1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Richmond Park
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Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park. The largest of Londons Royal Parks, it is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation and its landscapes have inspired many famous artists and it has been a location for several films and TV series. Richmond Park includes many buildings of architectural or historic interest, the Grade I-listed White Lodge was formerly a royal residence and is now home to the Royal Ballet School. Historically the preserve of the monarch, the park is now open for all to use and includes a course and other facilities for sport. It played an important role in world wars and in the 1948 and 2012 Olympics. Richmond Park is the largest of Londons Royal Parks and it is the second-largest park in London and is Britains second-largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. Measuring 3.69 square miles, it is comparable in size to Pariss Bois de Vincennes and it is almost half the size of Casa de Campo and around three times the size of Central Park in New York. Of national and international importance for conservation, most of Richmond Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The largest Site of Special Scientific Interest in London, it was designated as an SSSI in 1992, excluding the area of the course, Pembroke Lodge Gardens. In its citation, Natural England said, Richmond Park has been managed as a deer park since the seventeenth century. In particular, Richmond Park is of importance for its diverse deadwood beetle fauna associated with the ancient trees found throughout the parkland, in addition the park supports the most extensive area of dry acid grassland in Greater London. The park was designated as an SAC in April 2005 on account of its having a number of ancient trees with decaying timber. A public open space since the mid C19, Richmond Park is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton, day-to-day management of the Royal Parks has been delegated to The Royal Parks, an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Royal Parks Board sets the direction for the agency. Appointments to the Board are made by the Mayor of London, the Friends of Richmond Park and the Friends of Bushy Park co-chair the Richmond and Bushy Parks Forum, comprising 38 local groups of local stakeholder organisations. Although welcoming the principles of the new arrangements, the forum. Richmond Park is enclosed by a wall with several gates
3.
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
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The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south-west London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963 and it is governed by Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council. The borough is approximately half parkland – large areas of Londons open space fall within the boundaries, including Richmond Park, Kew Gardens, Bushy Park. A neighbouring authority in Surrey achieved the best quality of life in that report, demography is a diverse picture as in all of London, each district should be looked at separately and even those do not reflect all neighbourhoods. Whatever generalisations are used, the texture of London poverty by its minutely localised geography must always be taken into account according to an influential poverty report of 2010. Londons German business and expatriate community is centred on this borough, the above are arranged by post town Parks take up a great deal of the borough and include Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Park. There are over 100 parks and open spaces within its boundary and 21 miles of river frontage,140 hectares within the borough are designated as part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The name Richmond upon Thames was coined at that time, it is now commonly but inaccurately used to refer to Richmond only, the boroughs history is reflected in the coat of arms, which was officially granted on 7 May 1966. It is, Ermine a portcullis or within a bordure gules charged with eight fleurs-de-lis or. The crest is, On a wreath argent and gules out of a mural crown gules a swan rousant argent in beak a branch of climbing red roses leaved and entwined about the neck proper. The supporters are, On either side a griffin gules, armed and beaked azure, each supporting an oar proper, the blade of the dark blue. Red, gold and ermine are the royal colours, reflecting Richmonds royal history. The swan represents the River Thames, which flows through the borough, the oars are from the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, reflecting the fact that the Boat Race between the two universities ends at Mortlake in the borough. The borough currently has a Conservative-led council which has been the most common administration since its formation, the borough is served by many Transport for London bus routes. The borough is connected to central London and Reading by the National Rail services of South West Trains, the London Undergrounds District line serves Richmond and Kew Gardens stations, both are also served by London Overground trains on the North London Line. The other stations are, Barnes, Barnes Bridge, Fulwell, Hampton, Hampton Wick, Mortlake, North Sheen, St Margarets, Strawberry Hill, Teddington, Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames is the local education authority for the borough. The borough has a football club, Hampton & Richmond Borough F. C. who play at Beveree Stadium in Hampton. The Twickenham Stadium hosts rugby internationals and the Twickenham Stoop is home to the Harlequins Rugby Team, Richmond Rugby Club are also active and share their grounds with London Scottish F. C
4.
