1.
Transport for London
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Transport for London is a local government body responsible for the transport system in Greater London, England. Its head office is in Windsor House in the City of Westminster, the underlying services are provided by a mixture of wholly owned subsidiary companies, by private sector franchisees and by licensees. In 2015-16, TfL had a budget of £11.5 billion, the rest comes from government funding, borrowing, other income and Crossrail funding. On 21 January 2016, it was announced that the responsibility for franchising all of Londons inner suburban services would be transferred from the DfT to TfL. This transfer will take place as current franchises fall due for renewal, TfL was created in 2000 as part of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It gained most of its functions from its predecessor London Regional Transport in 2000, the first Commissioner of TfL was Bob Kiley. The first Chair was then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and the first Deputy Chair was Dave Wetzel, Livingstone and Wetzel remained in office until the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor in 2008. Johnson took over as Chairman, and in February 2009 fellow-Conservative Daniel Moylan was appointed as his Deputy, TfL did not take over responsibility for the London Underground until 2003, after the controversial Public-private partnership contract for maintenance had been agreed. Management of the Public Carriage Office had previously been a function of the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London Group Archives holds business records for TfL and its predecessor bodies and transport companies. Some early records are held on behalf of TfL Group Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives. After the bombings on the underground and bus systems on 7 July 2005 and they helped survivors out, removed bodies, and got the transport system up and running, to get the millions of commuters back out of London at the end of the work day. Those mentioned include Peter Hendy, who was at the time Head of Surface Transport division, and Tim OToole, head of the Underground division, carrying open containers of alcohol was also banned on public transport operated by TfL. The Mayor of London and TfL announced the ban with the intention of providing a safer, there were Last Round on the Underground parties on the night before the ban came into force. Passengers refusing to observe the ban may be refused travel and asked to leave the premises, the Greater London Authority reported in 2011 that assaults on London Underground staff had fallen by 15% since the introduction of the ban. In an effort to reduce sexual offences and increase reporting, TfL—in conjunction with the British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police Service, TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London, a position held by Sadiq Khan since May 2016. The Commissioner of Transport for London reports to the Board and leads a management team with individual functional responsibilities, the body is organised in three main directorates and corporate services, each with responsibility for different aspects and modes of transport. This network is sub-divided into three service units, BCV, Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines. JNP, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, SSL, Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines
2.
Oxford Circus station
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Oxford Circus is a London Underground station serving Oxford Circus at the junction of Regent Street and Oxford Street, with entrances on all four corners of the intersection. The station is an interchange between the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines and it is the busiest rapid-transit station in the United Kingdom, with 98.51 million entries and exits in 2014. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1, the Central line station opened on 30 July 1900, and the Bakerloo line station on 10 March 1906. The station was rebuilt in 1912 to relieve congestion, further congestion led to another reconstruction in 1923. Numerous improvements were made as part of the New Works Programme, to accommodate additional passengers on the Victoria line, a new ticket hall was built. The Victoria line station opened on 7 March 1969, including cross-platform interchange with the Bakerloo line, in the 1890s, the Central London Railway published a notice of a private bill that would be presented to Parliament for the 1890 parliamentary session. The bill planned a route between Shepherds Bush and Cornhill. These plans were accepted by both Houses of Parliament on 5 August 1891, the CLR employed the engineers James Henry Greathead, Sir John Fowler, and Sir Benjamin Baker to design the railway. The official opening of the CLR by the Prince of Wales took place on 27 June 1900, Oxford Circus station opened as part of the first section of the line, between Shepherds Bush and Bank. In November 1891, notice was given of a bill that would be presented to Parliament for the construction of the Baker Street. The railway was planned to run entirely underground from Marylebone to Elephant & Castle via Baker Street, the route was approved in 1900. Construction commenced in August 1898 under the direction of Sir Benjamin Baker, W. R. Galbraith, the works were carried out by Perry & Company of Tregedar Works, Bow. Oxford Circus was altered below ground following a Board of Trade inspection, at the end of 1905, the official opening of the BS&WR by Sir Edwin Cornwall took place on 10 March 1906. The first section of the BS&WR was between Baker Street and Lambeth North, then known as Kennington Road, a route was approved in 1955 with future extensions to be decided later, though funding for the construction was not approved by the government until 1962. Construction began in 1962 on the initial Walthamstow to Victoria section, the Victoria line platforms opened on 7 March 1969. The station opened as part of an extension from Warren Street to Victoria. Cross-platform interchange between the Bakerloo and Victoria lines was provided by constructing the Victoria line platforms parallel to the Bakerloo ones, on 23 November 1984, during renovation works, the station suffered a severe fire which burned out the northbound Victoria line platform. It is believed that the fire was caused by smoking materials being pushed through a ventilation grille into a storeroom where they set several materials on fire and this caused the Victoria line between Warren Street and Victoria to be suspended until 18 December the same year
3.
BBC Broadcasting House
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Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, the main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. As part of a consolidation of the BBCs property portfolio in London. This involved the demolition of post-war extensions on the side of the building. The wing was named the John Peel Wing in 2012, after the disc jockey, BBC London, BBC Arabic Television and BBC Persian Television are housed in the new wing, which also contains the reception area for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. The main building was refurbished, and a built to the rear. The radio stations BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service transferred to refurbished studios within the building. The extension links the old building with the John Peel Wing, the move of news operations from BBC Television Centre completed in March 2013. Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1928, programmes transferred gradually to the building. On 15 March 1932 the first musical programme was given by the bandleader Henry Hall, Hall also wrote and performed, with his Dance Band, Radio Times, the name of the BBCs schedule publication. The first news bulletin was read by Stuart Hibberd on 18 March, the last transmission from Savoy Hill was on 14 May, and Broadcasting House officially opened on 15 May 1932. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBCs civil engineer, the interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. The building is built in two parts, dispensing with the oft-found central light-well of contemporary buildings this size, the central core containing the recording studios was a windowless structure built of brick. The surrounding outer portion, designed for offices and ancillary spaces, is framed and faced using Portland stone. While the outer portion had plenty of windows, the core required special sound-dampened ventilation systems. There were two areas where right of ancient lights would cause height restrictions, Underground structures, including a hundred-year-old sewer, also presented problems during construction. The building is above the Bakerloo line of the London Underground, the Victoria line was tunnelled beneath in the 1960s, noise from passing trains is audible within the radio theatre, but generally imperceptible in recordings. The ground floor was fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street, the rapid expansion of the BBC meant this never occurred
4.
Marylebone
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Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, England, located within the City of Westminster and part of the West End. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone, Marylebone is roughly bounded by Oxford Street to the south, Marylebone Road to the north, Edgware Road to the west and Great Portland Street to the east. The area east of Great Portland Street up to Cleveland Street and this stream rose further north in what is now Swiss Cottage, eventually running along what is now Marylebone Lane, which preserves its curve within the grid pattern. The church and the area later became known as St Mary at the Bourne which, over time, became shortened to its present form. It is a common misunderstanding that the name is a corruption of Marie la Bonne, the manor of Tyburn is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a possession of Barking Abbey valued at 52 shillings, with a population no greater than 50. Early in the 13th century it was held by Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford. Tyburn manor remained with the Crown until the part was sold in 1611 by James I, who retained the deer park, to Edward Forest. Forests manor of Marylebone then passed by marriage to the Austen family, the deer park, Marylebone Park Fields, was let out in small holdings for hay and dairy produce. The Harley heiress Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley married William, 2nd Duke of Portland, such place names in the neighbourhood as Cavendish Square and Portland Place reflect the Dukes of Portland landholdings and Georgian-era developments there. In 1879 the fifth Duke died without issue and the estate passed through the line to his sister, Lucy Joan Bentinck. A large part of the area directly to the west was constructed by the Portman family and is known as the Portman Estate, both estates have aristocratic antecedents and are still run by members of the aforementioned families. The Crown repurchased the northern part of the estate in 1813, mansfield Street is a short continuation of Chandos Street built by the Adam brothers in 1770, on a plot of ground which had been underwater. Most of its houses are fine buildings with exquisite interiors, which if put on the market now would have a price in excess of £10 million. Immediately across the road at 61 New Cavendish Street lived Natural History Museum creator Alfred Waterhouse, Queen Anne Street is an elegant cross-street which unites the northern end of Chandos Street with Welbeck Street. The painter JMW Turner moved to 47 Queen Anne Street in 1812 from 64 Harley Street, now divided into numbers 22 and 23, the building is one of the finest surviving Adam houses in London, and now lets rooms. Wimpole Street runs from Henrietta Place north to Devonshire Street, becoming Upper Wimpole en route – the latter where Arthur Conan Doyle opened his practice at number 2 in 1891. Today, at the end of Wimpole at Wigmore can be found a sandwich shop named Barretts. Bentinck Street leaves Welbeck Street and touches the middle of winding Marylebone Lane, more recently, Cambridge spies Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess lived at 5 Bentinck Street during the Second World War
5.
Central London
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Central London is the innermost part of London, UK. Over time a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and it had a 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together and this was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. However, districts at the edge of this subregion such as Streatham, Dulwich. During the Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill, the first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics. It had an population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres. The area had an population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres. During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the used at the 1961 census. The population was estimated to be 270,000
6.
