1.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
2.
Tiger Bay
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Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was rebranded as Cardiff Bay, following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, in 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting the canal to the sea. Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiffs foremost landowner, The 2nd Marquess of Bute, to promote the construction of the West Bute Dock, just two years later, the Taff Vale Railway was opened. From the 1850s coal supplanted iron as the foundation of South Wales, as the Cynon Valley. Exports reached 2 million tons as early as 1862, with the East Bute dock opening in 1859, in 1862,2,000,000 tons of coal were exported from Cardiff Docks, by 1913, this had risen to 10,700,000 tons. Frustration at the lack of development at Cardiff led to rival docks being opened at Penarth in 1865 and these developments eventually spurred Cardiff into action, with the opening of the Roath Dock in 1887 and the Queen Alexandra Dock in 1907. By then, coal exports from the South Wales Coalfield via Cardiff totalled nearly 9 million tons per annum, by the 1880s, the wealthier residents had been able to move away to the new Cardiff suburbs. Butetown became crowded, as families took in lodgers and split up the houses to help pay the rents. The area became known as Tiger Bay after this time, by 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression which followed the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, coal exports had fallen to below 5 million tons, and dozens of locally owned ships were laid-up. Migrant communities from up to 45 different nationalities, including Norwegian, Somali, Yemeni, Spanish, Italian, Caribbean, Tiger Bay had a reputation for being a tough and dangerous area. Merchant seamen arrived in Cardiff from all over the world, only staying for as long as it took to discharge, consequently, the area became the Red-light district of Cardiff, and many murders and lesser crimes went unsolved and unpunished, the perpetrators having sailed for other ports. However, locals who lived and stayed in the area describe a far friendlier place, after the Second World War most of the industry closed down. In Victorian times, Tiger Bay bore a distinctly rough reputation, the name Tiger Bay was applied in popular literature and slang to any dock or seaside neighbourhood which shared a similar notoriety for danger. Tiger Bay is a British film starring Anna May Wong, Tiger Bay, a British film starring John and Hayley Mills, includes many scenes shot in the docks area and at Newport Transporter Bridge,12 miles from Cardiff. The album Tiger Bay, by pop band Saint Etienne, is named after the 1959 film of the same name. Tiger Bay is a song by The Hennessys, tyger Bay is a song by the influential NWOBHM band Tygers of Pan Tang. On her album The Performance, Shirley Bassey sings the semi-autobiographical The Girl From Tiger Bay, written by the Manic Street Preachers, Tiger Bay is mentioned as one of the locations in Ian Dury & the Blockheads song Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. The television drama Tiger Bay is based in the area, Tiger Bays most famous native residents have been singer Dame Shirley Bassey and rugby league stars Billy Boston, Colin Dixon and Roy Francis
3.
Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established
4.
Adult contemporary music
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Adult contemporary is rather a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music. Adult contemporary tends to have lush, soothing and highly polished qualities where emphasis on melody and it is usually melodic enough to get a listeners attention, and is inoffensive and pleasurable enough to work well as background music. Like most of pop music, its songs tend to be written in a basic format employing a verse–chorus structure, the format is heavy on romantic sentimental ballads which mostly use acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. The electric guitars are normally faint and high-pitched, however, recent adult contemporary music may usually feature synthesizers. An AC radio station may play mainstream music, but it excludes hip hop, dance tracks, hard rock, and some forms of teen pop, as these are popular among adults. AC radio often targets the 25–44 age group, the demographic that has received the most attention from advertisers since the 1960s, a common practice in recent years of adult contemporary stations is to play less newer music and more hits of the past. This de-emphasis on new songs slows the progression of the AC chart, over the years, AC has spawned subgenres including hot AC, soft AC, urban AC, rhythmic AC, and Christian AC. Some stations play only hot AC, soft AC, or only one of the variety of subgenres, therefore, it is not usually considered a specific genre of music, it is merely an assemblage of selected tracks from musicians of many different genres. Adult contemporary traces its roots to the 1960s easy listening format, a few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. Billboard first published the Easy Listening chart July 17,1961, with 20 songs, the chart described itself as not too far out in either direction. Initially, the vocalists consisted of such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como. The custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs, some stations would also occasionally play earlier big band-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. After 1965, differences between the Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart became more pronounced, better reflecting what middle of the road stations were actually playing, the composition of the chart changed dramatically. As rock music continued to harden, there was much less crossover between the Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart than there had been in the half of the 1960s. Roger Miller, Barbra Streisand and Bobby Vinton were among the charts most popular performers and these middle of the road stations also frequently included older, pre-rock-era adult standards and big band titles to further appeal to adult listeners who had grown up with those songs. Another big impetus for the evolution of the AC radio format was the popularity of easy listening or beautiful music stations, stations with music specifically designed to be purely ambient, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre by 1965. From the end of the 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody
5.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
6.
Philips Records
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Not to be confused with Phillips International Records. Philips Records is a label that was founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. In 1946 Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Deccas Dutch outlet in Amsterdam, the record label was started by Philips Phonographische Industrie in June 1950 when it began issuing classical recordings. Recordings were also made with artists of various nationalities and with classical artists from Germany, France. Launched under the slogan Records of the Century, the first releases in Britain appeared at the beginning of January 1953 on 1078 rpm discs, Philips also distributed recordings made by the Columbia Records in the UK and on the European continent. After the separation of the English Columbia label and American Columbia, the first single on the label to chart was Frankie Laines I Believe, which reached the No.1 chart position in the UK that April. Many of the first British recordings on the label were produced by Norman Newell until John Franz was appointed artists, in 1958 Philips created a subsidiary label, Fontana Records, which meant that American-Columbia recordings were being issued on both the Philips and Fontana labels. This arrangement lasted until April 1962 when, under pressure from Columbia in America, Philips then created a label for them. In late 1964, under the stewardship of U. S. President of Columbia Records Goddard Lieberson, CBS Records formed its own international operations, CBS Records set up their UK operation in Theobalds Road in Holborn. Singles and albums on the Philips and Fontana labels by Columbia-owned product were subsequently withdrawn, in 1962, Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon formed the Grammophon-Philips Group joint venture, which later became PolyGram in 1972. UK pressings were manufactured at the large factory based at Walthamstow in N. E. In 1961, after Philips lost its North American distribution deal with Columbia Records, a year later, Philips US affiliate Consolidated Electronics Industries Corp. bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels, such as Smash. Philips classical, jazz and pop records were marketed by Mercury in the US under the Philips label, the Mercury Living Presence team also made classical recordings for Philips, in July 1961. 69 for cello and piano by Richter and Rostropovich, classical groups that Philips heavily recorded included the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Quartetto Italiano. Violinist Arthur Grumiaux and the pianist Claudio Arrau were under contract to Philips, symphony orchestras under contract, including the LSO, were under the command of prestigious young conductors such as Colin Davis and Bernard Haitink. From 1961 until the late 1980s, Philips Records issued many classical titles in US-specific packaging, the records were pressed at Mercurys plant in Richmond, Indiana, and mastered in New York by George Piros at Fine Recording, using 2-track and mono master tapes provided by Philips. These releases were the PHS900 xxx series for stereo and the 500 xxx series for mono, clair Van Ausdal in Mercurys New York office oversaw the Philips classical US releases through the mid-1960s. These records were made through Mercurys existing jazz operations and produced by Jack Tracy, in addition to jazz and classical music, Philips also became a major player in the world of rock and pop music in the late 1950s till late 1970s
7.