John Soane
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Sir John Soane RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the Royal Academy and he received a knighthood in 1831. His best-known work was the Bank of England, a building which had an effect on commercial architecture. He also designed Dulwich Picture Gallery, which, with its galleries, was a major influence on the planning of subsequent art galleries. The museum is described in the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture as one of the most complex, intricate, Soane was born in Goring-on-Thames on 10 September 1753. He was the surviving son of John Soan and his wife Martha. The e was added to the surname by the architect in 1784 on his marriage and his father was a builder or bricklayer, and died when Soane was fourteen in April 1768. He was educated in nearby Reading in a school run by William Baker. After his fathers death Soanes family moved to nearby Chertsey to live with Soanes brother William,12 years his elder, William Soane introduced his brother to James Peacock, a surveyor who worked with George Dance the Younger. Soane began his training as an architect age 15 under George Dance the Younger and joining the architect at his home and office in the City of London at the corner of Moorfields and Chiswell Street. Dance was a member of the Royal Academy and doubtless encouraged Soane to join the schools there on 25 October 1771 as they were free. There he would have attended the lectures delivered by Thomas Sandby. Dances growing family was probably the reason that in 1772 Soane continued his education by joining the household, Soane, a non-swimmer, was going to be with the party but decided to stay home and work on his design for a Triumphal Bridge. By 1777, Soane was living in his own accommodation in Hamilton Street, in 1778 he published his first book Designs in Architecture. He sought advice from Sir William Chambers on what to study, must discover their true beauties, and the secrets by which they are produced. Using his traveling scholarship of £60 per annum for three years, plus an additional £30 travelling expenses for each leg of the journey, Soane set sail on his Grand Tour, his ultimate destination being Rome, at 5,00 am,18 March 1778. His travelling companion was Robert Furze Brettingham, they travelled via Paris and they finally reached Rome on 2 May 1778. Soane wrote home my attention is taken up in the seeing and examining the numerous
5.
Crown Estate
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As a result of this arrangement, the sovereign is not involved with the management or administration of the estate, exercising only very limited control of its affairs. Naturally occurring gold and silver in the UK, collectively known as Mines Royal, are managed by The Crown Estate, historically, Crown Estate properties were administered by the reigning monarch to help fund the business of governing the country. In return, he received a grant known as the Civil list. By tradition, each subsequent monarch agreed to this arrangement upon his or her accession and this was intended to provide a long-term solution and remove the politically sensitive issue of Parliament having to debate the Civil List allowance every ten years. Subsequently, the Sovereign Grant Act allows for all future monarchs to simply extend these provisions for their reigns by Order in Council. The act does not imply any change on the nature of the estates ownership. The history of the Crown lands in England and Wales begins with the Norman conquest, when William I died, the land he had acquired by right of conquest was still largely intact. His successors, however, granted estates to the nobles and barons who supplied them with men. The monarchs remaining land was divided into manors, each managed separately by a seneschal. The period between the reigns of William I and Queen Anne was one of alienation of lands. However, the disposals outweighed the acquisitions, at the time of the Restoration in 1660, by the end of the reign of William III, however, it was reduced to some £6,000. Before the reign of William III all the revenues of the kingdom were bestowed on the monarch for the expenses of government. As the state expanded, the cost of the civil government exceeded the income from the Crown lands and feudal rights. As a result, and to avoid embarrassment, he was granted a fixed civil list payment. Although the King had retained large hereditary revenues, his income proved insufficient for his charged expenses because he used the privilege to supporters with bribes. Debts amounting to over £3 million over the course of Georges reign were paid by Parliament, and the civil list annuity was then increased from time to time. It is intended that future funding will be set as a fraction of The Crown Estate revenue and paid through the annual Treasury Estimates process, the Grant is to enable The Queen to discharge her duties as Head of State. I. e it meets the central staff costs and running expenses of Her Majestys official Household – such things as official receptions, investitures, garden parties and so on
6.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
7.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
