1.
Trooping the Colour
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Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, on battlefields, a regiments colours, or flags, were used as rallying points. Consequently, regiments would have their ensigns slowly march with their colours between the ranks to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments colours. Since 1748, Trooping the Colour has also marked the birthday of the British sovereign. It is held in London annually on a Saturday in June on Horse Guards Parade by St. Jamess Park, among the audience are the Royal Family, invited guests, ticket holders and the general public. The ceremony is broadcast live by the BBC within the UK and is shown in Germany. The Queen travels down The Mall from Buckingham Palace in a procession with a sovereigns escort of Household Cavalry. After receiving a royal salute, she inspects her troops of the Household Division, each year, one of the foot-guards regiments is selected to troop its colour through the ranks of guards. Then the entire Household Division assembly conducts a march past the Queen, parading with its guns, the Kings Troop takes precedence as the mounted troops perform a walk-march and trot-past. Returning to Buckingham Palace, the Queen watches a further march-past from outside the gates, following a 41-gun salute by the Kings Troop in Green Park, she leads the Royal Family on to the palace balcony for a Royal Air Force flypast. A regiments colours embody its spirit and service, as well as its fallen soldiers, the loss of a colour, or the capture of an enemy colour, were respectively considered the greatest shame, or the greatest glory on a battlefield. Consequently, regimental colours are venerated by officers and soldiers of all ranks, only battalions of infantry regiments of the line carry colours, the Royal Artillerys colours, for example, are its guns. Rifle regiments did not form a line and thus never carried colours and their battle honours are carried on their drums. The exception to this is the Honourable Artillery Company, which has both a stand of colours and guns and this was done before and after every battle. This ceremony has been retained through time and is largely ceremonial. In the United Kingdom, Trooping the Colour is also known as the Queens Birthday Parade and it has marked the official birthday of the sovereign since 1748, and has occurred annually since 1820. From the reign of King Edward VII, the sovereign has taken the salute in person and it was Edward VII who moved Trooping the Colour to its June date, because of the vagaries of British weather. Trooping the Colour allows the troops of the Household Division to pay a tribute to the sovereign with great pomp
2.
Military parade
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A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvring known as drilling or marching. The military parade is now almost entirely ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the late 19th century fought in formation, massed parades may also hold a role for propaganda purposes, being used to exhibit the apparent military strength of ones nation. The terminology comes from the tradition of close order formation combat, formation combat was used as an alternative to mêlée combat, and required strict discipline in the ranks and competent officers. As long as their formations could be maintained, regular troops could maintain a significant advantage over less organised opponents, roughly synonymous are drill and march. The English word drill is of Middle Dutch origin, dating from the 16th century drill of the Dutch army of prince Maurice of Orange, in ancient times, drilling increased in importance when men stopped fighting as individuals and began to fight together as units. Military drilling later was used by the Roman Army to maximise efficiency, massed military drilling was used mostly by only the foremost armies and nations, such as the Normans. The U. S. drill is based on the contributions of Baron von Steuben, during the winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, von Steuben taught a model company of 100 soldiers musket drill. These soldiers, in turn, taught the remainder of the Continental Army, a military drill is memorizing certain actions through repetition until the action is instinctive to the soldiers being drilled. Complex actions are broken down into simpler ones which can be practised in isolation so when the whole is put together the results are achieved. Such is necessary for a force to perform at maximum efficiency in all manner of situations. However, depending on the army and the drills it adopts, drilling may destroy flexibility and initiative in exchange for predictability, recruits in most modern militaries are taught drill to teach them how to work and move as a team. In addition, formations are used in riot control, where mêlée combat is still the norm. When these are not present, the direction of the commander is the advance. There is only one person in charge of a parade at a time, changing this person is very ceremonious. This is to make it obvious to the soldiers who is currently in command, during parades, unless explicitly told otherwise, soldiers have restricted movement, meaning they can move only exactly when they are told, and then doing only exactly what they are told to do. American usage allows the member to be at four states of alert, Attention, standing straight, eyes forward, chest out, knees straight but not locked. Stand At Ease, Same as Parade Rest, but the soldier may look at the speaker, at Ease, The service member is allowed to move around all but the right foot, but must remain silent. Rest, Service member may talk, smoke and may move as long as their right pivot foot remains grounded, a formation must be brought to the position of attention before it can go to a higher state of alert
3.
