1.
Great Fire of London
–
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London from Sunday,2 September to Wednesday,5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall and it threatened but did not reach the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles IIs Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses,87 parish churches, St Pauls Cathedral and it is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the Citys 80,000 inhabitants. The death toll is unknown but traditionally thought to have been small, a melted piece of pottery on display at the Museum of London found by archaeologists in Pudding Lane, where the fire started, shows that the temperature reached 1250 °C. The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday,2 September, by the time that large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm that defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City, order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the focused on the French and Dutch, Englands enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War. The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming, evacuation from London and resettlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Despite numerous radical proposals, London was reconstructed on essentially the same street plan used before the fire, by the 1660s, London was by far the largest city in Britain, estimated at half a million inhabitants. By inartificial, Evelyn meant unplanned and makeshift, the result of organic growth, London had been a Roman settlement for four centuries and had become progressively more crowded inside its defensive city wall. It had also pushed outwards beyond the wall into squalid extramural slums such as Shoreditch, Holborn, and Southwark, the City was surrounded by a ring of inner suburbs where most Londoners lived. The City was then, as now, the heart of the capital. The aristocracy shunned the City and lived either in the countryside beyond the suburbs, or in the exclusive Westminster district. The relationship was tense between the City and the Crown. The City magistrates were of the generation that had fought in the Civil War and they were determined to thwart any similar tendencies in his son, and when the Great Fire threatened the City, they refused the offers that Charles made of soldiers and other resources. Even in such an emergency, the idea of having the unpopular Royal troops ordered into the City was political dynamite, by the time that Charles took over command from the ineffectual Lord Mayor, the fire was already out of control. The City was essentially medieval in its plan, an overcrowded warren of narrow, winding. It had experienced major fires before 1666, the most recent in 1632
Great Fire of London
–
Detail of the Great Fire of London by an unknown painter, depicting the fire as it would have appeared on the evening of Tuesday, 4 September 1666 from a boat in the vicinity of
Tower Wharf. The
Tower of London is on the right and
London Bridge on the left, with
St Paul's Cathedral in the distance, surrounded by the tallest flames.
Great Fire of London
–
Panorama of the City of London in 1616 by
Claes Visscher. Note the
tenement housing on
London Bridge (far right), a notorious death-trap in case of fire, although much would be destroyed in an earlier fire in 1632.
Great Fire of London
–
Charles II.
Great Fire of London
–
Advertisement for a comparatively small and manoeuvrable seventeenth-century
fire engine on wheels: "These Engins, (which are the best) to quinch great Fires; are made by John Keeling in
Black Fryers (after many years' Experience)."
2.
Broadsheet
–
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages. The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material. The first broadsheet newspaper was the Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid/compact formats. Many broadsheets measure approximately 29 1⁄2 by 23 1⁄2 inches per full broadsheet spread, australian and New Zealand broadsheets always have a paper size of A1 per spread. South African broadsheet newspapers have a spread sheet size of 820 by 578 mm or 32.3 by 22.8 in. Others measure 22 inches or 560 millimetres vertically, in the United States, the traditional dimensions for the front page half of a broadsheet are 15 inches wide by 22 3⁄4 inches long. However, in efforts to save newsprint costs many U. S. newspapers have downsized to 12 inches wide by 22 3⁄4 inches long for a folded page. Many rate cards and specification cards refer to the size with dimensions representing the front page half of a broadsheet size, rather than the full. Some quote actual page size and others quote the area size. The two versions of the broadsheet are, Full broadsheet – The full broadsheet typically is folded vertically in half so that it forms four pages, the four pages are called a spread. Half broadsheet – The half broadsheet is usually a page that is not folded vertically and just includes a front. In uncommon instances, an entire newspaper can be a two-page half broadsheet or four-page full broadsheet, totally self-contained advertising circulars inserted in a newspaper in the same format are referred to as broadsheets. Broadsheets typically are also folded horizontally in half to accommodate newsstand display space, the horizontal fold however does not affect the page numbers and the content remains vertical. The most important newspaper stories are placed above the fold and this contrasts with tabloids which typically do not have a horizontal fold. The broadsheet has since emerged as the most popular format for the dissemination of printed news, historically, broadsheets developed after the British in 1712 placed a tax on newspapers based on the number of their pages. The original purpose of the broadsheet, or broadside, was for the purpose of posting royal proclamations, acts, eventually the people began using the broadsheet as a source for political activism by reprinting speeches, ballads or narrative songs originally performed by bards. With the early mechanization of the 19th century came an increase in production of printed materials including the broadside as well as the penny dreadful. In this period all over Europe began to print their issues on broadsheets
Broadsheet
–
A broadsheet newspaper
Broadsheet
–
Comparison of some newspaper sizes with metric paper sizes. Approximate nominal dimensions are in millimetres.
3.
English language
–
English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
–
The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
–
Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
–
Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
4.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
5.
Newspaper of record
–
A newspaper of record is a major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and typically authoritative. A newspaper of record, sometimes referred to as an official newspaper. In some jurisdictions, privately owned newspapers may register with the authorities to publish public and legal notices. Likewise, a newspaper may be designated by the courts for publication of legal notices. These are sometimes referred to as legally adjudicated newspapers, a variation of newspapers of public record are those newspapers controlled by governments or political parties that serve as official newspapers reflecting the positions of their controlling bodies. State organs such as the Soviet-era Izvestia and the Peoples Daily in China are examples of this type, the second type of newspaper of record is not defined by any formal criteria and its characteristics can be variable. Despite changes in society, such newspapers have historically tended to maintain a similar tone, coverage, style, and traditions. In recognition of the usage, the Times held an essay contest in 1927 in which entrants had to demonstrate The Value of The New York Times Index and Files as a Newspaper of Record. The Times, and other newspapers of its type, then sought to be chroniclers of events, acting as a record of the announcements, schedules, directories, proceedings. The Times no longer considers itself a newspaper of record in the original, literal sense. Over time, historians began to rely on The New York Times and similar titles as an archival record of significant past events. The term newspaper of record thus evolved from its literal sense to its currently understood meaning
Newspaper of record
–
The New York Times Building in
New York City; some meanings of the term "newspaper of record" originated in reference to
The New York Times
Newspaper of record
–
The Globe and Mail!
Newspaper of record
–
Le Monde!
6.
British government
–
Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
British government
–
Main entrance of
10 Downing Street, the residence and offices of the First Lord of HM Treasury
British government
–
Logo of Her Majesty's Government
British government
–
Refurbishment notice at Old Fire Station,
Oxford, showing HM Government support.
7.
List of newspapers in the United Kingdom
–
There are newspapers distributed nationally in the United Kingdom and some in Scotland only, and others serving a local area. National daily newspapers publish on every day except 25 December and Sunday, Sunday newspapers may be independent, e. g. The Observer was an independent Sunday newspaper from its founding in 1791 until it was acquired by The Guardian in 1993, many daily newspapers now have Sunday stablemates, usually with a related name, but editorially distinct. The Independent and The Times have changed in recent years to a compact format, the Guardian moved in September 2005 to what is described as a Berliner format, slightly larger than a compact. Its Sunday stablemate The Observer followed suit, other Sunday broadsheets, including The Sunday Times, which tend to have a large amount of supplementary sections, have kept their larger sized format. The national Sunday titles usually have a different layout and style to their weekly sister papers, all the major UK newspapers currently have websites, some of which provide free access. The Times and The Sunday Times have a paywall requiring payment on a per-day or per-month basis for non-subscribers, the Financial Times business daily also has limited access for non-subscribers. The Independent became online only upon its last printed edition on the 26 March 2016, however unlike the previously mentioned newspapers it does not require any payment to access its news content. Most towns and cities in the UK have at least one newspaper, such as the Evening Post in Bristol. They are not known nationally for their journalism in the way that some city-based newspapers in the USA are, an exception to this was the well-regarded Manchester Guardian, which dropped the Manchester from its name in 1959 and relocated its main operations to London in 1964. The Guardian Media Group produced a Mancunian paper, the Manchester Evening News, helens St. - with a circulation of perhaps a few thousand each. There are between 50 and 60 Papurau Bro which cover the whole of Wales, plus the Welsh communities of Liverpool, papers are frequently named after local features, connections, crafts, etc. or in dialect. The first papur bro appeared in 1973 in Cardiff, and the decade saw the establishment of most of the others. Much of the work of producing the papers is done voluntarily, some of the papers listed may have ceased publication. Several newspapers in other than English are published in Britain, for immigrant. Newspapers, both national and local, in Arabic, Bulgarian, Bangla, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Urdu, and other languages are published
List of newspapers in the United Kingdom
–
Exterior of
Hampshire Chronicle office, 1999
8.
Scotland
–
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
Scotland
–
Edinburgh Castle. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of this early settlement is unclear.
Scotland
–
Flag
Scotland
–
The class I
Pictish stone at
Aberlemno known as Aberlemno 1 or the Serpent Stone.
Scotland
–
The
Wallace Monument commemorates
William Wallace, the 13th-century Scottish hero.
9.
Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule
Northern Ireland
–
Scrabo Tower,
County Down
Northern Ireland
–
Location of Northern Ireland (dark green) – in
Europe (green & dark grey) – in the
United Kingdom (green)
Northern Ireland
–
Cannon on
Derry 's
city walls
Northern Ireland
–
Signing of the
Ulster Covenant in 1912 in opposition to Home Rule
10.
