1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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.
War memorial
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A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. The oldest war memorial in the United Kingdom is Oxford Universitys All Souls College itself and it was founded in 1438 with the provision that its fellows should pray for those killed in the long wars with France. War memorials for the Franco-Prussian War were the first in Europe to have rank-and-file soldiers commemorated by name, every soldier that was killed was granted a permanent resting-place as part of the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt. To commemorate the millions who died in World War I, war memorials became commonplace in communities large, in modern times the main intent of war memorials is not to glorify war, but to honor those who have died. Sometimes, as in the case of the Warsaw Genuflection of Willy Brandt, using modern technology an international project is currently archiving all post-1914 Commonwealth war graves and Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials to create a virtual memorial. During the First World War, many nations saw massive devastation, more people lost their lives in the east than in the west, but the outcome was different. Massive British monuments commemorating thousands of dead with no identified war grave, such as the Menin Gate at Ypres, the Liberty Memorial, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in the Great War. For various reasons connected with their character, the same may be said to apply to certain governmental memorials in the United Kingdom, after World War I, some towns in France set up pacifist war memorials. Instead of commemorating the dead, these memorials denounce war with figures of grieving widows. Such memorials provoked anger among veterans and the military in general, the most famous is at Gentioux-Pigerolles in the department of Creuse. Below the column which lists the name of the stands an orphan in bronze pointing to an inscription Maudite soit la guerre. Feelings ran so high that the memorial was not officially inaugurated until 1990, another such memorial is in the small town of Équeurdreville-Hainneville in the department of Manche. Here the statue is of a widow with two small children. There seems to be no exact equivalent form of a pacifist memorial within the United Kingdom, in many cases, World War I memorials were later extended to show the names of locals who died in the World War II in addition. Since that time memorials to the dead in other such as the Korean War and Vietnam War have also noted individual contributions. War memorials can differ significantly in type and composition, many war memorials often take the form of a traditional monument or statue, while others consist of entire buildings, often containing a museum, while yet others are simple plaques. War memorials can take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, commemorative gardens, eternal flames, urban plazas, fountains and/or pools of water, military equipment. War memorials often serve as a place for commemorative services
4.
Whitehall
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Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, Central London, which forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square, consequently, the name Whitehall is used as a metonym for British civil service, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before its destruction by fire in 1698, only the Banqueting House survived. Whitehall was originally a road that led to the front of the palace. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its statues and monuments, including Britains primary war memorial. The Whitehall Theatre, now the Trafalgar Studios, has been a place for farce comedies since the mid-20th century. The name Whitehall was used for buildings in the Tudor period. It either referred to a made of light stone, or as a general term for any festival building. This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall, which in turn gave its name to the street, the street is about 0.4 miles long and runs through the City of Westminster. It is part of the A3212, a road in Central London that leads towards Chelsea via the Houses of Parliament. It runs south from Trafalgar Square, past numerous government buildings, including the old War Office building, Horse Guards, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and it ends at the Cenotaph, the road ahead being Parliament Street. Great Scotland Yard and Horse Guards Avenue branch off to the east, the nearest tube stations are Charing Cross at the north end, and Westminster at the south. Numerous London bus routes run along Whitehall, including 12,24,53,88,159 and 453. It had become a street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including Lord Howard of Effingham. The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, the palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the Kings main residence later in the decade. He married Ann Boleyn here in 1533, followed by Jane Seymour in 1536, Charles I owned an extensive art collection at the palace and several of William Shakespeares plays had their first performances here. It ceased to be a residence after 1689, when William III moved to Kensington Palace. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1698, most of the palace burned to the ground owing to an accident started by a careless washerwoman
5.
The Cenotaph, Whitehall
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The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England. An annual Service of Remembrance is held at the site on Remembrance Sunday, Lutyens cenotaph design has been reproduced elsewhere in the UK and in other countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Bermuda and Hong Kong. The first cenotaph was a structure designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. It was one of a number of structures erected for the London Victory Parade on 19 July 1919. It marked the end of the First World War that had taken place with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. As one of a series of temporary wooden monuments constructed along the route of the parade, following deliberations by the Peace Celebrations Committee, Lutyens was invited to Downing Street. The temporary wood-and-plaster structure had the shape as the later permanent stone structure. The wreaths at each end and on top were made from rather than the later carved stone sculptures. The location chosen along the route along Whitehall was between the Foreign Office and Richmond House. The unveiling took place the day before the Victory Parade, during the parade, those saluting the temporary cenotaph included the allied commanders John Pershing, Ferdinand Foch, Douglas Haig and David Beatty. For some time after the parade, the base of the memorial was covered with flowers, the announcement was made on 23 October 1919 that the Portland stone version would be a replica exact in every detail in permanent material of present temporary structure. Lutyens had first heard the term cenotaph in connection with Munstead Wood, Whitehalls Cenotaph was constructed from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. It was undecorated apart from a wreath on each end. The words The Glorious Dead are inscribed twice, once below the wreaths on each end, above the wreaths at each end are inscribed the dates of the First World War in Roman numerals. The wreaths at each end are 5 feet in diameter, while the one on top is 3.6 feet in diameter and its sides are not parallel, but if extended would meet at a point about 300 metres above the ground. Similarly, the surfaces are sections of a sphere whose centre would be 900 feet below ground. This element of the design, called entasis, was not present in the structure and was added by Lutyens as a refinement when designing the permanent structure. It is 35 feet tall and weighs 120 tonnes, the architects waived their fee for designing the cenotaph, meaning that it cost £7,325 to build, a sum equivalent to £255,332 when adjusted by inflation in 2010
6.
John Mills (British sculptor)
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John William Mills PPRBS ARCA FRSA is an English sculptor. He studied at Hammersmith School of Art 1947-1954, and at the Royal College of Art 1956-1960 and he was a resident at Digswell House 1962-1966 and currently lives at Hinxworth Place in Hertfordshire. Various part-time teaching posts in UK from 1958-1962, full-time at St. Albans School of Art and Hertfordshire College of Art and Design 1962-1977. Visiting Associate Professor in Printmaking and Sculpture, Eastern Michigan University 1970-1971, visiting lecturer Detroit School of Creative Arts 1970-1971. Visiting Professor and Artist in Residence University of Michigan 1980, stopped teaching on a regular basis 1977. He was made Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors 1982 and was awarded their Otto Beit medal in 1983 for the sculpture ‘Curved Neck Grace’. He was elected president of the Society in 1986 and again in 1997. He was made Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1993, awarded an Honorary Master of Arts Degree by University College Northampton 2000 William Blake Memorial. Blitz the National Firefighters Memorial London River Man, the Unicorn and Wellcome Wellcome Foundation, Beckenham, Kent, England). The Risen Christ, St Marys Church, Ashwell, Hertfordshire, jackie Milburn Memorial The Meeting, Harpur Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Quadriga, fountain Charleston Place Hotel, Charleston, SC USA Time, Cavendish Hotel Derbyshire, the Risen Christ, Church of Great St Mary, Sawbridgeworth, Essex, England. Campus Thoughts, University College Northampton, England, Memorial to Alan Turing, University of Surrey, Guildford, England. Lion and the Unicorn and Digitalis, William Harvey Centre, Charterhouse Square, Monument to the Women of World War II Whitehall, London. Winner of the competition for ‘The Topham Trophy’1961 and 1962. Winner of the RBS silver medal in 1991 for ‘Blitz’, winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the ‘D-Day fifty pence coin 1993’. Winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the ‘VE Day two pound coin 1994, winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the Euro Cup two pound coin 1995. Winner of the Coin of the Year award for the D-Day fifty pence 1994, winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the Euro Cent, British entry for the European Competition 1996. Winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the 25th anniversary of the our entry into the Common Market fifty pence coin 1997, winner of the Royal Mint design competition for the 50th anniversary of DNA Double Helix two pound coin. The Technique of Casting for Sculpture 1968, studio Bronze Casting 1969, this book was written in collaboration with Michael Gillespie ARBS
7.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
8.
Betty Boothroyd
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Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC is a British politician, who served as a Labour Member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 1992. From 1992 to 2000, she served as Speaker of the House of Commons and she was the first, and to date only, female Speaker of the House of Commons. She sits, by tradition, as a Crossbench peer in the House of Lords, Boothroyd was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, in 1929, the only child of Ben Archibald Boothroyd and his second wife Mary, née Butterfield, both textile workers. She was educated at schools and went on to study at Dewsbury College of Commerce. In the 1940s, she worked as a dancer, as a member of the Tiller Girls dancing troupe, during the late 1950s, she worked as secretary to Labour MPs Barbara Castle and Geoffrey de Freitas. In 1960, she travelled to the United States to see the Kennedy campaign and she subsequently began work in Washington as a legislative assistant for an American Congressman, Silvio Conte, between 1960 and 1962. When she returned to London she continued her work as secretary, in 1965, she was elected to a seat on Hammersmith Borough Council, in Gibbs Green ward, where she remained until 1968. In 1974, she was appointed an assistant Government Whip and she was a Member of the European Parliament from 1975–1977, in 1979, she became a member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, until 1981, and of the Speakers Panel of Chairmen, until 1987. She was also a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1981–87 and she became a Deputy Speaker in 1987. In 1992 she was elected Speaker, being the first woman ever to hold the position, there was some debate as to whether or not Boothroyd should wear the traditional Speakers wig upon her election. She chose not to but also stated that any subsequent Speakers would be free to choose to wear the wig, in 1993, the Government won a vote on the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty due to her casting vote. However, it was discovered that her casting vote was not required, as the votes had been miscounted. She was keen to get people interested in politics. On 12 July 2000, she announced in a statement to the House of Commons that she would resign as Speaker after the summer recess, both former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and John Major described her as an outstanding Speaker. Blair added that she was something of a national institution and she resigned as Speaker and as an MP on 23 October 2000. Boothroyd was chancellor of the Open University from 1994 until October 2006 and has donated some of her papers to the Universitys archives. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Hughs College, Oxford, in March 1995, she was awarded an Honorary Degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. Boothroyd has also given an Award of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa by City University London
9.
