The Royal Armoured Corps provides the armour capability of the British Army, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It was created as a loose association of armoured regiments, both the Royal Tank Regiment and those converted from old horse cavalry regiments. Today it comprises fourteen regiments - four Yeomanry; the RAC was created on 4 April 1939, just before World War II started, by combining regiments from the cavalry of the line which had mechanised with the Royal Tank Corps. As the war went on and other regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry units became mechanised, the corps was enlarged. A significant number of infantry battalions converted to the armoured role as RAC regiments. In addition, the RAC created its own support regiments. In 1944, the RAC absorbed the regiments of the Reconnaissance Corps; the Royal Armoured Corps is divided into regiments which operate main battle tanks, those in reconnaissance vehicles, those in Weapons Mount vehicles.

Of these, three regiments are designated Dragoon Guards, two as Hussars, one as Lancers and one as Dragoons. The remaining regiment is the Royal Tank Regiment. In the regular army, there are three armoured regiments, three armoured cavalry regiments and three light cavalry regiments. In the army reserve, there is one armoured regiment and three light cavalry regiments. Regular Army Household Cavalry Regiment Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards - Light Cavalry The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Light Cavalry The Royal Dragoon Guards - Armoured Cavalry The Queen's Royal Hussars - Armour The Royal Lancers - Armoured Cavalry The King's Royal Hussars - Armour The Light Dragoons - Light Cavalry Royal Tank Regiment2 - Armour1: For operational purposes, the Household Cavalry Regiment is considered to be part of the RAC and constitutes the third armoured reconnaissance regiment. 2: The Royal Tank Regiment retains a CBRN reconnaissance and survey squadron as part of its establishment Army Reserve - Yeomanry The Royal Yeomanry - Light Cavalry The Royal Wessex Yeomanry - Armour Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry - Light Cavalry The Queen's Own Yeomanry - Light CavalryA system of pairing exists in the British Army of Regular to Reserve unit.

Through this and training cycles are aligned, resources shared and strategic depth enabled. In the Royal Armoured Corps this manifests with each yeomanry unit being paired with a regular unit of the same role. 1: The Royal Wessex Yeomanry provides replacement soldiers for armoured regiments, therefore is paired with all three regular army units operating main battle tanks. Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps are based in the Germany. Under the Army2020 future basing plans all RAC regiments will be stationed in the UK. Tidworth - Kings Royal Hussars; this was formed in 2014 by the amalgamation of the Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band, the Light Cavalry Band. The Band of the Royal Armoured Corps is stationed at Catterick; the Royal Yeomanry operates an Army Reserve Band, alongside the bands of the Household Division, The Honourable Artillery Regimental Band, form the state bands. The reorganisation of the Army announced in 2004 led to significant changes to the Royal Armoured Corps. Reorganisation that began in 2003 would see three armoured regiments removed from Germany to the UK, with one re-roled as an FR regiment.

In addition, three Challenger 2 squadrons will be converted to Interim Medium Armour Squadrons, while each FR regiment will gain a Command and Support Squadron. As part of the reorganisation, postings will be realigned: Catterick: Armoured Regiment, Formation Reconnaissance Regiment Tidworth: 2 x Armoured Regiment, Windsor: Formation Reconnaissance Regiment Swanton Morley: Formation Reconnaissance Regiment Warminster: Training/Demonstration squadron Honington: Armoured Regiment Bovington: HQ RAC Bad Fallingbostel: Armoured Regiment Sennelager: Armoured Regiment, Formation Reconnaissance Regiment Hohne: Formation Reconnaissance Regiment In 2012, following the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010, specific proposals about the make up of the future British Army were announced under the title Army 2020; these proposals were intended to reduce the size of the army to around 82,000. The Royal Armoured Corps was to be reduced by a total of two regiments, with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers amalgamated with the Queen's Royal Lancers to form a single lancer regiment, the Royal Lancers, the 1st and 2nd Royal Tank Regiments joined to form a single Royal Tank Regimen

Mary Bonham-Christie called "the Demon of Brownsea", was the reclusive owner of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset from 1927 until her death in 1961. Mary Florence Whitburn was born in Wandsworth, South London, in Q3, 1865, the daughter of Charles Joseph Sofer Whitburn and Fanny Hales Whitburn, of Addington Park in Kent, who were married in Q4, 1863, she married Robert Bonham Bax Christie in Q1, 1889. Mary Bonham-Christie purchased Brownsea Island at auction in 1927, for £125,000, she ordered the island's 200 residents to leave, banned hunting and fishing on grounds of animal cruelty. The protracted legal battle that followed may have turned violent with the fire that consumed much of the island in 1934. Fearing further threats, she hired a bodyguard to eject intruders to the island. While unpopular, her minimal interference with the island's natural contents meant that it became a flourishing habitat for red squirrels, Sandwich tern and other wildlife. "The old lady knew she wasn't popular but I don't think she cared," said a former boatman who served the island during her tenure there.

Mary Bonham-Christie died on 28 April 1961, aged 96 years, in a local nursing home off the island where her family had moved her. Her grandson and heir John Bonham-Christie had plans to develop the island. A group of environmental conservationists, led by Helen Brotherton, organized to oppose his plans, they succeeded in raising sufficient funds to persuade the Treasury to take Brownsea Island as settlement of death duties, accepted provided that the National Trust took over the island. However, this was subject to payment to the Treasury of £100,000 - which the National Trust did not have. An arrangement was reached whereby three other parties contributed £25,000 each: The Dorset Wildlife Trust - provided they could run half the island. There is a monument to Mary Bonham-Christie in the churchyard at Marston Bigot. In 2007, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a half-hour report about Mary Bonham-Christie, titled "For Nature, Not Humans."

The Bergslagen Line is a railway line consisting of two sections, from Gävle via Falun, Ställdalen to Kil, Värmland, from Ställdalen to Frövi. Although not the Norway/Vänern Line is often regarded part of the Bergslagen Line, because it was before the renaming 1990. Construction began in 1855 and the line opened in 1879. At Kil, the line connects with the Fryksdal Line and the Värmland Line. At Borlänge, it connects to the Dala Line, at Frövi to the Freight Line through Bergslagen, in Gävle with the Northern Main Line and the East Coast Line. Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsatlas von Europa, J. J. Arnd, Leipzig 1897. Time tables, select table number 49, 53, 75