Whitehall
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Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, Central London, which forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square, consequently, the name Whitehall is used as a metonym for British civil service, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before its destruction by fire in 1698, only the Banqueting House survived. Whitehall was originally a road that led to the front of the palace. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its statues and monuments, including Britains primary war memorial. The Whitehall Theatre, now the Trafalgar Studios, has been a place for farce comedies since the mid-20th century. The name Whitehall was used for buildings in the Tudor period. It either referred to a made of light stone, or as a general term for any festival building. This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall, which in turn gave its name to the street, the street is about 0.4 miles long and runs through the City of Westminster. It is part of the A3212, a road in Central London that leads towards Chelsea via the Houses of Parliament. It runs south from Trafalgar Square, past numerous government buildings, including the old War Office building, Horse Guards, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and it ends at the Cenotaph, the road ahead being Parliament Street. Great Scotland Yard and Horse Guards Avenue branch off to the east, the nearest tube stations are Charing Cross at the north end, and Westminster at the south. Numerous London bus routes run along Whitehall, including 12,24,53,88,159 and 453. It had become a street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including Lord Howard of Effingham. The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, the palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the Kings main residence later in the decade. He married Ann Boleyn here in 1533, followed by Jane Seymour in 1536, Charles I owned an extensive art collection at the palace and several of William Shakespeares plays had their first performances here. It ceased to be a residence after 1689, when William III moved to Kensington Palace. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1698, most of the palace burned to the ground owing to an accident started by a careless washerwoman
4.
Central London
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Central London is the innermost part of London, UK. Over time a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and it had a 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together and this was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. However, districts at the edge of this subregion such as Streatham, Dulwich. During the Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill, the first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics. It had an population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres. The area had an population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres. During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the used at the 1961 census. The population was estimated to be 270,000
5.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
6.
Queen's Official Birthday
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The sovereigns birthday was first officially marked in the United Kingdom in 1748, for King George II. In some cases, it is a public holiday, sometimes aligning with the celebration of other events. Most Commonwealth realms release a Queens Birthday Honours list at this time, except in the states of Western Australia and Queensland, Australia observes the Queens Birthday on the second Monday in June. There is no rule to determine this date, though it is usually the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October. Starting in 2016, Queensland celebrates the holiday on the first Monday of October, so that a long weekend coincides with the AFL, the day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of the King of Great Britain. Until 1936, it was held on the birthday of the monarch. This has more evenly spaced out public holidays throughout the year, the Queens Birthday weekend and Empire Day were the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. The sale of fireworks to the public was banned in various states through the 1980s, tasmania is the only state and the Northern Territory the only territory to still sell fireworks to the public. The Queens Birthday Honours List, in new members of the Order of Australia. A royal proclamation issued on 5 February 1957 established the Canadian monarchs official birthday as the last Monday before 25 May. The sovereigns birthday had been observed in Canada since 1845, when the parliament of the Province of Canada passed a statute to officially recognize Queen Victorias birthday,24 May. Edward VIII abdicated on 11 December 1936, three days before the birthday of his brother, the new king of Canada, George VI, the King expressed to his ministers his wish that his birthday not be publicly celebrated, in light of the recent circumstances. George VIs official birthday in Canada was thereafter marked on various days between 20 May and 14 June, the two holidays are in law entirely distinct except for being appointed to be observed on the same day, it is a general holiday in Nunavut and New Brunswick. The reigning Canadian monarch has been in Canada for his or her birthday twice. The first time was 20 May 1939, when King George VI was on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada, in 2014, the couple attended a ceremony in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Despite Fiji ceasing to be a Commonwealth realm in 1987, following a military coup détat. That year, the government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama announced the holiday would be abolished. In New Zealand, the holiday is the first Monday in June, celebrations are mainly official, including the Queens Birthday Honours list and military ceremonies
7.
Beating Retreat
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Beating Retreat is a military ceremony dating to 16th century England and was first used to recall nearby patrolling units to their castle. Originally it was known as setting and was initiated at sunset by the firing of a single round from the evening gun. They are to be answered by all the Drummers of the guards, however, either or both orders may refer to the ceremonial tattoo. For the first time ever, a band was allowed to play at the Beating Retreat on 5 June 2008. This band was that of the first Battalion Royal Malay Regiment, amongst their performance pieces were arrangements of number of well known pieces from Film. The 3rd time this occurred was in June 2015, when the BR that year honoured the biccentennial jubilee of the Battle of Waterloo, the ceremonies generally involve the marching of a band, the firing of cannon and other decorative presentations. In many cases a castle is used as a prop or a backdrop for the parade, the London version takes place on Horse Guards Parade. Historically, on at least one evening, a member of the British Royal Family has attended. The concert raises money for the Army Benevolent Fund the Household Division Charitable Funds, note, Refer to See Also for list of Foot Guards Bands. Because of its popularity, it is generally over three nights, the latest was held in 2016, also marking the 90th birthday of HM the Queen and the first to be streamed live on Facebook. The Royal Marines ceremony should not be confused with that of the Army which takes place every year,4 to 5 bands belonging to the Royal Marines Band Service compose the Massed Bands for the ceremony. The ceremonys charity partner is the RNRMC, sounding Retreat is the variant form of the ceremony done by the Band of The Rifles, and formerly of the bands of the Light Division. The reason is that bugles are used in the ceremony in sounding Sunset, the Australian Defence Force traditional ceremony of Beating Retreat was handed down from the British Army. The first ceremony including performance of Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture was held at the Royal Military College, although this inaugural performance was a relatively low-key affair, the ceremony has since become an annual event at RMC and is well supported by the service community and the general public. The modern ceremony is thought to have its origins in the 16th century, the first custom was originally performed by drummers only, marching on the ramparts to warn the soldiers that evening guard duties would soon commence. It also signalled soldiers outside the fortifications and labourers in the fields that the gates were about to be closed, the second custom was practised on battlefields in past times when the fighting ceased at sunset. The final custom derives from the practice of lodging the Regimental Colour in the Colour Ensigns quarter when the guard was mounted. In modern times, that custom was replaced by the lowering of the national flag, the 2007 ceremony was conducted on the nights of 27 &28 September
8.