Game show
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Alternatively, a gameshow can be a demonstrative program about a game. In the former, contestants may be invited from a pool of public applicants, on some shows, contestants compete against other players or another team, while other shows involve contestants playing alone for a reward or a high score. Game shows often reward players with prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services provided by the shows sponsor prize suppliers, One of the reasons that television broadcasters make game shows is because they are substantially less costly than producing scripted drama shows. Some TV game shows fall under the category of reality television, Television game shows descended from similar programs on radio. The very first television show, Spelling Bee, was broadcast in 1938. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television and its first episode aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast. Over the course of the 1950s, as began to pervade the popular culture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives, higher-stakes programs would air in primetime. During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty One, however, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were discovered to be rigged, an early variant of the game show, the panel game, survived the quiz show scandals. On shows like Whats My Line, ive Got A Secret and To Tell The Truth, panels of celebrities would interview a guest in an effort to determine some fact about them, in others, celebrities would answer questions. Panel games had success in primetime until the late 1960s, when they were dropped from television because of their perceived “low budget” nature. Panel games made a comeback in American daytime television in the 1970s through comedy-driven shows such as Match Game, mock the Week, QI and 8 Out of 10 Cats, all of which put a heavy emphasis on comedy, leaving the points as mere formalities. The focus on quick-witted comedians has resulted in ratings, which. Game shows remained a fixture of US daytime television through the 1960s after the quiz show scandals, lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in the early 1960s, examples include Jeopardy. Which began in 1964 and the version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Lets Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares, Password, The Dating Game, though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968, the other networks did not follow suit. Color television was introduced to the game genre in the late 1960s on all three networks
10.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
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One contestant played at a time and originally had no time limit to answer questions. Contestants were presented with the question and possible answers before they decided whether to attempt an answer, use one of their lifelines, the show first aired on 4 September 1998 and aired its final episode on 11 February 2014. It was presented by Chris Tarrant and produced by Victory Television for the ITV network. It was based on a format devised by David Briggs, who, along with Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill, the original working title for the show was Cash Mountain. One of the most significant shows in British popular culture, it was ranked 23rd in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, the show has been exported to many other countries, all of which follow the same general format. Rights to both the format and all UK episodes of the show were put up for sale by Celador in March 2006 and these were acquired by the Dutch company 2waytraffic. 2waytraffic was in turn acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2008, on 22 October 2013, it was announced that Tarrant had decided to quit the show after 15 years. Because of this, ITV decided to cancel Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, after the contract finished, stating that there would not be any further specials beyond the ones that had already been planned. Tarrants final live celebrity edition aired on 19 December 2013, on the day before, Tarrant pre-recorded two other celebrity episodes to be shown in early 2014. The final episode, a show entitled Chris Final Answer. Originally broadcast on evenings for around ten days, the series later appeared weekly on ITV in a primetime slot on Saturday evenings. The episodes lasted for one hour, the first contestant was Graham Elwell, who won £64,000. At its peak in 1999, the show pulled in up to 19 million viewers, often when it only had a half-hour timeslot, before declining to around 8 million by 2003. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Tarrants catchphrases on the show include Is that your final answer. But we dont want to give you that, more recently at the end of the show, But the cashpoint is now closed for tonight or when a contestant is relieved, he sometimes says Quite pleased, then. Variants on the format were screened from time to time as special episodes were produced, such as playing for charity, couples games, Mothers Day specials. The Clock Format is still used during live celebrity shows, however, during Series 29 in 2012, there were three The People Play specials that were broadcast live for three consecutive nights between 9 and 11 July. These specials featured non-celebrity contestants and allowed viewers to play along at home, a fourth The People Play special aired on 7 May 2013 with a further two broadcast the following Tuesday nights with the last ever Peoples Play episode for the contestants on 21 May 2013
11.
York Minster
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The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the church for the Diocese of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York, the title minster is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title. Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum, the minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic Quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, in the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet high. The south transept contains a window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as The Heart of Yorkshire. York has had a verifiable Christian presence from the 4th century, however, there is circumstantial evidence pointing to much earlier Christian involvement. Tradition speaks of 28 British bishops, one for each of the greater British cities, over whom presided the Archbishops of London, York and Caerleon-on-Usk. The first recorded church on the site was a structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin. Moves toward a substantial building began in the decade of the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter, the church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the See of York. He repaired and renewed the structure, the attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe. In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire and it was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald of Worcester, Wulfstan and Ealdred, Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church. The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conquerors harrying of the North, the Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m long and rendered in white, the new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, the Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century
12.
Vera Lynn
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During the war she toured Egypt, India, and Burma as part of ENSA, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. The songs most associated with her are Well Meet Again, The White Cliffs of Dover, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Therell Always Be an England. She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and her last single, I Love This Land, was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at age 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart, with Well Meet Again and she has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children, and breast cancer. She is held in affection by veterans of the Second World War to this day. Vera Margaret Welch was born in East Ham, London, on 20 March 1917, to parents Bertram Samuel Welch and Annie Martin, who had married in 1913. She began performing publicly at the age of seven and adopted her grandmothers maiden name, Margaret Lynn. Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was in 1935, at this point she was being featured on records released by dance bands including those of Loss and of Charlie Kunz. In 1936 her first solo record was released on the Crown label and this label was absorbed by Decca Records in 1938. After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a few years during which she recorded several musical pieces. In 1937 she moved to the aristocrat of British dance bands, during the Phoney War, the Daily Express asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers, Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as the Forces Sweetheart. In 1941, during the darkest days of the Second World War, Lynn began her own programme, Sincerely Yours. She and her quartet performed songs most requested by the soldiers, Lynn also visited hospitals to interview new mothers and send personal messages to their husbands overseas. Her other great wartime hit was The White Cliffs of Dover, words by Nat Burton, in 1943 she appeared in the film Well Meet Again. The album itself was a follow-up to Hits of the Blitz produced by Norman Newell, during the war years she joined ENSA and toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. In March 1944 she went to Shamshernagar airfield in Bengal to entertain the troops before the Battle of Kohima and her host and lifelong friend Captain Bernard Holden recalled her courage and her contribution to morale. In 1985 it was announced that she would receive the Burma Star for entertaining British guerrilla units in Japanese-occupied Burma, Lynns Auf Wiedersehn Sweetheart in 1952 became the first record by a British performer to top the charts in the United States, remaining there for nine weeks. She also appeared regularly for a time on Tallulah Bankheads US radio programme The Big Show, Auf Wiedersehn Sweetheart, along with The Homing Waltz and Forget-Me-Not, gave Lynn a remarkable three entries on the first UK Singles Chart, a top 12
13.
Anne, Princess Royal
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Anne, Princess Royal, KG KT GCVO GCStJ QSO GCL CD is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession, behind her mother – then Princess Elizabeth – and elder brother and she rose to second after her mothers accession, but is currently 12th in line. Anne is known for her work, and is patron of over 200 organisations. Princess Anne has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987 and is its seventh holder, Anne was married to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, they divorced in 1992. They have two children and three grandchildren, in 1992, within months of her divorce, Anne married Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mothers equerry between 1986 and 1989. Anne was born at Clarence House on 15 August 1950 at 11,50 am, as the child and only daughter of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. She was the grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Anne was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950, by Archbishop of York, after the death of George VI, Annes mother ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. Given her young age at the time, she did not attend the coronation, the Company was active until 1963, when Anne went to boarding school. Anne enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, in 1968 she left school with six GCE O-Levels and two A-Levels. In the next couple of years, Anne started dating, in 1970 her first boyfriend was Andrew Parker Bowles, who later became the first husband of Camilla Shand. Following the wedding, Anne and her husband lived at Gatcombe Park and he was made acting captain by the start of 1974 when he was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. By 1989, however, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, the couple divorced on 23 April 1992. The Queen had offered Phillips an earldom on his wedding day, the couple had two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips. As female-line descendants of royalty, the children have no title despite being the grandchildren of a monarch, Anne became a grandmother on 29 December 2010 when Peter and his wife Autumn had a daughter, Savannah. On 29 March 2012, the couple had daughter, Isla. Annes third granddaughter, Mia Grace, was born on 17 January 2014 to Zara and her husband Mike Tindall. As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace on 20 March 1974, from a charity event on Pall Mall, the driver of the Escort, Ian Ball, jumped out and began firing a pistol
14.
