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.
Marxism
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It originates from the mid-to-late 19th century works of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As the contradiction becomes apparent to the proletariat through the alienation of labor, Marxism has since developed into different branches and schools of thought, and there is now no single definitive Marxist theory. Marxism has been adopted by a number of academics and theorists working in various disciplines. Critics have taken issue with particular Marxist claims or accused Marxism as a whole of being inconsistent, refuted based on new information. The Marxian analysis begins with an analysis of the material conditions, the economic system and these social relations form a base and superstructure. As forces of production, most notably technology, improve, existing forms of social organization become inefficient, from forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution and these inefficiencies manifest themselves as social contradictions in society in the form of class struggle. Under the capitalist mode of production, this struggle materializes between the minority who own the means of production, and the vast majority of the population who produce goods, the socialist system would succeed capitalism as humanitys mode of production through workers revolution. According to Marxism, especially arising from crisis theory, socialism is a historical necessity, in a socialist society private property, in the form of the means of production, would be replaced by co-operative ownership. A socialist economy would not base production on the creation of private profits, Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand. The historical materialist theory of history analyses the causes of societal development. All constituent features of a society are assumed to stem from economic activity, the base and superstructure metaphor portrays the totality of social relations by which humans produce and re-produce their social existence. According to Marx, The sum total of the forces of production accessible to men determines the condition of society and this relationship is reflexive, at first the base gives rise to the superstructure and remains the foundation of a form of social organization. As Friedrich Engels clarified, The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, accordingly, Marx designated human history as encompassing four stages of development in relations of production. Primitive Communism, as in tribal societies. Slave Society, a development of tribal to city-state, aristocracy is born, feudalism, aristocrats are the ruling class, merchants evolve into capitalists. Capitalism, capitalists are the class, who create and employ the proletariat. According to the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, the content of Marxism was Marxs economic doctrine
3.
Working class
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The working class are the people employed for wages, especially in manual-labour occupations and in skilled, industrial work. Working-class occupations include blue-collar jobs, some jobs, and most service-work jobs. As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined and used in different ways. The most general definition, used by Marxists and socialists, is that the class includes all those who have nothing to sell but their labor-power. When used non-academically in the United States, however, it refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor. For certain types of science, as well as scientific or journalistic political analysis, for example. Working-class occupations are then categorized into four groups, Unskilled laborers, artisans, outworkers, a common alternative, sometimes used in sociology, is to define class by income levels. The cut-off between working class and middle class here might mean the line where a population has discretionary income, some researchers have suggested that working-class status should be defined subjectively as self-identification with the working-class group. This subjective approach allows people, rather than researchers, to define their own social class, in feudal Europe, the working class as such did not exist in large numbers. Instead, most people were part of the class, a group made up of different professions, trades. A lawyer, craftsman and peasant were all considered to be part of the social unit. Similar hierarchies existed outside Europe in other pre-industrial societies, the social position of these laboring classes was viewed as ordained by natural law and common religious belief. This social position was contested, particularly by peasants, for example during the German Peasants War, wealthy members of these societies created ideologies which blamed many of the problems of working-class people on their morals and ethics. In The Making of the English Working Class, E. P, starting around 1917, a number of countries became ruled ostensibly in the interests of the working class. Since then, four major states have turned towards semi-market-based governance. Other states of this sort have either collapsed, or never achieved significant levels of industrialization or large working classes, since 1960, large-scale proletarianisation and enclosure of commons has occurred in the third world, generating new working classes. Additionally, countries such as India have been slowly undergoing social change, karl Marx defined the working class or proletariat as individuals who sell their labour power for wages and who do not own the means of production. He argued that they were responsible for creating the wealth of a society and he asserted that the working class physically build bridges, craft furniture, grow food, and nurse children, but do not own land, or factories
4.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
5.
Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon
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Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon, styled Viscount Hastings until 1939, was a British artist, academic and later a Labour parliamentarian. The son and heir of Warner Hastings, 15th Earl of Huntingdon by his wife Maud Margaret, he was educated at Eton College, Christ Church Oxford, at Oxford, in 1922, he represented its Polo Varsity Team. Huntingdon was a pupil of the Mexican mural painter Diego Rivera and held exhibitions notably in London, Paris, Chicago and he was also appointed a Professor at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Central School of Arts & Crafts, London. He later served as Chairman of the Society of Mural Painters between 1951 and 1958, during the Second World War he was Deputy Controller of Defence of the Andover Rural District Council from 1941 to 1945. Huntingdon succeeded in the earldom in 1939 and took his seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords and he served under Clement Attlee as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1945 to 1950. He was author of The Golden Octopus and Commonsense about India, lord Huntingdon married firstly Cristina Casati, daughter of Camillo, Marquis Casati Stampa di Soncino by his wife, the artistic muse Luisa, in 1925, they had one daughter, Lady Moorea Hastings. Octavius Orlando Irvine Casati Black, was at Eton with David Cameron, Huntingdon and his first wife divorced in 1943. Huntingdon married secondly Margaret Lane, daughter of Harry George Lane, Lady Huntingdon was a writer and critic and published books on Beatrix Potter, Samuel Johnson and the Brontë sisters. They had two daughters, Lady Selina Shirley Hastings, lord Huntingdon died in August 1990, aged 89, and was succeeded in the earldom by his first cousin once removed William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass. His wife, Dowager Countess of Huntingdon, died in 1994, New York, St Martins Press,1990, Leigh Rayments Peerage Pages Lundy, Darryl. Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon, the New York Times article on the death of Margaret, Countess of Huntingdon ´ Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Huntingdon www. burkespeerage. com
6.