Columbia Graphophone Company
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The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. As Columbia Records, it became a label in the 1950s and 1960s. This in turn was absorbed by the Parlophone Records unit of Warner Music Group, in 1922, Columbia Phonograph, as the American Columbia Records was then known, sold its UK subsidiary Columbia Graphophone. However, in 1925 Columbia Graphophone bought its former parent for $2.5 million, in 1926 Odeon Records and Parlophone Records were acquired. On 21 April 1931, the Gramophone Company and the Columbia Graphophone Company merged and formed a new company, Electric, American anti-trust laws forced EMI to sell its American Columbia operations. Under EMI, English Columbias output was mainly licenced recordings from American Columbia until 1951 when American Columbia switched British distribution to Philips Records, led by avuncular A&R man Norrie Paramor, the label was arguably the most successful in Britain in the rock era prior to the beat boom. In the mid 1960s, English Columbia added an audiophile imprint called Studio 2 Stereo, during that time, the Columbia Graphophone Company was absorbed into the Gramophone Company with the label maintaining its identity. EMI has engaged in litigation with CBS regarding the importing of American records bearing the Columbia imprint into areas where EMI owned the Columbia name, EMI decided to reserve the HMV label for classical repertoire and had transferred HMVs remaining pop acts to Columbia and Parlophone by 1967. EMI began to replace the Columbia label with the eponymous EMI Records in January 1973, the last Columbia single was issued in 1989. EMI sold its remaining interest in the Columbia name in 1990 to Sony Music Entertainment, the formal reassignment of British registered trade marks, including the magic notes logo, from EMI took place in 1993. Today, Sony Music prefers using the eye logo for the Columbia Records trade mark in the UK. However, the magic notes logo is used, usually to give a retro feel. The Columbia name was still on some EMI releases between 1973 and 1990, but it had ceased acting as a fully functioning label. In Australia and Germany, EMI continued using the Columbia label throughout the 1970s and to at least 1980, through its ownership of the former Columbia/EMI catalogue, Parlophone Records new owner Warner Music Group assumed Columbias artist roster and catalogue. New reissues bear the Parlophone imprint
8.
Decca Records
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Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U. S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis along with American Deccas first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, as a result of anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, the British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is owned by Vivendi, the US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG. The name Decca was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word Mecca with the initial D of their logo Dulcet or their trademark Dulcephone, Samuel, a linguist, chose Decca as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The name dates back to a gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel. That company was renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City, in classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels. The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select, heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post and he revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers, Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be a theatre of the mind, making the listeners experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used sound effects and different acoustics. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies and his pioneering recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success. In the wake of Deccas lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, however, Culshaw was, strictly speaking, not the first to do this. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings, afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon, American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations
9.
United Artists Records
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Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão was the featured soloist on the unusual recording, which was released on both LP and reel-to-reel tape. Berry Gordy placed a number of early Motown acts with UA including Marv Johnson, UA signed Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ro produce the variety of artists signed to the label after they left Atlantic. They had hits with the Exciters, Bobby Goldsboro, Jay and the Americans, UA also covered folk with the inclusion of Gordon Lightfoot on the roster, and easy listening mood music with the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher. The soundtracks from the James Bond movies and A Hard Days Night were very popular United Artists releases in the 1960s. However, the soundtrack album of United Artists film musical, West Side Story, was released by Columbia Records. As Henry Mancini was signed to RCA Victor, that handled the soundtracks of the United Artists films that he composed the music for. In addition to soundtracks and pop output, United Artists also produced a series of records under the Tale Spinners For Children name throughout the 1960s. These were album-length adaptations of fairy tales and childrens stories done in an audio drama format. United Artists also had a few labels, Unart, Ascot, United Artists Jazz, Musicor Ultra Audio. Unart was initially created in 1958 and was only in operation until 1959 producing some vocal group 45 singles, United Artists involvement with jazz was significant. The company recruited Alan Douglas in 1960 to run its new jazz department, the companys jazz included albums by Duke Ellington and Art Farmer, although there were only a few jazz titles after about 1963. In 1961, designer and photographer Frank Gauna who worked with Alan Douglas joined the company as art director after Candid Records was discontinued, Gauna photographed and designed a variety of album covers for the company. Around 1966 a subsidiary jazz label Solid State was founded, which lasted until 1969, on recordings by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra and Chick Corea. After the merger, Libertys ownership of Blue Note resulted in Solid States artists being transferred to the more prestigious label, and Solid State itself was wound up. In 1966 United Artists acquired the masters of Sue Records, a New York R&B/soul label whose artist roster included Ike & Tina Turner, Justine Baby Washington, some Sue material was reissued on Unart. United Artists Special Projects were budget records designed for product and movie tie-ins, in 1969, United Artists merged with co-owned Liberty Records and its subsidiary Imperial Records. Mainstream pop acts were signed to the label, among them being Traffic, the Spencer Davis Group, Peter Sarstedt, Shirley Bassey, the label also attempted, without success, to update the style of 1950s rock group Bill Haley & His Comets with a 1968 single. Later, through a deal with Don Ardens Jet Records
10.
Geffen Records
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Geffen Records is an American major record label, owned by Universal Music Group, which operates as one third of the Interscope Geffen A&M Records label. On March 23,2017, Billboard. com announced the label was relaunching with longtime A&R Neil Jacobson as President, Geffen Records was started in 1980 by music industry businessman David Geffen who, in the early 1970s, had founded Asylum Records. Geffen stepped down from Asylum in 1975, when he crossed over to film and was named a vice-president of Warner Bros and he was fired from Warner circa 1978, but remained locked in a 5-year contract, which prevented him from working elsewhere. He returned to work in 1980 and struck a deal with Warner Bros. Records to create Geffen Records, profits were split 50/50 between Geffen and the respective distributors. Geffen Records first artist was disco superstar Donna Summer, whose gold-selling album The Wanderer became the labels first release in 1980, the label followed it up with Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was Lennons first new album since 1975, two weeks after it entered the charts, Lennon was murdered in New York City. As the 1980s progressed, Geffen would go on to have success with acts as Kylie Minogue, Enya, Quarterflash, Oxo, Asia, Wang Chung. This prompted Geffen to create a label, DGC Records in 1990. Geffen also distributed the first incarnation of Def American Recordings through Warner Bros. from 1988 to 1990, after a decade of operating through Warner, when its contract with the company expired, the label was sold to MCA Music Entertainment in 1990. The deal ultimately earned David Geffen an estimated US$800 million in stock, following the sale, Geffen Records operated as one of MCAs leading independently managed labels. Geffen Records would distribute releases on the new operations DreamWorks Records subsidiary, Universal Music Group acquired PolyGram in 1999, resulting in a corporate reorganization of labels. Geffen Records, along with A&M Records, was merged into Interscope Records. Although Geffen would continue to exist as a brand, it was downsized to fit into the expansion of Interscope. At the same time, international distribution of Interscope and Geffen releases switched to ex-PolyGram label Polydor Records, meanwhile, DreamWorks Records also folded, with artists such as Nelly Furtado, Lifehouse and Rufus Wainwright being absorbed by Geffen as well. During this time, DGC Records was also folded into Geffen, at the end of 2007, however, Geffen was absorbed further into Interscope, laying off sixty employees. In 2009, it was announced that Geffen Records had signed an agreement with the Holy See to produce an album of Marian songs, jimmy Iovine relaunched the Geffen imprint in 2011, moving its headquarters from California to New York City
11.
Welsh people
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The Welsh people or the Welsh are a nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales and the Welsh language. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, the term Welsh people applies to people from Wales and people of Welsh ancestry perceiving themselves or being perceived as sharing a cultural heritage and shared ancestral origins. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London, the same etymological origin is shared by the names of various other Celtic or Latin peoples such as the Walloons and the Vlachs, as well as of the Swiss canton of Valais. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. They thus carry a sense of land of fellow-countrymen, our country, the word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It is attested in a poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. During their time in Britain, the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices, the Demetae, the Silures and the Deceangli. The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of the peoples of southern Britain, all were called Britons and spoke the common British language, a Brythonic Celtic tongue. Celtic language and culture seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age, the claim has also been made that Indo-European languages may have been introduced to the British Isles as early as the early Neolithic, with Goidelic and Brythonic languages developing indigenously. The genetic evidence in this case would show that the change to Celtic languages in Britain may have occurred as a cultural rather than through migration as was previously supposed. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger Neolithic representation in the east of Europe, when the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. According to Stephen Oppenheimer 96% of lineages in Llangefni in north Wales derive from Iberia, Genetic marker R1b averages from 83–89% amongst the Welsh. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Brythonic languages with additions from Latin, the surviving poem Y Gododdin is in early Welsh and refers to the Brythonic kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. John Davies places the change from Brythonic to Welsh between 400 and 700, offas Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia. The genetic tests suggested that between 50% and 100% of the population of what was to become England was wiped out. In 2001, research for a BBC programme on the Vikings suggested a strong link between the Celts and Basques, dating back tens of thousands of years. The UCL research suggested a migration on a huge scale during the Anglo-Saxon period and it appears England is made up of an ethnic cleansing event from people coming across from the continent after the Romans left, said Dr Mark Thomas, of the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at UCL
12.