John Grogan (politician)
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John Timothy Grogan is a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Selby between 1997 and 2010. Grogan is currently chair of the Mongolian–British Chamber of Commerce, born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, Grogan was educated at St Michaels RC College, a Jesuit school in Leeds and St Johns College, Oxford. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History and Economics in 1982 and he worked as a communications coordinator with the Leeds City Council from 1987 to 1994 before setting up his own conference business from 1996–7. He worked for the Labour Party in various capacities in both Leeds and Wolverhampton and he also acted as the Labour Party press officer in the European Parliament at Brussels in 1995. Grogan unsuccessfully contested the North Yorkshire seat of Selby at the 1987 general election against the Conservative MP Michael Alison and he again contested the seat for the second time at the 1992 General Election but was again defeated by Alison by 9,508 votes. Between the 1987 and 1992 elections, he stood unsuccessfully to become a Member of the European Parliament for York in 1989. Grogan was then elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for Selby. As the incumbent Alison had retired at the election, Grogan defeated the former Conservative MP for West Lancashire, Kenneth Hind and he made his maiden speech on 7 July 1997. He led the campaign to save the Selby Coalfield in 2002, although the campaign was unsuccessful a monument has since been erected in Whitehall. In the 2005 general election, he retained his seat with a majority of 467 votes. During his time as in parliament, Grogan served as a member of the Northern Ireland Select Committee from 1997 until 2001, in 2009 John Grogan gained national coverage for his campaign against the proposed options for the privatisation of Royal Mail. While serving as an MP, he campaigned for reform of the licensing laws. Grogan also campaigned for the protection of the rights of agency workers and he was also the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the BBC, Beer and Mongolia. While serving as the MP for Selby, Grogan also supported the building of a new by-pass for Selby, as well as a new hospital, in 2006, Grogan confirmed he would not contest the next general election after boundary changes were made to his Selby Constituency. During and after the 2009 expenses scandal, Grogan was criticised by The Daily Telegraph for claiming £150.00 on parliamentary expenses for English language tuition for a Malaysian intern. It was reported by the newspaper to have been in order for the intern to be able to understand his constituents Yorkshire accents, in 2013, Grogan was selected as the Labour candidate for Keighley for the 2015 general election. He lost to the Conservative candidate Kris Hopkins by a margin of 3,053 votes, Grogan lives in Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. He is a supporter of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Bradford City A. F. C and he is the honorary president of the University of York Labour Club
15.
Selby (UK Parliament constituency)
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Selby was a parliamentary constituency in North Yorkshire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election, the constituency existed from 1983 to 2010. This was a safe Conservative seat from 1983 to 1997 then became a Labour marginal for the remainder of its existence, 1983-1997, The District of Selby, and the District of Ryedale ward of Osbaldwick and Heworth. The constituency covered the district of Selby and the suburbs of the city of York. It included the University of York and the Drax and Eggborough power stations, following their review of parliamentary representation in York and North Yorkshire in the 2000s, the Boundary Commission for England created a new seat of Selby and Ainsty. The new seat consists of much of the former Selby constituency, list of Parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire
16.
Hugh Bayley
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After his studies in 1975 he became a District Officer and later a National Officer with NALGO until 1982. Bayley was elected as a Councillor in the London Borough of Camden in 1980, Bayley stepped down as a councillor and moved to York to take up a post as Research Officer in Health economics at the University of York from 1987–92. He was a lecturer in Social Policy at the University from 1986 until 1998, Hugh Bayley was nominated as the Labour candidate for York at the 1987 general election but was defeated by just 147 votes by the Conservative Conal Gregory. After the election, Hugh Bayley became a Health Economics Research Fellow at the University of York, Conal Gregory and Hugh Bayley again fought it out at the 1992 general election in York and this time Bayley won by a comfortable margin. After his election he made his speech on 7 May 1992. The name of the York constituency was changed and Bayley won a majority of over 20,000 at the 1997 general election, after the election, Bayley became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson, who lived near York. He was dropped from government after the 2001 general election and he was President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 2012 to 2014. He was also a Chairman of the Public Bill Committee, the City of York constituency was abolished in 2010, with Bayley being elected in the 2010 general election to represent the successor constituency York Central. A loyal backbencher, Bayley rarely voted against his party whip, at the outset of the 2010 parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow appointed Bayley as a temporary Deputy Speaker to serve for two weeks until the election of Deputy Speakers. On 5 December 2014, Bayley announced his intention to stand down as a Labour MP at the 2015 general election, Bayley was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for his services to parliamentary engagement with NATO. Sir Hugh was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in his student days, on 22 December 1984, in Camden, he married Fenella Jeffers from Nevis, they have a son and a daughter
17.
City of York (UK Parliament constituency)
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The City of York was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election and this constituency covered most of the city of York, though the outer parts of the city and local council area fell within the Selby, Vale of York and Ryedale constituencies. A borough constituency consisting of the city of York has been represented in every Parliament since the Model Parliament of 1295, until 1918, it returned two MPs, since then it has returned one. Until 1997, when its name became City of York with no boundary changes. Following their review of representation in North Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England recommended the creation of two new seats for the City of York. Both the City of York and Vale of York seats were abolished in 2010 and replaced by two new constituencies, namely York Central and York Outer
18.
ITV (TV network)
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ITV is a commercial TV network in the United Kingdom. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990 its legal name has been Channel 3, to distinguish it from the analogue channels at the time, namely BBC1, BBC2. ITV is a network of channels that operate regional television services as well as sharing programmes between each other to be displayed on the entire network. In recent years, several of companies have merged so currently the fifteen franchises are in the hands of two companies. With the exception of Northern Ireland, the ITV brand is the used by ITV plc for the Channel 3 service in these areas. In Northern Ireland, ITV plc uses the brand name UTV, STV Group plc, uses the STV brand for its two franchises of central and northern Scotland. The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, the act created the Independent Television Authority to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands, the first ITV network to launch was Londons Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the country was covered by fourteen regional stations. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. The ITV Network is not owned or operated by one company, since 2016 the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences, the last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. However, due to amalgamation of several of companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, all licensees have the right to opt out of network programming, however many do not due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing, in exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV in their region. UTV and STV previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, the broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4
19.
York
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York is a historic walled city at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The municipality is the county town of Yorkshire to which it gives its name. The city has a heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events in England throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city offers a wealth of attractions, of which York Minster is the most prominent. The city was founded by the Romans as Eboracum in 71 AD and it became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, and later of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jórvík. In the Middle Ages, York grew as a wool trading centre and became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England. In the 19th century, York became a hub of the railway network, in recent decades, the economy of York has moved from being dominated by its confectionery and railway-related industries to one that provides services. The University of York and health services have become major employers, from 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. In 2011 the urban area had a population of 153,717, the word York derives from the Latinised name for the city, variously rendered as Eboracum, Eburacum or Eburaci. The first mention of York by this name is dated to circa 95–104 AD as an address on a wooden stylus tablet from the Roman fortress of Vindolanda in Northumberland, the toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain because the language of the pre-Roman indigenous population was never recorded. They are thought to have spoken a Celtic language related to modern Welsh, in his Historia Regum Britanniae the 12th century chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, suggests the name derives from that of a pre-Roman city founded by the legendary king Ebraucus. Alternatively, the word already existed as an Old English word for wild swine. The Anglo-Saxon newcomers probably interpreted the part as eofor, and -rac as ric, while -um was a common abbreviation of the Saxon -heem. To them, it sounded as a home rich in boar, as is common in Saxon place names, the -um part gradually faded, eoforic. When the Danish army conquered the city in 866, its name became Jórvík, the Old French and Norman name of the city following the Norman Conquest was recorded as Everwic in works such as Waces Roman de Rou. The form York was first recorded in the 13th century, many company and place names, such as the Ebor race meeting, refer to the Roman name. The Archbishop of York uses Ebor as his surname in his signature, archaeological evidence suggests that Mesolithic people settled in the region of York between 8000 and 7000 BC, although it is not known whether their settlements were permanent or temporary. By the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, the area was occupied by a known to the Romans as the Brigantes
20.
Air Raid Precautions in the United Kingdom
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Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up in 1937 dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. It included the Raid Wardens Service that was to report on bombing incidents, every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties and liaison with police and fire brigades. From 1 September 1939, ARP Wardens enforced the blackout, with increased enemy bombing during the Blitz, the ARP services were central in reporting and dealing with bombing incidents. They managed the air raid sirens and ensured people were directed to shelters, from 1941 the ARP officially changed its title to Civil Defence Service to reflect the wider range of roles it then encompassed. During the war almost 7,000 Civil Defence workers were killed, in all some 1.4 million men and women served as ARP wardens during World War Two. The Civil Defence Service was stood down after the end of the war in Europe on 2 May 1945, in 1924 the Committee of Imperial Defence set up a subcommittee to look at what measure could be taken to protect the civil population from aerial attack. The new committee, known as Air Raid Precautions was headed by the then Lord Privy Seal, for the next ten years this committee looked into issues of new aerial weapons development and the possible impact on civilians. The use of gas attacks in the First World War played heavy on the decisions, every single person would need a gas mask which meant nearly 40 million would be required. Together with ideas around the building of air raid shelters, evacuations of people, with the rise of Hitler during the 1930s, a further Home Office committee, the Air Raid Precautions Department was created. From 1 April 1935 it was this department that was direct the British response to air defence. In April 1937 the Air Raid Wardens Service was created which aimed to seek some 800,000 volunteers, on 1 January 1938, the Air Raid Precautions Act came into force. This compelled all local authorities to begin creating their own ARP services, with the threat of war imminent in 1939, the Home Office issued dozens of leaflets advising people on how to protect themselves from the inevitable air war to follow. And to call in other services as required, central headquarters that received information from wardens and messengers and managed the delivery of the relevant services needed to deal with each incident. Often Boy Scouts or Boys Brigade members aged between 14 and 18 as messengers or runners would take messages from wardens and carry them to either the sector post or the Control Centre. Bombing would sometimes cut telephone lines and messengers performed an important role is giving the ARP services a fuller picture of events, trained to give first response first aid to those injured in bombing incidents. Casualties from bombing were taken to First Aid Posts or hospital by volunteer drivers, there were also stretcher parties that carried the injured to posts. The rescue services were involved in getting the dead and injured out of bombed premises, specialists to deal with and clean up incidents involving chemical and gas weapons. Following the destruction caused by the bombing of the City of London in late December 1940, all buildings in certain areas had to have a 24-hour watch kept
21.
