1.
United Methodist Church
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The United Methodist Church is a mainline Protestant denomination, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor—the Methodist Church—was a leader in Evangelicalism and it was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, United States, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the movement of John. As such, the theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces both liturgical and evangelical elements and it has a connectional polity, a typical feature of a number of Methodist denominations. The United Methodist Church, with at least 12 million members as of 2014, is the largest denomination within the wider Methodist movement of approximately 80 million people across the world. In the United States, the UMC ranks as the largest mainline Protestant denomination, the largest Protestant church after the Southern Baptist Convention, and the third largest Christian denomination. In 2014, its membership was distributed as follows,7.2 million in the United States. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, the movement which would become The United Methodist Church began in the mid-18th century within the Church of England. A small group of students, including John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield and they focused on Bible study, methodical study of scripture and living a holy life. Other students mocked them, saying they were the Holy Club, eventually, the so-called Methodists started individual societies or classes for members of the Church of England who wanted to live a more religious life. In 1735, John and Charles Wesley went to America, hoping to teach the gospel to the American Indians in the colony of Georgia, instead, John became vicar of the church in Savannah. His preaching was very legalistic and full of rules. After two years in America, he returned to England dejected and confused, Peter believed a person is saved solely through the grace of God and not by works, and John had many conversations with Peter about this topic. On May 25,1738, after listening to a reading of Martin Luthers preface to Romans, John finally understood that his works could not save him. For the first time in his life, he felt complete peace, in less than two years, the Holy Club disbanded. John Wesley met with a group of clergy, the ministers retained their membership in the Church of England. Though not always emphasized or appreciated in the Anglican churches of their day, their teaching emphasized salvation by Gods grace, three teachings they saw as the foundation of Christian faith were, People are all by nature dead in sin and consequently, children of wrath
2.
Winchester, Virginia
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Winchester is an Independent City located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,203, as of 2015, its population is an estimated 27,284. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester with surrounding Frederick County for statistical purposes. Winchester is home to Shenandoah University and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, indigenous peoples lived along the waterways of present-day Virginia for thousands of years before European contact. Archeological, linguistic and anthropological studies have provided insights into their cultures, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee began to challenge the Iroquoians for the hunting grounds later in that century. The explorers Batts and Fallam in 1671 reported the Shawnee were contesting with the Iroquoians for control of the valley and were losing, during the later Beaver Wars, the powerful Iroquois Confederacy from New York subjugated all tribes in the frontier region west of the Fall Line. By the time European settlers arrived in the Shenandoah Valley around 1729, the Iroquois Six Nations finally ceded their nominal claim to the Shenandoah Valley at the Treaty of Lancaster. The treaty also established the right of colonists to use the Indian Road, the father of the historical Shawnee chief Cornstalk had his court at Shawnee Springs until 1754. The Shawnee settled for years in the Ohio Country before being forced by the US government under Indian Removal in the 1830s to remove to Indian Territory. Winchester had a role as a frontier city in those early times. French Jesuit expeditions may have first entered the valley as early as 1606, the first confirmed exploration of the northern valley was by the explorer John Lederer, who viewed the it from the current Fauquier and Warren County line on August 26,1670. In 1705 the Swiss explorer Louise Michel and in 1716 Governor Alexander Spotswood did more extensive mapping and surveying, in the late 1720s, Governor William Gooch promoted settlement by issuing large land grants. Robert King Carter, manager of the Lord Fairfax proprietorship, acquired 200,000 acres, the Scots-Irish comprised the most numerous group of immigrants from the British Isles before the American Revolutionary War. The settlement of Winchester began as early as 1729, when Quakers such as Abraham Hollingsworth migrated up the Great Valley along the long-traveled Indian Path from Pennsylvania and he and others began to homestead on old Shawnee campgrounds. Tradition holds that the Quakers purchased several tracts on Apple-pie Ridge from the natives, the first German settler appears to have been Jost Hite in 1732, who brought ten other families, including some Scots-Irish. Though Virginia was an Anglican colony, Governor William Gooch had a tolerant policy on religion, the availability of land grants brought in many religious families, who were often given 50-acre plots through the sponsorship of fellow-religious grant purchasers and speculators. As a result, the Winchester area became home to some of the oldest Presbyterian, Quaker, the first Lutheran worship was established by Rev. John Casper Stoever, Jr. and Alexander Ross established Hopewell Meeting for the Quakers. By 1736, Scots-Irish built the Opequon Presbyterian Church in Kernstown, a legal fight erupted in 1735 when Thomas Fairfax, Sixth Lord Fairfax came to Virginia to claim his land grant
