1.
Portland Harbour
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Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. It is naturally protected by Portland to the south, Chesil Beach to the west and it consists of four breakwaters — two southern and two northern. These have a length of 4.57 km and enclose approximately 520 hectares of water. The initial southern breakwaters were built between 1849 and 1872, and Portland Harbour was a Royal Navy base until 1995, historically the original harbour was formed by the protection offered by the south coast of England, Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland. This gave protection from the weather to ships from all directions except the east, the natural shelter was used by ships for centuries, and Romans valued the areas strategic importance. In the 16th century, King Henry VIII built Portland Castle, a refuge harbour had been suggested in 1794, however parliamentary approval was not granted until 1844. Construction of the harbour began in 1845 when the Royal Navy established a base at Portland for replenishment of the fleet. The new base at Portland was to be the first naval anchorage specifically designed for the new steam navy, the construction of the initial two breakwaters - the southern pair - began in 1849, after HRH Prince Albert laid the foundation stone on 25 July 1849. They were designed by engineer James Meadows Rendel, and the carried out under civil engineer John Towlerton Leather, with Rendel as engineer in chief. The two southern breakwaters were declared complete by HRH Edward the Prince of Wales on 10 August 1872, the construction work had become Dorsets greatest tourist attraction, and the countrys most expensive public project. During 1848, HM Prison Portland was opened to provide convict labour, to quarry the stone needed to construct the breakwaters and these were known as the Admiralty Quarries, and provided 10,000 tons of stone per week for use on the breakwaters. The Admiralty Railway was created to transport the stone down to the harbour, a set of various defences were created to defend the harbour. The Verne Citadel, was designed by Captain Crosman R. E. the 56 acre fortress was designed for 1000 troops, and gun emplacements were built facing seawards on three sides. Located on the highest point of Portland, Verne Hill, it sits in a position overlooking Portland Harbour. Below the eastern side of the citadel, East Weare Battery was built during the 1860s, the detention barracks of East Weare Camp were built above the battery circa 1880. On the end of the breakwater the Inner Pierhead Fort was built. In Weymouth, across the side of the harbour, Nothe Fort was built at the end of the Nothe Peninsula. In 1892 the Verne High Angle Battery was built in a disused Portland Stone quarry near the Verne Citadel, the harbour became a Royal Navy base with dockyard, refuelling and training facilities
2.
Verne Citadel
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Verne Citadel is a Victorian citadel on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. Located on the highest point of Portland, Verne Hill, it sits in a position overlooking Portland Harbour. The Verne stands 500 ft high and it later became HM Prison The Verne in 1949. The citadel was built between 1857-81, as Portland Harbours main defensive fortification, naturally inaccessible from the north and east, the south and west sides were protected with the digging of a large ditch. The East Weare Battery below the side of the Verne was considered part of the citadels outworks. The citadel was designed with open gun emplacements on the north, as its defensive role came to an end, by 1903 the citadel became an infantry barracks. During World War I and II, the Verne became the Headquarters of Coast Artillery, during World War II, a Chain Home Low Radar set was installed within the citadel, and the main magazine became a hospital. After the war, the last military use of the fort was by the Royal Engineers, the citadel was turned into a prison in 1949, becoming a Category C prison for 575 adult males, serving medium-to-long term sentences. In 2011, the service opened the public Jailhouse Cafe within the citadel. In 2013, the closed and became an immigration removal centre for 600 detainees awaiting deportation in 2014. The citadel is a monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. This includes the Verne High Angle Battery too, in recent years the Citadel has been listed on English Heritages Risk Register. Both the North and South Entrances, as well as the south west, the railings at the approach to the north entrance form part of the original construction at The Verne, and are Grade II Listed. The prisons reception centre is also Grade II Listed, the East Weare Battery, and the detention barracks of East Weare Camp, both became Grade II Listed in May 1993. The Verne High Angle Battery was built in 1892, approximately 150 metres south of the southern entrance. Decommissioned in 1906, it became Grade II Listed in May 1993 too, Victorian Forts data sheet Verne Citadel Historic pictures of the Verne Citadel and the Army presence there
3.
Weymouth, Dorset
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Weymouth /ˈweɪməθ/ is a seaside town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. The town is 11 kilometres south of Dorchester and 8 kilometres north of the Isle of Portland, the town is the third largest settlement in Dorset after the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole. The A354 road bridge connects Weymouth to Portland, which form the borough of Weymouth. Weymouth originated as a settlement on a site to the south and west of Weymouth Harbour. The town developed from the mid 12th century onwards, but was not noted until the 13th century, by 1252 it was established as a seaport and became a chartered borough. Melcombe Regis developed separately on the peninsula to the north of the harbour, French raiders found the port so accessible that in 1433 the staple was transferred to Poole. Melcombe Regis is thought to be the first port at which the Black Death came into England in June 1348, possibly either aboard a spice ship or an army ship. In their early history Weymouth and Melcombe Regis were rivals for trade and industry, both towns have become known as Weymouth, despite Melcombe Regis being the main centre. The villages of Upwey, Broadwey, Preston, Wyke Regis, Chickerell, Southill, Radipole, King Henry VIII had two Device Forts built to protect the south Dorset coast from invasion in the 1530s, Sandsfoot Castle in Wyke Regis and Portland Castle in Castletown. Parts of Sandsfoot have fallen into the sea due to coastal erosion, during the English Civil War, around 250 people were killed in the local Crabchurch Conspiracy in February 1645. In 1635, on board the ship Charity, around 100 emigrants from the crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Weymouth. More townspeople emigrated to the Americas to bolster the population of Weymouth, Nova Scotia and Salem, Massachusetts, there are memorials to this on the side of Weymouth Harbour and near to Weymouth Pavilion and Weymouth Sea Life Tower. The architect Sir Christopher Wren was the Member of Parliament for Weymouth in 1702, when he designed St Pauls Cathedral, Wren had it built out of Portland Stone, the famous stone of Portlands quarries. Sir James Thornhill was born in the White Hart public house in Melcombe Regis, Thornhill became an artist, and coincidentally decorated the interior of St Pauls Cathedral. A mounted white horse representing the King is carved into the hills of Osmington. Weymouths esplanade is composed of Georgian terraces, which have been converted into apartments, shops, hotels, statues of Victoria, George III and Sir Henry Edwards, Member of Parliament for the borough from 1867 to 1885, and two war memorials stand along the Esplanade. In the centre of the town lies Weymouth Harbour, although it was the reason for the towns foundation, since the 18th century they have been linked by successive bridges over the narrowest part of the harbour. The present Town Bridge, built in 1930, is a bascule bridge allowing boats to access the inner harbour
4.
Isle of Portland
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The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island,6 kilometres long by 2.7 kilometres wide, in the English Channel. Portland is 8 kilometres south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, a barrier beach called the Chesil Beach joins it to the mainland. The A354 road passes down the Portland end of the beach, Portland and Weymouth together form the borough of Weymouth and Portland. The population of Portland is 12,400, Portland is a central part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site on the Dorset and east Devon coast, important for its geology and landforms. Portland stone, famous for its use in British and world architecture, including St Pauls Cathedral, Portland Harbour, in between Portland and Weymouth, is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. The harbour was made by the building of stone breakwaters between 1848 and 1905, the harbour is now a civilian port and popular recreation area, and was used for the 2012 Olympic Games. The name Portland is used for one of the British Sea Areas, the Romans occupied Portland, reputedly calling it Vindelis. The Vikings first raid on England occurred in Portland in 787 AD, three lost Viking ships from Hordaland landed at Portland Bill. The kings reeve tried to collect taxes from them, but they killed him, in 1539 King Henry VIII ordered the construction of Portland Castle for defence against attacks by the French, the castle cost £4,964. It is one of the best preserved castles from this period, well-known buildings in the capital, including St Pauls Cathedral and the eastern front of Buckingham Palace feature the stone. Portland cement has nothing to do with Portland, it was so named due to its colour to Portland stone when mixed with lime. There have been railways in Portland since the early 19th century, the Merchants Railway was the earliest—it opened in 1826 and ran from the quarries at the north of Tophill to a pier at Castletown, from where the Portland stone was shipped around the country. The line closed to passengers in 1952, and the goods train ran in April 1965. The Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck stationed a lifeboat at Portland in 1826, coastal flooding has affected Portlands residents and transport for centuries—the only way off the island by land is along the causeway in the lee of Chesil Beach. At times of extreme floods this road link is cut by floods, the low-lying village of Chiswell used to flood on average every 5 years. Chesil Beach occasionally faces severe storms and massive waves, which have a fetch across the Atlantic Ocean, in the 1980s it was agreed that a scheme to protect against a one-in-five-year storm would be practicable, it would reduce flood depth and duration in more severe storms. At the start of the First World War, HMS Hood was sunk in the passage between the southern breakwaters to protect the harbour from torpedo and submarine attack. Portland Harbour was formed by the construction of breakwaters, but before that the anchorage had hosted ships of the Royal Navy for more than 500 years
5.
Dorset
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Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
6.
Weymouth Bay
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Weymouth Bay is a sheltered bay on the south coast of England, in Dorset. Weymouth Bay is situated halfway along the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The bays waters are excellent for sailing — the best sailing waters in northern Europe and this means that Portland Bill can be accessed easily from anywhere on Weymouth Bay by sailing when the tide is turning as an eddy flows along Portlands eastern side. The bay is home to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, since the games, the Academys venue has continued to improve to ensure a legacy for the Olympic Games. Weymouth Bay, Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill was painted by the leading English landscape artist John Constable in 1816–17, Constable had honeymooned on the south coast in October 1816, inspiring the painting. The painting now hangs in the National Gallery, London
7.
Venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
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The 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics venues were mostly located in the host city of London, though some other events required facilities located elsewhere. Between the successful bid and the Olympics and Paralympics themselves, several details, the 2012 Games used a mixture of newly built venues, existing facilities and temporary facilities, some of them in well known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, some of the facilities are being reused in their Olympic form, while others were constructed so that they could either be reduced in size or moved elsewhere in the UK. The plans were intended to contribute to the regeneration of Stratford in east London which is the site of the Olympic Park, the venues within Greater London were divided into three zones, the Olympic Zone, the River Zone and the Central Zone. In addition to these were venues that, by necessity, are outside the boundaries of Greater London, the IOC has a number of major blue-chip sponsors for the Olympics, who are entitled to have their name exclusively associated with the event. As a consequence, any company that provided sponsorship was not permitted to use its name or branding during the games. This park was developed on existing waste and industrial land, and is seven minutes by Olympic Javelin train from central London. The park contained in the following below,1, - As part of Lee Valley VeloPark 2, - Hockey facilities moved to Eton Manor The Olympic Village, with accommodation for all athletes and team officials. After the games the village become a district of the Stratford City development. The Olympic Press and Broadcast Centres, Park Live The original plan called for the construction of five new indoor arenas, four in the Olympic Park, and one in the River Zone. In order to save money this was reduced to two, the existing venues at Earls Court and Wembley Arena were added to the plans, and various sports were shuffled around to make this possible. Civil engineering companies Morrisons and Nuttalls were appointed to undertake the demolition and land remediation works, the pace of this speeded up with the closure of the roads crossing the Olympic Park in June 2007. The construction phase of the Olympic Park was managed by CLM and this consortium is officially titled Delivery Partner, ODA. The earliest construction of venues commenced in April 2008 with the start of the main build on the Olympic Stadium by McAlpine, work on the Aquatics Centre began later the same year. During the construction phase the workforce on-site is expected to peak at 9,000 operatives, accidents during construction of the venues resulted in no deaths - the only time this has happened in the history of Olympic construction. However, the cost led to alternatives being suggested, eventually leading to the cancellation of the arena, the Central Zone is formed out of all the remaining venues within Greater London. This was achieved predominantly by providing accommodation for London-based athletes only and those competing in events outside London were to be housed elsewhere. Following the athletes experiences in Beijing 2008 this compromise was to be reconsidered whilst pressure built for the deal to be resolved
8.
2012 Summer Olympics
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It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 25 July to 12 August 2012. The first event, the stage in womens football began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated, London is the first and only city thus far to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability, the main focus was a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid, the Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly. During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Womens boxing was included for the first time, thus the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors and these were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several world and Olympic records were set at the games. Furthermore, the focus on sporting legacy and post-games venue sustainability was seen as a blueprint for future Olympics. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a technical evaluation. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February, throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin and its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris, on 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive, London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, but my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, on 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York, the final two contenders were London and Paris
9.
2012 Paralympics
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They were the first-ever organized sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, the rights to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to London. As with the Olympics, the 2012 Summer Paralympics were overseen by LOCOG, LOCOG was responsible for overseeing the staging of the games, while the ODA dealt with infrastructure and venues. The Government Olympic Executive within the Department for Culture, Media, the GOE reported through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Sports and the Olympics Hugh Robertson. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy, the 2012 Summer Paralympics used many of the same venues as the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with two new locations such as Eton Manor for wheelchair tennis and Brands Hatch for road cycling. Londons purpose-built Olympic venues and facilities, including the Olympic Village itself, were designed to be accessible as possible so they could accommodate the Paralympics. Some venues also contained additional accessible seating areas during the Paralympics, transport for London operated the Paralympic Route Network to facilitate road traffic between venues and facilities. The network provided 8.7 miles of lanes specifically reserved for Paralympic athletes, TfL continued to operate its Get Ahead of the Games website during the Paralympics, which provided updates and advice for commuters during the Games. Prior to the Games, concerns were raised by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that Londons transportation system might not be able to handle the Paralympics adequately, Sevenoaks railway station was designated as the preferred station for spectators travelling to watch the cycling at Brands Hatch. Organisers chose Sevenoaks over the closer Swanley railway station because of its existing step-free access and excellent transport links, whilst organisers did not believe that Swanley would be able to have wheelchair lifts installed by the start of the Paralympics, the station finished their installation by early August 2012. The formal handover occurred during the ceremony of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. This was followed by a presentation by Britain, which was similar to its presentation during the Olympics closing ceremony. It featured urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet, and Candoco, a double-decker bus drove around the stadium, guided by Ade Adepitan, to music composed by Philip Sheppard. The top of the bus was open and folded down to show a privet hedge featuring London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Cherisse Osei, drummer for Mika, and Sam Hegedus then performed, before the top of the bus folded up into its original form, both the Paralympic and Olympic flags were formally raised outside of Londons City Hall on 26 September 2008. British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Chris Holmes raised the Paralympic flag, on 8 September 2011 Trafalgar Square staged International Paralympic Day, hosted by Rick Edwards, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas, to coincide with a visit to London by representatives of the IPC. The event celebrated the Paralympic Games, showcasing and demonstrating the 20 sports that would feature during the Games and it also featured appearances by Paralympic athletes Oscar Pistorius, Ellie Simmonds and Sascha Kindred, and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Pistorius by Ben Dearnley. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Londons mayor Boris Johnson also appeared, two days later on 10 September, supermarket chain Sainsburys and Channel 4 presented Sainsburys Super Saturday, a family event at Clapham Common
10.
Princess Royal
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Anne, Princess Royal, KG KT GCVO GCStJ QSO GCL CD is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession, behind her mother - then Princess Elizabeth - and she is currently 12th in line. Anne is known for her work, and is patron of over 200 organisations. Princess Anne has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987 and is its seventh holder, Anne was married to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, they divorced in 1992. They have two children and three grandchildren, in 1992, within months of her divorce, Anne married Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, whom she had met while he served as her mothers equerry between 1986 and 1989. Anne was born at Clarence House on 15 August 1950 at 11,50 am, as the child and only daughter of Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh. She was the grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Anne was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 21 October 1950, by Archbishop of York, after the death of George VI, Annes mother ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. Given her young age at the time, she did not attend the coronation, the Company was active until 1963, when Anne went to boarding school. Anne enrolled at Benenden School in 1963, in 1968 she left school with six GCE O-Levels and two A-Levels. In the next couple of years, Anne started dating, in 1970 her first boyfriend was Andrew Parker Bowles, who later became the first husband of Camilla Shand. Following the wedding, Anne and her husband lived at Gatcombe Park and he was made acting captain by the start of 1974 when he was appointed a personal aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. By 1989, however, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, the couple divorced on 23 April 1992. The Queen had offered Phillips an earldom on his wedding day, the couple had two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips. As female-line descendants of royalty, the children have no title despite being the grandchildren of a monarch, Anne became a grandmother on 29 December 2010 when Peter and his wife Autumn had a daughter, Savannah. On 29 March 2012, the couple had daughter, Isla. Annes third granddaughter, Mia Grace, was born on 17 January 2014 to Zara and her husband Mike Tindall. As Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were returning to Buckingham Palace on 20 March 1974, from a charity event on Pall Mall, the driver of the Escort, Ian Ball, jumped out and began firing a pistol
11.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
12.
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
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The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom. It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994,2001, the lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the government of John Major in 1994. All prizes are paid as a sum and are tax-free. 5% to cover operating costs and 0. 5% as profit. Lottery tickets and scratch cards may be only by people of at least 16 years of age. A statute of 1698 provided that in England lotteries were by default illegal unless specifically authorised by statute, early English state lotteries included the Million Lottery and the Malt Lottery. These Lotteries were part of a series of experiments by the English government including recoinage. A1934 Act, further liberalised in 1956 and 1976, legalised small lotteries, the UKs state-franchised lottery was set up under government licence by the government of John Major in 1993. The National Lottery is franchised to an operator, the Camelot Group was awarded the franchise on 25 May 1994. The first draw took place on 19 November 1994 with a programme presented by Noel Edmonds. The first numbers drawn were 30,3,5,44,14 and 22, the bonus was 10, tickets became available on the Isle of Man on 2 December 1999 at the request of Tynwald. The National Lottery undertook a rebranding programme in late 2002 designed to combat falling sales. The main game was renamed Lotto, and the National Lottery Extra became Lotto Extra, the stylized crossed-fingers logo was modified. However, the games as a collective are still known as the National Lottery and it is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the United Kingdom. In November 2009 Camelot replaced its older Lotto draw machines, the new machines are named Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin, reusing the names of older machines. At the same time, new machines for the Thunderball game were introduced, the new Lotto machines are the Magnum II model, manufactured by Smartplay International Inc. and the new Thunderball machines are the Smartplay Halogen II model. The ticket purchaser for a syndicate, typically its manager, must meet the eligibility criteria for ticket purchase, in the draw, six numbered balls are drawn without replacement from a set of 59 balls numbered from 1 to 59. A further Bonus Ball is also drawn, which only players who match five numbers. Prizes are awarded to players who match at least three of the six numbers, with prizes increasing for matching more of the drawn numbers
13.
South West England
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South West England is one of nine official regions of England. It is the largest in area, covering 9,200 square miles, five million people live in South West England. The region includes the West Country and much of the ancient kingdom of Wessex, other major urban centres include Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Exeter, Bath, Torbay, and the South East Dorset conurbation. There are eight cities, Salisbury, Bath, Wells, Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth and it includes two entire national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and four World Heritage Sites, including Stonehenge and the Jurassic Coast. The northern part of Gloucestershire, near Chipping Campden, is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall, the region has by far the longest coastline in England and many seaside fishing towns. The region is at the first-level of NUTS for Eurostat purposes, key data and facts about the region are produced by the South West Observatory. Following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly and Government Office, the region is known for its rich folklore, including the legend of King Arthur and Glastonbury Tor, as well as its traditions and customs. Cornwall has its own language, Cornish, and some regard it as a Celtic nation, the South West of England is known for Cheddar cheese, which originated in the Somerset village of Cheddar, Devon cream teas, crabs, Cornish pasties, and cider. It is also home to the Eden Project, Aardman Animations, the Glastonbury Festival, most of the region is located on the South West Peninsula, between the English Channel and Bristol Channel. It has the longest coastline of all the English regions, totalling over 700 miles, much of the coast is now protected from further substantial development because of its environmental importance, which contributes to the region’s attractiveness to tourists and residents. Geologically the region is divided into the largely igneous and metamorphic west and sedimentary east, Cornwall and West Devons landscape is of rocky coastline and high moorland, notably at Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor. These are due to the granite and slate that underlie the area, the highest point of the region is High Willhays, at 2,038 feet, on Dartmoor. In North Devon the slates of the west and limestones of the east meet at Exmoor National Park, the variety of rocks of similar ages seen here have led to the countys name being lent to that of the Devonian period. The east of the region is characterised by wide, flat clay vales and chalk, the vales, with good irrigation, are home to the regions dairy agriculture. The Blackmore Vale was Thomas Hardys Vale of the Little Dairies, another and these downs are the principal area of arable agriculture in the region. Limestone is also found in the region, at the Cotswolds, Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills, all of the principal rock types can be seen on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon, where they document the entire Mesozoic era from west to east. The climate of South West England is classed as oceanic according to the Köppen climate classification, the oceanic climate typically experiences cool winters with warmer summers and precipitation all year round, with more experienced in winter. Annual rainfall is about 1,000 millimetres and up to 2,000 millimetres on higher ground, summer maxima averages range from 18 °C to 22 °C and winter minimum averages range from 1 °C to 4 °C across the south-west
14.