Rationing in the United Kingdom
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Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. The UK also imported more than 50 percent of its meat, the civilian population of the country was about 50 million. To deal with sometimes extreme shortages, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing, to buy most rationed items, each person had to register at chosen shops and was provided with a ration book containing coupons. The shopkeeper was provided with food for registered customers. Purchasers had to take ration books with them when shopping, so the relevant coupon or coupons could be cancelled, in line with its business as usual policy during the First World War, the government was initially reluctant to try to control the food markets. It fought off efforts to try to introduce minimum prices in cereal production, when it did introduce changes, they were limited in their effect. In January 1917, Germany started using submarines to sink all ships headed to Britain in an attempt to starve Britain into submission, to meet this threat to the food supply voluntary rationing was introduced in February 1917. To facilitate the process, ration books were introduced in July 1918 for butter, margarine, lard, meat, for the most part, rationing benefited the health of the country. During the war, average energy intake decreased only three percent, but protein intake six percent, the government made preparations to ration food in 1925, in advance of an expected general strike and appointed Food Control Officers for each region. After the Second World War began in September 1939 the first commodity to be controlled was petrol, on 8 January 1940 bacon, butter and sugar were rationed. This was followed by successive ration schemes for meat, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, lard, milk, and canned and dried fruit. In June 1942 the Combined Food Board was set up to coordinate the world supply of food to the Allies, with attention to flows from the U. S. Almost all foods apart from vegetables and bread were rationed by August 1942, strict rationing inevitably created a black market. Almost all controlled items were rationed by weight but meat was rationed by price, fresh vegetables and fruit were not rationed but supplies were limited. Some types of imported fruit all but disappeared, many people grew their own vegetables, greatly encouraged by the highly successful digging for victory motivational campaign. In 1942 numerous children between five and seven years old had become used to wartime restrictions, when questioned about bananas, many did not believe such items existed. Game meat such as rabbit and pigeon were not rationed but were not always available, a popular music-hall song, written 20 years previously but sung ironically, was Yes. During the food rationing, British biologists ate laboratory rat and this was partly in response to increasing public concerns that luxury off-ration foodstuffs were being unfairly obtained by those who could afford to dine regularly in restaurants
22.
Women's Land Army
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The Womens Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars so women could work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls, the name Womens Land Army was also used in the United States for an organisation formally called the Womans Land Army of America. In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers, the Board of Agriculture organised the Land Army during the Great War, starting activities in 1915. Towards the end of 1917 there were over 250,001 -260,000 women working as labourers, with 23,000 in the Land Army itself, doing chores such as milking cows. 3 million men away to fight in the First World War Britain was struggling for labour, the government wanted women to get more involved in the production of food and do their part to support the war effort. This was the beginning of the Women’s Land Army, many traditional farmers were against this so the board of trade sent agricultural organisers to speak with farmers to encourage them to accept women’s work on the farms. One goal was to attract women who would act as models for patriotic engagement in nontraditional duties. However the uniform of the Womens Land Army included trousers, which many at the time considered cross-dressing, the government responded with rhetoric that explicitly feminised the new roles. As the prospect of war became likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain. In order to more food, more help was needed on the farms. The majority of the Land Girls already lived in the countryside but more than a third came from London, in the Second World War, though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, it was given an honorary head - Lady Gertrude Denman. At first it asked for volunteers and this was supplemented by conscription, so that by 1944 it had over 80,000 members. The WLA lasted until its disbandment on 21 October 1949. Land girls were formed to supply New Zealands agriculture during the war, city girls from the age of 17 and up were sent to assist on sheep, cattle, dairy, orchard and poultry properties. The Womens Land Army was the subject of, Angela Huths book Land Girls A film loosely based on Huths book, the Powell and Pressburger 1944 film A Canterbury Tale features as the female lead a Land Girl, portrayed by Sheila Sim. It also figured largely in, Series 3, Episode 3 of the ITV detective series Foyles War, the Womens Timber Corps worked in the forestry industry. Its members were known as Lumber Jills. During the First World War period a Good Service Ribbon was awarded to eligible women, the badge of honour was awarded in July 2008 to over 45,000 former Land Girls
23.
Women's Royal Naval Service
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The Womens Royal Naval Service was the womens branch of the United Kingdoms Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, wRNs included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics. Wrens were formed in 1917 during the First World War, on 10 October 1918, nineteen-year-old Josephine Carr from Cork, became the first Wren to die on active service, when her ship, the RMS Leinster was torpedoed. By the end of the war WRNS had 5,500 members,500 of them officers, in addition, about 2000 members of the WRAF had previously served with the WRNS supporting the Royal Naval Air Service and were transferred on the creation of the Royal Air Force. WRNS was revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, with an expanded list of allowable activities, at its peak in 1944 it had 75,000 people. During the war there were 100 deaths, one of the slogans used in recruiting posters was Join the Wrens—free a man for the fleet. It remained in existence after the war and was integrated into the regular Royal Navy in 1993 when women were allowed to serve on board navy vessels as full members of the crew. In October 1990, during the Gulf War, HMS Brilliant allowed the first women to serve on an operational warship. Female sailors are still known by the nicknames wrens or Jennies in naval slang, the WRNS had its own ranking system, which it retained until amalgamation into the Royal Navy in 1993. Ratings titles were suffixed with their trade, Wrens wore the same rank insignia as their male equivalents, but in blue instead of gold. The curls atop officers rank stripes were diamond-shaped instead of circular, from 1939, Wren uniform consisted of a double-breasted jacket and skirt, with shirt and tie, for all ranks. Junior Ratings wore hats similar to those of their male counterparts, senior Ratings and officers wore tricorne hats with a white cover. All insignia, including cap badges and non-substantive badges, were blue, the WRNS, A History of the Womens Royal Naval Service. Heath, Nick, Hacking the Nazis, The secret story of the women who broke Hitlers codes, TechRepublic, March 27,2015 Memoirs Thomas, Lesley, Bailey, love and War in the WRNS. Search and download the WW1 records of those who served in the Womens Royal Naval Service from The National Archives, Wrens Recruitment Poster Wrens Recruitment Poster 2 Women in the Royal Navy today Archived Page Association of Wrens
24.
Welding helmet
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A welding helmet is a type of headgear used when performing certain types of welding to protect the eyes, face and neck from flash burn, ultraviolet light, sparks, infrared light, and heat. Welding helmets are most commonly used arc welding processes such as shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding. They are necessary to prevent arc eye, a condition where the cornea is inflamed. Welding helmets can also prevent retina burns, which can lead to a loss of vision, both conditions are caused by unprotected exposure to the highly concentrated ultraviolet and infrared rays emitted by the welding arc. Ultraviolet emissions from the arc can also damage uncovered skin. In addition to the radiation, gasses or splashes can also be a hazard to the skin, the modern welding helmet used today was first introduced in 1937 by Willson Products. Most welding helmets include a covered with a filter called a lens shade. In most helmets, the window may be made of tinted glass, tinted plastic, with such electronic auto-darkening helmets, the welder no longer has to get ready to weld and then nod their head to lower the helmet over their face. In January 2004, 3M acquired all assets of Hornell, including the Adflo and Speedglas auto darkening helmets brand name, Speedglas helmets are now sold by 3M. In the 1970s and 1980s, Steve Mann introduced the Generation-1 and Generation-2 Digital Eye Glass, some of the early versions of this apparatus were built into welding helmets, and used for welding. See also, IEEE Technology & Society 31 and the supplemental material entitled GlassEyes, the device is an example of the full Virtuality Mediality continuum, on both the Virtuality axis and the Mediality axis, thus being able to implement, for example, Diminished Reality. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Mann invented high-dynamic-range imaging which combines multiple images to allow highlights, all welding helmets are susceptible to damages such as cracks that can compromise the protection from ultraviolet and infrared rays. In addition to protecting the eyes, the helmet protects the face from hot metal sparks generated by the arc, when overhead welding, a leather skull cap and shoulder cover are used to prevent head and shoulder burns. Green glass goggles are needed use for torch welding and also have ANSI standards, when viewing metal that is visibly hot for longer periods protection is needed for the eyes. While it seems to be low light the wavelengths are bright in non-visible spectrum and these are easier to see through and wear than helmets. In the United States, the standard for welding helmets is ANSI Z87. 1+ which specifies performance of a wide variety of eye protection devices. The standard requires that auto-darkening helmets provide full protection against both UV and IR even when they are not in the darkened state, the standard is voluntary, so buyers should confirm that the helmet is ANSI Z87.1 compliant
25.