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Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, KG, GCVO is the youngest granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy, as of January 2017, she is 50th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 states, at the time of her birth in 1936, she was sixth. Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square and her parents were Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. She received the name Christabel because she was born on Christmas Day, like her aunt by marriage, Princess Alice and her birth was the last to have the tradition of having the Home Secretary present to verify the birth of potential heirs to the throne. Secretary Sir John Simon was present and was the last to do this, as a male-line granddaughter of the British monarch, she was styled as a British princess with the prefix Her Royal Highness. She was born two weeks after the abdication of her uncle King Edward VIII, of her godparents, only the King and Queen and Lord Athlone were present. Princess Alexandra spent most of her childhood at her familys house, Coppins. She lived with her grandmother, Queen Mary, the widow of George V and her father was killed in an aeroplane crash near Caithness, Scotland on 25 August 1942 while serving in the Royal Air Force. Princess Alexandra has the distinction of being the first British princess to have attended a boarding school and she was also trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She was a bridesmaid at the 1946 wedding of Captain Lord Brabourne, the following year, she served as bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the then-Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 November 1947. The Queen is Princess Alexandras paternal first cousin, the Duke of Edinburgh is Princess Alexandras maternal first cousin once removed and she was also a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and her second cousin, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark. On 24 April 1963, she married the Hon. Angus James Bruce Ogilvy, the wedding ceremony was attended by the royal family and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people. The bride wore a gown of Valenciennes lace, with matching veil and train. Angus Ogilvy declined the Queens offer to be created an earl upon marriage, Angus Ogilvy was knighted in 1988, later being sworn of the Privy Council in 1997. Taking part in roughly 120 engagements each year, Princess Alexandra is one of the most active members of the royal family, the number of her engagements in 2012 were 110. However, in late June 2013 she cancelled all future engagements due to arthritis, Princess Alexandra was almost 16 years old when her cousin acceded to the throne. In 1959, she carried out a tour of Australia. The Alexandra Waltz was composed for this visit by radio legend, Russ Tyson and it was sung for the princess by teen-aged Gay Kahler, who later changed her name to Gay Kayler
10.
Thatching
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Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes, heather, or Palm fronds, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of the vegetation stays dry, and is densely packed - trapping air - thatching also functions as a quite significant insulation material and it is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost, in some equatorial countries, thatch is the prevalent local material for roofs, and often walls. There are diverse building techniques from the ancient Hawaiian hale shelter made from the local ti leaves, Palm leaves are also often used. For example, in Na Bure, Fiji, thatchers combine fan palm leave roofs with layered reed walls, feathered palm leaf roofs are used in Dominica. Alang-alang thatched roofs are used in Hawaii and Bali, in Southeast Asia, mangrove nipa palm leaves are used as thatched roof material known as attap dwelling. In Bali, Indonesia, the fibres of Arenga pinnata called ijuk is also used as thatched roof materials, usually used in Balinese temple roof. Sugar cane leaf roofs are used in Kikuyu tribal homes in Kenya, many indigenous people, such as the Maya, the Inca, and the Triple Alliance, lived in thatched buildings. Evidence of the complex buildings with fiber-based roofing material was not rediscovered until the early 2000s. French and British settlers built temporary thatched dwellings with local vegetation as soon as arrived in New France and New England. In most of England, thatch remained the only roofing material available to the bulk of the population in the countryside, in towns and villages. Commercial production of Welsh slate began in 1820, and the mobility provided by canals, gradually, thatch became a mark of poverty, and the number of thatched properties gradually declined, as did the number of professional thatchers. Thatch has become more popular in the UK over the past 30 years. Although thatch is popular in Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, parts of France, Sicily, Belgium and Ireland, good quality straw thatch can last for more than 50 years when applied by a skilled thatcher. Traditionally, a new layer of straw was simply applied over the surface. The straw is bundled into yelms before it is taken up to the roof and then is attached using staples, known as spars, almost all of these roofs are thatched with wheat, rye, or a maslin mixture of both. Medieval wheat grew to almost 6 feet tall in very poor soils and produced durable straw for the roof, technological change in the farming industry significantly affected the popularity of thatching. The availability of good quality thatching straw declined in England after the introduction of the harvester in the late 1930s and 1940s