3.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Liberal arts college
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A liberal arts college is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences. A liberal arts college aims to impart a broad knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational. Other researchers have adopted similar definitions, most liberal arts colleges outside of the United States follow this model. Liberal arts colleges are distinguished from other types of higher education chiefly by their generalist curricula and these attributes have various secondary effects in terms of administration as well as student experience. For example, class size is much lower at liberal arts colleges than at universities. Many students select liberal arts colleges with precisely this sense of connection in mind. From an administrative standpoint, the size of liberal arts colleges contributes to their cohesion. Job satisfaction is also higher in liberal arts colleges, for both faculty and staff. In addition, most liberal arts colleges are residential, which means students live and learn away from home. The distinctiveness of these attributes is somewhat eroded by the tendency of universities to adopt aspects of the arts college. In addition, some universities have maintained a sub-unit that preserves many aspects of the arts college. Liberal arts colleges themselves sometimes cluster to offer greater curricular breadth or share other resources, most liberal arts colleges nowadays, however, offer more than just liberal arts subjects, such as computer science from the formal science discipline. Liberal arts colleges are found in all parts of the world, the Global Liberal Arts Alliance, which incorporates institutions on five continents, refers to itself as an international, multilateral partnership of American style liberal arts institutions. These colleges served as a means of spreading a basically European cultural model across the new country, the model proliferated in the 19th century, some 212 small liberal arts colleges were established between 1850 and 1899. As of 1987, there were about 540 liberal arts colleges in the United States, the oldest liberal arts college in America is considered to be Washington College, the first college chartered after American independence. Olaf College as well as Augsburg College in Minnesota, and the Claremont Colleges in Southern California, most are private institutions, but a handful of public liberal arts schools exist, such as the University of Mary Washington, and New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. Liberal arts colleges are found in Canada, including Mount Allison University, Bishops University. In the Netherlands, universities have opened constituent liberal arts colleges under the university college since the late 1990s
6.
Interstate 81
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Interstate 81 is an Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Interstate 81 largely traces the paths created down the length of the Appalachian Mountains by migrating animals, American Indians and it also follows a major corridor for troop movements during the Civil War. These trails and roadways gradually evolved into U. S. Route 11, Interstate 81 parallels much of the older Route 11. Being mostly rural, it is used as a trucking corridor. The Interstate 81 Corridor Coalition, a coalition, was organized to handle issues along Interstate 81, such as truck traffic. As of October 15,2008, this commission has met twice, Interstate 81 is part of the fastest route between the capital of the United States and the capital of Canada. Interstate 81 begins in Tennessee at Interstate 40 in Dandridge, a route that connects to Knoxville to the west, I-81 continues from where I-40 turns south to North Carolina. Interstate 81 in Virginia is largely a rural route with brief concurrencies with I-77, in Harrisonburg, I-81 cuts through James Madison University. It parallels its older counterpart, U. S. Route 11, Interstate 81 briefly enters the eastern panhandle of West Virginia for about 26 miles, serving the city of Martinsburg. The entire routing is in Berkeley County and serves the Eastern WV Regional Airport, the West Virginia segment was completed in 1966 and there have been no realignments since. West Virginia is currently widening Interstate 81 to six lanes from Martinsburg north to Exit 23 connecting West Virginia and Maryland. Interstate 81 passes through the state of Maryland at one of its narrowest points, being that this stretch is only 12.08 miles, this is the shortest stretch of I-81 among the states that it traverses. The Hagerstown Regional Airport is served by this interstate highway, around the state capital of Harrisburg, the route forms the northeastern section of Pennsylvanias Capital Beltway. The route then travels northeast toward the Wyoming Valley, where it serves the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Interstate 81 enters the state of New York near Binghamton. It parallels U. S. Route 11 in a direction, through much of the state. Tennessee I‑40 near Dandridge, northeast of Knoxville I‑26 between the Tri-Cities Virginia I‑581 in Roanoke I‑77 in Wytheville, they joined for about 10 miles. I‑64 in Lexington, they joined through Staunton. US33 in Harrisonburg I‑66 in Middletown Maryland I‑70 in Hagerstown Pennsylvania I‑76 / US11 in Middlesex Township PA581 in Enola US22 / US322 in Harrisburg, i-81/US322 stays joined throughout Harrisburg
7.