James Bond
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The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015, additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character has also adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games. As of 2017, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series, the most recent Bond film, Spectre, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond, he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015, the franchise was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, the Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bonds cars, his guns, the films are also noted for Bonds relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as Bond girls. Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway. Aside from Flemings brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bonds make up, including Conrad OBrien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill Biffy Dunderdale. The name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. He further explained that, When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is certainly good-looking. Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way and that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow
13.
Goldfinger (film)
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Goldfinger is a British spy film, the third in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the novel of the name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title character Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The films plot has Bond investigating gold smuggling by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger was the first Bond blockbuster, with a budget equal to that of the two preceding films combined. Principal photography took place from January to July 1964 in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the release of the film led to a number of promotional licensed tie-in items, including a toy Aston Martin DB5 car from Corgi Toys which became the biggest selling toy of 1964. The promotion also included an image of gold-painted Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson on the cover of Life, Goldfinger was the first Bond film to win an Academy Award and opened to largely favourable critical reception. The film was a success, recouping its budget in two weeks, and is hailed as the Bond canons quintessential episode. After destroying a drug laboratory in Latin America, James Bond—Agent 007—travels to Miami Beach to receive instructions from his superior, M and he is to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger at the hotel there. Bond sees Goldfinger cheating at gin rummy and stops him by distracting his employee, Jill Masterson, after Bond and Jill consummate their new relationship, Bond is knocked out by Goldfingers Korean manservant, the hulking giant Oddjob. When Bond awakens, he finds Jill dead, covered in gold paint, in London, Bond learns his objective is determining how Goldfinger smuggles gold internationally. The chancellor of the exchequer and M explain that prices vary across the world. Bond arranges to meet Goldfinger socially at his club in Kent. Bond follows him to Switzerland, where Tilly, Jills sister, Bond sneaks into Goldfingers plant and discovers Goldfinger smuggles gold by melting it down and incorporating it into the bodywork of his car, which he takes with him whenever he travels. Bond also overhears Goldfinger talking to Chinese agent Mr. Ling about Operation Grand Slam, leaving, Bond encounters Tilly as she tries to kill Goldfinger again, but trips an alarm in the process, Oddjob kills Tilly with his hat. Captured, Bond is tied to a cutting table underneath an industrial laser, Bond lies to Goldfinger that MI6 knows about Grand Slam, causing Goldfinger to spare Bonds life to mislead MI6 into believing Bond has things in hand. Bond is transported by Goldfingers private jet, piloted by Pussy Galore, to his farm near Fort Knox. Bond escapes and witnesses Goldfingers meeting with US mafiosi, who have brought the materials he needs for Operation Grand Slam. Although they are each promised $1 million, Goldfinger tempts them that they could have the million today, or $10 million tomorrow and he then kills them using some of the neurotoxin he plans to release over Fort Knox
14.
Diamonds Are Forever (film)
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Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the James Bond series by Eon Productions, and the sixth and final Eon film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Flemings 1956 novel of the same name, Bond has to battle his nemesis for one last time, to stop the smuggling and stall Blofelds plan of destroying Washington, D. C. and extorting the world with nuclear supremacy. The producers were inspired by Goldfinger, eventually hiring that films director, Guy Hamilton, locations included Las Vegas, California, Amsterdam and Lufthansas hangar in Germany. Diamonds Are Forever was a success, but received criticism for its humorous camp tone. The film marked the appearance of the SPECTRE organization in Eons Bond films until the 2015 film of the same name. James Bond—Agent 007—pursues Ernst Stavro Blofeld out of revenge, hunting down SPECTRE operatives across the world and he eventually finds him at a facility where Blofeld look-alikes are being created through plastic surgery. Bond kills a test subject, and later the real Blofeld, disguised as professional smuggler and assassin Peter Franks, Bond travels to Amsterdam to meet contact Tiffany Case. The real Franks shows up on the way, but Bond intercepts and kills him, Case and Bond then go to Los Angeles, smuggling the diamonds inside Franks corpse. At the airport Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter, then travels to Las Vegas, at a funeral home, Franks body is cremated and the diamonds are passed on to another smuggler, Shady Tree. Bond tells Leiter to ship him the real diamonds, Bond then goes to the Whyte House, a casino-hotel owned by the reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, where Tree works as a stand-up comedian. Bond watches Trees act and afterwards goes to his room, where he discovers there that Tree has been killed by Wint and Kidd. At the craps table Bond meets the opportunistic Plenty OToole, and after gambling, gang members ambush them, throwing OToole out the window and into a pool. Bond spends the rest of the night with Tiffany Case, instructing her to retrieve the diamonds at the Circus Circus casino. Tiffany reneges on her deal to back with Bond and instead flees. However, seeing that OToole was killed after being mistaken for her and she drives Bond to the airport, where the diamonds are given to Whytes casino manager, Bert Saxby, who is followed to a remote facility. Bond enters the apparent destination of the diamonds, a laboratory owned by Whyte, where a satellite is being built by Professor Metz. Bond fakes Metz by telling him he is Klaus Hergersheimer, a technician he met in the facility and his cover is blown when he is seen by a technician, but evades the security guards by stealing a moon buggy and reunites with Tiffany. They are seen by the Las Vegas police, and assuming Bond is a saboteur and they soon engage in a car chase, but Bond manages to evade all the cars
15.
Moonraker (film)
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Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Cléry, Bond investigates the theft of a space shuttle, leading him to Hugo Drax, the owner of the shuttles manufacturing firm. The films producers had intended to film For Your Eyes Only. Budgetary issues caused the film to be shot in France, with locations also in Italy, Brazil, Guatemala. The soundstages of Pinewood Studios in England, traditionally used for the series, were used by the special effects team. Moonraker was noted for its production cost of $34 million, almost twice as much money as predecessor The Spy Who Loved Me. A Drax Industries Moonraker STS-like space shuttle on loan to the United Kingdom is hijacked in mid-air, en route to England in a small charter plane, Bond is attacked by the crew and pushed out of the plane by the mercenary assassin Jaws. He survives by stealing a parachute from the pilot, whilst Jaws lands on a circus tent, Bond proceeds to the Drax Industries shuttle-manufacturing complex in California where he meets the owner of the company, Hugo Drax, and his henchman Chang. Bond also meets Dr. Holly Goodhead, an astronaut, Bond is later aided by Draxs personal pilot, Corinne Dufour, as he finds blueprints for a glass vial made in Venice. Bond then foils another attempt on his life, using a shotgun to shoot a sniper. Upon discovering that Dufour assisted Bonds investigations, Drax has her killed, Bond again encounters Goodhead in Venice where he is chased through the canals by Draxs henchmen. He discovers a secret laboratory, and by accidentally poisoning the scientists there, learns that the glass vials are to hold a nerve gas deadly to humans. Chang attacks Bond and is killed, but during the fight, rejoining Goodhead, he deduces that she is a CIA agent spying on Drax. They promise to work together, but quickly dispense with the truce, in Rio Bond meets his Brazilian contact Manuela. Drax hires Jaws to finish Changs job of eliminating Bond, Bond meets Goodhead at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, where they are attacked by Jaws on a cable car. After Jaws car crashes he is rescued from the rubble by Dolly, Bond and Goodhead are captured by henchmen, but Bond escapes and reports to an MI6 base in Brazil and learns that the toxin comes from a rare orchid indigenous to the Amazon jungle. Bond travels the Amazon River looking for Draxs research facility and again encounters Jaws and other henchmen, Bond escapes from his boat just before it hits the Iguazu Falls, and finds Draxs base. Captured by Jaws again, Bond is taken to Drax and witnesses four Moonrakers lifting off, Drax explains that he stole the loaned Moonraker because another in his fleet had developed a fault during assembly
16.
