1.
John Buchan
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John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir GCMG GCVO CH PC was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War, in 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada R. B. Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough and he occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, Buchan was born in Perth, Scotland. He was the first child of John Buchan—a Free Church of Scotland minister—and Helen Jane Buchan, Buchan was brought up in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and spent many summer holidays with his maternal grandparents in Broughton, in the Scottish Borders. The childhood he and his sister, Anna, shared was documented in her memoir, Unforgettable, after attending Hutchesons Grammar School, Buchan was awarded a scholarship to the University of Glasgow at age 17, where he studied classics, wrote poetry, and became a published author. With a junior Hulme scholarship, he moved on in 1895 to study Literae Humaniores at Brasenose College, Oxford, where his friends included Hilaire Belloc, Raymond Asquith, and Aubrey Herbert. It was at around the time of his graduation from Oxford that Buchan had his first portrait painted, together, Buchan and his wife had four children, Alice, John, William, and Alastair, two of whom would spend most of their lives in Canada. With the outbreak of the First World War, Buchan went to write for the British War Propaganda Bureau and he continued to write fiction, and in 1915 published his most famous work, The Thirty-Nine Steps, a spy-thriller set just prior to World War I. The novel featured Buchans oft used hero, Richard Hannay, whose character was based on Edmund Ironside, a sequel, Greenmantle, came the following year. Buchan then enlisted in the British Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps. It was difficult for him, given his close connections to many of Britains military leaders, following the close of the war, Buchan turned his attention to writing on historical subjects, along with his usual thrillers and novels. Robert Graves, who lived in nearby Islip, mentioned his being recommended by Buchan for a position at the newly founded Cairo University. In a 1927 by-election, Buchan was elected as the Unionist Party Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, politically, he was of the Unionist-Nationalist tradition, believing in Scotlands promotion as a nation within the British Empire. Buchan remarked in a speech to parliament, I believe every Scotsman should be a Scottish nationalist, if it could be proved that a Scottish parliament were desirable. He found himself profoundly affected by John Morleys Life of Gladstone, after the United Free Church of Scotland joined in 1929 with the Church of Scotland, Buchan remained an active elder of St. Columbas Church in London, as well as of the Oxford Presbyterian parish. In 1933 and 1934 Buchan was further appointed as the King George Vs Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, beginning in 1930 Buchan aligned himself with Zionism and the related Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group. In recognition of his contributions to literature and education, on 1 January 1932, in 1935 Buchans literary work was adapted for the cinema with the completion of Alfred Hitchcocks The 39 Steps, starring Robert Donat as Richard Hannay, though with Buchans story much altered
2.
Thriller (genre)
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Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television, having numerous subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax, the cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively, a thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. Homers Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as a prototype of the thriller. Thrillers may be defined by the mood that they elicit. In short, if it thrills, it is a thriller, as the introduction to a major anthology explains, Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation and tension and these develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached. In terms of expectations, it may be contrasted with curiosity. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, the second type of suspense is the. anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics, suspense is an important building block of literature, common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. Common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique, common elements in dramatic and psychological thrillers include plot twists, psychology, obsession and mind games. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers, stalking, deathtraps, elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins, the themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with other or with outside forces. The protagonist of these films is set against a problem, no matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women characters are increasingly common
3.
Blackwood (publishing house)
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William Blackwood & Sons was a Scottish publishing house and printer founded by William Blackwood in 1804. In 1804 William Blackwood opened a shop in South Bridge Street, Edinburgh, for the sale of old, rare and he undertook the Scottish agency for John Murray and other London publishers, and gradually drifted into publishing on his own account, moving in 1816 to Princes Street. On 1 April 1817 the first number of the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine was published, maga, as this magazine soon came to be called, was the organ of the Scottish Tory party, and round it gathered a host of able writers. His brother Thomas bought 43 and in 1830 Thomas Hamilton remodelled the entire frontage of the pair for the Blackwood Brothers or Messrs, Thomas shop operated as a silk merchant. William Blackwood died in 1834 and is buried in a vault in the lower western section of Old Calton Cemetery. He was succeeded by his two sons, Alexander and Robert, who added a London branch to the firm, in 1845 Alexander Blackwood died, and shortly afterwards Robert. A younger brother, John Blackwood succeeded to the business, four years later he was joined by Major William Blackwood, in 1862 the majors elder son, William Blackwood, was taken into partnership. On the death of John Blackwood, William Blackwood junior was left in control of the business. With him were associated his nephews, George William and JH Blackwood, sons of Major George Blackwood, the last member of the Blackwood family to run the company was Douglas Blackwood. During World War II Blackwood was a pilot and at the height of the Battle of Britain recalled looking down from 25,000 feet to see the firms London office in Paternoster Row ablaze. Millions of books were lost in the fire and the destruction of Blackwoods base in the City of London marked the beginning of the firms decline and he retired in 1976 and by 1980 the firm had amalgamated. See Annals of a Publishing House, William Blackwood and his Sons, the first two volumes of which were written by Mrs Oliphant, the third, dealing with John Blackwood, by his daughter, Mrs Gerald Porter. Meade Falkner My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin Youth, Joseph Conrad William Wetmore Story and His Friends, Henry James Where Angels Fear to Tread, E. M. Blackwood, William. Finkelstein, David, The House of Blackwood, Author-Publisher Relations in the Victorian Era, Penn State Press,2001 ISBN 0-271-02179-9
4.
Greenmantle
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Greenmantle is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character of Richard Hannay, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world, once there, he and his friends must thwart the Germans plans to use religion to help them win the war, climaxing at the battle of Erzurum. The book opens in November 1915, with Hannay and his friend Sandy convalescing from wounds received at the Battle of Loos, sir Walter Bullivant, a senior intelligence officer, summons Hannay to the Foreign Office. Despite misgivings, Hannay accepts the challenge, and picks Sandy to help him, Bullivant says that American John Blenkiron will also be useful. The three meet, ponder their clues, and head to Constantinople, Hannay meets by chance an old comrade, Boer Peter Pienaar, and the two enter Germany via the Netherlands, posing as anti-British exiles itching to fight for the Germans. They meet the powerful and sinister Colonel Ulric von Stumm, Hannay has several more adventures, meeting famed mining engineer Herr Gaudian, hears of the mysterious Hilda von Einem, and meets the Kaiser. Finding Stumm plans to him to Egypt via London, Hannay flees into the snowbound countryside. He falls ill with malaria and is sheltered over Christmas by a woman in a lonely cottage. On his sickbed, he realises that the clue v. I on the piece of paper may refer to the name he overheard, von Einem. Recuperated, he carries on, travelling by barge carrying armaments down the Danube, picking up with Peter Pienaar and they pass through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, and as they travel, Hannay connects the phrase der grüne Mantel with something else he overheard earlier. They reach Rustchuk on 10 January, with a week to go before the rendezvous in Constantinople, on arrival there, Hannay has a run-in with Rasta Bey, an important Young Turk, and intercepts a telegram showing his trail has been picked up. They carry on by train, fending off an attempt to stop them by the angry Rasta Bey, and reach Constantinople with half a day to spare. They seek out the place, and are attacked by Bey and an angry mob, but rescued by a band of mysterious, wild dancing men. Next day they return to the rendezvous, an illicit dance-room, Blenkiron has met and been impressed by Hilda von Einem, who is in Constantinople and owns the house in which they are staying. Blenkiron provides Hannay with a new identity, an American engineer named Hannau, and they attend a party where they meet Herr Gaudian again. Lost out riding, Hannay encounters von Einem, and is fascinated by her, later, he is recognised by Rasta Bey, Hannay impresses her, and hears she plans to take him East with her. Sandy visits, agrees to deal with the captive Turk and provides news of his own - the clue Cancer means the prophet Greenmantle has the disease and is on his deathbed. Blenkiron joins them, and tells them that fighting has hotted up between the Russians and the Turks, and they deduce that they will be taken towards Erzerum to help with its defence
5.
Scottish literature
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Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes works in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin, the earliest extant literature written in what is now Scotland, was composed in Brythonic speech in the sixth century and has survived as part of Welsh literature. In the following centuries there was literature in Latin, under the influence of the Catholic Church, after the Davidian Revolution of the thirteenth century a flourishing French language culture predominated, while Norse literature was produced from areas of Scandinavian settlement. The first surviving major text in Early Scots literature is the fourteenth-century poet John Barbours epic Brus and these were joined in the fifteenth century by Scots prose works. In the early modern era royal patronage supported poetry, prose, James Vs court saw works such as Sir David Lindsay of the Mounts The Thrie Estaitis. In the late sixteenth century James VI became patron and member of a circle of Scottish court poets, when he acceded to the English throne in 1603 many followed him to the new court, but without a centre of royal patronage the tradition of Scots poetry subsided. It was revived after union with England in 1707 by figures including Allan Ramsay, the latters Ossian Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. He helped inspire Robert Burns, considered by many to be the national poet, towards the end of the Victorian era a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald. In the twentieth century there was a surge of activity in Scottish literature, the leading figure, Hugh MacDiarmid, attempted to revive the Scots language as a medium for serious literature. Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of poets including Edwin Morgan. From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another revival, particularly associated with writers including James Kelman. Scottish poets who emerged in the period included Carol Ann Duffy. After the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century. In the east were the Picts, whose kingdoms eventually stretched from the river Forth to Shetland, in the west were the Gaelic -speaking people of Dál Riata, who had close links with Ireland, from where they brought with them the name Scots. In the south were the British descendants of the peoples of the Roman-influenced kingdoms of The Old North, to these Christianisation, particularly from the sixth century, added Latin as an intellectual and written language. However, there is surviving literature from what would become Scotland in Brythonic, Gaelic, Latin and it is a series of elegies to the men of the Gododdin killed fighting at the Battle of Catraeth around 600 AD. Similarly, the Battle of Gwen Ystrad is attributed to Taliesin, there are religious works in Gaelic including the Elegy for St Columba by Dallan Forgaill, c.597 and In Praise of St Columba by Beccan mac Luigdech of Rum, c. In Latin they include a Prayer for Protection, c. mid-sixth century and Altus Prosator, what is arguably the most important medieval work written in Scotland, the Vita Columbae, by Adomnán, abbot of Iona, was also written in Latin
6.
