1.
John Hay
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John Milton Hay was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hays highest office was United States Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley. Hay was also an author and biographer and wrote poetry and other literature throughout much of his life, born in Indiana to an anti-slavery family that moved to Illinois when he was young, Hay showed great potential, and his family sent him to Brown University. After graduation in 1858, Hay read law in his uncles office in Springfield, Illinois, Hay worked for Lincolns successful presidential campaign and became one of his private secretaries at the White House. Throughout the American Civil War, Hay was close to Lincoln, in addition to his other literary works, Hay co-authored with John George Nicolay a multi-volume biography of Lincoln that helped shape the assassinated presidents historical image. After Lincolns death, Hay spent several years at posts in Europe, then worked for the New-York Tribune under Horace Greeley. Yet, Hay remained active in politics, and from 1879 to 1881 served as Assistant Secretary of State, afterward, he remained in the private sector, until President McKinley, for whom he had been a major backer, made him Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1897. Hay became Secretary of State the following year, Hay served for almost seven years as Secretary of State under President McKinley, and after his assassination, under Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was responsible for negotiating the Open Door Policy, which kept China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, John Milton Hay was born in Salem, Indiana, on October 8,1838. He was the son of Dr. Charles Hay and the former Helen Leonard. Charles Hay, born in Lexington, Kentucky, hated slavery, a doctor, he practiced in Salem and married there in 1831. Helens father, David Leonard, had moved his family west from Assonet, Massachusetts, in 1818, but died en route to Vincennes, Indiana, Charles was not successful in Salem, and moved, with his wife and children, to Warsaw, Illinois, in 1841. John attended the schools, and in 1849 his uncle Milton Hay invited John to live at his home in Pittsfield, Pike County, and attend a well-regarded local school. Milton was a friend of Springfield attorney Abraham Lincoln and had read law in the firm Stuart, in Pittsfield, John first met John Nicolay, who was at the time a 20-year-old newspaperman. Once John Hay completed his studies there, the 13-year-old was sent to live with his grandfather in Springfield and his parents and uncle Milton sent him to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, alma mater of his late maternal grandfather. Hay enrolled at Brown in 1855, although he enjoyed college life, he did not find it easy, his Western clothing and accent made him stand out, he was not well prepared academically and was often sick. Hay gained a reputation as a student and became a part of Providences literary circle that included Sarah Helen Whitman. He wrote poetry and experimented with hashish, Hay received his Master of Arts degree in 1858, and was, like his grandfather before him, Class Poet
2.
Manchester City F.C.
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Manchester City Football Club is a football club in Manchester, England. Founded in 1880 as St. Marks, they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887, the club moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, having regained their Premier League status in the early 2000s, the club was purchased in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group and has become one of the wealthiest in the world. Since 2011 the club have won five major honours, including the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, by 2014–15, Manchester City had the sixth-highest revenue in the footballing world with an annual revenue of €463.5 million. In 2016, Forbes magazine estimated they were the sixth most valuable football club. City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899, with it promotion to the highest level in English football. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, in the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, after relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer, in the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. Further trophies followed, City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in Vienna. City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy, the club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford, the final trophy of the clubs most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final. A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s, Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were relegated from the top flight in the 1980s. However, this was only a respite, and following Reids departure Manchester Citys fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, after two seasons in Division One, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their countrys third league tier, after 1. After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline, under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham
3.
Oldham
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Oldham /ˈɒldəm/ is a town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines between the rivers Irk and Medlock,5.3 miles south-southeast of Rochdale and 6.9 miles northeast of Manchester. Together with several surrounding towns, it is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, population 230,800 as of 2015. Historically in Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of and it was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England. At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, producing more cotton than France, Oldhams textile industry fell into decline in the mid-20th century, the towns last mill closed in 1998. The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed the local economy, today Oldham is a predominantly residential town, and a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the cotton mills. The town has a population of 103,544 and an area of around 26 square miles, the toponymy of Oldham seems to imply old village or place from Eald signifying oldness or antiquity, and Ham a house, farm or hamlet. Oldham is however known to be a derivative of Aldehulme, undoubtedly an Old Norse name and it is believed to be derived from the Old English ald combined with the Old Norse holmi or holmr, meaning promontory or outcrop, possibly describing the towns hilltop position. It has alternatively been suggested that it may mean holm or hulme of a farmer named Alda, the name is understood to date from 865, during the period of the Danelaw. Evidence of later Roman and Celtic activity is confirmed by an ancient Roman road, nearby Chadderton is also pre-Anglo-Saxon in origin, from the Old Welsh cadeir, itself deriving from the Latin cathedra meaning chair. Although not mentioned in the Domesday Book, Oldham does appear in documents from the Middle Ages, invariably recorded as territory under the control of minor ruling families. In the 13th century, Oldham was documented as a manor held from the Crown by a family surnamed Oldham, by 1756, Oldham had emerged as centre of the hatting industry in England. The rough felt used in the process is the origin of the term Owdham Roughyed a nickname for people from Oldham. The climate, geology, and topography of Oldham were unrelenting constraints upon the social, at 700 feet above sea level and with no major river or visible natural resources, Oldham had poor geographic attributes compared with other settlements for investors and their engineers. Within a year,11 other mills had been constructed, Oldhams small local population was greatly increased by the mass migration of workers from outlying villages, resulting in a population increase from just over 12,000 in 1801 to 137,000 in 1901. The speed of this urban growth meant that Oldham, with little pre-industrial history to speak of, was born as a factory town. Oldham became the manufacturing centre for cotton spinning in the second half of the 19th century. In 1851, over 30% of Oldhams population was employed within the textile sector, in 1871, Oldham had more spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined
4.
Greater Manchester
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Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles, which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. It is landlocked and borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, for the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government, district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts became unitary authority areas. However, the county has continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, has a Lord Lieutenant. A further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester is set to place upon the election of the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester scheduled for 2017. Before the creation of the county, the name SELNEC was used for the area. Since deindustrialisation in the century, Greater Manchester has become known as an exporter of media and digital content, for its guitar and dance music. Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, there is evidence of Iron Age habitation, particularly at Mellor, and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes. Stretford was also part of the believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth, are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086, Redhead states that this was only a partial survey was taken. During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire, Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of Englands woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production. Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, however, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the worlds largest marketplace for cotton goods, and the natural centre of its region. In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as an entity were proposed. In the 18th century, German traders had coined the name Manchesterthum to cover the region in, however, the English term Greater Manchester did not appear until the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the creation of the County of London in 1889
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