Regional Development Agency
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There was one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England. They took over responsibility from Government Offices for administering European Union regional development funds, the total funding known as the Single Pot was as below. 2006/2007 — £2.244 billion 2007/2008 — £2.297 billion 2008/2009 — £2.193 billion 2009/2010 — £2.260 billion 2010/2011 — £1.50 when long-term investments in infrastructure matured. Each RDA was led by a Chair and a Board of 15 people, the RDA Chairs were all business people, while the Boards were made up of representatives of business, local government, trade unions and voluntary organisations. The day-to-day running of the RDA was the responsibility of the Chief Executive who was appointed by the Board, the objectives of the RDAs were set out in the Regional Economic Strategy of each region. The RES was a document created and maintained by the RDA for the region, i. e. it was not simply a document to guide the RDA. The RES was submitted to the Department for Business, Innovation, the RDAs sought to achieve their objectives in a variety of ways. The most obvious of these was by funding projects aimed at addressing them, either directly from the RDA, secondly, they sought to influence other stakeholders in the region to take action themselves. Thirdly, they sought to influence the policies of government where they might impact on the Region. The RDAs worked together in a number of areas, with different RDAs taking the role in varying policy areas. Additionally, the RDAs jointly funded a central secretariat to co-ordinate this activity, finally, the three northern RDAs collaborated on The Northern Way. Each RDA had a science and industry made up of business, university. Each SIC advised its RDA on science and innovation investments, each region had a slightly different focus, but all SICs contributed to the national Technology Strategy. This was done via an advisory group on which the chairs of each science. The RDAs were abolished on 31 March 2012
15.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
16.
Chesil Beach
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Chesil Beach /ˈtʃɛzᵻl/, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, the shingle beach is 29 kilometres long,200 metres wide and 15 metres high. The beach and the Fleet are part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at the eastern end of the beach at the village of Chiswell, against the cliffs of the Isle of Portland, the beach curves round sharply to form Chesil Cove. This part of the beach protects the village from flooding. The beach has been the scene of many shipwrecks, and as such was named by Thomas Hardy as Dead Mans Bay, westwards the shingle forms a straight line along the coast, enclosing the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. The beach provides shelter from the winds and waves for the town of Weymouth. It is said that smugglers who landed on the beach in the middle of the night could judge exactly where they were by the size of the shingle, there are three owners of the beach. The Crown Estates own the beach from Portland to its boundary stone at Littlesea, finally from West Bexington to West Bay it is owned by the National Trust. The whole of Chesil Beach south from the Portland Bound Stone is registered common land over which there is a right of access on foot. The origin of Chesil Beach has been argued over for some time, originally it was believed that beach material was from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. Normally, tombolos are created due to the effects of the island on waves and to sediment transport, fossils occur all along the landward shore of the Fleet and along the landward side of Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury to West Bay. The main site is at Burton Bradstock, there have been many shipwrecks on Chesil Beach, particularly during the age of sail. The beach was particularly dangerous within the English Channel, as it forms an extended lee shore during south-westerly gales, a ship coming up the Channel had to clear Portland Bill to be safe, but the wind and tide would be pushing it northwards into Lyme Bay. At present there are no manned stations along the beach, as coverage is provided when required from Portland Coastguard, the local fishermen, particularly at Portland, developed a purpose-built vessel to withstand the sea actions of Chesil Beach. The boat, known as a Lerret, is an open fishing boat - 16–17 feet long - used for seine net fishing. It is usually rowed by four people with a fifth to steer, much of the villages Fleet and Chiswell were destroyed in the Great Storm of 1824. Over the centuries Chiswell had battled with the sea and was flooded during rough winter storms. In the storms the sea would pour through the part of the bank
17.
Hoist (device)
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A hoist is a device used for lifting or lowering a load by means of a drum or lift-wheel around which rope or chain wraps. It may be operated, electrically or pneumatically driven and may use chain. The load is attached to the hoist by means of a lifting hook, the basic hoist has two important characteristics to define it, Lifting medium and power type. The lifting medium is either wire rope, wrapped around a drum, or load-chain, the power can be provided by different means. Common means are hydraulics, electrical and air driven motors, both the wire rope hoist and chain hoist have been in common use since the 1800s, however mass production of an electric hoist did not start until the early 1900s and was first adapted by Germany. A hoist can be built as one unit, designed for cost-effective purchasing and moderate use, or it can be built as a built-up custom unit, designed for durability. The built-up hoist will be more expensive, but will also be easier to repair. Package units were regarded as being designed for light to moderate usage. Built-up units are designed for heavy to severe service, but over the years that market has decreased in size since the advent of the more durable packaged hoist. A machine shop or fabricating shop will use an integral-package hoist, while a Steel Mill or NASA would use a unit to meet durability, performance. NASA has also seen a change in the use of package hoists, the NASA Astronaut training pool, for example, utilizes cranes with packaged hoists. The more commonly used hoist in todays worldwide market is an electrically powered hoist and these are either the chain type or the wire rope type. See the Hoists Manufacturers Institute site for true life calculation which is based on load, in todays modern world for the North American market there are a few governing bodies for the industry. The Overhead Alliance is a group that represents Crane Manufacturers Association of America, Hoist Manufacturers Institute and these product counsels of the Material Handling Industry of America have joined forces to create promotional materials to raise the awareness of the benefits to overhead lifting. The members of group are marketing representatives of the member companies. Common small portable hoists are of two types, the chain hoist or chain block and the wire rope or cable type. Chain hoists may have a lever to actuate the hoist or have a loop of operating chain that one pulls through the block which then activates the block to take up the main lifting chain. For a given rated load wire rope is lighter in weight per unit length, the lift chain of a chain hoist is far larger than the liftwheel over which chain may function
18.
Solar cell
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A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. It is a form of cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage, or resistance. Solar cells are the blocks of photovoltaic modules, otherwise known as solar panels. Solar cells are described as being photovoltaic, irrespective of whether the source is sunlight or an artificial light and they are used as a photodetector, detecting light or other electromagnetic radiation near the visible range, or measuring light intensity. The operation of a cell requires three basic attributes, The absorption of light, generating either electron-hole pairs or excitons. The separation of carriers of opposite types. The separate extraction of those carriers to an external circuit, in contrast, a solar thermal collector supplies heat by absorbing sunlight, for the purpose of either direct heating or indirect electrical power generation from heat. A photoelectrolytic cell, on the hand, refers either to a type of photovoltaic cell. Assemblies of solar cells are used to make solar modules that generate power from sunlight. A solar array generates power using solar energy. Multiple solar cells in a group, all oriented in one plane. Photovoltaic modules often have a sheet of glass on the sun-facing side, Solar cells are usually connected in series and parallel circuits or series in modules, creating an additive voltage. Strings of series cells are usually handled independently and not connected in parallel, though as of 2014, individual power boxes are often supplied for each module, and are connected in parallel. Although modules can be interconnected to create an array with the desired peak DC voltage and loading current capacity, otherwise, shunt diodes can reduce shadowing power loss in arrays with series/parallel connected cells. The photovoltaic effect was demonstrated first by French physicist Edmond Becquerel. In 1839, at age 19, he built the worlds first photovoltaic cell in his fathers laboratory, willoughby Smith first described the Effect of Light on Selenium during the passage of an Electric Current in a 20 February 1873 issue of Nature. In 1883 Charles Fritts built the first solid state photovoltaic cell by coating the semiconductor selenium with a layer of gold to form the junctions. In 1888 Russian physicist Aleksandr Stoletov built the first cell based on the photoelectric effect discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887
19.
South West of England Regional Development Agency
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The South West of England Regional Development Agency was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by the United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of an economy in South West England. It was abolished along with all the other RDAs on 31 March 2012, each of Englands RDAs was required to work with partners in the region to draw together a Regional Economic Strategy. This document set out for the region how the RDAs statutory objectives would be met. These strategies were owned by the region, not just the RDA. Significant examples include, Wave Hub, the world’s largest ocean test site for renewable energy devices. The Eden Project, with over £1bn economic impact since opening in 2001, national Composites Centre, a world-class centre for composite material manufacture and design. Combined Universities in Cornwall, transforming higher education in Cornwall since 2001, Regional Infrastructure Fund, providing essential infrastructure across the region in places such as Poole, Taunton, east of Exeter and Bristol. Marine Skills Centres in Poole, Plymouth and Falmouth, delivering over 14,000 marine training courses, osprey Quay, a £38 million investment to revitalise a former Royal Navy air base – including bringing the Olympic sailing regatta to Weymouth and Portland. Airbus ‘Integrated Wing’ project, generating over 850 highly skilled jobs, PRIMARE and Plymouth Science and Innovation Programme, a £7.3 million investment for world-beating marine energy knowledge collaboration. Major urban regeneration investment in – among others – Bristol, Gloucester, Plymouth, Swindon, rural Development Programme for England across the region, including Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. Provided 130,000 people with new work-related skills Through the regional Business Link network, helped over 100,000 businesses improve their performance and save over £220 million in costs. The SWRDA had an budget of around £160 million and spent almost £2 million opening offices as far away as Australia and China. In the 2007–8 financial year, SWRDA also started an operation in Mumbai, in March 2008 former Bristol Lord Mayor Peter Abraham criticised the SWRDA for these actions, saying that it should be more publicly accountable. The South West Science and Industry Council advised the SWRDA on the use of science, technology. The SWRDA provided funding for the South West Observatory, an organisation which produces key data. Regen SW is the energy agency for South West England. South West of England Regional Development Agency South West of England Regional Development Agencys press and news site
20.