7 July 2005 London bombings
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The explosions were caused by homemade organic peroxide-based devices packed into backpacks. The bombings were followed two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks that failed to cause injury or damage, the 7 July attacks occurred the day after London had won its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, which had highlighted the citys multicultural reputation. The train had left Kings Cross St. Pancras about eight minutes earlier, at the time of the explosion, the trains third car was approximately 100 yards along the tunnel from Liverpool Street. The parallel track of the Hammersmith & City line between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East was also damaged in the blast, the train had left Kings Cross St. Pancras about eight minutes previously. There were several other nearby at the time of the explosion. Two other trains were at Edgware Road, a train on platform 2. A third bomb was detonated on a 6-car London Underground 1973 Stock Piccadilly line deep-level Underground train, number 311, the device exploded approximately one minute after the service departed Kings Cross, by which time it had travelled about 500 yards. The explosion occurred at the rear of the first car of the train—number 166—causing severe damage to the rear of car as well as the front of the second one. The surrounding tunnel also sustained damage and it was originally thought that there had been six, rather than three, explosions on the Underground network. The bus bombing brought the total to seven, this was clarified later in the day. Police also revised the timings of the blasts, initial reports had indicated that they occurred during a period of almost half an hour. This was due to initial confusion at London Underground, where the explosions were believed to have been caused by power surges. An early report, made in the minutes after the explosions, involved a person under a train, while another described a derailment. A code amber alert was declared by LU at 09,19, as the tunnel contains two parallel tracks, it is relatively wide. The two explosions on the Circle line were able to vent their force into the tunnel. The Piccadilly line is a tunnel, up to 30 m below the surface and with narrow single-track tubes. This confined space reflected the blast force, concentrating its effect, earlier, the bus had passed through the Kings Cross area as it travelled from Hackney Wick to Marble Arch. At its final destination, the bus turned around and started the route to Hackney Wick
26.
Margaret Thatcher
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She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, and the first woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her The Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics, as Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. A research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959, Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and she became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation, flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies and she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in 1984. Thatcher was re-elected for a term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge was widely unpopular and she resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a peerage as Baroness Thatcher which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. After a series of strokes in 2002, she was advised to withdraw from public speaking. Despite this, she managed to pre-record a eulogy to Ronald Reagan prior to his death, in 2013, she died of another stroke in London, at the age of 87. Always a controversial figure, she has described as one of the greatest and most influential politicians in British history. Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13 October 1925, in Grantham and her father was Alfred Roberts, originally from Northamptonshire, and her mother was Beatrice Ethel from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned two grocery shops, Prior to the Second World War, in 1938 the Roberts family gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany. Thatcher was to describe this in her memoirs as among the significant events of her formative years, Alfred Roberts was an alderman and a Methodist local preacher, and brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church. He came from a Liberal family but stood as an Independent and he was Mayor of Grantham in 1945–46 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Margaret Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement, her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43, in her upper sixth year she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, but she was initially rejected and was offered a place only after another candidate withdrew. Her dissertation was on the structure of the antibiotic gramicidin, even while working on chemistry, she was already thinking towards law and politics
27.
Secretary of State for Defence
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Her Majestys Principal Secretary of State for Defence is an official within Her Majestys Government and head of the Ministry of Defence. The office is a British Cabinet level position, the post was created in 1964 as successor to the posts of Minister for Coordination of Defence and Minister of Defence. The position of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was a British Cabinet-level position established in 1936 to oversee, the position was established by Prime Minister Baldwin in response to criticism that Britains armed forces were understrength compared to those of Nazi Germany. Despite this, Baldwins choice of the Attorney General Sir Thomas Inskip provoked widespread astonishment, a famous comment made in response to Inskips appointment was This is the most cynical appointment since Caligula made his horse a consul. In 1939 Inskip was succeeded by First Sea Lord Lord Chatfield, in April 1940 the position was formally wound up and the functions transferred to other Ministers. Colour key, Conservative none The post of Minister of Defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence, the post was a Cabinet level post and generally ranked above the three service ministers, some of whom, however, continued to also serve in Cabinet. On his appointment as Prime Minister in May 1940, Winston Churchill created for himself the new post of Minister of Defence, the post was created in response to previous criticism that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of World War II. Colour key, Conservative Labour Labour Co-op none The post of Secretary of State for Defence was created on 1 April 1964
28.
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan
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John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan PC is a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010, and he was Health Secretary from 2003 to 2005, Defence Secretary from 2005 to 2006, and Home Secretary from 2006 to 2007. Born in Bellshill to working class, Roman Catholic parents, Reid first became involved in politics when he joined the Young Communist League in 1972. He later joined the Labour Party, working for them as a researcher before being elected to the House of Commons in 1987 as the MP for Motherwell North. He retired from politics in 2007 following Gordon Browns appointment as Prime Minister. He later stepped down as an MP in 2010, and was elevated to the House of Lords. Reid also took a role in the campaign for a No vote in the 2011 AV referendum. Reid was born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, to working class Roman Catholic parents and his grandfather was a staunch Church of Scotland Presbyterian and his grandmother a poor and illiterate Irish peasant. His mother, Mary, was a worker and father. Reid attributes his success to hard work and a good education, like his successor as Scottish Secretary, Helen Liddell he attended St Patricks Secondary School, Coatbridge. The headmaster of St Patricks, James Breen, was described as being driven by the belief that working class children could make good in their lives provided there was discipline. If we werent allowed in before 9 oclock, we werent going in after 9 oclock Reid is quoted as saying, eventually the Headmaster conceded and the strike ended. Leaving school at 16, Reid decided not to go to university but instead took a series of jobs, including work on an oil pipeline. It is this latter job that Reid quotes as opening his eyes politically, soon after this he joined the Labour Party. It was also around this time that Reids lifelong passion for history was kindled when his girlfriend, Cathie McGowan, bought him a copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. From 1979 to 1983 he was an officer for the Labour Party in Scotland. From 1986 to 1987, he was Scottish Organiser of Trade Unionists for Labour and he entered parliament at the 1987 general election as MP for the Motherwell North constituency. Reid was married to Cathie McGowan from 1969 until her death from a heart attack in 1998
29.
Nancy Wake
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Nancy Grace Augusta Wake AC, GM served as a British Special Operations Executive agent during the later part of World War II. She became a figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and was one of the most decorated servicewomen of the war by the Allies. After the fall of France in 1940, she became a courier for the French Resistance, by 1943, Wake was the Gestapos most wanted person, with a 5-million-franc price on her head. After reaching Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive, from April 1944 until the liberation of France, her 7, 000+ maquisards fought 22,000 German soldiers, causing 1,400 casualties, while suffering only 100 among themselves. Born in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand, on 30 August 1912, in 1914, her family moved to Australia and settled at North Sydney. Shortly thereafter, her father, Charles Augustus Wake, returned to New Zealand, in Sydney, Wake attended the North Sydney Household Arts School. At the age of 16, she ran away from home, with £200 that she had inherited from an aunt, she journeyed to New York City, then London where she trained herself as a journalist. In the 1930s, she worked in Paris and later for Hearst newspapers as a European correspondent and she witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement and saw roving Nazi gangs randomly beating Jewish men and women in the streets of Vienna. In 1937, Wake met wealthy French industrialist Henri Edmond Fiocca and she was living in Marseille, France when Germany invaded. After the fall of France in 1940, she became a courier for the French Resistance and later, in reference to Wakes ability to elude capture, the Gestapo called her the White Mouse. The Resistance exercised caution with her missions, her life was in constant danger, with the Gestapo tapping her telephone, in November 1942, Wehrmacht troops occupied the southern part of France after the Allies Operation Torch had started. This gave the Gestapo unrestricted access to all papers of the Vichy régime, by 1943, Wake was the Gestapos most wanted person, with a price of 5 million francs on her head. When the network was betrayed that same year, she decided to flee Marseille and her husband, Henri Fiocca, stayed behind. He later was captured, tortured, and executed by the Gestapo, Wake described her tactics, A little powder and a little drink on the way, and Id pass their posts and wink and say, Do you want to search me. God, what a little bastard I was. Wake had been arrested in Toulouse, but was released four days later, an acquaintance, managed to have her let out by making up stories about her supposed infidelity to her husband. On her sixth attempt, she succeeded in crossing the Pyrenees to Spain, until the war ended, she was unaware of her husbands death and subsequently, blamed herself for it. After reaching Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive, vera Atkins, who also worked in the SOE, recalls her as a real Australian bombshell
30.
AgustaWestland Apache
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The AgustaWestland Apache is a licence-built version of the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter for the British Armys Army Air Corps. The first eight helicopters were built by Boeing, the remaining 59 were assembled by Westland Helicopters at Yeovil, changes from the AH-64D include Rolls-Royce Turbomeca engines, a new electronic defensive aids suite and a folding blade mechanism allowing the British version to operate from ships. The helicopter was initially designated WAH-64 by Westland Helicopters and was later designated Apache AH Mk 1 by the Ministry of Defence, the Apache was a valued form of close air support in the conflict in Afghanistan, being deployed to the region in 2006. The Apache has been an object of controversy over the fitting of some munitions, such as cluster bombs and thermobaric weapons. Naval trials and temporary deployments at sea have proven the aircraft as a platform to operate from the decks of ships. British Apaches served in the NATO2011 military intervention in Libya operating from Royal Navy ships, the requirement for a new attack helicopter was identified by the British government in the early 1990s. In 1993, invitations to bid were issued, bids received included the Eurocopter Tiger, a modernised Bell AH-1 SuperCobra, the AH-64 Apache, the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, and the Agusta A129 Mangusta. Westland and the Apache was selected in July 1995, a contract for 67 helicopters was signed in 1996, in September 1998, Westland produced the first prototype WAH-64 Apache under licence from Boeing. The first nine Apache AH1s were authorised for service by the director of British Army Aviation on 16 January 2001, the 67th and final Apache was handed over to the British Army in July 2004. The helicopter fleets cost was around £3.1 billion, with a total acquisition cost of £4.1 billion, reliability had been questioned by US Apache operations, the entire fleet in the Balkans had been grounded due to serious tail rotor failures in 1999. In 1998, the Longbow radars development ran into problems regarding its weight, impact upon overall agility and these problems with key aircraft components, and fleets high cost, led to calls for its cancellation in 1999. When the requirement for the Apache had been formalised in the early 1990s, following the collapse and break-up of the Soviet Union, the concepts of flexibility and rapid response took precedence. Each squadron equipped with the Apache should have eight operational aircraft, the Westland Apache experienced delays in entering service due to complications with the modifications made for British service. These problems were corrected prior to entering service, a communications suite was installed. In 2002, government sources stated that full operational capability was set to be achieved by 2010, in 2005, an out-of-service date for the Apache was forecast at 2030, but the Army is looking at a capability sustainment programme that will extend their life to 2040. In August 2015, the UK requested through a Foreign Military Sale, in July 2016, the UK placed an order for 50 AH-64Es through the US Foreign Military Sales programme instead of upgrading their AgustaWestland-built AH-64s. Leonardo Helicopters will continue to lead the support the existing Apache AH1s until they are retired from service in 2023–24, several deviations were made to the standard Apache design used by the US and those exported to other countries. One major difference is the use of a pair of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 01/12 engines, the Rolls-Royce engine produces 1,565 kW vs.1,410 kW for the GE T700C engine
31.