Palace of Whitehall
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Before then, it had grown to be the largest palace in Europe with more than 1,500 rooms, overtaking the Vatican and Versailles. The palace gives its name, Whitehall, to the road on many of the current administrative buildings of the UK government are situated. It is about 650 metres from Westminster Abbey, by the 13th century the Palace of Westminster had become the centre of government in England, and had been the main London residence of the king since 1049. The surrounding area became a popular and expensive location, the Archbishop of York Walter de Grey bought a nearby property as his London residence soon after 1240, calling it York Place. King Edward I stayed at York Place on several occasions while work was carried out at Westminster, and enlarged it to accommodate his entourage. York Place was rebuilt during the 15th century and expanded so much by Cardinal Wolsey that it was rivalled by only Lambeth Palace as the greatest house in London, the Kings London palaces included. The name Whitehall or White Hall was first recorded in 1532, Henry VIII hired Flemish artist Anthony van den Wyngaerde to redesign York Place, and he extended it during his lifetime. Inspired by Richmond Palace, he included a centre with a bowling green, indoor tennis court, a pit for cock fighting. It is estimated more than £30,000 were spent during the 1540s. Henry VIII married two of his wives at the palace—Anne Boleyn in 1533 and Jane Seymour in 1536, Henry died at the palace in January 1547. In 1611 the palace hosted the first known performance of William Shakespeares play The Tempest and its decoration was finished in 1634 with the completion of a ceiling by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, commissioned by Charles I. By 1650 Whitehall Palace was the largest complex of buildings in England. Its layout was irregular, and its constituent parts were of different sizes and in several different architectural styles. Like his father, he died at the palace—but from a stroke, james II ordered various changes by Sir Christopher Wren, including a chapel finished in 1687, rebuilding of the queens apartments, and the queens private lodgings. By 1691 the palace had become the largest and most complex in Europe, on 10 April a fire broke out in the much-renovated apartment previously used by the Duchess of Portsmouth that damaged the older palace structures, though apparently not the state apartments. This actually gave a greater cohesiveness to the remaining complex, however a second fire on 4 January 1698 destroyed most of the remaining residential and government buildings, the diarist John Evelyn noted succinctly the next day, Whitehall burnt. Nothing but walls and ruins left, beside the Banqueting House, some buildings survived in Scotland Yard and some facing the park, along with the so-called Holbein Gate, eventually demolished in 1769. Despite some rebuilding, financial constraints prevented large scale reconstruction, in the second half of the 18th century, much of the site was leased for the construction of town houses
9.
Tiltyard
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A tiltyard was an enclosed courtyard for jousting. Tiltyards were a feature of Tudor era castles and palaces. Henry VIII also constructed a tiltyard at Hampton Court Palace, where one of the towers, the Tiltyard at Whitehall was a permanent structure and apparently had room for 10-12,000 spectators, accommodated in conditions which ranged from the spartan to the opulent. The aristocrats who attended wore elaborate costumes designed and made for themselves, another tiltyard used during the reign of Queen Elizabeth existed at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. It was constructed on top of one of the dams that formed part of the defences between the outer bailey and the bridgehead. Today it forms the main walkway to the castle, a modern tiltyard was constructed outside the Royal Armouries in Leeds for demonstrations of medieval martial pursuits, including jousting reenactment and falconry
10.