Portland Castle
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Portland Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, between 1539 and 1541. It formed part of the Kings Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, the fan-shaped castle was built from Portland stone, with a curved central tower and a gun battery, flanked by two angular wings. During the English Civil War, Portland was taken by the Royalist supporters of King Charles I, Portland continued in use as a fort until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, when it was converted into a private house. Fresh concerns over invasion led to the War Office taking it over again in 1869. During the First and Second World Wars it was used as offices, accommodation, in 1949, the War Office relinquished control, and in 1955 it was opened to the public by the state. In the 21st century it is managed by English Heritage and operated as a tourist attraction, historic England consider the castle to form one of the best preserved and best known examples of King Henrys forts. Portland Castle was built as a consequence of international tensions between England, France and the Holy Roman Empire in the years of the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1533, Henry broke with Pope Paul III in order to annul the marriage to his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was the aunt of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and this resulted in France and the Empire declaring an alliance against Henry in 1538, and the Pope encouraging the two countries to attack England. An invasion of England appeared certain, in response, Henry issued an order, called a device, in 1539, giving instructions for the defence of the realm in time of invasion and the construction of forts along the English coastline. Work began that summer, with Oliver Lawrence acting as the paymaster for the project. Thomas Mervin was appointed as captain, with a garrison of four gunners, the threat of a French invasion passed, and peace was declared in 1558. Attention shifted away from Portland, and a 1574 survey reported that the castle was in a poor condition, tensions with Spain grew and military attention focused on the threat to the south-west of England. War broke out in 1585, and £228 was spent on renovating Portland Castle, in 1596, the garrison still comprised a captain and 13 men. In the early 1600s, England was at peace with France and Spain, fourteen years later, the castle had 15 guns and a garrison of a captain and 12 men. When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, Portland was initially controlled by Parliamentary forces, the castle was captured in 1643 by a group of Royalists who gained access by pretending to be Parliamentary soldiers. As the war turned against the King in the south-west, Parliamentary forces besieged the castle for four months in 1644, the castle finally surrendered to Vice-Admiral William Batten in April 1646. During the Interregnum, Portland Castle continued to be garrisoned and used a prison and it was used to defend the Portland Roads during the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1653, seeing action in a three-day long naval battle between English and Dutch forces
21.
Royal Yachting Association
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The Royal Yachting Association is the national governing body for certain watersports in the United Kingdom. The Yacht Racing Association was founded in November,1875 and its initial purpose was to standardise the rules of measurement to different racing yachts, so that boats of different classes could compete fairly against each other. Membership at the time cost two guineas and was available to former and present owners of racing yachts of and above 10 tonnes, thames measurement and such other gentlemen as the committee may elect. In 1953 the YRA became the Royal Yachting Association, the RYAs purpose is to Promote and Protect Safe, Successful and Rewarding British Boating. The RYA is the body for all forms of recreational. It represents dinghy and yacht racing, motor and sail cruising, RIBs and sportsboats, powerboat racing, windsurfing, inland cruising and personal watercraft. The RYA manages the British sailing team and Great Britain won more sailing medals than any nation at each of the 2000,2004,2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. The RYA is recognised by Government as being the primary body for the activities it represents. The RYA currently has over 100,000 personal members, the majority of whom choose to go afloat for purely recreational non-competitive pleasure on coastal and inland waters. There are an estimated further 500,000 boat owners nationally who are members of over 1,500 RYA affiliated clubs, the RYA also sets and maintains an international standard for recreational boat training through a network of over 2,500 RYA Recognised Training Centres in 47 countries. On average, more than 150,000 people per year complete RYA training courses, the main function of the policy committees and sub-committees is to agree and oversee the implementation of RYA policy in their respective areas. Responsibility for day-to-day management of each area rests with the RYAs professional staff, more information about the RYAs main committees and sub-committees can be found on the Associations website. The RYA Training Scheme is currently delivered in 47 countries through a network of over 2,500 recognised training centres, the RYA also publishes over 200 supporting titles for its activities. There are, Over 2,500 RYA recognised training centres in more than 47 countries,22,000 RYA instructors across the world. 15,000 professionals working on commercial vessels using RYA Certificates of Competence,155,000 people completing RYA courses every year. Over 300,000 expert RYA publications added each year to the libraries of recreational and professional boaters. Over 100 professional and recreational courses on the water, in the classroom, the RYA is given responsibility for issuing certificates of competence on behalf of the British Government through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, an agency of the Department of Transport. The RYA training program, Essential navigation and seamanship course Competent Crew Day Skipper theory Day Skipper practical, can be done in tidal or non-tidal waters for tidal and non-tidal certificates
22.
Topper (dinghy)
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The Topper is an 11 foot 43 kg sailing dinghy designed by Ian Proctor. The Topper is a boat sailed mostly around Ireland and the United Kingdom. It was recognised as an International class by the International Sailing Federation, the boat is constructed from polypropylene, and is popular as a racing boat or for sail training. The class association organise the racing events and these events range from small travellers to major championships. The RYA run squads alongside the events in these squads are talented young sailors who are given specialist race coaching. The Topper was designed by Ian Proctor in 1977 as a One-Design racing boat, the Topper has been in continuous production for over three decades and over 50,000 models have now been sold. The Topper dinghy is built in the UK, to the One-Design of Ian Proctor, Topper International Ltd are owned by Martin Fry who purchased the company from Guinness Leisure in 1983. The Topper dinghy is used for racing, but it has also gained popularity as a boat in which to learn how to sail. Following this change from the GRP to the injection moulded Polypropylene hull, although the Topper was originally rigged with an aft mainsheet, since 2004 the option to use a centre main has been allowed. The motivation for such a change being that most other dinghies, in 2005 a smaller 4.2 m² sail was approved, which can optionally be used in favour of the standard 5.3 m² sail. The smaller sail is more efficient than a sail that is reefed. The first 4. 2m² national championships were held in 2010, at 11 the Topper is transportable by car, and the mast splits into two sections, allowing the spars to be stored and transported. Despite the age of the design, the Topper Class remains one of the fastest growing classes in the UK, the Topper class is a full ISAF International Class. Over 350 boats attended the most recent UK Nationals and Inland Championships, every year there is also a World Championships -200 boats competed at the Topper Worlds in 2011. One of the favorite venues is Lake Garda where for the first time ever the competition was held in consecutive years in 2006/07. The 2014 GBR and World Championships are held in Pwllheli, north Wales, the Topper Class consistently has the highest turnouts at the RYA Zone Championships and the highest percentage of RYA Transitional Youth Squad members. Most GB Young Sailor of the Year nominations in recent years have come from within the Topper Class, the RYA recognise the Topper Class as the most successful pathway class
23.
J/24
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The J/24 is an international One-Design keelboat class as defined by the International Sailing Federation. The J/24 was created to fulfill the needs of recreational sailors such as cruising, one design racing, day sailing. It is the worlds most popular One-Design keelboat as measured by hulls produced, in the summer of 1975 Rodney Johnstone designed and built hull number 1 in his garage in Stonington, Connecticut. Ragtime would serve as the mould for the subsequent hulls. This design allowed him to start the very successful J-Boat company with his brother Bob Johnstone, by 1978 the class was popular enough to hold a one-design regatta in Key West with twenty boats on the line. Early boats need a lot of work to rebuild their keel shape to make them point and these older boats can be modified if one wants a competitive J/24. New boat manufacturing is done by companies around the world in France, USA, Italy. In the US, J/24s are built by US Watercraft, as of January 2009, approximately 5,475 J/24s have been produced. Approximately 20 new boats were produced in 2008, the average price of a complete, new boat without sails was approximately £20,000. The international authority for the class is the ISAF, which cooperate with the International J/24 Class Association on all matters regarding these rules. Interpretations of these rules shall be made by the ISAF, which in coming to its decision may consult the International J/24 Class Association, the International J24 Class Association has the sole authority worldwide for the conduct and management of the International J/24 Class. The IJCA Constitution, the By-laws and other regulations are binding on all members, the J/24 is no longer considered the most modern sailboat in its class, but it is still a very popular sailboat among keelboat racers. This is one of the advantages of One-Design sailing that the J/24 is benefitting from. Another reason for its popularity is that it is easy and inexpensive to acquire a used boat. There are 136 active fleets in the US alone, which offer a lot of race competition and this makes the J/24 a popular boat for beginners and experienced sailors
24.
2004 Summer Olympics
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10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports, Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. 2004 marked the return of the games to the city where they began, a new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games. This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue, the new design features the Panathenaic Stadium. The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis, some of the venues lie vacant and rotting, while others are in use, the Independent newspaper reports as many as 21 out of 22 are unused. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several World and Olympics records were broken during the games. Several concerns were raised over the preparations of the Games and these included excessive budget overruns, infrastructural compromise, the games were deemed generally successful with the rising standard of competition amongst nations across the world. Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997, Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. 1996 coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the first modern Olympics, under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated Rome in the 5th, cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires, the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996 and these cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, Saint Petersburg and Cali. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games cost the Government of Greece €8.954 billion to stage, the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, responsible for the preparation and organisation of the games, concluded its operations as a company in 2005 with a surplus of €130.6 million. ATHOC contributed €123.6 million of the surplus to the Greek State to cover other related expenditures of the Greek State in organizing of the games, as a result, ATHOC reported in its official published accounts a net profit of €7 million. The State’s contribution to the total ATHOC budget was 8% of its expenditure against an originally anticipated 14%, the overall revenue of ATHOC, including income from tickets, sponsors, broadcasting rights, merchandise sales etc. totalled €2,098.4 million. The largest percentage of income came from broadcasting rights. The overall expenditure of ATHOC was €1,967.8 million. e, the large projects required for the upgrade of the country’s infrastructure, including sports infrastructure, roads, airports, hospitals, power grid etc. This cost, however, is not directly attributable to the organisation of the Games. Such infrastructure projects are considered by all standards as fixed asset investments that stay with the hosting country for decades after the Games
25.