Westland Sea King
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The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engines, British-made anti-submarine warfare systems, the Sea King was primarily designed for performing anti-submarine warfare missions. A Sea King variant was adapted by Westland as troop transport known as the Commando, in British service, the Westland Sea King provided a wide range of services in both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. The Sea King was also adapted to meet the Royal Navys requirement for an airborne early warning platform. As of 2014, the WS-61 Sea King remains in operation in Britain, as well as export customers, Germany, Norway, Egypt. Some operators have replaced, or are planning to replace, the Sea King with more modern helicopters, such as the NHIndustries NH90, on this matter, authors Jim Thorn and Gerald Frawley stated that, Despite appearances, Westlands Sea King very different aircraft from Sikorskys. Many of the differences between the Westland-built Sea King and the helicopter were as a result of differing operational doctrine. This resulted in a different crew arrangement, with operations being controlled by a rather than the pilot. The Royal Navy selected the Sea King to meet a requirement for an anti-submarine warfare helicopter to replace the Westland Wessex, the prototype and three pre-production aircraft were built by Sikorsky at Stratford, Connecticut and shipped to the United Kingdom to act as trials and pattern aircraft. The first of the SH-3Ds was initially fitted with General Electric T58s and, the other three were delivered from the docks, by road to Yeovil, for completion with British systems and Rolls-Royce Gnome engines. The first Westland-built helicopter, designated Sea King HAS1, flew on 7 May 1969 at Yeovil, by 1979, the Royal Navy had ordered 56 HAS1s and 21 HAS2s to meet the anti-submarine requirements, these were also configured for the secondary anti-ship role. The Westland Sea King was updated and adapted for numerous roles, subsequent variants include the HAS2, HAS5, changes from initial production aircraft included an expansion of the cabin and upgraded engines. One of the most extensively modified variants was the Westland Commando, the Commando had capacity for up to 28 fully equipped troops and had originally been developed to meet an Egyptian Air Force requirement. Several Royal Naval Air Squadrons have operated the Commando variant, such as 845 Naval Air Squadron,846 Naval Air Squadron and 848 Naval Air Squadron. In British service, the Sea King HC4 was deployed on operations in the Falklands, towards the end of the Sea Kings operational life, several HAS6s were repurposed by the removal of the ASW equipment, as troop transports. In 2010, the last of the UKs converted ASW Sea Kings to troop transports were retired, initial trials carried out with active Sea Kings found several advantages to the BERP rotor, including a longer fatigue life and improved aerodynamic characteristics. Subsequent Westland helicopters, such as the record-breaking Lynx and the AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin, Westland equipped later-built Sea Kings with the new composite rotors as well. Westland has produced a total of 330 Sea Kings, export customers include the Indian Naval Air Arm, the German Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Royal Norwegian Air Force
32.
Westland Lynx
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The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to the development of both battlefield and naval variants, the Lynx has the distinction of being the worlds first fully aerobatic helicopter with the ability to perform loops and rolls. In 1986, a specially modified Lynx set the current Fédération Aéronautique Internationales official airspeed record for helicopters at 400.87 km/h, in addition to a wide number of land and naval variants of the Lynx, several major derivatives have been produced. The Westland 30 was produced as a utility helicopter, it did not become a commercial success. The Lynx remains in production by AgustaWestland, the successor to Westland Helicopters, the initial design was started in the mid-1960s as a replacement for the Westland Scout and Wasp, and a more advanced alternative to the UH-1 Iroquois. The design was to be powered by a pair of Bristol Siddeley BS.360 turboshaft engines, in October 1969, the French Army cancelled its requirement for the Lynx, thus development work of the dedicated armed attack variant was terminated early on. The first Lynx prototype took its flight on 21 March 1971. In 1972, a Lynx broke the speed record over 15 and 25 km by flying at 321.74 km/h. It also set a new 100 km closed circuit record shortly afterwards, in 1986, the former company demonstrator Lynx, registered G-LYNX, was specially modified with Gem 60 engines and British Experimental Rotor Programme rotor blades. At this speed, it had a ratio of 2. Deliveries of production began in 1977. An improved Lynx AH.1 with Gem 41-1 or Gem 42 engines, the AH.5 led to the Lynx AH.7, which added a new tail rotor derived from the Westland 30, a reinforced airframe, improved avionics and defensive aids. An improved Lynx for the Royal Navy, the Lynx HAS.3, had Gem 42-1 Mark 204 engines, a transmission, a new flotation system. The Lynx HAS.3 also received various updates in service. A similar upgrade to the French Lynx was known as the Lynx Mk.4, in September 1974, the British and Egyptian governments initiated talks to establish a new Egyptian helicopter manufacturer. A separate agreement was formalised with Rolls-Royce to license manufacture the Lynxs Gem engines at the Helwan facility, however, this plan was ultimately aborted due to a lack of funds that had resulted from the collapse of the Arab Organization for Industrialization. Both Army and Naval variants were proposed, however, the project was ended in 1987 due to insufficient orders being placed. Only one Army Lynx-3 prototype was built, a development of the Lynx AH.7 with the wheeled undercarriage of the Lynx-3 was marketed by Westland as the Battlefield Lynx in the late 1980s
33.
Boeing Chinook (UK variants)
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The Boeing Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter operated by the Royal Air Force. A series of variants based on the United States Armys Boeing CH-47 Chinook, in March 1967 an order was placed for fifteen Chinook HC Mk1s, standing for Helicopter, Cargo Mark 1, for the Royal Air Force to replace the Bristol Belvedere. This original MK1 variant was to be based on the CH-47B, UK Chinook procurement ambitions were revived in 1978 with an announced requirement for a new heavy-lift helicopter to replace the Westland Wessex. Thirty Chinooks were ordered at a price of US$200 million and these helicopters, comparable to the CH-47C with Lycoming T55-L-11E engines, were again designated Chinook HC Mk1, and entered service in December 1980. Eight more Mk1s were delivered from 1984 to 1986 with the CH-47Ds Lycoming T55-L-712 turboshafts, the replacement of the Mk1s metal rotor blades with aluminium and glass fibre composite rotor blades saw these aircraft designated Chinook HC Mk1B. All surviving aircraft were returned to Boeing and updated to the Chinook HC Mk2 standard for further service within the RAF. The US Armys next generation Chinook, the CH-47D, entered service in 1982, the RAF returned their original Mk1s to Boeing for upgrading to CH-47D standard, the first of which returned to the UK in 1993. Three additional HC Mk2 Chinooks were ordered with delivery beginning in 1995, one Argentine CH-47C was captured during the Falklands War, and used by the RAF as a training aid. The rear fuselage was used to repair a crashed RAF Chinook in 2003. In 2006, the retirement dates for the Mk2 and Mk2A fleets were scheduled for 2015 and 2025 respectively, eight Chinook HC Mk3s were ordered in 1995 as dedicated special forces helicopters, which were intended to be low-cost variants of the US Armys MH-47E. The Mk3s include improved range, night vision sensors and navigation capability, the eight aircraft were to cost £259 million and the forecast in-service date was November 1998. Although delivered in 2001, the Mk3 could not receive airworthiness certificates as it was not possible to certify the avionics software. Unfortunately the procurement was a profoundly inept piece of procurement, Sir Peter Spencer, who as head of Defence Procurement inherited the project, said that, I mean, there were 100 essential requirements. One of them said to give protection against any missile coming from any direction, Spencer later commented, it is always hard to imagine why people think you would be able cost effectively to buy a bespoke requirement for a very small production run. The avionics were unsuitable due to risk analysis and necessary requirements omitted from the procurement contract. The Times claimed that the Ministry of Defence planned to perform software integration itself, without Boeings involvement, while lacking certification, the helicopters were only permitted to fly in visual meteorological conditions and subsequently stored in climate controlled hangars. The programme was estimated to cost £50–60 million, on 6 July 2009 the first of the eight modified Chinook HC Mk3s made its first test flight at MoD Boscombe Down as part of the flight testing and evaluation phase of the HC Mk3 reversion program. A programme to upgrade 46 Chinook Mk2/2A and Mk3 helicopters was initiated in December 2008, upgraded Mk2/2A and Mk3 aircraft will be redesignated Mk4 from Mk2/2a, and Mk5 from Mk3
34.
