1.
Sir
–
Sir is an honorific address used in a number of situations in many anglophone cultures. The term can be used as a prefix, especially in the Commonwealth, for males who have been given certain honours or titles. The term is commonly used as a respectful way to address a man. Equivalent terms of address to females are maam or madam in most cases, or in the case of a woman, girl, or unmarried woman who prefers to be addressed as such. The equivalent term for a woman or baronetess is Dame. Sir derives from the Middle French honorific title sire, sire developed alongside the word seigneur, also used to refer to a feudal lord. Both derived from the Vulgar Latin senior, sire comes from the nominative case declension senior and seigneur, the prefix is used with the holders given name or full name, but never with the surname alone. For example, whilst Sir Alexander and Sir Alexander Fleming would be correct, the equivalent for a female who holds a knighthood or baronetcy in her own right is Dame, and follows the same usage customs as Sir. For example, while Lady Fiennes is correct, Lady Virginia, the widows of knights retain the style of wives of knights, however widows of baronets are either referred to as dowager, or use their forename before their courtesy style. For example, the widow of Sir Thomas Herbert Cochrane Troubridge, 4th Baronet, would either be known as Dowager Lady Troubridge or Laura, Lady Troubridge. Examples include, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Bruce Fraser, GCB, KBE Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED This is also the case with academic titles, such as professor. For example, Patrick Bateson is both a professor and a bachelor, his correct title would be Professor Sir Patrick Bateson. The title of Doctor, however, is not used in combination with sir, knighted doctors are addressed as knights, though they may still use any post-nominal letters associated with their degrees. Church of England clergy who receive knighthoods do not use the title Sir, for example, the Reverend Dr John Polkinghorne, KBE is never referred to as Sir John Polkinghorne. Clergy of other denominations may use different conventions, peers who have been knighted are not addressed as Sir in the formal sense of the style, as their titles of nobility take precedence. Other male heirs of an earl who lack courtesy titles, and the heirs of a viscount or baron, do however use the style of Sir if knighted. Dual nationals holding a Commonwealth citizenship that recognise the British monarch as head of state are entitled to use the styling, the permissibility of using the style of Sir varies. Regular creation of new knights of the order ended in 1921 upon the formation of the Irish Free State, with the death of the last knight in 1974, the Order became dormant
2.
Order of the British Empire
–
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
3.
Treforest
–
Treforest runs along the west bank of the River Taff while Glyntaff runs along its east bank. Treforest extends from south east of Ynysangharad Park where the A4058 link from the A470 joins the A473 Broadway. The village is connected with the Crawshay family who established a major tinplate works in 1835. Treforest is now known for its association with the University of South Wales, Treforest Industrial Estate is not part of Treforest or its electoral ward, most of which is not even within Pontypridd. Instead this falls partly within the area of Upper Boat, but mostly within the Willowford area of Ton-Teg and Nantgarw Treforest has one railway station, the railway station is located on the Merthyr and Rhondda lines between Pontypridd and Treforest Estate railway stations. Treforest is home to two schools, Parc Lewis and St. The University of South Wales Trefforest campus is located in the village, the population of Treforest consists substantially of students living away from home, who often leave the village during the summer months and return in the new academic year. Notable bars and pubs in the include the Rickards, the Otley Arms, Gecko Bar tapas bar. Treforest is home to football team Treforest Town F. C. this mid-sized semi-professional club has a purpose-built stadium. The Treforest Trading estate, later renamed Treforest Industrial Estate, originated with the formation of the South Wales and this non-profit making company aimed to establish one or more trading estates in Wales, and the first sod was cut on 29 December 1936. By the end of 1937, three factories had been completed and occupied. The first building contract awarded was a factory for the British Coated Board. Extensions and new factories were built by government departments, many of the companies on the estate were established by businesspeople who had arrived as refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. They had often been able to bring money and equipment with them, by 1944, almost 16,000 people were being employed on the estate. In 1960, the estate came under the control of the Welsh Industrial Estates Corporation, companies which have operated factories on the estate include BOAC, Aero Zip, Metal Alloys Ltd, Finetex Ltd, Ford, South Wales Switchgear, Standard Telephones and Cables, Fram Filters. Treforest is the birthplace of singer and 1960s and 1970s sex symbol, Tom Jones, Jones has a telephone box in his Los Angeles home from Pontypridd, which he imported as a souvenir of Wales. Morfydd Llwyn Owen was a Welsh composer born in Treforest and educated at the Royal Academy of Music and she wrote hymns, choral music and orchestral works often inspired by Welsh literacy and folk songs. In 1917 she married psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, but she died the year at the age of 26
4.
Pontypridd
–
Pontypridd is both a community and the county town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. Pontypridd is often abbreviated to Ponty by local residents, the town sits at the junction of the Rhondda and Taff/Cynon valleys, where the River Rhondda flows into the Taff immediately south of the town at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park. Pontypridd community had a population of approximately 32,700 according to figures gathered in 2011. While Pontypridd Town Ward itself was recorded as having a population of 2,919 also as of 2001, the town lies alongside the dual carriageway north-south A470, between Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil. The A4054, running north and south of the town, was the main road. South of the town is the A473, for Llantrisant and Pencoed, to the west is the A4058, which follows the River Rhondda to Porth and the Rhondda Valley beyond. The name Pontypridd is from Pont-y-tŷ-pridd the Welsh for bridge by the earthen house, Pontypridd is noted for its Old Bridge, a stone construction across the River Taff built in 1756 by William Edwards. This was Edwards third attempt, and, at the time of construction, was the longest single-span stone arch bridge in the world. Rising 35 feet above the level of the river, the forms a perfect segment of a circle. Notable features are the three holes of differing diameters through each end of the bridge, the purpose of which is to reduce weight. On completion, questions were raised as to the utility of the bridge, with the steepness of the design making it difficult to get horses. As a result, a new bridge, the Victoria Bridge, Pontypridd was known as Newbridge from shortly after the construction of the Old Bridge until the 1860s. Because of its role in transporting cargo, its railway platform is thought to have once been the longest in the world during its heyday. Pontypridd was, in the half of the 19th century, a hive of industry. The Albion Colliery in the village of Cilfynydd in 1894 was the site of one of the worst explosions within the South Wales coalfield, the town is also home to a large hospital, Dewi Sant Hospital. Pontypridd Urban District Council was established in 1894, and operated until 1974, in turn, that authority was incorporated into the unitary Rhondda Cynon Taf Council in 1995. Pontypridd Town Council continues to function as a community council, labour is the dominant political force, and has been since the First World War. Pontypridd came into being because of transport, as it was on the route from the south Wales coast and the Bristol Channel, to Merthyr
5.
