1.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
2.
Stand-up comedy
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Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian. In stand-up comedy, the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine, some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in clubs, bars and pubs, nightclubs. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD, in stand-up comedy, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial for the comedians act. Audiences expect a stand-up comic to provide a stream of laughs. Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious, a stand-up comedy show may involve only one comedian, or feature a headline or a showcase format. This is followed by one or two middle or featured acts, who perform 15- to 20-minute sets, followed by a headliner who performs for longer, a showcase format may still feature an MC. Bringer shows are another opportunity for amateur performers, the performer must bring a specified number of paying guests in order to get stage time. The guests usually have to pay a charge and there is often a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered. These shows usually have a showcase format and this type of show gives comedians better exposure than open mics because there is usually better audience turnout and industry professionals sometimes go to watch. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows, gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example, usually has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City usually has six-person bringers. As the name implies, stand-up comedians usually perform their material while standing, stand-up comedy has its origin in classic Parrhesia in 400 BC used for cynics and epicureans in order to tell the reality without censorship. Stand-up comedy in the United Kingdom began in the halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlains Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship, the act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil. The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form, the rise of the post-war comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead, alternative circuits had evolved, such as working mens clubs. The alternative comedy scene began to evolve
3.
Television
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Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a set, a television program. Television is a medium for entertainment, education, news, politics, gossip. Television became available in experimental forms in the late 1920s. After World War II, a form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses. During the 1950s, television was the medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US, for many reasons, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions greatly increased in popularity, another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution that is substantially higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats, 1080p, 1080i, in 2013, 79% of the worlds households owned a television set. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs, major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are gradually expected to be replaced by OLEDs, also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s, Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and. Until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, a standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television, the word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning far, and Latin visio, meaning sight. The Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907 and it was. formed in English or borrowed from French télévision. In the 19th century and early 20th century, other. proposals for the name of a technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote. The abbreviation TV is from 1948, the use of the term to mean a television set dates from 1941
4.
Comedian
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A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, a comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comic. Since the 1980s, a new wave of comedy, called alternative comedy, has grown in popularity with its more offbeat and this normally involves more experiential, or observational reporting, e. g. Alexei Sayle, Daniel Tosh, Louis C. K. and Malcolm Hardee. Many comics achieve a cult following while touring famous comedy hubs such as the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, the Edinburgh Fringe, often a comics career advances significantly when they win a notable comedy award, such as the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Comics sometimes foray into other areas of entertainment, such as film and television, however, a comics stand-up success does not guarantee a films critical or box office success. Comedians can be dated back to 425 BC, when Aristophanes and he wrote 40 comedies,11 of which survive and are still being performed. Aristophanes comedy style took the form of satyr plays, the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare wrote many comedies. A Shakespearean comedy is one that has an ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeares other plays. Charles Chaplin was the most popular comedian of the first half of the 20th century. He wrote comedic silent films such as Modern Times and The Kid and his films still have a major impact on comedy in films today. One of the most popular forms of comedy is stand-up comedy. Stand-up comedy is a monologue performed by one or more people standing on a stage. Bob Hope was the most popular comedian of the 20th century. Other noted stand-up comedians include George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Louis CK, another popular form of modern-day comedy is talk shows where comedians make fun of current news or popular topics. Such comedians include Jay Leno, Conan OBrien, Daniel Tosh, Chris Hardwick, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, a third form of modern-day comedy is television programs in which many comedians band together to make skits, such as Saturday Night Live. These shows often receive high ratings, likely because many comedians band together to create jokes, one of the most successful comedians is Ellen Degeneres, who has parlayed her comic career into film, television shows, and hosting major media events. In 1986, Ellen DeGeneres appeared for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson since she began gaining popularity as a comic in the 1980s. Johnny Carson, who launched many contemporary comics careers, would invite them to join him on the couch for one-on-one conversation after their set
5.
