England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain.
The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
Monte Carlo (1930 film)
Monte Carlo is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical comedy film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Jeanette MacDonald as Countess Helene Mara, the film is notable for the song Beyond the Blue Horizon, which was written for the film and was performed by Jeanette MacDonald. The film was hailed by critics as a masterpiece of the newly emerging musical genre. The screenplay was based on the Booth Tarkington novel Monsieur Beaucaire, Countess Helene Mara is engaged to be married to Prince Otto Von Liebenheim but leaves him at the altar. She flees on a train to Monte Carlo and checks into a hotel. When she arrives at the casino a count named Rudolph Falliere takes a liking to her and poses as a hairdresser whom she hires and falls in love with but could not marry if he is a commoner. Her fiance arrives and takes her to an opera and she sees Rudolph there in one of the expensive seats indicating he is too wealthy to be a hairdresser, when he reveals to her that he is a count, she realises she can marry him.
Franke Harling, with uncredited music by Karl Hajos, Herman Hand, Sigmund Krumgold, the best-known song in the film is Beyond the Blue Horizon by Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling with lyrics by Leo Robin. The song became a hit record for Jeanette MacDonald on the films release
Stane Street (Chichester)
Stane Street shows clearly the engineering principles that the Romans used when building roads. The direct survey line was followed only for the northernmost 12.5 km from London to Ewell, at no point does the road lie more than six miles from the direct line from London Bridge to Chichester. Today the Roman road is easily traceable on modern maps, much of the route is followed by the A3, A24, A29 and A285, although most of the course through the modern county of Surrey has either been completely abandoned or is followed only by bridlepaths. Stane is simply an old spelling of stone which was used to differentiate paved Roman roads from muddy native trackways. The name of the road is first recorded as Stanstret in both the 1270 Feet of Fines and the 1279 Assizes Rolls of Ockley and it is referred to by the modern spelling as Stone Street as far back as medieval sources. There is no surviving record of the roads original Roman name, a number of first-century pottery fragments and coins have been found along the road, including Samian ware of Claudian date at Pulborough.
The earliest coins found are of Claudius, with others of Nero, Titus and this is consistent with the road being in use by 60 to 70 AD, possibly earlier. The direct line from London Bridge to Chichester passes over the North Downs at Ranmore, the Greensand Ridge at Holmbury St Mary and over the South Downs near Goodwood Racecourse. The geology of the region was considered and the road leaves the direct line at Ewell to move onto the well-drained chalk of the North Downs. In order to accommodate and exploit the complex topology of the region, each limb could be surveyed separately using local vantage points. The Roman surveying technique is demonstrated by the longest of the four limbs from South Holmwood to North Heath. The line that the road runs between two prominent hill tops, Borough Hill on the South Downs and Brockham Warren on the North Downs. South of North Heath the road turns by an angle of 7 degrees to head towards the crossing of the River Arun at Pulborough, North of South Holmwood, the road turns by a further 7 degrees to the north to approach Dorking.
The average width of the road is 7.4 metres. This is wider than the average 6.51 metres or 22 pedes for Roman roads in Britain, the overall width between the outer ditches, which can still be seen on aerial photographs taken over the South Downs, is 25.6 metres or 86 pedes. The actual width of metalling varies from place to place, the metalling was generally about 30 centimetres thick at the centre with a pronounced camber. Near to the Alfoldean station the metalling was constructed from slag in a solid 30 cm thick mass. There are two known posting stations or mansiones along Stane Street, where official messengers could change horses and these are at Alfoldean and Hardham
London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton /ˈmɜːrtən/ is a borough in south-west London, England. The main commercial centres in Merton are Mitcham and Wimbledon, other smaller centres include Raynes Park, Colliers Wood, South Wimbledon, Wimbledon Park and Pollards Hill. The borough is the host of the Wimbledon tournament, one of tenniss Grand Slam competitions, the borough derives its name from the historic parish of Merton which was centred on the area now known as South Wimbledon. Merton was chosen as a compromise, following a dispute between Wimbledon and Mitcham over the new boroughs name. The local authority is Merton London Borough Council, Colliers Wood Lower Morden Merton Park Mitcham Mitcham Common Morden Morden Park Motspur Park New Malden Norbury Pollards Hill Raynes Park St. This followed four years as a minority administration, at the same time, it elects a deputy mayor to serve alongside the mayor. Since 1978, each Mayor must be an elected councillor, a lot of filming for former ITV police drama The Bill took place in Merton, particularly in the districts of Mitcham and Colliers Wood.
