1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Piccadilly
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Piccadilly is a road in the City of Westminster, London to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earls Court, Heathrow Airport, St Jamess is to the south of the eastern section, while the western section is built up only on the northern side. At just under 1 mile in length, Piccadilly is one of the widest and straightest streets in central London, Piccadilly has been a main road since at least medieval times, and in the middle ages was known as the road to Reading or the way from Colnbrook. Around 1611 or 1612, a Robert Baker acquired land in the area, shortly after purchasing the land, he enclosed it and erected several dwellings, including his home, Pikadilly Hall. Some of the most notable homes in London were built on the northern side of the street during this period, including Clarendon House. Berkeley House, constructed around the time as Clarendon House, was destroyed by a fire in 1733 and rebuilt as Devonshire House in 1737 by William Cavendish. It was later used as the headquarters for the Whig party. Burlington House has since been home to several noted societies, including the Royal Academy of Arts, the Geological Society of London, several members of the Rothschild family had mansions at the western end of the street. St Jamess Church was consecrated in 1684 and the area became St James Parish. The Old White Horse Cellar, at No,155, was one of the most famous coaching inns in England by the late-18th century, by which time the street had become a favourable location for booksellers. The Bath Hotel emerged around 1790, and Walsingham House was built in 1887, both the Bath and the Walsingham were purchased and demolished when the prestigious Ritz Hotel was built on the site in 1906. Piccadilly Circus station, at the east end of the street, was designed by Charles Holden and it was the first underground station to have no above-ground premises, the station is only accessible by subways from street level. The clothing store Simpsons was established at 203 -206 Piccadilly by Alec Simpson in 1936, during the 20th century, Piccadilly became known as a place to acquire heroin, and was notorious in the 1960s as the centre of Londons illegal drug trade. Today, Piccadilly is regarded as one of Londons principal shopping streets and its landmarks include the Ritz, Park Lane, Athenaeum and Intercontinental hotels, Fortnum & Mason, the Royal Academy, the RAF Club, Hatchards, the Embassy of Japan and the High Commission of Malta. Piccadilly has inspired works of fiction, including Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest. It is one of a group of squares on the London Monopoly board, the street has been part of a main road for centuries although there is no evidence that it was part of a Roman Road, unlike Oxford Street further north. In the Middle Ages it was known as the road to Reading or the way from Colnbrook, during the Tudor period, relatively settled conditions made expansion beyond Londons city walls a safer venture. Property speculation became an enterprise and developments grew so rapidly that the threat of disease
3.
Hyde Park, London
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Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in London and one of its Royal Parks. The park is divided by the Serpentine and the Long Water, the park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens, which are often assumed to be part of Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens has been separate since 1728, when Queen Caroline divided them. To the southeast, outside the park, is Hyde Park Corner, during daylight, the two parks merge seamlessly into each other, but Kensington Gardens closes at dusk, and Hyde Park remains open throughout the year from 5 a. m. until midnight. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was held in the park, for which the Crystal Palace, the park became a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the suffragettes, and the Stop the War Coalition have all held protests there, many protesters on the Liberty and Livelihood March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park. Hyde Park is also a ward of the City of Westminster, the population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 12,462. Hyde Park was created for hunting by Henry Vlll in 1536, Charles I created the Ring, and in 1637 he opened the park to the general public. In 1652, during the Interregnum, Parliament ordered the then 620-acre park to be sold for ready money and it realised £17,000 with an additional £765 6s 2d for the resident deer. In 1689, when William III moved his residence to Kensington Palace on the far side of Hyde Park, public transport entering London from the west runs parallel to the Kings private road along Kensington Gore, just outside the park. In the late 1800s, the row was used by the wealthy for horseback rides, the first coherent landscaping was undertaken by Charles Bridgeman for Queen Caroline, under the supervision of Charles Withers, the Surveyor-General of Woods and Forests, who took some credit. It was completed in 1733 at a cost to the public purse of £20,000, the 2nd Viscount Weymouth was made Ranger of Hyde Park in 1739 and shortly after began digging the Serpentine lakes at Longleat. The Serpentine is divided from the Long Water by a bridge designed by George Rennie, one of the most important events to take place in the park was the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was constructed on the side of the park. The public did not want the building to remain after the closure of the exhibition and he had it moved to Sydenham Hill in South London. At the age of twenty-five, Decimus Burton was commissioned by the Office of Woods and he laid out the paths and driveways and designed a series of lodges, the Screen/Gate at Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch. The Screen and the Arch originally formed a single composition, designed to provide a transition between Hyde Park and Green Park, although the arch was later moved. An early description reports, It consists of a screen of handsome fluted Ionic columns, the extent of the whole frontage is about 107 ft. The two side gateways, in their elevations, present two insulated Ionic columns, flanked by antae, all these entrances are finished by a blocking, the sides of the central one being decorated with a beautiful frieze, representing a naval and military triumphal procession
4.
Decimus Burton
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Decimus Burton FRS FRSA FSA FRIBA was one of the foremost English architects of the 19th century. He was an exponent of the Greek revival, Georgian. He also worked on Buckingham Palace, where he was responsible for the removal of Nashs Marble Arch facing the building to its present site and his siblings included James Burton and Henry Burton. Decimus was the 10th child of the property developer James Burton and Elizabeth Westley, of Loughton, Essex, daughter of John and Mary Westley. On his fathers side, his grandparents were Rev. James Haliburton and Margaret Eliott, daughter of Sir William Eliott, 2nd Baronet and aunt of George Augustus Eliott. Decimus was descended from John Haliburton, from whom Sir Walter Scott and he was a cousin of the American judge and author Thomas Chandler Haliburton and thence of the lawyer and anthropologist Robert Grant Haliburton and Arthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton. Decimus spent his years in his father’s mansion, Mabledon House, in Kent. Decimus left Tonbridge School in 1816, due to his fathers social standing, he was able to enter the Royal Academy Schools directly, in 1817, without having been articled to an architect. Here he was taught by Sir John Soane, for whom his brother, Decimus then trained with his father, during which time he receive drawing lessons from George Maddox. Decimus was exceptionally learned, as the diversity of his library, part of which was auctioned by his nieces, the sale catalogue listed 347 separate lots, some of which ran into many volumes. L. L. Buffon and Bernard Germain de Lacépède, alongside these, topographical views and surveys of cities and counties pepper the collection. There were also some texts, including volumes by Charles Percier and Jean-Baptiste Rondelet, a complete set of Giovanni Battista Piranesis works. This goes some way towards explaining the formal character of his architecture. Decimus was an exponent of the Greek revival style of architecture, although, uniquely. In his later career, he designed buildings in the Gothic revival style, the ‘old English’ style. Decimus was one of the first architects to consider the implications of architecture on the creation of urban environments in which they featured. Evidence given by Burton to two parliamentary select committees shows the diversity of his experience and, by virtue of his being asked, the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporaries. Burtons evidence to the committee of the House of Commons
5.