Didsbury
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Didsbury /ˈdɪdzbəri/ is a suburban area of Manchester, England. It lies on the bank of the River Mersey,4.5 miles south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788, historically a part of Lancashire, there are records of Didsbury existing as a small hamlet as early as the 13th century. Its early history was dominated by being part of the Manor of Withington, Didsbury was described during the 18th century as a township separate from outside influence. In 1745 Charles Edward Stuart crossed the Mersey at Didsbury in the Jacobite march south from Manchester to Derby, Didsbury was largely rural until the mid-19th century, when it underwent development and urbanisation during the Industrial Revolution. It became part of Manchester in 1904, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was formed in Didsbury in 1889. In the 13th century Didsbury was variously referred to as Dydesbyre, Dydesbiri, Didsbury, the church was named St James Church in 1855. It underwent major refurbishment in 1620 and again in the 19th century, a parsonage was built next to one of the two public houses that flanked the nearby village green, Ye Olde Cock Inn, so-called because of the cockfighting that used to take place there. The parsonage soon gained a reputation for being haunted, servants refused to sleep on the premises, Local alderman Fletcher Moss bought the house in 1865, and lived in it for more than 40 years. In 1902, he installed wrought iron gates at the entrance to the parsonages garden, the parsonage became a museum, now closed, but the gardens are still open to the public. The area around St James Church has the highest concentration of listed buildings in Manchester, the Royalist commander, Prince Rupert, stationed himself at Didsbury Ees, to the south of Barlow Moor. It is also likely that Bonnie Prince Charlie crossed the Mersey at Didsbury in 1745, in the Jacobite march south from Manchester to Derby, Jewish immigrants started to arrive in Manchester from the late 18th century, initially settling mainly in the suburbs to the north of the city. From the 1890s onwards, many of them moved to what were seen as the more sophisticated suburbs in the south, such as Withington, the influx of Jewish immigrants led to West Didsbury being nicknamed Yidsbury and Palatine Road, a main road through West Didsbury, Palestine Road. The line closed in 1967, although Didsbury station building remained standing until its demolition in the 1980s, the station clock and water fountain have survived, dedicated to local doctor and campaigner for the poor, Dr. J. Milson Rhodes. Arriving at 5,30 am, Paulhan beat the British contender, Claude Grahame-White and this was the first powered flight into Manchester from any point outside the city. Two special trains were chartered to the built but unopened Burnage Station to take spectators to the landing. Paulhans progress was followed throughout by a train carrying his wife, Henri Farman. Afterwards his train took the party to a reception given by the Lord Mayor of Manchester in the Town Hall
6.
Preston, Lancashire
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Preston /ˈprɛstən/ is a city and the administrative centre of Lancashire, England. The district obtained city status in 2002, becoming Englands 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth IIs reign, Preston has a population of 114,300, the City of Preston district 132,000 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area, in 2011, had a population of 420,661 compared to 354,000 in the previous census. Preston and its area have provided evidence of ancient Roman activity. The Angles established Preston, its name is derived from the Old English meaning priests settlement, in the Middle Ages, Preston was a parish and township in the hundred of Amounderness and was granted a Guild Merchant charter in 1179, giving it the status of a market town. Textiles have been produced since the century when locally produced wool was woven in peoples houses. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped develop the industry, in the early-18th century, Edmund Calamy described Preston as a pretty town with an abundance of gentry in it, commonly called Proud Preston. Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the frame, was born in the town. The most rapid period of growth and development coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing, Preston was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, becoming a densely populated engineering centre, with large industrial plants. Preston is recorded in the Domesday Book as Prestune in 1086, various other spellings occur in early documents, Prestonam, Prestone, Prestona, Presteton, and Prestun. The modern spelling occurs in 1094,1176,1196,1212 and 1332, the towns name is derived from Old English Presta and Tun, the Tun of the Presta. During the Roman period, Roman roads passed close to what is now the centre of Preston. For example, the road from Luguvalium to Mamucium crossed the River Ribble at Walton-le-Dale, 3⁄4 mile southeast of the centre of Preston, at Withy Trees,1 1⁄2 miles north of Preston, the road crossed another Roman road from Bremetennacum to the coast. An explanation of the origin of the name is that the Priests Town refers to a set up by St Wilfrid near the Ribbles lowest ford. This idea is supported by the similarity of the Paschal lamb on Prestons crest with that on St Wilfrids, when first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, Preston was already the most important town in Amounderness. When assessed for tax purposes in 1218 –19 it was the wealthiest town in the whole county and it is the only Guild still celebrated in the UK. Before 1328 a celebration had been held on an irregular basis, after this, there were breaks in the pattern for various reasons, but an unbroken series were held from 1542 to 1922. A full 400 year sequence was frustrated by the cancellation of the 1942 Guild due to World War II, the expression every Preston Guild, meaning very infrequently, has passed into fairly common use, especially in Lancashire
7.