Clerkenwell
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Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. It was an ancient parish and from 1900 to 1965 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, the well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance, in the 1850s the south-western part of Clerkenwell was known as Londons Little Italy because around 2,000 Italians had settled in the area. There are officially over 200,000 Italians in London, the Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the church. A small number of Italian businesses remain from the century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd. Many other Italian firms survive from the period but have relocated elsewhere, Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks Well in Farringdon Lane. In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays there, Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court. It is visible through a window of that building on Farringdon Lane, access to the well is managed by Islington Local History Centre and visits can be arranged by appointment. The Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem had its English headquarters at the Priory of Clerkenwell, St Johns Gate survives in the rebuilt form of the Priory Gate. Its gateway, erected in 1504 in St Johns Square, served various purposes after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, for example, it was the birthplace of the Gentlemans Magazine in 1731, and the scene of Dr Johnsons work in connection with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the order and was in the early 20th century the headquarters of the St John Ambulance Association, an Early English crypt remains beneath the chapel of the order, which was otherwise mostly rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bombing. The notorious deception of the Cock Lane Ghost, in which Johnson took great interest, was perpetrated nearby, the Charterhouse, near the boundary with the City of London, was originally a Carthusian monastery. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Charterhouse became a mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school. The almhouse remains but the relocated to Surrey and its part of the site is now a campus of Barts and The London School of Medicine. As it was a suburb beyond the confines of the London Wall, Clerkenwell was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers, during the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeares Henry IV, Part 2, Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of the wildness of his youth, the Clerkenwell Bridewell, a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption. In the 17th century South Clerkenwell became a place of residence. Oliver Cromwell owned a house on Clerkenwell Close, just off the Green, several aristocrats had houses there, most notably the Duke of Northumberland, as did people such as Erasmus Smith
7.
Unite the Union
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Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union, formed on 1 May 2007, by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union. It is the largest trade union in the UK and Ireland, the General Secretary of Unite is Len McCluskey. Unite retains its identity in the United Kingdom. As part of the process, a Joint Executive Council took office on the vesting day. The rule book was accepted by a majority of members and will not be subject to amendment until a Rules Conference is held. The Unite special Rules Conference in 2010 agreed a rule change including a formula for how seats will be allocated on the UNITE Executive Council which takes office in 2011, there are a number of factions within Unite. Unite Now, A growing active movement established in 2011 which is moderate left It presents itself as an independent movement for lay members, activists, supported Len McCluskey in his first election but they opposed the calling of an early General secretary election in 2013. Unitenow campaigns for greater transparency in the union and are critical of the unions centralised hierarchical decision making structures and they campaign for greater financial transparency, a move away from the current centralised executive powers with a more independent Executive Council which has set term limits. Not aligned to any section of the union it has grown in influence within lay activist ranks, officers. It is widely accepted that they challenge the Unite General Secretary election due to be called in 2017. United Left, the main grouping, which includes supporters of the Labour Party. Supported Len McCluskey in his election, a private presentation given by Unites former joint general secretary Tony Woodley showed that membership of the union had stood at 1.44 million in 2007 but declined by 262,740 between 2007 and 2010. During 2012, despite wider falling trade union membership and the economic climate, Unite increased its membership by more than 50,000 members. Ron Singer, a retired GP of 30 years and Unite member, however, the union were heavily criticised and accused of scaremongering over similar comments. In February 2013, Unite was among other organisations and individuals who gave their support to the Peoples Assembly in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper, former leader Derek Simpson received a payment of over £500,000 when he left his post in 2010. There was a 2008 rooftop hunger strike at Unites Transport House building in Belfast, the participants were formerly shop stewards of the Transport and General Workers Union, now the T&G section of Unite the Union. This election was for a term until December 2010. The Executive council also postponed the adoption of the new rule book and this action was taken in light of the potential success of a legal challenge to Simpsons extension of tenure by a single member of the union
8.
St David's School, Middlesex
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St Davids School was an independent girls school in Ashford, England. The school was established in London in 1716 as the British Charity School or Welsh Charity School. It was at first a school, and then from 1758 co-educational. It changed its name to St Davids School in 1967, in the later 18th century it was also supported by the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, another London Welsh society. The school opened informally in 1716 in a house in Sheer Lane, London, in 1719 it moved into one of the buildings of Ailesbury Chapel, Clerkenwell, the former chapel of the medieval Clerkenwell Priory, but at this date in use as a Presbyterian meeting-house. The chapel was reconstructed as an Anglican parish church in 1721–3, the numbers of pupils fluctuated through this period, though there were at times up to 50 boys. In 1738 the school moved into a new home on Clerkenwell Green. The construction of building, designed by James Steer, was funded by subscriptions. The building survives, and is now the Marx Memorial Library, the first girls were admitted to the school in 1758. In 1768, a decision was taken to admit a number of residential pupils. Thomas Pennants British Zoology was published under the auspices of the Cymmrodorion Society, pennant in fact lost heavily on the publication, and so the school derived no direct benefit from it. Independently of this work, however, he did give the school a donation of £100, conditions at Clerkenwell Green became increasingly cramped, and in 1772 the school moved into a new building in Gray’s Inn Lane. The school now became predominantly residential, in 1857 the school moved out of London to a new site at Ashford, Middlesex. It began to have difficulty attracting charitable pupils, and in 1882 was reconstituted to admit a higher proportion of fee-paying pupils and it now became known as the Welsh Girls School. During World War II the school was evacuated to the Powis Castle estate in Montgomeryshire, in the post-war period its connections with Wales became more tenuous, and in 1967 the name was changed to St Davids School. The school closed in 2009 because of falling numbers caused by economic recession, in 2010, the Ashford buildings were taken over by St James Independent Schools and opened as St James Senior Boys School. London Welsh School Jones, Emrys, ed, rise and Progress, the story of the Welsh Girls’ School and of the Honourable and Loyal Society of Antient Britons