Brit Awards
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The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industrys annual pop music awards. The name was originally a form of British, Britain or Britannia. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for music, called the Classic Brit Awards, is held each May. Robbie Williams holds the record for the most Brit Awards,13 as a solo artist, the awards originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industrys trade association, the BPI. In 1989 they were renamed the Brit Awards, masterCard has been the long-term sponsor of the event. The Brit Awards were broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox, in subsequent years, the event was recorded and broadcast the following night. From 2007, the Brit Awards reverted to a live broadcast on British television, on 14 February on ITV. In that year, comedian Russell Brand was presenter and three awards were dropped from the ceremony, Best British Rock Act, Best British Urban Act, on 18 February 2009, the venue for the BRITs was once again the Earls Court, London. The Brit Awards were held at The O2 in London for the first time in 2011, the Brit Award statuette given to the winners features Britannia, the female personification of Britain. The first awards ceremony was in 1977, as The BRITish Record Industry BRITannia Awards, there have been 36 editions to date. The 2016 Brit Awards was held on 24 February 2016, the 1988 BPI Awards was the first of the ceremonies to be broadcast on live television. The BBC had previously broadcast the ceremony from 1985, with the shows from 1982 to 1984 not broadcast on television, the BBC continued to broadcast the renamed BRIT Awards, live in 1989 and pre-recorded from 1990 to 1992. ITV have broadcast the awards since 1993, pre-recorded until 2006, BBC Radio 1 has provided backstage radio coverage since 2008. In 1987 the BPI Awards ceremony was held in the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel, at the time there was a BBC electricians strike in effect, and the organisers decided to use a non-TV events production company, called Upfront, to manage the show. Despite the show being picketed, the event was transmitted as intended, for a while the outdoor broadcast scanner was rocked on its wheels by the protesters and they managed to shut off the power to one of the big GE video screen projectors. In 1989, the ceremony was broadcast live and presented by Fleetwood Macs Mick Fleetwood, the inexperience of the hosts, an ineffective autocue and little preparation combined to create an unprofessional show that was poorly received. The 1990 awards ceremony saw the last public appearance of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, Queen appeared at the ceremony to receive the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Mercury did not make a speech, as Brian May did the talking on behalf of the other members, in 1992, dance/art band The KLF were awarded Best British Group and were booked to open the show
17.
Butetown
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Butetown is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a housing estate built in the early nineteenth century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute. Some of the largest communities included the Somalis, Yemenis and Greeks, a Greek Orthodox church still stands at the top of Bute Street. It is known as one of the five towns of Cardiff, the population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 10,125. In the 1960s, most of the housing was demolished including the historic Loudoun Square. In its place was a typical 1960s housing estate of low-rise courts and alleys, in the 1980s, the new Atlantic Wharf development was built on the reclaimed West Bute Dock, and has involved the construction of some 1300 new houses. Together with the developments in the Inner Harbour and Roath Basin, it was hoped this would spur redevelopment and employment in Butetown, but it seems not to have. The divide between the wealthy Cardiff Bay, and the poor Tiger Bay seems as wide as ever, although some of the areas of historic Butetown are becoming prime office. With the new Century Wharf development to the west on the banks of the Taff, a three-year £13m project to redevelop a shopping parade, community hub, health centre and homes in Butetown began in 2010. The Loudoun Square development will include environmental aspects such as harvesting rain water, the project is a collaboration between Cardiff Community Housing Association, Cardiff Council and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The facilities and 62 new homes will follow four years of consultation with local residents, to serve this community three Welsh-language chapels were opened, Bethania, Loudon Square, Mount Stuart, and Siloam, Mount Stuart Square. A Welsh-speaking Anglican church also opened in the area in 1856, one of the members of Butetown’s Welsh-speaking community was Evan Rees, a worker in the Bute Docks in the 1870s and a future Archdruid of Wales. The 1891 census showed that 15% of Butetown’s population could speak Welsh, some parts had a particularly high percentage, such as the Loudon Square/James Street area. During the twentieth century, however, the percentage declined, although Welsh-speakers remained a part of the local community. In the 2011 census it was recorded that 928 or 9. 6% of Butetown residents could speak Welsh and this was a significant increase on the figures for the 2001 census, which were 356 and 8. 3%. The area is served by Cardiff Bay railway station with services every 12 minutes to Cardiff Queen Street. Cardiff Bus operates the 11 service to Pengam Green via Central Station, Splott and Tremorfa and the 35 service to Gabalfa via Central Stn and Cathays. It also on the 1/2 Bay Circle route connecting the area with Grangetown, Canton, Fairwater, Llandaff, Gabalfa, Heath, Cathays, Roath, Tremorfa, Splott and the City Centre
18.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
19.
Splott
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Splott is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the name, Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. Splott is characterised by its once vast steelworks and rows of tightly knit terraced houses, the suburb of Splott falls into the Splott electoral ward. It has frequently noted on lists of unusual place names. The population of Splott in the United Kingdom Census 2001 was 12,074, of the 8,221 adults in the area, only 1,000 have the lowest category of qualifications. Splott is a part of the City of Cardiff. Its name refers to the Welsh word for allotments which was the use of the prior to its conversion to housing. Most of the stock is Victorian in origin built during the expansion of the Citys iron. The early history of Splott is given in the Cardiff Records and this says that Splott was anciently held by the Bawdrips of Penmark. It consisted mainly of two farms, called the Upper and Lower Splott, situated between Roath Village and the sea,1440 - the Splott is mentioned as bounding certain lands of Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester and Warwick. 1596 - William Bawdrip of Penmark built a house at the Splott. 1626 - William Bawdrip of Splott was Member of Parliament for Cardiff and he sold Penmark and Splott to Sir Edward Lewis of the Van. 1638 - Sir Edward Lewis of the Van died,1740 - the Llandaff Survey of this year mentions a chief rent of four shillings as payable in respect of Splott Farm in Roath. No residential or industrial development took place in the area, however, in 1880 the whole area between Cardiff and the Bristol Channel was marshland, apart from the farms of Pengam and Splott. Residential development started in the 1880s, constructing streets, houses, shops, taverns and Board Schools, subsequently, the streets and housing were laid out by Habershon & Fawckner, architects for the Tredegar Estate. Inevitably there have many changes in the years since Splott was first developed. Portmanmoor Road is now an estate and its former Victorian era housing was demolished along with adjoining Enid Street, Layard Street. There is a community focus and this is centred on churches, schools, pubs
20.
Nigeria
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Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country. Modern-day Nigeria has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia, the modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, and the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms, Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, and plunged into a civil war from 1967 to 1970. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa, owing to its large population, with approximately 184 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims in the northern part. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as native to the Igbo. As of 2015, Nigeria is the worlds 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and it overtook South Africa to become Africas largest economy in 2014. The 2013 debt-to-GDP ratio was 11 percent, Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globes next BRIC-like economies. It is also listed among the Next Eleven economies set to become among the biggest in the world, Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many other international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country and this name was coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Lord Lugard, a British colonial administrator. The origin of the name Niger, which applied only to the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-igerewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu prior to 19th-century European colonialism. The Nok civilisation of Northern Nigeria flourished between 500 BC and AD200, producing life-sized terracotta figures which are some of the earliest known sculptures in Sub-Saharan Africa, further north, the cities Kano and Katsina have a recorded history dating to around 999 AD. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa, the Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people consolidated in the 10th century and continued until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture, Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan. Members of the clan trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri, in West Africa, the oldest bronzes made using the lost-wax process were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence. The Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, the oldest signs of human settlement at Ifes current site date back to the 9th century, and its material culture includes terracotta and bronze figures
21.
Bigamy
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In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other. In countries that have laws, consent from a prior spouse makes no difference to the legality of the second marriage. In 393, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I issued an edict to extend the ban on polygamy to Jewish communities. In 1000, Rabbi Gershom ben Judah ruled polygamy inadmissible within Ashkenazi Jewish communities, as a consequence, nominal Christian male bigamists were subjected to unprecedented harsh punishments, such as execution, galley servitude, exile, and prolonged imprisonment. McDougall argues that female bigamists were not as harshly punished due to womens perceived absence of moral agency, in ancient China, bigamy was a punishable offence, however, concubines and mistresses were tolerated as long as they were not acquired through an official marriage. A man, at any time, could only be married to one woman. Issue with the wife enjoyed preference in inheritance and social status, most western countries do not recognize polygamous marriages, and consider bigamy a crime. Several countries also prohibit people from living a polygamous lifestyle and this is the case in some states of the United States where the criminalization of a polygamous lifestyle originated as anti-Mormon laws, although they are rarely enforced. In diplomatic law, consular spouses from polygamous countries are exempt from a general prohibition on polygamy in host countries. In some such countries, only one spouse of a polygamous diplomat may be accredited, canada, Illegal under the Criminal Code, sect 290. Up to 2 years of imprisonment, and up to 3 years for bigamy with soldiers, egypt, Legal if first wife consents Eritrea, Illegal. All the 27 countries of the European Union, Illegal, iceland, Illegal according to the Icelandic Act on Marriage No. Up to 7 years of imprisonment, Republic of Ireland, Bigamy is a statutory offence. It is committed by a person who, being married to another person, the offence is created by section 57 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. This section replaces section 26 of the Act 10 Geo,4 c.34 for the Republic of Ireland. Iran, Legal with consent of first wife, rarely practiced, india, Legal only for Muslims but very rarely practiced. Up to ten years of imprisonment for others except in the state of Goa for Hindus due to its own civil code, indonesia, considered from each tribe, theres legal and another said illegal
22.
