1.
Senate House, London
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The building is now part of the campus of SOAS - a world-renowned college of the wider University of London. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase of an uncompleted scheme designed for the University by Charles Holden. It consists of 19 floors and is 210 feet high, during the Second World War, the buildings use by the Ministry of Information inspired two noted English writers. Graham Greenes novel The Ministry of Fear and its film adaptation Ministry of Fear by Fritz Lang set in Bloomsbury. After the First World War the University of London, then based at the Imperial Institute in Kensington was in urgent need of new office and teaching space to allow for its growth and expansion. In 1921, the government bought 11 acres of land in Bloomsbury from the Duke of Bedford to provide a new site for the University, however, many within the university were opposed to a move, and, in 1926, the Duke bought back the land. The election of William Beveridge however to the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University in June 1926 was highly significant as Beveridge supported a move to Bloomsbury, Beveridge persuaded the Rockefeller Foundation to donate £400,000 to the University and the original site was reacquired in 1927. Beveridge saw the university as one for the nation and the world, drawing from overseas as many students as Oxford and Cambridge and all the other English universities together. And specified that the symbol of the University on the Bloomsbury site can not fittingly look like an imitation of any other University. It should be something that could not have built by any earlier generation than this. Means a chance to enrich London – to give London at its heart not just more streets, an academic island in swirling tides of traffic, a world of learning in a world of affairs. Holdens original plan for the university building was for a single covering the whole site. It comprised a central spine linked by a series of wings to the perimeter façade, the scheme was to be topped by two towers, the taller Senate House and a smaller one to the north. The design featured elevations of load-bearing brick work faced with Portland stone, construction began in 1932 and was undertaken by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. King George V laid the foundation stone on 26 June 1933 and the first staff moved in during 1936. On 28 November 1936, a group of University officials, led by the Principal, Sir Edwin Deller, suddenly, without warning, a skip being pushed by a workman overhead accidentally fell down and hit them. All were rushed to University College Hospital, where two days later, Deller died of his injuries, as he had with his earlier buildings, Holden also prepared the designs for the individual elements of the interior design. The completion of the buildings for the Institute of Education and the School of Oriental Studies followed, the architectural character and scale of the building has received both positive and negative criticism since its construction
2.
World War II
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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
3.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
4.
University of London
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The University of London is a collegiate research university located in London, England, consisting of 18 constituent colleges, nine research institutes and a number of central bodies. The university moved to a structure in 1900. The specialist colleges of the university include the London Business School, Imperial College London was formerly a member before leaving the university in 2007. City is the most recent constituent college, having joined on 1 September 2016, in post-nominals, the University of London is commonly abbreviated as Lond. or, more rarely, Londin. From the Latin Universitas Londiniensis, after its degree abbreviations, University College London was founded under the name London University in 1826 as a secular alternative to the religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In response to the controversy surrounding such educational establishment, Kings College London was founded and was the first to be granted a royal charter. Yet to receive a charter, UCL in 1834 renewed its application for a royal charter as a university. In response to this, opposition to exclusive rights grew among the London medical schools, the idea of a general degree awarding body for the schools was discussed in the medical press. And in evidence taken by the Select Committee on Medical Education, in 1835, the government announced the response to UCLs petition for a charter. Following the issuing of its charter on 28 November 1836, the university started drawing up regulations for degrees in March 1837. The death of William IV in June, however, resulted in a problem – the charter had been granted during our Royal will and pleasure, queen Victoria issued a second charter on 5 December 1837, reincorporating the university. The university awarded its first degrees in 1839, all to students from UCL, the university established by the charters of 1836 and 1837 was essentially an examining board with the right to award degrees in arts, laws and medicine. However, the university did not have the authority to grant degrees in theology, in medicine, the university was given the right to determine which medical schools provided sufficient medical training. Beyond the right to students for examination, there was no other connection between the affiliated colleges and the university. In 1849 the university held its first graduation ceremony at Somerset House following a petition to the senate from the graduates, about 250 students graduated at this ceremony. The London academic robes of this period were distinguished by their rich velvet facings, the list of affiliated colleges grew by 1858 to include over 50 institutions, including all other British universities. In that year, a new charter effectively abolished the affiliated colleges system by opening up the examinations to everyone whether they attended a college or not. The expanded role meant the university needed more space, particularly with the number of students at the provincial university colleges
5.
Propaganda
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Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view. Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by governments, but activist groups, in the 2010s, the term propaganda is associated with a manipulative approach, but propaganda historically was a neutral descriptive term. Propaganda is a modern Latin word, the form of propagare, meaning to spread or to propagate. Originally this word derived from a new body of the Catholic church created in 1622, called the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide. Its activity was aimed at propagating the Catholic faith in non-Catholic countries, from the 1790s, the term began being used also to refer to propaganda in secular activities. The term began taking a pejorative or negative connotation in the mid-19th century, primitive forms of propaganda have been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The Behistun Inscription detailing the rise of Darius I to the Persian throne is viewed by most historians as an example of propaganda. During the era of the American Revolution, the American colonies had a network of newspapers and printers who specialized in the topic on behalf of the Patriots. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era, propaganda was widely used, abolitionists in Britain and the United States in the 19th century developed large, complex propaganda campaigns against slavery. The first large-scale and organised propagation of government propaganda was occasioned by the outbreak of war in 1914, after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, military officials such as Erich Ludendorff suggested that British propaganda had been instrumental in their defeat. Adolf Hitler came to echo this view, believing that it had been a cause of the collapse of morale. Later, the Nazis adapted many British propaganda techniques during their time in power, most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry, the 1930s and 1940s, which saw the rise of totalitarian states and the Second World War, are arguably the Golden Age of Propaganda. Leni Riefenstahl, a filmmaker working in Nazi Germany, created one of the propaganda movies. US war films in the early 1940s in the United States were designed to create a patriotic mindset, the West and the Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold War. Both sides used film, television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens, each other, george Orwells novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda. During the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro stressed the importance of propaganda, Propaganda was used extensively by Communist forces in the Vietnam War as means of controlling peoples opinions. During the Yugoslav wars, propaganda was used as a strategy by governments of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia
6.
Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)
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The Ministry of Information, headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of the First World War and again during the Second World War. Located in Senate House at the University of London during the 1940s, it was the government department responsible for publicity. In the Great War, several different agencies had been responsible for propaganda, except for a period when there had been a Department of Information. The Ministry’s function was ‘To promote the case to the public at home and abroad in time of war’ by issuing ‘National Propaganda’ and controlling news. It was initially responsible for censorship, issuing official news, home publicity and overseas publicity in Allied and these functions were matched by a responsibility for monitoring public opinion through a network of Regional Information Offices. Responsibility for publicity in enemy territories was organized by Department EH, secret planning for a Ministry of Information had started in October 1935 under the auspices of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Draft proposals were accepted on 27 July 1936 and Sir Stephen Tallents was appointed as Director General Designate, Tallents drew together a small group of planners from existing government departments, public bodies and specialist outside organizations. The MOI’s planners sought to experience gained during the First World War with new communications technology. Their work reflected a concern that a future war would exert huge strain on the civilian population. The shadow Ministry of Information came into being briefly between 26 September-3 October 1938 after the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland heightened international tensions, the seventy one officials who were assembled in temporary accommodation had responsibility for censoring press reports surrounding the Munich Agreement. The week-long experiment was not regarded as a success, instead it highlighted the extent to which questions over appointments, accommodation, links to the media and the relationship with other government departments had been left unresolved. The confusion had been made worse by tensions between the shadow MOI and the Foreign Office News Department and this tension spilled over into the Committee for Imperial Defence which considered proposals to abandon plans for the Ministry of Information. Tallents left his post as Director General Designate on 2 January 1939, planning efforts would increase again after Nazi troops moved into Prague on 15 March 1939. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain publicly announced his government’s intentions for the MOI in a speech on 15 June 1939. Home Office officials were given until 31 December 1939 to complete their plans. The Ministry of Information was formed on 4 September 1939, the day after Britains declaration of war, the MOI’s headquarters were housed within the University of Londons Senate House and would remain in place until the end of the war. The MOI was initially organized in four groups, a ‘Press Relations’ group was responsible for both the issue of news and censorship. A ‘Publicity Users’ group was responsible for propaganda policy, a ‘Publicity Producers’ group was responsible for design and production
7.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
8.
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
9.