Blackwood's Magazine
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Blackwoods Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle, the journal was unsuccessful and Blackwood fired Pringle and Cleghorn and relaunched the journal as Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine under his own editorship. The journal eventually adopted the name and from the relaunch often referred to itself as Maga. The title page bore the image of George Buchanan, a 16th-century Scottish historian, Blackwoods was conceived as a rival to the Whig-supporting Edinburgh Review. Compared to the rather staid tone of The Quarterly Review, the other main Tory work, Maga was ferocious and this is due primarily to the work of its principal writer John Wilson, who wrote under the pseudonym of Christopher North. Never trusted with the editorship, he wrote much of the magazine along with the other major contributors John Gibson Lockhart. Their mixture of satire, reviews and criticism both barbed and insightful was extremely popular and the magazine gained a large audience. For all its conservative credentials the magazine published the works of radicals of British romanticism such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Scott was shot and killed. By the mid-1820s Lockhart and Maginn had departed to London, the former to edit the Quarterly, after this, John Wilson was by far the most important writer for the magazine and gave it much of its tone, popularity and notoriety. By the 1840s when Wilson was contributing less, its circulation declined, the magazine never regained its early success but it still held a dedicated readership throughout the British Empire amongst those in the Colonial Service. One late nineteenth century triumph was the first publication of Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness in the February, March, the magazine finally ceased publication in 1980, having remained for its entire history in the Blackwood family. Robert Macnish contributed under the epithet, Modern Pythagorean and it was an open secret that Charles Whibley contributed anonymously his Musings without Methods to the Magazine for over twenty-five years. T. S. Vera Brittain lists numerous copies of Blackwoods Magazine among her possessions in her description of her time as V. A. D. Nurse in Malta in her seminal work Testament of Youth, the Young Mens Magazine Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 100. Author–Publisher Relations in the Victorian Age, University Park, PA, Pennsylvania State University Press,2002. ISBN 978-0-271-02179-9 Finkelstein, David, Print Culture and the Blackwood Tradition 1805–1930, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,2006
7.
Alfred Hitchcock
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Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as The Master of Suspense. He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres and he had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as Englands best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, and became a US citizen in 1955 and he also fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. Hitchcocks stylistic trademarks include the use of movement that mimics a persons gaze. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy and his work often features fugitives on the run alongside icy blonde female characters. Prior to 1980, there had long been talk of Hitchcock being knighted for his contribution to film, Hitchcock later received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. Hitchcock directed more than fifty films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as one of the most influential directors in cinematic history. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else, Hitchcocks first thriller, The Lodger, A Story of the London Fog, helped shape the thriller genre in film. His 1929 film, Blackmail, is cited as the first British sound feature film, while Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone and he was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He was named after his fathers brother, Hitchcock was raised as a Roman Catholic, and sent to Salesian College, Battersea, and the Jesuit grammar school St Ignatius College in Stamford Hill, London. His parents were both of half-English and half-Irish ancestry and he often described a lonely and sheltered childhood that was worsened by his obesity. Around age five, Hitchcock recalled that to him for behaving badly. This incident implanted a lifelong fear of policemen in Hitchcock, and such harsh treatment, sources vary on Hitchcocks performance in school. Gene Adair reports that by most accounts, Alfred was only an average, or slightly above-average, however, McGilligan writes that Hitchcock certainly excelled academically. When Hitchcock was 15, his father died, in that same year, he left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a company called Henleys. Hitchcock joined a regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917
8.
The 39 Steps (1935 film)
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The 39 Steps is a 1935 British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. After being mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, at a London music hall theatre, Richard Hannay is watching a demonstration of the superlative powers of recall of Mr. Memory when shots are fired. In the ensuing panic, Hannay finds himself holding a seemingly frightened Annabella Smith and she mentions the 39 Steps, but does not explain its meaning. Later that night Smith, fatally stabbed, bursts into Hannays bedroom and he finds a map of the Scottish Highlands clutched in her hand, showing the area around Killin, with a house or farm named Alt-na-Shellach circled. He sneaks out of the watched flat disguised as a milkman and he learns from a newspaper that he is the target of a nationwide manhunt for Smiths murderer. When he sees the police searching the train, he enters a compartment and kisses the sole occupant, Pamela and she frees herself from his unwanted embrace and alerts the policemen, who stop the train on the Forth Bridge. He walks toward Alt-na-Shellach, staying the night in the house of a poor crofter, early the next morning, she sees a police car approaching and warns Hannay. Hannay flees, wearing the crofters coat, at a bridge, he finds a sign for Alt-na-Shellach. He arrives at the house of the seemingly respectable Professor Jordan and is let in after saying he has sent by Annabella Smith. The police arrive, but Jordan sends them away and listens to Hannays story, Jordan then reveals that he is missing part of a finger, he shoots Hannay and leaves him for dead. Luckily, the bullet is stopped by the hymn book in the coat pocket. Hannay drives into town and goes to the sheriff, who does not believe the story since he knows Jordan well. Hannays right wrist is handcuffed, but he jumps through a window and he tries to hide at a political meeting and is mistaken for the introductory speaker. He gives an impromptu speech — without knowing anything about the candidate he is introducing — but is recognised by Pamela. He is taken away by policemen who ask Pamela to accompany them and they drive past the police station, claiming they have orders to go directly to Inveraray, but Hannay realises they are agents of the conspiracy when they take the wrong road. When the men get out to disperse a flock of sheep blocking the road, Hannay escapes and they make their way across the countryside and stay the night at an inn. While he sleeps, Pamela manages to slip out of the handcuffs and she returns to the room and sleeps on a sofa. The next morning, she tells him what she heard and he sends her to London to alert the police
9.
The 39 Steps (1959 film)
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The 39 Steps is a 1959 British thriller film produced by Betty Box, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg. It is a remake of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, loosely based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, Hannay thus travels to Scotland to escape the police, and attempts to complete the spys work. It is the first colour version of the Buchan tale, and, unlike the mainly studio-bound original, several large set pieces and much of the dialogue are taken from the original film. As with the Hitchcock version, the scenario was contemporary rather than the pre-Great War setting of Buchans original. Coming to the assistance of a nanny who is almost killed during a bungled hit-and-run assassination attempt, curious, he meets her at the Palace Music Hall where she has gone to see the act of Mr Memory. The Thirty-Nine Steps are in possession of a set of plans for Boomerang. She tells Hannay that she must leave for Scotland immediately, but while Hannay is out of the room, during the journey, he has a chance encounter with Miss Fisher, a netball coach at a boarding school for girls. He is forced to pretend they are lovers to avoid the police detectives who boarded at Edinburgh, however, Miss Fisher gives him away and Hannay jumps from the stationary train on the Forth Bridge. He then meets Percy Baker, a helpful ex-convict lorry driver who advises him to stop at The Gallows, an inn owned by Nelly Lumsden and she helps him pass the police patrols by disguising him in a cycle party she is accommodating and creating a diversion with her husband. Hannay eventually finds the house of the man he thinks he is looking for, Professor Logan, but finds out that he has been tricked and he escapes and informs the police, but is not believed and has to jump out of the police station window. Hannay escapes in the back of a passing sheep transporter and he then poses as a lecturer in a Highland girls boarding school, coincidentally where Miss Fisher works, and ends up giving a bizarre lecture on the woods and the wayside in August. Miss Fisher recognises him and he is taken into custody. After he shouts out to Miss Fisher to telephone Scotland Yard about Boomerang, Hannay is handcuffed to Miss Fisher in a Ford Zephyr with the hitmen, who are taking them back to London. A burst tyre gives Hannay his chance to escape, but only having one hand to drive with, he crashes the car, eventually, they chance upon a bed and breakfast run by Mrs MacDougal. Hannay hides their handcuffed condition and informs her that they are a runaway couple, while Hannay sleeps, Miss Fisher frees herself from the handcuffs, but then overhears their pursuers inquiring about them and about The Thirty-Nine Steps. She realises her error and goes back to help Hannay, telling him the final rendezvous for the conspirators, the finale is back in the Palace Music Hall where Hannay provokes Mr. Memory into telling him where The Thirty-Nine Steps are, just as the police arrest him. Mr Memory has used his memory to memorise the Boomerang plans. However, before he can reveal the secret, Memory is shot by the ringleader, director Ralph Thomas stated in an interview that to distance it from Hitchcocks pre-war thriller, he tried to produce the film with the feel of a comedy
10.
The Thirty Nine Steps (1978 film)
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The Thirty Nine Steps is a British 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, with screenplay by British playwright Michael Robson, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It was the film version of the 1915 novel. This version of Buchans tale starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and it is generally regarded as the closest to the novel, being set before the Great War. It also introduces a different meaning for the steps, although unlike its filmed predecessors it returns to Buchans original notion of being an actual staircase. Powell later reprised the role in the ITV series Hannay in 1988 and 1989, in 1914, German spies are everywhere in London. After a spate of assassinations of important British politicians, a retired British intelligence officer, Colonel Scudder, realises his life and his mysterious black notebook are in danger. He turns to Richard Hannay, an engineer who is visiting Britain for a short time before returning to South Africa. Scudder tells Hannay of a plot by Prussian sleeper agents, who are planning to pre-empt a war against the Triple Entente powers by assassinating a foreign minister of state visiting the UK, Hannay reluctantly gives Scudder shelter in his flat, despite his initial distrust of him. In the morning, Hannay leaves to purchase a ticket to his family hometown. When the Prussian agents attempt to enter the flat, Scudder flees down the fire escape but he is spotted. Posting a package containing his secret notebook in a box, Scudder flees to the St Pancras railway station. At the railway station, just seconds before he can reach Hannay, Hannay is mistaken by witnesses at the railway station as being the assailant. Hannay is arrested but is captured by the Prussians when transferred to jail. He then is allowed to escape from the Prussians in the hope that he can lead them to the secret notebook, Hannay flees to Scotland on a train, but he is forced to make a daredevil escape on a bridge when police board. The agents intend to murder the visiting Greek Prime Minister, leading to unrest in the Balkans and thus causing a world war, by planting a bomb in parliament. The Thirty Nine Steps refers to the number of stairs in the tower of Big Ben. When he reaches the top of the tower, the agents have already planted the bomb and have locked the clock room. To give the Police more time, Hannay breaks the glass of the clock-face, climbs out onto the face of the clock and physically stops the clock hands just as the big hand moves just below the nine
11.