World Sailing
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World Sailing is the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. As a result, an International Conference of Yacht Measurement was held in London in January and June 1906, at which the Metre Rule was developed. This group went on to adopt a formal Constitution after a meeting at the Yacht Club de France in Paris on 14 October 1907 which is seen as the date of the International Yacht Racing Union. On 5 August 1996, the IYRU changed its name to the International Sailing Federation, on 14 November 2015, ISAF changed its name to World Sailing. Competitive sailing regatta contain events which are defined by a combination of discipline, equipment, gender and these criteria are defined by the race purpose. The following are the disciplines, Fleet Racing – The commonest form of competitive sailing involving boats racing around a course. Match Racing – Two identical boats race against each other and this is one-on-one duel requires strategy and tactics. The first to cross the line wins. Team Racing – Two teams each of three boats compete against each other. Fast paced racing depends on excellent boat handling skills and rapid tactical decision making, offshore/Oceanic – Any offshore race over 800 miles, including races around the world. Speed Sailing - Is managed by World Speed Sailing Record Council Wave riding is common to board sports Both windsurfing and kiteboarding are experimenting with new formats, cruising – Can be a coastal day sail or a longer distance international journeys, it is the most commonly enjoyed sailing discipline. Common categories of equipment include the following dinghies, multihulls, keelboats sailing yacht windsurfers, kiteboarding, within these categories normally specific class or rating system are used. The majority of sailing events are events in which males and females compete together on equal terms either as individuals or part of team. Sailing has had female only World Championships since the 1970s to encourage participation, for the 2016 Olympics, compulsory mixed gender in the event will be added for the first time. Para sailing regattas for para sailors likewise follow the World Sailing rulebook with a change to permit things like powered adoptations. Strict classification requirements are enforced in the Paralympic Games for fair competition in Paralympic-class keelboats, the key documents under control of World Sailing are, Racing Rules of Sailing – The RRS Rulebook is updated on every Olympic year. The federation recognizes over 80 classes which are entitled to hold world championships. Offshore Racing Congress World Sailing Speed Record Council International Radio Sailing Association World Sailing is responsible for administration of the Olympic Sailing Regatta, Sailing has been a mainstay of the modern summer Olympic games since 1896, omitted only from the 1904 summer games in St. Louis
26.
British Universities and Colleges Sport
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British Universities & Colleges Sport is the governing body for university sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of the British Universities Sports Association, BUCS is responsible for organising more than 50 inter-university sports within the UK and representative teams for the World University Championships and the World University Games. BUCS is an organisation for over 170 universities and colleges in the UK. BUCS membership is open to all entities that are recognised higher education providers, including universities, HE colleges. BUCS organises a national championships event for individual sports called the BUCS Nationals. This was introduced in 2013, and has held every year in Sheffield. Deloitte which has associated with BUCS since 2012. BUCS also has sponsorship deals with Red Bull, Endsleigh. BUCS awards points in all its competitions towards the BUCS Overall Championship - a ranking of member universities sporting achievements, the overall winner receives the Kerslake Trophy, first awarded in 1959 to Birmingham, Loughborough has won this every year since 1978-79. Besides Loughborough, Birmingham have been champions 15 times, Manchester 4 times, since 2002-03, Bath, Birmingham, Durham, Edinburgh and Leeds Met Carnegie have all achieved multiple top 3 finishes. Until 2005-06, only points were given, in 2006-07 and 2007-08 this was broken down into league and knockout, then from 2008-09 to 2010-11 into team. From 2011-12, team has split into league and cup. Until 2013-14, Loughborough scored highest in every category as well as highest overall, BUCS is the latest manifestation of an association for the promotion of inter-university sport. Competition between various universities had existed for decades before the twentieth century, notably the rivalries between Oxford and Cambridge, and those between the countrys medical schools. However no association existed to oversee or promote more widespread inter-university competition, in 1922, association football, field hockey, rugby union and swimming were added to the events programme and the following year the Women’s Inter-Varsity Board came into being. In 1930 the Universities Athletic Union was established to manage inter-university mens competition across the whole country, to manage Britain’s student representation at an international level, the British Universities Sports Board was formed in 1952. However, colleges and polytechnics were excluded from membership and had their own equivalent bodies, the British Colleges Sports Association, until 1979 men’s and women’s sport were still represented in England and Wales by separate bodies. The Women’s Inter-Varsity Board was then merged into the Universities Athletic Union, in 1992, the divide between universities and polytechnics was removed and a new single organisation was called for to represent them jointly
27.
Weymouth and Portland
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Weymouth and Portland is a local government district and borough in Dorset, England. In Portland Harbour is the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the main reason that the resort was chosen to be an Olympic venue was that the Sailing Academy had only recently been built, so no new venue would need to be provided. Weymouth and Portlands waters have also credited by the Royal Yachting Association as the best in Northern Europe. The district of Weymouth and Portland was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, which merged the borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, the district is divided into 15 wards for elections—12 of them are in Weymouth, and three are in Portland. Currently the District Council is under the control of the Conservatives, Weymouth and Portland and Purbeck districts are in the South Dorset parliamentary constituency, created in 1885. The constituency elects one Member of Parliament, the current MP for South Dorset is Richard Drax, a member of the Conservative Party, who was voted in during the 2010 General Election, beating the incumbent Labour MP Jim Knight. Weymouth and Portland, the rest of the south west, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council elections
28.
Weymouth railway station
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Weymouth railway station is the main railway station serving the town of Weymouth, Dorset, England. The station is the terminus of both the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo and the Heart of Wessex Line from Bristol Temple Meads, the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, which was authorised in 1845, was built in stages. Two of the last sections, from Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth, the LSWR was granted running powers from Dorchester to Weymouth, where some of the platforms were dedicated for LSWR use, these powers were exercised from the opening day. The station was named Weymouth, although some timetables showed it as Weymouth Town, branches to Portland and Weymouth Quay ran from Weymouth Junction, just north of the station. The original station buildings were designed by TH Bertram and constructed in timber with an overall roof across the tracks. By the turn of the century the area comprised five platforms, a large goods yard, and a small LSWR engine shed. Nearby, Melcombe Regis served Portland passenger trains until 1952 and provided a platform for excursion trains on busy summer weekends until 1959. After the Second World War, the station saw rapid growth in holiday, although the current station is a mere shadow of its former self, the extension of third-rail electrification from Bournemouth in 1988 has given the station much improved services to London. The current station building was opened on 3 July 1986, in its final years. On 4 August 1868, a train collided with the buffer stops at Weymouth due to poor rail conditions. South West Trains operates a service to London Waterloo via Basingstoke. Great Western Railway operate services every two hours via Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads and points north, there is an additional service running once or twice on a Saturday to London Waterloo via Salisbury operating from late May to early September each year. On Sundays there is a service to Waterloo and a limited service to Bristol. Weymouth Quay railway station is a terminus in the town. Previously, the branch saw both freight and passenger traffic, most recently fuel-oil trains, a Chronology of the Construction of Britains Railways 1778-1855. History of the Great Western Railway, vol, the London & South Western Railway, volume 1, The Formative Years
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Bristol
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Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 449,300 in 2016. The district has the 10th largest population in England, while the Bristol metropolitan area is the 12th largest in the United Kingdom, the city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373, when it became a county of itself. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London in tax receipts, Bristol was surpassed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the Industrial Revolution. Bristol was a place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, the Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristols modern economy is built on the media, electronics and aerospace industries. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the U. K. - the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road, rail, sea and air by the M5 and M4, Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations, and Bristol Airport. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, the most ancient recorded name for Bristol is the archaic Welsh Caer Odor, which is consistent with modern understanding that early Bristol developed between the River Frome and Avon Gorge. It is most commonly stated that the Saxon name Bricstow was a calque of the existing Celtic name, with Bric a literal translation of Odor. Alternative etymologies are supported with the numerous variations in Medieval documents with Samuel Seyer enumerating 47 alternative forms. The Old English form Brycgstow is commonly used to derive the meaning place at the bridge, utilizing another form, Brastuile, Rev. Dr. Shaw derived the name from the Celtic words bras, or braos and tuile. The poet Thomas Chatterton popularised a derivation from Brictricstow linking the town to Brictric and it appears that the form Bricstow prevailed until 1204, and the Bristolian L is what eventually changed the name to Bristol. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, a Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills, another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000, by about 1020, it was a centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name
30.
Exeter
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Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 127,300. It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council, currently, the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe about 37 miles northeast of Plymouth and 70 miles southwest of Bristol, Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times, Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century. During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, after the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. The name Exe is a development of the Brittonic name—meaning water or, more exactly, full of fish —that also appears in the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk. Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC. Such early towns had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, the Romans established a 42-acre playing-card shaped fort named Isca around AD55. To distinguish the two, the Romans also referred to Exeter as Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, a small fort was also maintained at Topsham, a supply depot on the route between the two was excavated at St Loyes on Topsham Road in 2010. The presence of the built up an unplanned civilian community of natives. This area was excavated in the 1970s, but could not be maintained for public view owing to its proximity to the present-day cathedral, in January 2015, it was announced that Exeter Cathedral had launched a bid to restore the baths and open an underground centre for visitors. In the late 2nd century, the ditch and rampart defences around the old fortress were replaced by a bank and wall enclosing a much larger area, although most of the visible structure is older, the course of the Roman wall was used for Exeters subsequent city walls. Thus about 70% of the Roman wall remains, and most of its route can be traced on foot, the dating of the coins so far discovered, however, suggests a rapid decline, virtually none have been discovered dated after the year 380. By that time, the city was held by the Saxons, Exeter was known to the Saxons as Escanceaster. In 876, it was attacked and briefly captured by Danish Vikings, alfred the Great drove them out the next summer. Over the next few years, he elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon and these permitted the city to fend off another attack and siege by the Danes in 893. King Athelstan again strengthened the walls around 928, and at the time drove out the remaining Britons from the city
31.
