1.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
2.
Rugby, Warwickshire
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Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. The town has a population of 70,628 making it the second largest town in the county, the enclosing Borough of Rugby has a population of 100,500. Rugby is 13 miles east of Coventry, on the edge of Warwickshire. The town is credited with being the birthplace of rugby football, Early Iron age settlement existed in the Rugby area, and a few miles outside what is now Rugby, existed a Roman settlement known as Tripontium. Rugby was originally a small Anglo-Saxon farming settlement, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rocheberie, Rugby obtained a charter to hold a market in 1255, and soon developed into a small country market town. Rugby School was founded in 1567 with money left in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, a locally born grocer, Rugby School was originally intended as a school for local boys, but over time became a mostly fee-paying private school. The Lawrence Sheriff School was eventually founded in the late 19th century to carry on Sheriffs original intentions, Rugby remained a sleepy country market town until the 19th century and the coming of the railways. In 1838 the London and Birmingham Railway was constructed past it, Rugby became an important railway junction, and the proliferation of rail yards and workshops attracted workers. Rugbys population grew from just 2,500 in 1835, to over 10,000 by the 1880s, in the 1890s and 1900s heavy engineering industries began to set up in the town, and Rugby rapidly grew into a major industrial centre. Rugby expanded rapidly in the decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, in the postwar years, Rugby became well served by the motorway network, with the M1 and M6 merging close to the town. Rugby is most famous for the invention of rugby football, which is played throughout the world, the invention of the game is credited to William Webb Ellis whilst breaking the existing rules of a football match played in 1823 at Rugby School. Rugby School is one of Englands oldest and most prestigious public schools, a substantial part of the 2004 dramatisation of the novel, starring Stephen Fry, was filmed on location at Rugby School. Hughes later set up a colony in America for the sons of the English gentry. The town of Rugby, Tennessee still exists, Rugby is a birthplace of the jet engine. Much of his work was carried out at nearby Lutterworth, holography was invented in Rugby by the Hungarian inventor Dennis Gabor in 1947. In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once important railway junction which was the setting for Charles Dickenss story Mugby Junction, Rugby also includes the areas of New Bilton, Overslade and Hillside. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Cawston, Dunchurch, the town centre is mostly Victorian and early 20th century, however a few much older buildings survive, along with some more modern developments
3.
Warwickshire
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Warwickshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton, the county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Commonly used abbreviations for the county are Warks or Warwicks, the county is divided into five districts of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon. The current county boundaries were set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the historic county boundaries also included Coventry and Solihull, as well as much of Birmingham. The northern tip of the county is only 3 miles from the Derbyshire border, an average-sized English county covering an area of almost 2,000 km2, it runs some 60 miles north to south. Equivalently it extends as far north as Shrewsbury in Shropshire and as far south as Banbury in north Oxfordshire, the majority of Warwickshires population live in the north and centre of the county. The market towns of northern and eastern Warwickshire were industrialised in the 19th century, and include Atherstone, Bedworth, Nuneaton, of these, Atherstone has retained most of its original character. Major industries included coal mining, textiles, engineering and cement production, of the northern and eastern towns, only Nuneaton and Rugby are well-known outside of Warwickshire. The south of the county is rural and sparsely populated. The only town in the south of Warwickshire is Shipston-on-Stour, the highest point in the county, at 261 m, is Ebrington Hill, again on the border with Gloucestershire, grid reference SP187426 at the countys southwest extremity. There are no cities in Warwickshire since both Coventry and Birmingham were incorporated into the West Midlands county in 1974 and are now metropolitan authorities in themselves, the largest towns in Warwickshire in 2011 were, Nuneaton, Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Warwick, Stratford and Kenilworth. Much of western Warwickshire, including that area now forming part of Coventry, Solihull, thus the names of a number of places in the central-western part of Warwickshire end with the phrase -in-Arden, such as Henley-in-Arden, Hampton-in-Arden and Tanworth-in-Arden. The remaining area, not part of the forest, was called the Felden – from fielden, areas historically part of Warwickshire include Coventry, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, and some of Birmingham including Aston and Edgbaston. These became part of the county of West Midlands following local government re-organisation in 1974. Some organisations, such as Warwickshire County Cricket Club, which is based in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, Coventry is effectively in the centre of the Warwickshire area, and still has strong ties with the county. Coventry and Warwickshire are sometimes treated as an area and share a single Chamber of Commerce. Coventry has been a part of Warwickshire for only some of its history, in 1451 Coventry was separated from Warwickshire and made a county corporate in its own right, called the County of the City of Coventry. In 1842 the county of Coventry was abolished and Coventry was remerged with Warwickshire, in recent times, there have been calls to formally re-introduce Coventry into Warwickshire, although nothing has yet come of this
4.
