Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion in St James's, City of Westminster, London, is the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations and the seat of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. For over a century it served as the London residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, it became a royal residence through the 19th century and first half of the 20th. It was leased by Queen Elizabeth II to the Commonwealth beginning in 1965; the Duchess wanted her new house to be "strong and convenient and good". The architect Christopher Wren and his son of the same name designed a brick building with rusticated stone quoins, completed in 1711; the house was taken-up by the Crown in 1817. In the 1820s plans were drawn up to demolish Marlborough House and replace it with a terrace of similar dimensions to the two in neighbouring Carlton House Terrace, this idea featured on some contemporary maps, including Christopher and John Greenwood's large-scale London map of 1830, but the proposal was not implemented.

Located north of The Mall and east of St James's Palace, Marlborough House was used by members of the Royal Family dowager queens and by Prince Albert Edward of Wales and his wife Alexandra. Queen Adelaide, widow of William IV, was given the use of Marlborough House from 1831 until her death in 1849. From 1853 to 1861 Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, arranged for the building to be used by the "National Art Training School" the Royal College of Art. From 1861 to 1863, Sir James Pennethorne enlarged the structure by adding a range of rooms on the north side and a deep porch for the Prince of Wales King Edward VII, his wife the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, who made their home the social centre of London, their second son King George V, was born at Marlborough House in 1865, the family lived there until Victoria died in 1901, when Edward acceded the throne and they moved to nearby Buckingham Palace. After Edward VII died in 1910, Alexandra again made Marlborough House her London home until her death in 1925.

A late Art Nouveau-Gothic memorial fountain by Alfred Gilbert in the Marlborough Road wall of the house commemorates her. In 1936, Marlborough House became the London residence of George V's widow, Queen Mary who survived George by 17 years. In the grounds of the house remains her pet cemetery. A thatch-roofed rotating summer house built. A plaque to commemorate Queen Mary was unveiled by the Queen in 1967 in the exterior wall closest to the corner with the Mall. After Queen Mary's death in 1953, Marlborough House continued to be used by various members of the royal family as a London residence before Queen Elizabeth II leased it to the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1965, an arrangement which continues today; the nearly cubical saloon retains wall-paintings by Louis Laguerre of the Battle of Blenheim. A cupola inserted in the ceiling is surrounded by paintings by Orazio Gentileschi for the Queen's House, Greenwich, 1636. There are paired staircases flanking the saloon, with further battle pieces by Laguerre.

Most of the interiors have been altered. Marlborough House is open to the public for Open House Weekend each September; the house is open for group tours by prior arrangement. Stourton, James. Great Houses of London. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-7112-3366-9. Visiting Information at The Commonwealth Secretariat Virtual tour Flickr images tagged Marlborough House

Elizabeth, Lady Barnard was the granddaughter of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Despite two marriages, she had no children, was his last surviving descendant. Elizabeth was associated with the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Both her husbands were dedicated supporters of Charles I. Elizabeth Hall was born to Doctor John Hall, she was baptised in the Holy Trinity Church of England. She was the only grandchild William Shakespeare knew, because her three cousins were born after his death in 1616. In 1626, Elizabeth Hall married Thomas Nash, a member of the Manor and Lordship of Shottery. Nash is known to have been an ardent Royalist, a supporter of Charles I and indeed a donor to the king's cause to the tune of £100. In July 1643 the queen Henrietta Maria stayed with the Nashes at New Place. Thomas made his will on 25 August 1642, in which he left his house in Chapel Street and two meadows to Elizabeth. However, he left the bulk of his fortune to Edward Nash. On 4 April 1647, Thomas died.

On 5 June 1649, eighteen months after her husband's death, Elizabeth married John Barnard of Abington, near Northampton. Barnard was a widower with several children, it is not known how they met, since he did not live near Stratford, but it was most through Elizabeth's Royalist connections. Like Nash, he had been a strong supporter of the Royalists in the Civil War. Five weeks after the marriage, Elizabeth's mother Susanna died; as a result, Elizabeth inherited the Shakespeare family property. The couple moved to Stratford; as a staunch Royalist, Barnard's social position improved after the Restoration in 1660. He was knighted on 25 September 1661, they left Stratford to move into the Barnard family home in Abington. The couple had no children. In February 1662, Judith Quiney died in Stratford-upon-Avon, making Elizabeth Barnard the last descendant of William Shakespeare, she wrote her will on 29 January 1669, which did not give much to Sir John Barnard. Elizabeth died at Abington, Northamptonshire on 17 February 1670.

There is a memorial plaque in the Church of Saint Peter & Paul, where she is buried. The family home of Sir John and Lady Barnard is now a museum, Abington Park Museum, the grounds are now a park in the town of Northampton. William Shakespeare Shakespeare's life Shakespeare's Granddaughter and the Bagleys of Dudley Shakespeare's Family

Eagle Records is an English record label, a division of Universal Music Group and Eagle Rock Entertainment. In the United Kingdom the label's managing director is Lindsay Brown, former manager of Van Halen, while in the United States the head is Mike Carden of CMC International Records. Gary Moore Asia Deep Purple Willy DeVille Emerson, Lake & Palmer Heart John Lee Hooker The Levellers John Mayall Jethro Tull Michael Nesmith Nazareth Ted Nugent Thunder Hank Van Sickle PMC Yes Hard Rain The Rolling Stones Queen The Who Alice Cooper Candy Dulfer The Fall Gary Glitter Jeff Healey Nik Kershaw Robert Palmer Pingy The Pretenders Simple Minds Styx Status Quo Uriah Heep Barry White Gary Numan Roland Orzabal Vixen Official site