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
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The young Max Aitken had a gift for making money and was a millionaire by 30. His business ambitions quickly exceeded opportunities in Canada and he moved to Britain, There he befriended Andrew Bonar Law and with his support won a seat in the House of Commons at the general election held in December 1910. During World War I, he ran the Canadian Records office in London, the resulting Tory-led coalition government, rewarded Aitken with a peerage and, briefly, a Cabinet post as Minister of Information. Post-war, the now Lord Beaverbrook concentrated on his business interests, Beaverbrook supported appeasement throughout the 1930s but was persuaded by another long standing political friend, Winston Churchill, to serve as Minister of Aircraft Production in 1940. After numerous clashes with other Cabinet members he resigned in 1941, Beaverbrook spent his later life running his newspapers, which by then included the London Evening Standard and the Sunday Express. He served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick and developed a reputation as a historian with his books on political, the following year, the family moved to Newcastle, New Brunswick which Aitken considered to be his hometown. It was here, at the age of 13, that he set up a school newspaper, whilst at school, he delivered newspapers, sold newspaper subscriptions and was the local correspondent for the St. John Daily Star. Aitken took the examinations for Dalhousie University, but because he had refused to sit the Greek. He registered at the Kings College Law School, but left after a short while and this was to be his only formal higher education. Aitken worked in a shop then borrowed money to move to Chatham, New Brunswick where he worked as a local correspondent for the Montreal Star, sold life insurance. Aitken attempted to train as a lawyer and worked for a time in the law office of Richard Bedford Bennett. Aitken managed Bennetts successful campaign for a place on Chatham Town Council, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a meat business, Aitken returned to Saint John and to selling insurance. In 1900, Aitken made his way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where John F. Stairs, in 1904, when Stairs launched the Royal Securities Corporation, Aitken became a minority shareholder and the firms general manager. Under the tutelage of Stairs, who would be his mentor and friend, Stairs unexpected early death in late September 1904 led to Aitken acquiring control of the company and moving to Montreal. There he bought and sold companies, invested in stocks and shares and he started a weekly magazine, the Canadian Century in 1910, invested in the Montreal Herald and almost acquired the Montreal Gazette. In 1907 he founded the Montreal Engineering Company, Canada was booming economically at the time and Aitken had a monopoly on the material. Aitken sold his shares, making a large amount of money, in 1910 Aitken moved to Britain and he became friends with Andrew Bonar Law, another native of New Brunswick and the only Canadian to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The two men had a lot in common—they were both sons of the manse from Scottish-Canadian families and both were successful businessmen, Aitken persuaded Bonar Law to support him in standing for the Unionist Party in the December 1910 general election at Ashton-under-Lyne
10.
David Lloyd George
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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government, during and he was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers. He made an impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader. Furthermore, in foreign affairs he played a role in winning the First World War, redrawing the map of Europe at the peace conference. His main political problem was that he was not loyal to his Liberal party—he was always a political maverick, while he was Prime Minister he favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal party as a hopeless minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He gave weak support to the Second World War amidst fears that he was favourable toward Germany, Lloyd George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, to Welsh parents, and was brought up as a Welsh-speaker. He is so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and his father, William George, had been a teacher in both London and Liverpool. He also taught in the Hope Street Sunday Schools, which were administered by the Unitarians, in March of the same year, on account of his failing health, William George returned with his family to his native Pembrokeshire. He took up farming but died in June 1864 of pneumonia, Lloyd George was educated at the local Anglican school Llanystumdwy National School and later under tutors. He added his uncles surname to become Lloyd George and his surname is usually given as Lloyd George and sometimes as George. The influence of his childhood showed through in his entire career, brought up a devout evangelical, as a young man he suddenly lost his religious faith. Biographer Don Cregier says he became a Deist and perhaps an agnostic, though he remained a chapel-goer and he kept quiet about that, however, and was hailed as one of the foremost fighting leaders of a fanatical Welsh Nonconformity. It was also during this period of his life that Lloyd George first became interested in the issue of land ownership, by the age of twenty-one, he had already read and taken notes on Henry Georges Progress and Poverty. This strongly influenced Lloyd Georges politics later in life through the Peoples Budget which heavily drew on the georgist tax reform ideas, the practice flourished, and he established branch offices in surrounding towns, taking his brother William into partnership in 1887. Although many Prime Ministers have been barristers, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office, by then he was politically active, having campaigned for the Liberal Party in the 1885 election, attracted by Joseph Chamberlains unauthorised programme of reforms. The election resulted firstly in a stalemate with neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives having a majority, William Gladstones proposal to bring about Irish Home Rule split the party, with Chamberlain eventually leading the breakaway Liberal Unionists
11.
Lloyd George ministry
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The Lloyd George ministry, was a coalition government led by Liberal David Lloyd George, which came to power in the United Kingdom in December 1916. It replaced the wartime coalition under H. H. Asquith. Those Liberals who continued to support Asquith served as the Official Opposition, the government continued in power after the end of the war in 1918, though Lloyd George was increasingly reliant on the Conservatives for support. After several scandals including allegations of the sale of honours, the Conservatives withdrew their support after a meeting at the Carlton Club in 1922, and Andrew Bonar Law formed a government. Historian George H. Cassar has evaluated Lloyd Georges record as a war leader, After all that has been said and done, on the home front he achieved varied results in tackling difficult, and in some instances, unprecedented problems. In the vital area of national morale, while he did not have the advantages of Churchill. To sum up, while Lord Georges contributions outweighed his mistakes, january 1918 – Carson resigns and is not replaced April 1918 – Austen Chamberlain succeeds Lord Milner as Minister without Portfolio. January 1919 – Law becomes Lord Privy Seal, remaining Leader of the House of Commons, smuts is succeeded by Sir Eric Geddes as Minister without Portfolio. The War Cabinet was formally maintained for much of 1919, in October 1919 a formal Cabinet was reinstated. Sir Eric Geddes becomes Minister of Transport, October 1919 – Lord Curzon of Kedleston succeeds Balfour as Foreign Secretary. Balfour succeeds Curzon as Lord President, the Local Government Board is abolished. Christopher Addison becomes Minister of Health, the Board of Agriculture is abolished. Lord Lee of Fareham becomes Minister of Agriculture, Sir Eric Geddes becomes Minister of Transport. January 1920 – George Barnes leaves the cabinet, march 1920 – Sir Robert Horne succeeds Sir Auckland Geddes as President of the Board of Trade. Thomas James McNamara succeeds Horne as Minister of Labour, April 1920 – Sir Hamar Greenwood succeeds Ian Macpherson as Chief Secretary for Ireland. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans joins the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio, february 1921 – Winston Churchill succeeds Lord Milner as Colonial Secretary. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans succeeds Churchill as War Secretary, Lord Lee of Fareham succeeds Walter Long at the Admiralty. Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen succeeds Lee as Minister of Agriculture, march 1921 – Austen Chamberlain succeeds Bonar Law as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Commons
12.
William Hayes Fisher, 1st Baron Downham
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William Hayes Fisher, 1st Baron Downham PC, KStJ, was a British Conservative Party politician. He held office as President of the Local Government Board and Minister of Information in David Lloyd Georges First World War coalition government. Born at Downham, in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Fisher was the son of Reverend Frederick Fisher, rector of that parish and he was educated at Haileybury and University College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1879. Fisher was elected to the House of Commons for Fulham in 1885 and he was private secretary Sir Michael Hicks Beach between 1886 and 1887 and to Arthur Balfour between 1887 and 1892. He lost his Fulham seat at the 1906 general election but successfully reclaimed it at the January 1910 general election, the following year he was sworn of the Privy Council. Fisher returned to the government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board in May 1915 in the newly formed government led by H. H. Asquith. He retained this post also when David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in December 1916, but in June 1917 he was promoted to President of the Local Government Board with a seat in the cabinet. In November 1918 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Information, however, he stepped down from the government already in January 1919. Apart from his career in politics, Fisher was an Alderman of the London County Council between 1907 and 1913 and its Chairman in 1919. Lord Downham married Florence, daughter of H. Fisher, in 1895 and he died at Buckingham Palace Garden, London, in July 1920, when the barony became extinct. Lady Downham died in August 1923, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by William Fisher
13.