Glamorgan
–
Glamorgan or, sometimes, Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally a medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three preserved counties of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan, the name also survives in that of Vale of Glamorgan, a county borough. After falling under English rule in the 16th century, Glamorgan became a more stable county, the county of Glamorgan comprised several distinct regions, the industrial valleys, the agricultural Vale of Glamorgan, and the scenic Gower Peninsula. The county was bounded to the north by Brecknockshire, east by Monmouthshire, south by the Bristol Channel and its total area was 2,100 km2, and the total population of the three preserved counties of Glamorgan in 1991 was 1,288,309. From 1974 Glamorgan contained two cities, Cardiff, the county town and from 1955 the capital city of Wales, the highest point in the county is Craig y Llyn which is situated near the village of Rhigos in the Cynon Valley. Glamorgans terrain has been inhabited by humankind for over 200,000 years, climate fluctuation caused the formation, disappearance, and reformation of glaciers which, in turn, caused sea levels to rise and fall. At various times life has flourished, at others the area is likely to have been completely uninhabitable, evidence of the presence of Neanderthals has been discovered on the Gower Peninsula. Whether they remained in the area during periods of cold is unclear. Sea levels have been 150 metres lower and 8 metres higher than at present, archaeological evidence shows that humans settled in the area during an interstadial period. The oldest known burial in Great Britain – the Red Lady of Paviland – was discovered in a coastal cave between Port Eynon and Rhossili, on the Gower Peninsula. The lady has been dated to c.29,000 years before present – during the Late Pleistocene – at which time the cave overlooked an area of plain. From the end of the last ice age Mesolithic hunter-gatherers began to migrate to the British Peninsula – through Doggerland – from the European mainland. Human lifestyles in North-West Europe changed around 6000 BP, from the Mesolithic nomadic lives of hunting and gathering, to the Neolithic agrarian life of agriculture and they cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land and developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production. A tradition of long construction began in continental Europe during the 7th millennium BP – the free standing megalithic structures supporting a sloping capstone. Nineteen Neolithic chambered tombs and five possible henges have been identified in Glamorgan, two major groups of Neolithic architectural traditions are represented in the area, portal dolmens, and Severn-Cotswold chamber tombs, as well as tombs that do not fall easily into either group. Such massive constructions would have needed a large labour force – up to 200 men – suggestive of large communities nearby, archaeological evidence from some Neolithic sites has shown the continued use of cromlechi in the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age – defined by the use of metal – has made an impression on the area
6.
Pop music
–
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
7.
Rhythm and blues
–
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated as R&B or RnB, is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy. Lyrics focus heavily on the themes of triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, freedom, economics, aspirations, the term rhythm and blues has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s it was applied to blues records. This tangent of RnB is now known as British rhythm and blues, by the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues changed again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a style of R&B developed, becoming known as Contemporary R&B. It combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop, popular R&B vocalists at the end of the 20th century included Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. Although Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine is credited with coining the term rhythm and blues as a term in the United States in 1948. It replaced the term race music, which came from within the black community. The term rhythm and blues was used by Billboard in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, before the Rhythm and Blues name was instated, various record companies had already begun replacing the term race music with sepia series. In 2010 LaMont Robinson founded the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, writer and producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans. He has used the term R&B as a synonym for jump blues, however, AllMusic separates it from jump blues because of its stronger, gospel-esque backbeat. Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that rhythm, according to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts. Well into the 21st century, the term R&B continues in use to music made by black musicians. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, while singers are emotionally engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they remain cool, relaxed, and in control. The bands dressed in suits, and even uniforms, an associated with the modern popular music that rhythm. Lyrics often seemed fatalistic, and the music typically followed predictable patterns of chords, there was also increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone
8.
Soul music
–
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music, catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and a tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds, Soul music reflected the African-American identity and it stressed the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music, which boasted pride in being black, Soul music dominated the U. S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U. S. By 1968, the music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, by the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock and other genres, leading to psychedelic soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994, there are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music. The term soul had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African-American in the United States, according to another source, Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s. The phrase soul music itself, referring to music with secular lyrics, is first attested in 1961. The term soul in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride, gospel groups in the 1940s and 1950s occasionally used the term as part of their name. The jazz style that derived from gospel came to be called soul jazz, important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing the genre with his string of hits starting with 1954s I Got a Woman. Singer Bobby Womack said, Ray was the genius and he turned the world onto soul music. Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style, little Richard and James Brown were equally influential. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are also acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the singer of gospel group The Soul Stirrers
9.
Country music
–
Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
10.
Singing
–
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
11.
Columbia Records
–
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
12.
Decca Records
–
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U. S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis along with American Deccas first president Jack Kapp and later American Decca president Milton Rackmil. In 1937, as a result of anticipating Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca, the British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group, which is owned by Vivendi, the US Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG. The name Decca was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word Mecca with the initial D of their logo Dulcet or their trademark Dulcephone, Samuel, a linguist, chose Decca as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages. The name dates back to a gramophone called the Decca Dulcephone patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel. That company was renamed the Decca Gramophone Co. Ltd. Within years, Decca Records Ltd. was the second largest record label in the world, Decca bought the UK branch of Brunswick Records and continued to run it under that name. In the 1950s the American Decca studios were located in the Pythian Temple in New York City, in classical music, Decca had a long way to go from its modest beginnings to catch up with the established HMV and Columbia labels. The pre-war classical repertoire on Decca was not extensive, but was select, heinrich Schlusnus made important pre-war lieder recordings for Decca. John Culshaw, who joined Decca in 1946 in a junior post and he revolutionised recording – of opera, in particular. Hitherto, the practice had been to put microphones in front of the performers, Culshaw was determined to make recordings that would be a theatre of the mind, making the listeners experience at home not second best to being in the opera house, but a wholly different experience. To that end he got the singers to move about in the studio as they would onstage, used sound effects and different acoustics. His skill, coupled with Decca engineering, took Decca into the first flight of recording companies and his pioneering recording of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Georg Solti was a huge artistic and commercial success. In the wake of Deccas lead, artists such as Herbert von Karajan, Joan Sutherland, however, Culshaw was, strictly speaking, not the first to do this. Far from being a mere rendering of the score, the 3-LP album set used sound effects to recreate the production as if the listener were watching a stage performance of the work. Until 1947, American Decca issued British Decca classical music recordings, afterwards, British Decca took over distribution through its new American subsidiary London Records. American Decca actively re-entered the classical music field in 1950 with distribution deals from Deutsche Grammophon, American Decca began issuing its own classical music recordings in 1956 when Israel Horowitz joined Decca to head its classical music operations
13.