Apsley House
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Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, is the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park and it is a Grade I listed building. It is sometimes referred to as the Wellington Museum, the house is now run by English Heritage and is open to the public as a museum and art gallery, exhibiting 83 paintings from the Spanish royal collection. The 9th Duke of Wellington retains the use of part of the buildings and it is perhaps the only preserved example of an English aristocratic town house from its period. The practice has been to maintain the rooms as far as possible in the original style and it contains the 1st Dukes collection of paintings, porcelain, the silver centrepiece made for the Duke in Portugal, c. It was set up for a time in the Louvre and was bought by the Government for Wellington in 1816, Apsley House stands at the site of an old lodge that belonged to the crown. During the Interregnum newer buildings were erected between what is now Old Regent Street and Hyde Park Corner, in the 1600s after the Restoration they were leased by James Hamilton and renewed by Elizabeth his widow in 1692 on a 99-year lease. Immediately before Apsley House was built the site was occupied by a called the Hercules Pillars. The house was built in red brick by Robert Adam between 1771 and 1778 for Lord Apsley, the Lord Chancellor, who gave the house its name. Some Adam interiors survive, the semi-circular Staircase, the Drawing Room with its end. The house was given the nickname of Number One, London. It was originally part of a line of great houses on Piccadilly, demolished to widen Park Lane, its official address remains 149 Piccadilly. The second phase, started after Wellington had become Prime Minister in 1828, included a new staircase, the red-brick exterior was clad in Bath stone, and a pedimented portico added. Wyatts original estimate for the work was £23,000, the Waterloo Gallery is, of course, named after the Dukes famous victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. A special banquet is still served annually to celebrate the date –18 June 1815, the Dukes equestrian statue can be seen across the busy road, cloaked and watchful, the plinth guarded at each corner by an infantryman. This statue was cast from guns captured at the battle, the family apartments are now on the north side of the house, concentrated on the second floor. The notable collection of 200 paintings includes 83 paintings which were acquired by the first Duke after the Battle of Vitoria, in 1813, in nowadays Vitoria-Gasteiz. The paintings were in Joseph Bonapartes baggage train and were part of what was called the biggest loot in history, Lord Maryborough, brother of the duke, catalogued 165 of the finest paintings to have arrived to the duke of Wellingtons residence from Vitoria-Gasteiz
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
Junction (road)
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Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest, towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of a settlement, these junctions often led to a new settlement. Scotch Corner is an example of such a location, in the United Kingdom and other countries, the practice of giving names to junctions emerged, to help travellers find their way. Junctions took the name of a prominent nearby business or a point of interest, as road networks increased in density and traffic flows followed suit, managing the flow of traffic across the junction became of increasing importance, to minimize delays and improve safety. The first innovation was to add traffic control devices, such as stop signs, next came lane controls that limited what each lane of traffic was allowed to do while crossing. Turns across oncoming traffic might be prohibited, or allowed only when oncoming and crossing traffic was stopped and this was followed by specialized junction designs that incorporated information about traffic volumes, speeds, driver intent and many other factors. The most basic distinction among junction types is whether or not the cross at the same or different elevations. More expensive, grade-separated interchanges generally offer higher throughput at higher cost, single-grade intersections are lower cost and lower throughput. Each main type comes in many variants, at interchanges, roads pass above or below each other, using grade separation and slip roads. The terms motorway junction and highway junction typically refer to this layout and they can be further subdivided into those with and without signal controls. Signalized interchanges include such diamond designs as the diamond, Michigan urban diamond, three-level diamond. Others include center-turn overpass, contraflow left, single loop, autobahnkreuz, short form kreuz, and abbreviated as AK, is a four-way interchange on the German autobahn network. Autobahndreieck, short form dreieck, and abbreviated as AD, is an interchange on the German autobahn network. They also can be subdivided into those with and without signal controls. Non-signalized designs include unsignalized variations on continuous-flow 3 and 4-leg, median u-turn and superstreet, along with Maryland T/J, roundabout, intersections generally must manage pedestrian as well as vehicle traffic. Pedestrian aids include crosswalks, pedestrian-directed traffic signals and over/underpasses, walk lights may be accompanied by audio signals to aid the visually impaired. Medians can offer pedestrian islands, allowing pedestrians to divide their crossings into a segment for each traffic direction. Bicycle traffic can be accommodated with bike lanes in the roadway or bikeways that are separated from the roadway
8.
Park Lane
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Park Lane is a major road in the City of Westminster, in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north and it separates Hyde Park to the west from Mayfair to the east. The road has a number of important properties and hotels and has been one of the most sought after streets in London. The road was originally a country lane on the boundary of Hyde Park. Aristocratic properties appeared during the late 18th century, including Breadalbene House, Somerset House, notable residents included the 1st Duke of Westminsters residence at Grosvenor House, the Dukes of Somerset at Somerset House and the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli at No.93. Other historic properties include Dorchester House, Brook House and Dudley House, flats and shops began appearing on the road, including penthouse flats. A number of properties on the road today are owned by some of the wealthiest businessmen from the Middle East, current residents include business mogul Mohamed Al-Fayed and former council leader Dame Shirley Porter. The road has suffered traffic congestion since the mid 19th century. Improved crossings for cyclists appeared in the early 21st century, despite the changes, property prices along the road are still among the highest in London. Its prestigious status has been commemorated by being the second-most expensive property square on the London Monopoly board, Park Lane is about 0.7 miles long, and runs north from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch, along the eastern flank of Hyde Park. The road is a route, classified A4202. The street is one of the key bus corridors in Central London. It is used by London bus routes 2,10,13,16,36,73,74,137,148,414,436 and night bus routes N16, N73, N74 and N137. The nearest tube stations are Hyde Park Corner on the Piccadilly line near the southern end. What is now Park Lane was originally a track running along farm boundaries, when Hyde Park was opened in the 16th century, the lane ran north-south along eastern boundary from Piccadilly to Marble Arch. Tyburn Lane took its name from the former Tyburn village which had declined in the 14th century, the Tyburn gallows, or Tyburn Tree, at the end of what is now Park Lane, was Londons primary public place of execution until 1783. In 1741, the Kensington Turnpike Trust took over its maintenance, Breadalbene House was built on the street in 1776. The politician and entrepreneur Richard Sharp, also known as Conversation Sharp, in the 1760s, Londonderry House, on the corner of Park Lane and Hertford Street, was bought by the Sixth Earl of Holdernesse
9.
Constitution Hill, London
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Constitution Hill is a road in the City of Westminster in London. It connects the end of The Mall with Hyde Park Corner. The term Hill is something of a misnomer, there is barely a detectable slope, an old lane on this route was enhanced in connection with the development of Buckingham Palace in the 1820s. It formed a route from the palace to Hyde Park. It is now closed to traffic on Sundays, the road obtained its name in the 17th century from King Charles IIs habit of taking constitutional walks there. In Strypes Map,1720, it is marked Road to Kensington, in John Smiths map of 1724, it is called Constitution Hill. It was the scene of three assassination attempts against Queen Victoria—in 1840,1842 and 1849. In 1850, the former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel was thrown from his horse on Constitution Hill by the gate into Green Park, he suffered a fatal injury and died three days later. Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner was originally the culmination of the route, there is a recent war memorial to Commonwealth soldiers near the top of Constitution Hill, just before Hyde Park Corner, the memorial is known as the Memorial Gates. Large concrete lamp posts were installed in Constitution Hill in the 1960s, but thanks to the swift intervention of comedian and enthusiastic environmentalist Spike Milligan, they were removed within days and the old gas lamps are still there. There are other streets called Constitution Hill, for example in Birmingham, Commonwealth Gates War Memorial Images of Constitution Hill, London
10.