Keep Calm and Carry On
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Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public and it has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products. It was thought that two original copies survived until a collection of approximately 15 was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member. The Keep Calm and Carry On poster was designed by the Ministry of Information during the period of 27 June to 6 July 1939 and it was produced as part of a series of three Home Publicity posters. Each poster showed the slogan under a representation of a Tudor Crown, a career civil servant named A. P. Waterfield came up with Your Courage as a rallying war-cry that will bring out the best in everyone of us and put us in an offensive mood at once. Roughs of the poster were completed on 6 July 1939, printing began on 23 August 1939, the day that Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and the posters were ready to be placed up within 24 hours of the outbreak of war. Almost 2,500,000 copies of Keep Calm and Carry On were printed between 23 August 1939 and 3 September 1939 but the poster was not sanctioned for public display. It was instead decided that copies of the poster should remain in storage for use after serious air raids. Copies of Keep Calm and Carry On were retained until April 1940, an October 1940 edition of the Yorkshire Post records the poster being hung in a shop in Leeds. The remainder of the Ministry of Information publicity campaign was cancelled in October 1939 following criticism of its cost, many people claimed not to have seen the posters, while those who did see them regarded them as patronising and divisive. Design historian Susannah Walker regards the campaign as a resounding failure, the typeface is often assumed to be Gill Sans, which is very close though not exact. The lettering was likely drawn by a now-unknown designer. In late May and early June 1941,14,000,000 copies of a leaflet entitled Beating the Invader were distributed with a message from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and exhorts the populace to Stand Firm and Carry On. Each mandate is identified as an order and duty should invasion come. The leaflet then lists 14 questions and answers on practical measures to be taken, the couple framed it and hung it up by the cash register, it attracted so much interest that Manley began to produce and sell copies. Other companies followed suit, and the design began to be used as the theme for a wide range of products. Mary Manley later commented, I didnt want it trivialised, and she goes on to point out, however, that such an interpretation overlooks the circumstances of its production, and the relative failure of the campaign of which it formed a part. After failing to obtain registration of the slogan as a trademark in the United Kingdom and they issued a take-down request against a seller of Keep Calm and Carry On products
14.
Special Operations Executive
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The Special Operations Executive was a British World War II organisation. Few people were aware of SOEs existence, to those who were part of it or liaised with it, it was sometimes referred to as the Baker Street Irregulars, after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as Churchills Secret Army or the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, SOE operated in all countries or former countries occupied by or attacked by the Axis forces, except where demarcation lines were agreed with Britains principal Allies. It also made use of territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people, after the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. A memorial to SOEs agents was unveiled on the Albert Embankment by Lambeth Palace in London in October 2009, the organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, the Foreign Office created an organisation known as Department EH. In the autumn of the year, the War Office expanded an existing research department known as GS. GS was renamed MI in early 1939 and these three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities and Section D and EH duplicated much of each others work, on the other hand, the heads of Section D and MI knew each other and shared information. They agreed a rough division of their activities, MI researched irregular operations which could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, during the early months of the war, Section D was based first at St Ermins Hotel in Westminster and then the Metropole Hotel near Trafalgar Square. The Section attempted unsuccessfully to sabotage deliveries of vital materials to Germany from neutral countries by mining the Iron Gate on the River Danube. MI meanwhile produced pamphlets and technical handbooks for guerrilla leaders, on 13 June 1940, at the instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Lord Hankey persuaded Section D and MI that their operations should be coordinated. On 1 July, a Cabinet level meeting arranged the formation of a single sabotage organisation, on 16 July, Hugh Dalton, the Minister of Economic Warfare, was appointed to take political responsibility for the new organisation. As Dalton was leaving Churchills study after being given his new task, the new organisation was formally created on 22 July. Dalton used the Irish Republican Army during the Irish war of Independence as a model for the organisation, Campbell Stuart left the organisation, and the flamboyant Major Grand was returned to the regular army. At his own request, Major Holland also left to take up an appointment in the Royal Engineers. However, Hollands former deputy at MI, Brigadier Colin Gubbins, one department of MI, MI R, which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed MD1
15.
Nazism
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National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and Nazi Germany, as well as other far-right groups. Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying Germans as part of what Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race and it aimed to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous society, unified on the basis of racial purity. The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, the Nazi Partys precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organisation, following the Holocaust and German defeat in World War II, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism. The full name of Adolf Hitlers party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the shorthand Nazi was formed from the first two syllables of the German pronunciation of the word national. The term was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a peasant, characterizing an awkward. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the first word of the name, Nationalsozialistische. The NSDAP briefly adopted the Nazi designation, attempting to reappropriate the term, the use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, and so on was popularised by German exiles abroad. From them, the spread into other languages and was eventually brought back to Germany after World War II. In English, Nazism is a name for the ideology the party advocated. The majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics, far-right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms, a major inspiration for the Nazis were the far-right nationalist Freikorps, paramilitary organisations that engaged in political violence after World War I. The Nazis stated the alliance was purely tactical and there remained substantial differences with the DNVP, the Nazis described the DNVP as a bourgeois party and called themselves an anti-bourgeois party. After the elections in 1932, the alliance broke after the DNVP lost many of its seats in the Reichstag, the Nazis denounced them as an insignificant heap of reactionaries. The DNVP responded by denouncing the Nazis for their socialism, their violence. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured to abdicate the throne and flee into exile amidst an attempted communist revolution in Germany, there were factions in the Nazi Party, both conservative and radical
16.
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
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German leader Adolf Hitlers pretext for this action was the alleged privations suffered by the ethnic German population living in those regions. New and extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications were located in the same area. Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany, in March 1938, the incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany that begun on 1 October 1938 left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak, and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation. On 15 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia and, from Prague Castle, the occupation ended with the surrender of Germany following World War II. Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein offered the Sudeten German Party as the agent for Hitlers campaign, Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938, where he was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government led by president Edvard Beneš. On 24 April, the SdP issued the Karlsbader Programm, demanding autonomy for the Sudetenland, if Henleins demands were granted, the Sudetenland would then be able to align itself with Nazi Germany. I am asking neither that Germany be allowed to oppress three and a half million Frenchmen, nor am I asking that three and a half million Englishmen be placed at our mercy. Rather I am simply demanding that the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia cease and that the right to self-determination take its place. As the tepid reaction to the German Anschluss with Austria had shown, the governments of France, the French government did not wish to face Germany alone and took its lead from the British government and its prime minister, Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain contended that Sudeten German grievances were justified and believed that Hitlers intentions were limited, Britain and France, therefore, advised Czechoslovakia to concede to the German demands. Beneš resisted, and on 20 May 1938 a partial mobilization was under way in response to possible German invasion, ten days later, Hitler signed a secret directive for war against Czechoslovakia to begin no later than 1 October. In the meantime, the British government demanded that Beneš request a mediator, not wishing to sever his governments ties with Western Europe, Beneš reluctantly accepted. The British appointed Lord Runciman and instructed him to persuade Beneš to agree to a plan acceptable to the Sudeten Germans, on 2 September, Beneš submitted the Fourth Plan, granting nearly all the demands of the Karlsbader Programm. Intent on obstructing conciliation, however, the SdP held demonstrations that provoked police action in Ostrava on 7 September, the Sudeten Germans broke off negotiations on 13 September, after which violence and disruption ensued. As Czechoslovak troops attempted to order, Henlein flew to Germany. On the same day, Hitler met with Chamberlain and demanded the swift takeover of the Sudetenland by the Third Reich under threat of war, the Czechs, Hitler claimed, were slaughtering the Sudeten Germans. Chamberlain referred the demand to the British and French governments, both accepted, the Czechoslovak government resisted, arguing that Hitlers proposal would ruin the nations economy and lead ultimately to German control of all of Czechoslovakia. The United Kingdom and France issued an ultimatum, making a French commitment to Czechoslovakia contingent upon acceptance, the next day, however, Hitler added new demands, insisting that the claims of Poland and Hungary also be satisfied
17.