David John Porter was Conservative Member of Parliament for Waveney from 1987 to 1997. Before going into Parliament he was Head of Drama at Benjamin Britten High School in Lowestoft. After the 1997 election, he gave some support to efforts supporting the British film industry. After his defeat, he returned to teaching, this time at Kirkley High School Lowestoft where he became Head of Performing Arts. After he left teaching in 2011, he continued working as a senior examiner in performing arts and English and writer of exam and teaching materials. In December 2015 he self-published a novel,'Old Men's Dreams'. In early 2018 he self-published a collection of short stories,'Wild Beasts and Plague' to join his novel on Amazon, he published his autobiography,'A Rebel's Journey', for private circulation only. All his publications are under his'Walk in My Shoes' imprint. During his time in Parliament, some said that he never managed to step out of the shadow of his predecessor, the Conservative Minister from Lowestoft, Jim Prior.

Porter had an in-depth knowledge of the fishing industry and sea defences and was considered by opponents to be a near single-issue politician and a rebel, while focusing on local issues, including rural affairs, education, social security and consumer affairs and citizenship, for example. On two occasions he was threatened with suspension, but was never suspended from the Conservative whip, he rebelled against the Government on the Maastricht Treaty and several fishing motions that he regarded as damaging to Lowestoft. The European Common Fisheries Policy he argued resulted in unfair national allocations of fish stocks and the discard policy of throwing dead fish back into the sea was preposterous, damaging the fishing industry in the longer term. Although some in the Conservative Party tried to select a different candidate after his selection in 1985, at the time the local Conservative Associations had total power of selection and retained Porter, he campaigned for Britain to leave the European Common Fisheries Policy, preferring a system of local control with a yearly'Sabbath' rotating through each sea area around the United Kingdom waters.

He served on Social Security and Education Select Committees during his decade in the Commons. Although he always remained popular locally, he lost his seat in the 1997 Labour landslide to Bob Blizzard, a local councillor who in turn lost the seat back to the Conservatives in 2010, when Peter Aldous became MP. http://www.davidporter.co.uk/ The Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1997 Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

The Reverend Professor Andrew D. E. Lewis is an English legal scholar and Anglican clergyman with academic specialisms in Roman law, canon law, English legal history, European legal history, he is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Legal History at University College London. Lewis received his BA in LLB in 1971 from the University of Cambridge. Lewis, A.. "Pitcairn's Tortured Past: A legal history". In D. Oliver, Justice and the Rule of Law. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, Oxford. Lewis, A.. "Martin Dockray and The Zong: A tribute in the form of a chronology". The Journal of Legal History, 28, 357-370. Lewis, A.. "When is a Tax not a Tax but a Tithe?". In J. Tiley, Studies in the History of Tax Law II. Oxford: Hart Publishing. Lewis, A.. "Advocatio: A postponement in iure". Fundamina - Ex Iusta Causa Traditum: Essays in honour of Eric H. Pool, Editio specialis, 215–228. Lewis, A.. "On Not Expecting the Spanish Inquisition: The Uses of Comparative Legal History". In J. Holder, C. O'Cinneide, M. Freeman, Current Legal Problems, 2004, Volume 57.

Oxford University Press. Lewis, A. D. E.. "'Secundum legem' in Institutio Oratoria V.13.7." In O. Tellegen-Couperus and the Law. Leuven: Leuven University Press. Lewis, A.. "Lincoln wills 1532–1534". J SOC ARCHIVISTS, 24, 116–118. Lewis, A.. "Smollett's assault". Times Literary Supplement, 19. Lewis, A.. "The records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn". Black books, vol. 6, 1914–1965. J SOC ARCHIVISTS, 24, 116–118. Lewis, A. D. E.. "The Autonomy of Roman Law". In P. Coss, The Moral World of the Law, Past & Present Publications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lewis, A. D. E.. "John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined". Utilitas, 9, 267–270. Doi:10.1017/S0953820800005355 Lewis, A. D. E.. "Roman Law in the Middle of the Third Millennium. In M. D. Freeman, Current Legal Problems 1997: Opinion at the End of the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lewis, A. D. E... "The Journal of Legal History". Journal of Legal History, 18

Jean-Baptiste Robie was a Belgian painter who specialised in flower painting, seascapes and Oriental scenes. He was born in Brussels, the son of a smith, was self-taught. With the encouragement of his friend the artist Théodore Fourmois he began studying at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels with Balthazar-François Tasson and exhibited at the Brussels Salon from 1843 to 1875, as well as at the Paris Salon and elsewhere, he wrote many travel books based on his extensive travels as far as India. Bénézit, E. 1976: Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres. Paris: Librairie Gründ ISBN 2-7000-0156-7 Bénézit, E. 1976: Dictionnaire des Peintres, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. Paris: Librairie Gründ ISBN 2-7000-0156-7 De Taeye, Edmond Louis, 1894-97: Les artistes belges contemporains. Brussels Flippo, W. G. 1981: Lexicon of the Belgian Romantic Painters. Antwerp Marchal, E. 1911: Notice sur Jean Robie, in: Annuaire de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, pp 177-190. Classe des Beaux-Arts Op De Beeck, E.: Un musée indien à Saint-Gillis.

Oeuvre du peintre Jean Robie, in: Le Folklore Brabançon, nr. 162, pp 232—251* Thieme, U. & Becker, F. 1980-86: Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Reprint of 1907 edition. 37 vols. Leipzig: Veb E. A. Seemann Verlag Vandevivere, I.. in: Biographie Nationale, 33, Brussel