Robert Adam
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Robert Adam FRSE FRS FSA FSA FRSA was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam, Scotlands foremost architect of the time, with his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after Williams death. In 1754, he left for Rome, spending five years on the continent studying architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau. On his return to Britain he established a practice in London, here he developed the Adam Style, and his theory of movement in architecture, based on his studies of antiquity and became one of the most successful and fashionable architects in the country. Adam held the post of Architect of the Kings Works from 1761 to 1769, Robert Adam was a leader of the first phase of the classical revival in England and Scotland from around 1760 until his death. He influenced the development of Western architecture, both in Europe and in North America, Adam designed interiors and fittings as well as houses. He served as the member of Parliament for Kinross-shire from 1768 to 1774, Adam was born on 3 July 1728 at Gladney House in Kirkcaldy, Fife, although the family moved to Edinburgh later that same year. As a child he was noted as having a feeble constitution, in autumn 1743 he matriculated at Edinburgh University, and compulsory classes for all students were, the Greek language, logic, metaphysics and Natural philosophy. Students could choose three subjects, Adam attended classes in mathematics, taught by Colin Maclaurin, and anatomy. His studies were interrupted by the arrival of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders, at the end of the year, Robert fell seriously ill for some months, and it seems unlikely that he returned to university, having completed only two years of study. On his recovery from illness in 1746, he joined his elder brother John as apprentice to his father and he assisted William Adam on projects such as the building of Inveraray Castle and the continuing extensions of Hopetoun House. Williams position as Master Mason to the Board of Ordnance also began to generate much work, William Adam died in June 1748, and left Dowhill, a part of the Blair Adam estate which included a tower house, to Robert. On William Adams death, John Adam inherited both the business and the position of Master Mason to the Board of Ordnance. He immediately took Robert into partnership, later to be joined by James Adam, the Adam Brothers first major commission was the decoration of the grand state apartments on the first floor at Hopetoun House, followed by their first new build at Dumfries House. For the Board of Ordnance, the brothers were the contractor at Fort George. In the winter of 1749–1750, Adam travelled to London with his friend and he took the opportunity for architectural study, visiting Wilton, designed by Inigo Jones, and the Queens Hermitage in Richmond by Roger Morris. His sketchbook of the trip shows an continuing interest in gothic architecture. Among his friends at Edinburgh were the philosophers Adam Ferguson and David Hume, other Edinburgh acquaintances included Gilbert Elliot, William Wilkie, John Home and Alexander Wedderburn
7.
James Adam (architect)
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James Adam was a Scottish architect and furniture designer, but was often overshadowed by his older brother and business partner, Robert Adam. They were sons of architect William Adam, in 1755 James worked on Gunsgreen House in the Berwickshire town of Eyemouth. In 1758, Robert, James, and their younger brother William Adam started their business in London, focusing on designing complete schemes for the decoration and furnishing of houses. Palladian design was popular, but Robert had evolved a new, more flexible style incorporating elements of classic Roman design alongside influences from Greek, Byzantine and Baroque styles. The Adam brothers’ success can also be attributed to a desire to design everything down to the smallest detail and he then followed in Roberts footsteps by undertaking the Grand Tour, leaving in May 1760 to October 1763, when he arrive back in London. James succeeded Robert as Architect of the King’s Works in 1768 just before work on the brothers Adelphi project almost bankrupted the firm, from 1771-5 he was engaged with his brother in the design and building of Wedderburn Castle near Duns, Berwickshire. James emerged from his brothers shadow after Roberts death in 1792, designing several buildings in Glasgow, including the old Infirmary, Assembly Rooms. He also designed Portland Place in central London, however, his glory was short-lived — he died at his home in Londons Albermarle Street in October 1794. During their lifetime Robert and James Adam published two volumes of their designs, Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, courts of Justice and Corn Market, Hertfordshire, now Shire Hall, Hertford. Altered, but partially restored to original design, a joint project with Robert Adam. The Adelphi development, London mostly demolished 1930s, a ceiling & fireplace are in the Victoria and Albert Museum 7 Adam Street Gunsgreen House, Berwickshire Adam style
8.
Duke of Portland
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Earl of Portland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, first in 1633 and again in 1689. The title Duke of Portland was created in 1716 but became extinct in 1990 upon the death of the ninth Duke, the title of Earl of Portland was first created for the politician Richard Weston, 1st Baron Weston, in 1633. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1621 to 1628 and Lord High Treasurer from 1628 to 1635 and this title was also in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl and he served as Joint Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. His son, the third Earl, was killed at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665 and he was unmarried and was succeeded by his uncle, the fourth Earl. He was childless and on his death in 1688 the titles became extinct, the title was created for a second time in 1689 in favour of William Bentinck, the Dutch favourite and close advisor of King William III. He was made Baron Cirencester and Viscount Woodstock at the time he was given the earldom. He was succeeded in 1709 by his son from his first marriage, Henry and he represented Southampton and Hampshire in the House of Commons. In 1716 he was created Marquess of Titchfield and Duke of Portland in the Peerage of Great Britain and his grandson, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland was a noted politician. He was Prime Minister in 1783 and from 1807 to 1809 and also served as Home Secretary, in 1801 he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Cavendish. The third Duke was succeeded by his eldest son William Bentinck, the fourth Duke was also a politician and served as Lord Privy Seal in 1827 and as Lord President of the Council from 1827 to 1828. He married Henrietta, daughter of Major-General John Scott in 1795 and his eldest son and heir apparent, William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, Marquess of Titchfield, represented two constituencies in Parliament but died unmarried in 1824,15 years before his father. Portland was therefore succeeded by his son, William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck. The fifth Duke is remembered as a architect and engineer but eccentric. Charles first son, also named Charles, was a maternal great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1880, the sixth Duke also succeeded his stepmother as second Baron Bolsover. He was a Conservative politician and served as Master of the Horse from 1886 to 1892 and his eldest son William Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland was also a Conservative politician and served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1927 to 1929 and in 1932. However, the barony of Bolsover became extinct upon the death of the seventh Duke, the eighth Duke was a colonial administrator in British Kenya and served as Legislative Assembly of Kenya. The eighth Duke was childless and succeeded by his brother, Victor Cavendish-Bentinck
9.
Lord Foley
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Baron Foley is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Great Britain, both times for members of the same family. The first creation came in 1712 in favour of Thomas Foley and he was the grandson of the prominent ironmaster Thomas Foley and the nephew of Paul Foley, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Philip Foley. However, this became extinct in 1766 on the death of his son. He was a former Member of Parliament for Droitwich and Herefordshire and he was succeeded by his son, the second Baron. He also represented Droitwich and Herefordshire in Parliament and served as Postmaster General, on his death the title passed to his son, the third Baron. He notably held office as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in the Whig administration of Lord Grey and he was succeeded by his son, the fourth Baron. On the death of his son, the sixth Baron, in 1918. The late Baron was succeeded by his first cousin once removed and he was the grandson of General the Hon. Sir St George Gerald Foley, third son of the third Baron, as of 2012 the title is held by the seventh Barons grandson, the ninth Baron. He succeeded his father, a composer and pianist who held the title for 83 years, the family seat was Witley Court until this was sold to trustees for William, Lord Ward, later Earl of Dudley, in 1837. Edward Foley, second son of the 1st Baron, the heir presumptives heir is Foley baronets Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David. New York, St Martins Press,1990, Leigh Rayments Peerage Pages
10.
Carlton House, London
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Carlton House was a mansion in London, best known as the town residence of the Prince Regent for several decades from 1783. It faced the side of Pall Mall, and its gardens abutted St. Jamess Park in the St Jamess district of London. An existing house was rebuilt at the beginning of the century for Henry Boyle, created Baron Carleton in 1714, who bequeathed it to his nephew. Burlingtons mother sold it in 1732 to Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Prince had the house substantially rebuilt by the architect Henry Holland between 1783 and 1796. By the time the Prince Regent and Henry Holland parted company in 1802, Carlton House was a spacious and opulent residence, from the 1780s it was the centre of a glittering alternate court to that of the Princes parents at St James and Buckingham House. After 1811 when he became Prince Regent the house was altered and redecorated to suit an even amount of usage as a palace in all. In 1820, on the death of his father, George III and he deemed that Carlton House, the official royal residence of St. Jamess Palace and his parents Buckingham House were all inadequate for his needs. Some consideration was given to rebuilding Carlton House on a far larger scale, Carlton House was demolished in 1825 and replaced with two grand white stuccoed terraces of expensive houses known as Carlton House Terrace. The proceeds of the leases were put towards the cost of Buckingham Palace, when the Prince of Wales took possession in August 1783, Sir William Chambers was appointed as architect, but after a first survey, he was quickly replaced by Henry Holland. Both Chambers and Holland were proponents of the French neoclassical style of architecture, Holland began working first on the State Apartments along the garden front, the principal reception rooms of the house. There is an August simplicity that astonished me and you cannot call it magnificent, it is the taste and propriety that strike. Parliament appointed a commission to investigate the huge cost overruns at Carlton House, in May 1787, the Prince of Wales contritely approached his father, King George III, and persuaded him to provide the money to finish the house. When work resumed in the summer of 1787, with a budget of £60,000 to finish the house, it was with the assistance of many of the furniture makers. When completed, Carlton House was approximately 202 feet long, and 130 feet deep, visitors entered the house through a hexastyle portico of Corinthian columns that led to a foyer that was flanked on either side by anterooms. Carlton House was unusual in that the visitor entered the house on the main floor, from the foyer, the visitor entered the two story top lit entrance hall that was decorated with Ionic columns of yellow marble scagliola. Beyond the hall was a room that was also top lit. The octagonal room was flanked on the right by the staircase and flanked on the left by a courtyard. This suite of rooms was equipped with folding doors which provided an impressive enfilade when opened, besides the magnificent French decor and furniture, Carlton House was hung with a superb collection of works of art
11.
Regent's Park
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Regents Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It lies within north-west London, partly in the City of Westminster, the population of the Camden ward at the 2011 Census was 13,528. It contains Regents University London and the London Zoo, the park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The park has a ring road called the Outer Circle and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle. Apart from two roads between these two, the park is reserved for pedestrians. The south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash, Running through the northern end of the park is Regents Canal, which connects the Grand Union Canal to the former London docks. The northern side of the park is the home of London Zoo, winfield House, the official residence of the U. S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, stands in private grounds in the western section of the park. Nearby is the domed London Central Mosque, better known as Regents Park mosque, located to the south of the Inner Circle is Regents University London, home of the European Business School London, Regents American College London and Webster Graduate School among others. Primrose Hill is also the given to the immediately surrounding district. The public areas of Regents Park are managed by The Royal Parks, the Crown Estate Paving Commission is responsible for managing certain aspects of the built environment of Regents Park. The park lies within the boundaries of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, the Crown Estate owns the freehold of Regents Park. In the Middle Ages the land was part of the manor of Tyburn, in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII appropriated the land, and it has been Crown property ever since, except for the period between 1649 and 1660. It was set aside as a park, known as Marylebone Park. It was then let out in small holdings for hay and dairy produce, when the leases expired in 1811 the Prince Regent commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. However, most of the terraces of houses around the fringes of the park were built. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself, in some instances, the scheme is considered one of the first examples of a garden suburb, and continues to influence the design of suburbs. The park was first opened to the public in 1835. On 15 January 1867, forty people died when the ice cover on the lake collapsed
12.