Knightsbridge
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Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in West London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international centres in London, alongside the West End. Knightsbridge was a hamlet located primarily in the parish of St Margaret and it also extended into the parishes of Kensington and Chelsea. It was therefore divided between local authorities from an early time. In the time of Edward I, the manor of Knightsbridge appertained to the abbey of Westminster and it was named after a crossing of the River Westbourne, which is now an underground river. It is recorded that the citizens of London met Matilda of England at the Knights Bridge in 1141, the exhibition was very popular, with over 250,000 visitors during its early months. Japanese artisans illustrated the manners, customs, and art-industries of their country, attired in their national, magnificently decorated and illuminated Buddhist temple. Five o’clock tea in the Japanese tea-house, W. S. Gilbert and his wife attended the exhibition, which is said to have inspired him to write The Mikado. When the Mikado requests of Ko-Ko the address of his son after Ko-Ko tells the Mikado that Nanki-Poo has gone abroad, the original bridge was where one of the old roads to the west that crossed the River Westbourne. The allusion may simply be to a place where cnihtas congregated, bridges, however there is possibly a more specific reference to the important cnihtengild in 11th century London and to the limits of its jurisdiction. Cniht in the pre Norman days did not have the meaning of a minor noble. There are however other claims of the origins,1. According to a topographer named Norden, the bridge was known as ‘Stonebridge’ until a knight called Sir Knyvett was attacked while walking across the bridge late at night. The knight managed to better his attackers and ‘slew the master thief with his own hand’ and this tale of Sir Knyvett’s valour supposedly gave a new name to the bridge. A claim that the bridge may have used by wealthy residents. A claim that the area was used as a place for local youths – where ‘knight’ was a slang term for ‘lad’. Even the original name of the area has come under scrutiny with some claiming it was called ‘Knightsbrigg’ while others believe it was ‘Kynesbrigg’, Knightsbridge is east of Exhibition Road and west of Sloane Street. South of this area, the district fades into Chelsea while Belgravia lies to the east, the district also has banks that cater to wealthy individuals
11.
Hyde Park Corner tube station
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Hyde Park Corner is a London Underground station near Hyde Park Corner in Hyde Park. It is in Travelcard Zone 1, between Knightsbridge and Green Park on the Piccadilly line, the station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway on 15 December 1906. The lift shafts are now used to provide ventilation, when the station was rebuilt with escalators the adjacent little-used station at Down Street to the east was taken out of use. It is one of the few stations which have no associated buildings above ground, the current entrance to the station is accessed from within the pedestrian underpass system around the Hyde Park Corner junction. When the central section of the Piccadilly line is closed, the station becomes the terminus of the part due to the presence of a crossover tunnel to the east of the station. London Buses routes 2,9,10,13,14,16,19,22,36,38,52,73,74,137,148,414,436 and C2 and night routes N9, N16, N19, N22, N38, N73, N74 serve the station. Green Line Coaches routes 701 and 702 serve the station
12.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
13.
Piccadilly line
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The Piccadilly line /ˌpɪkəˈdɪli/ is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fourth busiest line on the Underground network on the basis of the number of passengers transported per year with 210,000,000. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with a number of surface sections and it is named after the road above it between Hyde Park Corner and Piccadilly Circus. Some of its stations are shared with the District line and some are shared with the Metropolitan line and it is the second longest line on the system, after the Central line, and has the second most stations, after the District line. The GN&SRs and B&PCRs separate routes were linked with a section between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn. A section of the District Railways scheme for a tube line between South Kensington and Earls Court was also added in order to complete the route. When the GNP&BR was formally opened on 15 December 1906, the line ran from the Great Northern Railways station at Finsbury Park to the District Railways station at Hammersmith. On 30 November 1907, the branch from Holborn to the Strand opened. In 1905, plans were made to extend it the distance south under the River Thames to Waterloo. Although built with twin tunnels, single track shuttle operation became the norm on the branch from 1918 on, on 1 July 1910 the GNP&BR and the other UERL-owned tube railways were merged by private Act of Parliament to become the London Electric Railway Company. On 10 December 1928, a rebuilt Piccadilly Circus station was opened, There had been deputations made to Parliament asking for an early extension of the line either towards Tottenham and Edmonton or towards Wood Green and Palmers Green. The early 1930s was a time of recession, and in order to relieve unemployment, government capital was made available, the chief features of the scheme were an extension northwards from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters. However, a Ventilation station, in architectural style to tube stations of the time was provided at the site. There was also opposition from the London and North Eastern Railway to the line. The extension began from Finsbury Park to a point a little south of Arnos Grove, a Parliamentary report of 1919 recommended through running to Richmond and Ealing. By the end of the 1920s the priority had shifted to serving the areas around Hounslow and north, construction of the linking sections started in 1930, and the services opened as follows. To Uxbridge, the District Railway had operated services to Uxbridge since 1910 and this influence can be seen in the bold vertical and horizontal forms, which were combined with the use of traditional materials like brick. Many of these Holden-designed station are listed buildings and this idea was eventually rejected due to the inconvenience to passengers that would have been caused during rebuilding, as well as the costs of the new tunnels
14.
Arthur Wellesley, 1st 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.
Wellington Arch
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Wellington Arch, also known as Constitution Arch or the Green Park Arch, is a triumphal arch located to the south of Hyde Park in central London and at the western corner of Green Park. Built nearby between 1826 and 1830 to a design by Decimus Burton, it was moved to its present position in 1882–83, both the Wellington Arch and Marble Arch were planned in 1825 by George IV to commemorate Britains victories in the Napoleonic Wars. The Wellington Arch was also conceived as a gateway to Constitution Hill. The arch was built between 1826 and 1830 to a design by Decimus Burton and it was planned as part of a single composition with Burtons screen that forms the Hyde Park Corner entrance to Hyde Park. Apsley House, the London residence of the Duke of Wellington, the arch has a single opening, and uses the Corinthian order. A contemporary account, written in anticipation of its completion to its original plan, the entabulature is loft and elegant with a richly sculptured frieze, and a row of boldly projecting lions heads on the cymatium, marking the centres of columns and other sub-divisions of the order. Above the entablature, on a lofty blocking course, is raised an attic, on each of the columns is a statue of a warrior, and on the summit of the acroterium which surmounts the attic is a figure in a quadriga or ancient four horse chariot. In 1846 the arch was selected as a location for a statue of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, soldier, the bronze Wellington Statue by Matthew Cotes Wyatt which eventually crowned the arch was at 40 tons and 28 feet high, the largest equestrian figure ever made. It generated considerable controversy and ridicule at the time, in 1882–3 the arch was moved a short distance to its present location on Hyde Park Corner to facilitate a road widening scheme. In the new location it lost its relationship to the entrance of Hyde Park, but was now on axis with the main part of Constitution Hill. It is now in the centre of a traffic island. When the arch was rebuilt in its new position, the Wellington Statue was not replaced, instead it was removed to Aldershot, and a smaller equestrian statue of the duke was commissioned from Joseph Edgar Boehm to stand on a plinth nearby. Decimus Burton had originally envisaged a sculpture of a quadriga on top of the arch and his intentions were finally realised in 1912, with the installation of a huge bronze designed by Adrian Jones. It is based on an original which caught the eye of Edward VII at a Royal Academy exhibition. The sculpture depicts Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory, descending on the chariot of war, the face of the charioteer leading the quadriga is that of a small boy. The angel of peace was modelled on Beatrice Stewart, the statue is the largest bronze sculpture in Europe. The arch is hollow inside, and until 1992 housed the smallest police station in London, visitors can also step onto terraces on both sides of the top of the arch, which give views of the surrounding area. One half of the functions as a ventilation shaft for the Hyde Park Corner road underpass
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Buckingham Palace
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Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and it has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a residence for Queen Charlotte. During the 19th century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb during World War II, the original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream, many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London, the state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring. In the Middle Ages, the site of the palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury. The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which flows below the courtyard. Where the river was fordable, the village of Eye Cross grew, ownership of the site changed hands many times, owners included Edward the Confessor and his queen consort Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey, in 1531, King Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier, various owners leased it from royal landlords and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long fallen into decay. Needing money, James I sold off part of the Crown freehold, clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana refers to new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. Jamess, this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies, possibly the first house erected within the site was that of a Sir William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was Lord Goring, who from 1633 extended Blakes house and he did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document failed to pass the Great Seal before King Charles I fled London and it was this critical omission that helped the British royal family regain the freehold under King George III. The improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington obtained the mansion and was occupying it, now known as Goring House, Arlington House rose on the site—the location of the southern wing of todays palace—the next year
17.