London Waterloo station
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Waterloo main line station is one of 19 in the country that are managed by Network Rail and the station complex is in fare zone 1. The first railway station on site opened in 1848, the present structure was inaugurated in 1922. Part of the station is a Grade II listed building, with just under 100 million National Rail passenger entries/exits in 2015/16, Waterloo is Britains busiest railway station by patronage. Waterloo railway station alone is the 15th-busiest passenger station in Europe, however, including National Rail interchanges, the Underground station, and Waterloo East, the complex handled a total of 211 million passengers in the 2015/2016 financial year. It is therefore the busiest transport hub in Europe and it has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the UK. The station was the London terminus for Eurostar international trains from 1994 until 2007, the London and South Western Railway opened the station on 11 July 1848 as Waterloo Bridge Station when its main line was extended from Nine Elms. The station, designed by William Tite, was raised above ground on a series of arches. The unfulfilled intention was for a station with services to the City of London. In 1886, it officially became Waterloo Station, reflecting long-standing common usage, the L&SWRs aim throughout much of the 19th century was to extend its main line eastward beyond Waterloo into the City of London. Given this, it was reluctant to construct a grand terminus at Waterloo. However traffic and passenger usage continued to grow and the company expanded the station at regular intervals and this resulted in the station becoming increasingly ramshackle. The original 1848 station became known as the Central Station as other platforms were added, each of these stations-within-a-station had its own booking office, taxi stand and public entrances from the street, as well as often poorly marked and confusing access to the rest of the station. Passengers were, not surprisingly, confused by the layout and by the two adjacent stations called Waterloo, from 1897 there had also been the adjacent Necropolis Company station. This complexity and confusion became the butt of jokes by writers and music hall comics for many years in the late 19th century, by the late 1890s the L&SWR accepted that main-line access to the City was impossible. In 1898, the company opened the Waterloo & City line and this gave the company the direct commuter service it had long desired. Legal powers to carry out the work were granted in 1899 and extensive groundwork and slum clearance were carried out until 1904, the new station was opened in stages, the first five new platforms being opened in 1910. The engineers J. W. Jacomb-Hood and Alfred Weeks Szlumper designed the roof and platforms, construction continued sporadically throughout the First World War, and the new station finally opened in 1922, with 21 platforms and a concourse nearly 800 feet long. The new station included a stained glass window depicting the L&SWRs company crest over the main road entrance
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Cardiff
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Cardiff is the capital and largest city in Wales and the eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is the chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media. The unitary authority areas mid-2011 population was estimated to be 346,100, the Cardiff metropolitan area makes up over a third of the total population of Wales, with a mid-2011 population estimate of about 1,100,000 people. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular destination in Wales with 18.3 million visitors in 2010. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographics alternative tourist destinations, the city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan. Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities, the Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area outside the county boundary, and includes the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955, since the 1980s, Cardiff has seen significant development. A new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay contains the Senedd building, home to the Welsh Assembly, sporting venues in the city include the Millennium Stadium, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff International Sports Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park. The city was awarded the title of European City of Sport twice, due to its role in hosting major sporting events, first in 2009. The Millennium Stadium hosted 11 football matches as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics, including the opening event. Caerdydd derives from the earlier Welsh form Caerdyf, the change from -dyf to -dydd shows the colloquial alteration of Welsh f and dd, and was perhaps also driven by folk etymology. This sound change had probably first occurred in the Middle Ages, Caerdyf has its origins in post-Roman Brythonic words meaning the fort of the Taff. The fort probably refers to that established by the Romans, the anglicised form Cardiff is derived from Caerdyf, with the Welsh f borrowed as ff /f/, as also happens in Taff and Llandaff. As English does not have the vowel the final vowel has been borrowed as /ɪ/, although some sources repeat this theory, it has been rejected on linguistic grounds by modern scholars such as Professor Gwynedd Pierce. A group of five Bronze Age tumuli is at the summit of The Garth, four Iron Age hill fort and enclosure sites have been identified within Cardiffs present-day county boundaries, including Caerau Hillfort, an enclosed area of 5.1 hectares. The fort was one of a series of military outposts associated with Isca Augusta that acted as border defences, the fort may have been abandoned in the early 2nd century as the area had been subdued. However, by this time a settlement, or vicus, was established
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Dorchester, Dorset
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Dorchester is the county town of Dorset, England. It is situated between Poole and Bridport on the A35 trunk route, the area around the town was first settled in prehistoric times. After the departure of the Romans, the town diminished in significance and it was the site of the Bloody Assizes presided over by Judge Jeffreys after the Monmouth Rebellion, and later the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. In the 2011 census, the population of Dorchester was 19,060, the Brewery Square redevelopment project is taking place in phases, with other development projects planned. The town has a college, Kingston Maurward College, the Thomas Hardye Upper School. The Dorset County Hospital offers an accident and emergency service, through vehicular traffic is routed round the town by means of a bypass. The town has a club and a rugby union club, several museums. It is twinned with three towns in Europe, as well as having many listed buildings, a number of notable people have been associated with the town. It was for years the home and inspiration of the author Thomas Hardy. Dorchesters roots stem back to prehistoric times, different tribes lived there from 4000 BC. The Durotriges were likely to have been there when the Romans arrived in Britain in 43 AD and it appears to have taken part of its name from the local Durotriges tribe who inhabited the area. The remains of the Roman walls that surrounded the town can still be seen, the majority have been replaced by pathways that form a square inside modern Dorchester known as The Walks. A small segment of the wall remains near the Top o Town roundabout. Other Roman remains include part of the walls and the foundations of a town house near the county hall. Modern building works within the walls have unearthed Roman finds, in 1936 a cache of 22,000 3rd-century Roman coins was discovered in South Street. Other Roman finds include silver and copper known as Dorn pennies, a gold ring. The County Museum contains many Roman artefacts, the Romans built an aqueduct to supply the town with water. It was rediscovered in 1900 as the remains of a cut into the chalk
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Moth (dinghy)
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The Moth Class is the name for a small development class of sailing dinghy. Originally a cheap home built sailing boat designed to plane, now it is an expensive largely commercially produced boat designed to hydroplane on foils, the pre hydrofoil design Moths are still sailed and raced but are far slower than their foiled counterparts. The earlier Restricted Moth of the 1960s and 70s which had fewer restrictions allowing for class development, confusingly, this nomenclature was sometimes used interchangeably with the term International Moth in Australia and NZ. The current International Moth is a result of merging two separate but similar historical developments, the first occurred in Australia in 1928 when Len Morris built a cat rigged flat bottomed scow to sail on Andersons Inlet at Inverloch, a seaside resort 130 kilometres from Melbourne. The scow was hard chined,11 feet long, with a single 80 square feet mainsail, the craft was named Olive after his wife. The construction was timber with an internal construction somewhat like Hargreaves box kite, olives performance was so outstanding, that a similar boat Whoopee was built. Len Morris then sold Olive, and built another boat called Flutterby, the major difference between the Australian and American boats early on was that the American boat used only 72 square feet of sail on a somewhat shorter mast. In 1933, an American magazine, The Rudder, published an article dealing with the Moth Boat scene in the US, thus two large Moth classes developed separately for over 30 years. Also, in the early 1930s a small group of sailors in Great Britain formed a British Moth Class, during this time Australian Moths were using pre-bent and wing masts in the 1950s. After the second war, more and more European interest in the Moth Boat was expressed. The European Moth clubs subscribed, more or less, to the US class rules, also in the 1960s, the Australian Moth sailors began campaigning for rules changes that would permit the Australian Moths to compete in the IMCAs World Championships. In 1971 the US-based IMCA completed a phase-in of new rules which attempted a marriage of the IMCA and this amalgamation process had started at the annual IMCA meeting in 1965. New rules embraced the larger, more powerful high aspect, loose footed, the new rules also permitted controversial hiking wings first seen on Moths from Switzerland. Finally, the rule change abolished the US centralized organization of the class in favor of an independent world body with equal-partner national associations, each national association elected its own officers and world body representatives. The culmination of these changes was the recognition in 1972 of the IMCA by the International Yacht Racing Union bound by the agreed upon new restrictions of the class operating today, the moth class association that had originated in the US was now truly an international organization. Designs have run the gamut from wide skiffs without wings, to lightweight scows, to wedge-shaped hulls characterized with narrow waterlines, in New Zealand the class reached its maximum popularity in the late 1960s and early 70s. The NZ Moth was standardized as a 90 lb flat bottom scow type known as the Mk2 using an alloy spars, the measured sail area was nominally 80 square feet but the actual area grew to about 90 square feet by 1970. Many hundreds were home made by amateurs, in addition there were a smaller number of International Moths of both scow and skiff type
35.
Yachting
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Yachting refers to the use of recreational boats and ships called yachts for sporting purposes. Yachts are different from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose, both terms originate from the Dutch word jacht. With sailboats, it is called sailing, and with motorboats, the invention of sailing is prehistoric, but the racing of sailing boats is believed to have started in the Netherlands some time in the 17th century. Soon, in England, custom-built racing yachts began to emerge, in 1851, the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes challenged the American yacht America. The race took place in the Solent, the America won the race and took the trophy, the Americas Cup, back to the US where, held by the New York Yacht Club, it remained until 1983. The cup was then lost to the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia, meanwhile, yacht racing continued to evolve, with the development of recognised classes of racing yachts, from small dinghies up to huge maxi yachts. Smaller boats are not generally referred to as yachts, although all recreational boats are yachts, most yachting is conducted in salt water, but smaller craft can be raced on lakes and even large rivers. Dinghy races are conducted on sheltered water on smaller craft with crews of one and three people. The common arrangement for racing boats is the sloop, a boat with one mast, most races are conducted between vessels of identical design. In these races, with identical equipment the sailors best able to use of the ambient conditions win. Dinghy designs vary from small, stable, and slow craft for novice sailors to lightweight, australias 18-foot skiff class are the fastest monohull dinghies, reaching speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour even in relatively light winds. Sailing has a reputation for being a spectator sport, but skiff racing can be very exciting. Various multi-hull racing classes are even faster, various one-design dinghy classes are raced at the Summer Olympic Games. Larger yachts are raced on harbours, but the most prestigious yacht races are point-to-point long distance races on the open ocean. Bad weather makes even finishing such races a considerable test of equipment and willpower, specialized yachts, such as hydrofoils, hovercrafts, or personal watercrafts also engage in competitions involving test of equipment and skill. All such events are part of the world of yachting. Common commercial uses of watercraft, which would not be referred to as yachting, include fishing, shipping, operation of ferries. Cruising involves traveling on a boat, whether across a bay, safe cruising across long distances requires a degree of self-sufficiency and a wide range of skills beyond handling the boat
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Sailing
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Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation. A course defined with respect to the wind direction is called a point of sail. Conventional sailing craft cannot derive power from sails on a point of sail that is too close into the wind, on a given point of sail, the sailor adjusts the alignment of each sail with respect to the apparent wind direction to mobilize the power of the wind. In the 21st century, most sailing represents a form of recreation or sport, recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, until the end of the 19th century, sailing ships were the primary means for marine commerce. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on a painted disc found in Kuwait dating between 5000 and 5500 BCE, polynesian oceanfarers traveled vast distances of open ocean in outrigger canoes using navigation methods such as stick charts. Advances in sailing technology from the Middle Ages onward enabled Arab, Chinese, Indian and European explorers to make longer voyages into regions with extreme weather and climatic conditions. There were improvements in sails, masts and rigging, improvements in marine navigation including the tree and charts. Sailing has contributed to many great explorations in the world, the air interacting with the sails of a sailing vessel creates various forces, including reaction forces. If the sails are properly oriented with respect to the wind, however, boats propelled by sails cannot sail directly into the wind. They must tack back and forth in order to progress directly upwind, sails are airfoils that work by using an airflow set up by the wind and the motion of the boat. Sails work in two modes to use the wind to force, PUSH, when the boat is going in the same direction as the wind. The force on the sail is mostly aerodynamic drag, and sails acting in this way are aerodynamically stalled. This force manifests itself as pressure differences between the two sides of the sail - there is a region of low pressure on the front side of the sail and a region of high pressure on the back. Another way to say this is that sails generate lift using the air flows around them in the same way as an aircraft wing. The wind that a boat experiences is the combination of the true wind and this combination is the apparent wind, which is the relative velocity of the wind relative to the boat. When sailing upwind the apparent wind is greater than the true wind, iceboats can typically sail at 5 times the speed of the wind. Where there is a difference in motion, then there is energy to be extracted at the interface, the sailboat does this by placing the sail in the air and the hull in the water
37.