Epic Records
–
Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles
14.
Jive Records
–
Jive Records was an American record label under the RCA Music Group formed in 1981 by Zomba Records. Formerly headquartered in New York City, the label was best known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and also in teen pop and boy bands during the 1990s, jIVEs best-selling artists worldwide were the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney Spears. Today, the Jive brand is being used under the Sony Music France division under the name JIVE Epic France. In 1971, South African musicians Clive Calder and Ralph Simon began a publishing and it was named Zomba Records and relocated to London, England, four years later, their first client was a young Robert Mutt Lange. Zomba originally wanted to record labels, choosing instead to focus on their songwriters and producers while allowing other established labels to release the material. Later that decade, the opened offices in the US. In 1981, Zomba formed JIVE Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls and its name was inspired by township JIVE, a type of music that originated in South Africa. Davis had hoped that Zombas connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having finding potentially successful rock acts. By 1982, Calder was introduced to Barry Weiss, a college graduate who took Calder out to hip-hop clubs in New York City for his job interview with Zomba. He was immediately impressed, Together, they began grooming musicians for what would eventually become Whodini, after two days, the group created and recorded its hit single Magics Wand. While the group would eventually leave JIVE, the success allowed the label to focus on hip-hop artists throughout the 1980s. In 1987, JIVE cut distribution ties with Arista, effectively separating them from Daviss authority, who eschewed hip-hop. As the 1980s drew to a close, the label entered a deal with RCA Records, by the late 1990s, JIVE began signing pop acts Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Britney Spears. All three achieved massive success as the 2000s dawned, becoming the three best-selling acts in the labels history, in 1991, Barry Weiss became CEO and president of JIVE Records. After two decades, he left JIVE in March 2011 for Universal Music Group, the company was later reorganized with some artists moving to a restructured Epic Records, while others stayed with JIVE as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In April 2011, it was reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at JIVE to acquire independent record label Block Starz Music. On October 7,2011, it was announced that JIVE, along with Arista and J Records would be shut down to refresh, all artists on those labels were moved to RCA Records. JIVE Records remains active in France as JIVE Epic, serving as the label for international pop
15.
Island Records
–
Island Records is a major record label that operates as a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. It was founded by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslie Kong in Jamaica in 1959, Blackwell sold the label to PolyGram in 1989. Three Island labels exist in the world, Island UK, Island US, and Island Australia, current key people of Island Records include Island president Darcus Beese, OBE and MD Jon Turner. Partially due to the labels significant legacy, Island remains one of UMGs pre-eminent record labels, Island Records was founded in Jamaica on 4 July 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslie Kong, and partially financed by Stanley Borden from RKO. Its name was inspired by the Harry Belafonte song Island in the Sun. Blackwell explained in 2009, “I loved music so much, I just wanted to get into it, or be as close to it as I could. ”Tom Hayes, the labels sales manager between 1965 and 1967, referred to the early period of the label in the UK as “organized chaos”. “My Boy Lollipop”, sung by Millie Small, was the labels first success in the UK, Blackwell explained in a 50-year-anniversary documentary that he was only interested in building long-term careers at that stage in time, rather than short-term projects. Suzette Newman has been a colleague of Chris Blackwells since working together in the early days of Island Records. Suzette Newman and Chris Salewicz were the editors for the book “The Story of Island Records, Blackwell relocated to England in May 1962 to garner greater levels of attention after the local Jamaican sound systems proved to be overwhelmingly successful. The vast majority of the artists who had signed to Blackwells fledgling label while he was in Jamaica agreed to allow the entrepreneur to release their music in the UK. While in England, Blackwell travelled throughout the city carrying his stock with him and he did not provide any copies to radio stations, as they would not play any of the Island music, the music was also not reviewed by the press. Meanwhile, Goodall left to start the Doctor Bird record label in 1965, Blackwell signed the Spencer Davis Group to the label. The group became popular and Island started their own independent series to spotlight UK rock talent. They signed artists like John Martyn, Fairport Convention, Free, by the late 1960s and early 1970s, they were a major label in England with artists like Roxy Music, King Crimson, Traffic, The Wailers, and many others. Blackwell had signed Bob Marley, and now Toots and the Maytals, in November 2016, Jackie Jackson described the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica. Accompanied by Paul Douglas and Radcliffe Dougie Bryan in studio, Jackson explained, Were all original members of Toots, first it was Toots and the Maytals, three guys, Toots, Raleigh, and Jerry. …And then they were signed to Island Records, Chris Blackwell, and we were their recording band. One day we were summoned to Chris house, and he says, Alright gentleman, I think its time
16.
Mercury Records
–
Mercury Records is an American-based record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operates through Island Records, in the UK, Mercury Record Corporation was formed in the American city of Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams, Ray Greenberg and Arthur Talmadge. They were a force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll. Early in the history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, Capitol. By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Tony Fontane. Rather than rely on radio airplay, Mercury initially relied on jukeboxes to promote their music, some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo. In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page record a song that had planned to be done by Vic Damone. The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the parts to Page. The company released a number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries. In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels, under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music, Mercurys jazz division had two distinct and important fathers. John Hammond brought his expertise and connections when Mercury bought Keynote Records in the late 1940s, and Mercury was the issuing company and distributor for Norman Granzs pre-Norgran/Verve recordings. Although both Hammond and Granz had departed Mercury by the mid-1950s, they established the company in the jazz world, by the early 1960s, Mercury was releasing jazz under the flagship label and was an early leader in the new stereo sound releases. Highlights of the early and mid-1960s included albums by Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach, in the early 1950s, Norman Granz started his own record company, Norgran, which later became Verve. In an ironic twist, both Mercury and Verve are now owned by Universal Music Group and Mercurys jazz library falls under the Verve division. Since the early 1990s, Verve has reissued many Mercury jazz titles on CD, often taking care to use original master tapes, in 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name. In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U. S. record company to release cassette music tapes, in 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc. while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp after Philips brought control of the company
17.