Langham Place, London
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Langham Place is a short street in Westminster, central London, England. It connects Portland Place to the north with Regent Street to the south in Londons West End, there are several major buildings on Langham Place, including All Souls Church, Broadcasting House, and the Langham Hotel. Queens Hall was also here until its destruction in 1941 during World War II, the area is associated with the architect John Nash, although all but one of his original buildings have since been replaced. Starting from the north, these are, Broadcasting House is the BBCs headquarters and it was built in the 1930s in the Art Deco style, designed by the architect George Val Myer. Several of the BBCs national radio stations broadcast from the building, the New Broadcasting House extension, home of the BBC News Centre, was built in 2005, and first used for broadcasting in 2013. The Langham Hotel, on the west side of Langham Place, was built between 1863 and 1865 at a cost of £300,000 and it is one of the largest and best known traditional hotels in London. All Souls Church, just south of Broadcasting House, has a circular portico topped with a stone spire. Completed in 1823 and consecrated in 1824, All Souls is the surviving building in the area that was designed by John Nash. Queens Hall was a music concert hall. It opened in 1893 but was destroyed by a bomb during the Blitz in 1941. It is best known for being where the Promenade Concerts were founded by Robert Newman, with Sir Henry J. Wood,19 Langham Place was for a decade from the late 1850s the office of the English Womans Journal. Its premises included a room, a coffee shop, and meeting space for the initiatives which gathered around it, mainly to do with education. It served as a sort of counterpart to the clubs then so important in London. The magazine was funded by Helena, comtesse de Noailles. The so-called Langham Place group was the circle of like-minded women who gathered there, including Helen Blackburn, Jessie Boucherett and Emily Faithfull
13.
Prince Regent
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A prince regent, or prince-regent, is a prince who rules a monarchy as regent instead of a monarch, e. g. as a result of the Sovereigns incapacity or absence. Regents Park, Regent Street and Regents Canal in London were all named in honour of him. Nash, under the patronage of the HRH Prince Regent, planned a palatial summer residence for the Prince,50 detached villas in a parkland setting and elegant terraces around the exterior of the park. This was all part of a plan, to develop The Regents Park and lay out an elegant new street, Regents Street, to link it to St Jamess Park. This period is known as the British Regency, or just the Regency, the title was conferred by the Regency Act on February 5,1811. Subject to certain limitations for a period, the Prince Regent was able to exercise the powers of the King. The precedent of the Regency Crisis of 1788 was followed, the Prince of Wales continued as regent until his fathers death in 1820, when he became George IV. The years of Luitpolds regency were marked by artistic and cultural activity in Bavaria. Numerous streets in Bavarian cities and towns are called Prinzregentenstraße, many institutions are named in Luitpolds honour, e. g. the Prinzregententheater in Munich. Prinzregententorte is a cake with chocolate butter cream named in Luitpolds honour. At Luitpolds death in 1912, his son Prince Ludwig succeeded as Prince Regent, Ludwig held the title for less than a year, since the Bavarian Legislature decided to recognise him as king. Prince Charles of Belgium served as Prince Regent of Belgium from 1944 to 1950 during the German captivity and then exile to Switzerland of his elder brother, King Leopold III of Belgium. On 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war on the Kingdom of Bulgaria and on 8 September Soviet armies crossed the Romanian border, in the Kingdom of Swaziland, queen mothers have temporarily stepped in when the sovereign was either a minor or unable to reign for other reasons. More prince-regents are to be found in List of regents, crown Prince Frederick of Denmark served as regent from 1784 to 1808 for his father, King Christian VII of Denmark, who was insane. Prince William of Prussia served as regent from 1858 to 1861 for his older brother King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who had become mentally unfit to rule. Prince Dorgon of the early Qing dynasty served as regent for his nephew, Dorgon was instrumental in moving Manchu forces into Beijing in 1644, proclaiming the Qing dynasty to be the legitimate successor to the Ming dynasty. In Qing dynasty historical records, Dorgon was the first to be referred to as Shezhengwang, rameses The Great Prince Chun of the late Qing dynasty served as regent from 1908 to 1911 for his son Puyi, the Xuantong Emperor. Apart from Dorgon, Zaifeng was the person in Chinese history who was specifically referred to as Prince Regent
14.
John Nash (architect)
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John Nash was a British architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London under the patronage of the Prince Regent, and during his reign as George IV. Nash was also a pioneer in the use of the Picturesque in architecture and his best-known buildings are the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Buckingham Palace. Many of his buildings were built by the property developer James Burton, in return, Nash promoted the career of Burtons son, Decimus Burton, who assisted him with several of his designs and later became a famous architect in his own right. Nash was born during 1752 in Lambeth, south London, the son of a Welsh millwright also called John, from 1766 or 67, John Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor, the apprenticeship was completed in 1775 or 1776. On 28 April 1775, at the now demolished church of St Mary Newington, Nash married his first wife Jane Elizabeth Kerr, initially he seems to have pursued a career as a surveyor, builder and carpenter. This gave him an income of around £300 a year, the couple set up home at Royal Row Lambeth. He established his own practice in 1777 as well as being in partnership with a timber merchant. The couple had two children, both were baptised at St Mary-at-Lambeth, John on 9 June 1776 and Hugh on 28 April 1778. The claim that Jane had faked her pregnancies and then passed babies she had acquired off as her own was brought before the Consistory court of the Bishop of London. His wife was sent to Aberavon to lodge with Nashs cousin Ann Morgan, in an attempt at reconciliation Jane returned to London in June 1779, but she continued to act extravagantly so he sent her to another cousin, Thomas Edwards of Neath. She gave birth just after Christmas, and acknowledged Charles Charles as the father, in 1781 Nash instigated action against Jane for separation on grounds of adultery. The case was tried at Hereford in 1782, Charles who was guilty was unable to pay the damages of £76. The divorce was finally read 26 January 1787 and his career was initially unsuccessful and short-lived. After inheriting £1000 in 1778 from his uncle Thomas, he invested the money in building his first known independent works, 15–17 Bloomsbury Square, but the property failed to let and he was declared bankrupt on 30 September 1783. His debts were £5000, including £2000 he had been lent by Robert Adam, a blue plaque commemorating Nash was placed on 66 Great Russell Street by English Heritage in 2013. Nash left London in 1784 to live in Carmarthen, to where his mother had retired, in 1785 he and a local man Samuel Simon Saxon re-roofed the towns church for 600 Guineas. Nash and Saxon seem to have worked as building contractors and suppliers of building materials, Nashs London buildings had been standard Georgian terrace houses, and it was in Wales that he matured as an architect. He went on to design the prisons at Cardigan and Hereford and it was at Hereford that Nash met Richard Payne Knight, whose theories on the picturesque as applies to architecture and landscape would influence Nash
15.
Piccadilly Circus
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Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of Londons West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning circle, is an open space at a street junction. Piccadilly now links directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue, as well as the Haymarket, Coventry Street, the Circus is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a traffic junction has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place. It is surrounded by several buildings, including the London Pavilion and Criterion Theatre. Directly underneath the plaza is Piccadilly Circus tube station, part of the London Underground system, the street was known as Portugal Street in 1692 in honour of Catherine of Braganza, the queen consort of King Charles II of England but was known as Piccadilly by 1743. Piccadilly Circus was created in 1819, at the junction with Regent Street, around 1858 it was briefly known as Regents Circus. The circus lost its form in 1886 with the construction of Shaftesbury Avenue. The junction has been a busy traffic interchange since construction, as it lies at the centre of Theatreland and handles exit traffic from Piccadilly. The Piccadilly Circus tube station was opened 10 March 1906, on the Bakerloo line, in 1928, the station was extensively rebuilt to handle an increase in traffic. The junctions first electric advertisements appeared in 1910, and, from 1923, traffic lights were first installed on 3 August 1926. During World War II many servicemens clubs in the West End served American soldiers based in Britain, at the start of the 1960s, it was determined that the Circus needed to be redeveloped to allow for greater traffic flow. This concept was kept throughout the rest of the 1960s. A final scheme in 1972 proposed three octagonal towers to replace the Trocadero, the Criterion and the Monico buildings. The plans were rejected by Sir Keith Joseph and Ernest Marples, the key reason given was that Holfords scheme only allowed for a 20% increase in traffic. Piccadilly Circus has since escaped major redevelopment, apart from extensive ground-level pedestrianisation around its side in the 1980s. The Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus was erected in 1893 to commemorate the works of Anthony Ashley Cooper. During the Second World War, the statue atop the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain was removed and was replaced by advertising hoardings, Piccadilly Circus is surrounded by several major tourist attractions, including the Shaftesbury Memorial, Criterion Theatre, London Pavilion and several major retail stores
16.