The 39 Steps (2008 film)
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The 39 Steps is a 2008 British television adventure thriller feature-length adaptation of the John Buchan novel The Thirty-Nine Steps produced by the BBC. It was written by Lizzie Mickery, directed by James Hawes, and filmed on location in Scotland, starring Rupert Penry-Jones, Lydia Leonard, David Haig, Eddie Marsan, and Patrick Malahide. Following three screen versions of the novel and a 1977 television adaptation of The Three Hostages, Penry-Jones became the actor to portray Hannay on screen. This adaptation is set on the eve of the First World War, the single drama was first shown on BBC One and BBC HD on 28 December 2008 as part of BBC Ones Christmas 2008 line-up, and it was the most watched programme of the day. Compared to Alfred Hitchcocks 1935 film, it received negative reviews from the press. The production was criticised for its inaccuracies, particularly its use of anachronistic props. He has heard rumours of a plot to assassinate a high-ranking European royal, believing he will soon be killed, he hands Hannay a notebook to pass to Captain Kell of the Secret Service Bureau. While Hannay answers the door, Scudder is shot by one of the German spies seeking his notebook who has entered the flat via a back door, the police arrive, and Hannay is arrested for murder before escaping. Unable to contact Kell, Hannay flicks through the notebook, finding it contains pages of code using Roman numerals and he finds a map in the back and takes a train to Scotland to prove Scudder right, attempting to decipher the code en route. Finding out Archduke Ferdinand has been assassinated, Hannay reaches Scotland and he stays in a barn overnight, where he deciphers the code in the notebook, which reveals the Germans want to destroy the Royal Navy so that they could invade the country, starting a war. At a political rally in a town where Hannay meets Sir George Sinclair, Harry and Victorias uncle, Victoria aids Hannays attempt to escape. With the notebook missing from Hannays pocket, they are taken to Longkeep Castle, the headquarters of the German espionage ring, Sir George arrives as they are captured and inquires about them while they are held in another room. After he leaves they are bound and gagged and placed in the cellar and they escape and return to where they were captured to look for the notebook, which Victoria reveals she had picked from Hannays pocket and hidden. They stay overnight in an inn, where Hannay details the contents of the notebook to Victoria, in the morning, they escape to Harrys house, where Victoria unsuccessfully attempts to contact Captain Kell. Hannay, alone, meets with Sir George, who sits on the defence committee, later, Hannay and Victoria kiss, and the next morning he sees her leaving with a man, whom he recalls seeing previously on the train and at the rally. Hannay deduces that Sir George is the traitor, as he should have them when he was at Fishers House. At the Castle, Hannay and Victoria find 39 steps leading to a loch, a shoot-out ensues, and a German U-boat surfaces in the loch. Fisher, the Germans and Sir George fail to get to the U-boat before it submerges, together by the loch, Hannay and Victoria kiss before she is hit by a bullet fired by a surviving gunman, falls into the loch and disappears
12.
Dime novel
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The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U. S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term was used as a title as late as 1940, Dime novels are the antecedent of todays mass-market paperbacks, comic books, television shows and movies based on dime-novel genres. In the modern age, the dime novel has been used to refer to quickly written, lurid potboilers, usually as a pejorative to describe a sensationalized. In 1860, the publishers Erastus and Irwin Beadle released a new series of cheap paperbacks, Dime novel became a general term for similar paperbacks produced by various publishers in the early twentieth century. The first book in the Beadle series was Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter, by Ann S. Stephens, the novel was essentially a reprint of Stephenss earlier serial, which had appeared in the Ladies Companion magazine in February, March and April 1839. It sold more than 65,000 copies in the first few months after its publication as a dime novel, Dime novels varied in size, even in the first Beadle series, but were mostly about 6.5 by 4.25 inches, with 100 pages. The first 28 were published without an illustration, in a salmon-colored paper wrapper. A woodblock print was added in issue 29, and the first 28 were reprinted with illustrated covers, the books were priced, of course, at ten cents. Most of the stories were frontier tales reprinted from the serials in the story papers and other sources. As the popularity of dime novels increased, original stories came to be the norm, the books were reprinted many times, sometimes with different covers, and the stories were often further reprinted in different series and by different publishers. The literacy rate increased around the time of the American Civil War, by the end of the war, numerous competitors, such as George Munro and Robert DeWitt, were crowding the field, distinguishing their product only by title and the color of the paper wrappers. Beadle & Adams had their own brands, such as the Frank Starr line. As a whole, the quality of the fiction was derided by critics. Adding to the confusion as to what is or is not a dime novel, many of the series, though similar in design and subject. Beadle & Adams complicated the matter by issuing some titles in the same salmon-colored covers at different prices, also, there were a number of ten-cent, paper-covered books of the period that featured medieval romance stories and melodramatic tales. This makes it hard to define what falls in the category of the novel, with classification depending on format, price. Examples of dime novel series that illustrate the diversity of the form include Bunces Ten Cent Novels, Bradys Mercury Stories, Beadles Dime Novels, in 1874, Beadle & Adams added the novelty of color to the covers when their New Dime Novels series replaced the flagship title. The stories were reprints from the first series
13.
Broadstairs
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Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about 80 miles east of London. It is part of the parish of Broadstairs and St Peters. Situated between Margate and Ramsgate, Broadstairs is one of Thanets seaside resorts, known as the Jewel in Thanets crown, the towns crest motto is Stella Maris. The name derives from a flight of steps in the chalk cliff. The town spreads from Haine Road in the west to Kingsgate a hamlet in St Peter parish in the north, the hamlet of Reading Street was established by Flemish refugees in the 17th century. The inland village of St Peters was established after the building of a church in about 1080. The coastal confederation of Cinque Ports during its mediæval period consisted of a confederation of 42 towns and this included St Peters, as a limb of Dover. On the nearby coast was a shrine, the Shrine of Our Lady, at what was then called Bradstow. A fishing settlement developed in the vicinity of the shrine in the 14th century and this came to be called Broadstairs, after a flight of steps which was made in the cliff to give access to the shrine from the bay. Older forms of the name include Brodsteyr Lynch, Brodestyr, Broadstayer, Charles Culmer, son of Waldemar, is supposed to have reconstructed the stairs in 1350. In 1440, an archway was built by George Culmer across a track leading down to the sea, Richard Culmer was the son of Sir Richard Culmer by his first wife and was born in 1640/41. Richard was buried in the church of Monkton, on the Isle of Thanet. Of his legacies was the endowment on Broadstairs of an area of six acres of ground for the poor of the parish, the name survives to this day as Culmers Allotment as does the allotment. In 1823, Broadstairs had a population of about 300, a brief outline of the history of Broadstairs Pier is given in Broadstairs, past and present, which mentions a storm in 1767, during which Culmers work was all but destroyed. At this time, it was of importance to the fishing trade with catches as far afield as Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover and Torbay. By 1795, York Gate needed repair to any threat from the French Revolutionary Wars. The subsequent renovation was undertaken by Lord Hanniker in the year as the first lightvessel was placed on the Goodwin Sands. Broadstairs was supposedly the first town in England to learn of this historic victory, smuggling was an important industry in the area, and the men of Broadstairs and St Peters became very good at outwitting customs agents
14.
Rhodesia
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Rhodesia, commonly known from 1970 onwards as the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territorial terms to modern Zimbabwe. With its capital in Salisbury, Rhodesia was considered a de facto successor state to the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia, the UDI administration initially sought recognition as an autonomous realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, but reconstituted itself as a republic in 1970. Following a brutal guerrilla war fought with two African nationalist organisations, Rhodesian premier Ian Smith conceded to bi-racial democracy in 1978, however, a provisional government subsequently headed by Smith and his moderate colleague Abel Muzorewa failed in appeasing international critics or halting the bloodshed. It finally achieved internationally recognised independence in April 1980, the nation was renamed the Republic of Zimbabwe. A wholly landlocked area, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, the state was named after Cecil Rhodes, whose British South Africa Company acquired the land in the late 19th century. The official name of the country, according to the constitution adopted concurrently with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, was Rhodesia and this naming dispute dated back to October 1964, when Northern Rhodesia became independent from Britain and concurrently changed its name to Zambia. The Southern Rhodesian colonial government in Salisbury felt that in the absence of a Northern Rhodesia, Salisbury went on using the shortened name in an official manner nevertheless, while the British government continued referring to the country as Southern Rhodesia. This situation continued throughout the UDI period, the shortened name was used by many people including the British government in the House of Commons. Southern Rhodesia subsequently gained international recognition of its independence in April 1980, in 1922, faced with the decision to join the Union of South Africa as a fifth province or accept nearly full internal autonomy, the electorate cast its vote against South African integration. In view of the outcome of the referendum, the territory was annexed by the United Kingdom on 12 September 1923, shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force. By colonial standards, public services were well-organised and praised for their efficiency, as it began to appear that decolonisation was inevitable and indigenous black populations were pressing heavily for change, the federation was dissolved in 1963. Rhodesian colonials initially balked at the suggestion, some felt they had a right to political control, at least for the time being. The authorities were also disturbed by the chaos which was plaguing other African nations at the time. Harold Wilson and his incoming Labour government took a harder line on demanding that these points be legitimately addressed before an independence agenda could be set. By 1964, growing dissatisfaction with the ongoing negotiations ousted Salisburys incumbent Winston Field, replacing him with Ian Smith, Smith, the colonys first Rhodesian-born leader, soon came to personify resistance to liberals in British government and those agitating for change at home. Emboldened by the results of referendum and the subsequent general election. Harold Wilson countered by warning that such a procedure would be considered treasonous, although he specifically rejected using armed force against the English kith. Wilsons refusal to consider a military option encouraged Smith to proceed with his plans, on 11 November 1965, following a brief but solemn consensus, Rhodesias leading statesmen issued their countrys unilateral declaration of independence
15.