Bank holiday
–
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, some Commonwealth countries, other European countries, and a colloquialism for a public holiday in Hong Kong and Ireland. Until 1834, the Bank of England observed about 33 saints days and religious festivals as holidays, the English people were so thankful that some called the first Bank Holidays St Lubbocks Days for a while. Scotland was treated separately because of its traditions, for example. In 1903, the Bank Holiday Act added 17 March, Saint Patricks Day, New Years Day did not become a bank holiday in England until 1 January 1974. Commencing in 1965, on a basis, the August Bank Holiday weekend was observed at the end of August to give a lead in extending British holidays over a longer summer period. Each years date was announced in Parliament on a basis, to the despair of the calendar. The rule seems to have been to select the weekend of the last Saturday in August, a century after the 1871 Act, the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which currently regulates bank holidays in the UK, was passed. The majority of the current bank holidays were specified in the 1971 Act, in 1978 the first Monday in May in the rest of the UK, and the final Monday of May in Scotland, were designated as bank holidays. In January 2007, the St Andrews Day Bank Holiday Act 2007 was given royal assent, under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, bank holidays are proclaimed each year by the legal device of a royal proclamation. Royal proclamation is also used to move bank holidays that would fall on a weekend. In this way, public holidays are not lost in years when they coincide with weekends and these deferred bank holiday days are termed a bank holiday in lieu of the typical anniversary date. In the legislation they are known as substitute days, the movement of the St Andrews Day Scottish holiday to the nearest Monday when 30 November is a weekend day is statutory and does not require a proclamation. A number of differences apply in Scotland relative to the rest of the United Kingdom, for example, Easter Monday is not a bank holiday. Also, although they share the name, the Summer Bank Holiday falls on the first Monday of August in Scotland, as opposed to the last Monday in England, Wales. Despite this, it is custom and practice to follow the rest of the UK and banks close on the last Monday, Bank holidays do not, however, assume the same importance in Scotland as they do elsewhere. The number of holidays in the UK is relatively small compared to many other European countries, however, direct comparison is inaccurate since the substitute day scheme of deferment does not apply in most European countries, where holidays that coincide with a weekend are lost. In fact, the number of non-weekend holidays in such countries is only marginally higher than the UK. There have been calls for more bank holidays, among the most notable dates absent from the existing list are the feast days of patron saints,23 April in England and 1 March in Wales are not currently recognised
Bank holiday
–
In 1995 the May Bank Holiday was moved to 8 May for the 50th anniversary of
VE Day
11.
Royal assent
–
Royal assent is the method by which a countrys constitutional monarch formally approves an act of that nations parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies, however, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the Governor-General merely signs the bill, in Canada, the Governor-General may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill. Before the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541 became law, the last time royal assent was given by the sovereign in person was during the rule of Queen Victoria at a prorogation on the 12th of August 1854. The Act was repealed and replaced by the Royal Assent Act of 1967, Royal assent is the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law. -the sovereign may delay the bills assent through the use of his or her powers in near-revolutionary situations. -the sovereign may refuse royal assent on the advice of his or her ministers, under modern constitutional conventions, the sovereign acts on the advice of his or her ministers. Since these ministers most often maintain the support of parliament and are the ones who obtain the passage of bills, it is highly improbable that they would advise the sovereign to withhold assent. Hence, in practice, royal assent is always granted. The Monarch does not have the power to withhold a Bill from assenting, the last bill that was refused assent by the sovereign was the Scottish Militia Bill during Queen Annes reign in 1708. The so-called Model Parliament included bishops, abbots, earls, barons, in 1265, the Earl of Leicester irregularly called a full parliament without royal authorization. The body eventually came to be divided into two branches, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons formed the House of Lords, while the shire, the King would seek the advice and consent of both houses before making any law. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 provide a second potential preamble if the House of Lords were to be excluded from the process, the power of parliament to pass bills was often thwarted by monarchs. Charles I dissolved parliament in 1629, after it passed motions critical of, during the eleven years of personal rule that followed, Charles performed legally dubious actions, such as raising taxes without parliaments approval. After the English Civil War, it was accepted that parliament should be summoned to meet regularly, the last Stuart monarch, Anne, similarly withheld on 11 March 1707, on the advice of her ministers, her assent from a bill for the settling of Militia in Scotland. No monarch has since withheld royal assent on a passed by the British parliament. During the rule of the succeeding Hanoverian dynasty, power was gradually exercised more by parliament, the first Hanoverian monarch, George I, relied on his ministers to a greater extent than did previous monarchs. However, George IV reluctantly granted his assent upon the advice of his ministers, thus, as the concept of ministerial responsibility has evolved, the power to withhold royal assent has fallen into disuse, both in the United Kingdom and in the other Commonwealth realms
Royal assent
–
George VI grants royal assent to laws in the
Canadian Senate, 19 May 1939. Seated beside him is his consort,
Queen Elizabeth.
Royal assent
–
Start of the parchment roll of the
Reform Act 1832, with the clerk's record of the royal assent of King
William IV written above the bill, reading in full Le Roy Veult soit baillé aux Seigneurs. A cette Bille avecque des amendemens les Seigneurs sont assentuz. A ces Amendemens les Communes sont assentuz.
Royal assent
–
Henry VIII introduced a new method of granting royal assent.
12.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
–
It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
–
Parliament at night, with the
London Eye visible at right
Parliament of the United Kingdom
–
Leading 17th century Parliamentarian
John Hampden is one of the
Five Members annually commemorated
13.
Scottish Parliament
–
The Scottish Parliament, is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the city, Edinburgh. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2016, as a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster, the British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999, initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators. Suggestions for a devolved Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War, one of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom. Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs, the party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. However, it was not until 1978 that final legislative proposals for a Scottish Assembly were passed by the United Kingdom Parliament, publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament. Devolution continued to be part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, an election was held on 6 May 1999, and on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament. Since September 2004, the home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Edinburgh Architecture firm RMJM which was led by Design Principal Tony Kettle. Some of the features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as based on Raeburns Skating Minister. Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004. In March 2006, one of the Holyrood buildings roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the back benches during a debate, the debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, whilst inspections were carried out. During repairs, all business was conducted in the Parliaments committee room two
Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
–
The public entrance of the Scottish Parliament building, opened in October 2004
Scottish Parliament
–
Queen Elizabeth II at the opening of the Scottish Parliament on July 1, 1999 alongside then
First Minister of Scotland Donald Dewar and then Presiding Officer
Lord Steel of Aikwood
14.
Vacancy (economics)
–
A persons job is their role in society. A job is an activity, often regular and performed in exchange for payment, a person can begin a job by becoming an employee, volunteering, starting a business, or becoming a parent. The duration of a job may range from an hour to a lifetime, an activity that requires a persons mental or physical effort is work. If a person is trained for a type of job. The series of jobs a person holds in their life is their career, most people spend up to forty or more hours each week in paid employment. Some exceptions are children, retirees, and people with disabilities, However, within groups, many will work part-time, volunteer. From the age of 5 or so, many childrens primary role in society is to learn, jobs can be categorized, by the hours per week, into full time or part time. They can be categorized as temporary, odd jobs, seasonal, self-employment, consulting, jobs can be categorized as paid or unpaid. Examples of unpaid jobs include volunteer, homemaker, mentor, student, jobs can be categorized by the level of experience required, entry level, intern, and co-op. Some jobs require specific training or an academic degree and those without paid full-time employment may be categorized as unemployed or underemployed if they are seeking a full-time paid job. Moonlighting is the practice of holding a job or jobs, often at night, in addition to ones main job. A person who moonlights may have time left for sleep or leisure activities. The Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom lists 27,966 different job titles, the expression day job is often used for a job one works in to make ends meet while performing low-paying work in their preferred vocation. The phrase strongly implies that the day job would be quit, the phrase dont quit your day job is a humorous response to a poor or mediocre performance not up to professional caliber. The phrase implies that the performer is not talented enough in that activity to be able to make an out of it. Getting a first job is an important rite of passage in many cultures, the youth may start by doing household work, odd jobs, or working for a family business. In many countries, school children get summer jobs during the summer vacation. Students enrolled in education can apply for internships or coops to further enhance the probability of securing an entry level job upon graduation
Vacancy (economics)
–
This article is about occupations. For the biblical figure, see
Job (biblical figure). For other uses, see
Job (disambiguation).
15.
British House of Commons
–
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
British House of Commons
British House of Commons
–
House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
British House of Commons
–
The House of Commons in the early 19th century by
Augustus Pugin and
Thomas Rowlandson.
British House of Commons
–
Another picture of the old House of Commons chamber. Note the dark veneer on the wood, which was purposely made much brighter in the new chamber.
16.
Officer (armed forces)
–
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. In this sense, officers are not enlisted, but hold appointments from their government that typically remain in force indefinitely unless resigned, the proportion of officers varies greatly. Officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel, in 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13. 7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers, in the early twentieth century, the Spanish army had the highest proportion of officers of any European army, at 12. 5%. Within a nations armed forces, armies tend to have a proportion of officers. For example,13. 9% of British army personnel and 22. 2% of the RAF personnel were officers in 2013, having officers is one requirement for combatant status under the laws of war, though these officers need not have obtained an official commission or warrant. Commissioned officers are typically the only persons, in an armed forces environment, a superior officer is an officer with a higher rank than another officer, who is a subordinate officer relative to the superior. Non-commissioned officers in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command per se, many advanced militaries require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning, even from the enlisted ranks. In the Israel Defense Forces, a university degree is a requirement for an officer to advance to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the IDF often sponsors the studies for its majors, while aircrew and naval officers obtain academic degrees as a part of their training programmes. In the United Kingdom, there are three routes of entry for British Armed Forces officers, the first, and primary route are those who receive their commission directly into the officer grades following completion at their relevant military academy. The third route is similar to the second, in that they convert from an enlisted to a commission, but these are taken from the highest ranks of SNCOs. LE officers, whilst holding the same Queens Commission, generally work in different roles from the DE officers, in the infantry, a number of Warrant Officer Class 1s are commissioned as LE officers. For Royal Navy and Royal Air Force officer candidates, a 30-week period at Britannia Royal Naval College or a 30-week period at RAF College Cranwell, Royal Marines officers receive their training in the Command Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines during a grueling 15-month course. The courses consist of not only tactical and combat training, but also leadership, management, etiquette, until the Cardwell Reforms of 1871, commissions in the British Army were purchased by officers. The Royal Navy, however, operated on a more meritocratic, or at least socially mobile, AOCS also also included the embedded Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate and Naval Aviation Cadet programs. NAVCADs were personnel who held associates degrees, but lacked bachelors degrees, nAVCADs would complete the entire AOCS program, but would not be commissioned until completion of flight training and receiving their wings. After their initial tour, they would be assigned to a college or university full-time for no more than two years in order to complete their bachelors degree
Officer (armed forces)
–
A commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer prepare for a mission in Afghanistan.
Officer (armed forces)
–
The
Royal Navy officer training academy
Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, also known as HMS Britannia
Officer (armed forces)
–
A
platoon from the Australian
29th Battalion being addressed by their Commanding Officer in August 1918
17.