Munich Agreement
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The agreement was signed in the early hours of 30 September 1938 after being negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe, excluding the Soviet Union. Today, it is regarded as a failed act of appeasement toward Germany. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of the Sudetenland in the face of demands made by Adolf Hitler. The agreement was signed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sudetenland was of immense strategic importance to Czechoslovakia, as most of its border defenses, and banks were situated there, as well as heavy industrial districts. Part of the borderland was invaded and annexed by Poland, the phrase Munich Betrayal is also used because the military alliance Czechoslovakia had with France and Britain proved useless and also known because of the phrase About us, without us. This phrase is most hurtful for people of Czechoslovakia, Today the document is typically referred to simply as the Munich Pact. In Germany the Sudeten crisis led to the so-called Oster Conspiracy, from 1918 to 1938, after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than 3 million ethnic Germans were living in the Czech part of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein founded the Sudeten German Party that served as the branch of the Nazi Party for the Sudetenland. By 1935, the SdP was the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia as German votes concentrated on this party while Czech, on 24 April, the SdP issued a series of demands upon the government of Czechoslovakia, that were known as the Carlsbad Program. Among the demands, Henlein demanded autonomy for Germans living in Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovakian government responded by saying that it was willing to provide more minority rights to the German minority but it refused to grant them autonomy. As the previous appeasement of Hitler had shown, the governments of both France and Britain were intent on avoiding war, the French government did not wish to face Germany alone and took its lead from the British government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain considered the Sudeten German grievances justified and believed Hitlers intentions were limited, both Britain and France, therefore, advised Czechoslovakia to concede to Germanys demands. Beneš resisted and on 19 May initiated a partial mobilization in response to possible German invasion, while recognizing that this would still be insufficient for a full-scale naval war with Britain, Hitler hoped it would be a sufficient deterrent. Ten days later, Hitler signed a directive for war against Czechoslovakia. On 22 May, Juliusz Łukasiewicz, the Polish ambassador to France, told the French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet that if France moved against Germany in defense of Czechoslovakia, Łukasiewicz also told Bonnet that Poland would oppose any attempt by Soviet forces to defend Czechoslovakia from Germany. Daladier told Jakob Surits, the Soviet ambassador to France, Not only can we not count on Polish support but we have no faith that Poland will not strike us in the back. Hitlers adjutant, Fritz Wiedemann, recalled after the war that he was shocked by Hitlers new plans to attack Britain. In the meantime, the British government demanded that Beneš request a mediator, Not wishing to sever his governments ties with Western Europe, Beneš reluctantly accepted
18.
Home Office
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The Home Office is a ministerial department of the Her Majestys Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for immigration, security and law and order. As such it is responsible for the police, fire and rescue services, visas and immigration and it is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs, counter-terrorism and ID cards. It was formerly responsible for Her Majestys Prison Service and the National Probation Service, the Cabinet minister responsible for the department is the Home Secretary. The Home Office continues to be known, especially in official papers, the Home Office is headed by the Home Secretary, a Cabinet minister supported by the departments senior civil servant, the Permanent Secretary. The plan said the department will,1, simplify national institutional structures and establish a National Crime Agency to strengthen the fight against organised crime 3. Create a more integrated criminal justice system Help the police and other public services work together across the criminal justice system 4, secure our borders and reduce immigration Deliver an improved migration system that commands public confidence and serves our economic interests. Limit non-EU economic migrants, and introduce new measures to reduce inflow and minimise abuse of all migration routes, process asylum applications more quickly, and end the detention of children for immigration purposes 5. Protect peoples freedoms and civil liberties Reverse state interference to ensure there is not disproportionate intrusion into people‟s lives 6, protect our citizens from terrorism Keep people safe through the Government‟s approach to counter-terrorism 7. Build a fairer and more equal society Help create a fair, on 27 March 1782, the Home Office was formed by renaming the existing Southern Department, with all existing staff transferring. On the same day, the Northern Department was renamed the Foreign Office, to match the new names, there was a transferring of responsibilities between the two Departments of State. All domestic responsibilities were moved to the Home Office, and all foreign matters became the concern of the Foreign Office, most subsequently created domestic departments have been formed by splitting responsibilities away from the Home Office. On 7 April 2012, hacktivist group Anonymous temporarily took down the UK Home Office website, the group took responsibility for the attack, which was part of ongoing Anonymous activity in protest against the deportation of hackers as part of Operation TrialAtHome. One Anonymous source claimed in their tweet it was launched in retaliation for draconian surveillance proposals. On 18 July 2012, the Public and Commercial Services Union announced that thousands of Home Office employees would go on strike over jobs, pay and other issues. However, the PCSU called off the strike before it was planned it claimed the department had, subsequent to the threat of actions, announced 1,100 new border jobs. From 1978 to 2004, the Home Office was located at 50 Queen Annes Gate, many functions, however, were devolved to offices in other parts of London and the country, notably the headquarters of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Croydon. g. Wales Under the Welsh devolution settlement, specific areas are transferred to the National Assembly for Wales rather than reserved to Westminster
19.
Neville Chamberlain
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Arthur Neville Chamberlain, PC, FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. However, when Adolf Hitler later invaded Poland, the UK declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and he declined a junior ministerial position, remaining a backbencher until 1922. He was rapidly promoted in 1923 to Minister of Health and then Chancellor of the Exchequer, after a short Labour-led government, he returned as Minister of Health, introducing a range of reform measures from 1924 to 1929. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the National Government in 1931, when Stanley Baldwin retired in May 1937, Chamberlain took his place as Prime Minister. His premiership was dominated by the question of policy toward the increasingly aggressive Germany and he was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained very well regarded in Parliament, especially among Conservatives. Before ill health forced him to resign he was an important member of Churchills War Cabinet, Chamberlain died of cancer six months after leaving the premiership. Most historians in the generation following Chamberlains death held similar views, nevertheless, Chamberlain is still unfavourably ranked amongst British Prime Ministers. Chamberlain was born on 18 March 1869 in a house called Southbourne in the Edgbaston district of Birmingham and he was the only son of the second marriage of Joseph Chamberlain, who later became Mayor of Birmingham and a Cabinet minister. His mother was Florence Kenrick, cousin to William Kenrick MP, Joseph Chamberlain had had another son, Austen Chamberlain, by his first marriage. Neville Chamberlain was educated at Rugby School, Joseph Chamberlain then sent Neville to Mason College. Neville Chamberlain had little interest in his studies there, and in 1889 his father apprenticed him to a firm of accountants, within six months he became a salaried employee. In an effort to recoup diminished family fortunes, Joseph Chamberlain sent his son to establish a sisal plantation on Andros Island in the Bahamas. Neville Chamberlain spent six years there but the plantation was a failure, on his return to England, Neville Chamberlain entered business, purchasing Hoskins & Company, a manufacturer of metal ship berths. Chamberlain served as managing director of Hoskins for 17 years during which time the company prospered and he also involved himself in civic activities in Birmingham. At forty, Chamberlain was expecting to remain a bachelor, but in 1910 he fell in love with Anne Cole, a distant relative by marriage, the two had a son and a daughter. Chamberlain initially showed little interest in politics though his father and half-brother were in Parliament, during the Khaki election of 1900 he made speeches in support of Joseph Chamberlains Liberal Unionists. The Liberal Unionists were allied with the Conservatives and later merged them under the name Unionist Party. In 1911 Neville Chamberlain successfully stood as a Liberal Unionist for Birmingham City Council for the All Saints Ward, Chamberlain was made chairman of the Town Planning Committee
20.
Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan
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Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan GCVO PC QC was a Scottish advocate, judge, Parliamentarian and civil servant. The son of the Rev Hugh Macmillan and Jane Patison, he was educated at Collegiate School, Greenock, at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1897 with public defence of assigned Thesis on De diversis regulis juris antiqui and he wrote for a time articles in conveyancing for Greens Encyclopedia of Scots Law, and was Editor of the quarterly Juridical Review between 1900 and 1907. Macmillan suffered an illness, and surgery thereon, in 1917, in October 1922, he was asked by Bonar Law to become the Solicitor-General for Scotland, which he declined because of his political stripe. When the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald was elected in 1924 - the first time the Labour Party had taken power - it had no KCs in Scotland amongst its Parliamentary representation. Macdonald therefore turned to Macmillan, whose reputation at the Bar was considerable, to take the job of Lord Advocate and he served as Lord Advocate from February to November 1924, and was sworn to the Privy Council on 16 April that year. Macmillan was standing counsel for a vast array of clients, that included the Dominion of Canada from 1928 and he chaired in 1924 the Royal Commission on Lunacy and Mental Health, in 1929 the Committee on Finance and Industry, and in 1932 the Committee on Income Tax Codification. Macmillan sat as a Law Lord until 1947 except for a period at the outbreak of World War II when he was Minister of Information. However he came in for criticism in this role and was soon replaced. The Ministry of Information was located in the Senate House, University of London, Macmillan produced some 152 judgments in the House of Lords, and some 77 in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He was a member of the Wytham Abbey Trust, founded by Colonel Raymond ffennell and he provided the 1934 Rede Lecture at Cambridge, the 1934 Maudsley Lecture, the 1935 Henry Sidgwick Memrial Lecture, and in 1936 a Broadcast National Lecture. These were bound as Law and Other Things and he was appointed in 1941 to the Professorship of Law at the Royal Academy of Arts, and was chosen an Honorary Member by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1948 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and he delivered the Andrew Lang Memorial Lecture, and the Commemorative Oration at the University of Glasgows 500th anniversary in 1951. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1924 and was awarded the GCVO in 1937 and he would earn the distinction of LLD from his two alma matres, Edinburgh on 17 July 1924. Again in 1931 at the University of London, and again in 1932 at the University of St. Andrews and he was unanimously elected 13 May 1924 the first Honorary Bencher of Inner Temple. He was elected member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers. He married his sweetheart, Katharine Marshall, on 27 July 1901. His autobiography, A Man of Laws Tale, was published in 1952, Corporation of the City of Glasgow v Stirling County Council et al
21.