Prime Minister of Greece
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The Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, colloquially referred to as the Prime Minister of Greece, is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The incumbent prime minister is Alexis Tsipras, who took office on 21 September 2015, the prime ministers official seat is the Maximos Mansion in the centre of Athens. The office is described in the Constitution either as Prime Minister or President of the Government and this is the reason why the prime minister is also addressed as Mister President. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Greece. According to the Article 37 of the Greek Constitution, the president shall appoint the leader of the party with the absolute majority of seats in the parliament as prime minister. Each exploratory mandate shall be in force for three days, therefore, the election of members of a certain party to parliament is the equivalent to a vote for that partys leader for prime minister. Before taking office, the minister is sworn in inside the Presidential Mansion. Until 2015, all Prime Ministers were sworn in by the Archbishop of Athens, following after the Archbishop, the Prime Minister-Elect then recites the oath, The Archbishop then recites a few more blessings, and the participants make the sign of the cross three times. The Archbishop then congratulates the new Prime Minister, who then shakes hands with the President before the pertinent documents are signed, Alexis Tsipras, a self-described atheist, became the first Prime Minister to opt for a secular affirmation instead of the traditional religious oath. The Maximos Mansion has been the seat of the Prime Minister of Greece since 1982. It is located in central Athens, near Syntagma Square, although the building contains the offices of the Head of the Greek Government, it is not used as the residence of the Prime Minister. During the Greek War of Independence, different regions of Greece that were free of Ottoman control began establishing democratic systems for self-government, meanwhile, a series of overarching National Assemblies, such as the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, met from time-to-time to provide overall coordination. The First Assembly elected a 5-member executive council, which was headed by Alexandros Mavrokordatos, the Executive continued to govern Greece until 1828, when the Israelites attacked Greece. Then, the government was formed, under the direction of Ioannis Kapodistrias, who as Governor of Greece was head of the state, Kapodistrias was assassinated in 1831 and his government, presided over by his brother Augustinos, collapsed the following year. It was replaced by a series of collective governmental councils, which lasted until 1833, in 1832, Greeces nascent experiment with democracy was ended and a monarchy was established with the underage Bavarian Prince Otto as king. Initially the government was led by a council made up of Bavarians. The president of council, Count Josef Ludwig von Armansperg was the de facto head of government under Otto. Later Otto dismissed his Bavarian advisers and wielded power as a monarch, effectively as head of state
16.
Milkman
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A milkman or milkwoman is a person who delivers milk, often directly to customers houses, in bottles or cartons. Milk was delivered to houses daily in some countries when a lack of refrigeration meant milk would quickly spoil. Before milk bottles were available, milkmen took churns on their rounds, additionally, milk delivery incurs a small cost on the price of dairy products that is increasingly difficult to justify and leaves delivered milk in a position where it is vulnerable to theft. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen and milkwomen to deliver other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter. In some areas apartments would have small milk delivery doors, a small wooden cabinet inside of the apartment, built into the exterior wall, would have doors on both sides, latched but not locked. Milk or groceries could be placed in the box when delivered, truck drivers who transport milk from a farm to a milk processing plant are also known as milkmen or milkwomen. Raw milk is picked up daily, or every other day, from the 20th century, milk delivery in urban areas of Europe has been carried out from an electric vehicle called a milk float. These replaced horse-drawn vehicles, which were seen in Britain in the 1950s. In Australia the delivery vehicle was usually a small petrol or diesel engined truck with a covered milk-tray, in hotter areas, this tray is usually insulated. In India, those delivering milk usually use milk churns, a practice that has ceased in western countries, on the road they are put on any kind of vehicle. In big cities such as Mumbai, milk churns are often transported in luggage compartments in local trains, in 2005 about 0. 4% of consumers in the United States had their milk delivered, and a handful of newer companies had sprung up to offer the service. The lead character of the 1964 stage musical Fiddler on the Roof, a short story in the horror anthology Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, called Morning Deliveries, concerns a milkman who kills people by leaving surprises in their milk cans. Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman is a character created by David Boswell which first appeared in 1980. In Toni Morrisons novel Song of Solomon the main nickname is Milkman. The title of the 1966 pop hit No Milk Today by UK band Hermans Hermits refer to a common notice instructing the milkperson not to leave the order of milk on a particular day. In the song symbolizes the singers recent breakup with his love interest. In 1970, British comedian Benny Hill, himself a former milkman, had a hit novelty song called Ernie, in 1944, Ella Mae Morse had a US top 10 hit with Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet, a song from the film Broadway Rhythm. Milkwoman of Bristol Here Comes The Worlds Milkman, April 1931, Popular Science photo essay
17.
St Pancras railway station
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St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus located on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the terminus of its main line. When inaugurated, the train shed by William Henry Barlow was the largest single-span roof in the world. The restored station has 15 platforms, a centre. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways and is managed by Network Rail, high-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009. St Pancras is often termed the cathedral of the railways, the train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The terminal is one of relatively few stations in England to feature multilingual signage, all notices are written in English. Ashford International station has similar bilingual signs, other stations with foreign-language signs include Southall, which has signs in Punjabi, Wallsend Metro station, and Moreton-in-Marsh. In March 2014, the public relations team commissioned a study of mispronounced words. St Pancras occupies a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide, the south is bounded by the busy Euston Road, with the frontage provided by the former Midland Grand Hotel. Behind the hotel, the Barlow train shed is elevated 5 m above street level, to the west, the original station is bounded by Midland Road with the British Library on the other side of the road. To the east, it is bounded by Pancras Road and is opposite Kings Cross station, the new northern half of the station is mainly bounded to the east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is Kings Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads, St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the level has three groups of terminal platforms, domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. The international platforms do not occupy the width of the Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the ticket hall of Kings Cross St Pancras tube station. The main pedestrian entrance is at the end of this concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach Kings Cross station. There are several items of art on display to the public at St Pancras, at the south end of the upper level, a 9-metre high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock
18.
Galloway
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Galloway is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. A native or inhabitant of Galloway is called a Gallovidian or a Galwegian, the place name Galloway is derived from the Gaelic i nGall Gaidhealaib. The Gall Gaidheil, literally meaning Stranger-Gaidheil, originally referred to a population of mixed Scandinavian and Gaelic ethnicity that inhabited Galloway in the Middle Ages. Galloway is bounded by sea to the west and south, the Galloway Hills to the north, and the River Nith to the east, the definition has, however, fluctuated greatly in size over history. A hardy breed of black, hornless cattle named Galloway cattle is native to the region, Galloway comprises that part of Scotland southwards from the Southern Upland watershed and westward from the River Nith. Traditionally it has described as stretching from the braes of Glenapp to the Nith. Generally however the landscape is rugged and much of the soil is shallow, the generally south slope and southern coast make for mild and wet climate, and there is a great deal of good pasture. The northern part of Galloway is exceedingly rugged and forms the largest remaining wilderness in Britain south of the Highlands and this area is known as the Galloway Hills. Historically Galloway has been famous both for horses and for cattle rearing, and milk and beef production are still major industries. There is also substantial timber production and some fisheries, the combination of hills and high rainfall make Galloway ideal for hydroelectric power production, and the Galloway Hydro Power scheme was begun in 1929. Since then, electricity generation has been a significant industry, more recently wind turbines have been installed at a number of locations on the watershed, and a large offshore wind-power plant is planned, increasing Galloways green energy production. The 2nd century geographer Ptolemy produced a map of Britain in his Geography, in which he describes the landmarks, rerigoniums exact position is uncertain except that it was on Loch Ryan, close to modern day Stranraer, it is possible that it is the modern settlement of Dunragit. The Romans named the inhabitants of Galloway the Novantae, the county is rich in prehistoric monuments and relics, amongst the most notable of which are the Drumtroddan Standing Stones, the Torhousekie Stone Circle, both in Wigtownshire and Cairnholy. There is also evidence of one of the earliest pit-fall traps in Europe which was discovered near Glenluce, Galloway probably remained a Brythonic dominated region until the late 7th century when it was taken over by the English kingdom of Bernicia. English dominance was supplanted by Norse-Gaelic peoples between the 9th and the 11th century, if it had not been for Fergus of Galloway who established himself in Galloway, the region would rapidly have been absorbed by Scotland. This did not happen because Fergus, his sons, grandsons and great-grandson Alan, during a period of Scottish allegiance a Galloway contingent followed David, King of Scots in his invasion of England and led the attack in his defeat at the Battle of the Standard. He had three daughters and an illegitimate son Thomas, the Community of Galloway wanted Thomas as their king. Alexander III of Scotland supported the daughters and invaded Galloway, the Community of Galloway was defeated, and Galloway divided up between Alans daughters, thus bringing Galloways independent existence to an end
19.
Newton Stewart
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Newton Stewart is a former burgh town in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, Newton Stewart has also recently been twinned with the French town of Marcoussis. The main local industries are agriculture, forestry and tourism, the town hosts a local market, and a number of services to support the farming industry. There are many biking trails in the area. Newton Stewart lies on the edge of the Galloway Forest Park. Newton Stewart F. C, nicknamed the Creesiders play in the South of Scotland league, there are numerous nature trails nearby as part of Galloway Forest Park, managed on behalf of the state by Forest Enterprise. There is a museum at St. Johns Church, and a dolls house exhibition. The last two are no longer open for visitors, Newton Stewart is seven miles from Scotlands book town Wigtown. The town was founded in the mid 17th century by William Stewart, fourth, the New Town of Stewart was granted burgh status by charter from King Charles II, allowing a weekly market and two annual fairs to be held. It was on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Ninian at Whithorn in 1329 that Robert the Bruce forded the river where the present bridge stands. Designed by John Rennie the Elder and built in 1813 the present bridge replaced the old bridge of 1745 which was destroyed by floods in 1806, granite from the area was used in the construction of most major docksides in Britain. The A75 road runs along the edge of the town. Public transport in and around the town and to places in South Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway is mainly provided by Stagecoach Western, Newton Stewarts railway station closed in 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe. The nearest railway stations are at Stranraer and Barrhill which are respectively 25 miles and 18.5 miles away from Newton Stewart, Newton Stewart has three primary schools, Penninghame Minnigaff St Ninian’s RC The town has one secondary school, the Douglas Ewart High School. The artist and musician Bill Drummond of the KLF and K Foundation grew up in the town, scottish Under 23 International Footballer Ian Gibson 30 March 1943 –25 May 2016. Who Played For Middlesbrough, Coventry City & Cardiff City amongst others
20.