Insolvency
–
Insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the money owed, by a person or company, on time, those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent. There are two forms, cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet insolvency, cash-flow insolvency is when a person or company has enough assets to pay what is owed, but does not have the appropriate form of payment. For example, a person may own a house and a valuable car. Cash-flow insolvency can usually be resolved by negotiation, for example, the bill collector may wait until the car is sold and the debtor agrees to pay a penalty. Balance-sheet insolvency is when a person or company does not have enough assets to pay all of their debts, the person or company might enter bankruptcy, but not necessarily. Once a loss is accepted by all parties, negotiation is often able to resolve the situation without bankruptcy, a company that is balance-sheet insolvent may still have enough cash to pay its next bill on time. However, most laws will not let the company pay that bill unless it will help all their creditors. For example, an insolvent farmer may be allowed to people to help harvest the crop. While technical insolvency is a synonym for insolvency, cash-flow insolvency. The term cash-flow insolvent carries a connotation that the debtor is balance-sheet solvent. Cash-flow insolvency involves a lack of liquidity to pay debts as they fall due, balance sheet insolvency involves having negative net assets—where liabilities exceed assets. Insolvency is not a synonym for bankruptcy, which is a determination of insolvency made by a court of law with resulting legal orders intended to resolve the insolvency, accounting insolvency happens when total liabilities exceed total assets. This is known as business turnaround or business recovery, implementing a business turnaround may take many forms, including keep and restructure, sale as a going concern, or wind-down and exit. In some jurisdictions, it is an offence under the laws for a corporation to continue in business while insolvent. In others, the business may continue under a declared protective arrangement while alternative options to achieve recovery are worked out, increasingly, legislatures have favored alternatives to winding up companies for good. It can be, in several jurisdictions, grounds for an action or even an offence. Debt restructurings are typically handled by professional insolvency and restructuring practitioners, and are less expensive. Although the term bankrupt may be used referring to a government and this is so because bankruptcy is governed by national law, there exists no entity to take over such a government and distribute assets to creditors
Insolvency
–
Insolvency
18.
British honours system
–
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories. The system consists of three types of award, honours, decorations and medals, Honours are used to merit in terms of achievement. Decorations tend to be used to recognise specific deeds, medals are used to recognise bravery, long and/or valuable service and/or good conduct. The first English order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, was created in 1348 by Edward III, since then the system has evolved to address the changing need to recognise other forms of service to the United Kingdom. As the head of state, the Sovereign is the fount of honour, various orders of knighthood have been created as well as awards for military service, bravery, merit, and achievement which take the form of decorations or medals. Each one recognises specific service and as there are normally set criteria which must be met. These criteria may include a period of time and will often delimit a particular geographic region, medals are not normally presented by the Sovereign. A full list is printed in the order of wear, published by the London Gazette, Honours are split into classes and are graded to distinguish different degrees of achievement or service, according to various criteria. A list of approximately 1,350 names is published twice a year, at the New Year, since their decisions are inevitably subjective, the twice-yearly honours lists often provoke criticism from those who feel strongly about particular cases. Candidates are identified by public or private bodies, by government departments, certain honours are awarded solely at the Sovereigns discretion, such as the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Royal Victorian Order, the Order of Merit and the Royal Family Order. The awards are presented by the Sovereign or her designated representative. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and the Princess Royal have deputised for the Queen at investiture ceremonies at Buckingham Palace, by convention, a departing prime minister is allowed to nominate Prime Ministers Resignation Honours, to reward political and personal service. In recent history, only Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not taken up this privilege, the current system is made up of six orders of chivalry and four orders of merit. The statutes of each order specify matters such as the size of the order, Orders were created for particular reasons at particular times. In some cases these reasons have ceased to have any validity and orders have fallen into abeyance, reforms of the system have sometimes made other changes. For example, the British Empire Medal ceased to be awarded in the UK in 1993, the British Empire Medal was revived however in 2012 with 293 BEMs awarded for the Queens Diamond Jubilee. In addition, BEM is used by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The Order of St Patrick was founded in 1783 by George III for the Kingdom of Ireland, after the Irish Free States secession in 1922, only members of the royal family were appointed to the order, the last in 1936
British honours system
–
The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick
British honours system
–
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle
British honours system
–
Original Ribbon 1837–1838 Second Ribbon 1838–1939 1939–1947 version First Class 1939–1947 version Second Class
19.
Heraldry
–
The beauty and pageantry of heraldic designs allowed them to survive the gradual abandonment of armour on the battlefield during the seventeenth century. Heraldry has been described poetically as the handmaid of history, the shorthand of history, in modern times, heraldry is used by individuals, public and private organizations, corporations, cities, towns, and regions to symbolize their heritage, achievements, and aspirations. Various symbols have been used to represent individuals or groups for thousands of years, similar emblems and devices are found in ancient Mesopotamian art of the same period, and the precursors of heraldic beasts such as the griffin can also be found. In the Bible, the Book of Numbers refers to the standards and ensigns of the children of Israel, the Greek and Latin writers frequently describe the shields and symbols of various heroes, and units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields. The Book of Saint Albans, compiled in 1486, declares that Christ himself was a gentleman of coat armour, the medieval heralds also devised arms for various knights and lords from history and literature. Notable examples include the toads attributed to Pharamond, the cross and martlets of Edward the Confessor, and the arms attributed to the Nine Worthies. These too are now regarded as an invention, rather than evidence of the antiquity of heraldry. The development of the modern heraldic language cannot be attributed to an individual, time. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic, in England, from the time of the Norman conquest, official documents had to be sealed. A notable example of an armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders. Seals from the part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism. One of the earliest known examples of armory as it came to be practiced can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffreys widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128, but this account probably dates to about 1175. Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffreys shield. Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant and it is from this garment that the phrase coat of arms is derived
Heraldry
–
The German
Hyghalmen Roll was made in the late 15th century and illustrates the German practice of repeating themes from the arms in the crest. (See
Roll of arms).
Heraldry
–
Shields of Magister Militum Praesentalis II. Page from the
Notitia Dignitatum, a medieval copy of a Late Roman register of military commands
Heraldry
–
An extravagant example of marshalling: the 719 quarterings of the
Grenville Armorial at
Stowe.
Heraldry
–
The
Zechariah Seal coat of arms.
20.
Royal Proclamation
–
A proclamation is an official declaration. In many British protectorates the high commissioner or administrator was empowered to legislate by proclamation, in the old system of real property law in England, fines, levied with proclamations, i. e. These proclamations were originally made sixteen times, four times in the term in which the fine was levied, afterwards the number of proclamations was reduced to one in each of the four terms. The proclamations were endorsed on the back of the record, the system was abolished by the Fines and Recoveries Act 1833. Introduction, Proclamations of Accession of English and British Sovereigns, Heraldica,2007
Royal Proclamation
–
Royal proclamation granting Lord Mayoralty to Oxford.
21.
XML
–
In computing, Extensible Markup Language is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The W3Cs XML1.0 Specification and several other related specifications—all of them free open standards—define XML, the design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet. It is a data format with strong support via Unicode for different human languages. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, the language is used for the representation of arbitrary data structures such as those used in web services. Several schema systems exist to aid in the definition of XML-based languages, hundreds of document formats using XML syntax have been developed, including RSS, Atom, SOAP, SVG, and XHTML. XML-based formats have become the default for many office-productivity tools, including Microsoft Office, OpenOffice. org and LibreOffice, XML has also provided the base language for communication protocols such as XMPP. Applications for the Microsoft. NET Framework use XML files for configuration, apple has an implementation of a registry based on XML. XML has come into use for the interchange of data over the Internet. IETF RFC7303 gives rules for the construction of Internet Media Types for use when sending XML and it also defines the media types application/xml and text/xml, which say only that the data is in XML, and nothing about its semantics. The use of text/xml has been criticized as a source of encoding problems. RFC7303 also recommends that XML-based languages be given media types ending in +xml, further guidelines for the use of XML in a networked context appear in RFC3470, also known as IETF BCP70, a document covering many aspects of designing and deploying an XML-based language. The material in this section is based on the XML Specification and this is not an exhaustive list of all the constructs that appear in XML, it provides an introduction to the key constructs most often encountered in day-to-day use. Character An XML document is a string of characters, almost every legal Unicode character may appear in an XML document. Processor and application The processor analyzes the markup and passes structured information to an application, the specification places requirements on what an XML processor must do and not do, but the application is outside its scope. The processor is often referred to colloquially as an XML parser, Markup and content The characters making up an XML document are divided into markup and content, which may be distinguished by the application of simple syntactic rules. Generally, strings that constitute markup either begin with the character < and end with a >, or they begin with the character &, strings of characters that are not markup are content. However, in a CDATA section, the delimiters <. > are classified as markup, in addition, whitespace before and after the outermost element is classified as markup. Tag A tag is a construct that begins with <
XML
22.
FTP
–
The File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client using the Client–server model on a computer network. FTP is built on a model architecture and uses separate control. FTP users may authenticate themselves with a clear-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, for secure transmission that protects the username and password, and encrypts the content, FTP is often secured with SSL/TLS. SSH File Transfer Protocol is sometimes used instead, but is technologically different. The original specification for the File Transfer Protocol was written by Abhay Bhushan, until 1980, FTP ran on NCP, the predecessor of TCP/IP. The protocol was replaced by a TCP/IP version, RFC765 and RFC959. FTP may run in active or passive mode, which determines how the connection is established. In both cases, the client creates a TCP control connection from a random, usually an unprivileged, in active mode, the client starts listening for incoming data connections from the server on port M. It sends the FTP command PORT M to inform the server on which port it is listening, the server then initiates a data channel to the client from its port 20, the FTP server data port. In situations where the client is behind a firewall and unable to accept incoming TCP connections, both modes were updated in September 1998 to support IPv6. Further changes were introduced to the mode at that time. The server responds over the connection with three-digit status codes in ASCII with an optional text message. For example,200 means that the last command was successful, the numbers represent the code for the response and the optional text represents a human-readable explanation or request. An ongoing transfer of data over the data connection can be aborted using an interrupt message sent over the control connection. While transferring data over the network, four data representations can be used, ASCII mode, Data is converted, if needed, from the sending hosts character representation to 8-bit ASCII before transmission, and to the receiving hosts character representation. As a consequence, this mode is inappropriate for files that contain other than plain text. Image mode, The sending machine sends each file byte by byte, EBCDIC mode, Used for plain text between hosts using the EBCDIC character set. Local mode, Allows two computers with identical setups to send data in a format without the need to convert it to ASCII
FTP
–
Illustration of starting a passive connection using port 21
23.