Green Park
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The Green Park, usually known without the article simply as Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is located in the City of Westminster, central London, Green Park covers 19 hectares between Hyde Park and St. Jamess Park. The park consists almost entirely of mature trees rising out of turf, the park is bounded on the south by Constitution Hill, on the east by the pedestrian Queens Walk, and on the north by Piccadilly. It meets St. Jamess Park at Queens Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, to the south is the ceremonial avenue of the Mall, and the buildings of St Jamess Palace and Clarence House overlook the park to the east. Green Park tube station is an interchange located on Piccadilly, Victoria. Tyburn stream runs beneath Green Park, the park is said to have originally been swampy burial ground for lepers from the nearby hospital at St Jamess. It was first enclosed in 16th century when it formed part of the estate of Poulteney family and he laid out the parks main walks and built an icehouse there to supply him with ice for cooling drinks in summer. The Queens Walk was laid out for George IIs queen Caroline, it led to the reservoir that held drinking water for St Jamess Palace, called the Queens Basin. The park was known as a duelling ground, one particularly notorious duel took place there in 1730 between William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath and John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol. In 1820, John Nash landscaped the park, as an adjunct to St. Jamess Park, on 10 June 1840, it was the scene of Edward Oxfords assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, on Constitution Hill. The Royal Parks website, The Green Park Virtual journey into Green Park
18.
Matthew Cotes Wyatt
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Matthew Cotes Wyatt was a painter and sculptor and a member of the Wyatt family, who were well known in the Victorian era as architects and sculptors. Wyatt was born in London, the son of James Wyatt and he was the brother of Benjamin Dean Wyatt, the architect. Wyatt was educated at Eton College and joined the Royal Academy Schools in 1800, on 29 December 1801 he married Maria McClellan, the widow of Edward McClellan, a sea captain. They had fours sons, Matthew, James, George, from 1800 to 1814 Wyatt exhibited portraits and historical subjects in oils at the Royal Academy. He was proposed for membership of the Academy in 1812. At about this time he taught himself modelling and carving, moving from painting to sculpture and his first public work was a memorial sculpture to Lord Nelson that was unveiled at Exchange Flags Square in Liverpool, in October 1813. Wyatt also sculpted the bronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington which originally stood on the top of the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. This was erected in 1846, but many thought the statue was too large for the arch and it was taken down and re-erected in Aldershot in 1885 and he also carved a marble table, complete with cloth, in the dining-room. In 1831 Lord Dudley commissioned Wyatt to sculpt his favourite hound Bashaw, Bashaw was taken to Wyatts studio in London around 50 times to sit for the sculptor. Lord Dudley donated Persian topaz and sardonyx from the jewel collection for the sculptures eyes. Wyatt died at his home, Dudley Grove House, Harrow Road, London, on 3 January 1862, Matthew, his eldest son, later became the standard-bearer of Queen Victorias Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, and was knighted in 1848. James followed his fathers profession and designed the pediment of the Commercial Bank of Scotland in George Street, the other sons, George Wyatt and Henry Wyatt, were both architects and builders and were involved in the development of the Bishop of Londons estate in Paddington
19.
Aldershot
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Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about 37 mi southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council, the town has a population of 36,321, while the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area, a loose conurbation has a population of 243,344, making it the thirtieth-largest urban area in the UK. Aldershot is known as the Home of the British Army, a connection led to its rapid growth from a small village to a Victorian town. Aldershot is twinned with Sulechów in Poland, Meudon in France, the name may have derived from alder trees found in the area. Aldershot was included as part of the Hundred of Crondall referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086, john Nordens map of Hampshire, published in the 1607 edition of William Camdens Britannia, indicates that Aldershot was a market town. Prior to 1850, Aldershott was little known, the area was a vast stretch of common land, a lonely wasteland unsuitable for most forms of agriculture with scant population. In the 18th century, the stretch of the London to Winchester turnpike that passed through Aldershot between Bagshot and Farnham was the scene of highway robberies, at one time it had almost as bad a reputation as Hounslow Heath. Dick Turpin is said to have operated in the area having his headquarters nearby in Farnborough, in 1854, at the time of the Crimean War, Aldershot Garrison was established as the first permanent training camp for the British Army. This led to an expansion of Aldershots population going from 875 in 1851. Mrs Louisa Daniell arrived in the town at this time and set up her Soldiers Home and Institute to cater for the needs of the soldiers. The Aldershot riot of July 1945 caused considerable damage to the centre when disgruntled Canadian troops rioted in the streets for two evenings. A substantial rebuilding of the barracks was carried out between 1961 and 1969, by the architecture and engineering firm Building Design Partnership, the work was sped up under government pressure, and various new building technologies were employed with mixed success. In 1974 Aldershot and Farnborough urban districts were merged to form the Borough of Rushmoor under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972. After a 2009 campaign, the British Government allowed veteran Gurkha soldiers who had served for more four years. As many Gurkha soldiers had been based in and around Aldershot, between the 2001 Census and the 2011 Census, Rushmoors Nepalese population increased to approximately 6,000 people, making up 6. 5% of the overall population. Howarth was later criticised for suggesting that Nepalese migrants should be dispersed across the UK, the Aldershot Military Tattoo was an annual event dating back to 1894. In the 1920s and 30s, the Aldershot Command Searchlight Tattoo held at the Rushmoor Arena presented displays from all branches of the services, at one time the performances attracted crowds of up to 500,000 people. The Tattoo was organised to raise money for military charities, by the end of the 1930s the event was raising around £40,000 annually
20.
Adrian Jones (sculptor)
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Adrian Jones MVO was an English sculptor and painter who specialized in animals, particularly horses. He created the sculpture Peace descending on the Quadriga of War, before becoming a full-time artist he was an army veterinary surgeon. Adrian Jones was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, and studied at the Royal Veterinary College and he enrolled in the Army as a veterinary officer in the Royal Horse Artillery the following year and served from 1867 to 1890. During this time he saw service in the Abyssinian Expedition of 1868 before joining the 3rd Hussars in 1869, from 1871 to 1881 he served with the Queen’s Bays in Ireland and was then attached to the 7th Hussars and fought with them in the Anglo-Transvaal war in 1881. In South Africa he was attached to the Inniskilling Dragoons, in 1884 Jones served in Egypt where he selected camels for the Nile Expedition and finally joined the 2nd Life Guards, retiring in 1890 with the rank of captain. He was already active as an artist by this time, having exhibited at the Royal Academy as early as 1884, giving his address as The Studio, on retirement from the Army he set himself up as an artist. His training as a veterinary surgeon gave him a knowledge of equine anatomy which he used in his work to great effect. Jones best-known work is probably the sculpture Peace descending on the Quadriga of War and this replaced an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington which is now at Aldershot. It was created as a memorial for Edward VII, and was placed on view in 1912. File WORK 20/52 held at the National Archives gives some background information on the Quadriga. The period covered by the correspondence in this file opens in August 1890 and we learn from these papers that in December 1907 Jones had the model ready for inspection and this was finally accepted in May 1908. There are several letters in the file from both Adrian Jones and A. B. Burton who cast the statue at his Thames Ditton Foundry, the casting was completed by November 1911 and the complex matter of hoisting the Quadriga into position took place in January 1912. In April 1912 the King and Queen drove through the arch and were presented to both Jones and Burton, in October 1913 the Quadriga was formally placed in the charge of Office of Works. At the back of the file are some press cuttings, and it is recorded that the young boy in Jones composition for the Quadriga who is leading the four horses as they are descended upon by the Angel of Peace was in fact based on Lord Michelhams son. Letters dated February and March 1939 cover the siting of an Air Raid siren on the roof of the Wellington Arch and this statue stands in Whitehall and is another of Jones magnificent representations of a horse. File WORK 20/58 held in the National Archives gives some information on this statue covering the period January 1906 to July 1907. The statue was cast by A. B. Burton at his Thames Ditton Foundry and was unveiled on 15 June 1907 and this statue is located in Exeter, Devon and dates to 1905. The image above is shown courtesy of its author Peter Clarkson Jones died of influenza, a memorial plaque to Adrian Jones is to be found at St. Laurence’s Church in Ludlow next to that remembering another famous Ludlow-linked man, the poet A. E. Housman
21.