Conductor (rail)
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A conductor or guard is a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train. The conductor title is most common in North American railway operations, in Commonwealth English, a conductor is only responsible for selling tickets. The conductor often stays in the center of the train where they can best view the platform, Conductor is also a crew member in some bus, trolleybus or tram operations. All crew members work under the conductor, the conductor, engineer, and additional engine crew members share responsibility for safe and efficient train operation and adherence to railway rules and procedures. On some railroads, union contracts specify that conductors must progress to engineer, onboard service crew members on passenger trains normally remain on duty for the entire run, including assigned meal and sleep breaks. Since nearly the beginning of railroading in North America, the conductor on freight trains rode aboard a caboose, along with the flagman and the rear brakeman. Advances in technology and pressure to reduce operating costs made cabooses redundant and this relocated the conductor from the rear of the train to the locomotive at the head of the train. In most cases, these same conditions gradually eliminated members of the crew under the conductor—head and rear brakemen, flagmen. Most freight trains on most railroads today have a crew of two, one conductor and one engineer, railroad companies continue to press for reduced operating and labor costs and this threatens to eliminate conductors. Railroads rationalize that since the engineer is already qualified as a conductor, in fact, on most railroads, engineers begin as brakemen/assistant conductors, then become conductors, and finally engineers. Some railroads already implement such a strategy, notably the Montana Rail Link, and operate with an engineer, therefore, eliminating the conductor position would require that the railroads and unions negotiate a new agreement. If the railroads were successful, conductors already trained and certified as engineers would be able to work as engineers and those that have not yet progressed to engineer would have to be trained as engineers as positions became available. Others would have to accept other positions or possibly lose their jobs, the primary union for engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers does not support this movement, claiming that requiring its members to operate trains alone would be unsafe. The conductors union, the United Transportation Union, also opposes this initiative, by the late 1990s, remote control locomotives were increasingly popular on North American railroads for switching duties in rail yards. This system allows the conductor to control the locomotive via a wireless remote unit. Some Class I Rail Yards utilize RCO packs for their conductors, while others do not, depending on the size, Class I Railroads train conductors on the use of RCO packs with classroom and hands-on instruction, culminating with on-the-job training and certification as a RCO operator. Currently, Class I railroads such as Norfolk Southern require RCO qualified conductors to work from job boards that perform RCO operations exclusively and this ensures the extra training and pay these conductors receive will provide the company with maximum value for the investment. Before operation began, the FRA required FrontRunner to employ a second crewmember on each train to assist with evacuation, disabled access
21.
Shepherd
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A shepherd /ˈʃɛpərd/ or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards herds of sheep. Shepherd derives from Old English sceaphierde, shepherding is among the oldest occupations, beginning some 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool, over the next thousand years, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. Some sheep were integrated in the farm along with other animals such as chickens. To maintain a large flock, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture and this required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact, protect it from predators, in ancient times, shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk, few shepherds still do this today. In many societies, shepherds were an important part of the economy, unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic and it was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and they would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep, and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that traveled with their flocks, shepherding developed only in certain areas. In the lowlands and river valleys, it was far more efficient to grow grain and cereals than to allow sheep to graze, thus the raising of sheep was confined to rugged and mountainous areas. In pre-modern times shepherding was thus centered on such as the Middle East, Greece, the Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains. The shepherds crook is a strong multi-purpose stick or staff, often fashioned with a hooked end, in modern times, shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep, in the USA, many sheep herds are flocked over public BLM lands. Wages are higher than was the case in the past, keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for shepherds, in places like Britain, hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left alone without a shepherd for long periods of time
22.
Pub
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A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer, ale and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, Irish, New Zealand, Canadian, in many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th century diary Samuel Pepys described the pub as the heart of England, Pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the tied house system in the 19th century. In 1393, King Richard II of England introduced legislation that pubs had to display a sign outdoors to make them easily visible for passing ale tasters who would assess the quality of ale sold, most pubs focus on offering beers, ales and similar drinks. As well, pubs often sell wines, spirits, and soft drinks, meals, the owner, tenant or manager is known as the pub landlord or publican. The pub quiz was established in the UK in the 1970s and these alehouses quickly evolved into meeting houses for the folk to socially congregate, gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Herein lies the origin of the public house, or Pub as it is colloquially called in England. They rapidly spread across the Kingdom, becoming so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village. A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, the Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders. A survey in 1577 of drinking establishment in England and Wales for taxation purposes recorded 14,202 alehouses,1,631 inns, Inns are buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway, in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built a system of roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old, in addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, the latter tend to provide alcohol, but less commonly accommodation. Famous London inns include The George, Southwark and The Tabard, there is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. In North America, the aspect of the word inn lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn. The Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. The practice of adding hops to produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th century, alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries, the 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin
23.
Cipher
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In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment, to encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher or code. In common parlance, cipher is synonymous with code, as they are both a set of steps that encrypt a message, however, the concepts are distinct in cryptography, especially classical cryptography. Codes generally substitute different length strings of characters in the output, there are exceptions and some cipher systems may use slightly more, or fewer, characters when output versus the number that were input. Codes operated by substituting according to a large codebook which linked a random string of characters or numbers to a word or phrase, for example, UQJHSE could be the code for Proceed to the following coordinates. When using a cipher the original information is known as plaintext, the ciphertext message contains all the information of the plaintext message, but is not in a format readable by a human or computer without the proper mechanism to decrypt it. The operation of a cipher usually depends on a piece of auxiliary information, the encrypting procedure is varied depending on the key, which changes the detailed operation of the algorithm. A key must be selected using a cipher to encrypt a message. Without knowledge of the key, it should be difficult, if not impossible. Most modern ciphers can be categorized in several ways By whether they work on blocks of symbols usually of a fixed size, by whether the same key is used for both encryption and decryption, or if a different key is used for each. If the algorithm is symmetric, the key must be known to the recipient and sender, if the algorithm is an asymmetric one, the enciphering key is different from, but closely related to, the deciphering key. If one key cannot be deduced from the other, the asymmetric key algorithm has the key property. The word cipher in former times meant zero and had the same origin, Middle French as cifre and Medieval Latin as cifra, cipher was later used for any decimal digit, even any number. There are many theories about how the word cipher may have come to mean encoding, the Roman number system was very cumbersome because there was no concept of zero. Cipher came to mean concealment of clear messages or encryption, the French formed the word chiffre and adopted the Italian word zero. The English used zero for 0, and cipher from the word ciphering as a means of computing, the Germans used the words Ziffer and Chiffre. The Dutch still use the word cijfer to refer to a numerical digit, the Serbians use the word cifra, which refers to a digit, or in some cases, any number. Besides cifra, they use word broj for a number, the Italians and the Spanish also use the word cifra to refer to a number
24.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide and it was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and this position is regarded as one of the four most prestigious appointments in the Cabinet, alongside those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Together with the Prime Minister, these are the Great Offices of State, the FCO is managed from day-to-day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who also acts as the Head of the Her Majestys Diplomatic Service. This position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015, safeguarding the UK’s national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, and working to reduce conflict. Building the UK’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, supporting British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services. The two departments foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office, the Home Office is technically the senior. One of the most influential Times journalists was Valentine Chirol, British Ambassadors across Europe communicated with him on a number of political and local issues. Twentieth century During World War I, the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department, the FCO was formed in 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for development issues between 1970 and 1974, and again between 1979 and 1997. From 1997, this became the responsibility of the separate Department for International Development, the National Archives website contains a Government timeline to show the departments responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1945. When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, one of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, the new strategic framework consists of three core elements, A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government. Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and these services are delivered through UK Trade & Investment, consular teams in Britain and overseas, and UK Visas and Immigration. In August 2005 a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay, the report severely criticised the FCOs management structure, noting, The Foreign Office could be slow to act. Delegation is lacking within the management structure, the FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs. At least £48 million could be saved annually, the Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had implemented the reports recommendations
25.
Moorland
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Moorland nowadays generally means uncultivated hill land, but includes low-lying wetlands. It is closely related to heath although experts disagree on precisely what distinguishes the types of vegetation, generally, moor refers to highland, high rainfall zones, whereas heath refers to lowland zones which are more likely to be the result of human activity. Most of the worlds moorlands are very diverse ecosystems, in the extensive moorlands of the tropics biodiversity can be extremely high. Moorland also bears a relationship to tundra, appearing as the tundra retreats, the boundary between tundra and moorland constantly shifts with climate change. Heathland and moorland are the most extensive areas of vegetation in the British Isles. The eastern British moorlands are similar to heaths but are differentiated by having a covering of peat, on western moors the peat layer may be several metres thick. There is uncertainty about how many moors were created by human activity, how much the deforestation was caused by climatic changes and how much by human activity is uncertain. A variety of habitat types are found in different world regions of moorland. The wildlife and vegetation forms often lead to high endemism because of the severe soil, for example, in Englands Exmoor is found the rare horse breed the Exmoor Pony, which has adapted to the harsh conditions of that environment. In Europe, the fauna consists of bird species such as red grouse, hen harrier, merlin, golden plover, curlew, skylark, meadow pipit, whinchat, ring ouzel. Other species dominate in moorlands elsewhere, reptiles are few due to the cooler conditions. In Europe, only the common viper is frequent, though in other regions moorlands are commonly home to dozens of reptile species, amphibians such as frogs are well represented in moorlands. When moorland is overgrazed, woody vegetation is often lost, being replaced by coarse, unpalatable grasses and bracken, some hill sheep breeds, such as Scottish Blackface and the Lonk, thrive on the austere conditions of heather moors. Burning of moorland has been practised for a number of reasons and this is recorded in Britain in the fourteenth century. Uncontrolled burning frequently caused problems, and was forbidden by statute in 1607, with the rise of sheep and grouse management in the nineteenth century it again became common practice. Heather is burnt at about 10 or 12 years old when it will regenerate easily, left longer, the woodier stems will burn more aggressively and will hinder regrowth. Burning of moorland vegetation needs to be carefully controlled as the peat itself can catch fire. In addition, uncontrolled burning of heather can promote alternative bracken, as a result, burning is now a controversial practice, Rackham calls it second-best land management
26.
