1.
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
2.
Srinagar
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Srinagar /ˈsriˌnʌɡʌr/ is the largest city and the summer capital of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, the city is famous for its gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts and dried fruits, folk etymology draws the city name from two Sanskrit words, śrī and nagar, which would make City of Lakshmi. However, the earliest records mention the name as siri-nagar which in turn is a transformation of the original Sanskrit name sūrya-nagar. The Burzahom archaeological site located 10 km from Srinagar has revealed the presence of neolithic and megalithic cultures, according to Kalhanas 12th century text Rajatarangini, a king named Pravarasena II established a new capital named Pravarapura. Based on topographical details, Pravarapura appears to be same as the city of Srinagar. Aurel Stein dates the king to 6th century, Kalhana also mentions that a king named Ashoka had earlier established a town called Srinagari. Kalhana describes this town in terms, stating that it had 9,600,000 houses resplendent with wealth. According to Kalhana, this Ashoka reigned before 1182 BCE, and was a member of the dynasty founded by Godhara, Kalhana also states that this king had adopted the doctrine of Jina, constructed stupas and Shiva temples, and appeased Bhutesha to obtain his son Jalauka. Multiple scholars identify Kalhanas Ashoka with the 3rd century Buddhist Mauryan emperor Ashoka despite these discrepancies, although Jina is a term generally associated with Jainism, some ancient sources use it to refer to the Buddha. Romila Thapar equates Jalauka to Kunala, stating that Jalauka is an erroneous spelling caused by an error in Brahmi script. Ashokas Srinagari is generally identified with Pandrethan, although there is an identification with a place on the banks of the Lidder River. According to Kalhana, Pravarasena II resided at Puranadhishthana before the establishment of Pravarapura, accordining to V. A. Smith, the original name of the old town was transferred to the new town. It was also the capital during the reign of Yusuf Shah Chak, Kashmir came under Mughal rule, when it was conquered by the third Mughal padshah Akbar in 1586 CE. Akbar established Mughal rule in Srinagar and Kashmir valley, Kashmir was added to Kabul Subah in 1586, until Shah Jahan made it into a separate Kashmir Subah with seat in Srinagar. In 1846, the Treaty of Lahore was signed between the Sikh rulers and the British in Lahore, Srinagar became part of his kingdom and remained until 1947 as one of several princely states in British India. The Maharajas choose Sher Garhi Palace as their main Srinagar residence, after India and Pakistans independence from Britain, villagers around the city of Poonch began an armed protest at continued rule of the Maharaja on 17 August 1947. The Accession was accepted by India the next day, the government of India immediately airlifted Indian troops to Srinagar and prevented the tribesmen from reaching the city
3.
Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney
4.
Percy Harris
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Sir Percy Alfred Harris, 1st Baronet PC was a British Liberal Party politician. He was Liberal Chief Whip and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Parliamentary Party, Sir Percy Harris was regarded as a radical Liberal with a strong social conscious which grew from representing a working class area of the East End of London. He was particularly interested in the issue of housing, a major responsibility of the London County Council. He sided with H. H. Asquith against David Lloyd George from 1918 to 1923, thereafter he sought unity within the Liberal Party. When the Liberal Party split in 1931 over the issue of Free Trade, he sided with Sir Herbert Samuel, under the leadership of Sir Archie Sinclair, he rose to prominence in the party. He was a supporter of the social policies advocated by Sir William Beveridge and was key to getting Beveridge to run for the Liberals. Harris was born in Kensington, the son of Wolf Harris a Polish immigrant. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Harris was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1899. In 1901 he married Marguerite Frieda Bloxam and they had two sons including Jack Harris. A great-grandson is the former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament Matthew Taylor — which Taylor, Harris first stood for election at the 1906 General Election when he was the Liberal candidate for the Ashford Division of Kent. Ashford was a safe Conservative seat that they had won at every election since the seat was created in 1885 and he was not expected to win and in an election that saw the Liberals sweep the country Harris came within 400 votes of toppling his Conservative opponent. Harris next contested the London County Council election,1907 for the Progressive Party and he contested Bethnal Green South West alongside his running mate Stewart Headlam and they were both elected. In 1910 Harris contested the January 1910 General Election as Liberal candidate for the Harrow division of Middlesex, Harrow was a safe Conservative seat that had been unexpectedly won by the Liberal James Gibb in 1906. Gibb had decided to retire and Harris was given the task of defending the seat. Harris had attended school in Harrow so knew the area a little, in a tougher year for the Liberals, Harrow was re-taken by the Conservatives. Harris did not contest the December 1910 General Election and he then focused on his duties at the London County Council. In 1912 he was appointed as the Chief Whip for the Progressives and he retained his seat on the London County Council until 1934. In 1914 he was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate for the Harborough division of Leicestershire for the election expected to take place either in 1914 or 1915
5.