Tunnel
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A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods, a tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a transit network are usually in tunnel. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers, utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, special tunnels, such as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers safely. A tunnel is relatively long and narrow, the length is much greater than twice the diameter, although similar shorter excavations can be constructed. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel can vary widely from source to source, for example, the definition of a road tunnel in the United Kingdom is defined as a subsurface highway structure enclosed for a length of 150 metres or more. In the United States, the NFPA definition of a tunnel is An underground structure with a length greater than 23 m. The place where a road, railway, canal or watercourse passes under a footpath, cycleway, or another road or railway is most commonly called a bridge or, if passing under a canal, an aqueduct. Where it is important to stress that it is passing underneath, it may be called an underpass, a longer underpass containing a road, canal or railway is normally called a tunnel, whether or not it passes under another item of infrastructure. An underpass of any length under a river is usually called a tunnel. In the US, the term means an underground rapid transit system. Rail station platforms may be connected by tunnels or footbridges. Much of the technology of tunneling evolved from mining and military engineering. The etymology of the mining, military engineering, and civil engineering reveals these deep historic connections. A major tunnel project must start with an investigation of ground conditions by collecting samples from boreholes. An informed choice can then be made of machinery and methods for excavation and ground support, in planning the route, the horizontal and vertical alignments can be selected to make use of the best ground and water conditions. It is common practice to locate a tunnel deeper than otherwise would be required and this may be a particular concern in large-diameter tunnels
22.
Joseph Edgar Boehm
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Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, RA was a medallist and sculptor, best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. His oeuvre is substantial and he exhibited 123 works at the Royal Academy, Boehm was born in Vienna of Hungarian parentage. His father, Joseph Daniel Böhm, was director of the mint in Vienna. After studying the art in Italy and at Paris, he worked for a few years as a medallist in Vienna. In 1856, he was presented with the Austrian Imperial Prize for Sculpture and he moved to England in 1862, and became a British subject three years later. In 1874 he completed a statue of John Bunyan which was unveiled on 10 June at St Peters Green, Bedford, by Lady Augusta Stanley. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1878, was appointed sculptor in ordinary in 1881 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1882. In 1889 he was created a baronet, of Wetherby Gardens in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in 1887, he designed and executed the model for the dies for a series of coins, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the queens reign. This design was criticised by his peers as well as the public. The coins depicted the arms in the order of the garter on the reverse. As a result, the sixpences were frequently gilded and passed off as gold half sovereigns, therefore, the sixpence reverted to its standard design. Boehm is responsible for a large free-standing statue of Queen Victoria in Queens Square, a speciality of Boehms was the portrait bust, there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and his most important works include St George and the Dragon, which can be found outside the State Library of Victoria, and Francis Drake. His large sculpture of the stallion King Tom was commissioned by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild for his new mansion, Mentmore Towers, there are many statues by Boehm in London. For the memorial to General Charles George Gordon in St Pauls Cathedral, on the death of Dean Stanley, Boehm was commissioned to execute his sarcophagus in Westminster Abbey. Among his ideal subjects, the Herdsman and Bull is notable, Boehms most famous pupil was the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria. She was at his house, at 76 Fulham Road in London, dictionary of National Biography,1901 supplement
23.
Machine Gun Corps Memorial
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The Machine Gun Corps Memorial, also known as The Boy David, is a memorial to the casualties of the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War. The central column of light grey Mazzona marble is topped with a 9 feet high statue of a nude David by Francis Derwent Wood. The beautiful youth stands in a contrapposto pose, with one hand on his hip. To either side, on a lower flaking plinth of the marble, is a bronze model of a Vickers machine gun. The plinths to either side bear the dates MCMXIV and MCMXIX, the high casualty rate of the Corps, nearly 30%, arose from the exposed position from which it typically fought, leading to its nickname, The Suicide Club. The memorial was erected next to Grosvenor Place, near Hyde Park Corner. The memorial was controversial, as some interpreted the beautiful statue with its accompanying Vickers guns, there were letters in The Times and discussion in the House of Commons. Despite these interpretations, Derwent Woods wanted to depict the nature of war. The memorial was dismantled due to roadworks in 1945, and was not reconstructed for several decades and it was rededicated at its present location, in the central section of Hyde Park Corner, in 1963. It received a Grade II listing in 1970, and was upgraded to Grade II* in July 2014, the Machine Gun Corps Old Comrades Association holds an annual observance in May and a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday in November each year. Another example of the David statue was erected at Cheyne Walk on Chelsea Embankment, the original by Edward Bainbridge Copnall, based on Woods version, was stolen in 1969, and a fibreglass replacement was unveiled in 1975. Another bronze example by Wood is held by the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia, the Machine Gun Corps had several branches. The Cavalry Branch has a war memorial in Folkestone, near the Corps barracks at Shorncliffe, Grade II* listed war memorials in England Smith, Anthony. Machine Gun, The Story of the Men and the Weapon that Changed the Face of War, ISBN 978-0-312-32066-9. com Monument, Machine Gun Corps Memorial, London Remembers
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Royal Artillery Memorial
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The Royal Artillery Memorial is a stone memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London, dedicated to casualties in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the First World War. Four bronze figures of men are positioned around the outside of the memorial. The memorial is famous for its realist contrast with other First World War memorials, such as the Cenotaph designed by Edwin Lutyens, the First World War, which took place between 1914 and 1918, saw the extensive use of artillery, particularly on the Western Front. Technical advances, combined with the static nature of trench warfare, made these guns a key element of the conflict. Artillery guns and their crews were themselves targets, however, and 49,076 members of the Royal Artillery died during the conflict, the Royal Artillery War Commemoration Fund was formed in 1918, made up a mixture of senior officers and other ranks. Memorials to lost servicemen from the major conflict, the South African War fought between 1899 and 1902, had, however, been widely criticised as being unimaginative and unimpressive. The RAWCF first examined a design by Captain Adrian Jones, who had produced the Boer War Cavalry Memorial a few years before, next, the committee contacted the artists Edwin Lutyens, Herbert Baker and Aston Webb. Lutyens sent in three designs, each costed at less than £15,000, but they were felt to be too similar to the Cenotaph, after the RAWCF insisted that a howitzer be prominently incorporated into the designs, Lutyens withdrew. The committee then approached Charles Jagger in early 1921, Jagger had been trained as a metal engraver before attending the Royal College of Art. He served in the infantry during the First World War and was injured at the battles of Gallipoli and Neuve-Église, being awarded the Military Cross. At the end of the war, Jagger became involved in the design of war memorials, in particular the stark, brutal sculpture at the Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial. The RAWCF requested that he submit a model for a realist sculpture, Jagger decided to work with the architect Lionel Pearson, who designed the stone structure of the memorial, and through June and July 1921 the RAWCF and the authorities considered the proposal. In reporting to the committee, Jagger said that he felt strongly that the design should unashamedly focus on the events of the war, noting that it should in every sense be a war memorial. Jagger explained that the artillery had terrific power and was the last word in force, Jagger was formally awarded the contract for the memorial in March 1922. Due to the pressures of other projects, Jagger did not begin work on the memorial until the following year, a lengthy, year-long debate occurred within the RAWCF as to what inscription should be placed on the memorial, adding to the delay. Jagger then decided that the side of the memorial should feature a dead soldier, after considerable debate. Jaggers work continued to take longer than planned, partially due to shortages of staff, the names of his models for two of the statues are known, William Fosten for the Driver and another ex-gunner called Metcalfe for the Ammunition Carrier. The work was opened four months late on 18 October 1925 by Prince Arthur, despite the delay, the RAWCF and Jagger left on very good terms, the committee exceptionally pleased with the final memorial to the Royal Artillery
25.