Tournament (medieval)
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A tournament, or tourney was a chivalrous competition or mock fight in Europe in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It is one of various types of hastiludes, Old French tornement was in use in the 12th century, from a verb tornoier, ultimately Latin tornare to turn. The same verb also gave rise to tornei, the French terms were adopted in English by 1300. The Old French verb in origin meant to joust, tilt, by the end of the 12th century, tornement and Latinized torneamentum had become the generic term for all kinds of knightly hastiludes or martial displays. Roger of Hoveden writing in the late 12th century defined torneamentum as military exercises carried out, not in the spirit of hostility, but solely for practice. The application of the tournament to competition in games of skill or sports in general dates to the mid 18th century. Medieval equestrian warfare, and equestrian practice, did hark back to Roman antiquity and it is known that such cavalry games were central to military training in the Carolingian Empire, with records of Louis and Charles military games at Worms in 843. At this event, recorded by Nithard, the chasing and fleeing was followed by a general mêlée of all combatants. Documentation of equestrian practice during the 9th to 10th centuries is still sparse, the earliest known use of the word tournament comes from the peace legislation by Count Baldwin III of Hainaut for the town of Valenciennes, dated to 1114. It refers to the keepers of the peace in the town leaving it for the purpose of frequenting javelin sports, tournaments, a pattern of regular tournament meetings across northern France is evident in sources for the life of Charles, Count of Flanders. The sources of the 1160s and 1170s portray the event in the form it maintained into the fourteenth century. Tournaments centred on the melee, a fight where the knights were divided into two sides and came together in a charge. Jousting, a combat of two knights riding at each other, was a component of the tournament, but was never its main feature. The standard form of a tournament is evident in sources as early as the 1160s and 1170s, notably the Life of William Marshal, Tournaments might be held at all times of the year except the penitential season of Lent. The general custom was to them on Mondays and Tuesdays. The site of the tournament was announced a fortnight before it was to be held. The most famous tournament fields were in northeastern France which attracted hundreds of knights from all over Europe for the lonc sejor. Knights arrived individually or in companies to stay at one or other of the two settlements designated as their lodgings, the tournament began on a field outside the principal settlement, where stands were erected for spectators
11.
Jousting
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Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The joust became a characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The participants experience close to three and a quarter times their weight in G-forces when the lances collide with their armor. The term is derived from Old French joster, ultimately from Latin iuxtare to approach, the word was loaned into Middle English around 1300, when jousting was a very popular sport among the Anglo-Norman knighthood. Jousting is based on the use of the lance by heavy cavalry. It transformed into a sport during the Late Middle Ages. In England, jousting was the highlight of the Accession Day tilts of Elizabeth I and James I, Jousting was discontinued in favour of other equestrian sports in the 17th century, although non-contact forms of equestrian skill-at-arms disciplines survived. There has been a revival of theatrical jousting re-enactment since the 1970s. The medieval joust has its origins in the tactics of heavy cavalry during the High Middle Ages. From the 11th to 14th centuries when medieval jousting was still practised in connection to the use of the lance in warfare, by 1400, knights wore full suits of plate armour, called a harness. Combatants would begin riding on one another with the lance, Tournaments in the High Medieval period were much rougher and less gentlemanly affairs than in the late medieval era of chivalry. The rival parties would fight in groups, with the aim of incapacitating their adversaries for the sake of gaining their horses, with the development of the courtly ideals of chivalry in the late medieval period, the joust became more regulated. This tendency is reflected in the pas darmes in general. This romanticised chivalric revival was based on the romances of the high medieval period. The development of the term dates to this period. Before the 12th century, cniht was a term for a servant, in the 12th century, it became used of a military follower in particular. Also in the 12th century, a class of noblemen serving in cavalry developed. By the end of the 13th century, chivalry was used not just in the sense of cavalry
12.
Henry VIII of England
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Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. Henry was the second Tudor monarch, succeeding his father, Henry VII, Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to England. Besides asserting the supremacy over the Church of England, he greatly expanded royal power during his reign. Charges of treason and heresy were commonly used to quash dissent, and he achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and his contemporaries considered Henry in his prime to be an attractive, educated, and accomplished king, and he has been described as one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne. He was an author and composer, as he aged, Henry became severely obese and his health suffered, contributing to his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI, born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Of the young Henrys six siblings, only three – Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret, and Mary – survived infancy and he was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three, and was inducted into the Order of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony he was created Duke of York, in May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. Henry was given an education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin and French. Not much is known about his early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king, as Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15 of sweating sickness, Arthurs death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother, the 10-year-old Henry. After a little debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in October 1502, Henry VII gave the boy few tasks. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public, as a result, the young Henry would later ascend the throne untrained in the exacting art of kingship
13.
Elizabeth I of England
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Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
14.
The Duke of Wellington
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His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britains military heroes. Wellesley was born in Dublin, belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland and he was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons and he was a colonel by 1796, and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, following Napoleons exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he commanded the army which defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellesleys battle record is exemplary, he participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career. Wellington is famous for his defensive style of warfare, resulting in several victories against numerically superior forces while minimising his own losses. He is regarded as one of the greatest defensive commanders of all time, after ending his active military career, Wellington returned to politics. He was twice British prime minister as part of the Tory party, from 1828 to 1830 and he oversaw the passage of the Catholic Relief Act 1829, but opposed the Reform Act 1832. He continued as one of the figures in the House of Lords until his retirement. As such, he belonged to the Protestant Ascendancy and his biographers mostly follow the contemporary newspaper evidence in saying that he was born 1 May 1769, the day that he was baptised. He was most likely born at his parents townhouse,24 Upper Merrion Street, Dublin, but his mother Anne, Countess of Mornington, recalled in 1815 that he had been born at 6 Merrion Street, Dublin. He spent most of his childhood at his familys two homes, the first a house in Dublin and the second Dangan Castle,3 miles north of Summerhill on the Trim Road in County Meath. In 1781, Arthurs father died and his eldest brother Richard inherited his fathers earldom and he went to the diocesan school in Trim when at Dangan, Mr Whytes Academy when in Dublin, and Browns School in Chelsea when in London. He then enrolled at Eton, where he studied from 1781 to 1784, moreover, Eton had no playing fields at the time. In 1785, a lack of success at Eton, combined with a shortage of funds due to his fathers death, forced the young Wellesley. Until his early twenties, Arthur showed little sign of distinction and his mother grew concerned at his idleness, stating. A year later, Arthur enrolled in the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, where he progressed significantly, becoming a good horseman and learning French, upon returning to England in late 1786, he astonished his mother with his improvement
15.