John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
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His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar organisations around the world. Born at Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Reith was the youngest, by ten years, of the seven children of the Reverend Dr George Reith and he was to carry strict Presbyterian religious convictions forward into his adult life. Reith was educated at The Glasgow Academy then at Greshams School, Holt and his father refused to support any further education and apprenticed him as an engineer at the North British Locomotive Company. Reith was also a soldier in the 1st Lancashire Rifle Volunteers. In 1914, Reith left Glasgow for London, though he readily found work at the Royal Albert Dock, his commission in the 5th Scottish Rifles sent him serving in World War I. He was struck in the cheek by a bullet in October 1915, at time he was a Lieutenant. He spent the two years in the United States, supervising armament contracts, and became attracted to the country. He was promoted to Captain in 1917, before being transferred to the Royal Marine Engineers in 1918 as a Major and he returned to the Royal Engineers as a Captain in 1919. Reith resigned his Territorial Army commission in 1921, the end of the war found Reith returning to Glasgow as general manager of an engineering firm. In 1922, he returned to London, where he started working as secretary to the London Conservative group of MPs in the United Kingdom general election,1922 and that elections results were the first to be broadcast on the radio. Reith had no broadcasting experience when he replied to an advertisement in The Morning Post for a manager for an as-yet unformed British Broadcasting Company in 1922. He later admitted that he felt he possessed the necessary to manage any company. In 1926, Reith famously came into conflict with the Government during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, the BBC bulletins reported, without comment, all sides in the dispute, including the TUCs and of union leaders. He even turned down a direct request from the Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald who wanted to deliver a talk, MacDonald complained that the BBC was biased and was misleading the public while other Labour Party figures were just as critical. Philip Snowden, the former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, was one of those who wrote to the Radio Times to complain, Reiths reply also appeared in the Radio Times, admitting the BBC had not had complete liberty to do as it wanted. He recognised that at a time of emergency the government was never going to give the complete independence. The Labour leadership was not the only high-profile body denied a chance to comment on the strike. Davidson telephoned Reith about his idea on 7 May, saying he had spoken to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, who had said he would not stop the broadcast, but would prefer it not to happen
22.
Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
23.
Duff Cooper
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Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, GCMG, DSO, PC, known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician, diplomat and author. In the intense debates of the late 1930s over appeasement, he first put his trust in the League of Nations. He denounced the Munich agreement of 1938 as meaningless, cowardly, when Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, he named Cooper as Minister of Information. From 1941 he served in numerous minor diplomatic roles and his most important role was representative to de Gaulles Free France and ambassador to France from 1944–48. The only son of fashionable society doctor Sir Alfred Cooper and Lady Agnes Duff, daughter of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife and he had royal connections, his maternal uncle, the first Duke of Fife, was married to Louise, Princess Royal. Cooper enjoyed a typical gentlemans upbringing of country estates, London society, Wixenford School, Eton College and New College and he served with distinction as a lieutenant in the campaigns of 1918, winning a Distinguished Service Order for conspicuous gallantry. His service in the First World War was highlighted by the ITV programme The Great War, The Peoples Story, where his correspondence with Diana Cooper was one of those selected to be dramatised. He gave one of the most acclaimed maiden speeches of the era and became a supporter of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. Cooper became Financial Secretary to the War Office in January,1928, turning to literature, he produced Talleyrand, a short biography that was published by his nephew Rupert Hart-Davis to critical praise and lasting success. When the original Conservative candidate stepped down, Duff Cooper agreed to contest the election in what was regarded as a referendum on Baldwins leadership and he won the seat with a majority of 5,710, thus returning to Parliament and serving until 1945. He completed a biography of the British military commander Douglas Haig during this period, Cooper was the most public critic of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlains appeasement policy inside the Cabinet. He resigned the day after the 1938 Munich Agreement made with Adolf Hitler, on doing so he said, War with honour or peace with dishonour, he might have been persuaded to accept, but war with dishonour—that was too much. Fellow appeasement-critic and Conservative Party MP Vyvyan Adams described Coopers actions as the first step in the back to national sanity. Cooper later took a prominent role in the famous Norway Debate of 1940, by now Cooper appeared in German propaganda as one of Britains three most dangerous Conservative warmongers. He subsequently became the British ambassador to France in 1944, and was a success in Paris. Cooper was in the words of the British historian P. He left office in 1947, was appointed to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Knight Grand Cross in 1948, and devoted himself primarily to literature until his death in 1954, at the age of 63. Duff Coopers only legitimate child, John Julius Norwich, became known as a writer and television host and has published a collection of his fathers diaries, The Duff Cooper Diaries
24.
Brendan Bracken
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Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, PC, was an Irish-born businessman and a minister in the British Conservative cabinet. He is best remembered for opposing the Bank of Englands co-operation with Adolf Hitler and he was also the founder of the modern version of the Financial Times. He served as Minister of Information from 1941 to 1945, George Orwell was a civil servant in Brackens department during the war years. His father had belonged to the IRB and was one of the seven founders of the GAA, distressed by his misbehaviour, his mother sent him in 1915 to Mungret College, a Jesuit boarding school in County Limerick, but he bolted in 1915 and ran up hotel bills. She then sent him to Australia to live with a cousin who was a priest in Echuca, the young man led a nomadic existence in Australia, moving often but reading avidly and acquiring a self-education. In 1919 Bracken returned briefly to Ireland, finding his mother settled in County Meath and he distanced himself from Ireland and his siblings who were in revolt over their fathers inheritance, moving instead to settle in Liverpool. Without fully believing this story, Sedberghs headmaster, impressed by the depth of knowledge and eagerness to progress by the young Bracken, accepted him. By the end of one term he emerged having succeeded in blending his Irish republican heritage and his five years in Australia, with the elements. He might have had reason for seeking to hide his Irish heritage as the War of Independence aroused great hostility towards the Irish living in Great Britain. For whatever reason this became a regular feature of his personal strategy in life. A second example occurred in 1926 when he met Major-General Emmet Dalton and this former British Army officer turned IRA confidant, who was one of General Michael Collinss right-hand men, recalled meeting Bracken at national school in Dublin. Bracken denied this, but Dalton insisted that he remembered the smell of Brackens corduroy trousers, after Sedbergh, whose old boy tie he used to good effect, Bracken was briefly a schoolmaster at Bishops Stortford College. He then made a career from 1922 as a magazine publisher and newspaper editor in London. His initial success was based on selling advertising space to at least cover the cost of each number, in the 1923 election he assisted Winston Churchills unsuccessful attempt to be elected as Member of Parliament for Leicester West, which started their political affiliation. Bracken himself stood for Parliament, being elected to the House of Commons in 1929 for the London constituency of North Paddington, stanley Baldwin described Bracken as Churchills faithful chela, chela being the Hindi word for disciple. Many of his magazine stories included a political flavour and he commissioned articles from a wide range of politicians such as Churchill. Business and politics permanently overlapped in his life, in a way to the career of his occasional friend Lord Beaverbrook. He needed politicians for stories and they needed the publicity given by his publications, a supporter of Winston Churchill from 1923, when Churchill was out of Parliament and in the political wilderness, in the 1930s he was invited to join Churchills Other Club
25.
Victory in Europe Day
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It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. The term VE Day existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory, on 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germanys surrender, therefore, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, the administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France and on 8 May in Berlin. The former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have historically celebrated the end of World War II on 9 May, however, the Baltic countries now commemorate VE day on 8 May. In Ukraine from 2015,8 May was designated as a day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, upon the defeat of Germany, celebrations erupted throughout the world. From Moscow to Los Angeles, people celebrated, in the United Kingdom, more than one million people celebrated in the streets to mark the end of the European part of the war. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds, in the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Trumans 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelts memory and keeping the flags at half-staff that his wish was that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day. Later that day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday, massive celebrations also took place in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and especially in New Yorks Times Square. As the Soviet representative in Reims had no authority to sign the German instrument of surrender, the surrender ceremony was repeated in Berlin on 8 May, where the instrument of surrender was signed by supreme German military commander Wilhelm Keitel, by Georgy Zhukov and Allied representatives. East Germany as Tag der Befreiung, a holiday from 1950 to 1966. Between 1975 and 1990, as Tag des Sieges, France as Victoire 1945 Slovakia as Deň víťazstva nad fašizmom Czech Republic as Den vítězství or Den osvobození Poland as Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa – National Victory Day. Norway as Frigjøringsdagen Ukraine День памяті та примирення Ukraine День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні — from 2015
26.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
27.