Divorce
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Divorce should not be confused with annulment, which declares the marriage null and void, with legal separation or de jure separation or with de facto separation. Reasons for divorce vary, from sexual incompatibility or lack of independence for one or both spouses to a personality clash, the only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines, the Vatican City and the British Crown Dependency of Sark. The Vatican City is a state, which has no procedure for divorce. Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Andorra, Ireland, Chile, grounds for divorce vary widely from country to country. Marriage may be seen as a contract, a status, or a combination of these, where it is seen as a contract, the refusal or inability of one spouse to perform the obligations stipulated in the contract may constitute a ground for divorce for the other spouse. In contrast, in countries, divorce is purely no fault. Many jurisdictions offer both the option of a no fault divorce as well as an at fault divorce and this is the case, for example, in many US states. Though divorce laws vary between jurisdictions, there are two approaches to divorce, fault based and no-fault based. In some jurisdictions one spouse may be forced to pay the fees of another spouse. Laws vary as to the period before a divorce is effective. However, issues of division of property are determined by the law of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. In Europe, divorce laws differ from country to country, reflecting differing legal and cultural traditions, in some countries, particularly in some former communist countries, divorce can be obtained only on one single general ground of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. Yet, what such a breakdown of the marriage is interpreted very differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Separation constitutes a ground of divorce in some European countries. g. in the laws of Latvia. Divorce laws are not static, they often change reflecting evolving social norms of societies, some countries have completely overhauled their divorce laws, such as Spain in 2005, and Portugal in 2008. A new divorce law also came into force in September 2007 in Belgium, bulgaria also modified its divorce regulations in 2009. e. The negotiations with the participation of an advocate or agreement made before the registrar of Public Registry Office, Austria, instead, is a European country where the divorce law still remains conservative. The liberalization of laws is not without opposition, particularly in the United States
23.
Choir
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A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical repertoire, which spans from the Medieval era to the present. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, a body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus. The former term is often applied to groups affiliated with a church and the second to groups that perform in theatres or concert halls. Choirs may sing without instrumental accompaniment, with the accompaniment of a piano or pipe organ, with a small ensemble, choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six, and eight, choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing, many choirs perform in one or many locations such as a church, opera house, or school hall. In some cases choirs join up to become one mass choir that performs for a special concert, in this case they provide a series of songs or musical works to celebrate and provide entertainment to others. Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as a concert, by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face. The primary duties of the conductor or choirmaster are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble. The conductor or choral director typically stands on a raised platform, many choral conductors use their hands to conduct. In the 2010s, most conductors do not play an instrument when conducting, although in earlier periods of music history. In Baroque music from the 1600s to the 1750s, conductors performing in the 2010s may lead an ensemble while playing a harpsichord or the violin, conducting while playing a piano may also be done with musical theatre pit orchestras. Communication is typically non-verbal during a performance, however, in rehearsals, frequent interruptions allow the conductor to give verbal directions as to how the music should be sung. Conductors act as guides to the choirs they conduct and they choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments, work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the singers. Choral conductors may also have to conduct instrumental ensembles such as if the choir is singing a piece for choir. They may also attend to matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions
24.
Pub
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A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer, ale and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, Irish, New Zealand, Canadian, in many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th century diary Samuel Pepys described the pub as the heart of England, Pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the tied house system in the 19th century. In 1393, King Richard II of England introduced legislation that pubs had to display a sign outdoors to make them easily visible for passing ale tasters who would assess the quality of ale sold, most pubs focus on offering beers, ales and similar drinks. As well, pubs often sell wines, spirits, and soft drinks, meals, the owner, tenant or manager is known as the pub landlord or publican. The pub quiz was established in the UK in the 1970s and these alehouses quickly evolved into meeting houses for the folk to socially congregate, gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Herein lies the origin of the public house, or Pub as it is colloquially called in England. They rapidly spread across the Kingdom, becoming so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village. A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, the Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders. A survey in 1577 of drinking establishment in England and Wales for taxation purposes recorded 14,202 alehouses,1,631 inns, Inns are buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway, in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built a system of roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old, in addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, the latter tend to provide alcohol, but less commonly accommodation. Famous London inns include The George, Southwark and The Tabard, there is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. In North America, the aspect of the word inn lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn. The Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. The practice of adding hops to produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th century, alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries, the 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin
25.
Nigel Havers
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Nigel Allan Havers is an English actor. He played Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire, earning a BAFTA nomination for the role and he portrayed the role of Lewis Archer in Coronation Street from 2009 to 2010. He returned to the role in 2012 and left again in February 2013 and his paternal aunt Baroness Butler-Sloss, his grandfather Sir Cecil Havers and elder brother Philip Havers QC also had prominent legal careers. Havers took part in the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are, broadcast in the UK in July 2013. As part of the show he explored his ancestry from an Essex businessman, on his fathers side, Havers is most known for playing the quintessential, old school zulu with his dashing good looks, cut-glass accent and thoroughly charming manner. After this he had a stint working for a Jamie Symonds, mr Symonds, who was interviewed on Richard and Judy, stated Nige used to babysit for us back then as well as iron and generally fix things. I loved him greatly as I still do, I miss his fluffy hair and his strong hands. From an early age Havers had an eye for Kenneth More, a friend of his father and he describes his experiences with an early leading lady, Maxine Audley thus, I was in her dressing room doing whatever she asked me to, and I mean anything and everything. One afternoon I sauntered into her room, still in my officers kit. She blew me a kiss and I slid away, actually, I was rather relieved, I needed a rest. After his theatre work, Havers slid into a period of acting unemployment and he ended this part of his career when his girlfriend, who later became his first wife, Carolyn Cox, suggested they move in together in 1974. Dinmont is in the Rolls Royce when Georgina accidentally kills a farmer on a bicycle, dinmont refuses to testify on Georginas behalf at a preliminary trial, as he was passed out drunk in the back seat and did not witness the accident. When he appeared in Chariots of Fire, he was a face on television. Despite appearing in films as A Passage to India and Empire of the Sun, he never became a film star. He co-starred for several years in the 1980s BBC sitcom Dont Wait Up alongside Tony Britton and he also starred in The Little Princess with Maureen Lipman, which won him a dedicated audience. He is also recognised in the Lloyds Bank television commercials. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel, in 2009 he appeared in the U. S. television drama Brothers & Sisters, and the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. In February 2010, he appeared in the British soap Coronation Street playing the charming escort Lewis Archer, in November 2010 Havers became a contestant on the tenth series of Im A Celebrity
26.
Monte Carlo
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Monte Carlo /ˈmɒnti ˈkɑːrloʊ/ officially refers to an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. The permanent population of the ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, from west to east they are, Fontvieille, Monaco-Ville, La Condamine, and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera and it is also the location of the Hôtel de Paris, the Café de Paris, and the Salle Garnier. The eastern part of the quarter includes the community of Larvotto with Monacos only public beach, as well as its new center. At the quarters eastern border, one crosses into the French town of Beausoleil, at the time, a number of small towns in Europe were growing prosperous from the establishment of casinos, notably in German towns such as Baden-Baden and Homburg. The success of the casino grew slowly, largely due to the areas inaccessibility from much of Europe, the installation of the railway in 1868, however, brought with it an influx of people into Monte Carlo and saw it grow in wealth. Saint-Charles Church on Monte Carlos Avenue Sainte-Charles was completed in 1883 and it was restored in its centenary year. The municipalities were merged into one in 1917, after accusations that the government was acting according to the divide and conquer. Today, Monaco is divided into 10 wards, with an eleventh ward planned to land reclaimed from the sea. The quarter of Monte Carlo was served by tramways from 1900 to 1953, in 2003 a new cruise ship pier was completed in the harbour at Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is host to most of the Circuit de Monaco and it also hosts world championship boxing bouts, the European Poker Tour Grand Final and the World Backgammon Championship as well as the Monaco International Auto Show, fashion shows and other events. Although the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament is billed as taking place in the community, Monte Carlo has been visited by royalty as well as the general public and movie stars for decades. The rally, however, takes place outside the Monte Carlo quarter and is run mostly on French roads, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo or Salle Garnier was built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier, who also designed the Paris opera house now known as the Palais Garnier. Although much smaller, the Salle Garnier is very similar in style with decorations in red and gold and it was inaugurated on 25 January 1879 with a performance by Sarah Bernhardt dressed as a nymph. The first opera performed there was Robert Planquettes Le Chevalier Gaston on 8 February 1879, gunsbourg had remained for sixty years. This production formed part of an association between the company and Massenet and his operas, two of which were presented there posthumously. Other famous twentieth-century singers to appear at Monte Carlo included Titta Ruffo, Geraldine Farrar, Mary Garden, Tito Schipa, Beniamino Gigli, Claudia Muzio, Georges Thill, and Lily Pons. Apart from Massenet, composers whose works had their first performances at Monte Carlo included, Saint-Saëns, Mascagni, indeed, since its inauguration, the theatre has hosted 45 world premiere productions of operas
27.
