1.
Somerset
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Somerset is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset is a county of rolling hills such as the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park. There is evidence of occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement in the Roman. The county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, and later in the English Civil War, the city of Bath is famous for its substantial Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Somersets name derives from Old English Sumorsǣte, short for Sumortūnsǣte, an alternative suggestion is the name derives from Seo-mere-saetan meaning settlers by the sea lakes. The Old English name is used in the motto of the county, Sumorsǣte ealle, adopted as the motto in 1911, the phrase is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, but some hill names include Brittonic Celtic elements, for example, an Anglo-Saxon charter of 682 refers to Creechborough Hill as the hill the British call Cructan and we call Crychbeorh. Some modern names are Brythonic in origin, such as Tarnock, the caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Palaeolithic period, and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. Bones from Goughs Cave have been dated to 12,000 BC, examples of cave art have been found in Avelines Hole. Some caves continued to be occupied until modern times, including Wookey Hole, the Somerset Levels—specifically dry points at Glastonbury and Brent Knoll— also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by Mesolithic hunters. Travel in the area was facilitated by the construction of one of the worlds oldest known engineered roadways, the Sweet Track, the exact age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be Neolithic. There are numerous Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like Cadbury Castle, on the authority of the future emperor Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in AD47. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around AD409, a variety of Roman remains have been found, including Pagans Hill Roman temple in Chew Stoke, Low Ham Roman Villa and the Roman Baths that gave their name to the city of Bath. After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples, by AD600 they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands. The Saxon royal palace in Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot. After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs, Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was Englands oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2013, having opened in 1610. In the English Civil War Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, with key engagements being the Sieges of Taunton, in 1685 the Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset
2.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
3.
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
4.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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The first police force in England was formed in Covent Garden by Somerset born novelist Henry Fielding, in 1748. In 1835, Bristol and Bath became the first to create their own forces in the county itself. The original Bristol constabulary had 232 officers issued with a top hat, blue coat and this constabulary began certain practices that were eventually adopted country-wide, including recruiting female officers and photographing prisoners. Bridgwater and Chard followed with their own constabularies in 1839, with all forces being merged into the Somerset Constabulary in 1940 and it was the only force to provide a mounted escort for the Queen during her Royal Jubilee tour of Bristol in 1977. Avon & Somerset Constabulary provides service for approximately 1.5 million people, in January 2013, Port took the PCC to court to seek an injunction to block the interviews of candidates for the post of Chief Constable. In mid-May 2014, Gargan was suspended by Commissioner Mountstevens following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female officers, the enquiry into the allegations was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Gargan is reported by the Commissioner to have denied the allegations, during the period of Gargans suspension, the force was run by the Deputy Chief Constable, John Long. Records of the Bristol Constabulary and Avon and Somerset Constabulary are held at Bristol Archives, the constabulary is overseen by the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner, a new elected position which replaced the Avon and Somerset Police Authority in November 2012. The police and crime commissioner is scrutinised by the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Panel, the first police and crime commissioner, who was elected on 15 November 2012 and took office on 21 November 2012, is Sue Mountstevens. She had previously been a magistrate and a member of the police authority, the Portishead complex cost £31 million to construct and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1995. Avon and Somerset Police use a total of 41 police stations, targeted Patrol Teams responding to emergency calls. Traffic Units patrol the roads and target and pursue people committing traffic offences, criminal Investigation Departments detect serious crime Forensic Services investigate crime scenes for forensic evidence that may correspond with many of the Home Office databases. Pro-active Policing Units target persistent criminals and focus on specific operations, Dog Units are officers who patrol with dogs and respond to incidents where a police dog is required. The helicopter is staffed by officers of both forces and features various technology including thermal imaging, a spotlight and Global Positioning System. The aircraft has a time of two minutes. The helicopter can also be used as an air ambulance when required and this is now under the control of the NPAS. This collaboration also encompasses the Armed Response Units and Police Dog Patrols, the RPU has 55 cars and 28 motorcycles. The RPU has three bases, Almondsbury, Weston-Super-Mare and Taunton, Avon and Somerset Constabulary has a Support Group that specialise in very specific needs of investigations or missions, such as police divers, football match management and explosive searching
5.
