. Lyon, David; the Sail & Steam Navy List. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-032-9. Parkes, Oscar. British Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4. Silverstone, Paul H.. Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0

A signature dish is a recipe that identifies an individual chef or restaurant. Ideally it should allow an informed gastronome to name the chef in a blind tasting, it can be thought of as the culinary equivalent of an artist finding their own style, or an author finding their own voice. In practice a chef's signature dish changes with time or they may claim several signature dishes. In a weaker sense, a signature dish may become associated with an individual restaurant if the chef who created it is no longer with the establishment, it can be used to refer to a culinary region, in which case its meaning may be the equivalent of "national dish". In many cases, restaurants will base their menu development on tastes and styles which are unique to the restaurant's geographical location. Local produce, restaurant décor, the type of building you choose can all contribute to a larger yield by taking on local sensibilities. Emphasizing connection to its location provides great marketing possibilities. At its weakest, the term can mean "chef's specials" which are in no way unique or particularly unusual.

Franz Sacher - sachertorte Albert Roux - Soufflé Suissesse Gordon Ramsay - Cappuccino of white beans with grated truffles Heston Blumenthal - snail porridge Fergus Henderson - roast bone marrow with parsley salad Daniel Boulud - Crisp Paupiettes of Sea Bass in Barolo Sauce The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City - Waldorf salad Hotel Tatin, Lamotte-Beuvron, France - Tarte Tatin List of restaurant terminology