Al Jolson
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Al Jolson was an American singer, film actor, and comedian. At the peak of his career, he was dubbed The Worlds Greatest Entertainer and his performing style was brash and extroverted, and he popularized a large number of songs that benefited from his shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach. Numerous well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Dylan once referred to him as somebody whose life I can feel. Broadway critic Gilbert Seldes compared him to the Greek god Pan, claiming that Jolson represented the concentration of our national health, in the 1930s, Jolson was Americas most famous and highest-paid entertainer. Between 1911 and 1928, Jolson had nine sell-out Winter Garden shows in a row, more than 80 hit records, and 16 national and international tours. Although he is best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with The Jolson Story, for which Larry Parks played Jolson, the formula was repeated in a sequel, Jolson Sings Again. In 1950, he became the first star to entertain GIs on active service in the Korean War. He died just weeks after returning to the U. S. partly owing to the exertion of performing. Defense Secretary George Marshall posthumously awarded him the Medal of Merit, According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Jolson was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock n roll. Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular event out of singing a song and his specialty was performing on stage runways extending out into the audience. According to music historian Larry Stempel, No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway, author Stephen Banfield agreed, writing that Jolsons style was arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical. Jolson also enjoyed performing in blackface makeup, a convention since the mid-19th century. With his unique and dynamic style of singing black music, such as jazz and blues, as early as 1911, he became known for fighting against black discrimination on Broadway. Al Jolson was born as Asa Yoelson in the Jewish village of Srednik now known as Seredžius, near Kaunas in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the fifth and youngest child of Moses Rubin Yoelson and Nechama Naomi Cantor, his four siblings were Rose, Etta, another sister who died in infancy, and Hirsch. Jolson claimed not to know when he was born, and later chose to claim he was born on May 26,1886. His one-time sister-in-law, Margaret Weatherwax, claimed Jolson was the age as their father, Ralph
28.
Jack Hylton
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Jack Hylton was an English band leader and impresario who rose to prominence during the British dance band era. He was born John Greenhalgh Hylton in Great Lever near Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton and his father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Hylton learned piano to accompany him on the stage. Hylton later sang to the customers when his father bought a pub in nearby Little Lever and he also performed as a relief pianist for various bands. His early career involved moving to London as a pianist in the 400 Club, during the First World War, he moved to be a musical director of the band of the 20th Hussars and the Director of the Army Entertainment Division. After the First World War Hylton played with the Queens Dance Orchestra, wrote arrangements of popular songs and he then formed his own band, recording the new style of jazz-derived American dance music under the Jack Hylton name from 1923. Hylton became a band leader with a busy schedule. Even though he was not professionally trained for business, he brought his band to success at a time when the Great Depression hit hard, with his entrepreneurial skills, he managed to sell almost four million records in 1929 according to the Daily Herald of 7 June 1930. His good reputation allowed him to contacts with famous jazz artists of time. This overall success allowed Jack Hyltons band not only to people in Britain. The band frequently had what were called continental tours which made it famous in various places in Europe and he became a director and major shareholder of the new Decca record label. His band developed into an orchestra and toured America and Europe into the 1940s, Hylton adopted The Soldiers in the Park as his signature tune. During the war, he took the London Philharmonic Orchestra around Britain giving promenade concerts and this helped to keep the orchestra going when its normal programme had ceased and it was on the edge of bankruptcy. At this point in his career he became an impresario discovering new stars and managing radio, film and his productions dominated the London theatres with such productions as The Merry Widow, Kiss Me, Kate and Kismet. At the same time he was still producing stage shows, as well as taking a role in organising various Royal Command Performances. Hylton was married twice, firstly in 1913 in St. Asaph, Flintshire, Wales, to bandleader Ennis Parkes and secondly, in Geneva in 1963, to Australian model and beauty queen Beverley Prowse. Outside his marriages he had a son, Jack, by Pat Taylor, a singer and actress, on 26 January 1965, complaining of chest and stomach pains, Hylton was admitted to the London Clinic. He died there three days later, from an attack, aged 72. Hyltons spending habits and generosity left his estate with £242,288, Hylton said to his son during his latter years, I wont leave you much, but well have a good laugh spending it while Im here
29.
Adelphi Theatre
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The Adelphi Theatre /əˈdɛlfi/ is a London West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site, the theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals. The theatre was Grade II listed for preservation on 1 December 1987. It was founded in 1806 as the Sans Pareil, by merchant John Scott, Jane was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright. Together, they gathered a company and by 1809 the theatre was licensed for musical entertainments, pantomime. She wrote more than fifty pieces in an array of genres, melodramas, pantomimes, farces, comic operettas, historical dramas. Jane Scott retired to Surrey in 1819, marrying John Davies Middleton, on 18 October 1819, the theatre reopened under its present name, which was adopted from the Adelphi Buildings opposite. In its early years, the theatre was known for melodrama and this is notable for being thought the first Dickens adaption performed. In 1848, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain was performed, the new theatre could seat 1,500 people, with standing room for another 500. The interior was lighted by a Strouds Patent Sun Lamp, a brilliant array of gas mantles passed through a chandelier of cut-glass, in the mid-19th century, John Lawrence Toole established his comedic reputation at the Adelphi. Also in the century, the Adelphi hosted a number of French operettas. In 1867, however, the Adelphi gave English comic opera a boost by hosting the first public performance of Arthur Sullivans first opera, Cox and Box. They also built a new enlarged facade and part of this can still be seen today above the Crystal Rooms next door to the present Adelphi Theatre and this is now recorded on a plaque on the wall by the stage door. Outside a neighbouring pub, a sign says that the killer was one of the stage hands. It has been said that Terriss ghost haunts the theatre, Terriss daughter was Ellaline Terriss, a famous actress, and her husband, actor-manager Seymour Hicks managed the Adelphi for some years at the end of the 19th century. The stage door of the current Adelphi is in Maiden Lane, william Terriss would later have a Theatre named after him, the Terriss Theatre in Rotherhithe, later known as the Rotherhithe Hippodrome. The adjacent, numbers 409 and 410 Strand, were built in 1886–87 by the Gatti Brothers as the Adelphi Restaurant, the frontage remains essentially the same, but with plate glass windows, and, like the theatre, is a Grade II listed building. On 11 September 1901, the theatre was opened as the Century Theatre
30.
West End theatre
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West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of Theatreland in and near the West End of London. Along with New York Citys Broadway theatre, West End theatre is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London, in 2013, ticket sales reached a record 14.4 million, making West End the largest English speaking audience in the world. Famous screen actors frequently appear on the London stage, helen Mirren received an award for her performance as the Queen on the West End stage, and then stated, theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture. Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation, the first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain, both are known to have been used by William Shakespeares company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark and these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649. After the Restoration, two companies were licensed to perform, the Dukes Company and the Kings Company, performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisles Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal and it opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal. Outside the West End, Sadlers Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property, it operated as a Musick House, with performances of opera, as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site north of its current location. The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, by the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music, initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End at Shoreditch and Whitechapel. The West End theatre district became established with the opening of small theatres and halls. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, the next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. It abbreviated its name three years later, the theatre building boom continued until about World War I
31.