Clash of the Titans (1981 film)
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Clash of the Titans is a 1981 British-American heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Desmond Davis which retells the Greek mythological story of Perseus. It stars Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith, the film features the final work of stop motion visual effects artist Ray Harryhausen. It was released on June 12,1981 and grossed $41 million at the North American box office, a novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster was published in 1981. Warner Bros. released a remake in 3D on April 2,2010, King Acrisius of Argos imprisons his daughter Danaë, jealous of her attracting suitors. When the god Zeus impregnates her, Acrisius banishes his daughter, in retribution, Zeus kills Acrisius and orders Poseidon to release the last of the Titans, a gigantic sea monster called the Kraken, to destroy Argos. Meanwhile, Danaë and Perseus safely float to the island of Seriphos where Perseus grows to adulthood and this left Calibos an outcast where he lived in the swamp. In order to aid his son, Zeus sends Perseus a god-crafted helmet from Athena which makes its wearer invisible, a sword from Aphrodite. Perseus, wearing the helmet, captures Pegasus and follows Calibos giant vulture that is carrying Andromeda to learn the next riddle, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos but manages to sever one of Calibos hands, losing his helmet in the process. Perseus befriends Thallo and presents himself as suitor and correctly answers the riddle, Perseus wins Andromedas hand in marriage. Finding that Thetis cannot act against Perseus, Calibos instead demands that she take vengeance on Joppa, at the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromedas beauty to that of Thetis herself, whereupon Thetis demands Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken on pain of Joppas destruction. Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken, while Pegasus is captured by Calibos, Zeus commands Athena to give Perseus her owl Bubo, but she orders Hephaestus to build a golden replica of Bubo instead, who leads Perseus to the Stygian Witches. The next day, the group continues on their journey without Andromeda and Ammon, Perseus leads his two remaining allies into the Gorgons lair. His two other companions die on encounter with Medusa herself, she one of the soldiers with an arrow. Perseus uses the underside of his shield to deceive Medusa, decapitates her, and collects her head. The scorpions attack and Thallo is able to one of them. Perseus slays the other two scorpions and thereafter kills Calibos and grieves Thallos death, weakened by his struggle, Perseus sends Bubo to rescue Pegasus, who is being held prisoner by Calibos henchmen. Bubo succeeds in his task and manages to destroy Calibos camp as well, Perseus reaches the amphitheatre in Joppa, but collapses unconscious from exhaustion. Andromeda is shackled to the sea cliffs outside Joppa, and the Kraken itself is summoned, Bubo diverts the Krakens attention until Perseus, whose strength was secretly re-restored by Zeus before the Kraken was released, appears on Pegasus
5.