RDFa
–
RDFa is a W3C Recommendation that adds a set of attribute-level extensions to HTML, XHTML and various XML-based document types for embedding rich metadata within Web documents. The RDF data-model mapping enables its use for embedding RDF subject-predicate-object expressions within XHTML documents and it also enables the extraction of RDF model triples by compliant user agents. The RDFa community runs a website to host tools, examples. RDFa was first proposed by Mark Birbeck in the form of a W3C note entitled XHTML and RDF, later that year the work became part of the sixth public Working Draft of XHTML2.0. Although it is assumed that RDFa was originally intended only for XHTML2. Indeed, one of the earliest documents bearing the RDF/A Syntax name has the sub-title A collection of attributes for layering RDF on XML languages, the document was written by Mark Birbeck and Steven Pemberton, and was made available for discussion on October 11,2004. In April 2007 the XHTML2 Working Group produced a module to support RDF annotation within the XHTML1 family, as an example, it included an extended version of XHTML1.1 dubbed XHTML+RDFa 1.0. Although described as not representing a direction in terms of a formal markup language from the W3C. October 2007 saw the first public Working Draft of a document entitled RDFa in XHTML, Syntax and this superseded and expanded upon the April draft, it contained rules for creating an RDFa parser, as well as guidelines for organizations wishing to make practical use of the technology. In October 2008 RDFa 1.0 reached recommendation status, RDFa 1.1 reached recommendation status in June 2012. It differs from RDFa 1.0 in that it no longer relies on the XML-specific namespace mechanism, therefore, it is possible to use RDFa 1.1 with non-XML document types such as HTML4 or HTML5. Details can be found in an appendix to HTML5, an additional RDFa 1.1 Primer document was last updated 17 March 2015. There are some main well-defined variants of the concepts, that are used as reference. RDFa was defined in 2008 with the RDFa in XHTML, Syntax and its first application was to be a module of XHTML. The HTML applications remained, a collection of attributes and processing rules for extending XHTML to support RDF expanded to HTML5, are now expressed in a specialized standard, the HTML+RDFa. The HTML+RDFa syntax of 2008 was also termed RDFa 1.0, so, in general this 2008s RDFa 1.0 is used with the old XHTML standards. Is the first generic RDFa standard, now the RDFa Core 1.1 is in the Third Edition, while it is not a complete solution for advanced data markup tasks, it does work for most day-to-day needs and can be learned by most Web authors in a day. In 2009 the W3C was positioned to retain RDFa Lite as unique, the position was confirmed with the publication of the HTML5 Recommendation in 2014
RDFa
–
2013 survey pizza charts of percentual usage, showing that 79% of URLs and 43% of domains use HTML+RDFa. The average 61% (the other 39% was Microformats) is the usage indicator.
24.
Atom feed
–
The name Atom applies to a pair of related Web standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a website. To provide a web feed, the owner may use specialized software that publishes a list of recent articles or content in a standardized. A feed contains entries, which may be headlines, full-text articles, excerpts, summaries, and/or links to content on a website, the Atom format was developed as an alternative to RSS. Proponents of the new format formed the IETF Atom Publishing Format, the Atom syndication format was published as an IETF proposed standard in RFC4287, and the Atom Publishing Protocol was published as RFC5023. The blogging community uses web feeds to share recent entries headlines, full text, the providers allow other websites to incorporate a blogs syndicated headline or headline-and-short-summary feeds under various usage agreements. As of 2016 people use Atom and other formats for many purposes, including journalism, marketing, bug-reports. Atom also provides a way to export an entire blog, or parts of it. It is common to find web feeds on major websites, as well as on smaller ones. Some websites let people choose between RSS- or Atom-formatted web feeds, others offer only RSS or only Atom, in particular, many blog and wiki sites offer their web feeds in the Atom format. A feed reader or aggregator program can be used to check feeds, client-side readers may also be designed as standalone programs or as extensions to existing programs like web browsers. Web-based feed readers and news aggregators require no software installation and make the users feeds available on any computer with Web access, some aggregators syndicate web feeds into new feeds, e. g. taking all football-related items from several sports feeds and providing a new football feed. The Atom working group chose instead to use timestamps formatted according to the rules specified by RFC3339, while the RSS vocabulary has a mechanism to indicate a human language for the feed, there is no way to specify a language for individual items or text elements. Atom, on the hand, uses the standard xml. The elements of the RSS vocabulary are not generally reusable in other XML vocabularies, the Atom syntax was specifically designed to allow elements to be reused outside the context of an Atom feed document. For instance, it is not uncommon to find atom, link elements being used within RSS2.0 feeds. Despite the emergence of Atom as an IETF Proposed Standard and the decision by major companies such as Google to embrace Atom, use of the older, there are several reasons to this, RSS2.0 support for enclosures led directly to the development of podcasting. While many podcasting applications, such as iTunes, support the use of Atom 1.0, many sites choose to publish their feeds in only a single format
Atom feed
–
Atom
25.
John Leake
–
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Leake was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch War and he then distinguished himself when he led the convoy that broke the barricading boom at Culmore Fort thereby lifting the Siege of Derry during the Williamite War in Ireland. He later returned to Gibraltar with a combined English, Dutch and Portuguese force of 35 ships, Leake also served under Sir Cloudesley Shovell and the Earl of Peterborough at the Siege of Barcelona and was present at the capitulation of the city by French and Spanish forces. A further siege took place between when a Franco-Spanish army led by Philip V of Spain laid siege to Barcelona in an attempt to recapture it, the Franco-Spanish army abandoned the siege when Leake arrived. Leake later captured Sardinia and landed the Earl of Stanhope with forces that took the harbour of Port Mahon on Minorca. Leake served as Member of Parliament for Rochester from 1708 to 1715, born the son of Richard Leake, a master gunner, and Elizabeth Leake, Leake joined the Royal Navy in early 1673. He was assigned to the first-rate HMS Royal Prince, flagship of Admiral Sir Edward Spragge and he left the Royal Navy when the War ended in 1674 and served in merchant vessels but rejoined in 1766 and became master gunner in the second-rate HMS Neptune in 1683. Promoted to commander on 24 September 1688, he was given command of the bomb vessel HMS Firedrake, Leake also commanded HMS Eagle, by then flagship of Vice-Admiral George Rooke, in a successful attack on the French ships at the Battle of La Hogue later that month. He transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Plymouth on convoy duties in December 1692. Leake was given command of the third-rate HMS Kent on a mission to transport troops to Ireland in May 1699, promoted to commodore on 24 June 1702, Leake became Commander-in-Chief, Newfoundland, with his broad pennant in the fourth-rate HMS Exeter. He sailed with eight ships with orders to attack the French fishing harbours, in this expedition 51 enemy ships were taken or destroyed. While in Newfoundland Leake also reported on the failure of the people to observe legislation prohibiting trade with New England. Promoted to rear admiral on 9 December 1702, Leake became Commander-in-Chief, although his ship was caught in the great storm of December 1703, it suffered no serious damage. In October 1704 Field Marshal Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt sent a message to Leake at Lisbon requesting his urgent assistance after the appearance of French ships in the Bay of Gibraltar. Leake set sail at once, bringing supplies for the defenders who were caught in what became known as the Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar. Leake arrived with twenty ships and, in the subsequent naval engagement, with Gibraltar safe for the moment, Leake left for Lisbon in January 1705 with the sick and wounded members of the garrison aboard his ships. The combined French and Spanish Fleet under Marshal Tessé gave up the siege as hopeless following an order from King Louis XIV of France in April 1705. Leake served under Sir Cloudesley Shovell and the Earl of Peterborough at the Siege of Barcelona and was present at the capitulation of the city by French and Spanish forces in October 1705
John Leake
–
Sir John Leake by
Godfrey Kneller
John Leake
–
The
Battle of Barfleur, where Leake commanded the
third-rate HMS Eagle in some of the heaviest fighting (70 of his men were killed)
John Leake
–
The
Battle of Málaga at which Leake commanded the vanguard
John Leake
–
The London Gazette dated 14 May 1705 detailing the return of Leake from Gibraltar after the
Battle of Cabrita Point.
26.
Gibraltar
–
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
Gibraltar
–
View of the northern face of the
Moorish Castle 's Tower of Homage. Built in the 14th century, it is the only
Marinid construction outside Africa.
Gibraltar
–
Flag
Gibraltar
–
The last of Gibraltar, by
Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.
Gibraltar
–
John Mackintosh Square entrance to the
Gibraltar Parliament.
27.
Battle of Cabrita Point
–
The battle was an allied victory which effectively ended the Franco-Spanish siege of Gibraltar. The allies had conquered Gibraltar on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Habsburg on 1 August 1704, the Spanish besieged the city by land, and in that year, the French had made a first failed attempt to attack from the sea in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga. In January 1705 Philip V of Spain was determined to reconquer the city and had Villadarias replaced by Marshal de Tessé, Tessé realized that Gibraltar would never be retaken as long as the allies could access it from the sea. He therefore ordered Admiral Pointis to block up the place by sea with his squadron of 18 ships of the line, some of these ships were Spanish under José Fernández de Santillán. Gibraltar was not a permanent harbour yet for the English fleet, the commander of Gibraltar, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, despatched an express to Lisbon, desiring Sir John Leake to sail to his assistance. This admiral set sail immediately with five sail of the line, by the morning of 10 March, he had a squadron of 23 English, eight Portuguese ships of various sizes, and four Dutch. Leakes fleet reached the Strait late on the 9th, and laid to during the night, the next morning at about 5.30 a. m. they were within two miles of Cabrita Point, when they saw five sail coming out of the Bay. These proved to be the French ships Magnanime, Lys, Ardent, Arrogant and they made at first towards the Barbary Coast, but, finding that they were being gained upon, stood for the Spanish coast. Sir Thomas Dilkes in HMS Revenge, with the Newcastle, Antelope and a Dutch man-of-war, got within gunshot of Arrogant, before 1 p. m. two Dutch ships took Ardent and Marquis, Magnanime and Lys were driven ashore to the westward of Marbella. Magnanime, in which De Pointis had his flag, ran ashore with so much force that all her masts went by the board, the French subsequently burned Magnanime and Lys. The rest of the French squadron had been blown from their anchorage by a gale and had taken shelter in the bay of Málaga and they now slipped their cables and made their way to Toulon. The Marshal de Tessé, in consequence of this disaster, turned the siege of Gibraltar into a blockade, Pointis retired from active service after this battle. Leake had not only scored a victory, but had saved Gibraltar from attack and had enhanced his already high reputation
Battle of Cabrita Point
–
The
London Gazette, dated 14–17 May 1705 detailing the return of Leake from Gibraltar after the battle.