Fire services in the United Kingdom
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The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty fire and rescue services, many FRS were previously known as brigades or county fire services, but almost all now use the standard terminology. They are distinct from and governed by an authority, which is the legislative, public and administrative body. Fire authorities in England and Wales, and therefore fire and rescue services, Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire and rescue services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. The devolved government in Scotland has an agency, HMFSI Scotland. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain,1947, Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire,1959, Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act, it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act,1999, Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of fire strikes. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the action still ongoing. Bains report ultimately led to a change in the relating to firefighting. 2002, Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, generally only applying to England and it came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises,2006, The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on Fire, promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation. But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries, There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee, in June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office, Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Cllr Brian Coleman and Cllr James Pearson from the Local Government Association, also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association
6.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
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It is the fifth largest fire and rescue service in the United Kingdom. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service was founded on 1 April 2007, following the merger of Devon Fire and Rescue Service with Somerset Fire, the Somerset service, previously known as Somerset Fire Brigade, was formed on 1 April 1948. Devon Fire Brigade was formed in 1973, by the amalgamation of Exeter City Brigade, Plymouth City Brigade and it became Devon Fire and Rescue Service in 1987. It is organised operationally into three commands, Central, Western and Somerset, the services main headquarters is located at Clyst St George near Exeter. Its main training centre is the Service Training Centre at Plympton fire station, the service employs approximately 1,983 staff, including 624 whole time firefighters and 46 control room staff,1,032 retained firefighters and 281 non-uniformed staff. Each county operated its own room until 2012 but they now have a single control room at Service Headquarters. These are areas that have identified as having a greater need for ambulance cover. The aim of a team is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle or an ambulance. Co-responder vehicles are equipped with oxygen and automatic external defibrillation equipment, Co-responder stations have a dedicated vehicle for Co-responder calls. The vehicle, known as the response unit, attends in place of the fire appliance. It is the link road to the south west from the Midlands. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service divide the M5 into sections so that the nearest appliances attend, the dockyard falls into the station ground of 48 Camels Head, and is backed up by 49 Crownhill. Each part of the dockyard is divided into risk areas - this then reflects in the level of attendance by the Fire Service, Hinkley Point is a headland on the coast of Somerset. It is the location of two power stations. Hinkley Point B is the active site. Hinkley Point has its own station, backed up by 67 Nether Stowey. There is a new nuclear power station that will be Hinkley Point C. Devon and Somerset use a variety of front-line and special appliances, operating from 85 fire stations, It has 121 fire engines and 64 special appliances, including aerial appliances, water carriers, incident command units, 4x4s and environmental protection units
7.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
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Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are also a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles. There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have also provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are also monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
8.
Shepton Mallet
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Shepton Mallet is a town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately 18 miles south of Bristol and 5 miles east of Wells and it contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council. The Mendip Hills lie to the north, and the River Sheppey runs through the town, Shepton Mallet lies on the route of the Fosse Way, the principal Roman road into the south west of England, and there is evidence of Roman settlement. The town contains a parish church and a considerable number of listed buildings. Shepton Mallet Prison was Englands oldest prison still in use until its closure in March 2013, Shepton Mallet is the closest town to the site of the Glastonbury Festival, the largest music festival in Europe. Also nearby is the Royal Bath and West of England Society showground which hosts the Royal Bath and West Show, the name Shepton derives from the Old English scoep and tun, meaning sheep farm, the Domesday Book of 1086 records a settlement known as Sceaptun. The current spelling is recorded at least as far back as 1496, the second part of the name derives from that of the Norman Malet family who took a lease from Glastonbury Abbey around 1100. The second L appears to have added in the 16th century. Domed pottery kilns, with pottery still in situ, were identified on the site of the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery in the century, suggesting military activity in the 1st. Several hoards of Roman coins ranging from the 1st to 4th centuries have also found, as well as over 300 fibula brooches, potsherds. In addition, a few isolated burials near the route of the Fosse Way were found during the 19th century, a lead coffin within a rock-cut grave was discovered at a site adjacent to the Fosse Way in 1988. This discovery, and the commercial development of the site by the landowner, Showerings. The grave was found to be part of a cemetery which contained 17 burials lying on a rough east-west alignment. Two other, smaller, cemeteries contained graves aligned north-south, possibly signifying pagan religious practices, One burial was within a substantial stone coffin which had been positioned beneath a mausoleum, the foundations of which remained. A copy of the amulet was presented to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, by the churches of the Diocese of Bath, coins minted across the Roman empire were also found. There is an amount of evidence of Saxon settlement in the town, including some Saxon stonework in the parish church of St Peter. According to some legends Indract of Glastonbury was buried in Shepton, the town fell within the Whitstone Hundred, and the hundred courts were held at Cannards Grave, a short distance to the south of the town. The Exeter Domesday Book records that, at the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, the site was held by one Uluert, and by Roger de Corcella at the time of the survey in 1086
9.