The set of Sun Hill police station was located in the Borough. The main local newspaper in Merton is the Wimbledon Guardian with two editions, Wimbledon along with Mitcham and Morden, the main difference between the papers is the front page. The Wimbledon Post is another newspaper published weekly. Both newspapers are available free, though there is a charge if bought from a newsagent, Square Enix Europe has its head office in Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon. Eidos Interactive, a subsidiary of Square Enix, shares the same head office, Merton is served by a wide range of National Rail stations across the borough, as well as the southern tip of London Undergrounds Northern line and the District line on the Wimbledon branch. The borough is served by several London Tramlink stops from Wimbledon. In 2001, the census recorded that 25% of the population of the borough was from an ethnic minority, the highest ethnic populations were recorded in wards in the east of the borough. The percentage of population from ethnic minorities is predicted to rise across the borough within the next decade, the most affluent wards were in the north and west of the borough.
Comparative crime rates appear to be unrelated to the ranking of wards. Merton currently operates a Police Cadet scheme under the Metropolitan Police Service, the borough gained a football team in 1889 when Wimbledon Old Centrals were founded, and were soon a member of the local football leagues. The club adopted the title Wimbledon FC and moved into a new stadium at Plough Lane in 1912, as the 20th century wore on, the club enjoyed considerable success in non league football
Vikings
The term is commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa.
The form occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts.
The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
Meadow
A meadow is a field habitat vegetated by grass and other non-woody plants. Meadows are of importance because they are open, sunny areas that attract and support flora. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland and they often host a multitude of wildlife, providing areas for courtship displays, food gathering and sometimes sheltering if the vegetation is high enough. Many meadows support an array of wildflowers, which makes them of utmost importance to insects like bees and other pollinating insects. In agriculture, a meadow is grassland which is not regularly grazed by domestic livestock, especially in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a hay meadow, signifying grassland mown annually in the summer for making hay. Agricultural meadows are typically lowland or upland fields upon which hay or pasture grasses grow from self-sown or hand-sown seed, traditional hay meadows were once common in rural Britain, but are now in decline.
Ecologist Professor John Rodwell states that over the past century, fewer than 15.000 hectares of lowland meadows remain in the UK and most sites are relatively small and fragmented. 25% of the UKs meadows are found in Worcestershire, with Fosters Green Meadow managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust being a major site. A similar concept to the hay meadow is the pasture, which differs from the meadow in that it is grazed through the summer, rather than being allowed to grow out, the term, grassland, is used to describe both hay meadows and grass pastures. The specific agricultural practices in relation to the meadow can take on various expressions, as mentioned, this could be hay production or providing food for grazing cattle and livestock but to give room for orchards or honey production. A transitional state can be artificially-maintained through a system, in which cultivated soil. For example, some of todays meadows originated thousands of years ago, types of perpetual meadows may include, Alpine meadows occur at high elevations above the tree line and maintained by harsh climatic conditions.
Coastal meadows maintained by salt sprays, desert meadows restricted by low precipitation or lack of nutrients and humus. Prairies maintained by periods of drought or subject to wildfires. Wet meadows saturated with water much of the year. Apart from the meadows, meadows are often conceived of as artificial or cultural habitats, since they have emerged from and continually require human intervention to persist. It can be argued however, that meadows are really semi-cultural habitats, the reason is, that in many places the natural, pristine populations of free roaming large grazers are either extinct or very limited due to human activities. This reduces or removes their natural influence on the surrounding ecology, mankind has influenced the ecology and the landscape for millennia in many parts of the world, so it can sometimes be difficult to discern what is natural and what is cultural
Gala Bingo Club, Tooting
The Gala Bingo Club, Tooting is a Grade I Listed Building in Tooting, an area in the London borough of Wandsworth. Originally built as one of the great luxurious Art Deco cinemas of the 1930s, in 2000 it became the first Grade I listed 1930s cinema and in 2015 was selected as an asset of community value. The building was first opened as the Granada, Tooting in 1931 and it was designed by the cinema and theater architect Cecil A. Massey for Sidney Bernstein, as part of his Granada cinema chain. Construction had begun in May 1930 and was completed by September the following year, an opening ceremony was held on 7 September 1931 to much local acclaim, more than 2000 patrons had to be turned away due to limited space. It included a performance by trumpeters from The Life Guards and Alex Taylor on the cinemas Wurlitzer, the opening films that night were Monte Carlo and the British short film Two Crowded Hours. Double-features like this one were the main component of the Granadas programming, variety shows would supplement the screening schedule, including theater and music performances as well as a small circus up until 1934.