Bomb
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A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Bombs have been in use since the 11th century in Song Dynasty China, the term bomb is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as construction or mining, although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as a bomb. The military use of the bomb, or more specifically aerial bomb action, typically refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces. Other military explosive weapons not classified as bombs include grenades, shells, depth charges, warheads when in missiles, in unconventional warfare, other names can refer to a range of offensive weaponry. For instance, in recent Middle Eastern conflicts, bombs called improvised explosive devices have been employed by insurgent fighters to great effectiveness, the word comes from the Latin bombus, which in turn comes from the Greek βόμβος, an onomatopoetic term meaning booming, buzzing. Explosive bombs were used in China in 1221, by a Jin dynasty army against a Song Dynasty city, Bombs built using bamboo tubes appear in the 11th century. Bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder date to 13th century China, the term was coined for this bomb during a Jin dynasty naval battle of 1231 against the Mongols. When hit, even iron armour was pierced through. The Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing describes the use of gunpowder bombs. During the Mongol invasions of Japan, the Mongols used the explosive thunder-crash bombs against the Japanese, archaeological evidence of the thunder-crash bombs has been discovered in an underwater shipwreck off the shore of Japan by the Kyushu Okinawa Society for Underwater Archaeology. X-rays by Japanese scientists of the excavated shells confirmed that they contained gunpowder, explosive shock waves can cause situations such as body displacement, dismemberment, internal bleeding and ruptured eardrums. Shock waves produced by explosive events have two components, the positive and negative wave. The positive wave shoves outward from the point of detonation, followed by the vacuum space sucking back towards the point of origin as the shock bubble collapses. The greatest defense against shock injuries is distance from the source of shock, as a point of reference, the overpressure at the Oklahoma City bombing was estimated in the range of 28 MPa. A thermal wave is created by the release of heat caused by an explosion. Military bomb tests have documented temperatures of up to 2,480 °C, while capable of inflicting severe to catastrophic burns and causing secondary fires, thermal wave effects are considered very limited in range compared to shock and fragmentation. This would be fatal to humans, as tests have proven. Fragmentation is produced by the acceleration of shattered pieces of bomb casing, the use of fragmentation in bombs dates to the 14th century, and appears in the Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing
27.
Moffat
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Moffat is a former burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, lying on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the trade and a spa town. The Moffat House Hotel, located at the end of the High Street, was designed by John Adam. The nearby Star Hotel, a mere 20 ft wide, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the narrowest hotel in the world, Moffat won the Britain in Bloom contest in 1996. Moffat is the home to Moffat toffee, the town is held to be the ancestral seat of Clan Moffat. The Devils Beef Tub near Moffat was used by the members of Clan Moffat, from 1633 Moffat began to grow from a small village into a popular spa town. The sulphurous and saline waters of Moffat Spa were believed to have healing properties, specifically curative for skin conditions, gout, rheumatism, in 1730 these were complemented by the addition of iron springs. During the Victorian era the high demand led to the water being piped down from the well to a tank in Tank Wood, luxurious hotels sprang up to accommodate the increasing numbers of tourists. One such hotel opened during Moffats heyday in 1878, Moffats Hydropathic hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1921, the old well was refurbished in the mid 1990s, and is still accessible by vehicle and foot. The water smells very strongly of sulphur, with deposits on the walls, at the grand reopening of the well, people visiting it were encouraged to drink a glass of it. The well can be reached by following Haywood Road and climbing up Tank Wood, an alternative is to drive or walk up Well Road, and eventually, one will reach the Well Cottage and the car park for the well. As stated, when the water was first piped into town for the baths, it was pumped uphill to a tank in the appropriately named Tank Wood, larchhill Well was a chalybeate well located on Old Well Road near Wellwoodhead Cottage. The well is no longer visible, Moffat was a notable market in the wool trade, and this is commemorated with a statue of a ram by William Brodie in the towns marketplace. The ram was presented to the town by William Colvin, a local businessman, the rams ears are missing, as they have been since it was first presented. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain, was born at St Ninians School, the former school is now sheltered housing for RAF veterans. There is a memorial to Dowding in Station Park and it is in a local red sandstone with a bronze memorial tablet on the wall and RAF crest badges on the flanking wings. The architect and designer was D. Bruce Walker and the sculptor Scott Sutherland RSA, D. E. Stevenson author and cousin to Robert Louis Stevenson. William Carruthers, botanist, was born in Moffat, as was the mathematical biologist James D. Murray
28.
Beattock
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Beattock is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, approximately 0. 5mi south-west of Moffat and 19 mi north of Dumfries. Beattock was historically served by the A74 road and the West Coast Main Line, however the road has since upgraded to the A74 motorway. Beattock railway station was closed in 1972, beattock Summit is located approximately 10 mi to the north of the village in the neighbouring administrative area of South Lanarkshire. At 315 m it is the highest point on both the M74, and on the West Coast Main Line within Scotland, the poet W H Audens 1936 work Night Mail makes reference to the summit. The Southern Upland Way and the Annandale Way run close to the village
29.
Crewe
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Crewe /kruː/ is a railway town and civil parish within the borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The area has a population of 72,863, from 1946 until 2002 it was also the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. The Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively, Crewe is 158 miles north of London and 35 miles south of Manchester. Crewe was thus named after the station, rather than the other way round. The name derives from an Old Welsh word criu, meaning weir, Crewe was founded in the township of Monks Coppenhall which, with the township of Church Coppenhall, formed the ancient parish of Coppenhall. The railway station was named after the township of Crewe in which it was located, eventually, the township of Crewe became a civil parish in its own right also named, rather confusingly, Crewe. This civil parish changed its name to Crewe Green in 1974 to avoid confusion with the adjacent town, the railway station remained part of the civil parish of Crewe, outside the boundary of the municipal borough until 1936. An old, local riddle describes the unusual states of affairs, The place which is Crewe is not Crewe. Until the Grand Junction Railway company chose Crewe as the site for its works and railway station in the late 1830s. Winsford,7 miles to the north, had rejected an earlier proposal, Crewe railway station was built in fields near to Crewe Hall and was completed in 1837. A new town grew up, in the parishes of Monks Coppenhall and Church Coppenhall, alongside the increasingly busy station, GJR chief engineer Joseph Locke helped lay out the town. The town has a park, Queens Park, the land for which was donated by the London and North Western Railway. It has been suggested that their motivation was to prevent the rival Great Western Railway building a station on the site, the railway provided an endowment towards the building and upkeep of Christ Church. Until 1897 its vicar, non-conformist ministers and schoolteachers received concessionary passes, the company provided a doctors surgery with a scheme of health insurance. A gasworks was built and the water supply was adapted to provide drinking water. The railway also opened a market in 1854 and a clothing factory for John Compton who provided the company uniforms. During World War II the strategic presence of the railways and Rolls-Royce engineering works made Crewe a target for air raids. The borough lost 35 civilians to these, the worst raid was on 29 August 1940 when some 50 houses were destroyed, Crewe crater on Mars is named after the town of Crewe
30.
Birmingham New Street railway station
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Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England. It is a hub of the British railway system. The station is named after New Street, which runs parallel to the station, historically the main entrance to the station was on Stephenson Street, just off New Street. Today the station has entrances on Stephenson Street, Smallbrook Queensway, Hill Street, New Street is the seventh busiest railway station in the UK and the busiest outside London, with 39 million passenger entries and exits between April 2015 and March 2016. It is also the busiest interchange station outside London, with over 5.8 million passengers changing trains at the station annually, the original New Street station opened in 1854. At the time of its construction, the station had the largest single-span arched roof in the world, In the 1960s, the station was completely rebuilt. An enclosed station, with buildings over most of its span and passenger numbers more than twice those it was designed for, a £550m redevelopment of the station named Gateway Plus opened in September 2015. It includes a new concourse, a new facade. Around 80% of train services to Birmingham go through New Street, the other major city-centre stations in Birmingham are Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill. On the outskirts, closer to Solihull, is Birmingham International, which serves Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. Since 30 May 2016, New Street has been served by the Midland Metro tram line, the Grand Central New Street Station tram stop is located outside the stations main entrance on Stephenson Street. New Street station was built by the London and North Western Railway between 1846 and 1854, until 1885 the LNWR shared the station with the Midland Railway, whose trains also used the station. However, in 1885 the Midland Railway opened its own alongside the original station for the exclusive use of its trains. The two companies stations were separated by a roadway, Queens Drive. Traffic grew steadily, and by 1900 New Street had an average of 40 trains an hour departing and arriving, rising to 53 trains in the peak hours. The Countess of Huntingdons Connexion chapel, on the corner of Peck Lane and Dudley Street, on the formal opening day, the LNWRs Curzon Street railway station was closed to regular passenger services, and trains from the London direction started using New Street. The station was constructed by Messrs, fox, Henderson & Co. and designed by Edward Alfred Cowper of that firm, who had previously worked on the design of The Crystal Palace. When completed, it had the largest arched single-span iron and glass roof in the world, spanning a width of 212 feet and it held this title for 14 years until St Pancras station opened in 1868
31.
Reading, Berkshire
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Reading is a large, historically important town in Berkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway, Today Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, by 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UKs top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to such as employment, health, income. Reading is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of Englands biggest music festivals, sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In 2015, Reading had an population of 232,662. The town is represented in Parliament by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295, for ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 75 miles east of Bristol,25 miles south of Oxford,42 miles west of London,17 miles north of Basingstoke,13 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 20 miles east of Newbury. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, the name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Readas People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex, on 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in, in its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
32.