Liberal Party (UK)
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The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory, by the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives main rival. The party went into decline and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections, apart from notable by-election victories, the partys fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, at the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989 and it was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals. Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the Liberal Party grew out of the Whigs, who had their origins in an aristocratic faction in the reign of Charles II, and the early 19th century Radicals. The Whigs were in favour of reducing the power of the Crown, although their motives in this were originally to gain more power for themselves, the more idealistic Whigs gradually came to support an expansion of democracy for its own sake. The great figures of reformist Whiggery were Charles James Fox and his disciple, after decades in opposition, the Whigs returned to power under Grey in 1830 and carried the First Reform Act in 1832. The Reform Act was the climax of Whiggism, but it brought about the Whigs demise. As early as 1839 Russell had adopted the name of Liberals, the leading Radicals were John Bright and Richard Cobden, who represented the manufacturing towns which had gained representation under the Reform Act. They favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England, avoidance of war and foreign alliances, for a century, free trade remained the one cause which could unite all Liberals. This allowed ministries led by Russell, Palmerston, and the Peelite Lord Aberdeen to hold office for most of the 1850s and 1860s, a leading Peelite was William Ewart Gladstone, who was a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer in most of these governments. The formal foundation of the Liberal Party is traditionally traced to 1859 and this was brought about by Palmerstons death in 1865 and Russells retirement in 1868. After a brief Conservative government Gladstone won a victory at the 1868 election. The establishment of the party as a membership organisation came with the foundation of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. John Stuart Mill was a Liberal MP from 1865 to 1868, for the next thirty years Gladstone and Liberalism were synonymous. William Ewart Gladstone served as prime minister four times, called the Grand Old Man later in life, Gladstone was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to the working class and to the lower middle class
6.
Chief Whip
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In British politics, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the House of Commons is usually also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a Cabinet position. The Government Chief Whip has a residence at 12 Downing Street. However, the Chief Whips office is located at 9 Downing Street. The Chief Whip can wield great power over their partys MPs, including cabinet ministers, margaret Thatcher was famed for using her Chief Whip as a cabinet enforcer. An exception was Andrew Mitchell, the Government Chief Whip in 2012, Whips in the House of Commons do not speak in debates. The Government Chief Whip is assisted by the Deputy Chief Whip, other Whips, the whips are not fully active in either of these departments, though do undertake a number of responsibilities. Assistant Whips, and Whips of opposition parties, generally do not receive such appointments, the whips, although superficially dictatorial, do act as communicators between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Ultimately if backbenchers are unhappy with the position they can threaten to revolt during a vote. This letter informs them of the schedule for the days ahead, the actual direction of their vote is communicated to them in the chamber by hand signals during the division when the time comes. The consequences of defying the party whip depend on the circumstances, theoretically at least, expulsion from the party is an automatic consequence of defying a three-line whip. Other such offences include betraying party loyalties, in 2011 Aidan Burley and his outspoken views caused expulsion from the party, losing the whip, he was de-selected for the 2015 General Election. In practice they remained Conservative MPs supporting the government on issues, Sir Bill Cash, John Redwood. Yet despite the whip, individuals are entitled to according to their own beliefs. There are some cases in which the whip is removed because an issue is a matter of conscience and these include adoption, religion and equal opportunities. The impact of a whip being imposed on a matter of conscience can be damaging for a party leader, one such case was that of Iain Duncan-Smith, who imposed a three-line whip against the adoption of children by unmarried couples. Several Conservative MPs voted against the party line, and Duncan-Smiths authority was weakened. Whips can often be brutal to backbenchers to secure their vote, a good whip will know secrets and incriminating information about Members of Parliament. A whip should know major figures in an MPs local constituency party, There have been cases where sick Members of Parliament were wheeled into the House from far afield to vote for the government on a crucial vote
7.
Baronet
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A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess, is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The practice of awarding baronetcies was originally introduced in England in the 14th century and was used by James I of England in 1611 as a means of raising funds. A baronetcy is the only British hereditary honour that is not a peerage, with the exception of the Anglo-Irish Black Knight, White Knight, Baronets are not deemed members of the nobility, but rather, titled gentry. Their social rank is equivalent to the petty nobility in some countries of continental Europe. The term baronet has medieval origins, Sir Thomas de La More, describing the Battle of Boroughbridge, mentioned that baronets took part, along with barons and knights. Edward III is known to have created eight baronets in 1328, at least one, Sir William de La Pole in 1340, was created for payment of money. Whether or not these early creations were hereditary, all have died out, in 1619 James I established the Baronetage of Ireland, Charles I in 1625 created the Baronetages of Scotland and Nova Scotia. The new baronets were each required to pay 2,000 marks or to support six settlers for two years. Over a hundred of these baronetcies, now known as Scottish baronetcies. As a result of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, following the Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, new creations were styled as baronets of the United Kingdom. Under royal warrants of 1612 and 1613, certain privileges were accorded to baronets, firstly, no person or persons should have place between baronets and the younger sons of peers. These privileges were extended to baronets of Ireland, and for baronets of Scotland the privilege of depicting the Arms of Nova Scotia as an augmentation of honour, the former applies to this day for all baronets of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom created subsequently. The title of baronet was initially conferred upon noblemen who lost the right of summons to Parliament. A similar title of rank was banneret. Like knights, baronets are accorded the style Sir before their first name, baronetesses in their own right use Dame, also before their first name, while wives of baronets use Lady followed by the husbands surname only, this by longstanding courtesy. Wives of baronets are not baronetesses, only women holding baronetcies in their own right are so styled, unlike knighthoods—which apply to the recipient only—a baronetcy is hereditarily entailed. With some exceptions granted with special remainder by letters patent, baronetcies descend through the male line, a full list of extant baronets appears in Burkes Peerage and Baronetage, which also published a record of extinct baronetcies. A baronetcy is not a peerage, so baronets like knights and junior members of families are commoners
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