Oxford Circus
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Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It is Europes busiest shopping street, with half a million daily visitors. It is designated as part of the A40, a road between London and Fishguard, though it is not signed as such, and traffic is regularly restricted to buses. The road was originally a Roman road, part of the Via Trinobantina between Essex and Hampshire via London and it was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages and was once notorious as a street where prisoners from Newgate Prison would be transported towards a public hanging. The first department stores in Britain opened on Oxford Street in the early 20th century, including Selfridges, John Lewis, unlike nearby shopping streets such as Bond Street, it has retained an element of downmarket street trading alongside more prestigious retail stores. The street suffered heavy bombing during World War II, and several longstanding stores including John Lewis were completely destroyed, the annual switching on of Christmas lights by a celebrity has been a popular event since 1959. However, the combination of a popular retail area and a main thoroughfare for London buses and taxis has caused significant problems with traffic congestion, safety. Various traffic management schemes have proposed by Transport for London, including a ban on private vehicles during daytime hours on weekdays and Saturdays. Oxford Street runs for approximately 1.2 miles, the eastward continuation is New Oxford Street, and then Holborn. The road is entirely within the City of Westminster and it is within the London Congestion Charging Zone. Numerous bus routes run along Oxford Street, including 10,25,55,73,98,390 and Night Buses N8, N55, N73, N98 and N207. Oxford Street follows the route of a Roman road, the Via Trinobantina, between the 12th century and 1782, it was variously known as Tyburn Road, Uxbridge Road, Worcester Road and Oxford Road. Despite being a major coaching route, there were several obstacles along it, a turnpike trust was established in the 1730s to improve upkeep of the road. It became notorious as the route taken by prisoners on their journey from Newgate Prison to the gallows at Tyburn near Marble Arch. Spectators drunkenly jeered at prisoners as they carted along the road, by about 1729, the road had become known as Oxford Street. The street began to be redeveloped in the 18th century after many of the fields were purchased by the Earl of Oxford. In 1739, local gardener Thomas Huddle began to build property on the north side, John Rocques Map of London, published in 1746, shows urban buildings as far as North Audley Street, but only intermittent rural property thereafter. Buildings began to be erected on the corner of Oxford Street, further development along the street occurred between 1763 and 1793
17.
Georgian architecture
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Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The style of Georgian buildings is very variable, but marked by a taste for symmetry and proportion based on the architecture of Greece and Rome. Ornament is also normally in the tradition, but typically rather restrained. In towns, which expanded greatly during the period, landowners turned into property developers, even the wealthy were persuaded to live in these in town, especially if provided with a square of garden in front of the house. There was an amount of building in the period, all over the English-speaking world. The period saw the growth of a distinct and trained architectural profession, before the mid-century the high-sounding title and this contrasted with earlier styles, which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system. Authors such as the prolific William Halfpenny published editions in America as well as Britain, mail-order kit homes were also popular before World War II. The architect James Gibbs was a figure, his earlier buildings are Baroque, reflecting the time he spent in Rome in the early 18th century. Other prominent architects of the early Georgian period include James Paine, Robert Taylor, and John Wood, the styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture—and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking worlds equivalent of European Rococo. John Nash was one of the most prolific architects of the late Georgian era known as The Regency style, greek Revival architecture was added to the repertory, beginning around 1750, but increasing in popularity after 1800. Leading exponents were William Wilkins and Robert Smirke, regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. In Britain brick or stone are almost invariably used, brick is often disguised with stucco, in America and other colonies wood remained very common, as its availability and cost-ratio with the other materials was more favourable. Versions of revived Palladian architecture dominated English country house architecture, Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from a distance. The height was usually highest in the centre, and the Baroque emphasis on corner pavilions often found on the continent generally avoided, in grand houses, an entrance hall led to steps up to a piano nobile or mezzanine floor where the main reception rooms were. A single block was typical, with a perhaps a small court for carriages at the front marked off by railings and a gate, but rarely a stone gatehouse, or side wings around the court. Windows in all types of buildings were large and regularly placed on a grid, this was partly to minimize window tax and their height increasingly varied between the floors, and they increasingly began below waist-height in the main rooms, making a small balcony desirable
18.
Terraced house
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They are also known in some areas as row houses or linked houses. Terrace housing can be throughout the world, though it is in abundance in Europe and Latin America. The Place des Vosges in Paris is one of the examples of the style. Sometimes associated with the class, historical and reproduction terraces have increasingly become part of the process of gentrification in certain inner-city areas. Yarmouth Rows in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk is an example where the building fronts uniformly ran right to the property line, Townhouses are generally two- to three-storey structures that share a wall with a neighbouring unit. As opposed to an apartment building, townhouses do not have neighbouring units above or below them and they are similar in concept to row houses or terraced houses, except they are usually divided into smaller groupings of homes. The first and last of these houses is called an end terrace, in Australia, the term terrace house refers almost exclusively to Victorian and Edwardian era terraces or replicas almost always found in the older, inner city areas of the major cities. Terraced housing was introduced to Australia from England in the century, basing their architecture on those in the UK, France. Large numbers of terraced houses were built in the suburbs of large Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne. Detached housing became the style of housing in Australia following Federation in 1901. The most common building material used was brick, often covered with cement render, many terraces were built in the Filigree style, a style distinguished through heavy use of cast iron ornament, particularly on the balconies and sometimes depicting native Australian flora. In the 1950s, many urban renewal programs were aimed at eradicating them entirely in favour of modern development, in recent decades these inner-city areas and their terraced houses have been gentrified. The suburbs in which houses are often found are often sought after in Australia due to their proximity to the CBD of the major cities. They are therefore sometimes quite expensive even though they are not the preferred accommodation style. The lack of windows on the side, the gardens. The lack of off-street parking that most have is also an issue for the majority Australians, terraced housing has long been a popular style in Paris, France. The Place des Vosges was one of the earliest examples of the style, in Parisian squares, central blocks were given discreet prominence, to relieve the façade. Terraced building including housing was used primarily during Haussmanns renovation of Paris between 1852 and 1870 creating whole streetscapes consisting of terraced rows
19.
The Blitz
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By September 1940—two months into the battle—faulty German intelligence suggested that the Royal Air Force was close to defeat at the hands of the Luftwaffe. The German air fleets were ordered to attack London, thereby drawing up the last remnants of RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation, Adolf Hitler and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, sanctioned the change in emphasis on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, one year into the war, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days, on 15 September 1940, a large daylight attack against London was repulsed with significant German losses. Thereafter, the Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of nocturnal attacks, ports and industrial centres outside London were also attacked. The main Atlantic sea port of Liverpool was bombed, the North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, was subjected to raids in the Hull Blitz during the war. More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, by May 1941, the threat of an invasion of Britain had ended, and Hitlers attention turned to Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The bombing failed to demoralise the British into surrender or significantly damage the war economy, the eight months of bombing never seriously hampered British production and the war industries continued to operate and expand. The German offensives greatest effect was forcing the dispersal of aircraft production, British wartime studies concluded that cities generally took 10 to 15 days to recover when hit severely but exceptions like Birmingham took three months. The German air offensive failed for several reasons, discussions in OKL revolved around tactics rather than strategy. Poor intelligence on British industry and economic efficiency was also a factor, in the 1920s and 1930s, air power theorists Giulio Douhet and Billy Mitchell espoused the idea that air forces could win wars, without a need for land and sea fighting. It was thought there was no defence against air attack, particularly at night, enemy industry, seats of government, factories and communications could be destroyed, taking away their means to resist. It was also thought the bombing of residential centres would cause a collapse of civilian will, democracies, where the populace was allowed to show overt disapproval of the state, were thought particularly vulnerable. This thinking was prevalent in both the RAF and the United States Army Air Corps, the policy of RAF Bomber Command became an attempt to achieve victory through the destruction of civilian will, communications and industry. In the Luftwaffe, there was a view of strategic bombing. OKL did not believe that air power alone could be decisive, contrary to popular belief, evidence suggests that the Luftwaffe did not adopt an official bombing policy in which civilians became the primary target until 1942. The vital industries and transport centres that would be targeted for shutdown were valid military targets and it could be claimed civilians were not to be targeted directly, but the breakdown of production would affect their morale and will to fight. German legal scholars of the 1930s carefully worked out guidelines for what type of bombing was permissible under international law. Wever outlined five points of air strategy, To destroy the air force by bombing its bases and aircraft factories
20.
City of Westminster
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The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough which also holds city status. It occupies much of the area of Greater London including most of the West End. It is to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it was created with the 1965 establishment of Greater London. Upon creation, Westminster was awarded city status, which had previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. Aside from a number of parks and open spaces, the population density of the district is high. Many sites commonly associated with London are in the borough, including St. Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, much of the borough is residential, and in 2008 it was estimated to have a population of 236,000. The local authority is Westminster City Council, the current Westminster coat of arms were given to the city by an official grant on September 2,1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had an identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington. The original arms had a portcullis as the charge, which now forms the crest. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England, in the mid-11th Century king Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct, Westminster briefly became a city in 1540 when Henry VIII created the short-lived Diocese of Westminster. Following the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, a court of burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, Jamess, Strand, Westminster, Pimlico, Belgravia, and Hyde Park. The Westminster Metropolitan Borough was itself the result of an amalgamation which took place in 1900. Sir John Hunt O. B. E was the First Town Clerk of the City of Westminster, the boundaries of the City of Westminster today, as well as those of the other London boroughs, have remained more or less unchanged since the Act of 1963. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard, five people - three pedestrians, one police officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. More than 50 people were injured, an investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors, Westminster City Council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 16 Labour Party members
21.
Harley Street
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Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, central London, which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Thomas Harley who was Lord Mayor of London in 1767, since the 19th century, the number of doctors, hospitals, and medical organizations in and around Harley Street has greatly increased. Records show that there were around 20 doctors in 1860,80 by 1900, when the National Health Service was established in 1948, there were around 1,500. The nearest Tube stations are Regents Park and Oxford Circus, Harley Street is part of the Howard de Walden Estate. Many famous people have lived or practised in Harley Street, including the Victorian Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, the artist J. M. W. Turner, queens College, founded in 1848 and one of the oldest girls schools in England, is situated on Harley Street. Masud Khan, notable Pakistani psychoanalyst, lived and worked from No.8, sir William Beechey lived at No.13. Sir Grantly Dick-Read lived and had his practice at No.23, Turner lived at No.64 from 1799 to 1805. Sir Stewart Duke-Elder lived & worked at No.63, Lionel Logue, from Australia, had his practice at No.146. He helped King George VI overcome his stammer with lessons here, stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh lived at No.86. George Frederick Bodley lived at No.109 from 1862 to 1873, harriet Harman MP QC, Labour politician, born at 108 Harley Steet. William Henry Giles Kingston, Victorian author of adventure novels, was born on Harley Street,28 February 1814. Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran, Winston Churchills personal physician, had a practice at No.29 during the 1920s and 1930s. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, had his first London residence in Harley Street, John St. John Long, a famous quack, practiced in Harley Street from 1827–1834. Sir James Galloway, dermatologist, practised at No
22.