Battle of Cabrita Point
–
Cabrita Point in 1843
28.
Charles II of England
–
Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married
Charles II of England
–
Charles II in the robes of the
Order of the Garter, by
John Michael Wright or studio, c. 1660–1665
Charles II of England
–
Charles II as an infant in 1630, painting attributed to
Justus van Egmont
Charles II of England
–
Portrait by
William Dobson, c. 1642 or 1643
Charles II of England
–
"The Scots Holding Their Young King's Nose To the Grindstone", from a satirical English pamphlet
29.
Oxford
–
Oxford is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire. With an estimated 2015 population of 168,270, it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, the city is situated 57 miles from London,69 miles from Bristol,65 miles from both Southampton and Birmingham and 25 miles from Reading. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period. Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold, Oxford has a broad economic base. Its industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing and a number of information technology and science-based businesses. Oxford was first settled in Saxon times and was known as Oxenaforda, meaning Ford of the Oxen. It began with the establishment of a crossing for oxen around AD900. In the 10th century, Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes, Oxford was heavily damaged during the Norman Invasion of 1066. Following the conquest, the town was assigned to a governor, Robert DOyly, the castle has never been used for military purposes and its remains survive to this day. DOyly set up a community in the castle consisting of a chapel. The community never grew large but it earned its place in history as one of Britains oldest places of formal education and it was there that in 1139 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, a compilation of Arthurian legends. Mary at Oseney and to the canons serving God in that place and we have made this concession and confirmation in the Common council of the City and we have confirmed it with our common seal. These are those who have made this concession and confirmation, a grandson of King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order, and friars of various orders all had houses of varying importance at Oxford. Parliaments were often held in the city during the 13th century, the Provisions of Oxford were instigated by a group of barons led by Simon de Montfort, these documents are often regarded as Englands first written constitution. Richard I of England and John, King of England the sons of Henry II of England, were born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively. A plaque in Beaumont Street commemorates these events, the University of Oxford is first mentioned in 12th century records. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, what put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Oxfords earliest colleges were University College, Balliol and Merton and these colleges were established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Greek philosophers
Oxford
–
From top left to bottom right: Oxford skyline panorama from St Mary's Church; Radcliffe Camera; High Street from above looking east; University College; High Street by night; Natural History Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum.
Oxford
–
The
Radcliffe Camera, completed in 1748
Oxford
–
Royal proclamation granting Lord Mayoralty to Oxford.
Oxford
–
Photochrom of the High Street, 1890–1900
30.
Great Plague of London
–
The Great Plague, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. The Great Plague killed an estimated 100,000 people - almost a quarter of Londons population - in 18 months, the plague was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected rat flea. As in other European cities of the period, the plague was endemic in 17th century London, the disease periodically erupted into massive epidemics. There were 30,000 deaths due to the plague in 1603,35,000 in 1625, during the winter of 1664, a bright comet was to be seen in the sky and the people of London were fearful, wondering what evil event it portended. London at that time consisted of a city of about 448 acres surrounded by a city wall, there were gates at Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Moorgate and Bishopsgate and to the south lay the River Thames and London Bridge. In the poorer parts of the city, hygiene was impossible to maintain in the tenements and garrets. There was no sanitation, and open drains flowed along the centre of winding streets, the cobbles were slippery with animal dung, rubbish and the slops thrown out of the houses, muddy and buzzing with flies in summer and awash with sewage in winter. The City Corporation employed rakers to remove the worst of the filth, the stench was overwhelming and people walked around with handkerchiefs or nosegays pressed against their nostrils. Some of the necessities such as coal arrived by barge. Carts, carriages, horses and pedestrians were crowded together and the gateways in the wall formed bottlenecks through which it was difficult to progress, the nineteen-arch London Bridge was even more congested. The better-off used hackney carriages and sedan chairs to get to their destinations without getting filthy, the poor walked, and might be splashed by the wheeled vehicles and drenched by slops being thrown out and water falling from the overhanging roofs. Another hazard was the black smoke belching forth from factories which made soap, from breweries and iron smelters. Outside the city walls, suburbs had sprung up providing homes for the craftsmen and these were shanty towns with wooden shacks and no sanitation. The government had tried to control this development but had failed, other immigrants had taken over fine town houses, vacated by Royalists who had fled the country during the Commonwealth, converting them into tenements with different families in every room. These properties were soon vandalised and became rat-infested slums, administration of the City of London was organised by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and common councillors, but not all of the inhabited area generally comprising London was legally part of the City. Both inside the City and outside its boundaries there were also Liberties, Westminster was an independent town with its own liberties, although it was joined to London by urban development. The Tower of London was an independent liberty, as were others, areas north of the river not part of one of these administrations came under the authority of the county of Middlesex, and south of the river under Surrey. At that time, bubonic plague was a much feared disease and it was not until 1894 that the identification by Alexandre Yersin of its causal agent Yersinia pestis was made and the transmission of the bacterium by rat fleas became known
Great Plague of London
–
Collecting the dead for burial during the Great Plague
Great Plague of London
–
Map of London by Wenceslas Hollar, c.1665
Great Plague of London
–
The
"Woodcut" map of London, dating from the 1560s
Great Plague of London
–
Infected
Oriental rat flea.
Yersinia pestis bacteria appear as a dark mass in the gut. The bacteria block the flea's digestive system, leaving it hungry but unable to eat. Instead when it tries to feed it regurgitates yersinia into the wound.
31.
Courtier
–
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers, historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court, not all courtiers were noble, as they included clergy, soldiers, clerks, secretaries, and agents and middlemen of all sorts with regular business at court. All those who held a court appointment could be called courtiers and those personal favorites without business around the monarch, sometimes called the camarilla, were also considered courtiers. Promotion to important positions could be very rapid at court, the key commodities for a courtier were access and information, and a large court operated at many levels - many successful careers at court involved no direct contact with the monarch. The largest and most famous European court was that of the Palace of Versailles at its peak, although the Forbidden City of Beijing was even larger and more isolated from national life. Very similar features marked the courts of all very large monarchies, whether in Delhi, Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Ancient Rome, Byzantium, early medieval European courts frequently traveled from place to place following the monarch as he traveled. This was particularly the case in the early French court, but, the European nobility generally had independent power and was less controlled by the monarch until roughly the 18th century, which gave European court life a more complex flavour. The earliest courtiers coincide with the development of definable courts beyond the rudimentary entourages or retinues of rulers, two of the earliest titles referring to the general concept of a courtier were likely the ša rēsi and mazzāz pāni of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The imperial court of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers, the courts systems became prevalent in other courts such as those in the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Byzantinism is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century, in modern literature, courtiers are often depicted as insincere, skilled at flattery and intrigue, ambitious and lacking regard for the national interest. More positive representations of the stereotype might include the role played by members of the court in the development of politeness, in modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political favourites or hangers-on. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from William Shakespeares Hamlet Sir Lancelot from Arthurian legend Gríma Wormtongue from J. R. R, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington from J. K.36, No
Courtier
–
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Courtier
–
A disgruntled courtier compares himself to a nobleman
Courtier
–
Madame de Pompadour
Courtier
–
Veronica Franco
32.
Samuel Pepys
–
Samuel Pepys FRS was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary that he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Pepys had no experience, but he rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy, the detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War. Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, London on 23 February 1633, the son of John Pepys, a tailor and his great uncle Talbot Pepys was Recorder and briefly Member of Parliament for Cambridge in 1625. His fathers first cousin Sir Richard Pepys was elected MP for Sudbury in 1640, appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654, Pepys was the fifth of eleven children, but child mortality was high and he was soon the oldest survivor. He was baptised at St Brides Church on 3 March, Pepys did not spend all of his infancy in London, for a while, he was sent to live with nurse Goody Lawrence at Kingsland, just north of the city. In about 1644, Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School before being educated at St Pauls School, London and he attended the execution of Charles I in 1649. In 1650, he went to Cambridge University, having received two exhibitions from St Pauls School and a grant from the Mercers Company. In October, he was admitted as a sizar to Magdalene College, he moved there in March 1651, later in 1654 or early in 1655, he entered the household of another of his fathers cousins, Sir Edward Montagu, who was later created 1st Earl of Sandwich. From a young age, Pepys suffered from stones in his urinary tract – a condition from which his mother and brother John also later suffered. He was almost never without pain, as well as other symptoms, by the time of his marriage, the condition was very severe. In 1657 Pepys decided to undergo surgery, not an option, as the operation was known to be especially painful. Nevertheless, Pepys consulted surgeon Thomas Hollier and, on 26 March 1658, Pepys stone was successfully removed and he resolved to hold a celebration on every anniversary of the operation, which he did for several years. However, there were long-term effects from the operation, the incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life. The procedure may have left him sterile, though there is no evidence for this. In mid-1658 Pepys moved to Axe Yard, near the modern Downing Street and he worked as a teller in the Exchequer under George Downing. On 1 January 1660, Pepys began to keep a diary and he recorded his daily life for almost ten years
Samuel Pepys
–
Portrait of Samuel Pepys by
J. Hayls. Oil on canvas, 1666, 756 mm × 629 mm
National Portrait Gallery, London.
Samuel Pepys
–
Bookplate c.1680–1690 with arms of Samuel Pepys:
Quarterly 1st & 4th: Sable, on a bend or between two nag's heads erased argent three fleurs-de-lis of the field (Pepys); 2nd & 3rd: Gules, a
lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or (Talbot). Samuel Pepys was descended from the John Pepys who married Elizabeth Talbot, the heiress of
Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. The Pepys arms are borne by the Pepys family,
Earls of Cottenham
Samuel Pepys
–
Elisabeth de St Michel, Pepys' wife. Stipple engraving by
James Thomson, after a 1666 painting (now destroyed) by
John Hayls.
Samuel Pepys
–
Samuel Pepys' bookplate. The motto reads "Mens cujusque is est Quisque" – "Mind Makes the Man"
33.