Leicester
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Leicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest, in the 2011 census the population of the City of Leicester unitary authority was 329,839 making it the most populous municipality in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th most populous in England, the name of Leicester is recorded in the 9th-century History of the Britons as Cair Lerion, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Ligora-ceastre. In the Domesday Book of 1086, it is recorded as Ledecestre, the second element of the name comes from the Latin castrum which is reflected in both Welsh cair and Anglo-Saxon ceastre. Based on the Welsh name, Geoffrey of Monmouth proposes a king Leir of Britain as a founder in his Historia Regum Britanniae. Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a going back at least two millennia. The native Iron Age settlement encountered by the Romans at the seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. This area of the Soar was split into two channels, a stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel, the later Roman name was a latinate form of the Brittonic word for ramparts, suggesting the site was an oppidum. The plural form of the name suggests it was composed of several villages. The Celtic tribe holding the area was recorded as the Coritanians. The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of the East Midlands and it is believed that the Romans arrived in the Leicester area around AD47, during their conquest of southern Britain. The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on the Fosse Way, in the 2nd century, it received a forum and bathhouse. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls, the remains of the baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall, recovered artifacts are displayed at the adjacent museum. Knowledge of the following the Roman withdrawal from Britain is limited. Certainly there is continuation of occupation of the town, though on a much reduced scale in the 5th and 6th centuries. Its memory was preserved as the Cair Lerion of the History of the Britons, following the Saxon invasion of Britain, Leicester was occupied by the Middle Angles and subsequently administered by the kingdom of Mercia. It was elevated to a bishopric in either 679 or 680, this see survived until the 9th century and their settlement became one of the Five Burghs of the Danelaw, although this position was short-lived
6.
Stratford-upon-Avon
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Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, on the River Avon,101 miles north west of London,22 miles south east of Birmingham, and 8 miles south west of Warwick. The estimated population in 2007 was 25,505, increasing to 27,445 at the 2011 Census, Stratford was originally inhabited by Anglo-Saxons and remained a village before lord of the manor, John of Coutances, set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a market in the town. As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion, the town is a popular tourist destination owing to its status as birthplace of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, and receives approximately 2.5 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratfords Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the street was a Roman road which connected Icknield Street in Alcester to the Fosse Way. The ford, which has used as a crossing since Roman times. A survey of 1251-52 uses the name Stratford for the first time to identify Old Stratford, the name was used after that time to describe the area specifically surrounding the Holy Trinity Church and the street of Old Town. The settlement which became known as Stratford was first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons following their 7th century invasion of what would become known as Warwickshire. The land was owned by the church of Worcester and it remained a village until the late 12th century when it was developed into a town by lord of the manor, John of Coutances. John laid out a new plan in 1196 based on a grid system to expand Stratford. Additionally, a charter was granted to Stratford by King Richard I in 1196 which allowed a market to be held in the town. These two charters, which formed the foundations of Stratfords transformation from a village to a town, johns plans to develop Stratford into a town meant Stratford became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. By 1252 the town had approximately 240 burgages, as well as shops, stalls, Stratfords new workers established a guild known as the Guild of the Holy Cross for their business and religious requirements. Many of the towns earliest and most important buildings are located along what is known as Stratfords Historic Spine, the route of the Historic Spine begins at Shakespeares Birthplace in Henley Street. It continues through Henley Street to the top end of Bridge Street and into High Street where many Elizabethan buildings are located, the route carries on through Chapel Street where Nashs House and New Place are sited. The Historic Spine continues along Church Street where Guild buildings are located dating back to the 15th century, the route then finishes in Old Town, which includes Halls Croft and the Holy Trinity Church. During Stratfords early expansion into a town, the access across the River Avon into and out of the town was over a wooden bridge. In 1480, a new masonry bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge
7.