George Grey Wornum
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George Grey Wornum was a British architect. Grey Wornum was born in London and educated at Bradfield College and he studied architecture under the guidance of his uncle, Ralph Selden Wornum. Badly wounded in the First World War he suffered leg injuries and the loss of his right eye and he married the American designer Miriam Alice Gerstle in 1923. In his later years he spent some time in Bermuda for health reasons and he died in New York City and was named CBE in the Birthday Honours list published two days after his death. Wornum was winner of the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1952 and his notability rests upon his design of the RIBA Building, the Royal Institute of British Architects Headquarters at 66 Portland Place, London. Wornums entry was judged the best of 3600 in the competition for a new RIBA headquarters, completed in 1934, the building was opened by King George V and Queen Mary. His work for Westminster Council included municipal buildings and a simple, stylish design of lamp post and his most notable work outside the UK is the English Girls College, founded in 1935 and now known as the El Nasr Girls College in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1936 he was asked by the Cities of Westminster and London to co-ordinate the street decorations for the Coronation of Edward VIII, the planning was disrupted when the new King abdicated. Modifications to the plans were made for the coronation of King George VI
23.
Royal Institute of British Architects
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After the grant of the royal charter it had become known as the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, eventually dropping the reference to London in 1892. In 1934, it moved to its current headquarters on Portland Place, with the building being opened by King George V and it was granted its Royal Charter in 1837 under King William IV. Supplemental Charters of 1887,1909 and 1925 were replaced by a single Charter in 1971, any revisions to the Charter or Byelaws require the Privy Councils approval. The design of the Institutes Mycenean lions medal and the motto ‘Usui civium, decori urbium has been attributed to Thomas Leverton Donaldson and it was again redesigned in 1931 by Eric Gill and in 1960 by Joan Hassall. His School, Liverpool, was one of the twenty schools named for the purpose of constituting the statutory Board of Architectural Education when the 1931 Act was passed. The RIBA Guide to its Archive and History has a section on the Statutory registration of architects with an extending from a draft bill of 1887 to one of 1969. This led to proposals for reconstituting ARCUK, eventually, in the 1990s, before proceeding, the government issued a consultation paper Reform of Architects Registration. RIBA Visiting Boards continue to assess courses for exemption from the RIBAs examinations in architecture, under arrangements made in 2011 the validation criteria are jointly held by the RIBA and the Architects Registration Board, but unlike the ARB, the RIBA also validates courses outside the UK. The RIBA is an organisation, with 44,000 members. Chartered Members are entitled to call themselves chartered architects and to append the post-nominals RIBA after their name, formerly, fellowships of the institute were granted, although no longer, those who continue to hold this title instead add FRIBA. Members gain access to all the services and receive its monthly magazine. The RIBA has been recognised as a business Superbrand since 2008, RIBA is based at 66 Portland Place, London—a 1930s Grade II* listed building designed by architect George Grey Wornum with sculptures by Edward Bainbridge Copnall and James Woodford. Parts of the London building are open to the public, including the Library and it has a large architectural bookshop, a café, restaurant and lecture theatres. Rooms are hired out for events, the Institute also maintains a dozen regional offices around the United Kingdom, it opened its first regional office for the East of England at Cambridge in 1966. It employs over 250 staff, approximately 180 of whom are based in Newcastle and its services include RIBA Insight, RIBA Appointments, and RIBA Publishing. It publishes the RIBA Product Selector and RIBA Journal, in Newcastle is the NBS, the National Building Specification, which has 130 staff and deals with the building regulations and the Construction Information Service. RIBA Bookshops, which operates online and at 66 Portland Place, is part of RIBA Enterprises. The British Architectural Library, sometimes referred to as the RIBA Library, was established in 1834 upon the founding of the institute with donations from members
24.
Embassy of the People's Republic of China, London
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The Embassy of China in London is the diplomatic mission of China in the United Kingdom. The Embassy in London is Chinas only embassy in the UK, established in 1877 as the Chinese Legation, the London mission was Chinas first permanent overseas diplomatic mission. It has served as the mission of the Qing Empire, Republic of China. It was the location of the Qing Empires detention of Sun Yat-sen, most applications by UK citizens for visas to China are not handled by the embassy, however, but are instead processed by the China Visa Applications Centre, also located in London. There is a constant police presence outside the embassy, there has been a Falun Gong protestor sitting opposite the embassy for many years, this is referenced in the novel Saturday by Ian McEwan. The Chinese Legation in London was established at 49 Portland Place in 1877 by the Qing Empire, as part of the settlement of the Margary Affair, the Qing Empire was required to send an Imperial commissioner to London to apologise in person to Queen Victoria. Guo Songtao, Deputy Minister of Arms, was appointed Minister to Britain and Minister to France in 1876, guo arrived at Southampton on 12 January 1877. The Legation was the location of the detention of Sun Yat-sen, suns detention sparked a major diplomatic incident, but he was eventually released with the help of his friend James Cantlie. After the 1911 revolution, the Republic of China was established on 1 January 1912 and was recognised by the British government as the government of China on 6 October 1913. The Republic of China government took over the building from the Qing government, in 1926, the Chinese government leased the adjoining 51 Portland Place as well, and obtained a 999-year lease on both No.49 and No.51. In 1935, the level of Chinese diplomatic representation in Britain was upgraded, British authorities agreed to a Chinese request to demolish the buildings and rebuild them as a single building with a sympathetic façade in 1973. The buildings were demolished in 1980, rebuilding took place between 1983 and 1985, the new building, while sympathetic to the original, retains only one doorway in place of the two doorways of the two houses it replaced. On 3 June 2014, members of staff at the Chinese embassy in London reacted angrily when people arrived to lay flowers to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. List of diplomatic missions of China Taipei Representative Office in the U. K. Embassy of the United Kingdom, Beijing Official website http, //www. chineseembassylondon. co. uk/
25.
Falun Gong
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Through moral rectitude and the practice of meditation, practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to eliminate attachments, and ultimately to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Falun Gong was first taught publicly in Northeast China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi and it emerged toward the end of Chinas qigong boom—a period which saw the proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving exercises and regulated breathing. It differs from other schools in its absence of fees or formal membership, lack of daily rituals of worship, its greater emphasis on morality. Western academics have described Falun Gong as a discipline, a spiritual movement. By 1999, government estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million and this demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the persecution that followed. On 20 July 1999, the Communist Party leadership initiated a nationwide crackdown and it blocked Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a heretical organization that threatened social stability. As of 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had died as a result of abuse in custody, some observers put the number much higher, and report that tens of thousands may have been killed to supply Chinas organ transplant industry. In the years since the persecution began, Falun Gong practitioners have become active in advocating for human rights in China. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi has lived in the United States since 1996, inside China, estimates suggest that tens of millions continued to practice Falun Gong in spite of the persecution. Hundreds of thousands are estimated to practice Falun Gong outside China in over 70 countries worldwide, Falun Gong is most frequently identified with the qigong movement in China. Qigong is a term that refers to a variety of practices involving slow movement, meditation. Qigong-like exercises have historically practiced by Buddhist monks, Daoist martial artists, and Confucian scholars as a means of spiritual, moral. The modern qigong movement emerged in the early 1950s, when Communist cadres embraced the techniques as a way to improve health, the new term was constructed to avoid association with religious practices, which were prone to being labeled as feudal superstition and persecuted during the Maoist era. Early adopters of qigong eschewed its religious overtones and regarded qigong principally as a branch of Chinese medicine, in the late 1970s, Chinese scientists purported to have discovered the material existence of the qi energy which qigong seeks to harness. At one time, over 2,000 disciplines of qigong were being taught, the state-run China Qigong Science Research Society was established in 1985 to oversee and administer the movement. On 13 May 1992, Li Hongzhi gave his first public seminar on Falun Gong in the city of Changchun. Falun Dafa is said to be the result of his reorganizing and writing down the teachings that were passed to him, the practice identifies with the Buddhist School but also draws on concepts and language found in Taoism and Confucianism. This has led scholars to label the practice as a syncretic faith
26.
Polish Embassy, London
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The Embassy of Poland in London is the diplomatic mission of Poland in the United Kingdom. It is located on Portland Place next to the High Commission of Kenya building and it forms part of a group of Grade II* listed buildings in Portland Place. However, with newly-restored independence, the government instead concentrated on shoring up good relations with traditional ally France. As a result of focus, it was not until 1929 that the first Polish legation was sent to establish a permanent embassy in London. The establishment of this Polish embassy building in London would go on to one of the most important roles of Polands history. Thus, much of the bureaucracy surrounding these pre-war pacts found itself centred in the halls and corridors of number 47, Portland Place. The embassy soon had to acquire a number of buildings throughout the city in order to house the large number of diplomats. For a long time, this building represented democratic Poland, fighting for its freedom, the Sikorski Institute and Museum is a Polish cultural information centre and the embassys section for the promotion of Polish tourism, culture and history. To this end the institute also includes, at its South Kensington site, the museum is largely dedicated to Polish military history and includes a large number of exhibits relating to the time spent by the Polish authorities as the Polish Government in Exile in London. Other Polish embassy sections in London include the Consular, Economic & Commercial Sections, all located at 73 New Cavendish Street, Fitzrovia just around the corner from the main embassy building. This section of the deals with all documentation for foreigners requiring a visa or other permission whose intent it is to travel to Poland or the Schengen area. The Polish Cultural Institute was formerly located at 52-53 Poland Street, Soho
27.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
28.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
29.