Diary
–
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a persons experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in aspects of human civilization, including government records, business ledgers. In British English, the word may also denote a preprinted journal format, today the term is generally employed for personal diaries, normally intended to remain private or to have a limited circulation amongst friends or relatives. The word journal may be used for diary, but generally a diary has daily entries. Although a diary may provide information for a memoir, autobiography or biography, it is written not with the intention of being published as it stands. In recent years, however, there is evidence in some diaries that they are written with eventual publication in mind. By extension the term diary is also used to mean a printed publication of a written diary, the word diary comes from the Latin diarium. The word journal comes from the root through Old French jurnal. The earliest use of the word to mean a book in which a record was written was in Ben Jonsons comedy Volpone in 1605. Pillowbooks of Japanese court ladies and Asian travel journals offer some aspects of genre of writing. The scholar Li Ao, for example, kept a diary of his journey through southern China, in the medieval Near East, Arabic diaries were written from before the 10th century. The earliest surviving diary of this era which most resembles the modern diary was that of Ibn Banna in the 11th century and his diary is the earliest known to be arranged in order of date, very much like modern diaries. The precursors of the diary in the modern sense include daily notes of medieval mystics, concerned mostly with inward emotions, one of the early preserved examples is the anonymous Journal dun bourgeois de Paris that covers the years 1405–49, giving subjective commentaries on the current events. Here we find records of even less important everyday occurrences together with reflection, emotional experience. In 1908 the Smythson company created the first featherweight diary, enabling diaries to be carried about, many diaries of notable figures have been published and form an important element of autobiographical literature. Samuel Pepys is the earliest diarist who is known today, his diaries. Pepys was amongst the first who took the diary beyond mere business transaction notation, the practice of posthumous publication of diaries of literary and other notables began in the 19th century
Diary
–
A
facsimile of the
original diary of
Anne Frank on display in
Berlin
Diary
–
Samuel Pepys
Diary
–
Faustina Kowalska
34.
Mentioned in dispatches
–
In a number of countries, a servicemembers name must be mentioned in dispatches as a condition for receiving certain decorations. In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette, for 1914–1918 and up to 10 August 1920, the decoration consisted of a spray of oak leaves in bronze. This decoration was established in 1919, but it had retroactive effect. From 1920 to 1993, the decoration consisted of a bronze oak leaf. In a change introduced in 2014 to the British Armed Forces, prior to this change, even if the soldier was mentioned in dispatches more than once, only a single such decoration was worn. In Britain, since 1993, the decoration is a silver oak leaf. In each case the decoration is pinned or sewn diagonally on to the campaign medal ribbon. If no campaign medal is awarded, the oak leaf is worn on the left breast of the dress uniform, prior to 1979, a mention in dispatches was one of the three awards that could be made posthumously, the others being the Victoria Cross and George Cross. The 1979 reform removed the all or nothing lottery, soldiers can be mentioned multiple times. The British First World War Victoria Cross recipient John Vereker, later Field Marshal Viscount Gort, was mentioned in dispatches nine times, the Australian general Gordon Bennett was mentioned in dispatches a total of eight times during the First World War, as was Field Marshal Sir John Dill. Similarly, the equivalents of the MiD for acts of bravery by civilians, the reformed and comprehensive system is now as follows, The Commendation for Gallantry is now the fourth level decoration for gallantry. The Commendation for Brave Conduct recognises acts of bravery carried by soldiers not directly fighting the enemy, a mention in dispatches – in French, Citation à lordre du jour – gives recognition from a senior commander for acts of brave or meritorious service, normally in the field. The Mention in dispatches is among the list of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, personnel can be mentioned in dispatches posthumously and multiple awards are also possible. A recipient of a mention in a dispatch is entitled to wear an emblem and they are also issued with an official certificate from the Ministry of Defence. The emblem, which was regarded as a decoration, was worn on the ribbon of the Victory Medal, only one emblem was worn, irrespective of the number of times a recipient had been mentioned. The Afrikaans rendition of mentioned in dispatches is Eervolle Vermelding in Berigte, the mention in dispatches was one of only four awards which could be made posthumously. The others were the Victoria Cross, the George Cross, the oak leaf emblem was worn on the ribbon of the War Medal 1939–1945. The Kings Commendation was denoted by a bronze King Protea flower emblem worn on the ribbon of the Africa Service Medal and it could be awarded posthumously and was the equivalent of a mention in dispatches for services rendered away from the battlefield
Mentioned in dispatches
–
Example of a Victory Medal 1914–18 with Mention in Despatches (British) oak leaf spray
Mentioned in dispatches
–
Formal notice of a soldier in the
Motor Machine Gun Service being Mentioned in Despatches by
Field Marshal Sir John French for gallantry at the
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
Mentioned in dispatches
–
Example of a Croix de guerre (the one of
Col. Brébant) with four acknowledgments: 1 bronze palm 1 silver gilt star 1 silver star 1 bronze star
Mentioned in dispatches
–
Honour Roll Clasp of the Army
35.
Plough
–
A plough or plow is a tool or farm implement used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting to loosen or turn the soil. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by working animals such as horses or cattle, a plough may be made of wood, iron, or steel frame with an attached blade or stick used to cut the earth. It has been an instrument for most of recorded history. The plough represents one of the major agricultural inventions in human history, as the plough is drawn through the soil it creates long trenches of fertile soil called furrows. In modern use, a field is typically left to dry out. Ploughing and cultivating a soil homogenises and modifies the upper 12 to 25 cm of the soil to form a plough layer, in many soils, the majority of fine plant feeder roots can be found in the topsoil or plough layer. Ploughs were initially human-powered, but the process became more efficient once animals were pressed into service. The first animal-powered ploughs were undoubtedly pulled by oxen, and later in areas by horses and mules. In industrialised countries, the first mechanical means of pulling a plough were steam-powered, modern competitions take place for ploughing enthusiasts like the National Ploughing Championships in Ireland. By not ploughing, beneficial fungi and microbial life can develop that will bring air into the soil, retain water. A healthy soil full of active fungi and microbial life, combined with a crop, suppresses weeds and pests naturally. Thus the intensive use of water-, oil- and energy hungry irrigation, fertilisers, cultivated land becomes more fertile and productive over time, while tilled land tends to go down in productivity over time due to erosion and the removal of nutrients with every harvest. Proponents of permaculture claim that it is the way of farming that can be maintained when fossil fuel runs out. The term plough or plow, as used today, was not common until 1700, the modern word plough comes from Old Norse plógr, and therefore Germanic, but it appears relatively late, and is thought to be a loanword from one of the north Italic languages. Words with the same root appeared with related meanings, in Raetic plaumorati wheeled heavy plough, and in Latin plaustrum farm cart, plōstrum, plōstellum cart, and plōxenum, plōximum cart box. The word must have referred to the wheeled heavy plough. Orel tentatively attaches plough to a PIE stem *blōkó-, which gave Armenian peɫem to dig and Welsh bwlch crack, on modern ploughs and some older ploughs, the mouldboard is separate from the share and runner, so these parts can be replaced without replacing the mouldboard. Abrasion eventually destroys all parts of a plough that come into contact with the soil, digging sticks, hoes, and mattocks were not invented in any one place, and hoe-cultivation must have been common everywhere agriculture was practiced
Plough
–
Traditional ploughing: a farmer works the land with horses and plough
Plough
–
Modern tractor ploughing in South Africa. This plough has five non-reversible mouldboards. The fifth, empty furrow on the left will be filled by the first furrow of the next pass.
Plough
–
Oxen driven ploughing
Plough
–
Ploughing with
buffalo in
Hubei, China
36.
Knitting
–
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile or fabric. Knitting creates multiple loops of yarn, called stitches, in a line or tube, Knitting has multiple active stitches on the needle at one time. Knitted fabric consists of a number of rows of interlocking loops. Knitting may be done by hand or by using a machine, different types of yarns, needle sizes, and stitch types may be used to achieve knitted fabrics with different properties. Like weaving, knitting is a technique for producing a two-dimensional fabric made from a one-dimensional yarn or thread, in weaving, threads are always straight, running parallel either lengthwise or crosswise. By contrast, the yarn in knitted fabrics follows a path, forming symmetric loops symmetrically above. These meandering loops can be stretched in different directions giving knit fabrics much more elasticity than woven fabrics. Depending on the yarn and knitting pattern, knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%, for this reason, knitting was initially developed for garments that must be elastic or stretch in response to the wearers motions, such as socks and hosiery. Thread used in weaving is usually much finer than the used in knitting. If they are not secured, the loops of a course will come undone when their yarn is pulled. To secure a stitch, at least one new loop is passed through it, although the new stitch is itself unsecured, it secures the stitch suspended from it. A sequence of stitches in each stitch is suspended from the next is called a wale. To secure the initial stitches of a fabric, a method for casting on is used, to secure the final stitches in a wale. During knitting, the stitches are secured mechanically, either from individual hooks or from a knitting needle or frame in hand-knitting. There are two varieties of knitting, weft knitting and warp knitting. In the more common weft knitting, the wales are perpendicular to the course of the yarn, in warp knitting, the wales and courses run roughly parallel. In weft knitting, the fabric may be produced from a single yarn, by adding stitches to each wale in turn. By contrast, in warp knitting, one yarn is required for every wale, since a typical piece of knitted fabric may have hundreds of wales, warp knitting is typically done by machine, whereas weft knitting is done by both hand and machine
Knitting
–
Multi-colored knitwork made in
stockinette stitch.
Knitting
–
Basic pattern of warp knitting. Parallel yarns zigzag lengthwise along the fabric, each loop securing a loop of an adjacent strand from the previous row.
Knitting
–
A modern
knitting machine in the process of
weft knitting
Knitting
–
A dropped stitch, or missed stitch, is a common error that creates an extra loop to be fixed.
37.
Net profit
–
Net profit, also referred to as the bottom line, net income, or net earnings is a measure of the profitability of a venture after accounting for all costs. It is the actual profit without inclusion of working expense in the calculation of gross profit, in a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 91% responded that they found the net profit metric very useful. In accounting, net profit is equal to the gross profit minus overheads, a common synonym for net profit when discussing financial statements is the bottom line. In simplistic terms, net profit is the left over after paying all the expenses of an endeavor. In practice this can get very complex in large organizations or endeavors, the bookkeeper or accountant must itemise and allocate revenues and expenses properly to the specific working scope and context in which the term is applied. Definitions of the term can, however, vary between the UK and US, in the US, net profit is often associated with net income or profit after tax. The net profit margin percentage is a related ratio and this figure is calculated by dividing net profit by revenue or turnover, and it represents profitability, as a percentage. How does a company decide whether it is successful or not, probably the most common way is to look at the net profits of the business. Given that companies are collections of projects and markets, individual areas can be judged on how successful they are at adding to the net profit. Net profit, To calculate net profit for a venture, subtract all costs, including a share of total corporate overheads. Net profit = sales revenue − total costs Net profit is a measure of the profitability of the venture. It is the revenues of the activity less the costs of the activity, when needs to be allocated across ventures. Almost by definition, overheads are costs that cannot be tied to any specific project, product. The classic example would be the cost of headquarters staff, although it is theoretically possible to calculate profits for any sub-, such as a product or region, often the calculations are rendered suspect by the need to allocate overhead costs. Because overhead costs generally don’t come in packages, their allocation across ventures is not an exact science
Net profit
–
Accounting
38.