University of Bristol
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The University of Bristol is a red brick research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. It received its charter in 1909, and its predecessor institution, University College. Bristol is organised into six academic faculties composed of multiple schools, the university had a total income of £565.8 million in 2015/16, of which £146.2 million was from research grants and contracts. It is the largest independent employer in Bristol, the University of Bristol is ranked 11th in the UK for its research, according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014 by GPA. The University of Bristol is ranked 37th by the QS World University Rankings 2015-16, and is ranked amongst the top of UK universities by QS, THE, a highly selective institution, it has an average of 6.4 to 13.1 applicants for each undergraduate place. Current academics include 21 fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences,13 fellows of the British Academy,13 fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and 44 fellows of the Royal Society. In addition, the university holds an Erasmus Charter, sending more than 500 students per year to partner institutions in Europe, the earliest antecedent of the university was the engineering department of the Merchant Venturers Technical College which became the engineering faculty of Bristol University. The university was preceded by Bristol Medical School and University College, Bristol, founded in 1876. The university was able to apply for a royal charter due to the support of the Wills and Fry families. The Wills Family made a vast fortune from the tobacco industry, the royal charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the university in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor, the University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906, Bristol does not have a campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre and it is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network. After the founding of the University College in 1876, Government support began in 1889, in December 1909, the King granted such a charter and erected the University of Bristol. Henry Wills became its first chancellor and Conwy Lloyd Morgan the first vice-chancellor, Wills died in 1911 and in tribute his sons George and Harry built the Wills Memorial Building, starting in 1913 and finally finishing in 1925. Today, it parts of the academic provision for earth sciences and law. The Wills Memorial Building is a Grade II* listed building, in 1920, George Wills bought the Victoria Rooms and endowed them to the university as a Students Union. The building now houses the Department of Music and is a Grade II* listed building, at the point of foundation, the university was required to provide for the local community
8.
Elizabeth Gaskell
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Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer. Her novels offer a portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848, Gaskells The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Brontë. Some of Gaskells best known novels are Cranford, North and South, Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson on 29 September 1810 in Lindsey Row, Chelsea, at the house which is now 93 Cheyne Walk. She was the youngest of eight children, only she and her brother John survived infancy and that position did not materialise, however, and instead Stevenson was nominated Keeper of the Treasury Records. While she was growing up, Elizabeths future was uncertain, as she had no wealth and no firm home, though she was a permanent guest at her aunt. Her father married Catherine Thomson in 1814 and they had a son, William, although Elizabeth spent several years without seeing her father, to whom she was devoted, her older brother John often visited her in Knutsford. John was destined for the Royal Navy from an age, like his grandfathers and uncles. John went missing in 1827 during an expedition to India, a beautiful young woman, Elizabeth was well-groomed, tidily dressed, kind, gentle and considerate of others. Her temperament was calm and collected, joyous and innocent, she revelled in the simplicity of rural life, much of Elizabeths childhood was spent in Cheshire, where she lived with her aunt Hannah Lumb in Knutsford, the town she immortalised as Cranford. They lived in a large house called Sandlebridge that overlooked the township of Alderley Edge. Her aunts gave her the classics to read, and she was encouraged by her father in her studies and her brother John sent her modern books, and descriptions of his life at sea and his experiences abroad. Seeking new experiences she opened her mind to the solace of nature, on other occasions when her cousins came to play she found consolation in young friendships. Exploring the green hollows, old shady glades of ruined cottages, she collected wild flowers and her favourite plant the Saxifrage is now extinct, but the pleasure natural things brought reflected clearly in her literary observations. Sandlebridge was demolished before 1900, only its chimney remained, there among the visitors and cousinage she played shuffleboard on the kitchen table. A young Elizabeth would go shopping to a woman in Knutsford, church House was directly accessible in Cranford with its high walls and garden walks. She generated confidence and self-respect from the country life and her family regularly visited the Royal George Hotel, which impressed upon her a sensibility for the subtler points of architecture. Led by an interpreter Gaskell later told Anne Thackeray Ritchie how like Cranford it was and she learnt from Lord Clive that his mother was a Gaskell and a friend of the whiggish Holland set
9.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
10.