Institution of Chemical Engineers
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The Institution of Chemical Engineers is a global professional engineering institution with over 44,000 members in over 120 countries worldwide, founded in 1922, and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. It has offices in Rugby, London, Melbourne, Wellington, New Zealand, Kuala Lumpur and it is licensed by the Science Council to grant the status of Chartered Scientist and Registered Science Technician. It is licensed by the Society for the Environment to grant the status of Chartered Environmentalist and it is a member of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. It accredits chemical engineering courses in 25 countries worldwide. The mission of this organisation is to build and support a community, IChemE has two main types of membership, qualified and non-qualified, with the technician member grade being available in both categories. Fellow - A chemical engineering professional in a senior position in industry and/or academia. Entitling the holder to the post-nominal FIChemE and is a chartered grade encompassing all the privileges of Chartered Member grade, Chartered Member - Internationally recognised level of professional and academic competence requiring at least 4 years of field experience and a bachelors degree with honours. Entitles the holder to the post-nominal MIChemE and registration as one or a combination of, Chartered Engineer, Chartered Scientist and this also entitles the individual to register as a European Engineer with the pre-nominal Eur Ing. Associate Member - This grade is for professionals who are qualified in chemical & process engineering to bachelors with honours level or a higher. Typically this is the held by those working towards Chartered Member level or those graduates working other fields. This grade entitles the holder to the post-nominal AMIChemE and this grade can also lead to the grade of Incorporated Engineer for those with some field experience but which falls short of the level required for Chartered Member grade. Technician Member - Uses practical understanding to solve engineering problems and could have a qualification and this grade can lead to the Eng Tech TIChemE post-nominal and now in conjunction with the Nuclear Institute the post-nominal Eng Tech TIChemE TNucI. Associate Fellow - Senior professionals trained in fields of a level comparable to Fellow in other professional bodies. Affiliate - For people working in, with or with a general interest in the sector, student - For undergraduate chemical & process engineering students. The IChemE Innovation and Excellence Awards take place in November in the UK, the awards are highly regarded throughout the process industries for recognising and rewarding chemical engineering excellence and innovation. The organisation is working on newer award programs in countries and in 2012 events also took place in Singapore. The Ashok Kumar Fellowship is an opportunity for a graduate to spend three months working at the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology, the first fellowship was completed in 2012 by James Lawrence, a PhD student at University College, London. The fellowship is funded by the IChemE and the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster
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Nursing and Midwifery Council
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The Nursing and Midwifery Council is the regulator for nursing and midwifery professions in the UK. The NMC maintains a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practise within the UK and it sets and reviews standards for their education, training, conduct and performance. The NMC also investigates allegations of impaired fitness to practise and it has been a statutory body since 2002, with a stated aim to protect the health and well-being of the public. The NMC is also a charity registered with the Charity Commission, charity number 1091434 and in Scotland with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, all Council members are trustees of the charity. The UKCC was expected to maintain a register of UK nurses, midwives and health visitors, provide guidance to registrants, at the same time, National Boards were created for each of the UK countries. Their main functions were to monitor the quality of nursing and midwifery education courses and this structure of the UKCC survived with minor modifications up to April 2002, when the UKCC ceased to exist and its functions were taken over by a new Nursing and Midwifery Council. This was legislated for in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, through the Nursing, the English National Board was also abolished and its quality assurance function was taken on board by the NMC. The other National Boards were also abolished, but new bodies were created in country to take over their functions. The NMC Council has two key roles, setting the direction for the NMC and overseeing the work of senior NMC staff. The Council ensures that the NMC complies with all relevant legislation, including the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, the Council is made up of 12 lay and registrant members, including one member from each of the four UK countries. They are appointed by the Privy Council, registrant members are from a nursing or midwifery background, lay members are selected for their expertise in various fields and strategic experience. The current Council took office on 1 May 2013, the NMC has an annual income in excess of £52 million and employs over 400 staff. To fulfill the activities of the NMC it charges a fee to its members. The NMC set standards, guidance and requirements for nursing and midwifery education across the UK and these standards help to shape the content and design of programmes and state what a registered nurse or midwife needs to know and be able to do. The NMC approves higher education institutions to deliver programmes and they currently accredit 1000 programmes in 79 education institutions across the UK. If they are deemed fit to practise they will then be eligible to apply to join the register, each year the NMC receives over 22,000 newly qualified nurses and midwives from education institutions. As of October 2015 there are 685,000 nurses and midwives on the NMC register, nurses and midwives must be on the NMC register in order to practise in the UK. Anyone is able to search the NMC register, the NMC’s revised code became effective on 31 March 2015
31.
Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund
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Any member of the RAF family can approach the fund for help, which includes serving and former members of the RAF, their partners and dependents. Lord Trenchard founded the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund in 1919, in their first year, welfare expenditure was £919. The first welfare assistance they gave was a shilling for a nights lodging to give the recipient a chance to seek work, other early assistance included money to provide a beneficiary with tools of his trade and the repair of a pair of working boots. In 2010 the RAFBF spent over £23 million on welfare provision, the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund was originally known as the Royal Air Force Memorial Fund as one of their charitable objects was to raise a memorial to airmen who died in the First World War. The memorial was completed in 1923, the monument, in Portland stone surmounted by a gilded eagle, can be seen on Victoria Embankment. Fundraising for the RAF Benevolent Fund occurred outside the UK as well, SSAFA Forces Help Royal Air Forces Association The Royal British Legion Official website
32.
Institute of Physics
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The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity that works to advance physics education, research and application. It has a membership of over 50,000. The IOP supports physics in education, research and industry, the IOPs publishing company, IOP Publishing, publishes more than 70 academic journals and magazines. The Institute of Physics was formed in 1960 from the merger of the Physical Society, founded as the Physical Society of London in 1874, the Physical Society of London had been officially formed on 14 February 1874 with John Hall Gladstone as its first president. From its beginning, the society held meetings and demonstrations. In the early part of the 20th century, the profession of physicist emerged, in 1920, the Institute of Physics was created under special license from the Board of Trade. Sir Richard Glazebrook was elected first President of the Institute, as with the Physical Society, dissemination of knowledge was fundamental to the Institute, which began publication of the Journal of Scientific Instruments in 1922. The annual Reports on Progress in Physics began in 1934 and is published today. In 1952, the Institute began the Graduateship course and examination, upon being granted a royal charter in 1970, the organization renamed itself to Institute of Physics. There are four grades of membership, iMember, Associate Member, Member, qualification for AMInstP is normally by completion of an undergraduate degree that is recognised by the Institute – this covers almost all UK physics degrees. An AMInstP can become an MInstP by gaining experience as a physicist. MInstP and FInstP are the two grades of membership, granting the right to vote in Institute elections. The Institute grants academic dress to the grades of membership. Those who have passed the Institutes graduateeship examination are entitled to a violet damask Oxford burgon-shaped hood, corporate members are entitled to wear a hood of Toronto full shape in violet damask, lined in violet and faced on the cowl with 2/5 cm shot crimson silk. Fellows wear a doctors bonnet in bkack velvet with red tassels, until 1998 CPhys was granted automatically with MInstP, however since then it has become a separate qualification that is equal in stature to Chartered Engineer. From 2012, it requires re-validation every three years, the IOP accredits undergraduate degrees in physics in British and Irish universities. At post-16 level, the IOP developed the Advancing Physics A-level course, in conjunction with the OCR examining board, Advancing Physics was sold to Oxford University Press in January 2011. The IOP also developed the Integrated Sciences degree, which is run at four universities in England, the IOP provides an important educational service for secondary schools in the UK
33.
Stucco
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Stucco or render is a material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a dense solid. It is used as coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural. Stucco may be used to cover less visually appealing construction materials such as metal, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe. In English, stucco usually means a coating for the outside of a building, and plaster one for interiors, as described below, but other European languages, importantly including Italian, do not have the same distinction, stucco means plaster in Italian and serves for both. This has led to English often using stucco for interior decorative plasterwork in relief, especially in art history, the difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. Animal or plant fibers were often added for additional strength, in the latter nineteenth century, Portland cement was added with increasing frequency in an attempt to improve the durability of stucco. At the same time, traditional lime plasters were being replaced by gypsum plaster, traditional stucco is made of lime, sand, and water. Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand, and water, lime is added to increase the permeability and workability of modern stucco. Sometimes additives such as acrylics and glass fibers are added to improve the properties of the stucco. This is usually done with what is considered a one-coat stucco system, lime stucco is a relatively hard material that can be broken or chipped by hand without too much difficulty. The lime itself is white, color comes from the aggregate or any added pigments. Lime stucco has the property of being self-healing to a degree because of the slight water solubility of lime. Portland cement stucco is very hard and brittle and can easily crack if the base on which it is applied is not stable, typically its color was gray, from the innate color of most Portland cement, but white Portland cement is also used. Todays stucco manufacturers offer a wide range of colors that can be mixed integrally in the finish coat. As a building material, stucco is a durable, attractive and it was traditionally used as both an interior and exterior finish applied in one or two thin layers directly over a solid masonry, brick or stone surface. The finish coat usually contained a color and was typically textured for appearance. The lath added support for the wet plaster and tensile strength to the brittle, cured stucco, while the increased thickness, the traditional application of stucco and lath occurs in three coats — the scratch coat, the brown coat and the finish coat
34.