Central Office of Information
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The Central Office of Information was the UK governments marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office and it was established in 1946 as the successor to the wartime Ministry of Information. COI celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2006 with several events including a season at the National Film Theatre. From 2010, governmental spending on marketing fell considerably and this was because of the Coalition Governments policy to support only essential campaigns. As a result, the Government announced that COI would be closed, the Central Office of Information closed on 30 December 2011. United Kingdom Government, Central Office of Information, archived from the original on 2010-06-12
28.
War artist
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A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art. The art might be a record, or it might commemorate how war shapes lives. War artists explore the visual and sensory dimensions of war, often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare, the role of the artist and his work is to embrace the causes, course, and consequences of conflict, and has an essentially educational purpose. Artists record military activities in ways that cameras and the word cannot. Their art collects and distills the experiences of the men and women who endured it, the artists and their artwork affect how subsequent generations view military conflicts. For example, Australian war artists who grew up between the two wars were influenced by the artwork which depicted the First World War, and there was a precedent. Official war artists have been appointed by governments for information or propaganda purposes and to events on the battlefield. In New Zealand, the title of appointed war artist changed to army artist after the two world wars, in the United States, the term combat artist has come to be used to mean the same thing. William Simpson was an artist-correspondent who sent artwork to London from the front during the Crimean War, alfred Waud was an American civil war pictorial newspaper illustrator. Ogata Gekkō and Tsuguharu Foujita created woodblock prints for Japanese publications, ronald Searle recorded life in Japanese POW camps. The American panorama created by artists whose work focuses on war began with an account of the American Revolutionary War. The war artist or combat artist captures instantaneous action and conflates earlier moments of the scene within one compelling image. Artists are unlike the objective lens, which records only a single instant. In 1917 the American military designated American official war artists who were sent to Europe to record the activities of the American Expeditionary Forces. In World War II, the Navy Combat Art Program ensured that active-duty artists developed a record of all phases of the war, the official war artist continued to be supported in some military engagements. Teams of soldier-artists during the Vietnam War created pictorial accounts and interpretations for the annals of military history. In 1992 the Army Staff Artist Program was attached to the United States Army Center of Military History as a permanent part of the Museum Divisions Collections Branch. The majority of artists of the 1970s were selected by George Gray, chairman of NACAL
29.
Eric Kennington
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Eric Henri Kennington RA was an English sculptor, artist and illustrator, and an official war artist in both World Wars. As a war artist, Kennington specialised in depictions of the hardships endured by soldiers. In the inter-war years he worked mostly on portraits and a number of book illustrations, the most notable of his book illustrations were for T. E. Lawrences Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Kennington was born in Chelsea, London, the son of the well-known genre and portrait painter, Thomas Benjamin Kennington. He was educated at St Pauls School and the Lambeth School of Art, Kennington first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1908. At the start of World War I, Kennington enlisted with the 13th Battalion London Regiment on 6 August 1914 and he fought on the Western Front, but was wounded in January 1915 and evacuated back to England. Kennington was injured attempting to clear a friends jammed rifle. He spent four months in hospital before being discharged as unfit in June 1915, during his convalescence, he spent six months painting The Kensingtons at Laventie, a group portrait of his own infantry platoon, Platoon No 7, C Company. Kennington himself is the third from the left, wearing a balaclava. When exhibited in the spring of 1916, its portrayal of exhausted soldiers caused a sensation, in May 1917 he accepted an official war artist commission from the Department of Information. Kennington was commissioned to spend a month on the Western Front but he applied for extensions and eventually spent seven. Kennington was originally based at the Third Army Headquarters and would spend time at the front lines near Villers-Faucon. Later during this tour, his friend William Rothenstein was also appointed as a war artist and they worked together at Montigny Farm and at Devise on the Somme, during his time in France, Kennington produced 170 charcoal, pastel and watercolours before returning to London in March 1918. Whilst in France in 1918, Kennington was admitted to a Casualty Clearing Station at Tincourt-Boucly to be treated for trench fever, there he made a number of sketches and drawings of men injured during the bombardment that preceded the German 1918 Spring Offensive. Some of these became the basis of the completed painting Gassed and Wounded. Throughout June and July 1918 an exhibition of Kenningtons work, The British Soldier, was held in London and received great reviews and some public acclaim. Despite this, Kennington was unhappy in his dealings with Department of Information, mainly concerning the censoring of his paintings, in November 1918 Kennington was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Scheme to depict Canadian troops in Europe. That month he returned to France as a temporary first lieutenant attached to the 16th Battalion, the eight months Kennington spent in Germany, Belgium and France, working for the Canadians, resulted in some seventy drawings
30.
Paul Nash (artist)
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Paul Nash was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photographer, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century and he played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art. Born in London, Nash grew up in Buckinghamshire where he developed a love of the landscape and he entered the Slade School of Art but was poor at figure drawing and concentrated on landscape painting. Nash found much inspiration in landscapes with elements of ancient history, such as mounds, Iron Age hill forts such as Wittenham Clumps. The artworks he produced during World War I are among the most iconic images of the conflict, after the war Nash continued to focus on landscape painting, originally in a formalized, decorative style but, throughout the 1930s, in an increasingly abstract and surreal manner. In his paintings he often placed everyday objects into a landscape to give them a new identity and these have perhaps become among the best known works from the period. Nash was also a book illustrator, and also designed stage scenery, fabrics. He was the brother of the artist John Nash. Paul Nash, a exhibition of his work opened in October 2016 at Tate Britain, in London. Nash was the son of a barrister, William Harry Nash, and his wife Caroline Maude. He was born in Kensington and grew up in Earls Court in West London and it was hoped the move to the countryside would help Caroline Nash, who was increasingly showing symptoms of mental illness. On Valentines Day 1910, aged forty-nine, Caroline Nash died in a mental institution, encouraged by a fellow student at St Pauls, Eric Kennington, Nash considered the possibility of a career as an artist. Nash spent two years studying at Bolt Court, where he began to write poetry and plays and where his work was spotted and praised by Selwyn Image. He was advised by his friend, the poet Gordon Bottomley, and by the artist William Rothenstein, the Slade was then opening its doors to a remarkable crop of young talents – what Tonks later described as the schools second and last Crisis of Brilliance. Nashs fellow students included Ben Nicholson, Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, William Roberts, Dora Carrington, Christopher R. W. Nevinson, Nash struggled with figure drawing, and spent only a year at the school. He was elected to The London Group in 1914, Nashs duties, which included guard duty at the Tower of London, allowed him time to continue drawing and painting. In December 1914 Nash married Margaret Odeh, an Oxford-educated campaigner for Womens Suffrage, at St Martin-in-the-Fields and he began officer training in August 1916 and was sent to the Western Front in February 1917 as a second lieutenant in the Hampshire Regiment. Nash was based at St. Eloi on the Ypres Salient at a quiet time and although the area did come under shelling
31.