Commander-in-chief
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A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence
16.
London Eye
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The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. The structure is 443 feet tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet, when erected in 1999 it was the worlds tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 520 feet tall Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 541 feet tall Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 550 feet High Roller in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels and it is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made many appearances in popular culture. The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. A predecessor to the London Eye, the Great Wheel, was built for the Empire of India Exhibition at Earls Court, modelled on the original Chicago Ferris Wheel, it was 94 metres tall and 82.3 metres in diameter. It stayed in service until 1906, by which time its 40 cars had carried over 2.5 million passengers, the Great Wheel was demolished in 1907 following its last use at the Imperial Austrian Exhibition. The London Eye was designed by architects Frank Anatole, Nic Bailey, Steve Chilton, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, mace was responsible for construction management, with Hollandia as the main steelwork contractor and Tilbury Douglas as the civil contractor. Consulting engineers Tony Gee & Partners designed the works while Beckett Rankine designed the marine works. Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners assisted The Tussauds Group in obtaining planning, the rim of the Eye is supported by tensioned steel cables and resembles a huge spoked bicycle wheel. The lighting was redone with LED lighting from Color Kinetics in December 2006 to allow control of the lights as opposed to the manual replacement of gels over fluorescent tubes. The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the Thames on barges, once the wheel was complete it was lifted into an upright position by a strand jack system made by Enerpac. It was first raised at 2 degrees per hour until it reached 65 degrees, the London Eye was formally opened by then Prime Minister Tony Blair on 31 December 1999, but did not open to the paying public until 9 March 2000 because of a capsule clutch problem. On 5 June 2008 it was announced that 30 million people had ridden the London Eye since it opened, the wheels 32 sealed and air-conditioned ovoidal passenger capsules, designed and supplied by Poma, are attached to the external circumference of the wheel and rotated by electric motors. Each of the 10-tonne capsules represents one of the London Boroughs, and holds up to 25 people, the wheel rotates at 26 cm per second so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes. It does not usually stop to take on passengers, the rate is slow enough to allow passengers to walk on. It is, however, stopped to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to embark and disembark safely, in 2009 the first stage of a £12.5 million capsule upgrade began. Each capsule was taken down and floated down the river to Tilbury Docks in Essex, on 2 June 2013 a passenger capsule was named the Coronation Capsule to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
17.
Ferris wheel
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Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. These wheels are sometimes referred to as wheels and their cars referred to as capsules. The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The generic term Ferris wheel is now used for all such structures, since the original 1893 Chicago Ferris wheel there have been nine worlds tallest-ever Ferris wheels. The current record holder is the 167. 6-metre High Roller in Las Vegas, US, pleasure wheels, whose passengers rode in chairs suspended from large wooden rings turned by strong men, may have originated in 17th-century Bulgaria. A Frenchman, Antonio Manguino, introduced the idea to America in 1848, a much earlier description of a Ferris-type wheel can be seen in The Death of Arthur, a volume of the Vulgate Cycle dating from around 1220. The text describes King Arthur in a dream being approached by Fortuna, the following year he was granted the first U. S. patent for a Roundabout. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. rode on Somers wheel in Atlantic City prior to designing his wheel for the Worlds Columbian Exposition, the original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. With a height of 80.4 metres it was the largest attraction at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois and it was intended to rival the 324-metre Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition. Ferris was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and he began his career in the railroad industry and then pursued an interest in bridge building. Ferris understood the growing need for steel and founded G. W. G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads, the wheel rotated on a 71-ton,45. There were 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people, the Exposition ended in October 1893, and the wheel closed in April 1894 and was dismantled and stored until the following year. It was then rebuilt on Chicagos North Side, near Lincoln Park and this prompted William D. Boyce, then a local resident, to file a Circuit Court action against the owners of the wheel to have it removed, but without success. The Wiener Riesenrad is an example of nineteenth-century Ferris wheels. A demolition permit for the Riesenrad was issued in 1916, but due to a lack of funds with which to carry out the destruction, following the demolition of the 100-metre Grande Roue de Paris in 1920, the Riesenrad became the worlds tallest extant Ferris wheel. Still in operation today, it is one of Viennas most popular tourist attractions, chronology of worlds tallest-ever wheels 1893, the original Ferris Wheel was 80.4 metres tall. Built for the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, it was moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1904 for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and demolished there in 1906
18.