Park Crescent, London
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Park Crescent is at the north end of Portland Place and south of Marylebone Road in London. The Crescent consists of elegant stuccoed terraced houses by the architect John Nash, the Crescent is part of Nashs town-planning scheme linking central London to Regents Park. Park Crescent was executed under the patronage of the Prince Regent and it is reportedly held on a long lease from the Crown Estate. At an early stage, Nash proposed the construction of a circus, complementing Park Crescent with another crescent to the north, but Park Square was constructed instead. Work on Park Crescent started in 1806, but in the economic conditions of the Napoleonic Wars. It was completed only in 1819 to 1821, the interiors of the buildings have been completely rebuilt. After the Second World War, Park Crescent was in poor condition, the Gorell Report on the future of the Regent’s Park terraces recommended that the facades of Park Crescent should be saved. They were restored in the 1960s when the leases came up for renewal, and they are protected as grade I listed buildings, but behind the curve of the Crescent, the Crown Estate built new structures. Interior features which are visible from the street, such as fittings, have to respect the Regency design of the facade. In recent years the crescent has been the home of such as International Students House, London. Many houses are now converted into expensive flats, in the twenty-first century part of the Crescent has been modernised by Amazon Property and more redevelopment has been proposed. The semicircle is divided into two halves by Portland Place, between the arms of the crescent is a private garden, which is recognised as being of historic interest. The garden is opened each year as part of the London Open Garden Squares Weekend, just inside the garden railings, facing the top of Portland Place, is a bronze statue of Queen Victorias father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. There are mews behind the Crescent, there is an ice-well, believed to predate the Park Crescent development, in Park Crescent Mews West. Regents Park tube station is next to the Marylebone Road side of the garden, media related to Park Crescent, London at Wikimedia Commons
35.
Victorian architecture
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Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria, called the Victorian era, however, many elements of what is typically termed Victorian architecture did not become popular until later in Victorias reign. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles mixed with the introduction of middle east, the name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it follows Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture, during the early 19th century, the romantic medieval Gothic revival style was developed as a reaction to the symmetry of Palladianism, and such buildings as Fonthill Abbey were built. Paxton also continued to build houses as Mentmore Towers, in the still popular English Renaissance styles. In this era of prosperity new methods of construction were developed, other notable Scottish architects of this period are Archibald Simpson and Alexander Marshall Mackenzie whose stylistically varied work can be seen in the architecture of Aberdeen. Victorian architecture usually has many intricate window frames inspired by the famous architect Elliot Rae, some chose the United States, and others went to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Normally, they applied architectural styles that were fashionable when they left England, thus, the influence of English architecture spread across the world. Several prominent architects produced English-derived designs around the world, including William Butterfield, the Victorian period flourished in Australia and is generally recognised as being from 1840 to 1890, which saw a gold rush and population boom during the 1880s in the state of Victoria. There were fifteen styles that predominated, The Arts and Crafts style and Queen Anne style are considered to be part of the Federation Period, during the British colonial period of British Ceylon, Sri Lanka Law College, Sri Lanka College of Technology and the Galle Face Hotel. In the United States, Victorian architecture generally describes styles that were most popular between 1860 and 1900, a list of these styles most commonly includes Second Empire, Stick-Eastlake, Folk Victorian, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Shingle. As in the United Kingdom, examples of Gothic Revival and Italianate continued to be constructed during this period, some historians classify the later years of Gothic Revival as a distinctive Victorian style named High Victorian Gothic. Stick-Eastlake, a manner of geometric, machine-cut decorating derived from Stick, on the other hand, terms such as Painted Ladies or gingerbread may be used to describe certain Victorian buildings, but do not constitute a specific style. The names of architectural styles varied between countries, many homes combined the elements of several different styles and are not easily distinguishable as one particular style or another. San Francisco is well known for its extensive Victorian architecture, particularly in the Haight-Ashbury, Lower Haight, Alamo Square, Noe Valley, Castro, Nob Hill, the extent to which any one is the largest surviving example is debated, with numerous qualifications. The Distillery District in Toronto, Ontario contains the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America, cabbagetown is the largest and most continuous Victorian residential area in North America. Other Toronto Victorian neighbourhoods include The Annex, Parkdale, and Rosedale, in the USA, the South End of Boston is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest and largest Victorian neighborhood in the country. Old Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky also claims to be the nations largest Victorian neighborhood, richmond, Virginia is home to several large Victorian neighborhoods, the most prominent being The Fan
36.
Langham Hotel
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The Langham, London is one of the largest and best known traditional style grand hotels in London. It is in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regents Park and it is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World marketing consortium. The Langham was designed by John Giles and built between 1863 and 1865 at a cost of £300,000 and it was then the largest and most modern hotel in the city, featuring a hundred water closets, thirty-six bathrooms and the first hydraulic lifts in England. The opening ceremony on 16 June was performed by the Prince of Wales, after the original company was liquidated during an economic slump, new management acquired the hotel for little more than half of its construction cost, and it soon became a commercial success. It was also patronised by the likes of Napoleon III, Oscar Wilde, Antonín Dvořák, other guests included Noël Coward, Wallis Simpson, Don Bradman, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Ayumi Hamasaki. The Langham was hard hit by the Great Depression and the owners attempted to sell the site to the BBC, during World War II, the hotel was used in part by the Army until it was damaged by bombs and forced to close. After the war, it was occupied by the BBC as ancillary accommodation to Broadcasting House, one BBC employee who stayed at the Langham was Guy Burgess, one of the Cambridge Five, a spying ring who fed official secrets to the Soviets during the Cold War. A BBC internal memo reveals that upon being unable to access his room in the late one night. The handsome pillared Palm Court became the library, and the restaurant a staff bar. In 1980, the BBC unsuccessfully applied for planning permission to demolish the building, new owners extended the hotel and carried out other refurbishments between 1998 and 2000. The hotel featured in the James Bond film GoldenEye, its entryway doubling in a shot for St Petersburgs Grand Hotel Europe. Only the exterior was filmed at the hotel, the interior was filmed in a studio, the hotel was also used in Season 5 episode 1 of the British show Hustle. The hotel has a five star classification and is now the flagship of Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels International, a further round of refurbishment, costing £80m was completed in April 2009. The new spaces join the Artesian bar, Roux at The Landau restaurant, stoddart commissioned the two other men to write stories for his magazine Lippincotts Monthly Magazine. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Sign of Four which was published in the magazine in February 1890, Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray which was published in July that same year. To celebrate the hotels 146th anniversary in June 2011, the restaurant offered afternoon tea for the original 1865-price of seven pence, many guests at the hotel, including the English cricketers Stuart Broad and Joe Root, have reported sighting mysterious phenomena during their stay. ch
37.
Broadcasting House
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Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, the main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. As part of a consolidation of the BBCs property portfolio in London. This involved the demolition of post-war extensions on the side of the building. The wing was named the John Peel Wing in 2012, after the disc jockey, BBC London, BBC Arabic Television and BBC Persian Television are housed in the new wing, which also contains the reception area for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. The main building was refurbished, and a built to the rear. The radio stations BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service transferred to refurbished studios within the building. The extension links the old building with the John Peel Wing, the move of news operations from BBC Television Centre completed in March 2013. Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1928, programmes transferred gradually to the building. On 15 March 1932 the first musical programme was given by the bandleader Henry Hall, Hall also wrote and performed, with his Dance Band, Radio Times, the name of the BBCs schedule publication. The first news bulletin was read by Stuart Hibberd on 18 March, the last transmission from Savoy Hill was on 14 May, and Broadcasting House officially opened on 15 May 1932. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBCs civil engineer, the interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. The building is built in two parts, dispensing with the oft-found central light-well of contemporary buildings this size, the central core containing the recording studios was a windowless structure built of brick. The surrounding outer portion, designed for offices and ancillary spaces, is framed and faced using Portland stone. While the outer portion had plenty of windows, the core required special sound-dampened ventilation systems. There were two areas where right of ancient lights would cause height restrictions, Underground structures, including a hundred-year-old sewer, also presented problems during construction. The building is above the Bakerloo line of the London Underground, the Victoria line was tunnelled beneath in the 1960s, noise from passing trains is audible within the radio theatre, but generally imperceptible in recordings. The ground floor was fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street, the rapid expansion of the BBC meant this never occurred
38.
Regent Street
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Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent and was built under the direction of the architect John Nash, the street runs from Waterloo Place in St Jamess at the southern end, through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, to All Souls Church. From there Langham Place and Portland Place continue the route to Regents Park, the street was completed in 1825 and was an early example of town planning in England, replacing a number of earlier roads including Swallow Street. Nashs street layout has survived, although all the buildings except All Souls Church have been replaced following reconstruction in the late 19th century. The street is known for its retail stores, including Liberty, Hamleys, Jaeger. The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster, has based on Regent Street since 1838. Regent Street is approximately 0.8 miles long and begins at a junction with Charles II Street as a continuation of Waterloo Place. It runs north to Piccadilly Circus, where it left before curving round the Quadrant to head north again. It ends at a junction with Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street near the BBC Broadcasting House, with the road ahead being Langham Place, the southern section of the road is one-way northbound and part of the A4, a major road through West London. From Piccadilly Circus northwards, it is numbered A4201, though in common with roads inside the London congestion charging zone, the number does not appear on signs. Nearby tube stations are Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, the lattermost being one of the busiest underground stations in London, numerous bus routes, such as 6,12, and 13, run along Regent Street. Regent Street was one of the first planned developments of London and it was hoped the road could link Pall Mall and the Haymarket, of which has since declined in quality. A further problem was increased congestion around Charing Cross, which would benefit from road improvements, the street was designed by John Nash, who had been appointed to the Office of Woods and Forests in 1806 and previously served as an adviser to the Prince Regent. He put forward his own plans for the street in 1810 following the death of Fordyce, envisioning broad, architecturally distinguished thoroughfares and public spaces. Nash originally wanted to construct a straight boulevard in the style seen in French cities. The northern section involved demolishing most of the existing Swallow Street, the road was designed to curve east between Oxford Street and Piccadilly so that it did not meet St Jamess Square, and the circuses allowed visual continuity down the street. The central section, known as the Quadrant, was designed for shops appropriated to articles of fashion and taste and it was built with a colonnade made out of cast-iron columns, allowing commuters to walk along the street without having to face bad weather. The road was planned to end outside Carlton House in Pall Mall, Nash insisted that businesses on the new street would be of high-quality, rivalling that of the nearby Bond Street, common trades such as butchers or greengrocers were not allowed
39.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
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Quintin and Alice Hogg Memorial
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A memorial for Alice and Quintin Hogg stands on Portland Place in central London, opposite BBC Broadcasting House. The bronze memorial depicts Quintin Hogg with two children, and stands on a plinth of Portland stone and it was designed by George Frampton and erected in 1906. The memorial also honours Hoggs wife, Alice, and those members of the Regent Street Polytechnic killed in World War I, the memorial has been Grade II listed since February 1970. There are three inscriptions on the memorial, to honour the Hoggs, and those members of the killed in the World Wars. On the front face of the plinth, Quintin Hogg, 1845–1903, on the right face of the plinth, 1914–1918, pro patria To the members of the polytechnic who made the supreme sacrifice. 1939–1945 The Universitys Quintin Hogg Memorial Sports Ground is also in London, on Hartington Road, media related to Memorial to Quintin Hogg at Wikimedia Commons
41.