Burn My Candle
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Burn My Candle was Shirley Basseys first single. It was recorded in February 1956, when Bassey was nineteen years old, the record was produced by Johnny Franz, with Wally Stott and his Orchestra backing Bassey. The song was written for Bassey by Ross Parker at the behest of Basseys then-manager, Michael Sullivan, the BBC banned the playing of the record, presumably due to its suggestive lyrics. In his 2010 biography of Bassey, John L. And that, right there, is the key to Shirley Basseys early success, she was sexy and yet somehow, if not innocent. Despite being popular with audiences, the failed to chart. In a 2009 interview on the BBC series Imagine, Bassey stated, It was banned by the BBC, and I said, Why are they banning it. And my manager said, well—the lyrics may have something to do with it—and I said, I didnt even know what it was about. Id never sung a song and I think they purposefully didnt tell me so that I could give it that innocence. Its first appearance on an album was The Bewitching Miss Bassey in 1959, on subsequent appearances the song is sometimes listed as Burn My Candle. Most recently, it appears on the CD compilation Burn My Candle - The Complete Early Years, Shirley Bassey re-recorded this song in 1966, but it remained unreleased until 1975 when it appeared on the 2-LP set The Shirley Bassey Collection II
32.
Stormy Weather (1933 song)
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Stormy Weather is a 1933 song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year, also 1933, for the first time in history the entire floor revue from Harlems Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities. The song has since been performed by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Clodagh Rodgers, leo Reismans orchestra version had the biggest hit on records, although Ethel Waterss recorded version also sold well. Stormy Weather was featured in the 1943 movie of the same name, the song tells of disappointment, as the lyrics, Dont know why theres no sun up in the sky, show someone pining for her man to return. The weather is a metaphor for the feelings of the singer, stormy weather since my man and I aint together, keeps raining all the time. The original handwritten lyrics, along with a painting by Ted Koehler, were featured on the Antiques Roadshow on 24 January 2011, the lyrics show a number of crossings out and corrections. Ethel Waterss recording of the song in 1933 was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, also in 2004, Hornes version finished at #30 on AFIs 100 Years.100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. Stormy Weather was released as a single by the industrial hip-hop group Fats Comet, duke Ellington recorded an instrumental version of the song in 1933 and another version with singer Ivie Anderson in 1940. He also featured a version with Ivy Anderson in his 1933 Paramount short film Bundle of Blues. Ethel Waters 1933 The Golden Gate Quartet recorded the song for Bluebird Records in 1939, Lena Horne first recorded the song in 1941 for RCA Victor. In 1943, she recorded another version of Stormy Weather for the movie of the same name, Horne recorded the song at least five times throughout her career. Hornes version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000, Judy Garland recorded a studio version of the song for her London Sessions with Capitol. Most notable is her performance of the song recorded for the Grammy Award-winning album Judy at Carnegie Hall. Roy Hamilton, studio album Have Blues Must Travel and it was arranged by Marion Evans Billy Eckstine, studio album Once More with Feeling. It was arranged by Billy May Charles Mingus recorded the song on the Mingus, album for Candid Records Etta James, on her 1960 album for Chess Records, At Last. Bing Crosby on the 1965 album Bing Crosbys Treasury - The Songs I Love Ringo Starr recorded the song in 1969 for his debut album. Sylvia Brooks, on her 2012 album, Restless Viola Wills covered the song in 1982, jeff Lynne recorded a version of the song for his 1990 solo album, Armchair Theatre. Carmel recorded a version for her 1984 album, The Drum is Everything, bob Dylan - Triplicate The chapter Stormy Weather in the book Stardust Melodies, The Biography of Twelve of Americas Most Popular Songs by Will Friedwald
33.
Mitch Miller
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Mitchell William Mitch Miller was an American oboist, conductor, recording producer and recording industry executive. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor, Mitch Miller was born in Rochester, New York, on July 4,1911, to a Jewish family. His mother was Hinda Rosenblum Miller, a seamstress, and his father, Abram Calmen Miller. He had four siblings, two of whom, Leon and Joseph, survived him, Miller took up the oboe at first as a teenager, because it was the only instrument available when he went to audition for his junior high school orchestra. A talented oboist, at age fifteen he played with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and he graduated in 1932 with honors. Miller played the prominent English horn part in the Largo movement of Dvořáks New World Symphony in a famous 1947 recording conducted by Leopold Stokowski. As part of the CBS Symphony, Miller participated in the accompaniment to the infamous radio broadcast of Orson Welless The War of the Worlds. This was a position in a recording company, because the A&R executive decided which musicians. After arriving at Columbia, he helped direct the careers of artists who were signed to the label, such as Doris Day, Dinah Shore and Jo Stafford. Miller also discovered Aretha Franklin and signed her to the first major recording contract of her career, when Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records promised her artistic freedom to create records outside the pop mainstream in a more rhythm-and-blues-driven direction, she left Columbia after five years. Previously, Miller had offered Presley a contract, but balked at the amount Presleys manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was asking. In defense of his stance, he once told NME in January 1958, Rock n roll is musical baby food, it is the worship of mediocrity. Producer Bob Stanley had found the group during a series of early 1954 Mexican civil rights concerts in East Los Angeles and their lead guitarist Bill Aken was the only Caucasian in the Latino band. Despite his distaste for rock n roll, Miller emphasized emotional expression over vocal perfection, songs like A White Sport Coat by Marty Robbins and Rock-a-Billy by Guy Mitchell are just two examples. As a record producer, Miller gained a reputation for innovation and gimmickry. Music historian Will Friedwald wrote in his book Jazz Singing that Miller exemplified the worst in American pop and he first aroused the ire of intelligent listeners by trying to turn — and darn near succeeding in turning — great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into hacks. Miller was hardly a rock n roller, yet without these ideas there could never have been rock n roll, mule Train, Millers first major hit and the foundation of his career, set the pattern for virtually the entire first decade of rock. The similarities between it and, say, Leader of the Pack, need hardly be outlined here, while Millers methods were resented by some of Columbias performers, including Harry James, Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney, the label maintained a high hit-to-release ratio during the 1950s
34.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
35.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
36.
Las Vegas
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The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and it is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World and it is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the worlds most visited tourist destinations. The citys tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century, population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85. 2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2013 estimate, perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled there 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago, a young Mexican scout named Rafael Rivera is credited as the first non-Native American to encounter the valley, in 1829. Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, the area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers. The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C, frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Street is named after him, eleven years later members of the LDS Church chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward, the remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city,1931 was a pivotal year for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and this year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935, in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School was established. Currently known as Nellis Air Force Base, it is home to the team called the Thunderbirds
37.
El Rancho Vegas
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El Rancho Vegas was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It was located at 2500 Las Vegas Boulevard, at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, until 1942, it was the largest hotel in Las Vegas with 110 rooms. On June 17,1960, the hotel was destroyed by fire, in 1940, James Cashman, a businessman, asked Thomas Hull, the owner of the El Rancho hotels, to build a chain in Las Vegas. Hull saw the potential of the resort, as he saw all the license plates during a visit to the resorts potential site. Construction of the El Rancho Vegas began in 1940, and the resort opened on April 3,1941, El Rancho Vegas was the first resort on the Las Vegas Strip. It was designed by architect Wayne McAllister, who constructed the resort with a Spanish-style exterior with a cowboy, El Rancho Vegas offered horseback riding, a large swimming pool, and top shows in its theater called the Opera House. When it opened, El Rancho Vegass dining room was the largest in Las Vegas, the casino consisted of four table games—two blackjack tables, one roulette table, and one craps table—and seventy slot machines. In December 1944, William Wilkerson leased the El Rancho Vegas from then owner Joe Drown for six months, Wilkerson paid Drown $50,000 for the six-month lease. Wilkerson would later go on to build The Flamingo Hotel, in September 1945, El Rancho Vegas was sold for $1.5 million to Los Angeles businessman Walter Guzzardi. Katleman used $750,000 to improve the resort, and El Rancho Vegas became the largest casino in Nevada, shirley Bassey made her American stage debut here in 1957. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married at the El Rancho Vegas in 1958, the wedding was held in the suite of the casinos owner at the time, Beldon Katleman. Stripper Candy Barr was headlining at El Rancho Vegas in 1959 when she was arrested by the FBI after her appeal on a marijuana conviction originating in Texas was rejected by the US Supreme Court. On June 17,1960, while Harry James and Betty Grable were performing a show on stage. There were no deaths or injuries, despite vows to rebuild the El Rancho Vegas after the fire, the plans never materialized. In 1970, billionaire Howard Hughes purchased 60 acres of the land, in 1978, the remnants of the old resort were demolished. The Hilton Grand Vacations Club timeshare opened on a portion of the land in 2004, the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, opened in 2015, takes up a majority of the land. Media at the UNLV digital library
38.