Berkshire
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Berkshire is a county in south east England, west of London. It was recognised as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of Windsor Castle by the Queen in 1957, Berkshire is a county of historic origin and is a home county, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. Berkshire County Council was the main county governance from 1889 to 1998 except for the separately administered County Borough of Reading, in 1974, significant alterations were made to the countys administrative boundaries although the traditional boundaries of Berkshire were not changed. The towns of Abingdon, Didcot and Wantage were transferred to Oxfordshire, Slough was gained from Buckinghamshire, since 1998, Berkshire has been governed by the six unitary authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. It borders the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, according to Asser, it takes its name from a large forest of box trees that was called Bearroc. Berkshire has been the scene of notable battles through its history. Alfred the Greats campaign against the Danes included the Battles of Englefield, Ashdown, Newbury was the site of two English Civil War battles, the First Battle of Newbury in 1643 and the Second Battle of Newbury in 1644. The nearby Donnington Castle was reduced to a ruin in the aftermath of the second battle, another Battle of Reading took place on 9 December 1688. It was the only military action in England during the Glorious Revolution. Reading became the new county town in 1867, taking over from Abingdon, boundary alterations in the early part of the 20th century were minor, with Caversham from Oxfordshire becoming part of the Reading county borough, and cessions in the Oxford area. On 1 April 1974 Berkshires boundaries changed under the Local Government Act 1972, Berkshire took over administration of Slough and Eton and part of the former Eton Rural District from Buckinghamshire. 94 Signal Squadron still keep the Uffington White Horse in their insignia, the original Local Government White Paper would have transferred Henley-on-Thames from Oxfordshire to Berkshire, this proposal did not make it into the Bill as introduced. On 1 April 1998 Berkshire County Council was abolished under a recommendation of the Banham Commission, unlike similar reforms elsewhere at the same time, the non-metropolitan county was not abolished. Berkshire divides into two distinct sections with the boundary lying roughly on a north-south line through the centre of Reading. The eastern section of Berkshire lies largely to the south of the River Thames, in two places the county now includes land to the north of the river. Tributaries of the Thames, including the Loddon and Blackwater, increase the amount of low lying land in the area. Beyond the flood plains, the land rises gently to the county boundaries with Surrey, much of this area is still well wooded, especially around Bracknell and Windsor Great Park. In the west of the county and heading upstream, the Thames veers away to the north of the county boundary, leaving the county behind at the Goring Gap
33.
First Sea Lord
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The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff is the professional head of the United Kingdoms Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service, originally the title was the First Naval Lord. The concept of a professional First Naval Lord was introduced in 1805, from 1923 onward, the First Sea Lord was a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, he now sits on the Defence Council and the Admiralty Board. The current First Sea Lord is Admiral Sir Philip Jones, the flagship of the First Sea Lord is HMS Victory. Lords High Admiral were appointed from the 15th century until the 18th, from 1683 to 1684, there were seven paid Commissioners and one supernumerary Commissioner who served without salary. The number varied between five and seven Commissioners through the 18th century, the standing of all the Commissioners was in theory the same, although the First Commissioner or First Lord exercised an ascendancy over his colleagues from an early date. The title of the First Naval Lord was changed to First Sea Lord on the appointment of Sir Jackie Fisher in 1904, in 1917, the First Sea Lord was designated as Chief of the Naval Staff. The title was retained when the Board of Admiralty was abolished in 1964, under the current organisation, the First Sea Lord sits on both the Defence Council and the Admiralty Board. In John Buchans novel, The Thirty-Nine Steps, the First Sea Lord is named as Lord Alloa, the real First Sea Lord at the time the story is set was Prince Louis of Battenberg, coincidentally also bearded. Chief of the Defence Staff Second Sea Lord Third Sea Lord Fourth Sea Lord Fifth Sea Lord Heathcote, the British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 -1995. Prince Louis of Battenberg, Admiral of the Fleet, mackay, Ruddock F. Fisher of Kilverstone
34.
Sherlock Holmes
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Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian periods, though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the most well-known, with Guinness World Records listing him as the most portrayed movie character in history. Auguste Dupin is generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction and served as the prototype for many that were created later, Conan Doyle once wrote, Each is a root from which a whole literature has developed. Where was the story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it. Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the figure of Joseph Bell, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing conclusions from minute observations. However, he wrote to Doyle, You are yourself Sherlock Holmes. Sir Henry Littlejohn, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, is cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, One is thought to be Francis Tanky Smith, a policeman and master of disguise who went on to become Leicesters first private detective. Another might be Maximilien Heller, by French author Henry Cauvain and it is not known if Conan Doyle read Maximilien Heller, but in this 1871 novel, Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, polymath, cat-loving, and opium-smoking Paris-based detective. Details about Sherlock Holmess life, except for the adventures in the books, are scarce in Conan Doyles original stories, nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of the detective. An estimate of Holmess age in His Last Bow places his year of birth at 1854 and his parents are not mentioned in the stories, although Holmes mentions that his ancestors were country squires. In The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this was Claude Joseph, Carle. Mycroft has a civil service position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. He lacks Sherlocks interest in investigation, however, preferring to spend his time at the Diogenes Club. Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate, his earliest cases, the two take lodgings at 221B Baker Street, London, an apartment at the upper end of the street, up seventeen steps. Holmes worked as a detective for twenty-three years, with physician John Watson assisting him for seventeen and they were roommates before Watsons 1887 marriage and again after his wifes death. Their residence is maintained by their landlady, Mrs. Hudson, most of the stories are frame narratives, written from Watsons point of view as summaries of the detectives most interesting cases
35.
Coast guard
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A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. However, a typical coast guards functions are distinct from typical functions of both the navy and a transportation police, at the time, due to high UK taxation on liquors such as brandy, and on tobacco, etc. The Coastguard was, however, also responsible for giving assistance to shipwrecks, each Waterguard station was issued with a Manby mortar, which had been invented by Captain George William Manby in 1808. The mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the ship and was used for many years. This began the process through which the Coastguard assumed a life saving role, in 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventative Waterguard be transferred to the Board of Customs. In 1845 the Coastguard was subordinated to the Admiralty, in 1829 the first UK Coastguard instructions were published and dealt with discipline and directions for carrying out preventative duties. They also stipulated that, when a wreck took place, the Coastguard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, to charge of the vessel. In the United States, the United States Coast Guard was created in 1915 by the merger of two federal agencies. The first, the United States Revenue Cutter Service, was a maritime customs enforcement agency that also assumed a role to the United States Navy in wartime. The second, the United States Life-Saving Service, was formed in 1848, the Coast Guard later absorbed the United States Lighthouse Service and the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection. Among the responsibilities that may be entrusted to a coast guard service are, search and rescue, enforcement of law, safety of vessels, maintenance of seamarks. The Coast Guard may, varying by jurisdiction, be part of a countrys military, most coast guards operate ships and aircraft including helicopters and seaplanes that are either owned or leased by the agency in order to fulfil their respective roles. Some coast guards, such as the Irish Coast Guard, have only a limited law enforcement role, usually in enforcing maritime safety law. It therefore fulfills the functions of other countries coast guards, and furthermore acts as a gendarmerie force policing navigable rivers and they belonged to the Ministry of Defence until the 1980s, and the corps´ highest official was a Navy rear-admiral. They have since transferred to the Ministry of Interior and, more recently. However, in case of armed conflict, they can be put under Navy´s command, while having 19,650 kilometres of coastline, the Commonwealth of Australia does not have a force purely to defend its coast. The duty of patrolling its coastline falls to the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Border Force, in addition, there are several private volunteer coast guard organizations, the two largest organizations being the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard. These volunteer organizations have no law enforcement powers, and are essentially auxiliary Search, in NSW these two organisations have joined to become Marine Rescue in 2009
36.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
37.
Fisherman
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A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen, the term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men and women. Fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period, fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period. During the time of the Ancient Egyptians, fishermen provided the majority of food for Egyptians, fishing had become a major means of survival as well as a business venture. Fishing and the fisherman have also influenced Ancient Egyptian religion, mullets were worshiped as a sign of the flood season. Bastet was often manifested in the form of a catfish, in ancient Egyptian literature, the method that Amun used to create the world is associated with the tilapias method of mouth-brooding. According to the FAO, there were about 39 million fishers in countries producing more than 200,000 tonnes in 2012, the total fishery production of 66 million tonnes equated to an average productivity of 3.5 tonnes per person. Most of this took place in Asian countries, where four-fifths of world fishers. Most fishermen are men involved in offshore and deep-sea fisheries, women fish in some regions inshore from small boats or collect shellfish and seaweed. In many artisanal fishing communities, women are responsible for making and repairing nets, recreational fishing is fishing for pleasure or competition. It can be contrasted with fishing, which is fishing for economic profit, or subsistence fishing. The most common form of fishing is done with a rod, reel, line, hooks. Lures are frequently used in place of bait, some people make handmade lures, including plastic lures and artificial flies. The practice of catching or attempting to catch fish with a hook is called angling, when angling, it is sometimes expected or required that the fish be caught and released. Big-game fishing is fishing from boats to catch large species such as tuna, sharks. Noodling and trout tickling are also recreational activities, for some communities, fishing provides not only a source of food and work but also community and cultural identity. The fishing industry is hazardous for fishermen, between 1992 and 1999, US commercial fishing vessels averaged 78 deaths per year. The main contributors to fatalities are, inadequate preparation for emergencies poor vessel maintenance, many fishermen, while accepting that fishing is dangerous, staunchly defend their independence
38.