William Rothenstein
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Sir William Rothenstein was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death in the mid-1940s, more than two hundred of Rothensteins portraits of famous people can be found in the National Portrait Gallery collection. The Tate Gallery also holds a collection of his paintings, prints. Rothenstein served as Principal at the Royal College of Art from 1920 to 1935 and he was knighted in 1931 for his services to art. William Rothenstein was born into a German-Jewish family in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire where he was educated at Bradford Grammar School and his father, Moritz, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to work in Bradfords burgeoning textile industry. Soon afterwards he married Bertha Dux and they had six children, williams two brothers, Charles and Albert, were also heavily involved in the arts. Charles, who followed his father into the trade, was an important collector –. Albert was a painter, illustrator and costume designer, both brothers changed their surname to Rutherston during the First World War. He married Alice Knewstub in 1899 with whom he had four children, John, Betty, John Rothenstein later gained fame as an art historian and art administrator. Michael Rothenstein was a talented printmaker, while in Paris he also befriended the Anglo-Australian artist Charles Conder, with whom he shared a studio in Montmartre. In Oxford he met and became a friend of the caricaturist and parodist Max Beerbohm. During the 1890s Rothenstein exhibited with the New English Art Club and contributed drawings to The Yellow Book, in 1898-9 he co-founded the Carfax Gallery in St. James Piccadilly with John Fothergill. During its early years the gallery was closely associated with artists as Charles Conder, Philip Wilson Steer, Charles Ricketts. It also exhibited the work of Auguste Rodin, whose growing reputation in England owed much to Rothensteins friendship, Rothensteins role as artistic manager of the gallery was abandoned in 1901, whereupon the firm came under the management of his close friend Robert Ross. Ross left in 1908, leaving the gallery in the hands of longtime financial manager Arthur Clifton, under Clifton the gallery was the home for all three exhibitions of the Camden Town Group, led by Rothensteins friend and close contemporary Walter Sickert. In 1900 Rothenstein won a medal for his painting The Dolls House at the Exposition Universelle. This painting continues to be one of his best-known and critically acclaimed works, the style and subject of Rothensteins paintings varies, though certain themes reappear, in particular an interest in weighty or essential subjects tackled in a restrained manner. Good examples include Parting at Morning, Mother and Child and Jews Mourning at a Synagogue – all of which are owned by the Tate Gallery
32.
Dylan Thomas
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He became widely popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death at the age of 39 in New York City. By then he had acquired a reputation, which he had encouraged, as a roistering, drunken, Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. An undistinguished pupil, he left school at 16 and became a journalist for a short time. Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager, however, while living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara, whom he married in 1937. Their relationship was defined by alcoholism and was mutually destructive, in the early part of their marriage, Thomas and his family lived hand-to-mouth, they settled in the Welsh fishing village of Laugharne. Thomas came to be appreciated as a poet during his lifetime. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts and his radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940s brought him to the publics attention, and he was frequently used by the BBC as a populist voice of the literary scene. Thomas first travelled to the United States in the 1950s and his readings there brought him a level of fame, while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. His time in America cemented his legend, however, and he went on to record to vinyl such works as A Childs Christmas in Wales. During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma and he died on 9 November 1953. His body was returned to Wales where he was interred at the churchyard in Laugharne on 25 November 1953. Though Thomas wrote exclusively in the English language, he has acknowledged as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is noted for his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and his position as one of the great modern poets has been much discussed, and he remains popular with the public. Dylan Thomas was born on 27 October 1914 in Swansea, the son of Florence Hannah, a seamstress, and David John Thomas, a teacher. His father had an honours degree in English from University College, Aberystwyth. Thomas had one sibling, Nancy Marles, who was eight years his senior, the children spoke only English, though their parents were bilingual in English and Welsh, and David Thomas gave Welsh lessons at home. Thomass father chose the name Dylan, which could be translated as son of the sea, after Dylan ail Don and his middle name, Marlais, was given in honour of his great-uncle, William Thomas, a Unitarian minister and poet whose bardic name was Gwilym Marles. Dylan, pronounced ˈ in Welsh, caused his mother to worry he might be teased as the dull one, when he broadcast on Welsh BBC, early in his career, he was introduced using this pronunciation
33.
Kenneth Clark
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Clark was born in London, the only child of Kenneth MacKenzie Clark and Margaret Alice McArthur. The Clarks were a wealthy Scottish family with roots in the textile trade and his great-great-grandfather had invented the cotton spool. Kenneth Clark the elder, reputedly the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, had retired in 1909 at the age of 41 to become a member of the idle rich. Clark was educated at Wixenford School, Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford, in 1927 he married a fellow Oxford student, Elizabeth Jane Martin, who was Irish and the daughter of Dr. Emily Winifred Dickson, first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The couple had three children, Alan, in 1928, and twins Colette and Colin in 1932, greatly influenced by John Ruskin and a protégé of the most influential art critic of the time, Bernard Berenson, Clark quickly became the British art establishments most respected aesthete. After a stint as fine art curator at Oxfords Ashmolean Museum, in 1933 at age 30 and he remains the youngest person ever to hold the post. The following year he also became Surveyor of the Kings Pictures, as Director of the National Gallery he oversaw the successful relocation and storage of the collection to avoid the Blitz and continued a programme of concerts and performances. In 1939, Clark visited Australia, and later referred to it as that intolerable continent, adding that Australian galleries had the worst art, as Director of The National Gallery he wrote Southampton Art Gallerys acquisitions policy which included a growing collection of modern oil paintings. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of Information commissioning Dylan Thomas amongst others to write scripts for propaganda films, in 1946 Clark resigned his directorship in order to devote more time to writing. Between 1946 and 1950 he was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford. He was a board member and also served as Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1955 to 1960. In the preface to his book, The Nude, a study of art, Clark wrote. There is difficulty of form, a survey would be long and repetitive. And there is a difficulty of scope, since Jacob Burckhardt no responsible art historian would have attempted to cover both antique and post-mediaeval art, in 1955, Clark bought Saltwood Castle in Kent. Kenneth Clark was created Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1938 and he was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1976. In 1959, he received the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria and he was one of the founders, in 1954, of the Independent Television Authority, serving as its Chairman until 1957. In 1969 he wrote and presented Civilisation for BBC television, a series on the history of Western civilisation as seen through its art, afterwards Clark was persuaded to write a book version of Civilisation but lamented that without the visual and musical accompaniment it was weak. Also broadcast in the US on PBS in 1969, Civilisation was successful on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining Clark an international profile, according to Clark, the series was created in answer to growing criticism of Western civilisation, from its value system to its heroes
34.
National Government (United Kingdom)
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In the United Kingdom, National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin. The term National Government was chosen to dissociate itself from negative connotations of the earlier Coalitions, churchills brief 1945 Caretaker Government also called itself a National Government and in terms of party composition was very similar to the 1931–1940 entity. The Wall Street Crash heralded the global Great Depression and Britain was hit, the gold standard meant that British prices were higher than its competitors, so the all-important export industries did poorly. In 1931 the situation deteriorated and there was fear that the budget was unbalanced, which was born out by the independent May Report which triggered a confidence crisis. The Labour government agreed in principle to make changes in taxation and to cut expenditure to balance the budget, however the Cabinet could not agree on the two options available, either introduce tariffs or make 20% cuts in unemployment benefit. When a final vote was taken, the Cabinet was split 11-9 with a minority, including many political heavyweights such as Arthur Henderson and George Lansbury, the unworkable split, on 24 August 1931, made the government resign. The king played the role in demanding a National government be formed. On 24 August, MacDonald agreed and formed a National Government composed of men from all parties with the aim of balancing the Budget. The new cabinet had four Labourites who stood with MacDonald, plus four Conservatives, Labour unions were strongly opposed and the Labour Party officially repudiated the new National government. It expelled MacDonald and made Henderson the leader of the main Labour party, Henderson led it into the general election on October 27 against the three-party National coalition. It was a disaster for Labour, which was reduced to a minority of 52. MacDonald won the largest landslide in British political history, Debate then broke out about further steps to tackle the economic problems. At the same time the Labour Party officially expelled all of its members who supported the National Government, the Liberals acting leader and Home Secretary, Sir Herbert Samuel, fought in Cabinet against an election but found the Liberal Party dividing in several directions over the course of action. One group, under Sir John Simon emerged as the Liberal Nationals, was prepared to accept the tariff and it was eventually agreed that the government as a whole would seek a Doctors Mandate to take a free hand and that each party would issue its own manifesto. Supporters of MacDonald formed the National Labour Organisation and the agreed to allow their local organisations to agree whether or not to oppose each other. The government was opposed by the Labour Party, Lloyd George and his Liberals, within the parties there was particular conflict between the Conservatives and Liberals. The result of the 1931 general election was the greatest landslide ever, the National Government winning a total of 556 seats, although the Conservatives had a bare majority in Cabinet of 11, compared with to 9 non-Conservatives, the former held comparatively few of the most important jobs
35.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
36.
