1.
London
–
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.
Los Angeles
–
Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
Gloucestershire
–
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
4.
University of Lausanne
–
The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of theology, before being made a university in 1890. Today about 13,500 students and 2,200 researchers study, approximately 1,500 international students attend the university, which has a wide curriculum including exchange programs with world-renowned universities. Since 2005, the University follows the requirements of the Bologna process, the 2011 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked the University of Lausanne 116th globally. The CWTS Leiden Ranking 2015 ranks the University of Lausanne 11th in Europe and 41st globally, together with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne the university forms a vast campus at the shores of Lake Geneva. Its vocation at that time was to train ministers for the church, the university enjoyed a certain renown due to the fact that it was the only French language Protestant school of theology. As the centuries passed, the number of faculties increased and diversified until, in 1890, in 1909 Rodolphe Archibald Reiss founded the first school of forensic science in the world, the Institut de police scientifique. From 1970, the university moved progressively from the old centre of Lausanne, around the Cathedral and Château, in 2003 two new faculties were founded, concentrating on the life and human sciences, the Faculty of Biology and Medicine and the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment. On 1 January 2014, the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration was integrated into the University of Lausanne, the main campus is presently situated outside the city of Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Léman, in Dorigny. It is adjacent to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and is served by the Lausanne Metro Line 1, the two schools together welcome about 20,000 students. The UNIL and the EPFL share an active sports centre located on the campus, on the shores of Lake Geneva, the university campus is made up of individual buildings with a park and arboretum in between. The university library serves as eating hall and is centrally located. The view from the library across the fields to the lake of Geneva. On a clear day, Mont Blanc can be seen, the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law and the central administration of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics are also located on the main campus. In addition to its campus at the lakeside, the University of Lausanne also has other sites. The Faculty of Biology and Medicine is also located in two sites, around the University Hospital of Lausanne and in Épalinges. The Biopôle was built next to the Épalinges campus, the Faculty of Biology and Medicine also comprises a fourth site, the Psychiatric Hospital of Cery, in Prilly. The UNIL also publish Allez savoir, a magazine aimed at a larger audience, published three times a year and whose subscription is free. Besides these, Lauditoire is the newspapers from both UNIL and EPFL, of a circulation 19000 free copies
5.
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
–
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school in London, England. It is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, RADA is an affiliate school of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. Its higher education awards are validated by Kings College London and its students graduate alongside members of the departments which form the Kings Faculty of Arts & Humanities and it is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senate House complex of the University of London. Undergraduate students are eligible for government student loan through the Conservatoire for Dance, RADA also has a significant scholarships and bursaries scheme, offering financial assistance to many students at the Academy. The current director of the academy is Edward Kemp, the president is Sir Kenneth Branagh, the chairman is Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen and its vice-chairman was Alan Rickman until his death in 2016. RADA was founded in 1904 by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, an actor manager, in 1905, RADA moved to 52 Gower Street, and a managing council was set up to oversee the school. Its members included George Bernard Shaw, who donated his royalties from his play Pygmalion to RADA. In 1920, RADA was granted a Royal Charter, and in 1921, the Prince of Wales opened the theatre. The Gower Street buildings were torn down in 1927, and replaced with a new building, financed by George Bernard Shaw, in 1923, John Gielgud studied at RADA for a year. He later became President of the academy, and its first honorary fellow, a number of famous actors took on leading roles at RADA, such as Richard Attenborough, Oliver Neville, Nicholas Barter, and Alan Rickman. Other 1924 saw RADAs first government subsidy, a grant of £500, in 2001, RADA joined forces with the London Contemporary dance School to create the UKs first Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. The Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance joined this Conservatoire in 2005, in 2000 the Academy founded RADA Enterprises Ltd, which includes RADA in Business, providing training in communications and teambuilding that uses drama training techniques in a business context. The profits are fed back into the Academy to fund students training, RADA is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London. The main RADA building is on Gower Street, with a second premises nearby in Chenies Street, the Goodge Street and Euston Square underground stations are both within walking distance. RADA has five theatres and a cinema, there is also a 150-seat cinema. In January 2012, RADA acquired the lease to the adjacent Drill Hall venue in Chenies Street, the Drill Hall is a Grade II listed building with a long performing arts history, and was where Nijinsky rehearsed with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in 1911. This venue has a 200-seat space, the Studio Theatre, and a 50-seat space, the RADA library contains around 30,000 items. The collection was started in 1904 with donations from actors and writers of the such as Sir Squire Bancroft, William Archer, Arthur Wing Pinero
6.
Broadway theatre
–
Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
7.