George Washington University
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The George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D. C. GW is the largest institution of education in Washington, D. C. In his will, Washington left his 50 shares in the Potomac Company to help endow the university, however, due to the companys financial difficulties, the funding did not materialize. The university was chartered by an act of Congress on February 9,1821 and its name was changed to Columbian University in 1873 and to the George Washington University in 1904, in honor of Washington. GWs Graduate School of Political Management is the school of applied politics in the nations capital. GWs professional schools and the Elliott School of International Affairs are consistently ranked highly in national and international college rankings lists, the Princeton Review consistently ranks GW as one of the Most Politically Active schools. Some of the graduates have gone on to high positions within both the U. S. government and foreign governments. Notable alumni include former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and he presented numerous letters to Congress and included the subject in his last will and testament. Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site in Washington, the first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D. C. In attendance were President Monroe, John C, Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette and other dignitaries. During the Civil War, most students left to join the Confederacy, walt Whitman was among many of the volunteers to work on the campus. Following the war, in 1873, Columbian College became the Columbian University and moved to a downtown location centered on 15th and H streets. The university moved its operations to the D. C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912. The George Washington University, like much of Washington, D. C. traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons, the Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington. Freemasonry symbols are displayed throughout the campus including the foundation stones of many of the university buildings. Many of the Colleges of the George Washington University stand out for their age, the Law School is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the 11th oldest medical school in the nation, the Columbian College was founded in 1821, and is the oldest unit of the university. The Elliott School of International Affairs was formalized in 1898, the majority of the present infrastructure and financial stability at GW is due to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
8.
Shenandoah River
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The Shenandoah River /ˌʃɛnənˈdoʊə/ is a tributary of the Potomac River,55.6 miles long with two forks approximately 100 miles long each, in the U. S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. The Shenandoah River is formed northeast of Front Royal near Riverton, by the confluence of the South Fork and it flows northeast across Warren County, passing underneath Interstate 661 mile from its formation. Beyond the I-66 bridge the river flows through a set of bends before turning to the northeast again, five miles downriver from the Clarke County border, the Shenandoah passes under U. S. Route 50 and then passes through a triple bend. Once in West Virginia the river completes six large bends before joining with the Potomac from the south near Harpers Ferry,20 miles from the Virginia-West Virginia border, the Shenandoah valley is underlain by limestone. The fertile soil made it a place for early settlement. It continues to be an agricultural area of Virginia and West Virginia. Some karst topography is evident, and the limestone is honeycombed with caves, several have been developed as commercial tourist attractions, including Luray Caverns, Shenandoah Caverns, and Skyline Caverns. On the riverbank a few miles above Harpers Ferry is said to be a cave with an opening just large enough for a rider to squeeze through. It widened in the interior to a room where hundreds of Col. John Mosbys raiding troops are said to have hidden from pursuing Union cavalry. Since 2005, the Shenandoah River has experienced several springtime fish kills that have affected several of its fish species. In 2005, redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass along a 100-mile stretch of the South Fork Shenandoah River began dying of lesions caused by bacteria, although the fish kill eventually wiped out 80% of the adult redbreast sunfish and smallmouth bass, juvenile populations appeared to be unaffected. Various accounts tell the origin of the name and he also sent much needed corn to Washington and his troops during their hard winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1777-1778. It is also said to be named after the Senedo people, the American folk song Oh Shenandoah has been recorded in the 20th century by a number of notable artists. The song may or may not refer to the Shenandoah River or Valley, the Shenandoah River figures prominently in John Denvers Take Me Home, Country Roads, which associates the river with the state of West Virginia. Only the last 20 miles of the river are in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, more than 92% of the river and its forks and tributaries flow through Virginia. The original song Shenandoah River is included on the 2011 album Middle of Everywhere by Pokey LaFarge and those willing to brave the colder water of spring will be rewarded with a more challenging big-water experience. The South Fork is formed at Port Republic in southern Rockingham County, by the confluence of the North River and South River. It flows 98.5 miles northeast in a meandering course, past Elkton and Shenandoah, through Page Valley, with the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east
9.