ITV Granada
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ITV Granada is the Channel 3 regional service for North West England. The licence for the region has been held by ITV Broadcasting Limited since November 2008 and it is the largest independent television-franchise producing company in the UK, accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. It had been held by Granada Television, which was founded by Sidney Bernstein and this was the only surviving company of the original four Independent Television Authority franchisees from 1954, Granada Media Group merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004. It covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, northwestern Derbyshire, part of Cumbria, on 15 July 2009, the Isle of Man was transferred to ITV Granada from ITV Border. Broadcasting by Granada Television began on 3 May 1956 under the North of England weekday franchise and it was marked by a distinctive northern identity, and used stylised letter G logo forming an arrow pointing north, often with the tagline Granada, from the north. Granada plc merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004 after a duopoly had developed over the previous decade, Granada Television Ltd still legally exists. Along with most other companies owned by ITV plc, it is listed on www. companieshouse. gov. uk as a Dormant company. Other companies listed are Granada Television International and Granada Television Overseas Ltd, the North West region is regarded as ITVs most successful franchise. The Financial Times and The Independent once described Granada Television, the franchise holder. Nine Granada programmes were listed in the BFI TV100 in 2000, some of its most notable programmes include Coronation Street, Seven Up. The Royle Family, The Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, World in Action, University Challenge, notable employees have included Paul Greengrass, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Jeremy Isaacs, Andy Harries, Russell T Davies and Leslie Woodhead. Granada Television, a subsidiary of Granada Ltd, originated in Granada Theatres Ltd and it was founded in Dover in 1930 by Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1935 and it is named after the Spanish city of Granada. Channel 59 from Winter Hill and started broadcasting in colour in the Autumn of 1969, the Bernsteins became involved in commercial television, a competitor to the cinema chains. Bernstein bid for the North of England franchise, which he believed would not affect the companys largely southern-based cinema chain, in 1954, the Independent Television Authority awarded Granada the North of England contract for Monday to Friday, with ABC serving the same area on weekends. The North and London were the two biggest regions, Granada preferred the North because of its tradition of home-grown culture, and because it offered a chance to start a new creative industry away from the metropolitan atmosphere of London. Compare this with London and its suburbs—full of displaced persons, and, of course, if you look at a map of the concentration of population in the North and a rainfall map, you will see that the North is an ideal place for television. Bernstein selected a base from Leeds and Manchester, Granada executive Victor Peers believed Manchester was the preferred choice even before executives toured the region to find a suitable site
8.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the worlds largest arts festival, which in 2016, spanned 25 days and featured 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Edinburgh, Scotlands capital and it is an open access performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The Fringe has often showcased experimental, challenging or controversial works that might not be invited to a more conservative arts festival, the Fringe board of directors is drawn from members of the Festival Fringe Society, who are often Fringe participants themselves – performers or administrators. Elections are held once a year, in August, and Board members serve a term of four years, the Board appoints the Fringe Chief Executive, who is currently Shona McCarthy and assumed the role in March 2016. The Chief Executive operates under the chair, currently Professor Sir Timothy OShea, the Fringe started life when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. With the official festival using the major venues, these companies took over smaller. Seven performed in Edinburgh, and one undertook a version of the morality play Everyman in Dunfermline Abbey, about 20 miles north. These groups aimed to take advantage of the large assembled theatre crowds to showcase their own alternative theatre, although at the time it was not recognised as such, this was the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe. This meant that two defining features of the future Fringe were established at the very beginning – the lack of invitations to perform. I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings. The word fringe had in fact used in a review of Everyman in 1947. Late night revues, which would become a feature of Fringes, the first one was the New Drama Groups After The Show, a series of sketches taking place after Donald Pleasences Ebb Tide, in 1952. Among the talent to appear in early Fringe revues were Ned Sherrin in 1955, due to many reviewers only being able to attend Fringe events late night after the official festival was finished, the Fringe came to be seen as being about revues. It was a few years before an official programme for the Fringe was created. John Menzies compiled a list of shows under the title Other Events in their omnibus festival brochure and this was funded by participating companies and was entitled Additional Entertainments, since the name Fringe was still not yet in regular usage. It also used a strange cover motif, a first attempt was made to provide a central booking service in 1955 by students from the university, although it lost money, which was blamed on those who had not taken part. Formal organisation progressed in 1959, with the formation of the Festival Fringe Society, the push for such an organisation was led by Michael Imison, director of Oxford Theatre Group. A constitution was drawn up, in which the policy of not vetting or censoring shows was set out, nineteen companies participated in the Fringe in that year
9.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
10.