Arthur Sullivan
–
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. The best known of his hymns and songs include Onward Christian Soldiers, the son of a military bandmaster, Sullivan composed his first anthem at age eight. He was selected as soloist in the choir of the Chapel Royal. His graduation piece was a suite of music to Shakespeares The Tempest. When it was performed in London in 1862, it was an immediate sensation, Sullivan began his composing career with a series of ambitious works, interspersed with hymns, parlour ballads and other light pieces. Among his best received early pieces were a ballet, LÎle Enchantée, from 1861 to 1872, he supplemented his income by working as a church organist and music teacher, and writing hymns and songs. In 1866, Sullivan composed a comic opera, Cox and Box. His most successful work, the Overture di Ballo, premiered in 1870. Sullivans talent and native charm earned him friends in musical and social circles, including Queen Victorias son Alfred. In 1871, Sullivan wrote his first opera with W. S. Gilbert, Sullivan then produced his Festival Te Deum, an oratorio, The Light of the World, and incidental music for West End productions of several Shakespeare plays. He also had conducting and academic appointments, in 1875, producer Richard DOyly Carte reunited Gilbert and Sullivan to create a one-act piece, Trial by Jury, which was a surprise hit. Pinafore became a sensation, as did The Pirates of Penzance and Patience. Sullivan never married but had a love affair with an American socialite. After the death of his brother Fred in 1877, Sullivan supported Freds large family financially for the rest of his life, effectively adopting his nephew Bertie. Carte used his profits from the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership to build the Savoy Theatre in 1881, later hits in the series were Iolanthe, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers. Sullivan was knighted for his contributions to music in 1883 and his infrequent serious pieces during the 1880s included two cantatas, The Martyr of Antioch and The Golden Legend, his most popular choral work. Sullivans only serious opera, Ivanhoe, though successful in 1891, was little-heard after that
8.
Boston University
–
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university has more than 3,900 faculty members and nearly 33,000 students and it offers bachelors degrees, masters degrees, and doctorates, and medical, dental, business, and law degrees through 17 schools and colleges on two urban campuses. The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Bostons Fenway-Kenmore and Allston neighborhoods, BU is categorized as an R1, Doctoral University in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. BU is a member of the Boston Consortium for Higher Education, the University was ranked 39th among undergraduate programs at national universities, and 32nd among global universities by U. S. News & World Report in its 2017 rankings. In 1876, BU professor Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in a BU lab, American Civil Rights Movement leader and 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received his PhD in Theology from BU in 1955. The Boston University Terriers compete in the NCAAs Division I, BU athletic teams compete in the Patriot League, and Hockey East conferences, and their mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. Boston University is well known for hockey, in which it has won five national championships. The University organized formal Centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969, on April 24–25,1839 a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in Newbury, Vermont, the school was named the Newbury Biblical Institute, in 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire, invited the Institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs, one stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the Methodist General Biblical Institute, with the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the Trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased 30 acres on Aspinwall Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a possible relocation site. The institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkney Street in Boston, in 1869, three Trustees of the Boston Theological Institute obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by name of Boston University. These three were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises and they were Isaac Rich, Lee Claflin, and Jacob Sleeper, for whom Boston Universitys three West Campus dormitories are named. Lee Claflins son, William, was then Governor of Massachusetts, on account of the religious opinions he may entertain, provided, nonetheless, that this section shall not apply to the theological department of said University. Every department of the new university was open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex, race. The Boston Theological Institute was absorbed into Boston University in 1871 as the BU School of Theology, in January 1872 Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the University was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston and was appraised at more than $1.5 million, Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university to that time
9.
Camelot (musical)
–
Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White novel The Once, the original cast album was Americas top-selling LP for 60 weeks. The musical has become associated with the Kennedy Administration, which is referred to as the Camelot era. In 1959, Alan Jay Lerner and Moss Hart decided to adapt T. H. Whites The Once, after the tremendous success of My Fair Lady, expectations were high for a new Lerner and Loewe musical. However, the shows production met several obstacles, Lerners wife left him during the writing process, causing him to seek medical attention and delaying the production. When Camelot began rehearsals, it still needed considerable work, however, the producers were able to secure a strong cast, including Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, and Roddy McDowall, as well as Robert Goulet in his first Broadway role. John Cullum also made his Broadway debut as Sir Dinadan, Bruce Yarnell was Sir Lionel, Cullum later replaced McDowall, and William Squire replaced Burton. Other replacements included Patricia Bredin, Kathryn Grayson and Janet Pavek for Andrews, the show premiered in Toronto, at the OKeefe Centre on October 1,1960. It overran drastically – it was supposed to last two hours forty minutes, and instead clocked in at four and a half hours. The curtain came down at twenty to one in the morning, Lerner later noted that Only Tristan, noël Coward was supposed to have remarked that the show was longer than the Götterdämmerung. and not nearly as funny. In spite of this, the morning papers gave generally positive reviews, soon afterwards, Lerner was hospitalised for three weeks with a bleeding ulcer. Soon after he was discharged, Hart suffered his heart attack. Camelot then moved to Boston, edited, but still running well over the intended length, the production team tried to find another director, even phoning Jose Ferrer, who could not undertake the job. Lerner and Loewe disagreed on how to proceed with the show, Lerner wrote, God knows what would have happened had it not been for Richard Burton. Accepting cuts and changes, he radiated a faith and geniality, after the show opened on Broadway, Hart was released from the hospital, and he and Lerner began cutting the play even further. Two songs, Then You May Take Me To the Fair, the New York critics reviews of the original production were mixed. Fortunately for the show, Ed Sullivan approached Lerner and Loewe to create a segment for his variety program. They decided to do very little from their previous hit and instead to perform four highlights from Camelot, the show stimulated ticket sales, and Camelot achieved an unprecedented advance sale of three and a half million dollars
10.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
11.