AgustaWestland AW101
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The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter used in both military and civil applications. It was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the UK and Agusta in Italy in response to requirements for a modern naval utility helicopter. Several operators, including the forces of Britain, Denmark, Norway and Portugal. It is manufactured at factories in Yeovil, England and Vergiate, Italy, licensed assembly work has taken place in Japan. Prior to 2007, the aircraft had been marketed under the designation EH101, the original designation was EHI01 but a transcription error of a handwritten note changed this to EH101 and the designation stuck. In 2000, Westland Helicopters and Agusta merged to form AgustaWestland, the AW101 first flew in 1987, and entered into service in 1999. The Royal Canadian Air Force operates a variant of the AW101, designated CH-149 Cormorant, another variant, designated VH-71 Kestrel, was developed to serve in the US presidential transport fleet, however, the program was cancelled. Civil operators also use AW101s in roles such as passenger and VIP transportation, the type has been deployed to active combat theatres, such as in support of coalition forces during the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. On 12 June 1981, the UK government confirmed its participation in the project, a major agreement, which secured funding for the majority of the EH101s development program, was signed by both the British and Italian governments in 1984. The first prototype flew on 9 October 1987, critics attacked the EH101 purchase as excessive and unnecessary after the Cold Wars end in the early 1990s. The EH101 controversy was seen as a factor in the 1993 Canadian federal election, the order was cancelled by the new Liberal government in 1993 resulting in a $470 million cancellation fee. Several pre-production aircraft were assembled during the late 1980s and early 1990s, flight tests were suspended for six months following the crash of the second pre-production aircraft on 21 January 1993. On 6 June 1993, the first EH101 flew with the Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322 turboshaft engine, nine prototypes were built to explore military and civil applications, including a heliliner configuration. In February 1995, Britain formally placed its first order for a total of 22 EH101s, the EH101 order was not without controversy, the RAF had declared its preference for an all-Chinook fleet, also, Boeing allegedly offered cheaper terms for the Chinook. RAF deliveries began in 1997, RN deliveries started the following year, in 2005, a team of AgustaWestland and Lockheed Martin was selected as the winners of the US VXX competition to replace the Presidents Marine One helicopters of the United States Marine Corps. A variant of the AW101, designated VH-71 Kestrel, was to be manufactured domestically and had proceeded into the testing stages. However the programme encountered significant cost overruns and political opposition, which led to the procurement being scrapped in June 2009, separately, the Marine Corps had also conducted studies into the adoption of the EH101 as a fallback option to the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor during the 1990s. Following the merger of Westland and Agusta to form AgustaWestland in 2000, there was no need for the separate EHI entity, in 2008, the volume of AW101 orders was reported as having filled production capacity in excess of the following five years
35.
Panavia Tornado ADV
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The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant was a long-range, twin-engine interceptor version of the swing-wing Panavia Tornado. The aircrafts first flight was on 27 October 1979, and it entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1986 and it was also previously operated by the Italian Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force. In this capacity, it was equipped with a radar and beyond-visual-range missiles. The follow-up F3 standard was the variant used by the RAF, as well as all Tornado ADV aircraft that were leased by the AMI. Ultimately, both the RAF and RSAF retired their Tornado ADV fleets, the type has been replaced in both services by the newer, multi-role Eurofighter Typhoon. The Tornado ADV had its origins in an RAF requirement, which called for an interceptor to replace the Lightning F6. The requirement for a modern interceptor was driven by the threat posed by the large Soviet long-range bomber fleet, however, the concept proved unattractive to the other European partners on the Tornado project, thus the UK elected to proceed in its development alone. In 1976, British Aerospace was contracted to provide three prototype aircraft, the first prototype was rolled out at Warton on 9 August 1979, before making its maiden flight on 27 October 1979 with David Eagles. The second and third development aircraft made their first flights on 18 July and 18 November 1980, during the flight testing, the ADV demonstrated noticeably superior supersonic acceleration to the IDS, even while carrying a full weapons loadout. The testing of the prototypes was greatly aided by the use of real-time telemetry being broadcast back to ground technicians from aircraft in flight, the artificial feel of the flight controls was lighter on the ADV than on the IDS. Various internal avionics, pilot displays, guidance systems and software also differed, the Tornado F2 was the initial version of the Tornado ADV in Royal Air Force service, with 18 being built. The ballast was nicknamed Blue Circle, which was a play on the Rainbow Codes nomenclature, production of the Tornado ADV was performed between 1980 and 1993, the last such aircraft being delivered that same year. A total of 165 Tornado ADVs were ordered by Britain, the majority being the Tornado F3, the Tornado F3 made its maiden flight on 20 November 1985. Enhancements over the F2 included RB, the F3s primary armament when it was introduced into service was the short-range Sidewinder and the medium-range Skyflash missiles, a British design based on the American AIM-7 Sparrow. In order to maintain the Tornado F3 as a platform up to its planned out-of-service date of 2010. This project, announced on 5 March 1996, involved many elements, including the integration of ASRAAM and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, additionally, pilot and navigator displays would be improved, along with the replacement of several of the onboard computer systems. The CSP would see the removal of a state of aircraft, various upgrades. The Foxhunter radar was a source of difficulties in the upgrade programme, the Tornado F3 was not able to exploit the full capabilities of either the AMRAAM or ASRAAM missiles
36.
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
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The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdoms lower chamber of Parliament. The office is held by John Bercow, who was initially elected on 22 June 2009. He was returned as an MP in the 2010 general election and was re-elected as Speaker when the House sat at the start of the new Parliament on 18 May 2010. He was again returned as an MP in the 2015 general election and was re-elected, unopposed, the Speaker presides over the Houses debates, determining which members may speak. The Speaker is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, the Speaker does not take part in debate or vote. Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the Speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, the Speaker has the right and obligation to reside in Speakers House at the Palace of Westminster. The office of Speaker is almost as old as Parliament itself, the earliest year for which a presiding officer has been identified is 1258, when Peter de Montfort presided over the Parliament held in Oxford. Early presiding officers were known by the title parlour or prolocutor, Edward III was frail and in seclusion, his prestigious eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, terminally ill. It was left to the son, a furious John of Gaunt. He arrested De la Mare and disgraced other leading critics, in the next, Bad Parliament, in 1377, a cowed Commons put forward Gaunts steward, Thomas Hungerford, as their spokesman in retracting their predecessors misdoings of the previous year. On 6 October 1399, Sir John Cheyne of Beckford was elected speaker, the powerful Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, is said to have voiced his fears of Cheynes reputation as a critic of the Church. Eight days later, Cheyne resigned on grounds of ill-health, although he remained in favour with the king, in such a situation, the influence of the speaker should not be underestimated. Sir Thomas More was the first speaker to go on to become Lord Chancellor, until the 17th century, members of the House of Commons often continued to view their Speaker as an agent of the Crown. As Parliament evolved, however, the Speakers position grew into one that involved more duties to the House than to the Crown, such was definitely the case by the time of the English Civil War. This change is said to be reflected by an incident in 1642. The development of Cabinet government under King William III in the late 17th century caused further change in the nature of the Speakership, Speakers were generally associated with the ministry, and often held other government offices. For example, Robert Harley served simultaneously as Speaker and as a Secretary of State between 1704 and 1705, the Speaker between 1728 and 1761, Arthur Onslow, reduced ties with the government, though the office did remain to a large degree political. The Speakership evolved into its modern form—in which the holder is an impartial and apolitical officer who does not belong to any party—only during the middle of the 19th century, over 150 individuals have served as Speaker of the House of Commons
37.
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
38.
United Kingdom general election, 2015
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The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons and it was the first general election at the end of a fixed-term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day, polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote as they won an outright majority. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservatives won 330 seats and 36. 9% of the vote, the British Polling Council began an inquiry into the substantial variance between opinion polls and the actual result. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw an increase in its vote share to 30. 4%. This was its lowest seat tally since the 1987 election, senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated. The UK Independence Party came third in terms of votes with 12. 6%, the Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 3. 8%, and held Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority, though did not win any additional seats. Labours Miliband and Murphy resigned, as did Clegg, Farage claimed that his resignation was rejected by his party, and he remained in post. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after an absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share. That renegotiation was followed by an in-out referendum a year later in June 2016, as a result, it is likely that this was the last general election to be held in the UK during its membership of the EU. There were local elections on the day in most of England. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, all British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament to seats in the House of Commons. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the first-past-the-post system, if one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government. If the election results in no party having a majority. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government, the next boundary review is now set to take place in 2018, thus the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies,533 are in England,59 in Scotland,40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland, in addition, the 2011 Act mandated a referendum in 2011 on changing from the current first-past-the-post system to an alternative vote system for elections to the Commons
39.
Women in World War II
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Women in World War II took on a variety of roles from country to country. World War II involved global conflict on a scale, the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable. The domestic roles of women are covered in Home front during World War II, the hard skilled labor of women was symbolized in the United States of America by the concept of Rosie the Riveter, a woman factory laborer performing what was previously considered mans work. By 1945, more than 2.2 million women were working in the war industries and they participated in the building of ships, aircraft, vehicles and weaponry. Women also worked on farms, drove trucks, provided support for soldiers. In the Allied countries thousands of women enlisted as nurses serving in the front-line units, thousands of others joined defensive militias at home and there was a great increase in the number of women serving for the military itself, particularly in the Soviet Unions Red Army. Several hundred thousand served in combat roles, especially in anti-aircraft units. The U. S. decided not to use women in combat because public opinion would not tolerate it, however 400,000 women served in uniform in non-combat roles in the U. S. armed forces,16 were killed by enemy fire. Many women served in the resistances of France, Italy, and Poland, other women, called comfort women, were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. Comfort women were women and girls forced into slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before. The name comfort women is a translation of the Japanese euphemism ianfu, ianfu is a euphemism for shōfu whose meaning is prostitute. Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, Burma, New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, a smaller number of women of European origin from the Netherlands and Australia were also involved. According to testimony, young women from countries in Imperial Japanese custody were abducted from their homes, in many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants, once recruited, the women were incarcerated in comfort stations in foreign lands. Australian women played a role in World War II than they had done in World War I. Many women wanted to play a role, and hundreds of voluntary womens auxiliary and paramilitary organisations had been formed by 1940. A shortage of male recruits forced the military to establish branches in 1941 and 1942. When war began to look unavoidable in the late 1930s, Canadian women felt obligated to help the fight, in October 1938, the Women’s Volunteer Service was established in Victoria, BC. Soon, all the provinces and territories followed suit and similar groups were emerged
40.