Glastonbury
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Glastonbury /ˈɡlæstənbri/ is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels,23 miles south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census, Glastonbury is less than 1 mile across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury. Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles west of Glastonbury, centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironsides coronation as King of England in 1016, the Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, the presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the village of Pilton. The Neolithic people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources, tree-ring dating of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC. It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world, the track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet. It extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, and a ridge of ground at Shapwick. The track is one of a network of tracks that crossed the Somerset Levels. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has determined that it was built along the route of an even earlier track. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some 3 miles north west of Glastonbury. The village was built in about 300 BC and occupied into the early Roman period when it was abandoned and it was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay. Sharpham Park is a 300-acre historic park,2 miles west of Glastonbury, the origin of the name Glastonbury is unclear but when the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called Glestingaburg. It may derive from a person or kindred group named Glast, upon arrival there he beholds a hovering mansion inhabited by handsomely dressed courtiers and King Gwyn on a throne of gold, holy water disperses the apparition. This is from Druid mythology, in which the mansion is made of glass so as to receive the spirits of the dead, accordingly, Williamson posits that the Tor was named after the glassy mansion of the dead
10.
Joseph of Arimathea
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Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical Gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after Jesus crucifixion. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with both Glastonbury, where he is supposed to have founded the earliest Christian oratory, and also with the Grail legend. According to John 19,38, upon hearing of Jesus death, this disciple of Jesus asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Joseph immediately purchased a linen shroud and proceeded to Golgotha to take the body of Jesus down from the cross, there, according to John 19, 39-40, Joseph and Nicodemus took the body and bound it in linen cloths with the spices that Nicodemus had bought. The disciples then conveyed the prepared corpse to the place previously bought for Josephs own tomb and this was done speedily, for the Sabbath was drawing on. Joseph of Arimathea is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, the traditional Roman calendar marked his feast day on March 17, but he is now listed, along with Saint Nicodemus, on August 31 in the Martyrologium Romanum. Eastern Orthodox churches commemorate him on the Third Sunday of Pascha and on July 31, many Christians interpret Josephs role as fulfilling Isaiahs prediction that the grave of the Suffering Servant would be with a rich man, assuming that Isaiah was referring to the Messiah. The Greek Septuagint text, And I will give the wicked for his burial, since the 2nd century, a mass of legendary detail has accumulated around the figure of Joseph of Arimathea in addition to the New Testament references. Francis Gigot, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, states that the details which are found concerning him in the apocryphal Acta Pilati, are unworthy of credence. Hilary of Poitiers enriched the legend, and Saint John Chrysostom, during the late 12th century, Joseph became connected with the Arthurian cycle, appearing in them as the first keeper of the Holy Grail. This idea first appears in Robert de Borons Joseph dArimathie, in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and this theme is elaborated upon in Borons sequels and in subsequent Arthurian works penned by others. Later retellings of the story contend that Joseph of Arimathea himself travelled to Britain and became the first Christian bishop in the Isles, the Gospel of Nicodemus, a text appended to the Acts of Pilate, provides additional details about Joseph. For instance, after Joseph asked Pilate for the body of the Christ, behold, I have put him in my new tomb, wrapping in clean linen, and I have rolled a stone to the door of the tomb. And you have acted not well against the just man, because you have not repented of crucifying him, the Jewish elders then captured Joseph, and imprisoned him, and placed a seal on the door to his cell after first posting a guard. Joseph warned the elders, The Son of God whom you hanged upon the cross, is able to deliver me out of your hands, all your wickedness will return upon you. Once the elders returned to the cell, the seal was still in place, the elders later discover that Joseph had returned to Arimathea. Having a change in heart, the desired to have a more civil conversation with Joseph about his actions. Joseph travelled back from Arimathea to Jerusalem to meet with the elders and he told them this story, On the day of the Preparation, about the tenth hour, you shut me in, and I remained there the whole Sabbath in full
11.