Through the 1940s and 50s the Granada became more important as a venue in Wandsworth. Artists who performed there included Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, the final artist to perform here would eventually be the Bee Gees on 28 April 1968. From 1970 the cinemas organ would be featured on the BBC Radio 2 program The Organist Entertains, declining attendance throughout the 1960s meant that by 1971 the cinema was only receiving 600 patrons per week. Concerned that this would lead Granada to close and demolish the building, on 28 July 1972 the cinema received Grade II* listed status. Heavy storms in July 1973 led to the flooding of the cinema and this coupled with the decling viewership led to the closing of the cinema on 10 November 1973. The final films shown were The Man Called Noon and Perfect Friday, the building would lie unused for almost three years until it was reopened on 14 October 1976 as the Granada Bingo Club, Tooting. Granada would continue to manage the club until May 1991 when it was taken over by Gala Bingo, on 5 October 2000 the building was relisted as a Grade I listed building, making it one of three such former cinemas in the UK.
It remains the only Grade I cinema of its style, even though the organ had been repaired in 1984 it had remained in relative disuse until 22 April 2007 when a concert was held featuring it. This was the first such concert since the 1970s, unfortunately more storm flooding on 20 July 2007 damaged the organ chamber and console once again. Following a year long campaign by local resident Dan Watkins in December 2015 the bingo hall was listed as an asset of community value. The building, which became the first cinema to be preserved and it was the interior, however that was spectacular. This was designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, a set designer, making use of ornamental plasterwork by Clark and it has marble foyers both at the main and balcony entrances, and a hall of mirrors and deep ceilings more suitable for a palace than a cinema
Feudalism
Feudalism was a combination of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour, since the publication of Elizabeth A. R. There is no commonly accepted definition of feudalism, at least among scholars. Since the publication of Elizabeth A. R, outside a European context, the concept of feudalism is often used only by analogy, most often in discussions of feudal Japan under the shoguns, and sometimes medieval and Gondarine Ethiopia. The term feudalism has been applied—often inappropriately or pejoratively—to non-Western societies where institutions, the term féodal was used in 17th-century French legal treatises and translated into English legal treatises as an adjective, such as feodal government. In the 18th century, Adam Smith, seeking to describe systems, effectively coined the forms feudal government. In the 19th century the adjective feudal evolved into a noun, the term feudalism is recent, first appearing in French in 1823, Italian in 1827, English in 1839, and in German in the second half of the 19th century.
The term feudal or feodal is derived from the medieval Latin word feodum, the etymology of feodum is complex with multiple theories, some suggesting a Germanic origin and others suggesting an Arabic origin. Initially in medieval Latin European documents, a grant in exchange for service was called a beneficium. Later, the term feudum, or feodum, began to replace beneficium in the documents, the first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one-hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, the most widely held theory is put forth by Marc Bloch. Bloch said it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd, in which means cattle and -ôd means goods. This was known as feos, a term that took on the meaning of paying for something in lieu of money. This meaning was applied to itself, in which land was used to pay for fealty. Thus the old word feos meaning movable property changed little by little to feus meaning the exact opposite and this Germanic origin theory was shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century.
Another theory was put forward by Archibald R. Lewis, Lewis said the origin of fief is not feudum, but rather foderum, the earliest attested use being in Astronomuss Vita Hludovici. In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious that says annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant, another theory by Alauddin Samarrai suggests an Arabic origin, from fuyū. Samarrais theory is that early forms of fief include feo, feuz and others, the first use of these terms is in Languedoc, one of the least Germanic areas of Europe and bordering Muslim Spain
Streatham
Streatham is a district in south London, mostly in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is centred 5 miles south of Charing Cross, the area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Streatham means the hamlet on the street, the street in question, the London to Brighton Way, was the Roman road from the capital Londinium to the south coast near Portslade, today within Brighton and Hove. It is likely that the destination was a Roman port now lost to coastal erosion, the road is confusingly referred to as Stane Street in some sources and diverges from the main London-Chichester road at Kennington. After the departure of the Romans, the road through Streatham remained an important trackway. From the 17th century it was adopted as the coach road to Croydon and East Grinstead. In 1780 it became the route of the road from London to Brighton. This road have shaped Streathams development, Streathams first parish church, St Leonards, was founded in Saxon times but an early Tudor tower remains is the only structure pre-1831 which the church has as it was rebuilt.
The mediaeval parish covered an area by including Balham and Tooting Bec. Streatham Cemetery on Garratt Lane on the borders of Wimbledon is one of the few remaining indications of how far west Streatham once extended, Streatham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Estreham. It was held by Bec-Hellouin Abbey from Richard de Tonbrige and its domesday assets were,2 hides,1 virgate and 6½ ploughlands of cultivated land and 4 acres of meadow and herbage. Annually it was assessed to render £4 5s 0d to its overlords, the village remained largely unchanged until the 18th century, when the villages natural springs, known as Streatham Wells, were first celebrated for their health-giving properties. The reputation of the spa, and improved roads, attracted wealthy City of London merchants. These roads are considered an important part of what remains of the historic Streatham Village as they found little or no influence from the growth of metropolitan London. Wellfield Road, which had previously known as Leigham Lane, was renamed to reflect its role as the main route from the village centre to one of the well locations.