Chamberlain war ministry
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Neville Chamberlain formed the Chamberlain war ministry in the United Kingdom in 1939. On 3 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the most dramatic change to the ministerial line-up saw the return of Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. However, the administration was not a national unity government as it was made up primarily of Conservatives with support from some National Labour. There were no representatives from the Labour Party or Liberal Party, the government was notable for having a small War Cabinet consisting of only the principal and service ministers, with most other government positions serving outside the Cabinet. Oliver Stanley replaced Hore-Belisha in January 1940 while Chatfield left the war cabinet in April 1940, the government ended on 10 May 1940 when Chamberlain resigned and was succeeded by Winston Churchill who formed the War Coalition. April 1940 – Hoare swaps Lord Privy Seal with Wood for Secretary of State for Air, Lord Chatfield leaves the Government and the office of Minister for Coordination of Defence is abolished. November 1939 – Lord Winterton resigns as Paymaster-General and no successor is appointed, Lord Macmillan resigns as Minister of Information and is succeeded by Sir John Reith. April 1940 – Robert Hudson succeeds Sir John Gilmour as Minister of Shipping, Lord De La Warr exchanges President of the Board of Education with Herwald Ramsbotham for First Commissioner of Works. William Shepherd Morrison swaps the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for the Postmaster General with George Tryon and is succeeded as Minister of Food by Lord Woolton, may 1940 – Sir Terence OConnor dies and no new Solicitor General is appointed before the government falls. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face, D. Butler and G. Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000
37.
Churchill war ministry
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The Churchill war ministry was a Conservative-led coalition government in the United Kingdom, which lasted for most of World War II. It was led by Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, formed in 1940, within a year of the wars outbreak, it lasted until 23 May 1945, shortly after the defeat of Nazi Germany, when Churchill resigned and an election was called. Red indicates a member of the Labour Party, whilst blue indicates a member of the Conservative Party, members of the War Cabinet are in bold face. August 1940, Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, joins the War Cabinet October 1940, Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, enter the War Cabinet. Lord Halifax assumes the job of Leader of the House of Lords. December 1940, Anthony Eden succeeds Lord Halifax as Foreign Secretary, Halifax remains nominally in the Cabinet as Ambassador to the United States. His successor as Leader of the House of Lords is not in the War Cabinet, may 1941, Lord Beaverbrook ceased to be Minister of Aircraft Production, but remains in the Cabinet as Minister of State. His successor was not in the War Cabinet, june 1941, Lord Beaverbrook becomes Minister of Supply, remaining in the War Cabinet. 1941, Oliver Lyttelton enters the Cabinet as Minister Resident in the Middle East,4 February 1942, Lord Beaverbrook becomes Minister of War Production, his successor as Minister of Supply is not in the War Cabinet. 19 February 1942, Beaverbrook resigns and no replacement Minister of War Production is appointed for the moment, clement Attlee becomes Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. Sir Stafford Cripps succeeds Attlee as Lord Privy Seal and takes over the position of Leader of the House of Commons from Churchill, Sir Kingsley Wood leaves the War Cabinet, though remaining Chancellor of the Exchequer. 22 February 1942, Arthur Greenwood resigns from the War Cabinet, march 1942, Oliver Lyttelton fills the vacant position of Minister of Production. Richard Gardiner Casey succeeds Oliver Lyttelton as Minister Resident in the Middle East, October 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps retires as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons and leaves the War Cabinet. His successor as Lord Privy Seal is not in the Cabinet, the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, enters the Cabinet. September 1943, Sir John Anderson succeeds Sir Kingsley Wood as Chancellor of the Exchequer, clement Attlee succeeds Anderson as Lord President, remaining also Deputy Prime Minister. Attlees successor as Dominions Secretary is not in the Cabinet, November 1943, Lord Woolton enters the Cabinet as Minister of Reconstruction. January to November 1944, Lord Moyne replaces Richard Gardiner Casey as Minister Resident in the Middle East, D. Butler and G. Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900–2000. Photo of the Churchill Coalition Government 1940–45 from the website of the Imperial War Museum, roger Hermiston, All Behind You, Winston – Churchills Great Coalition 1940–45, Aurum Press 2016
38.
Churchill caretaker ministry
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The caretaker ministry of 1945 was a United Kingdom Ministry, which held office from 23 May 1945 until 26 July 1945, during the latter stages of the Second World War. The head of the government was the Prime Minister since 1940, at first it seemed agreement would be reached, but at the Labour Party Conference in 1945 opinion was hostile to a continuation of the coalition. Attlee wrote to Churchill to confirm that his party wanted an election in October, Churchill then resigned as Prime Minister whilst the Labour conference was still in session. This brought the war-time coalition government to an end on 23 May 1945, king George VI the same day invited Churchill to form a government pending the general election. It was unofficially known as the caretaker ministry, the Liberal Party were determined to fight the general election as an independent party so they did not join the caretaker government. However one Liberal Member of Parliament, Gwilym Lloyd George, accepted an invitation to join the ministry. ”Parliament was dissolved on 15 June 1945. Polling day was on 5 July 1945 and, after a delay caused by the need to collect the votes of those serving overseas, Churchill, having been defeated in the election, resigned that day and was replaced as Prime Minister by Clement Attlee. J. Grigg Members of the Cabinet are in bold face
39.
Clement Attlee
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Attlee was the first person to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, serving under Winston Churchill in the wartime coalition government. He went on to lead the Labour Party to an election victory in summer 1945. One of only a handful of Labour frontbenchers to retain his seat in the defeat of 1931. In 1935 he became the Leader of the Party, at first advocating pacificism and appeasement, he later reversed his position and by 1938 became a strong critic of Neville Chamberlains attempts to appease Adolf Hitler. He took Labour into the Churchill war ministry in 1940, initially serving as Lord Privy Seal, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in 1942. With victory in Europe in May 1945, the government was dissolved. Attlee led Labour to win a majority in the ensuing 1945 general election two months later. Within this context, his government undertook the nationalisation of public utilities and major industries, Attlee himself had little interest in economic matters but this settlement was broadly accepted by all parties for three decades. Foreign policy was the domain of Ernest Bevin, but Attlee took special interest in India. He supervised the process by which India was partitioned into India and he also arranged the independence of Burma, and Ceylon. His government ended the British Mandates of Palestine and Jordan, from 1947 he and Bevin pushed the United States to take a more vigorous role in the emerging Cold War against Soviet Communism. When the budgetary crisis forced Britain out of Greece in 1947 he called on Washington to counter the Communists with the Truman Doctrine and he avidly supported the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe with American money. In 1949, he promoted the NATO military alliance against the Soviet bloc and he sent British troops to fight in the Malayan Emergency in 1948 and sent the RAF to participate in the Berlin Airlift. He commissioned an independent nuclear deterrent for the UK and he used 13,000 troops and passed special legislation to promptly end the London dock strike in 1949. After leading Labour to a victory in the 1950 general election. Attlee was narrowly defeated by the Conservatives under Churchill in the 1951 general election and he continued as Labour leader but had lost his effectiveness by then. He retired after losing the 1955 general election and was elevated to the House of Lords, in public, Attlee was modest and unassuming, he was ineffective at public relations and lacked charisma. His strengths emerged behind the scenes, especially in committees where his depth of knowledge, quiet demeanour, objectivity and he saw himself as spokesman on behalf of his entire party and successfully kept its multiple factions in harness
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Arts and Humanities Research Council
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In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The Stonehenge Riverside Project is a five year AHRC-funded archaeological research study interested in the development of the Stonehenge landscape in Neolithic. In August 2009 the project discovered a new stone circle, which was named Bluestonehenge by the team, about one mile away from Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The project is run by a consortium of university teams, mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University, with co-directors Dr Josh Pollard, Prof. Julian Thomas, Dr Kate Welham and Dr Colin Richards. The resulting Medieval Soldier online database enables people to search for soldiers by surname, the online database contains 250,000 service records of soldiers who saw active duty in the latter phases of the Hundred Years War. It allows access to over 197,000 trials and biographical details of approximately 2,500 men and women executed at Tyburn, the AHRCs vision is to be a recognised world leader in advancing arts and humanities research. The AHRC receives its funding through the Science and Innovation Group which is part of the Department for Business, Innovation, in 2005 the AHRC replaced the Arts and Humanities Research Board, founded in 1998. The AHRC publish reviews and reports on arts and humanities subjects, Research news and findings are communicated in website features, press releases, and multimedia content such as podcasts. Between 2005 and 2010, the AHRC published a magazine called Podium twice a year, the AHRC is one of seven Research Councils in the UK. Professor Andrew S Thompson is serving as Interim Chief Executive of the AHRC, the previous CE of the AHRC was Professor Rick Rylance who took up the post on 1 September 2009, and was re-appointed in September 2013 to serve until August 2017. The current Council Chair is Sir Drummond Bone, Sir Alan Wilson stepped down in December 2013. AHRC website AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law Research Councils UK Projects funded under AHRCs Resource Enhancement Scheme,2000 -2007