Polydor Records
–
Polydor is a British record label and company, that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a relationship with Universals Interscope Geffen A&M label. In turn, Polydor distributes Interscope releases in the United Kingdom, Polydor Records Ltd. was established in London in 1954 as a British subsidiary of German company Deutsche Grammophon GmbH. The Polydor label was founded on 2 April 1913 by German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG in Leipzig, during World War I on 24 April 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the German Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft record plant and company from the German government. The German state was taken over Grammophon and the British holdings as enemies property during World War I, Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Polyphon-Grammophon-Konzern group. It was used as a label since 1924. The British and German branches of the Gramophone Company were so departed during World War I, in turn, Deutsche Grammophon records exported from Germany were released on the Polyphon Musik and Polydor labels. The new foreign branches were founded for example into Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Polydor became a popular music label in 1946, while the new Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label was to become a classical music label in 1949. The previously used label, Grammophon, was disbanded, DGG gave, with an agreement dated 5 July 1949, an exclusive license from 1 July 1951 to use the Nipper-dog with gramophone to the original owners company Electrola, the German branch of EMI. In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong-based Diamond Records, which had owned and founded by the local Portuguese merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s. In 1972, The Grammophon-Philips Group reorganized to create PolyGram, the Polydor label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. The name PolyGram is a portmanteau of Polydor and PhonoGram, into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label Mercury Records. Polydor took over management of British Deccas pop catalog, A&R manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with Do The Hucklebuck by Coast to Coast as well as signing Ian Dury and Billy Fury to the company. In 1984, the name was parodied in the rockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform, in 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called Polydor/Atlas, in 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again. Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, in 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group. Today, in America, the Polydor Records name and logo is used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday
18.
Interscope Records
–
Interscope Records is an American record company. At the time, it differed from most record companies by giving decision-making authority to its A&R staff and it had its first hit records less than a year after it was founded and achieved profitability in 1993. In 1992, Interscope acquired the rights to market and distribute the hardcore rap label Death Row. Albums by Death Row artists included rappers Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, as a result, Time Warner severed ties with Interscope by selling its 50 percent stake back to Field and Iovine for $115 million in 1995. In 1996, 50% of the label was acquired by the MCA Music Entertainment Group for a reported $200 million, Iovine served as chairman and CEO until May 2014. He was succeeded by John Janick, Interscope is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The labels best-selling artists include U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, in 1989, Ted Field began to build Interscope Records as a division of his film company, Interscope Communications. To run it, he hired John McClain, who had played a role in Janet Jacksons success at A&M Records, and Tom Whalley. Separately, Iovine, who had produced records by U2, Bruce Springsteen, I thought, Music is going to change, Iovine said in 1997. Young bands arent going to be asking for me, but I love working with the new thing. I always liked the part of the business thats the first time you hear something, Iovine and Field were introduced by Paul McGuinness, then U2s manager. After a series of negotiations led by David Geffen, they came to an agreement, in a 1997 article in Rolling Stone, David Wild wrote, Interscopes start-up coincided with a period of incredible change in the music world. Nirvana had ushered in the alternative revolution, based in Westwood, California, Interscope was run by music men. It was a departure from the industry practices of the 1970s and 1980s. A founding tenet of the label was that artists would have creative control. Interscopes first release was Rico Suave by Ecuadoran rapper Gerardo in December 1990, Primus Interscope debut was released in May, followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunchs Music for the People in July. It included the #1 single Good Vibrations, two days after first hearing his demo, Whalley signed Tupac Shakur, and in November 1991, Interscope released 2pacalypse Now, Shakurs studio debut. Interscope began to develop a significant presence in the genre in 1992
19.
V2 Records
–
V2 Records is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, and then by PIAS Entertainment Group in 2013. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI, the label was owned 95% by Morgan Stanley, the chief financier of the company, and 5% by Branson. Over the years V2 acquired Gee Street Records, Junior Boys Own, Blue Dog Records, the label also distributed many labels, such as WichitaWichita, Luaka Bop, City Slang and Modular. Stereophonics were the first band to sign to the label, V2 now operates in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States. It was distributed in the US by BMG, however it left for WEA shortly after the formation of Sony BMG. Its headquarters were located at 14 East 4th Street in Manhattan, the former US home of Island Records, in 2006 Branson sold V2 North America to Sheridan Square Entertainment LLC for $15 million. SSE then merged its label Artemis Records into V2 North America, the new label was effectively divested from the Virgin Group. On 12 January 2007, V2 North America announced that it was undergoing restructuring to focus on its back catalogue, as a result, their employees were let go and their roster of artists left as free agents. V2 Benelux was founded by Richard Branson in 1997 as part of the V2 International group with affiliates in USA, UK, Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy and Benelux. In February 2007 the directors of V2 Benelux, Chris Boog and Tom Willinck, rounded off a management buy out together with their distributor. In August 2007, V2 Music Group was sold for £7 million to Universal Music Group, Cooperative Music has had significant success with various acts such as Fleet Foxes, Phoenix and The Black Keys. In 2009, the newly formed IndieBlu Music Holdings LLC acquired SSEs business, including V2 North America, IndieBlu was acquired by Entertainment One in 2010. In early 2013, PIAS acquired Cooperative Music from Universal Music Group, since its formation, PIAS Cooperative has had success with albums from Factory Floor, Temples, Maximo Park, John Grant, The Eels, and Midlake. Acoustic 07, an album released by V2 List of record labels Official website Cooperative Music
20.
The Voice UK
–
The Voice UK is a British television talent show created by John de Mol and based on the concept The Voice of Holland. It began airing on BBC One on 24 March 2012, There are five different stages to the show, producers auditions, blind auditions, battle phase, knockouts, and live shows. The winner receives £100,000 and a deal with Universal Republic. There have been six winners to date, Leanne Mitchell, Andrea Begley, Jermain Jackman, Stevie McCrorie, Kevin Simm, the show involves artists drawn from public auditions, and is part of The Voice franchise. It is produced by ITV Studios as well as Dutch production company Talpa Productions, the BBC won a bidding war with ITV, paying £22 million for the rights to broadcast the show in the UK for two years. ITVs Britains Got Talent launched its series on the same date of 24 March 2012. Many media outlets saw this move as an attempt by ITV to create a TV ratings war with the BBC. In November 2015, the BBC announced that the series of The Voice UK would be their last. That same month, ITV announced they had acquired the rights to air The Voice UK for three series, as well as plans for two series of The Voice Kids starting in 2017. The Voice first came to the eye when the BBC revealed that it was exploring the possibility of acquiring the rights. However, ITV was also interested as it was concerned that The X Factor could lose ratings after Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, ITV were said to be afraid that the show with would upstage theirs. It was reported by The Sun that BBC and ITV were in a war for The Voice UK. The Suns Colin Robertson and Leigh Holmwood stated that ITV were nervous, however, now they have told owners of The Voice format they ARE interested. A source said, The X Factor has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride already this year, the hype around The Voice is now so great that ITV feels it has no choice but to be in the running for it. If the BBC got it—and managed to sign Cheryl—then it could snare loads of viewers away from The X Factor, ITV were planning to have The Voice UK as companion show for The X Factor. On 18 June 2011, it was reported that the BBC had won the rights to The Voice UK, in mid-2011 it was revealed that BBC would be broadcasting The Voice after paying £22 million. Danny Cohen, the controller of BBC One, said he wants the programme to emulate the success of The Apprentice, Cohen said, I thought it was really good. Every so often the BBC occasionally buys something from abroad that is peerlessly good and we adapted that for Britain with Alan Sugar and made the British version the best in the world
21.