British Council
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The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. The British Council is a charity registered in England and Wales and it is also a public corporation and an executive nondepartmental public body, sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Its headquarters are off Trafalgar Square, London and its Chair is Christopher Rodrigues, its CEO is Sir Ciarán Devane and chief operating officer Adrian Greer. 1934, British Foreign Office officials created the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries to support English education abroad, promote British culture, the name quickly became British Council for Relations with Other Countries. 1936, The organisation’s name was shortened to the British Council. 1938, The British Council opens its first four offices in Bucarest, Cairo, Lisbon, the offices in Portugal are currently the oldest in continuous operation in the world. 1942, The British Council undertook a promotion of British culture overseas, the music section of the project was a recording of significant recent compositions by British composers, E. J. 1944, In August, after the liberation of Paris, Austin Gill was sent by the council to reestablish the Paris office,2007, The Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the British Council to close its offices outside Moscow. This caused the British Council to cease carrying out all English-language examinations in Russia from January 2008, in early 2009, a Russian arbitration court ruled that the majority of the tax claims, valued at $6.6 million, were unjustified. All the attackers were killed in counter-attacks by forces guarding the compound, the British Council office was relocated to the British Embassy compound, as the British Council compound was destroyed in the suicide attack. 2013, The British Council in Tripoli, Libya was targeted by a car bomb on the morning of 23 April, diplomatic sources were reported as saying that the bombers were foiled as they were preparing to park a rigged vehicle in front of the compound gate. A jihadist group calling itself the Mujahedeen Brigade was suspected possibly linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the British Council is organised into 7 Regions. The British Council has offices in, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela, Uruguay and the United States of America. The British Council has offices in, Australia, Brunei, Burma, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and New Zealand. The British Council has offices in, Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The British Council has offices in, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the British Council is a charity governed by Royal Charter. It is also a corporation and an executive nondepartmental public body, sponsored by the Foreign. Its headquarters are off Trafalgar Square, London and its Chair is Christopher Rodrigues, its CEO is Sir Ciarán Devane and chief operating officer Adrian Greer
10.
Northern Ireland
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Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
11.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
12.
The Office (U.S. TV series)
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The Office is an American television comedy series that aired on NBC from March 24,2005 to May 16,2013. It is an adaptation of the BBC series of the same name, the Office was adapted for American audiences by Greg Daniels, a veteran writer for Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. It is co-produced by Daniels Deedle-Dee Productions, and Reveille Productions, the original executive producers were Greg Daniels, Howard Klein, Ben Silverman, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons. The series depicts the lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania. To simulate the look of a documentary, it is filmed in a single-camera setup. The show debuted on NBC as a replacement and ran for nine seasons and 201 episodes. The Office initially featured Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and B. J. Novak as the main cast, the first season of The Office was met with mixed reviews, but the following four seasons received widespread acclaim from television critics. These seasons were included on several critics year-end top TV series lists, winning awards including four Primetime Emmy Awards. While later seasons were criticized for a decline in quality, earlier writers oversaw the final season, Greg Daniels served as the senior series showrunner for the first four seasons of the series and developed the British series for American television. He then left the position when he co-created the comedy series Parks and Recreation with fellow Office writer Michael Schur, Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta were named the series showrunners for the fifth season. Celotta left the series after the season and Lieberstein stayed on as showrunner for the following two seasons. He left the spot after the eighth season for the potential Dwight Schrute spin-off, The Farm. Daniels returned to the position for the ninth and final season. Other executive producers include cast members B. J. Novak, Kaling, Novak, Daniels, Lieberstein and Schur made up the original team of writers. Kaling, Novak and Lieberstein also serve multiple roles on the series, as they play regular characters on the show, as well as write, direct, credited with twenty-four episodes, Kaling is the most prolific writer on the staff. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who created the original British series, are credited as producers, and wrote the pilot. Merchant later directed the episode Customer Survey while Gervais appeared in the episodes The Seminar, randall Einhorn is the most frequent director of the series, with 15 credited episodes. Episodes have been directed by several of the actors on the show including Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, before the series aired its second episode, the writers spent time researching in offices