Fox hunting
–
In Australia, the term also refers to the hunting of foxes with firearms, similar to deer hunting or spotlighting. In much of the world, hunting in general is understood to relate to any animals or weapons, in Britain and Ireland, hunting without qualification implies fox hunting. Proponents of fox hunting view it as an important part of rural culture, the use of scenthounds to track prey dates back to Assyrian, Babylonian, and ancient Egyptian times, and was known as venery. Many Greek- and Roman- influenced countries have traditions of hunting with hounds. Hunting with Agassaei hounds was popular in Celtic Britain, even before the Romans arrived, introducing the Castorian, norman hunting traditions were brought to Britain when William the Conqueror arrived, along with the Gascon and Talbot hounds. The first use of specifically trained to hunt foxes was in the late 1600s, with the oldest fox hunt being, probably. By the end of the century, deer hunting was in decline. The Inclosure Acts brought fences to separate formerly open land into smaller fields, deer forests were being cut down. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, people began to move out of the country and into towns, roads, railway lines, and canals all split hunting countries, but at the same time they made hunting accessible to more people. Shotguns were improved during the century and the shooting of gamebirds became more popular. Fox hunting developed further in the century when Hugo Meynell developed breeds of hound. In Germany, hunting with hounds was first banned on the initiative of Hermann Göring on July 3,1934, in 1939, the ban was extended to cover Austria after Germanys annexation of the country. Also around this time, numbers of European red foxes were introduced into the Eastern seaboard of North America for hunting, the first organised hunt for the benefit of a group was started by Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax in 1747. In the United States, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both kept packs of fox hounds before and after the American Revolutionary War, in Australia, the European red fox was introduced solely for the purpose of fox hunting in 1855. Native animal populations have been badly affected, with the extinction of at least 10 species attributed to the spread of foxes. Fox hunting with hounds is mainly practised in the east of Australia, in the state of Victoria there are thirteen hunts, with more than 1000 members between them. Fox hunting with hounds results in around 650 foxes being killed annually in Victoria, however, exemptions stated in Schedule 1 of the 2004 Act permit some previously unusual forms of hunting wild mammals with dogs to continue, such as hunting. For the purpose of enabling a bird of prey to hunt the wild mammal, scotland, which has its own Parliament, restricted fox hunting in 2002, more than two years before the ban in England and Wales
Fox hunting
–
Master of foxhounds leads the field from
Powderham Castle in Devon, England, with the hounds in front.
Fox hunting
–
Charles Brand, a Hunt Master who lived from 1855 to 1912
Fox hunting
–
The Fox Hunt,
Alexandre-François Desportes
Fox hunting
–
The Rev. William Heathcote (1772–1802), on horseback (son of the 3rd Baronet); Sir William Heathcote of
Hursley, 3rd Baronet (1746–1819), holding his horse and whip; and Major Vincent Hawkins Gilbert, M.F.H., holding a Fox’s mask. The Heathcote's family seat was
Hursley House.
Daniel Gardner portrayed the three gentlemen on the hunt in 1790.
39.
Piano
–
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word piano is a form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had a sound and smaller dynamic range. An acoustic piano usually has a wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings. Pressing one or more keys on the keyboard causes a padded hammer to strike the strings. The hammer rebounds from the strings, and the continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air, when the key is released, a damper stops the strings vibration, ending the sound. Notes can be sustained, even when the keys are released by the fingers and thumbs and this means that the piano can play 88 different pitches, going from the deepest bass range to the highest treble. The black keys are for the accidentals, which are needed to play in all twelve keys, more rarely, some pianos have additional keys. Most notes have three strings, except for the bass that graduates from one to two, the strings are sounded when keys are pressed or struck, and silenced by dampers when the hands are lifted from the keyboard. There are two types of piano, the grand piano and the upright piano. The grand piano is used for Classical solos, chamber music and art song and it is used in jazz. The upright piano, which is compact, is the most popular type, as they are a better size for use in private homes for domestic music-making. During the nineteenth century, music publishers produced many works in arrangements for piano, so that music lovers could play. The piano is widely employed in classical, jazz, traditional and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, accompaniment, with technological advances, amplified electric pianos, electronic pianos, and digital pianos have also been developed. The electric piano became an instrument in the 1960s and 1970s genres of jazz fusion, funk music. The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments, pipe organs have been used since Antiquity, and as such, the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches
Piano
–
A grand piano (left) and an upright piano (right)
Piano
Piano
–
Grand piano by Louis Bas of
Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France, 1781. Earliest French grand piano known to survive; includes an inverted wrestplank and action derived from the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori (ca. 1700) with ornately decorated soundboard.
Piano
–
Early piano replica by the modern builder Paul McNulty, after Walter & Sohn, 1805
40.
Silk
–
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity, Silk is produced by several insects, but generally only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been research into other types of silk, which differ at the molecular level. Silk is mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, Silk production also occurs in Hymenoptera, silverfish, mayflies, thrips, leafhoppers, beetles, lacewings, fleas, flies, and midges. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders, the word silk comes from Old English sioloc, from Greek σηρικός serikos, silken, ultimately from an Asian source. Several kinds of silk, which are produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm, have been known and used in China, South Asia. However, the scale of production was far smaller than for cultivated silks. Thus, the way to obtain silk suitable for spinning into textiles in areas where commercial silks are not cultivated was by tedious. Commercial silks originate from reared silkworm pupae, which are bred to produce a silk thread with no mineral on the surface. The pupae are killed by either dipping them in boiling water before the adult moths emerge or by piercing them with a needle. These factors all contribute to the ability of the cocoon to be unravelled as one continuous thread. Wild silks also tend to be difficult to dye than silk from the cultivated silkworm. Genetic modification of domesticated silkworms is used to facilitate the production of more types of silk. Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, the earliest example of silk fabric is from 3630 BC, and it was used as wrapping for the body of a child from a Yangshao culture site in Qingtaicun at Xingyang, Henan. Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress, Leizu, because of its texture and lustre, silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants. Silk was in demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade. In July 2007, archaeologists discovered intricately woven and dyed silk textiles in a tomb in Jiangxi province, Silk is described in a chapter on mulberry planting by Si Shengzhi of the Western Han
Silk
–
Four of the most important domesticated silk moths. Top to bottom:
Bombyx mori,
Hyalophora cecropia,
Antheraea pernyi,
Samia cynthia. From
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1885–1892)
Silk
–
Woven silk textile from tomb no 1. at
Mawangdui in
Changsha,
Hunan province,
China, from the
Western Han Dynasty, 2nd century BC
Silk
–
A painting depicting women inspecting silk, early 12th century, ink and color on silk, by
Emperor Huizong of Song.
Silk
–
Portrait of a silk merchant in Guangzhou,
Qing dynasty, from
Peabody Essex Museum
41.
Satin
–
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. The satin weave is characterized by four or more fill or weft yarns floating over a warp yarn or vice versa, four warp yarns floating over a single weft yarn. Floats are missed interfacings, where the yarn lies on top of the weft in a warp-faced satin. These floats explain the even sheen, as unlike in other weaves, the light reflecting is not scattered as much by the fibres, satin is usually a warp-faced weaving technique in which warp yarns are floated over weft yarns, although there are also weft-faced satins. If the yarns used are short-staple yarns such as cotton, the fabric formed is considered a sateen, a satin fabric tends to have a high luster due to the high number of floats on the fabric. Because of this it is used in making bed sheets, many variations can be made of the basic satin weave including a granite weave and a check weave. Satin weaves, twill weaves, and plain weaves are the three types of weaving by which the majority of woven products are formed. Satin is commonly used in apparel, satin baseball jackets, athletic shorts, womens lingerie, nightgowns, blouses, and evening gowns and it is also used in the production of pointe shoes for use in ballet. Other uses include interior furnishing fabrics, upholstery, and bed sheets, originally, during the Middle Ages, satin was made of silk, consequently it was very expensive, used only by the upper classes. Satin became famous in Europe during the twelfth century, the name derives its origin from the Chinese port city of Quanzhou, whose name in Arabic was Zayton. During the latter part of the Middle Ages, it was a shipping port of silk. In a satin weave, the fill yarn passes over multiple warp yarns before interlacing under one warp yarn, common satin weaves are, 4-harness satin weave, also called crowfoot satin, in which the fill yarn passes over three warp yarns and under one warp yarn. It is more pliable than a plain weave, 5-harness satin weave, the fill yarn passes over four warp yarns and then under one yarn. 8-harness satin weave, in which the fill yarn passes over 7 warp yarns and then 1 warp yarn, is the most pliable satin weave, antique satin is a type of satin-back shantung, woven with slubbed or unevenly spun weft yarns. Baronet or baronette has a back and a rayon or silk front. Charmeuse is a lightweight, draping satin-weave fabric with a dull reverse, double face satin is woven with a glossy surface on both sides. It is possible for both sides to have a different pattern, albeit using the same colors, duchess satin is a particularly luxurious, heavy, stiff satin. Farmers satin or Venetian cloth is made from mercerised cotton, gattar is satin made with a silk warp and a cotton weft
Satin
–
Satin weave. The warp yarns are shown running left and right, weft running top to bottom.
Satin
–
Purple satin fabric
Satin
–
Satin robe. English, circa 1765
Satin
42.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
43.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
44.