Gospel music
–
Gospel music is a music genre in Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music varies according to culture. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, Gospel music usually has dominant vocals with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century, with roots in the oral tradition. Hymns and sacred songs were repeated in a call and response fashion, most of the churches relied on hand clapping and foot stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella, the first published use of the term Gospel Song probably appeared in 1874. The original gospel songs were written and composed by such as George F. Root, Philip Bliss, Charles H. Gabriel, William Howard Doane. The advent of radio in the 1920s greatly increased the audience for gospel music, following World War II, gospel music moved into major auditoriums, and gospel music concerts became quite elaborate. Gospel blues is a form of gospel music. Southern gospel used all male, tenor-lead-baritone-bass quartet make-up, progressive Southern gospel is an American music genre that has grown out of Southern gospel over the past couple of decades. Christian country music, sometimes referred to as gospel music, is a subgenre of gospel music with a country flair. It peaked in popularity in the mid-1990s, bluegrass gospel music is rooted in American mountain music. Celtic gospel music infuses gospel music with a Celtic flair, and is popular in countries such as Ireland. British black gospel refers to Gospel music of the African diaspora, some proponents of standard hymns generally dislike gospel music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, with distance, there is a greater acceptance of such gospel songs into official denominational hymnals. Gospel music in general is characterized by dominant vocals referencing lyrics of a Christian nature, subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel, Southern gospel, and modern gospel music. Several forms of gospel music utilize choirs, use piano or Hammond organ, tambourines, drums, bass guitar and, increasingly, electric guitar. In comparison with hymns, which are generally of a statelier measure, several attempts have been made to describe the style of late 19th and early 20th century gospel songs in general
22.
It's Not Unusual
–
Its Not Unusual is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones, after having first been offered to Sandie Shaw. Jones recorded what was intended to be a demo for Shaw, the record was the second Decca single Jones released, reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1965. It was also the first hit for Jones in the US, the single was released in the US on the Parrot label and also reached number 3 on Billboards easy listening chart. The BBC initially refused to play the song because of Jones’s sexy image, Jones performed the song several times on The Ed Sullivan Show in the US, first on 2 May 1965, then again on 13 June 1965. He sang the song again on the show when he returned on 21 April 1968, Jones later used this song as the theme for his late 1960s–early 1970s television musical variety series This Is Tom Jones. It has since become his signature song, in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, on several occasions Carlton Banks lip-synchs to Its Not Unusual with comedic choreography. Tom Jones also guest-starred on the show a few times, the first studio version of the song was subsequently released in 1995 as part of the compilation album The Legendary Tom Jones - 30th Anniversary Album. The songs musical arranger was Les Reed, page does list the session in his online discography, however. Drums were played by Scottish percussionist Andy White, who had drummed for The Beatles. or possibly by or Ronnie Verrell. Joness group Tom Jones and the Squires were missing their regular player for the session. Drummer Chris Slade ran across the street to the La Giaconda coffee house, as was standard practice in the 1960s, session musicians were used instead of Joness regular backing band. The Dells also recorded a version in 1965 and released it as the track of an LP on Vee-Jay records in Chicago. It was released as the B-side to their recording of Stay in My Corner. Glen Campbell recorded the song on his 1965 album The Big Bad Rock Guitar of Glen Campbell, in 1966, South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela included the song to his album Hugh Masekelas Next Album. The Supremes recorded a version of song for their Supremes A Go-Go album. It was recently released on a collection of Supremes previously unreleased recordings, italian rock singer Little Tony performed a local version with the title Non è normale. American alternative band Wild Colonials covered the song, which appeared on their album Reel Life vol 1 and those Darn Accordions recorded an all-accordion instrumental version for their 1992 album Vongole Fisarmonica. Cher recorded a version of the song on her 1966 record, filipino singer Nora Aunor on her album, More, more, more of Nora Aunor Writer Les Reed and his orchestra also recorded an instrumental version on their 1971 record, Colour Me
23.
Kiss (Prince song)
–
Kiss is a 1986 single by Prince and The Revolution, from the album Parade. The song ranked number 464 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, NME ranked the song number 4 in their list of The 150 Greatest Singles of All Time. The same magazine voted Kiss the best single of the year 1986, following Princes death, the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 28 and jumped to number 23 the week after. The song also reached two on the French Singles Chart. As of April 30,2016, it has sold 1,330,336 copies in the United States, age of Chance and The Art of Noise also released versions of the song that were critical and chart successes. The song is written in the key of A major and has a tempo of 112 beats per minute in common time, Princes vocals span an octave in the song, from E4 to E5. Kiss started as an acoustic demo, about a minute in length. Prince gave the song to the funk band Mazarati for their debut album, Mazarati and producer David Z drastically reworked the song, giving it its stripped-down minimalist sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he was amazed at their work and he replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form. Mazarati were credited for their backing vocals, which Prince left intact, Prince added the song at the last minute to Parade. Despite Warner Bros. not wanting to release it as a single, Kiss became Princes third number-one U. S. hit following 1984s highly successful When Doves Cry and it was also a big hit across the Atlantic, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart. The song won Prince another Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, the song became a staple at Princes concerts and was usually sung partially by the audience. The 12″ single of the song is an extension of the album track, the extended section is based on the funky guitar line and contains much fuller instrumentation than the main track, including bass guitar, organ and horns. New lyrics are present from Prince, along with Jill Jones, the B-side of Kiss was ♥ or $, sung in a processed, higher-pitched vocal, which Prince would later use for his Camille material. The song relates to the theme in Under the Cherry Moon, the extended Kiss was included on 2006s Ultimate, ♥ or $ was recently re-released as a digital B-side on iTunes. The music video is directed by Rebecca Blake, in the plot of the video, Prince appears in a half shirt and leather jacket and then all shirtless and performs dance choreography in a hall. He is accompanied by the veiled dancer Monique Manning wearing black lingerie, bass player Geoff Taylor described it as, We basically removed the sex and replaced it with lump hammers. The band worked out the music from hearing it in clubs and consulted Smash Hits for the lyrics, the band first recorded the track for a Peel session in June 1986, when the Prince version was still in the UK charts
24.