Oliver!
–
Oliver. is an English musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and it premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway, tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. It was made into a film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98, 2008–11 and on tour in the UK from 2011-13, a prominent musical in British popular culture, Oliver. Received thousands of performances in British schools, particularly in the 1970s, in 1963 Lionel Bart received the Tony Award for Best Original Score. Many songs are known to the public. Oliver. was the first musical adaptation of a famous Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit, there had been two previous Dickens musicals in the 1950s, both of them television adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The musical opens in the workhouse, as the orphan boys are entering the enormous dining room for dinner. They are fed only gruel, but find some solace by imagining a richer menu, Oliver gathers up the courage to ask for more. He is immediately apprehended and is told to gather his belongings by Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney, Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney are left alone, and Mr. Bumble begins to make amorous advances. Mrs. Corney pretends to resent his attentions, but ends up on Mr. Bumbles lap, Mr. Bumble then takes Oliver and sells him as an apprentice to an undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. He and his wife taunt Oliver and Mr. Bumble, causing Mr. Bumble to become angry, Oliver is sent to sleep in the basement with the coffins. The next morning Noah Claypole, another employee of Sowerberry, insults Olivers dead mother, Mrs. Sowerberry and her maid, Charlotte, also Noahs girlfriend, run in, and Mr. Bumble is sent for. He and the Sowerberrys lock Oliver in a coffin, but during all the commotion Oliver escapes, after a week on the run, he ends up in the city of London and meets a boy about his age known as the Artful Dodger. Dodger seems a kindly boy, and invites Oliver to join him, Dodger is, unknown to Oliver, a boy pickpocket, and he invites Oliver to come and live in Fagins lair. Fagin is a criminal, now too old to thieve himself. Oliver is completely unaware of any criminality, and believes that the boys make handkerchiefs rather than steal them, Oliver is introduced to Fagin and his boys, and is taught their ways. The next day, Oliver meets Nancy, a member of Fagins gang, and the live-in wife of Fagins terrifying associate Bill Sikes
12.
My Fair Lady
–
My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, the original Broadway, London and film versions all starred Rex Harrison. The musicals 1956 Broadway production was a critical and popular success. It set a record for the longest run of any show on Broadway up to that time and it was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. My Fair Lady has frequently called the perfect musical. Act I On a rainy night in Edwardian London, opera patrons are waiting under the arches of Covent Garden for cabs, Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, runs into a young man called Freddy. She admonishes him for spilling her bunches of violets in the mud and she then flies into an angry outburst when a man copying down her speech is pointed out to her. The man explains that he studies phonetics and can identify anyones origin by their accent and he laments Elizas dreadful speech, asking why so many English people dont speak properly and explaining his theory that this is what truly separates social classes, rather than looks or money. He declares that in six months he could turn Eliza into a lady by teaching her to speak properly, the older gentleman introduces himself as Colonel Pickering, a linguist who has studied Indian dialects. The phoneticist introduces himself as Henry Higgins, and, as both have always wanted to meet each other, Higgins invites Pickering to stay at his home in London. He distractedly throws his change into Elizas basket, and she and her friends wonder what it would be like to live a comfortable, Elizas father, Alfred P. Doolittle, and his drinking companions, Harry and Jamie, all dustmen, stop by the next morning. He is searching for money for a drink, and Eliza shares her profits with him, Pickering and Higgins are discussing vowels at Higginss home when Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper, informs Higgins that a young woman with a ghastly accent has come to see him. It is Eliza, who has come to take speech lessons so she can get a job as an assistant in a florists shop, Pickering wagers that Higgins cannot make good on his claim and volunteers to pay for Elizas lessons. An intensive makeover of Elizas speech, manners and dress begins in preparation for her appearance at the Embassy Ball, Higgins sees himself as a kindhearted, patient man who cannot get along with women. To others he appears self-absorbed and misogynistic, Alfred Doolittle is informed that his daughter has been taken in by Professor Higgins, and considers that he might be able to make a little money from the situation. Doolittle arrives at Higginss house the morning, claiming that Higgins is compromising Elizas virtue. Higgins is impressed by the natural gift for language and brazen lack of moral values. He and Doolittle agree that Eliza can continue to take lessons, Higgins flippantly recommends Doolittle to an American millionaire who has written to Higgins seeking a lecturer on moral values