Civil service
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A civil servant or public servant is a person so employed in the public sector employed for a government department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the service varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown employees are referred to as civil servants whereas county or city employees are not, many consider the study of service to be a part of the field of public administration. Workers in non-departmental public bodies may also be classed as servants for the purpose of statistics and possibly for their terms. Collectively a states civil servants form its service or public service. An international civil servant or international staff member is an employee who is employed by an intergovernmental organization. These international civil servants do not resort under any national legislation but are governed by internal staff regulations, All disputes related to international civil service are brought before special tribunals created by these international organizations such as, for instance, the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO. Specific referral can be made to the International Civil Service Commission of the United Nations and its mandate is to regulate and coordinate the conditions of service of staff in the United Nations common system, while promoting and maintaining high standards in the international civil service. The origin of the modern civil service can be traced back to Imperial examination founded in Imperial China. The Imperial exam based on merit was designed to select the best administrative officials for the states bureaucracy and this system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of scholar-bureaucrats irrespective of their family pedigree. In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit, after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy regressed into a semi-merit system known as the Nine-rank system. This system was reversed during the short-lived Sui Dynasty, which initiated a civil service bureaucracy recruited through written examinations, the first civil service examination system was established by Emperor Wen of Sui. The examination tested the candidates memorization of the Nine Classics of Confucianism and his ability to compose poetry using fixed and traditional forms, the system was finally abolished by the Qing government in 1905 as part of the New Policies reform package. The Chinese system was admired by European commentators from the 16th century onward. In the 18th century, in response to changes and the growth of the British Empire, the bureaucracy of institutions such as the Office of Works. Each had its own system, but in general, staff were appointed through patronage or outright purchase, by the 19th century, it became increasingly clear that these arrangements were falling short. The origins of the British civil service are better known, during the eighteenth century a number of Englishmen wrote in praise of the Chinese examination system, some of them going so far as to urge the adoption for England of something similar. The first concrete step in this direction was taken by the British East India Company in 1806, in that year, the Honourable East India Company established a college, the East India Company College, near London to train and examine administrators of the Companys territories in India
19.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
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It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971. The IRAs primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland and it used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political. The IRA called a ceasefire in July 1997, after Sinn Féin was re-admitted into the Northern Ireland peace talks. It supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and in 2005 it disarmed under international supervision, the campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups. As a result, the IRA launched a new strategy known as the Long War and this saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity, via the political party Sinn Féin. The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy, with more time, the British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK. The IRA ceasefire was reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks. The IRAs armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, the dead included around 1,100 members of the British security forces, and about 640 civilians. The IRA itself lost 275–300 members and an estimated 10,000 imprisoned at times over the 30-year period. The organisation remains classified as a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, two small groups split from the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986, and the Real IRA in 1997. Both reject the Good Friday Agreement and continue to engage in paramilitary activity and this new IRA group is estimated by Police Service of Northern Ireland intelligence sources to have between 250 and 300 active militants and many more supporting associates. The Provisional IRA was organised hierarchically, at the top of the organisation was the IRA Army Council, headed by the IRA Chief of Staff. All levels of the organisation were entitled to send delegates to IRA General Army Conventions, the GAC was the IRAs supreme decision-making authority. Since 1969, there have only three, in 1970,1986, and 2005, owing to the difficulty in organising such a large gathering of an illegal organisation in secret
20.
Downing Street mortar attack
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The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 7 February 1991. The IRA launched homemade mortar shells at 10 Downing Street, London and it was an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister John Major and his War Cabinet, who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War. One of the mortar shells exploded in the back garden of number 10. Due to the windows, none of the cabinet were hurt, though four other people received minor injuries. The other two shells overshot Downing Street and landed on a green nearby, during the Troubles, as part of its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, the Provisional IRA had repeatedly used homemade mortars against targets in Northern Ireland. The most notable attack was the 1985 Newry mortar attack killed nine members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The IRA had carried out attacks in England, but had not used mortars there. In the late 1980s British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was top of the IRAs list for assassination, the Army Council instead sanctioned a mortar attack on Downing Street, and in mid-1990 two IRA members travelled to London to plan the attack. One of the IRA members was knowledgeable about the trajectory of mortars, an active service unit bought a Ford Transit van and rented a garage, and an IRA co-ordinator procured the explosives and materials needed to make the mortars. The IRA unit began making the mortars and cutting a hole in the roof of the van for the mortars to be fired through. They reconnoitred locations in Whitehall to find a place from which the mortars could be fired at the back of 10 Downing Street. In November 1990 Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly resigned from office, but the Army Council decided the planned attack should still go ahead, targeting her successor John Major. The IRA planned to attack when Major and his ministers were likely to be meeting at Downing Street, on the morning of 7 February 1991, the War Cabinet and senior government and military officials were meeting at Downing Street to discuss the ongoing Gulf War. As the meeting began, an IRA member was driving the van to the launch site amid a heavy snowfall, the launch site was at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall, near the Ministry of Defence headquarters, about 200 yards from Downing Street. On arrival, the driver parked the van and left the scene on a waiting motorcycle. Several minutes later at 10,08 am, as a policeman was walking towards the van to investigate it and this device was designed to destroy any forensic evidence and set the van on fire. Each shell was four and a half long, weighed 140 pounds. The weapon was described as a Mark 10 homemade mortar, two shells landed on Mountbatten Green, a grassed area near the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
21.