Downton Abbey
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Downton Abbey is a historical period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes and co-produced by Carnival Films and Masterpiece. It first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010, the sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during the interwar period and hints towards the eventual decline of the British aristocracy. It was recognised by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011 and it earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total. It was the most watched series on both ITV and PBS, and subsequently became the most successful British costume drama series since the 1981 television serial of Brideshead Revisited. By the third series, it had one of the most widely watched television drama shows in the world. On 26 March 2015, Carnival Films and ITV announced that the series would be the last. It aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015, the final episode, serving as the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. The storyline centres on the fee tail or entail governing the titled elite, as part of the backstory, the main character, Robert, Earl of Grantham, had resolved past financial difficulties by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress. Her considerable dowry is contractually incorporated into the comital entail in perpetuity, Robert and Cora have three daughters and no sons. As the eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley was to marry her second cousin, the first episode begins as news reaches Downton Abbey that both Grantham heirs perished in the sinking of the Titanic. A distant male cousin, solicitor Matthew Crawley, is from an upper-middle-class family - as his mother reminds him in one of series one. Matthew Crawley becomes the new heir, the plot centres on the relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew, who resists embracing an aristocratic lifestyle. A subplot involves John Bates, Lord Granthams new valet, and Thomas Barrow, Bates and Thomas remain at odds in subsequent series. Barrow works to sabotage Bates after learning he was released from jail for theft. In the story line, Barrow, a gay man in late Edwardian England, aided by Miss OBrien, Lady Granthams personal maid, Barrow is caught stealing, but he joins the British army as a medic. Matthew eventually falls in love with Lady Mary, but she rejects his proposal. Cora becomes pregnant, possibly with an heir, but falls and miscarries after OBrien, mistakenly believing she was to be fired. The series ends just after the Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination and the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914, the second series comprises eight episodes and runs from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 to the 1918 flu pandemic
11.
James Bond
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The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015, additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character has also adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games. As of 2017, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series, the most recent Bond film, Spectre, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond, he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015, the franchise was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, the Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bonds cars, his guns, the films are also noted for Bonds relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as Bond girls. Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway. Aside from Flemings brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bonds make up, including Conrad OBrien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill Biffy Dunderdale. The name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. He further explained that, When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is certainly good-looking. Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way and that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow
12.
Northampton
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Northampton /nɔːrθˈæmptən/ is the county town of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England. It lies on the River Nene, about 67 miles north-west of London and 50 miles south-east of Birmingham, One of the largest towns in the UK, Northampton had a population of 212,100 in the 2011 census. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman. During the Middle Ages, the rose to national significance with the establishment of Northampton Castle. Medieval Northampton had many churches, monasteries and the University of Northampton and it was granted its first town charter by King Richard I in 1189 and its first mayor was appointed by King John in 1215. The town is also the site of two battles, the Battle of Northampton and the second in 1460. The town also suffered the Great Fire of Northampton which destroyed most of the town and it was soon rebuilt and grew rapidly with the industrial development of the 18th century. Northampton continued to grow following the creation of the Grand Union Canal, after the World Wars, Northamptons growth was limited until it was designated as a New Town in 1968, accelerating development in the town. Northampton unsuccessfully applied for status in 1996 and city status in 2000. According to Centre for Cities data in 2015, Northampton had a growth of 11. 3% between the years 2004 and 2013, one of the ten highest in the UK. The earliest reference to Northampton in writing occurred in 914 under the name Ham tune, the prefix North was added later to distinguish it from other towns called Hampton, most prominently Southampton. The Domesday Book records the town as Northantone, which evolved into Norhamptone by the 13th century, present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the Bronze Age. During the British Iron Age, people lived in protected hill forts. Present-day Hunsbury Hill is an example of settlement, a circular ditch. In the Roman period, a rural settlement is thought to have existed in the present-day district of Duston. Following Danish invasion, the area of the town was turned into a stronghold called a burh. A ditch was dug around the settlement and it was fortified with earth ramparts, having conquered Mercia, the Danes turned the settlement into a centre for military and administrative purposes, which was part of the Danelaw. In the 9th century Regenhere of Northampton an East Anglian Saint with localised veneration was buried in Northampton, by 918, Northampton had an earl and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the River Welland