Australian War Memorial, London
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The Australian War Memorial in London is a memorial dedicated in 2003 to the 102,000 Australian dead of the First and Second World Wars. The memorial comprises a curved wall of grey-green granite slabs from Western Australia. The granite stones are inscribed with the names of 23,844 towns in which the Australian soldiers were born, in Australia, parts of some town names are picked out in bolder type, creating the names of 47 battles in which Australia was involved in a larger font. In summer months, water runs down over the names, intended to evoke memories of service, suffering, the curved wall is set facing a downwards slope of grass, forming an amphitheatre. // Australia – United Kingdom //1914 –1918 //1939 –1945, three seating blocks are placed in front of the wall. It is under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the proposal to create an Australian war memorial in London was announced in July 2000, during the centenary of the Australian Federation. The memorial was designed for the Office of Australian War Graves at the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects and it cost an estimated £3m, funded by the Australian Government. It won the Australian Stone Architectural Award for Best International Project in 2006, in attendance was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and the Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Around 3,000 people were present at the ceremony, including 27 Australian veterans, a metal plaque from the memorial was stolen in May 2013, but recovered and replaced before 11 November 2013. The Queen unveils tribute to Australias fallen
26.
New Zealand War Memorial, London
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The New Zealand War Memorial in London is a memorial to the war dead of New Zealand in the First and Second World Wars, unveiled in 2006. Officially named Southern Stand, the memorial was designed by architect John Hardwick-Smith and sculptor Paul Dibble and it is located on the Piccadilly side of Hyde Park Corner, northeast of the Wellington Arch, and is diagonally opposite the Australian War Memorial. The traffic island also houses an Equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, the Machine Gun Corps Memorial, the memorial was established to commemorate the enduring bond between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and the lives lost by the two countries during the two World Wars. Hundreds of New Zealanders also served in the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy, including the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand, prominent wartime commanders with connections to New Zealand included Bernard Freyberg and Keith Park. The memorial comprises 16 bronze standards set out on a slope at the east end of the Hyde Park Corner traffic island. Each standard is a metal girder weighing about 700 kilograms, cast by the Heavy Metal Company in Lower Hutt. The girders project from the ground at an angle towards the south, the angle is intended to resemble the posture of warriors performing a haka, or a cricket bat playing a defensive stroke, or the barrel of a shouldered gun. The standards have different heights, with the cut off at a diagonal so they resemble cross-like grave markers from a distance. Nine of the form in a regular grid pattern, with a tenth as a leader. The six other standards stand away from the group in a pattern similar to the Southern Cross. The formal arrangement is intended to resemble a group of soldiers in procession, or Māori pouwhenua markers, richard Shone, editor of The Burlington Magazine, criticised the memorial and its design in an attack on the infestation of public space, describing it as bristlingly unlovely. The proposal for a memorial in London was initially made by the government of New Zealand in 2003, in October 2004,12 design teams were selected from the 68 who submitted expressions of interest in the New Zealand War Memorial. These teams submitted designs for the monument and an expert panel, appointed by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The design was refined and submitted to Westminster City Council in London for planning approval. The design was a collaboration between New Zealand firms Dibble Art Co and Athfield Architects, led by Dibble and Hardwick-Smith respectively, the budget for the design and construction of the memorial was NZ$3 million. The official dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial took place on 11 November 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand. The ceremony included Ngāti Rānana singing a Māori song, Po Atarau, and the performance of a haka, list of public art in Westminster World War I memorials the New Zealand Memorial in Greenwich commemorates the dead of the New Zealand War of 1863–64
27.
Cavalry of the Empire Memorial
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The Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, also known as the Cavalry Memorial, is a war memorial in Hyde Park, London. It commemorates the service of regiments in the First and Second World Wars. It became a Grade II listed building in 1987, and was promoted to Grade II* in November 2014, a committee was formed in early 1920 to consider a proposal for a memorial in London to the cavalrymen who had served in the First World War. Sir John James Burnet was appointed as architect, assisted by Thomas Smith Tait, a frieze of horsemen parade around the base of the statue. Some details of St Georges armour were copied from a bronze effigy of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick from 1454, the backdrop was not reconstructed, instead, the bronze plaque was mounted on a granite screen behind the relocated statue
28.
Alexander Munro (sculptor)
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Alexander Munro was a British sculptor of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He concentrated on portraiture and statues, but is best known for his Rossetti-influenced figure-group Paolo and Francesca, lionel Cust described his work as sketchy and wanting in strength, but full of refinement and true feeling. Son of a stonemason, his talents were supported by assistance from his father’s employer. From 1842 he assisted and trained in the Edinburgh studio of the sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie and he came to London in 1848 to study sculpture under Charles Barry. At this time he worked as a mason on the new Palace of Westminster. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1849–70, and in the Great Exhibition of 1851, Munro was a close associate of Thomas Woolner, the only sculptor to be a member of the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was also friendly with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in 1854, with Thomas Woolner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Lowes Cato Dickinson and John Ruskin, Munro began teaching at the newly established Working Mens College. Munros sculptures were noted for their formal simplicity and his most famous work was Paolo and Francesca, which was exhibited at the 1851 exhibition. It depicted the lovers as languid, dreamy and genteel, contributing to the image of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The final marble version is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the original plaster version of the sculpture is currently on display in Wallington Hall, which also contains a portrait relief bust of Pauline, Lady Trevelyan created by Munro. He later created public sculptures in Berkeley Square and Hyde Park Corner, six of the seventeen statues of scientists in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History are his work, all produced circa 1860. Munro suffered from ill health, and was struck down by a disease which slowly undermined his constitution. In his last years he and his wife lived in Cannes, France for his health, Munro married one of the daughters of the journalist Robert Carruthers, editor of the Inverness Courier. By her he had two sons, for one of whom John Ruskin was godfather and his son John Arthur Ruskin Munro, was later Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford
29.