Simon Jenkins
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Sir Simon David Jenkins FSA FRSL is an English author and newspaper columnist and editor. He served as editor of the Evening Standard from 1976 to 1978, Jenkins chaired the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty from 2008 to 2014. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and Evening Standard, Jenkins is the son of theologian and United Reformed Church minister Daniel Thomas Jenkins. He was educated at Mill Hill School and St Johns College, Oxford, after graduating from University of Oxford, Jenkins initially worked at Country Life magazine, before joining the Times Educational Supplement. He was then editor and columnist on the Evening Standard before editing the Insight pages of The Sunday Times. From 1976 to 1978 he was editor of the Evening Standard and he edited The Times from 1990 to 1992, but since then has primarily worked as a columnist. In 1998 he received the What the Papers Say Journalist of the Year award, on 28 January 2005, he announced he was ending his 15-year association with The Times to write a book before joining The Guardian as a columnist. He retained a column at The Sunday Times and was a blogger at The Huffington Post. He gave up both on becoming chairman of the National Trust in 2008, when he resumed an occasional column for the London Evening Standard. He said that they could be leased back under the auspices of the UN and he remarked that the 2,500 or so British islanders should not have an unqualified veto on British government policy. In March 2012, he stated on Question Time that Britain should begin negotiating the handover of the Falkland Islands to the Argentine government, only his fellow panellist Alexei Sayle agreed, the others and the audience disapproved. In 2010 Jenkins spoke disparagingly on the Radio 4 Today programme about the Shard and he was described as a professional miserabilist in The Londonist. Jenkins has expressed varying opinions on the subject of national defence, in a piece in The Guardian in 2010 he wrote that the government should cut, all £45 billion of it. With the end of the Cold War in the 1990s that threat vanished, however, he wrote in the same paper in 2016 in support of NATO membership, saying, It is a real deterrent, and its plausibility rests on the assurance of collective response. Jenkins has written books on the politics, history and architecture of England, including Englands Thousand Best Churches. More recently in his A Short History of England, he argues that the British Empire was an institution that dismantled itself in good order. He wrote that England is the most remarkable country in European history, Jenkins served on the boards of British Rail 1979–1990 and London Transport 1984–86. He was a member of the Millennium Commission from February 1994 to December 2000, from 1985 to 1990, he was deputy chairman of English Heritage
22.
Civil Service (United Kingdom)
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As in other states that employ the Westminster political system, Her Majestys Home Civil Service forms an inseparable part of the British government. The executive decisions of government ministers are implemented by HM Civil Service, Civil servants are employees of the Crown and not of the British parliament. Civil servants also have traditional and statutory responsibilities which to some extent protect them from being used for the political advantage of the party in power. Senior civil servants may be called to account to Parliament, as at the end of March 2016 there were 418,343 civil servants in the Home Civil Service, this is down 3. 6% on the previous year. There are two other administratively separate civil services in the United Kingdom, one is for Northern Ireland, the other is the foreign service. The heads of these services are members of the Permanent Secretaries Management Group, the Offices of State grew in England, and later the United Kingdom. Initially, as in countries, they were little more than secretariats for their leaders. In the 18th century, in response to the growth of the British Empire and economic changes, institutions such as the Office of Works, each had its own system and staff were appointed by purchase or patronage. By the 19th century, it increasingly clear that these arrangements were not working. In 1806, the Honourable East India Company established a college, the purpose of this college was to train administrators, it was established on recommendation of officials in China who had seen the imperial examination system. The civil service, based on similar to the Chinese system, was advocated by a number of Englishmen over the next several decades. The report was well-timed, because bureaucratic chaos in the Crimean War promptly caused a clamour for the change, a Civil Service Commission was accordingly set up in 1855 to oversee open recruitment and end patronage, and most of the other Northcote-Trevelyan recommendations were implemented over some years. This system was endorsed by Commissions chaired by Playfair, Ridley, MacDonnell, Tomlin. The Northcote-Trevelyan model remained essentially stable for a hundred years and this was a tribute to its success in removing corruption, delivering public services, and responding effectively to political change. Following the Second World War, however, demands for change again grew, the times were, moreover, ones of keen respect for technocracy, with the mass mobilisation of war having worked effectively, and the French National Plan apparently delivering economic success. Lord Fultons committee reported in 1968 and his 158 recommendations included the introduction of a unified grading system for all categories of staff, a Civil Service College and a central policy planning unit. The new Department was set up by Prime Minister Harold Wilsons Labour Government in 1968 and named the Civil Service Department, the first Minister was Cabinet Minister Lord Shackleton, also Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal. The first Permanent Secretary was Sir William Armstrong, who moved over from his post as Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, after the 1970 General Election, new Conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath appointed Lord Jellicoe in Lord Shackletons place
23.
Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell
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Frederick Edward Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, KG, GCB, CVO, PC is a retired British civil servant, now sitting in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. Butler was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, on 3 January 1938 and he married Gillian Lois Galley in 1962. They have a son and two daughters, Butler had a high-profile career in the civil service from 1961 to 1998, serving as Private Secretary to five Prime Ministers. He was Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service from 1988 to 1998 and he joined HM Treasury in 1961, becoming Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1964–66 and Secretary to the Budget Committee 1965–69. Early in his career, he was confused with his namesake Rab Butler. Memos for Rab Butler, some highly sensitive, ended up on his desk and it was agreed that all memos ambiguously addressed to R Butler should go to Rabs office first, and then Rabs office would send on any intended for the other R Butler. It is said one day the young Butler, who was still playing first class rugby, received a letter that read. Please be at Twickenham by 2 p. m. Underneath, in Rabs distinctive handwriting, was the message, Dear Robin, please could you deputise for me. In 1969, he was seconded to the Bank of England, later at HM Treasury as Assistant Secretary, General Expenditure Intelligence Division, he led the team which installed the UK Governments computerised financial information system 1975&–77. He had been a member of the Central Policy Review Staff under Lord Rothschild 1971–2. After several senior appointments at the Treasury, he became second Permanent Secretary, Public Expenditure and he was Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Edward Heath and Harold Wilson, and Principal Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher. Along with Thatcher, he was almost killed in the 1984 IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton and he was also Cabinet Secretary during the premierships of Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair. After retiring from the Civil Service, Butler was Master of University College, Oxford, 1998–2008. He was announced to be made a peer in the 1998 New Year Honours and was raised to the peerage as Baron Butler of Brockwell. He became a non-executive Director of HSBC Group from 1998 to 2008 and he is also Chairman of the Corporate Sustainability Committee and the HSBC Global Education Trust. In 2011, he was elected Master of the Worshipful Company of Salters. In 2004, Lord Butler chaired the Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction, widely known as the Butler Review, the report concluded that some of the intelligence about Iraqs possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction was seriously flawed. 1938–1986, Mr Robin Butler 1986–1988, Mr Robin Butler CVO 1988–1992, Sir Robin Butler KCB CVO 1992–1998, Sir Robin Butler GCB CVO 1998–2003, the Lord Butler of Brockwell GCB CVO 2003–2004, The Rt Hon
24.
St James's Park
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St Jamess Park is a 23-hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St Jamess area, the park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that comprises Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, the Mall to the north, Horse Guards to the east and it meets Green Park at Queens Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the entrance to Buckingham Palace. St Jamess Palace is on the side of The Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St Jamess Park, Green Park, Victoria, the park has a small lake, St Jamess Park Lake, with two islands, West Island, and Duck Island, named for the lakes collection of waterfowl. A resident colony of pelicans has been a feature of the park since pelicans were donated by a Russian ambassador in 1664 to Charles II. While most of the time the wings are clipped, there is a pelican who can be flying to the London Zoo in hopes of another meal. The Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire Fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds of Horse Guards Parade, with Horse Guards, the Old War Office and Whitehall Court behind. To the south of Duck Island is the Tiffany Fountain on Pelican Rock, and past the lake is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the London Eye, the Shell Tower, and the Shard behind. In 1532, Henry VIII bought an area of marshland through which the Tyburn flowed from Eton College. It lies to the west of York Place acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey, it was purchased in order to turn York Palace, subsequently renamed Whitehall, a 775 metre by 38 metre canal was created as evidenced in the old plan. The king opened the park to the public and used the area to entertain guests and mistresses, such as Nell Gwyn. The park became notorious at the time as a place for impromptu acts of lechery, as described by John Wilmot. In the late-17th and early-18th centuries cows grazed on the park, at the same time, Buckingham House was expanded to create the palace, and Marble Arch was built at its entrance, whilst The Mall was turned into a grand processional route. It opened to public traffic 60 years later in 1887, the Marble Arch was moved to its current location at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane in 1851 and the Victoria Memorial was erected between 1906 and 1924. Media related to St Jamess Park at Wikimedia Commons Visitor information at the Royal Parks website
Media related to Horse Guards at Wikimedia Commons
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