London Palladium
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The London Palladium is a 2, 286-seat Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London, the theatre has also hosted the Royal Variety Performance a record 40 times, most recently in 2014. Walter Gibbons, an early manager, built the Palladium in 1910 to compete with Sir Edward Mosss London Hippodrome. The facade, dates back to the 19th century, formerly it was a temporary wooden building called Corinthian Bazaar, which featured an aviary and aimed to attract customers from the recently closed Pantheon Bazaar on Oxford Street. It then became the National Skating Palace – a skating rink with real ice, however the rink failed and the Palladium was redesigned by Frank Matcham, a famous theatrical architect who also designed the Coliseum, on the site that had previously housed Hengler’s Circus. The building now carries Heritage Foundation commemorative plaques honouring Lew Grade, the theatre retains many of its original features and was Grade II* listed in September 1960. The Palladium had its own telephone system so the occupants of boxes could call one another and it also had a revolving stage. The theatre started out as The Palladium, a venue for variety performances. In 1926, the pantomime starred Lennie Dean as Cinderella, footage of remains to this day. The theatre is especially linked to the Royal Variety Performances, where many were, in 1928, for three months the Palladium also ran as a cinema. Following this Cine-Variety episode the theatre fell dark for a period in the autumn of 1928. From 3 September 1928, the Palladium reopened under the directorship of the impresario/producer George Black as part of the General Theatre Corporation, when Black took control the theatre was close to bankruptcy. Before too long, under Blacks management the Palladium was soon gaining praise again as The Worlds Leading Variety Theatre, in 1935, Black initiated the Crazy Gang revues at the Palladium with Life Begins at Oxford Circus. The revues continued at the Palladium as an event until they transferred to the Victoria Palace theatre in 1940. Black managed the Palladium until his death in 1945, the climax of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller The 39 Steps was filmed at the Palladium. The theatre was hit by an unexploded German parachute mine on 11 May 1941, the device had fallen through the roof, becoming lodged over the stage. A Royal Navy bomb disposal team was sent to deal with it, after the mine was located, the fuze locking ring had to be turned to allow access to the fuze itself. Rather disconcertingly, the fuze began ticking as soon as it was touched and this caused a rapid evacuation of the immediate area, but the mine did not detonate
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EMI
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EMI was a British multinational conglomerate founded in March 1931 and was based in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth-largest business group and its EMI Records Ltd. group of record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records and Capitol Records. EMI also had a publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing—also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, other members of the Sony consortium include the Estate of Michael Jackson, The Blackstone Group, and Abu Dhabi–owned investment fund Mubadala Development Company. The new vertically integrated company produced sound recordings as well as recording, the companys gramophone manufacturing led to forty years of success with larger-scale electronics and electrical engineering. He was killed in 1942 whilst conducting flight trials on an experimental H2S radar set, post-war, the company resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing the BBCs second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC, the commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, the company was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer of photomultipliers. This part of the business was transferred to Thorn as part of Thorn-EMI, in 1958 the EMIDEC1100, the UKs first commercially available all-transistor computer, was developed at Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield, an electrical engineer at EMI. In 1973 EMI was awarded a prestigious Queens Award for Technological Innovation for what was called the EMI scanner. After brief, but brilliant, success in the imaging field, EMIs manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies. Subsequently, development and manufacturing activities were sold off to companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley. Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes, Scotland, was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft, of California, US and it manufactured integrated circuits electrolytic capacitors and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, hand-held calculators under the Gemini name. Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established subsidiary operations in a number of countries in the British Commonwealth, including India, Australia. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMIs temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, in 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London. During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar, during this time EMI appointed its first A&R managers. These included George Martin, who brought the Beatles into the EMI fold. When the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931, at this point RCA had a majority shareholding in the new company, giving RCA chair David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board
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As Long as He Needs Me
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It is a love ballad expressing Nancys love for her criminal boyfriend Bill Sikes, despite his mistreatment of her. A reprise of song towards the end of the show expresses Nancys affection for young Oliver Twist. This reprise was omitted from the film version, the song has also been sung as As Long as She Needs Me, when sung by a male singer. Its popularity grew by virtue of renditions by several singers, including Lionel Bart. Basseys recording became one of the highest sellers of 1960 staying on the UK charts for 30 weeks, the song was performed by Nadia Turner and Melinda Doolittle on American Idol. The song has performed by contestants Nadia Turner and Melinda Doolittle on American Idol. It was released as a recorded track by Doolittle. Hooker with a heart of gold Domestic abuse Songs Of Shirley Bassey Song Info
41.
Lionel Bart
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Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver. He was born Lionel Begleiter, the youngest of seven surviving children of Galician Jews, Yetta and Morris Begleiter and he grew up in Stepney, his father worked in the area as a tailor in a garden shed. The family had escaped the pogroms against Jews by Ukrainian cossacks in Galicia. The sole survivor of the seven children is Barts sister Renee Gold, a more likely derivation of Bart is from the silk-screen printing company he founded with John Gorman, G and B Arts. As a young man he was an accomplished painter, when Bart was aged six, a teacher told his parents that he was a musical genius. His parents gave him an old violin, but he did not apply himself, at the age of 14 he obtained a Junior Art Scholarship to Saint Martins School of Art. One Friday afternoon he was suspended for mischievousness along with student, John Groom, for making a noise with the rest of the class, involving set squares. On the following Monday, he returned to the School with an explanation of his peripheral involvement in the disturbance. After St Martins he gave up his ambition to be a painter and he never learned to read or write musical notation, this did not stop him from becoming a significant personality in the development of British rock and pop music. He started his career in amateur theatre, first at The International Youth Centre in 1952 where he. The following year the pair auditioned for a production of the Leonard Irwin play The Wages of Eve at Londons Unity Theatre. Shortly afterward Bart began composing songs for Unity Theatre productions, contributing material to its 1953 revue Turn It Up, and songs for its 1953 pantomime, while at the Unity he was talent-spotted by Joan Littlewood, and so joined Theatre Workshop. He also wrote songs for the Sunday lunchtime BBC radio programme The Billy Cotton Band Show. He first gained recognition through his pop songwriting, penning numerous hits for the stable of young male singers promoted by artist manager. Barts pop output in this period includes the hits Living Doll and Rock with the Cavemen, Handful of Songs, Butterfingers, during this period, Steele and Mike Pratt were his songwriting partners. He won three Ivor Novello Awards in 1957, a four in 1958, and two in 1960. He wrote the song for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love. His other hits include, Do You Mind, big Time, Easy Going Me and Always You And Me
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Oliver!
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Oliver. is an English musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and it premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway, tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. It was made into a film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98, 2008–11 and on tour in the UK from 2011-13, a prominent musical in British popular culture, Oliver. Received thousands of performances in British schools, particularly in the 1970s, in 1963 Lionel Bart received the Tony Award for Best Original Score. Many songs are known to the public. Oliver. was the first musical adaptation of a famous Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit, there had been two previous Dickens musicals in the 1950s, both of them television adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The musical opens in the workhouse, as the orphan boys are entering the enormous dining room for dinner. They are fed only gruel, but find some solace by imagining a richer menu, Oliver gathers up the courage to ask for more. He is immediately apprehended and is told to gather his belongings by Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney, Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney are left alone, and Mr. Bumble begins to make amorous advances. Mrs. Corney pretends to resent his attentions, but ends up on Mr. Bumbles lap, Mr. Bumble then takes Oliver and sells him as an apprentice to an undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. He and his wife taunt Oliver and Mr. Bumble, causing Mr. Bumble to become angry, Oliver is sent to sleep in the basement with the coffins. The next morning Noah Claypole, another employee of Sowerberry, insults Olivers dead mother, Mrs. Sowerberry and her maid, Charlotte, also Noahs girlfriend, run in, and Mr. Bumble is sent for. He and the Sowerberrys lock Oliver in a coffin, but during all the commotion Oliver escapes, after a week on the run, he ends up in the city of London and meets a boy about his age known as the Artful Dodger. Dodger seems a kindly boy, and invites Oliver to join him, Dodger is, unknown to Oliver, a boy pickpocket, and he invites Oliver to come and live in Fagins lair. Fagin is a criminal, now too old to thieve himself. Oliver is completely unaware of any criminality, and believes that the boys make handkerchiefs rather than steal them, Oliver is introduced to Fagin and his boys, and is taught their ways. The next day, Oliver meets Nancy, a member of Fagins gang, and the live-in wife of Fagins terrifying associate Bill Sikes
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