Richard Coeur de Lion (statue)
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Richard Coeur de Lion is a Grade II listed equestrian statue of the 12th-century English monarch Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, who reigned from 1189–99. It stands on a pedestal in Old Palace Yard outside the Palace of Westminster. The statue was first produced in clay and displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851, although the money was duly raised and the bronze cast of the statue was finally completed in 1856, a lengthy dispute delayed its installation for several years. The original idea had been to erect the statue as a memorial to the Great Exhibition and this prompted opposition, as did proposals to place it outside Charles Barrys newly completed Palace of Westminster. Various other locations to display the statue were initially considered before agreement was reached that it would be placed in Old Palace Yard, Marochettis preferred location. It was installed in October 1860, though it was not until March 1867 that it was completed with the addition of bronze bas-reliefs on either side of the pedestal. It narrowly escaped destruction during the Second World War when a German bomb dropped during the Blitz landed a few metres away, the pedestal and the horses tail were damaged and Richards sword was bent by the blast. In 2009, the Parliamentary authorities undertook a project to conserve, the statue was created by Baron Carlo Marochetti and is located in Old Palace Yard outside the Palace of Westminster, opposite Westminster Abbey in London. With its pedestal, it stands 9 metres high, showing King Richard I on horseback, the king is depicted wearing a crowned helmet and a chainmail shirt with a surcoat, and lifting a sword into the air. The horse paws the ground, as if preparing for a charge into battle, Marochetti described his work as being inspired by Richard I rather than accurately depicting a 12th-century knight. It stands on a granite pedestal designed by Marochetti and made by Freeman & Co. of Penryn. According to Marochetti, the two bas-reliefs were designed in the style of Lorenzo Ghibertis doors at the Florence Baptistry, bronze letters on the front of the pedestal bear the inscription RICHARD I CŒUR DE LION / 1189–1199. The great majority of the art in and around the Houses of Parliament is of British origin, Marochettis statue thus represents one of the few examples of a non-British artists work being selected for the Parliamentary estate. Marochetti was born in Italy and was ennobled by the Kingdom of Sardinia but lived and worked in France and he made his name by creating equestrian statues, one, of the Duke of Wellington, was erected in Glasgow in 1840. By the 1840s, however, his popularity in continental Europe was in decline, the French Revolution of 1848, which saw the final overthrow of the French monarchy, prompted him to resettle in London and seek new patrons among the British elite. It was certainly true that he benefited from the patronage of Queen Victoria and his courtly manners impressed Victoria on their first meeting in 1849, and soon afterwards he became involved with the Prince Consorts plans for what became The Great Exhibition of 1851. Several countries planned to display sculptures of historical figures in their contributions to the exhibition. The genre was common in mainland Europe but relatively rare in England at the time, the Italian sculptor was probably motivated by a sense of competition with the Belgian in designing his Richard I
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Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing Cross
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The equestrian statue of Charles I in Charing Cross, London, is a work by the French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur, probably cast in 1633. Its location at Charing Cross is on the site of the most elaborate of the Eleanor crosses erected by Edward I. Charing Cross is used to define the centre of London and a plaque by the statue indicates that road signage distances are measured from this point, the statue faces down Whitehall towards Charles Is place of execution at Banqueting House. The first Renaissance-style equestrian statue in England, it was commissioned by Charless Lord High Treasurer Richard Weston for the garden of his house in Roehampton. Following the English Civil War the statue was sold to a metalsmith to be broken down and it was installed in its current, far more prominent location in the centre of London in 1675, and the elaborately carved plinth dates from that time. The statue shows Charles I of England on horseback, with the wearing a demi-suit of armour. Across the chest is a scarf tied into a bow on the right shoulder, the king is holding a baton in his right hand, and the reins of the horse in his left. The statue was commissioned by Weston in January 1630, the contract, in French with an English translation, is thought to have been drafted by the architect Balthazar Gerbier, who was then building Putney Park, Westons country house in Roehampton. The statue was to be finished in 18 months but its execution was delayed, after the Parliamentary victory in the English Civil War the statue was sold to a metalsmith in the Holborn area by the name of John Rivet. Rivet received instructions from Parliament to break down the statue, but instead he hid it on his premises and it was purchased by the King and in 1675 was placed in its current location. The pedestal itself is made of Portland stone with a coat of arms, the work was completed by Joshua Marshall. On 28 October 1844, during the visit of Queen Victoria to open the Royal Exchange, the sword, during the Second World War the statue was removed by the Ministry of Works for protection, and was stored at Mentmore Park, Leighton Buzzard. Before being returned to its plinth in Whitehall, the Ministry carried out repairs on the statue, including adding a replacement sword. Additionally, a tablet was added to the base of the plinth. In 1977, the plinth was cleaned for the first time in three centuries, the work was conducted by the Department of the Environment and the department of conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum. As I was going by Charing Cross Bibliography Ward-Jackson, Philip, public Sculpture of Historic Westminster, Volume 1. Media related to Equestrian statue of Charles I, Charing Cross at Wikimedia Commons
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Statue of Charles II, Soho Square
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The statue of Charles II is an outdoor sculpture of Charles II of England by the Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber, located near the centre of Soho Square in London. The statue was once the centrepiece of an erected in the middle of the square in 1681, each corner of which had statues of river gods representing the Thames, Severn, Humber. The water, which was pumped by a windmill in nearby Rathbone Place and it appears to have been one of a number of works by Cibber that stood in the square. By the early 19th century, the statue was described as being in a most wretched and mutilated state, in 1875–6 the square underwent substantial changes to its layout, during which the badly deteriorated statue was removed and the fountain demolished. The statue was rescued by Thomas Blackwell of the condiment firm Crosse & Blackwell and he gave it to his friend, the artist Frederick Goodall, with the intention that it might be restored. The present half-timbered gardeners shed took the place at the centre of the square. Goodall installed the statue on an island in a lake at Grims Dyke, his house near Harrow Weald, he wrote that in the twilight it looks very mysterious and weird with its reflection in the water. The statue portrays Charles in a pose, left hand on hip, with his head turned to the right. He is shown wearing some body and thigh armour and a long cloak at the back. The low pedestal once had an inscription on it, but this became illegible as long ago as 1815, as the square was once called Monmouth Square, some people erroneously supposed the statue to represent Charles favoured illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. By the 1920s it was described as black with age, the pedestals decorative carvings comprise a crown in relief surmounting scroll motifs on the front and rear, with each side depicting a crown surmounting crossed sceptres and a decorative riband. Both the statue and pedestal are in poor condition and are eroded, especially around the face. The baton once held in the hand has disappeared. The statue is used as a major plot device/character in Patrick Marbers 2017 production of Don Juan in Soho starring David Tennant
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Statue of James II, Trafalgar Square
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The statue of James II is an outdoor bronze sculpture located in the front garden of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London, United Kingdom. Probably inspired by French statues of the period, it depicts James II of England as a Roman emperor, wearing Roman armour. It originally also depicted him holding a baton and it was produced by the workshop of Grinling Gibbons, though probably not by Gibbons himself. The statue has been relocated several times since it was first erected in the grounds of the old Palace of Whitehall in 1686, the statue is executed in bronze and depicts James II as a Roman emperor. He is shown standing in a pose and pointing downwards in great ease of attitude. It formerly held a baton in its hand, though this is now missing. The face is said to be an excellent depiction of the king, the statue was probably inspired by similar imperial portrayals of Louis XIV of France. The statue of James II was commissioned for the Palace of Whitehall, apparently at the time as the standing Charles II. It was produced in the workshop of Grinling Gibbons at a reported cost of £300, the James II was erected at the Palace of Whitehall on 24 March 1686, as recorded by a contemporary, Sir John Bramston the Younger. George Vertue, who found an agreement and a receipt of payment for the work, & Devoot who was imployed by. Gibbons, and that Thomas Benniere was involved in the casting, a series of five drawings in the British Museum, which might be for either the standing Charles II or the James II, is attributed variously to Gibbons or to Peter Van Dievoet. Its artistic qualities were praised by J. P. Malcolm in his 1803 history, London Redivivum, in which he wrote, There is but one fault in the figure, and that is the attitude. The King seems to point with a baton at the earth, to which his eyes are directed, surely this is an egregious error. James IIs statue has stood in several locations since it was first erected and it originally stood in the Palace of Whitehalls Pebble Court, where it was installed on New Years Day,1686. It was taken down after the Glorious Revolution but was replaced by order of William III, in 1898 it was moved to a location in the garden of Gwydyr House but was taken down four years later to make room for the stands for the coronation of Edward VII. During the Second World War it was put into storage at Aldwych tube station and it was relocated to its present site in 1947. The statue is listed by Historic England as a Grade I listed building,1686 in art Statue of James II – Trafalgar Square, London, UK at Waymarking. com
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