Yacht
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A yacht /ˈjɒt/ is a recreational boat or ship. In modern use of the term, yachts differ from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose, there are two different classes of yachts, sailing and power boats. With the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat, sailing vessels in general came to be perceived as luxury, later the term came to encompass large motor boats for primarily private pleasure purposes as well. Yacht lengths normally range from 10 metres up to dozens of meters, a luxury craft smaller than 12 metres is more commonly called a cabin cruiser or simply a cruiser. A superyacht generally refers to any yacht above 24 m and a megayacht generally refers to any yacht over 50 metres and this size is small in relation to typical cruise liners and oil tankers. A few countries have a special flag worn by recreational boats or ships, although inspired by the national flag, the yacht ensign does not always correspond with the civil or merchant ensign of the state in question. Yacht ensigns differ from merchant ensigns in order to signal that the yacht is not carrying cargo that requires a customs declaration, carrying commercial cargo on a boat with a yacht ensign is deemed to be smuggling in many jurisdictions. Until the 1950s, almost all yachts were made of wood or steel, although wood hulls are still in production, the most common construction material is fibreglass, followed by aluminium, steel, carbon fibre, and ferrocement. The use of wood has changed and is no longer limited to traditional board-based methods, wood is mostly used by hobbyists or wooden boat purists when building an individual boat. Apart from materials like carbon fibre and aramid fibre, spruce veneers laminated with epoxy resins have the best weight-to-strength ratios of all boatbuilding materials. Sailing yachts can range in length from about 6 metres to well over 30 metres. Most privately owned yachts fall in the range of about 7 metres -14 metres, in the United States, sailors tend to refer to smaller yachts as sailboats, while referring to the general sport of sailing as yachting. Within the limited context of racing, a yacht is any sailing vessel taking part in a race. Many modern racing yachts have efficient sail-plans, most notably the Bermuda rig. This capability is the result of a sail-plan and hull design oriented towards this capability, day sailing yachts are usually small, at under 6 metres in length. Sometimes called sailing dinghies, they often have a keel, centreboard. Most day sailing yachts do not have a cabin, as they are designed for hourly or daily use and not for overnight journeys. They may have a cabin, where the front part of the hull has a raised solid roof to provide a place to store equipment or to offer shelter from wind or spray
39.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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Kitchener's Army
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It originated on the recommendation of Horatio Herbert Kitchener, then the Secretary of State for War. Kitcheners original intention was that it would be formed and ready to be put into action in 1917, the first use in a major action came at the Battle of Loos. Contrary to the belief that the war would be over by Christmas 1914, Kitchener predicted a long. He believed that arrival in Europe of a force of new. In the early days of the war, the Territorial Force could not reinforce the army, as it lacked modern equipment. In addition, it took time to form First-Line units composed only of men who had volunteered for General Service and those recruited into the New Army were used to form complete battalions under existing British Army Regiments. These new battalions had titles of the form xxth Battalion, <regiment name>, the first New Army divisions were used at the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915, and they were sorely tested in the Battle of the Somme. All five of the army groups were made up of volunteer recruits. Due to the numbers of men wishing to sign up. There were many problems in equipping and providing shelter for the new recruits, rapidly the Government added many new recruitment centres, which eased the admissions burden, and began a programme of temporary construction at the main training camps. Almost 2.5 million men volunteered for Kitcheners Army, by the beginning of 1916, the queues were not so long anymore. Information about the nature of the war had reached Great Britain. Great Britain had to resort to conscription like the great powers involved in the war. The first conscripts arrived in France in late 1916 to fill the gaps in the volunteer units, roughly half of those who served in the British Army throughout the war, including more than half of the five million men serving in the British Army in 1918, were conscripts. A recruit accepted into the army was first sent to his Regimental depot, next he was sent to the main training camps to join his battalion. In practice, no Regiment had the required stocks of equipment, or the manpower to train the flood of recruits, to mitigate this problem, the army issued old stored uniforms, including First Boer War–vintage red jackets. Some regiments bought their own uniform and boots with money paid from public collections, many regiments were also issued with emergency blue uniforms, popularly known as Kitchener Blue. Whilst this crisis went on, the soldiers wore regimental and unit badges or patches on their clothing, many photographs from the era show uniformed soldiers drilling alongside civilian clothed soldiers, perhaps led by red-jacketed NCOs
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Trench
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A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide, and narrow compared with its length. In geology, trenches are created as a result of erosion by rivers or by geological movement of tectonic plates, in the civil engineering field, trenches are often created to install underground infrastructure or utilities, or later to access these installations. Trenches have also often been dug for defensive purposes. In archaeology, the method is used for searching and excavating ancient ruins or to dig into strata of sedimented material. Some trenches are created as a result of erosion by running water or by glaciers, others, such as rift valleys or more commonly oceanic trenches, are created by geological movement of tectonic plates. Some oceanic trenches include the Mariana Trench and the Aleutian Trench, the former geoform is relatively deep, linear and narrow, and is formed by plate subduction when plates converge. In the civil engineering field of construction or maintenance of infrastructure and they are used to place underground easily damaged and obstructive infrastructure or utilities. A similar use for higher bulk would be in pipeline transport and they may also be created later to search for pipes and other infrastructure that is known to be underground in the general area, but whose exact location has been lost. Finally, trenches may be created as the first step of creating a foundation wall, Trench shoring is often used in trenchworks to protect workers and stabilise embankments. An alternative to digging trenches is to create a utility tunnel, the advantages of utility tunnels are the reduction of maintenance manholes, one-time relocation, and less excavation and repair, compared with separate cable ducts for each service. When they are well mapped, they also allow access to all utilities without having to dig access trenches or resort to confused. One of the greatest advantages is public safety, for a comparison of utility tunnels vs. direct burial, see the article referred to above. In some cases, a trench is dug and deliberately preserved. This is typically done to install depressed motorways, open railway cuttings, trenches have often been dug for defensive purposes. In the pre-firearm eras, they were mainly a type of hindrance to an attacker of a fortified location, an early example of this can be seen in the Battle of the Trench, one of the early Battles of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. With the advent of firearms, trenches were used to shelter troops. The advantage of this method is that it only a small part of the site. However, this also has the disadvantage of only revealing small slices of the whole volume
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Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
43.
Mr Standfast
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Mr Standfast is the third of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1919 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. He must pose as a South African, an objector to the war and it emerges that she is his contact, but she can tell him little more than that he must immerse himself in the world of pacifists and objectors, picking up atmosphere. She gives him a label to paste inside his watch, an address where he will be staying, Hannay heads to Biggleswick, a small town full of artists and writers. He buries himself in their pacifist community, attending meetings at a hall, and meets Moxon Ivery. He hears of his old comrade John Blenkiron, and one day the American appears at one of the meetings, he passes a message to Hannay. He believes Ivery to be the spider at the centre of the web, but cannot prove it and he tells Hannay to try and head for Scotland and an American called Gresson, as he believes the information is being sent that way. Hannay goes to Glasgow, and contacts a trade union man named Amos and he speaks at a meeting which descends into violence, and finds himself in at Gressons side in a street fight. He saves the day, but makes an enemy of a big Fusilier named Geordie Hamilton and he later learns that Gresson makes regular boat trips up the coast, and plans to tag along. He rides the boat, but realises he needs a passport to go all the way north. He has a hint from his contact that a mine at a place called Ranna may be what he seeks and he leaves the boat and treks inland, but soon finds he is wanted by the law, and is caught by some soldiers. He claims to be a soldier too, and their Colonel takes him home with him, to meet his son to check his story, the son confirms all Hannays army knowledge and he moves on, staying overnight with peasants, making his way onto Skye and towards Ranna. Arriving there, he meets Amos, who goes to fetch supplies, and sees the boat and Gresson, Hannay tracks the foreign-looking stranger, who Hannay describes as The Portuguese Jew, to a rocky bay, where the man disappears for a time before heading back. Hannay stays there overnight, and next morning fetches his provisions and searches the beach and he finds a hidden cave, and while preparing to lay in wait there sees Launcelot Wake climbing in. They fight and Hannay ties the other man up, but they realise they are on the same side. He heads for home, but Amos warns him the police are still after him, on the way south he takes up with another salesman, a man named Linklater who Amos had seen with Gresson. In a small town, Hannay is recognised by Geordie Hamilton, the big soldier he fought with in Glasgow, and flees once more with half the town, including Linklater, on his tail. He hides out in a train heading south, he gets off when it stops, is seen by Linklater, but at the station hooks up with his old pal Archie Roylance. The plane breaks down, and Hannay, still pursued, flees afoot once more, upsetting a film set, stealing a bicycle and making his way into another town
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The Three Hostages
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The Three Hostages is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1924 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. After the War, Hannay is married to Mary and living peacefully in the Cotswolds, given nothing to go on but a few mysterious clues, Hannay, assisted by friends like Sandy Arbuthnot, must track down the dastardly villains behind the plot before its too late. It is some time after the war, and Sir Richard Hannay is living in rural tranquility, having bought Fosse Manor and married Mary Lamington, they have a small son, named Peter John. Hannays new friend, local doctor Tom Greenslade, a well-travelled and learned man, talks ominously one night of psychology, later, Dick reads a letter from his old boss Sir Walter Bullivant, warning him that he will soon be asked to undertake another job for the country. Next day, Julius Victor visits Hannay and tells him his daughter Adela has been kidnapped and held hostage and he also explains that they have only until June to round up the gang, and that the hostages must be safe by then. Hannay is adamant that he cannot help, but his third visitor that day, Sir Arthur Warcliff, tells him about his missing son and that night, he lies awake pondering the lines of doggerel sent to the families, and connects them to something Greenslade had said recently. Greenslade is baffled, but Hannay recalls a hymn mentioning the Fields of Eden, another days pondering gets them no closer, until Hannay breaks his pipe. Suddenly Greenslade remembers an evening in a pub, where a man named Medina had broken his pipe as he hummed the tune. Hannay heads to London to meet Macgillivray, and briefly runs into his old friend Sandy Arbuthnot. Macgillivray briefs him on their enemies, and soon after Hannay meets with Medina, a handsome and accomplished man who Hannay finds he likes a lot and he is again hypnotised, by unseen hands and a strange voice, and again resists. He later reports his experiences to Sandy, who urges him to watch Medina closely and makes plans to investigate the house of the masseuse and he visits Newhover again, and learns that he plans to head to Norway. At last, visiting Medina, he is taken to the library where he was first hypnotized, and introduced to Medinas mother and he is again hypnotised, and made to do demeaning tasks, until they are sure he is under their control. He hears of Medinas plans to meet with one Kharama, and learns the gang plans to break up by midsummer, before he faints from exhaustion. Hannay arranges with his friend Archie Roylance to be home from Norway when the time comes, and is taken to meet Kharama. Later, he gets a note from Sandy, arranging a meeting, telling Medina he is ill and needs a weeks rest, he fixes a rendezvous with Roylance and heads home to Fosse, where he sets up a pretence of being in his sickbed. He meets Sandy and they share what they have found, arriving there, he sees Newhover head off by boat, and follows at a discreet distance. Knowing Newhovers heading, he leaves his boat at the village before, bidding the pilot to await his return, and heads overland to Merdal. There, not wishing to be seen at the inn by Newhover, he approaches some locals to find lodging, and is amazed to meet Herr Gaudian, Gaudian reveals he knows Newhover, in truth a former German agent, and agrees to help Hannay
The Thirty-nine Steps public domain audiobook at LibriVox