Royal Exchange, Manchester
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The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the bounded by St Anns Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street. The complex includes the Royal Exchange Theatre and the Royal Exchange Shopping Centre, the Royal Exchange was heavily damaged in the Manchester Blitz and in the 1996 Manchester bombing. The current building is the last of several buildings on the used for commodities exchange, primarily but not exclusively of cotton. The first exchange opened in 1729 but closed by the end of the century, as the cotton industry boomed, the need for a new exchange was recognised. Thomas Harrison designed the new exchange of 1809 at the junction of Market Street, Harrison designed the exchange in the Classical style. It had two storeys above a basement and was constructed in Runcorn stone, the cost, £20,000, was paid for in advance by 400 members who bought £50 shares and paid £30 each to buy the site. The semi-circular north façade had fluted Doric columns, the exchange room where business was conducted covered 812 square yards. The ground floor contained the members library with more than 15,000 books. The basement housed a newsroom lit by a dome and plate glass windows, the first-floor dining-room was accessed by a geometrical staircase. The exchange opened to celebrate of the birthday of George III in 1809 and it also contained other anterooms and offices. As the cotton trade continued to expand, larger premises were required, the second exchange was replaced by a third designed by Mills & Murgatroyd, constructed between 1867 and 1874. It was extended and modified by Bradshaw Gass & Hope between 1914 and 1931 to form the largest trading hall in England, the trading hall had three domes and was double the size of the current hall. The colonnade parallel to Cross Street marked the its centre, on trading days merchants and brokers struck deals which supported the jobs of tens of thousands of textile workers in Manchester and the surrounding towns. Manchesters cotton dealers and manufacturers trading from the Royal Exchange earned the city the name, the exchange was seriously damaged during World War II when it took a direct hit from a bomb during a German air raid in the Manchester Blitz at Christmas in 1940. Its interior was rebuilt with a trading area. The top stages of the tower, which had been destroyed, were replaced in a simpler form. Trading ceased in 1968, and the building was threatened with demolition, the building remained empty until 1973 when it was used to house a theatre company
11.
Kingdom (UK TV series)
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Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, the series also starred Hermione Norris, Celia Imrie, Karl Davies, Phyllida Law and Tony Slattery. The first series of six episodes was aired in 2007. Despite a mid-series ratings dip, the chairman of ITV praised the programme and ordered a second series. Filming on the series ran from July to September 2008 for broadcast from 7 June 2009. Stephen Fry announced in October 2009 that ITV was cancelling the series, a fact confirmed by the channel. The series follows Peter Kingdom, a solicitor whose work revolves around cases brought by the eclectic and eccentric populace of Market Shipborough. The first episode reveals that he vanished at sea six months previously, in the first series we are also introduced to Peters half-sister, Beatrice, who slowly becomes an integral character in the series. Simon returns in the series with his baby son Daniel. He is released from custody after Lyle uses Simons own money to him. Beatrice learns that she is pregnant, so she leaves Market Shipborough until the baby is born in the last episode of the series. Lyle threatens to leave Kingdom & Kingdom when his mentor Peter begins to neglect him, in the final episode, a torrential storm hits Market Shipborough, flooding much of the town. While searching for his brother, who drove off the night, Peter encounters something unseen by the audience. Series 3 largely steps away from Simon as we are now aware that he has died, instead, this series focuses more on Peters life, Beatrice and her new baby, Lyle, and Gloria, the receptionist. Toward the end of the series Peter begins to suffer from small blackouts and he has some minor tests done to find out the cause of the problem. It is revealed in the last episode that Peter has Type 2 diabetes, when Peter asks the doctor whether he should tell Beatrice and Petra to get checked out, the doctor revealed that diabetes isnt the only thing they discovered. In the final scenes Peter reveals that he has found out that he has no relation to Beatrice or Simon. The characters are described by Wheeler as three families, Peters relations, his colleagues, and the populace of Market Shipborough, Peter Kingdom is Cambridge-graduated lawyer and one half of Kingdom & Kingdom, a practice he ran with his father
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