Rotten Row
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Rotten Row is a broad track running for 1,384 metres along the south side of Hyde Park in London. It leads from Hyde Park Corner to Serpentine Road, during the 18th and 19th centuries, Rotten Row was a fashionable place for upper-class Londoners to be seen horse riding. Today it is maintained as a place to ride horses in the centre of London, Rotten Row was established by William III at the end of the 17th century. Having moved court to Kensington Palace, William wanted a way to travel to St. Jamess Palace. He created the broad avenue through Hyde Park, lit with 300 oil lamps in 1690– the first artificially lit highway in Britain, the lighting was a precaution against highwaymen, who lurked in Hyde Park at the time. The track was called Route du Roi, French for Kings Road, in the 18th century, Rotten Row became a popular meeting place for upper-class Londoners. Particularly on weekend evenings and at midday, people dressed in their finest clothes to ride along the row, the adjacent South Carriage Drive was used by society people in carriages for the same purpose. In 1876, it was reconstructed as a horse-ride, with a base covered by sand. The sand-covered avenue of Rotten Row is maintained as a bridleway and it is convenient for the Household Cavalry, stabled nearby at Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge, to exercise their horses. Members of the public may also ride, although few people have stables close enough to use of it. Commercial stables nearby, the Hyde Park Stables and Ross Nye Stables, offer horse hire and riding lessons to the public. Michael Crichtons 1979 feature film, The First Great Train Robbery, a Royal plaque commemorating 300 years of Rotten Row was erected in 1990. ROTTEN ROW - The Kings Old Road, Completed 1690 This ride originally formed part of King William IIIs carriage drive from Whitehall to Kensington Palace. Its Construction was supervised by the Serveyor of their Majesties Roads, Captain Michael Studholme, designated as a public bridleway in the 1730s, Rotten Row is one of the most famous urban riding grounds in the world. Rotten Row is a location in at least 15 places in England and Scotland, such as in Lewes, East Sussex and Elie, Fife. It describes a place there was once a row of tumbledown cottages infested with rats and dates to the 14th century or earlier. Other historians have speculated the name might be a corruption of rotteran, Ratten Row, the Fashionable Hour in Hyde Park—description of 18th century parading on Rotten Row. Poem by Frederick Lampson on Rotten Row. Hyde Park and Kensington Stables and Ross Nye Stables -possibly the only two remaining stables near Hyde Park
30.
Queen Elizabeth Gate
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There is also a center feature made of painted cast iron. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 to celebrate the 90th birthday of her mother and it cost £1.5 million to construct, raised by private individuals and public funding, under the patronage of Prince Michael of Kent. The stainless steel and bronze gates, railings and lights were designed, the center piece, featuring a red lion and a white unicorn, was designed by sculptor David Wynne. The organic nature of the steel reflects the Queen Mothers love of flowers. Her life spanned most of the century and this is represented by a flow from formal symmetry at the base of the gates upwards to a freedom of line at the top. Many of the elements are free to move when touched and the whole structure vibrates when moved and this is in direct contrast to the heavier rectilinear gates found in other entrances to the park. Although much admired, it was described as hideous by architect Zaha Hadid and this treatment has since proved to be extremely durable thanks to the initial intensifying of the chromium content on the surface by the use of electro-polishing
31.
Wellington Monument, London
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Not to be confused with the nearby Wellington Arch, sometimes incorrectly called the Wellington Monument. It was inaugurated on 18 June 1822 and its total height, including the sculpture, base and the mound on which it stands, is 36 ft. It is best known for its colossal 18 ft high statue of Achilles by the sculptor Richard Westmacott, the monument was funded by donations from British women totalling £10,000. On being transported to its site, the entrance gates into Hyde Park were too low for it to fit. The Gentlemans Magazine,1822 Review of Roubiliac and the Eighteenth-Century Monument, art Bulletin, September 1996, by Christopher M. S. Johns
32.
Lord Byron
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George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, FRS, commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet, peer, politician, and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among his best-known works are the narrative poems, Don Juan and Childe Harolds Pilgrimage. Byron is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential and he travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years with the struggling poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in his life, Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted while in Missolonghi, ethel Colburn Mayne states that George Gordon Byron was born on 22 January 1788 in a house on 24 Holles Street in London. However, Robert Charles Dallas in his Recollections states that Byron was born in Dover and he was the son of Captain John Mad Jack Byron and his second wife, the former Catherine Gordon, a descendant of Cardinal Beaton and heiress of the Gight estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Byrons father had seduced the married Marchioness of Carmarthen and, after she divorced her husband. His treatment of her was described as brutal and vicious, in order to claim his second wifes estate in Scotland, Byrons father took the additional surname Gordon, becoming John Byron Gordon, and he was occasionally styled John Byron Gordon of Gight. Byron himself used this surname for a time and was registered at school in Aberdeen as George Byron Gordon, at the age of 10, he inherited the English Barony of Byron of Rochdale, becoming Lord Byron, and eventually dropped the double surname. Byrons paternal grandparents were Vice-Admiral the Hon. John Foulweather Jack Byron, vice Admiral John Byron had circumnavigated the globe, and was the younger brother of the 5th Baron Byron, known as the Wicked Lord. He was christened, at St Marylebone Parish Church, George Gordon Byron after his maternal grandfather George Gordon of Gight, a descendant of James I of Scotland, Mad Jack Byron married his second wife for the same reason that he married his first, her fortune. In a move to avoid his creditors, Catherine accompanied her husband to France in 1786. He was born on 22 January in lodgings at Holles Street in London, Catherine moved back to Aberdeenshire in 1790, where Byron spent his childhood. His father soon joined them in their lodgings in Queen Street, Catherine regularly experienced mood swings and bouts of melancholy, which could be partly explained by her husbands continuing to borrow money from her. As a result, she fell even further into debt to support his demands and it was one of these importunate loans that allowed him to travel to Valenciennes, France, where he died in 1791. When Byrons great-uncle, the wicked Lord Byron, died on 21 May 1798, described as a woman without judgment or self-command, Catherine either spoiled and indulged her son or vexed him with her capricious stubbornness. Her drinking disgusted him, and he often mocked her for being short and corpulent and she once retaliated and, in a fit of temper, referred to him as a lame brat. Langley-Moore questions the Galt claim that she over-indulged in alcohol, upon the death of Byrons mother-in-law Judith Noel, the Hon
33.
Speakers' Corner
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A Speakers Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, Speakers here may talk on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although this right is not restricted to Speakers Corner only. On some occasions in the past, they have intervened on grounds of profanity, historically there were a number of other areas designated as Speakers Corners in other parks in London. More recently they have set up in other British cities. Public riots broke out in the park in 1855, in protest over the Sunday Trading Bill, which forbade buying and selling on a Sunday, the riots were described by Karl Marx as the beginning of the English revolution. The Chartist movement used Hyde Park as a point of assembly for workers protests, the Reform League organised a massive demonstration in 1866 and then again in 1867, which compelled the government to extend the franchise to include most working-class men. The riots and agitation for democratic reform encouraged some to force the issue of the right to speak in Hyde Park, the Parks Regulation Act 1872 delegated the issue of permitting public meetings to the park authorities. Contrary to popular belief, it does not confer a statutory basis for the right to speak at Speakers Corner. Parliamentary debates on the Act illustrate that a principle of being able to meet and speak was not the intention. Since that time, it has become a site for public speeches and debate, as well as a major site of protest. There are some who contend that the tradition has a connection with the Tyburn gallows and its existence is frequently upheld as a demonstration of free speech, as anyone can turn up unannounced and talk on almost any subject, although always at the risk of being heckled by regulars. Prior to the ruling, prohibited speech at Speakers Corner included obscenity, blasphemy, insulting the queen, the following organisations and individuals, listed here in chronological order, have a well-established history of speaking regularly in Hyde Park. It was officially inaugurated by Jack Straw, the UK Justice Secretary, the designated space occupied a new landscaped extension to the citys Old Market Square, at the junction of King Street and Queen Street. The large paved space includes the new statue of Brian Clough, the manager of Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Speakers Corner Lichfield was launched in May 2009, with the help of the Speakers’ Corner Trust, hundreds of people joined in the celebrations which featured over 30 speeches, musical and dance performances, as well as star appearances from BBC’s Jo Malin and ex Corrie Star Chris Walker. Today Speakers’ Corner is a site for events and activities, as well as a destination for all the community to visit and have their say on topics close to their hearts. Since the launch, a plaque has been unveiled at the site, plans for the site include a stone plaque marking the spot, as well as a series of annual events. The Sussex coastal town of Worthing has had its own Speakers Corner at Splash Point on the towns seafront since the Victorian era
34.