Tim Burton
–
Timothy Walter Tim Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. Burton has worked repeatedly with Johnny Depp, who has become a friend of Burton since their first film together. He has also worked with musician Danny Elfman, who has composed scores for all, actress Helena Bonham Carter, Burtons former domestic partner, has appeared in many of his films. Both compilations were published by Steeles Publishing, as a preteen, Burton would make short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using crude stop motion animation techniques or shoot them on 8 mm film without sound. Burton studied at Burbank High School, but he was not a good student. He was a very introspective person, and found his pleasure in painting, drawing and watching films and his future work would be heavily influenced by the works of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl. After graduating from Burbank High School with Jeff Riekenberg, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, as a student at CalArts, Burton made the shorts Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus. Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions animation division and he worked as an animator, storyboard artist and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and Tron. His concept art never made it into the finished films, the film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. Having aired once in 1983 at 10,30 pm on Halloween and promptly shelved, prints of the film are difficult to locate. The short would finally go on display in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art. It was again shown at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2012, Burtons next live-action short, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall, after Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the companys resources on doing a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see. Pursuing then an opportunity to make a film, he was approached by Griffin Dunne to direct the black comedy film After Hours. However, after Martin Scorseses project The Last Temptation of Christ was cancelled, not long after, actor Paul Reubens saw Vincent and chose Burton to direct the cinematic spin-off of his popular character Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee Herman gained mainstream popularity with a stage show at The Groundlings
25.
Mars Attacks!
–
Mars Attacks. is a 1996 American comic science fiction film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay, which was based on the trading card series of the same name, was written by Jonathan Gems. The film is a parody of science fiction B movies overall and includes elements of black comedy, alex Cox had tried to make a Mars Attacks. Film in the 1980s before Burton and Gems began development in 1993, when Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski in an attempt to lower the budget to $60 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warner Bros. spent another $20 million on the Mars Attacks, filming took place from February to November 1996. The film was shot in California, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and Argentina, the soundtrack became famous for the Martians quirky speech pattern, which was created by reversing the sound of a ducks quack. Mars Attacks. was released theatrically by Warner Bros, pictures in the United States on December 13,1996 and received mixed reviews from critics. The film grossed approximately $101 million in box office totals, which was seen as a disappointment, Mars Attacks. was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and earned multiple nominations at the Saturn Awards. In Kentucky, a family watches in confusion as a herd of cattle starts running past their home, a spaceship explodes before it returns to Mars, and hundreds of other Martian ships leave Mars and head towards Earth. President James Dale, along with his aides, addresses the United States concerning the historic event, the Presidents science aides set up a first contact meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada as President Dale watches the development on TV with his wife Marsha and his daughter Taffy. Using a translation machine, the Ambassador of Mars announces that they come in peace, at this meeting, the Martians massacre most of Congress. General Decker tries to convince President Dale to retaliate with nuclear warfare, after a failed attempt to assassinate President Dale, the Martians invade Earth, starting with Washington, D. C. As they attack the White House, the Secret Service evacuates the President and that night, the Martians breach the bunker where Dale has been taken and the leader reduces Decker to the size of an insect before killing him. The Martians kill everyone else in the bunker except for Dale, the Martians seem convinced, but then use a false hand to kill the President. They barely make it, losing the lawyer in the process, Byron creates a diversion by challenging them to a fistfight. While he succeeds in killing the Ambassador, he is outnumbered and overwhelmed, but Tom, Barbara, Billy-Glenns brother Richie discovers that the Martians heads explode when they hear Slim Whitmans Indian Love Call. He and his grandmother Florence drive around town, using the song to kill Martians, the military thereafter broadcast the song around the globe, killing most of the Martians and their leader, and causing the few remaining survivors to try to flee from Earth. Nathalie and Donald disembodied heads kiss while the Martian spaceship they are on explodes when it crashes into the ocean, in the aftermath, Richie and Florence are awarded the Medal of Honor by Taffy, she being the only surviving member of the government
26.
Playhouse Presents
–
Playhouse Presents is a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1, each episode is written by a different writer and stars a different cast. The second series airing in April 2013. A third season began airing 1 May 2014, Sky Arts have announced that they are ordering a five-part spin-off of the third play, Nixon’s The One. They say the full cast, including Harry Shearer as Nixon and Henry Goodman as Kissinger, will return for the series run, the series will broadcast in 2013. The four-part adaptation of A Young Doctors Notebook starring Jon Hamm and it became the most successful series in the history of Sky Arts and a second series was commissioned, airing late 2013. Sky Arts announced two films, Foxtrot and Nightshift, for the Playhouse Presents strand in late 2013, while it initially appeared that these would be broadcast as one-offs, they ended up being aired as part of the third season. A Christmas special titled Marked, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Fry, Playhouse Presents premiered on 4 January 2015 on BBC First. Playhouse Presents at the Internet Movie Database
27.
Grammy Award
–
A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
28.
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
–
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, the award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as follows, For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, note that this is not necessarily the first album released by an artist. It is sometimes asserted, with varying degrees of sincerity, that winning the award is a curse, as several award winners were never able to duplicate the success they experienced in their debut year. This viewpoint was expressed by former Starland Vocal Band member Taffy Danoff in a 2002 interview for VH1s 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, so that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone whos gotten it since. The category is also notable for being the one of its kind in which a Grammy Award was vacated. This occurred in 1990 after it was revealed winners Milli Vanilli did not contribute their own vocals on their debut album, the award was revoked, but was not handed out to another artist. Of the 54 awards presented in the category since its inception, the honor has been presented to 25 solo female artists,18 duos or groups, between 1997 and 2003, all the winners were solo female artists. Also, from 1993 to 2005, no winner was a male artist. In 2006, John Legend broke this trend, which started with Marc Cohn in 1992. Only four artists have won both Best New Artist and Album of the Year in the year, Bob Newhart in 1961, Christopher Cross in 1981, Lauryn Hill in 1999. Of all the winners, only three have been country artists, in 1997, LeAnn Rimes became the first country artist to win the award. She was followed by Carrie Underwood in 2007 and Zac Brown Band in 2010, additionally,2017 marked the first time that two country artists were nominated in this category in the same year. 1984 marked the first time all of the nominees were from outside of the United States. Over the years, the eligibility rules for this category have changed several times, in 2010, Lady Gagas exclusion from the Best New Artist category caused the Recording Academy to change eligibility requirements for the next ceremony. She was ineligible for the nomination because her hit Just Dance had been nominated in 2008, the new rule stated that an artist can be nominated as long as that artist has not previously released an entire album and has subsequently not won a Grammy. To be eligible in the category of Best New Artist, the artist, duo, or group, Must have released a minimum of five singles/tracks or one album, but no more than 30 singles/tracks or three albums. May not have entered into this more than three times, including as a performing member of an established group
29.