Another mineral well was located on the side of Streatham Common. In the 1730s, Streatham Park, a Georgian country mansion, was built by the brewer Ralph Thrale on land he bought from the Lord of the Manor - the fourth Duke of Bedford, the dining room contained 12 portraits of Henrys guests painted by his friend Joshua Reynolds. These pictures were wittily labelled by Fanny Burney as the Streatham Worthies, Streatham Park was leased to Prime Minister Lord Shelburne, and was the venue for early negotiations with France that lead to the Peace Treaty of 1783
Domesday Book
Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states, Then, at the midwinter, was the king in Glocester with his council. After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land, how it was occupied and it was written in Medieval Latin, was highly abbreviated, and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The assessors reckoning of a mans holdings and their values, as recorded in Domesday Book, was dispositive, the name Domesday Book came into use in the 12th century. As Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario, for as the sentence of that strict and terrible last account cannot be evaded by any skilful subterfuge and its sentence cannot be quashed or set aside with impunity. That is why we have called the book the Book of Judgement, because its decisions, like those of the Last Judgement, are unalterable.
The manuscript is held at The National Archives at Kew, London, in 2011, the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online. The book is a primary source for modern historians and historical economists. Domesday Book encompasses two independent works, Little Domesday and Great Domesday, no surveys were made of the City of London, Winchester, or some other towns, probably due to their tax-exempt status. Most of Cumberland and Westmorland are missing, the omission of the other counties and towns is not fully explained, although in particular Cumberland and Westmorland had yet to be fully conquered. Little Domesday – so named because its format is smaller than its companions – is the more detailed survey. It may have represented the first attempt, resulting in a decision to avoid such level of detail in Great Domesday, some of the largest such magnates held several hundred fees, in a few cases in more than one county. For example, the chapter of the Domesday Book Devonshire section concerning Baldwin the Sheriff lists 176 holdings held in-chief by him, as a review of taxes owed, it was highly unpopular.
Each countys list opened with the demesne lands. It should be borne in mind that under the system the king was the only true owner of land in England. He was thus the ultimate overlord and even the greatest magnate could do no more than hold land from him as a tenant under one of the contracts of feudal land tenure. In some counties, one or more principal towns formed the subject of a separate section and this principle applies more specially to the larger volume, in the smaller one, the system is more confused, the execution less perfect. Domesday names a total of 13,418 places and these include fragments of custumals, records of the military service due, of markets, and so forth
Tooting Bec Lido
Tooting Bec Lido is an open-air fresh water swimming pool in South London. It is the largest swimming pool by surface area in the United Kingdom, the Lido is on Tooting Bec Common between Tooting and Streatham. An original condition of construction was that it should be concealed from views across the common by an earth ramp. This ramp is now covered with bird-filled trees, except where it is breached by the new entrance. The alternating bright red and green doors of the changing cubicles seen above the water make the Lido a popular location for advertisement shoots. Brad Pitts boxing pool scene in Snatch was filmed at the Lido, the Lido is operated and maintained by the London Borough of Wandsworth. The Lido is open to the public from late May to the end of September each year. Tooting Bec Lido is home to the South London Swimming Club who have use of the Lido during the winter months. Yearly membership is currently priced at £125, Tooting Bec Lido is one of Britains oldest open air pools — it opened to the public on Saturday 28 July 1906 as the Tooting Bathing-Lake.
Digging the lake had been proposed by the Reverend John Hendry Anderson, Rector of Tooting and it holds one million gallons of water. Segregation of the sexes was enforced, with women and girls confined to one morning a week. Mixed bathing was not introduced until 1931, and only at specified times, at the same time an aerator, or fountain, was added to help pump the water round the pool and keep it clean. The main reason given for this act of modernisation was that women would be swimming in the pool. Five years later, in 1936, a cafe was built along with cubicles with proper doors and it was around this time that the pool became known as a lido. Tooting Bec Lido was nearly closed as a result of Wandsworth councils financial cutbacks in the early 1990s and it was saved as a result of the campaigning efforts of the SLSC who took over the management of the Lido outside the summer season. Since 1999, Wandsworth has invested in making improvements to the Lido, the most visible was the move of the public entrance to the northern shallow end.
This removed the need for children and non-swimmers to pass along the paths at the southern deep end. The new entrance was initially visible from across the Common, reduced the lidos sense of seclusion