Olympic sailing classes
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The Olympic sailing classes have been used in the sport of Sailing/Yachting during the Olympic Summer Games since 1896. Since then,46 different classes have been used, over a period of more than 112 years, in a sport that uses complex technical equipment, classes will be discontinued for use at the Olympics. Reasons for discontinuation of a class varied from economical, logistical and technological to emotional, some of the discontinued classes remain very strong International - or National classes. Others filled a niche in an area like sailing schools or local club racing. The “Former Olympic Sailing Classes”, together with their crews form an important and significant part of the history of sailing in general and these tables give an overview of the classes and when they were used for Olympic sailing
38.
2012 Vintage Yachting Games
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The 2012 Vintage Yachting Games was the second post-Olympic multi-class sailing event for discontinued Olympic classes. The event was held on 7–14 July 2012 on Lake Como in Italy, the organization of this event was in the hands of the Multilario, a joint venture of local yacht clubs at Lake Como. The Vintage Yachting Games Organization was the governing organization, a total of 225 sailors in 113 boats from 17 countries competed in seven Vintage Yachting Classes Multilario as organizer was chosen after a bidding process in the summer of 2008. The two other contestants were Yacht Club Cannes for the Mediterranean and Hungarian Yachting Federation for Lake Balaton and it was this proposal the voting classes based their vote on. Only one voting round was needed to determine the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games location, in the voting process the Vintage Olympic Classes of 2008 each class could cast one vote and each vote counted as one. The potential 2012 classes could also each cast one vote but the outcome of the potential classes counted as one in the total, present were the management of the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario. A yearly meeting was held between the Vintage Yachting Games Organization and Multilario to evaluate the progress of the preparation, for the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games several venues were used to cater for the several Vintage Yachting Classes. Bellano Dervio Santa Cecilia Harbour in Dervio All of them located on the east coats of the Northeren part of Lake Como, the Northern part of Lake Como was reportedly a thermic wind venue. In this time of year the situation is that at about 13,00 the Swiss mountains are heated up. As result of this no races were scheduled in the morning, unfortunately during the event the temperature was low in Switzerland during the Vintage. As result the actual wind did not came above the 8 knots during the races, sails, rigging and boats used in the previous year at Continental and World championships was only stamped. No major measurement issues were found, due to the fact of three locations, Bellano, Dervio and Santa Cecilia harbor, it was not possible to have the original planned fleet review. As alternative a fanfare followed by a parade of sailors and organizers walked from the Dervio city hall to the Vintage meeting point near the waterfront. There the opening ceremony of the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games took place, besides the Italian National Anthem two choirs of Italian Opera singers sung Va, pensiero from Verdi during the flag hoisting procedure. Furthermore there were speeches from The Vintage Yachting Games Organization, the representatives of Bellano and Dervio, the organizing clubs. Finally Alberto Barenghi, president of the International Flying Dutchman Organization, the closing ceremony started with the Vintage InterPares race in the 12 Dinghies. This was followed by the prize giving with the team of father and daughter Maccari as presentation duo, during the closing of the event Rudy den Outer handed over stainless remembrance plates with the Vintage logo to the cities of Bellano and Dervio. He also announced that Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, host of this years Olympic sailing regatta, after that the Vintage flag was received from Pietro Adamoli and Carlo Bossi, representing the Multilario organization
39.
Lake Como
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Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 square kilometres, making it the third-largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda, at over 400 metres deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe, and the bottom of the lake is more than 200 metres below sea level. Lake Como has been a retreat for aristocrats and wealthy people since Roman times. It has many villas and palaces, the lakes name in Latin is Larius, Italianised as Lario, but this name is rarely used, it is usually called Lago di Como. In guidebooks the lake may be referred to as Lake Como, Lake of Como. Its name comes from the city of Como, known to the Romans as Comum, while the town of Como is referred to as Como, the lake is never referred to solely by this name. This is not true of another lake in Italy, Lake Garda, the lake is shaped much like an inverted letter Y. The northern branch begins at the town of Colico, while the towns of Como, the small towns of Bellagio, Menaggio and Lierna are situated at the intersection of the three branches of the lake, a triangular boat service operates between them. The Lierna area is an historical charming site of the lake with a white beach, Lake Como is fed primarily by the Adda River, which enters the lake near Colico and flows out at Lecco. This geological conformation makes the branch a dead end, and so Como. The mountainous pre-alpine territory between the two arms of the lake is known as the Larian Triangle, or Triangolo lariano. The source of the river Lambro is here, at the centre of the triangle, the town of Canzo is the seat of the Comunità montana del Triangolo lariano, an association of the 31 municipalities that represent the 71,000 inhabitants of the area. Lake Como weather is humid subtropical, in the winter, the lake helps to maintain a higher temperature in the surrounding region. Average daily temperatures range from about 3.7 °C in January to 23.4 °C in July, water temperatures can reach an average of 24 °C during the month of July. Snowfall is erratic and primarily affects the higher elevations, rainfall is heaviest in May and lowest during the winter months. As a tourist destination, Lake Como is popular for its landscapes, wildlife and it is a venue for sailing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing. In 1818 Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Thomas Love Peacock, This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty and it is long and narrow, and has the appearance of a mighty river winding among the mountains and the forests. In the area surrounding Lake Como there are farms which produce goods such as honey, olive oil, cheese, milk, eggs
40.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
41.
2018 Vintage Yachting Games
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The 2018 Vintage Yachting Games would be the 3rd post-Olympic multi-class sailing event for discontinued Olympic classes. The event was planned to be held at Weymouth Bay in Dorset. However, early 2015 the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy returned the right to organize the event, after a new selection procedure the Kongelig Dansk Yachtklub and the Hellerup Sejlklub, Copenhagen, Denmark were selected to host the third edition. Since it was not possible to find a periode in 2016 were the Vintage Classes, the Vintage Yachting Games Organization will govern the organization. The first bidding process was launched on 14 December 2010. The bidding process intended to run till 31 December 2011 and this period was extended on request of several candidates. The venue of the 2016 Vintage Yachting Games was formally announced during the ceremony of the 2012 edition. When the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy withdraw from the event a second bidding process was started, as result the Danish bid was chosen unanimously for the third edition and the Austria for the fourth edition. Quota per country will not be used until a threshold of 25 boats in a class is reached, ISBN 978-90-78440-23-9.5 Class Association,5.5 Metre
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BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
43.
USA Today
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USA Today is an internationally distributed American daily middle-market newspaper that serves as the flagship publication of its owner, the Gannett Company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15,1982, it operates from Gannetts corporate headquarters on Jones Branch Drive in McLean, Virginia and it is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. USA Today is distributed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with an international edition distributed in Canada, Asia and the Pacific Islands, Gannett formally announced the launch of the paper on April 20,1982. USA Today began publishing on September 15,1982, initially launching in the Baltimore and Washington, on July 2,1984, the newspaper switched from a largely black-and-white to a color publication, featuring full color photography and graphics in all four sections. On April 8,1985, the paper published its first special bonus section, a 12-page section called Baseball 85, on May 6,1986, USA Today began printing production of its international edition in Switzerland. On April 15, USA Today launched an international printing site. On August 28,1995, an international publishing site was launched in Frankfurt, Germany, to print. On October 4,1999, USA Today began running advertisements on its front page for the first time. The paper launched a sixth printing site for its international edition on May 15,2000, in Milan, Italy, followed on July 10 by the launch of a printing facility in Charleroi. That November, USA Today migrated its operations from Gannetts previous corporate headquarters in Arlington, in 2010, USA Today launched the USA Today API for sharing data with partners of all types. On August 27,2010, USA Today announced that it would undergo a reorganization of its newsroom and it also announced that the paper would shift its focus away from print and place more emphasis on its digital platforms and launch of a new publication called USA Today Sports. On September 14,2012, USA Today underwent the first major redesign in its history, to accomplish this goal, Gannett migrated its newspaper and television station websites to the Presto platform and the USA Today site design throughout 2013 and 2014. On January 4,2014, USA Today acquired the book and film review website, on September 3,2014, USA Today announced that it would lay off roughly 70 employees in a restructuring of its newsroom and business operations. In October 2014, USA Today and OpenWager Inc. entered into a partnership to release a Bingo app called USA TODAY Bingo Cruise, USA Today is known for synthesizing news down to easy-to-read-and-comprehend stories. In the main edition circulated in the United States and some Canadian cities, each consists of four sections, News, Money, Sports. The international edition of the paper features two sections, News and Money in one, with Sports and Life in the other, atypical of most daily newspapers, the paper does not print on Saturdays and Sundays, the Friday edition serves as the weekend edition. USA Today prints each complete story on the front page of the section with the exception of the cover story. The cover story is a story that requires a jump
44.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
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It contains the athletes Olympic Village and several of the sporting venues including the London Stadium and London Aquatics Centre, besides the London Olympics Media Centre. The park is overlooked by the ArcelorMittal Orbit, an observation tower and it was simply called Olympic Park during the Games but was later renamed to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The park occupies an area straddling four east London boroughs, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, part of the park reopened in July 2013, with a large majority of the rest reopening in April 2014. The site covers parts of Stratford, Bow, Leyton, and Hackney Wick in east London, the site was previously a mixture of greenfield and brownfield land, including parts of Hackney Marshes. The Royal Mail gave the park and Stratford City the postcode E20, the park was designed by the EDAW Consortium, working with Arup and WS Atkins. Detailed landscape architecture was by LDA Design in conjunction with Hargreaves Associates, LDA design contracted Wallace Whittle to carry out various aspects of the M+E Building services design. The NHBC carried out the Sustainability assessments, the park was illuminated with a lighting scheme designed by Sutton Vane Associates. The fencing arena was also cancelled, with the events taking place at ExCeL London. The remaining indoor arenas are the Basketball Arena and the Copper Box, in addition to the Water Polo Arena, the Aquatics Centre, the final design of the park was approved by the Olympic Delivery Authority and its planning-decisions committee. The Legacy List is the independent charity for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Sarah Weir, who is an Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre and was running Arts Council England, found The Legacy List, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park charity. In autumn 2013 Sarah moved on to take up the role of Chief Executive at Waddesdon Manor, during its construction over 80,000 workers were engaged on the project. The construction of the Olympic Park was managed by CLM Delivery Partner, comprising CH2M Hill, Laing ORourke, CLM specifically managed the white space between the venue construction zones, including managing the internal road network. No one, except perhaps the admirable Oudolf, wants to do the quiet stuff, great care was taken to make the Athletes Village aesthetically orderly, to the point where it began to resemble Ceausescus Bucharest, this eruption makes such efforts futile. Robert Holden and Tom Turner, in a review of the Olympic Parks landscape architecture state that Our fundamental point is that the planning is much better than the landscape design. The landscape planning includes the opening up of the River Lea in the section of the park, the habitat-creation strategy. The landscape design is dominated by vast pedestrian concourses which will be busy during events, there is some good garden-type planting but it has not been used to make gardens, it is used more like strips of planting beside highways. The park has a number of uses after the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London finished, such as, a university exploiting the sporting facilities and high-tech communications infrastructure remaining specialising in sport science, digital media and green technology. 3,600 apartments, the East Village, next to the Stratford City neighbourhood of Stratford, the Orbit, a steel tower which is the largest public work of art in the UK and a major tourist attraction
45.