Smuggling
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There are various motivations to smuggle. Examples of non-financial motivations include bringing banned items past a security checkpoint or the removal of classified documents from a government or corporate office, Smuggling is a common theme in literature, from Bizets opera Carmen to the James Bond spy books Diamonds are Forever and Goldfinger. The verb smuggle, from Low German schmuggeln or Dutch smokkelen, apparently a frequentative formation of a meaning to sneak. Smuggling has a long and controversial history, probably dating back to the first time at which duties were imposed in any form, in England smuggling first became a recognised problem in the 13th century, following the creation of a national customs collection system by Edward I in 1275. Medieval smuggling tended to focus on the export of highly taxed export goods — notably wool, merchants also, however, sometimes smuggled other goods to circumvent prohibitions or embargoes on particular trades. Most studies of historical smuggling have been based on official sources — such as court records, according to Dr Evan Jones, the trouble with these is that they only detail the activities of those dumb enough to get caught. This has led him and others, such as Prof Huw Bowen to use records to reconstruct smuggling businesses. Grain smuggling by members of the elite, often working closely with corrupt customs officers, has also been shown to have been prevalent in East Anglia during the later 16th century. In England wool was smuggled to the continent in the 17th century, the principal reason for the high duty was the need for the government to finance a number of extremely expensive wars with France and the United States. The thievery was boasted about and romanticized until it seemed a kind of heroism and it did not have any taint of criminality and the whole of the south coast had pockets vying with one another over whose smugglers were the darkest or most daring. The Smugglers Inn was one of the commonest names for a bar on the coast, in Henley Road, smuggling in colonial times was a reaction to the heavy taxes and regulations imposed by mercantilist trade policies. After American independence in 1783, smuggling developed at the edges of the United States at places like Passamaquoddy Bay, St. Marys in Georgia, Lake Champlain, and Louisiana. During Thomas Jeffersons embargo of 1807-1809, these places became the primary places where goods were smuggled out of the nation in defiance of the law. Like Britain, a gradual liberalization of laws as part of the free trade movement meant less smuggling. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt tried to cut down on smuggling by establishing the Roosevelt Reservation along the United States-Mexico Border, Smuggling revived in the 1920s during Prohibition, and drug smuggling became a major problem after 1970. In the 1990s, when sanctions were imposed on Serbia. The state unofficially allowed this to continue or otherwise the entire economy would have collapsed, much smuggling occurs when enterprising merchants attempt to supply demand for a good or service that is illegal or heavily taxed. As a result, illegal trafficking, and the smuggling of weapons, as well as the historical staples of smuggling, alcohol
12.
Hanging
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Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck. Hanging has been a method of capital punishment since medieval times. The first account of execution by hanging was in Homers Odyssey, in this specialised meaning of the common word hang, the past and past participle is hanged instead of hung. Hanging is also a method of suicide in which a person applies a ligature to the neck and brings about unconsciousness. There are four ways of performing a judicial hanging, suspension hanging, the drop, the standard drop. A mechanised form of hanging, the upright jerker, was experimented with in the 18th century. Suspension, like the drop, causes death by using the weight of the body to tighten the noose around the trachea. Prisoners are reported to have little or no struggle before they go limp because their jugular vein and carotid arteries are blocked and blood flow to the brain is reduced. The short drop is performed by placing the condemned prisoner on the back of a cart, horse, or other vehicle, the object is then moved away, leaving the person dangling from the rope. A ladder was also used with the condemned being forced to ascend, after which the noose was tied. Another method involves using a stool, which the condemned is required to stand on, the executioner stands on a stepped platform approximately 4 feet high beside the condemned, and guides the head downward with his hand simultaneous to the efforts of his assistants. Nazi war criminal Karl Hermann Frank was also executed in this manner in 1946 in Prague and its use rapidly spread to English-speaking countries and those where judicial systems had an English origin. It was considered an improvement on the short drop because it was intended to be enough to break the persons neck, causing immediate paralysis. This method was used to execute condemned Nazis under United States jurisdiction after the Nuremberg Trials including Joachim von Ribbentrop and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. In the execution of Ribbentrop, historian Giles MacDonogh records that, The hangman botched the execution, a Life magazine report on the execution merely says, The trap fell open and with a sound midway between a rumble and a crash, Ribbentrop disappeared. The rope quivered for a time, then stood tautly straight and this process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced to Britain in 1872 by William Marwood as a scientific advance on the standard drop. The careful placement of the eye or knot of the noose contributed to breaking the neck, between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid decapitation. After 1913, other factors were taken into account