MTV Video Music Award
–
An MTV Video Music Award is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award, the statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV, and colloquially called a moonman. The statue is now made by New York firm, Society Awards, since the 2006 ceremony, viewers are able to vote for their favorite videos in all general categories by visiting MTVs website. The first VMA ceremony was held in 1984 at New York Citys Radio City Music Hall, the ceremonies are normally held in either New York City or Los Angeles. However, the ceremonies have also hosted in Miami and Las Vegas. 1984, At the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, Madonna performed her hit Like a Virgin wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, during the performance, she rolled around on the floor, revealing lacy stockings and a garter. Cyndi Lauper spoke in Exorcist-esque gibberish to explain the VMA rules right before winning the Best Female video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun, David Bowie and The Beatles were rewarded with the first ever Video Vanguard Awards for their work in pioneering the music video. 1988, At the 1988 Video Music Awards Michael Jackson appeared for the first time, a pre-recorded live performance of Bad was shown. He was also awarded the Video Vanguard Award, paula Abdul was nominated for six awards, picking up four wins. She performed a medley of her singles Straight Up, Cold Hearted. When Madonna won the Viewers Choice Award for her Like a Prayer video, the tone that the commercial sought to convey sharply contrasted with the music video. When Pepsi executives saw the video, they yanked the advertisement after only two airings, in an attempt to dissociate themselves from Madonna. She also gave one of the most memorable performances of her hit Express Yourself, the performance consisted of both a dramatic 18th-century reinterpretation of Vogue as well as her dramatically becorseted breasts. His video Thriller influenced and changed music videos into what it is like today, a conflict between Poisons Bret Michaels and C. C. DeVille culminated in a fistfight at the Video Music Awards in 1991, deVille was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist Richie Kotzen. Paul Reubens had his first public appearance following an arrest for lewd-conduct earlier that year, taking the stage in costume as Pee-wee Herman, he received a standing ovation, after which he asked the audience, Heard any good jokes lately. Prince & The New Power Generation performed their sexually charged song Gett Off on a Caligula-esque set and his trousers were parodied numerous times throughout the following year, on In Living Color & even on the next years VMAs by Howard Stern. It also marked the last TV appearance of Kiss with Eric Carr,1992, In the 1992 show, MTV requested Nirvana perform Smells Like Teen Spirit, while the band itself had indicated it preferred to play new songs Rape Me and tourettes
30.
Brit Awards
–
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industrys annual pop music awards. The name was originally a form of British, Britain or Britannia. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for music, called the Classic Brit Awards, is held each May. Robbie Williams holds the record for the most Brit Awards,13 as a solo artist, the awards originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industrys trade association, the BPI. In 1989 they were renamed the Brit Awards, masterCard has been the long-term sponsor of the event. The Brit Awards were broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox, in subsequent years, the event was recorded and broadcast the following night. From 2007, the Brit Awards reverted to a live broadcast on British television, on 14 February on ITV. In that year, comedian Russell Brand was presenter and three awards were dropped from the ceremony, Best British Rock Act, Best British Urban Act, on 18 February 2009, the venue for the BRITs was once again the Earls Court, London. The Brit Awards were held at The O2 in London for the first time in 2011, the Brit Award statuette given to the winners features Britannia, the female personification of Britain. The first awards ceremony was in 1977, as The BRITish Record Industry BRITannia Awards, there have been 36 editions to date. The 2016 Brit Awards was held on 24 February 2016, the 1988 BPI Awards was the first of the ceremonies to be broadcast on live television. The BBC had previously broadcast the ceremony from 1985, with the shows from 1982 to 1984 not broadcast on television, the BBC continued to broadcast the renamed BRIT Awards, live in 1989 and pre-recorded from 1990 to 1992. ITV have broadcast the awards since 1993, pre-recorded until 2006, BBC Radio 1 has provided backstage radio coverage since 2008. In 1987 the BPI Awards ceremony was held in the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel, at the time there was a BBC electricians strike in effect, and the organisers decided to use a non-TV events production company, called Upfront, to manage the show. Despite the show being picketed, the event was transmitted as intended, for a while the outdoor broadcast scanner was rocked on its wheels by the protesters and they managed to shut off the power to one of the big GE video screen projectors. In 1989, the ceremony was broadcast live and presented by Fleetwood Macs Mick Fleetwood, the inexperience of the hosts, an ineffective autocue and little preparation combined to create an unprofessional show that was poorly received. The 1990 awards ceremony saw the last public appearance of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, Queen appeared at the ceremony to receive the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Mercury did not make a speech, as Brian May did the talking on behalf of the other members, in 1992, dance/art band The KLF were awarded Best British Group and were booked to open the show
31.
Elizabeth II
–
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
32.