History of British newspapers
–
During of the 17th century, there were many kinds of publications that told both news and rumours. Among these were pamphlets, posters, ballads etc, even when the news periodicals emerged, many of these co-existed with them. A news periodical differs from these mainly because of its periodicity, the definition for 17th century newsbooks and newspapers is that they are published at least once a week. Johann Carolus Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, published in Strassburg in 1605, is regarded as the first news periodical. At the beginning of the 17th century, the right to print was strictly controlled in England and this was probably the reason why the first newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler around 1620. This followed the established by Veselers earlier Dutch paper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt. However, when the English started printing their own papers in London, the publication of these newsbooks was suspended between 1632 and 1638 by order of Star Chamber. After they resumed publication, the era of these lasted until the publication of the Oxford Gazette in 1665. The control over printing relaxed greatly after the abolition of Star Chamber in 1641, the Civil War escalated the demand for news. News pamphlets or books reported the war, often supporting one side or the other, following the Restoration there arose a number of publications, including the London Gazette, the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown. Publication was controlled under the Licensing Act of 1662, but the Acts lapses from 1679–1685, Mercurius Caledonius founded in Edinburgh in 1660, was Scotlands first but short-lived newspaper. Only 12 editions were published during 1660 and 1661, there were twelve London newspapers and 24 provincial papers by the 1720s. The Public Advertiser was started by Henry Woodfall in the 18th century, the first English journalist to achieve national importance was Daniel Defoe. In February 1704, he began his weekly, The Review, defoes Review came to an end in 1713. Between 1716 and 1720 he published a newspaper with old style title. The Examiner started in 1710 as the chief Conservative political mouthpiece, Swift had control of the journal for 33 issues between November 1710 and June 1711, but once he became dean of St. Patricks Cathedral in Dublin, he gave up regular journalistic work. The 76th issue of the paper contained a paragraph mentioning the House of Lords. He preferred to discontinue his publication instead, in 1726 he in part revived it, under the title of Lloyds List, published at first weekly, it would later become a daily
History of British newspapers
–
Linotype operators preparing hot-metal type 'slugs' to be assembled in columns and pages by hand
compositors. This
letterpress mode of newspaper production was supplanted in the 1970s and 1980s by the cleaner, more economical
offset litho process.
History of British newspapers
–
This plaque in London marks the publication in 1702 of The Daily Courant as London's first daily newspaper
History of British newspapers
–
1855 first edition of the Daily Telegraph & Courier
History of British newspapers
–
Evening Standard headlines on 7 July 2005
45.
Official Journal of the European Union
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The Official Journal of the European Union is the official gazette of record for the European Union. It is published every working day in all of the languages of the member states. Only legal acts published in the Official Journal are binding and it was first published on 30 December 1952 as the Official Journal of the European Coal and Steel Community. Since 1998 the Journal has been available online via the EUR-Lex service, as of the 1st of July 2013, the electronic version of the Official Journal bears legal value instead of the paper version. The Journal comprises two series, The L series contains EU legislation including regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations, the C series contains reports and announcements including the judgments of the European Court of Justice and the General Court. There is also a supplementary S series which contains invitations to tender, the S Series is also the only series that is not issued in every working language of the Union. Each contracting authority issues notices in the language of its choice
Official Journal of the European Union
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ESCB
46.
Calendar (New Style) Act 1750
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The Calendar Act 1750 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The year 1752 was thus a short year as well, as well as adopting the Gregorian rule for leap years, Pope Gregorys rules for the date of Easter were also adopted. The algorithm, set out in the Book of Common Prayer as required by the Act, includes calculation of the Golden Number and the Sunday Letter, which were presumed to be already known. The Annexe to the Act includes the definition, Easter-day is always the first Sunday after the Full Moon, and if the Full Moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday after. The Annexe subsequently uses the terms Paschal Full Moon and Ecclesiastical Full Moon, Scotland had already partly made the change, the year began on 1 January in 1600. As a result of the Act, Scotland adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, some history books say that some people rioted after the calendar change, asking that their eleven days be returned. However this is likely a myth, based on only two primary sources, The World, a satirical journal of Lord Chesterfield, and a painting by William Hogarth. He wrote to his son, Every numerous assembly is a mob, mere sense is never to be talked to a mob, their passions, their sentiments, their senses and their seeming interests alone are to be applied to. Here, he was boasting of his skill in having the Bill passed through the Lords, the mob in question was his fellow peers. When the son of the Earl of Macclesfield stood for Parliament in Oxfordshire as a Whig in 1754, in 1755, William Hogarth produced a painting loosely based on these elections, entitled An Election Entertainment, which shows a placard carrying the slogan Give us our Eleven Days. Thus the calendar riot fiction was born, the election campaign depicted concluded in 1754, after a very lengthy contest between Court Whigs and Jacobite Tories. Every issue between the two factions was brought up, including the question of calendar reform, the Tories attacked the Whigs for every deviation, including their alleged favouritism towards foreign Jews and the Popish calendar. Hogarths placard, part of a satire on the character of the debate, was not an observation of actual crowd behaviour, there were, however, legitimate concerns about tax and other payments under the new calendar. Several theories have proposed for the odd beginning of the British tax year on 6 April. One is that from 1753 until 1799, the tax began on 5 April. After the twelfth skipped Julian leap day in 1800, it was changed to 6 April, however it was not changed when a thirteenth Julian leap day was skipped in 1900, so the tax year in the United Kingdom still begins on 6 April. However Poole thought that quarter days, such as Lady Day on 25 March, thus, although 25 March Old Style marked the beginning of the civil year, the next day,26 March Old Style was until 1752 the beginning of the tax year. After removing eleven days in 1752, this corresponded to 6 April New Style, in Appalachia, some Scots-Irish settlers resisted the changeover mandated by the Calendar Act by continuing to celebrate Christmas on January 6, referring to the day as Old Christmas
Calendar (New Style) Act 1750
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William Hogarth painting (c. 1755) which is the main source for "Give us our Eleven Days"
Calendar (New Style) Act 1750
47.
Julian calendar
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The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC, by edict, the Julian calendar gains against the mean tropical year at the rate of one day in 128 years. For the Gregorian the figure is one day in 3,030 years, the difference in the average length of the year between Julian and Gregorian is 0. 002%. The Julian calendar has a year of 365 days divided into 12 months. A leap day is added to February every four years, the Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. It was intended to approximate the tropical year, as a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582, consequently, the Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Egypt converted on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875, turkey switched on 16 February/1 March 1917. Russia changed on 1/14 February 1918, Greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 February/1 March 1923 - the national day, which was a religious holiday, was to remain on the old calendar. Most Christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian as the basis for their liturgical calendars. However, most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the date of Easter, some Orthodox churches have adopted the Revised Julian calendar for the observance of fixed feasts, while other Orthodox churches retain the Julian calendar for all purposes. The Julian calendar is used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar. In the form of the Alexandrian calendar, it is the basis for the Ethiopian calendar, during the changeover between calendars and for some time afterwards, dual dating was used in documents and gave the date according to both systems. In contemporary as well as texts that describe events during the period of change. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, in addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long. In this system, the average Roman year would have had 366 1⁄4 days over four years, Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period within a 24-year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377 days
Julian calendar
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Russian icon of the
Theophany (the baptism of
Jesus by
John the Baptist) (6 January), the highest-ranked feast which occurs on the fixed cycle of the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.
Julian calendar
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This is a visual example of the official date change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian
Julian calendar
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Key concepts
48.
The Oxford Gazette
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The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is made by the Stamford Mercury and Berrows Worcester Journal. It does not have a large circulation, in turn, The London Gazette carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in The London Gazette, the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are published by TSO on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office. They are subject to Crown Copyright, the London Gazette is published each weekday, except for Bank Holidays. The official Gazettes are published by The Stationery Office, the content, apart from insolvency notices, is available in a number of machine-readable formats, including XML and XML/RDFa via Atom feed. The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, the Gazette was Published by Authority by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, the Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public. Her Majestys Stationery Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889, publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when HMSO was sold and renamed The Stationery Office. In time of war, dispatches from the conflicts are published in The London Gazette. People referred to are said to have mentioned in dispatches. When members of the forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here. Man tally-ho, Miss piano, Wife silk and satin, Boy Greek and Latin, the phrase gazetted fortune hunter is also probably derived from this. Notices of engagement and marriage were also published in the Gazette. Gazettes, modelled on The London Gazette, were issued for most British colonial possessions
The Oxford Gazette
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The London Gazette, dated 14–17 May 1705 detailing the return of
John Leake from
Gibraltar after the
Battle of Cabrita Point.
The Oxford Gazette
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The London Gazette: later reprint of the front page from 3–10 September 1666, reporting on the
Great Fire of London.
49.
William Hone
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William Hone was an English writer, satirist and bookseller. His victorious court battle against government censorship in 1817 marked a point in the fight for British press freedom. Hone was born at Bath, and had a religious upbringing. The only education he received was to be taught to read from the Bible and his father moved to London in 1783, and in 1790 Hone was placed in an attorneys office. After two and a half years in the office of a solicitor at Chatham he returned to London to become clerk to a solicitor at Grays Inn, but he disliked the law, and had learned to think for himself. Hone married in 1800, and started a book and print shop with a library in Lambeth Walk. He soon moved to St Martins Churchyard, where he brought out his first publication, Shaws Gardener. It was at time that he and his friend, John Bone, tried to establish a popular savings bank. Bone then joined Hone in a business, but bankruptcy was the result. In 1811, Hone was employed by the booksellers as auctioneer to the trade and he hired a small shop, or rather box, in Fleet Street but this was twice robbed, and valuable books lent for show were stolen. In 1815 he started the Traveller newspaper, and tried in vain to save Elizabeth Fenning, in April 1817 three ex-officio informations were filed against him by the attorney-general, Sir William Garrow. Three separate trials took place in the Guildhall before special juries on 18,19 and 20 December 1817, the prosecution took the ground that the prints were harmful to public morals and brought the prayer-book and even religion itself into contempt. The real motives of the prosecution were political, Hone had ridiculed the habits, in spite of illness and exhaustion Hone spoke on each of the three days for about seven hours. Although his judges were biased against him, he was acquitted on each count, soon afterwards, a public collection was made on his behalf. Many of his squibs are directed against a certain Dr Slop, in 1826 he published the Every-day Book, in 1827-1828 the Table-Book, and in 1829 the Year-Book. All three were collections of information on manners, antiquities and various other subjects. These are the works by which Hone is best remembered, in preparing them he had the approval of Robert Southey and the assistance of Charles Lamb, but they were not financially successful, and Hone was lodged in Kings Bench Prison for debt. Friends, however, again came to his assistance, and he was established in a coffee-house in Gracechurch Street, in 1830 he edited Strutts Sports and Pastimes of the people of England, and he contributed to the first number of the Penny Magazine
William Hone
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William Hone by William Patten
William Hone
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Every Day Book, typical page format, content and illustration. (1830 printing).
50.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
Virtual International Authority File
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Screenshot 2012
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