Queen's College, London
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Queens College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 in the City of Westminster, London. In 1853, it became the first girls school to be granted a Royal Charter for the furtherance of womens education. Ever since, the College patron has been a British queen, the College has a distinctly liberal ethos based upon the principles of F. D. Through its non-competitive spirit and avoidance of excessive regulation, the College claims to produce confident, like other colleges of its type, it offers a broad curriculum and a range of extra-curricular activities. Founded at a time when educational opportunities were restricted for women in Britain and it also led the way in the study of music for women under William Sterndale Bennett and John Pyke Hullah who were among the founding directors. Laing was keen to develop the institution to provide governesses with an education and certification, in 1847 he acquired the agreement of professors from Kings College London to give lectures in the Home. Queen Victoria gave her assent, the promise of funds and agreed to be patron, in 1847, the first lectures took place, the Committee of Education was established under the chair of F. D. Maurice, and number 45 was purchased. In December of the year, the first certificates were issued. Meanwhile, it was decided to extend the reach of the education on offer to women who were not governesses, in the early days of the College, the education took place in the form of lectures initially delivered to all girls alike aged 12 to 20. The younger pupils were soon to be given their own school at the back of the buildings, following the resignation of Maurice in 1853, Richard Chenevix Trench became the first Principal and took over as Chair of the Committee of Education. By 1900 the College was offering a broad, liberal education to young women, the practice of offering lectures from staff and visitors throughout the year remained, and is now a defining tradition of the College. During the Second World War, the College narrowly escaped destruction when a bomb exploded on the side of Harley Street. The windows at the front of the building were smashed and plaster work damaged, the College continued to function during the war with classes even held in bomb shelters constructed in the main corridor. Evacuation of the pupils to the Lake District and then to Northamptonshire was short-lived, the College has been visited by its patrons five times. Queen Victoria came on 9 May 1898 for the fiftieth anniversary and she herself wrote of the occasion, On my way out stopped at Queens College in Harley Street, the first Ladies College ever founded in England, which is this year celebrating its jubilee. All the girls and ladies were drawn up outside, the Principal, the Dean and Mrs Robinson were presented to me. The Principal handed an address, and Miss Coudace, the Queens scholar for the year, Queen Mary visited in 1928, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother visited for the centenary in 1948 and again in 1972 and 1980. The College ceased to offer boarding accommodation in the 1980s and Kynaston House was re-modelled from the old accommodation to provide offices, a common room
42.
Charles Booth (philanthropist)
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Charles James Booth was an English social researcher and reformer. Booths wife, Mary Macaulay, was a cousin of the Fabian socialist and author Martha Beatrice Webb, Booth worked closely with Potter for his research on poverty. St Pauls Cathedral is the recipient of his gift of Holman Hunts painting. Charles Booth was born in Liverpool, Lancashire on 30 March 1840 to Charles Booth and his father, a scion of the ancient Cheshire family, was a wealthy shipowner and corn merchant as well as being a prominent Unitarian. He attended the Royal Institution School in Liverpool before being apprenticed in the business at the age of sixteen. Booths father died in 1860, leaving him in control of the company to which he added a successful glove manufacturing business. Booth entered the skins and leather business with his elder brother Alfred, after learning shipping trades, Booth was able to persuade Alfred and his sister Emily to invest in steamships and established a service to Pará, Maranhão and Ceará in Brazil. Booth himself went on the first voyage to Brazil on 14 February 1866 and he was also involved in the building of a harbour at Manaus which overcame seasonal fluctuations in water levels. Booth described this as his monument when he visited Manaus for the last time in 1912, Booth also had some involvement in politics, although he canvassed unsuccessfully as the Liberal parliamentary candidate in the General Election of 1865. Following the Conservative Party victory in elections in 1866, his interest in active politics waned. This result changed Booths attitudes, and he foresaw that he could influence people more by educating the electorate and he rejected subsequent offers from Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone of elevation to the House of Lords as a Peer. Booth engaged in Joseph Chamberlains Birmingham Education League, a survey which looked into levels of work, the survey found that 25,000 children in Liverpool were neither in school or work. On 29 April 1871, Booth married Mary Macaulay, who was niece of the celebrated historian Thomas Babington Macaulay and his eldest daughter married the Hon Sir Malcolm Macnaghten, and others married into the Ritchie and Gore Browne families. Booth publicly criticised the claims of the leader of the Social Democratic Federation H. M. Hyndman – leader of Britains first socialist party, in the Pall Mall Gazette of 1885, Hyndman stated that 25% of Londoners lived in abject poverty. This research, which looked at incidences of pauperism in the East End of London and this work was published under the title Life and Labour of the People in 1889. A second volume, entitled Labour and Life of the People, covering the rest of London, Booth also popularised the idea of a poverty line, a concept originally conceived by the London School Board. Booth set this line at 10 to 20 shillings, which he considered to be the amount necessary for a family of 4 or 5 people to subsist. After the first two volumes were published Booth expanded his research and this investigation was carried out by Booth himself and his team of researchers
43.
Henry James
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Henry James, OM was an American-born British writer. He is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism and he was the son of Henry James, Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and his method of writing from a characters point of view allowed him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable narrators brought a new depth to narrative fiction, James contributed significantly to literary criticism, particularly in his insistence that writers be allowed the greatest possible freedom in presenting their view of the world. James claimed that a text must first and foremost be realistic, good novels, to James, show life in action and are, most importantly, interesting. In addition to his voluminous works of fiction he published articles and books of travel, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays. James alternated between America and Europe for the first twenty years of his life, eventually he settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911,1912, and 1916. James was born at 2 Washington Place in New York City on 15 April 1843 and his parents were Mary Walsh and Henry James Sr. His father was intelligent, steadfastly congenial, and a lecturer and philosopher who had inherited independent means from his father, Mary came from a wealthy family long settled in New York City, and her sister Katherine lived with the family for an extended period of time. Henry, Jr. had three brothers, William who was one year his senior and younger brothers Wilkinson and Robertson, the family first lived in Albany and then moved to Fourteenth Street in New York City when James was still a young boy. His education was calculated by his father to him to many influences, primarily scientific and philosophical, it was described as extraordinarily haphazard. James did not share the usual education in Latin and Greek classics, Henry studied primarily with tutors and briefly attended a few schools while the family traveled in Europe. Their longest stays were in France, where Henry began to feel at home and became fluent in French, in 1860 the family returned to Newport. There Henry became a friend of the painter John La Farge, who introduced him to French literature, James later called Balzac his greatest master, and said that he had learned more about the craft of fiction from him than from anyone else. In the autumn of 1861 Henry received an injury, probably to his back and this injury, which resurfaced at times throughout his life, made him unfit for military service in the American Civil War. In 1864 the James family moved to Boston, Massachusetts to be near William, in 1862 Henry attended Harvard Law School, but realized that he was not interested in studying law. The future Supreme Court Justice, and with James and Annie Fields and his first published work was a review of a stage performance, Miss Maggie Mitchell in Fanchon the Cricket, published in 1863. About a year later, A Tragedy of Error, his first short story, was published, Jamess first payment was for an appreciation of Sir Walter Scotts novels, written for the North American Review
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The Portrait of a Lady
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The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillans Magazine in 1880–81 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of Jamess most popular novels and is regarded by critics as one of his finest. The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer and she inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of Jamess novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and it also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal. There, Isabel meets her uncle, Ralph Touchett, her invalid cousin. Isabel later declines Warburtons sudden proposal of marriage and she also rejects the hand of Caspar Goodwood, the charismatic son and heir of a wealthy Boston mill owner. Although Isabel is drawn to Caspar, her commitment to her independence precludes such a marriage, the elder Touchett grows ill and, at the request of his son, leaves much of his estate to Isabel upon his death. With her large legacy, Isabel travels the Continent and meets an American expatriate, Gilbert Osmond, Isabel and Osmond settle in Rome, but their marriage rapidly sours due to Osmonds overwhelming egotism and lack of genuine affection for his wife. Isabel grows fond of Pansy, Osmonds presumed daughter by his first marriage, and wants to grant her wish to marry Edward Rosier, the snobbish Osmond would prefer that Pansy accept the proposal of Warburton, who had previously proposed to Isabel. Isabel suspects, however, that Warburton may just be feigning interest in Pansy to get close to Isabel again, Isabel then learns that Ralph is dying at his estate in England and prepares to go to him for his final hours, but Osmond selfishly opposes this plan. Meanwhile, Isabel learns from her sister-in-law that Pansy is actually the daughter of Madame Merle, Isabel pays a final visit to Pansy, who desperately begs her to return someday, which Isabel reluctantly promises to do. She then leaves, without telling her husband, to comfort the dying Ralph in England. Goodwood encounters her at Ralphs estate, and begs her to leave Osmond and he passionately embraces and kisses her, but Isabel flees. Goodwood seeks her out the day but is told she has set off again for Rome. The ending is ambiguous, and the reader is left to imagine whether Isabel returned to Osmond to suffer out her marriage in noble tragedy, or she is going to rescue Pansy and leave Osmond. Jamess first idea for The Portrait of a Lady was simple, only then did he begin to form a plot to bring out the character of his central figure. This was the story of the free-spirited Isabel losing her freedom—despite suddenly coming into a great deal of money—and getting ground in the very mill of the conventional. It is a rather existentialist novel, as Isabel is very committed to living with the consequences of her choice with both integrity and a sort of stubbornness