South Wales
–
South Wales is the region of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the southwest of the United Kingdom, the Brecon Beacons national park covers about a third of South Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest mountain south of Snowdonia. Areas to the north of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains are generally considered part of Mid Wales, the expression south Wales is not officially defined, and its meaning has changed over time. Between the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284 and the Laws in Wales Act 1535 and this was divided into a Principality of South Wales and a Principality of North Wales. The southern principality was made up of the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, the legal responsibility for this area lay in the hands of the Justiciar of South Wales based at Carmarthen. Other parts of southern Wales were in the hands of various Marcher Lords, the Laws in Wales Acts 1542 created the Court of Great Sessions in Wales based on four legal circuits. The Brecon circuit served the counties of Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Glamorgan while the Carmarthen circuit served Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Monmouthshire was attached to the Oxford circuit for judicial purposes. These seven southern counties were thus differentiated from the six counties of north Wales, the Court of the Great Sessions came to an end in 1830, but the counties survived until the Local Government Act 1972 which came into operation in 1974. The creation of the county of Powys merged one northern county with two southern ones, there are thus different concepts of south Wales. Glamorgan and Monmouthshire are generally accepted by all as being in south Wales, but the status of Breconshire or Carmarthenshire, for instance, is more debatable. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people might feel that they live in both south Wales and west Wales, areas to the north of the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains are generally considered to be in Mid Wales. A further point of uncertainty is whether the first element of the name should be capitalized, as the name is a geographical expression rather than a specific area with well-defined borders, style guides such as those of the BBC and The Guardian use the form south Wales. The most densely populated region in the southwest of the United Kingdom, the Brecon Beacons national park covers about a third of South Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest mountain south of Snowdonia. This natural beauty changed to an extent during the early Industrial Revolution when the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire valley areas were exploited for coal. By the 1830s, hundreds of tons of coal were being transported by barge to ports in Cardiff, lord Bute then charged fees per ton of coal that was transported out using his railways. Whilst some of the left, many settled and established in the South Wales Valleys between Swansea and Abergavenny as English-speaking communities with a unique identity. Industrial workers were housed in cottages and terraced houses close to the mines and foundries in which they worked. The large influx over the years caused overcrowding which led to outbreaks of Cholera, and on the social and cultural side and this number is now very low, following the UK miners strike, and the last traditional deep-shaft mine, Tower Colliery, closed in January 2008
33.
Gloucestershire
–
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the fertile valley of the River Severn. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other towns include Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud. Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century, though the areas of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire originally included Bristol, then a small town. The local rural community moved to the city, and Bristols population growth accelerated during the industrial revolution. Bristol became a county in its own right, separate from Gloucestershire and it later became part of the administrative County of Avon from 1974 to 1996. Upon the abolition of Avon in 1996, the north of Bristol became a unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire and is now part of the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire. The official former postal county abbreviation was Glos, rather than the frequently used but erroneous Gloucs. or Glouc. In July 2007, Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in recorded British history, the RAF conducted the largest peace time domestic operation in its history to rescue over 120 residents from flood affected areas. The damage was estimated at over £2 billion, the county recovered rapidly from the disaster, investing in attracting tourists to visit the many sites and diverse range of shops in the area. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Gloucestershire at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. Gloucestershire has mainly comprehensive schools with seven schools, two are in Stroud, one in Cheltenham and four in Gloucester. There are 42 state secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, all but about two schools in each district have a sixth form, but the Forest of Dean only has two schools with sixth forms. All schools in South Gloucestershire have sixth forms, each has campuses at multiple locations throughout the county. Most of the old market towns have parish churches, at Deerhurst near Tewkesbury, and Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham, there are churches of special interest on account of the pre-Norman work they retain. These are, however, adjudged to be of English workmanship, other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey. Thornbury Castle is a Tudor country house, the pretensions of which evoked the jealousy of Cardinal Wolsey against its builder, Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, near Cheltenham is the 15th-century mansion of Southam de la Bere, of timber and stone. Memorials of the de la Bere family appear in the church at Cleeve, the mansion contains a tiled floor from Hailes Abbey
34.
Wiltshire
–
Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
35.
Somerset
–
Somerset is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset is a county of rolling hills such as the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park. There is evidence of occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement in the Roman. The county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, and later in the English Civil War, the city of Bath is famous for its substantial Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Somersets name derives from Old English Sumorsǣte, short for Sumortūnsǣte, an alternative suggestion is the name derives from Seo-mere-saetan meaning settlers by the sea lakes. The Old English name is used in the motto of the county, Sumorsǣte ealle, adopted as the motto in 1911, the phrase is taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Somerset settlement names are mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, but some hill names include Brittonic Celtic elements, for example, an Anglo-Saxon charter of 682 refers to Creechborough Hill as the hill the British call Cructan and we call Crychbeorh. Some modern names are Brythonic in origin, such as Tarnock, the caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Palaeolithic period, and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. Bones from Goughs Cave have been dated to 12,000 BC, examples of cave art have been found in Avelines Hole. Some caves continued to be occupied until modern times, including Wookey Hole, the Somerset Levels—specifically dry points at Glastonbury and Brent Knoll— also have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been settled by Mesolithic hunters. Travel in the area was facilitated by the construction of one of the worlds oldest known engineered roadways, the Sweet Track, the exact age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be Neolithic. There are numerous Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like Cadbury Castle, on the authority of the future emperor Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in AD47. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around AD409, a variety of Roman remains have been found, including Pagans Hill Roman temple in Chew Stoke, Low Ham Roman Villa and the Roman Baths that gave their name to the city of Bath. After the Romans left, Britain was invaded by Anglo-Saxon peoples, by AD600 they had established control over much of what is now England, but Somerset was still in native British hands. The Saxon royal palace in Cheddar was used several times in the 10th century to host the Witenagemot. After the Norman Conquest, the county was divided into 700 fiefs, Somerset contains HM Prison Shepton Mallet, which was Englands oldest prison still in use prior to its closure in 2013, having opened in 1610. In the English Civil War Somerset was largely Parliamentarian, with key engagements being the Sieges of Taunton, in 1685 the Monmouth Rebellion was played out in Somerset and neighbouring Dorset
36.
Blues
–
Blues is a genre and musical form originated by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century. The genre developed from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Blue notes, usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch, are also a part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove, Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times, Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the troubles experienced in African-American society. Many elements, such as the format and the use of blue notes. The origins of the blues are closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American community. The first appearance of the blues is often dated to after the ending of slavery and, later and it is associated with the newly acquired freedom of the former slaves. Chroniclers began to report about blues music at the dawn of the 20th century, the first publication of blues sheet music was in 1908. Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a variety of styles and subgenres. Blues subgenres include country blues, such as Delta blues and Piedmont blues, as well as urban blues styles such as Chicago blues, World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners. In the 1960s and 1970s, a form called blues rock evolved. The term blues may have come from blue devils, meaning melancholy and sadness, the phrase blue devils may also have been derived from Britain in the 1600s, when the term referred to the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils, by the 1800s in the United States, the term blues was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase blue law, which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, in lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood. The lyrics of traditional blues verses probably often consisted of a single line repeated four times. Two of the first published songs, Dallas Blues and Saint Louis Blues, were 12-bar blues with the AAB lyric structure. Handy wrote that he adopted this convention to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three times, the lines are often sung following a pattern closer to rhythmic talk than to a melody
.jpg)