George VI
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George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth, known as Albert until his accession, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his life in the shadow of his elder brother. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy, in 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame. Georges elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936, however, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman, Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During Georges reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the countrys constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland, from 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively, though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and his mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. His birthday was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Albert, uncertain of how the Prince Consorts widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been rather distressed. Two days later, he again, I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her. Consequently, he was baptised Albert Frederick Arthur George at St. Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham three months later, within the family, he was known informally as Bertie
35.
Netflix
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Netflix is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California. It specializes in and provides streaming media and video-on-demand online and DVD by mail, in 2013, Netflix expanded into film and television production, as well as online distribution. As of 2017 the company has its headquarters in Los Gatos, Netflixs initial business model included DVD sales and rental, although Hastings jettisoned DVD sales about a year after Netflixs founding to focus on the DVD rental by mail business. In 2007, Netflix expanded its business with the introduction of streaming media, while retaining the DVD, Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2013, debuting its first series, House of Cards. It has greatly expanded the production of film and television series since then, offering Netflix Original content through its online library of films. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, in January 2017, Netflix reported having over 93 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 49 million in the United States. Netflix was founded on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California, by Marc Randolph, Randolph worked as marketing director for Hastings company, Pure Atria Corporation. Randolph was a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, a mail order company. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, sold Pure Atria to Rational Software Corporation in 1997 for $700 million in what was then the richest acquisition in Silicon Valley history. Hastings, Randolphs mother and Integrity QA founder Steve Kahn invested $2.5 million in cash for Netflix. Randolph admired the fledgling e-commerce company Amazon and wanted to find a category of portable items to sell over the internet using a similar model. He and Hastings considered and rejected VHS tapes as too expensive to stock and too delicate to ship. When they heard about DVDs, which were available in only a few markets in 1997, when the disc arrived intact, they decided to take on the $16 billion home video sales and rental industry. Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the model in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its reputation on the model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees. In 2000, Netflix offered to be acquired by Blockbuster for $50 million, Netflix initiated an initial public offering on May 29,2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at the price of US$15.00 per share. On June 14,2002, the company sold an additional 825,000 shares of stock at the same price. After incurring substantial losses during its first few years, Netflix posted its first profit during fiscal year 2003, in 2005,35,000 different films were available, and Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs out every day
36.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
37.
St George's Hospital
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St George’s Hospital is a teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UKs largest teaching hospitals and it is run by the St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It shares its main site in Tooting in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with the St Georges, University of London which trains NHS staff. The hospital has around 1,000 beds and most general tertiary care such as accident and emergency, maternity services and care for older people and it is also home to one of four major trauma centres and one of eight hyper-acute stroke units for London. St Georges Hospital also provides care for patients from a catchment area in the South East of England. Other services treat patients all over the country, such as family HIV care. The trust also provides a nationwide endoscopy training service, as of the end of 2014 it became the subject of the Channel 4 documentary 24 Hours in A&E. By 1732 the Governors were forced to seek a larger building. The majority of the Governors favoured a house in Castle Lane, the original site was in Lanesborough House at Hyde Park Corner, originally built in 1719 by James Lane, 2nd Viscount Lanesborough in what was then open countryside. The new St Georges Hospital was arranged on three floors and accommodated 30 patients in two wards, one for men and one for women, the hospital was gradually extended and, by 1744, it had fifteen wards and over 250 patients. By the 1800s, the hospital was slipping into disrepair, the old Lanesborough House at Hyde Park Corner was demolished to make way for a new 350 bed facility designed by architect William Wilkins. Building began in 1827 and was completed by 1844, by 1859, a critical shortage of beds led to the addition of an attic floor. This was soon insufficient and led to the creation of a new convalescent hospital, Atkinson Morleys in Wimbledon, a medical school was established in 1834 at Kinnerton Street and was incorporated into the hospital in 1868. In 1948, the National Health Service was introduced and plans for a new site for St Georges at The Grove Fever, in 1954, the Grove Hospital became part of St Georges, and clinical teaching started in Tooting. In 1973, building began on the new site, the new hospital and school buildings were now well advanced. The School was completed, as were two wings of the new hospital, which provided a total of 710 beds, in 1976, the Medical School opened at Tooting and, in 1980, St Georges Hospital at Hyde Park Corner closed its doors for the last time. In 1981, medical education in London was reorganized to recognize the movement of population away from the centre, there are now fewer, larger medical schools in London. The expansion of St Georges, University of London has become part of this policy, in 2003, neuroscience services located at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon moved to the brand new Atkinson Morley Wing on the main St Georges site
38.
The Lanesborough
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The Lanesborough is a 5-star hotel on Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, central London, England. Operated by the Oetker Collection, the hotel is reputedly the most expensive hotel in London, the building was originally a hospital. It is in style and is listed Grade II*. Opposite are Hyde Park and Apsley House, the London home of the Dukes of Wellington, the hotel is next to Hyde Park Corner tube station. St Georges Hospital was opened in the original Lanesborough House in 1733, by the 1800s the hospital was falling into disrepair. Lanesborough House was demolished to make way for a new 350-bed facility, building began in 1827 under architect William Wilkins. The new hospital was operational by 1844, serving continuously as a hospital until transferred to Tooting, south London in the 1970s, the Duke of Westminster took up an option to buy the building for £6,000. Rosewood Hotels & Resorts refurbished and re-opened the building as a hotel in 1991, furniture was supplied by Arthur Brett and Sons. Ten years later the management contract passed to Starwoods St Regis operation as its first, the hotel left Starwood in November 2014 and is currently managed by the Oetker Collection. The Lanesborough was closed for renovation in December 2013 and re-opened in 2015, in 2009, The Lanesborough announced the launch of ‘Apsleys – a Heinz Beck Restaurant’. Chef Heinz Beck was the winner of three Michelin stars for his cuisine at La Pergola in Rome, Italy, ‘Apsleys – a Heinz Beck Restaurant’ began service on September 7,2009, and was awarded its first Michelin star on 20 January 2010. This is the current fastest time for a new London restaurant to get one, the dining room was subsequently rebranded as Céleste, and was again awarded a Michelin star. There have been complaints that the prices for tea are rather high
39.
BBC News
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BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the worlds largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, the service maintains 50 foreign news bureaux with more than 250 correspondents around the world. James Harding has been Director of News and Current Affairs since April 2013, the departments annual budget is in excess of £350 million, it has 3,500 staff,2,000 of whom are journalists. BBC News domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in Millbank in London. Through the BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England, as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, all nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. As with all media outlets, though, it has been accused of political bias from across the political spectrum. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922, on Easter weekend in 1930, this reliance on newspaper wire services left the radio news service with no information to report. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, however, it could not broadcast news before 6 PM until World War II. Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, a weekly Childrens Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The publics interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953 and it is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radios audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission and that year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a commentary by John Snagge. It was revealed that this had been due to producers fearing a newsreader with visible facial movements would distract the viewer from the story. On-screen newsreaders were finally introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall, Robert Dougall, mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953. On 28 October 1957, the Today programme, a radio programme, was launched in central London on the Home Service. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs and he set up a BBC study group whose findings, published in 1959, were critical of what the television news operation had become under his predecessor, Tahu Hole