London Aquatics Centre
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The centre was used for the swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events. After significant modification the centre opened to the public in March 2014 and it was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid in 2004 before London won the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The centre was built alongside the Water Polo Arena, and opposite the Olympic Stadium on the bank of the Waterworks River. The site is 45 metres high,160 metres long and 80 metres wide, the wave-like roof is stated to be 11,200 square feet, a reduction from the previously stated 35,000 square feet. The design was inspired by the Dollan Aqua Centre in East Kilbride, the complex has a 50m competition pool, a 25m competition diving pool and a 50m warm-up pool. The 50m pool is 3 metres deep, like the one in the Beijing National Aquatics Center and its floor can be moved to reduce the depth. There are also moveable booms that allow its size to be changed, the diving pool has platform boards at heights of 3m, 5m,7. 5m and 10m and three 3m springboards. For the television coverage of the Olympics, the pools were also equipped with cameras in order to present the action from multiple angles. Because the centre was designed before the Olympic bid was completed and they were later added to fit the estimated audience. Jacques Rogge, IOC President, described the Centre as a masterpiece, on 1 December 2005 Hadid was instructed to revise her designs after a specification change led to a doubling of the £75 million estimated cost. The revised plans were unveiled on 27 November 2006, although the same general design was kept, with capacity for 17,500 spectators, the revised Aquatics Centre design was much smaller and was expected to cost much less than previously expected. However, subsequent cost increases were reported to Parliament in 2008, the construction contract was awarded to Balfour Beatty in April 2008. At the same time, it was reported that the centre would cost about three times as much as was originally estimated, totalling about £242 million. The cost increases were attributed to inflation and VAT increases. The Centre was completed in July 2011 at a final cost of £269 million, the design demonstrates the precast-concrete skills, by exposing the concrete finish rather than painting or cladding, which were provided by Peri. The precast floor terracing was manufactured by Bell & Webster Concrete in Lincolnshire, the terracing units were delivered and positioned to accelerate the speed of construction. The unique six-board diving platform is made from 462 tonnes of concrete, the aluminium roof covering was provided by Kalzip. The steel structure was built in cooperation with Rowecord Engineering, of Newport, the ceiling was built with 30,000 sections of Red Louro timber
46.
Basketball Arena (London)
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The Basketball Arena for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics was located in the Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The arena was designed to be recyclable, and was dismantled pending sale in January 2013. The fencing arena was also cancelled, and the took place at ExCeL. The Basketball Arena had 12,000 seats for Olympic basketball and the semi-finals and finals of Olympic handball, the arena was also used as a holding area for athletes during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the games. Concept designs by Wilkinson Eyre Architects & KSS Design Group were agreed in June 2008 and it was a temporary venue, and the largest built for any Olympic games. In late October 2009, preparatory work had begun on the site, the basketball arena took 15 months to build and was completed in June 2011. The materials of the arena are recyclable, meaning that the debris can be recycled efficiently. The arena was officially put up for sale on 20 January 2013 by GL events Slick Seating, the arena was made out of sturdy individual components that could be easily dismantled and sub-divided for reuse elsewhere, with over two-thirds of the materials and components to be recyclable. Instead of using a concrete sub-structure, a steel frame was used. This meant the building was constructed in six weeks, the venue, a 30-metre-high rectangular volume was made out of a steel portal frame and wrapped in 20,000 square metres of lightweight phthalate-free and recyclable PVC plastic. This translucent bespoke cladding was then stretched across the steel framing modules that pushed the fabric out, the external fabric walls were translucent, allowing daylight to pass through during the day and artificial lighting to be visible during the evening. The architects worked with United Visual Artists to create lighting and colour-changing effects for the evening games, media related to Basketball Arena at Wikimedia Commons London 2012 Olympics profile
47.
Lee Valley VeloPark
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Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East London. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, the facility was one of the permanent venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Lee Valley VeloPark is at the end of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It has a velodrome and BMX racing track, which have used for the Games. The park replaces the Eastway Cycle Circuit demolished to make way for it, the facilities built for the Olympics were constructed between 2009 and 2011. The first event in the Velopark was the London round of the 2011 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup series, in February 2005 plans were announced for a £22 million VeloPark. Sport England would invest £10.5 million, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority £6 million, the site was to be 34 hectares on the northern end of the proposed Olympic Park, next to the A12. The park would include a velodrome seating 1,500, which could be increased to 6,000 if Londons bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were successful. The site would also have an international competition BMX circuit, a BMX freestyle park, cyclo-cross/cross-country course mountain bike course, the facilities would be used by internationals as well as those learning to ride. It was estimated that the park would attract 88,000 users a year, Eastway Cycle Circuit opened in 1975, it was the first purpose built road cycling venue in Britain. The facility closed in September 2006 to make way for Londons VeloPark, the velodrome is the third 250 m covered track in Great Britain. In September 2008 plans for the VeloPark were revealed, which were chosen with help from Chris Hoy, however, by March 2007, the VeloPark was revealed to be only a third of its original size, rescaled from 34 to 10 hectares. The decrease in the size of the led to users of the Eastway cycle circuit to protest to the Mayor of London. The Velopark was scheduled to be completed by the contractor, ISG, in 2004, during Londons Olympic and Paralympic bid, the estimated cost was £37 million, including £20 million for the velodrome. In 2009, at the work began on the construction of the velodrome. Work on the velodrome was completed in February 2011, and was the first Olympic Park venue to be completed, the roof is designed to reflect the geometry of cycling as well as being lightweight and efficient reflecting a bike. There is also a 360-degree concourse level with windows allowing people views of the Olympic Park, the velodrome is energy efficient—rooflights reduce the need for artificial lights, and natural ventilation reduces the need for air condition. Rain water is collected, which reduces the amount of water used from the municipal water system
48.
Eton Manor
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Eton Manor is a former sports and leisure venue in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is in the northernmost venue of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and it is now known as Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and is made up of four indoor and six outdoor tennis courts and two state-of-the art hockey pitches. For the 2012 Summer Paralympics it hosted the tennis, with nine competition courts. There were a total of 10,500 seats for spectators, with a 5, the site covers 27 acres within Lee Valley Regional Park and is owned and run by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Conversion work started after the end of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and Lee Valley Hockey, a range of events and programmes, from grassroots to elite are held at the venue. Eton Manor takes its name from Eton College, which from the 1880s had run a mission to raise living standards in the East End of London. In 1909 four Old Etonian philanthropists founded Eton Manor Boys Club to provide sporting facilities in the Hackney area, in 1920 an old rubbish tip site was converted into the Clubs new sports ground, known as The Wilderness. Facilities included nine football pitches, two rugby pitches, cricket pitches, six tennis courts, a green, a squash court. Eton Manor Boys Club closed in 1967 and the Club ground fell into disuse in 2001 before being selected for use during the 2012 Olympic Games. The charitable trust set up in 1924 to run and support Eton Manor Boys Club still continues with different aims, after the Olympic Games, Eton Manor will house the scaled down Olympic Hockey Centre relocated from further south in the Olympic Park. The new venue is called Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and is run by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and it will be made up of two hockey pitches and ten tennis courts, four indoor and six outdoor. The venue will offer a range of events and programmes from grassroots to elite level, the venue will host the 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championships. Wapping Hockey Club secured anchor tenancy at the Olympic Legacy Facility following its opening in June 2014, in December 2012 the International Tennis Federation announced that the venue would stage the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters on its indoor courts. 2012 Paralympics profile Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
49.
Copper Box Arena
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The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue used for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Hackney Wick, London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, the fencing arena was also cancelled, and the fencing took place at ExCeL. Construction of the building was completed on time in early 2011, the design incorporates light pipes and rainwater collectors to reduce both energy and water use by 40%. Test events were hosted at the venue ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. In January 2012, the venue was renamed the Copper Box from the Handball Arena, thus reflecting the look of the building, english Handball campaigned for the rebrand to be reversed. The Copper Box has 7,000 seats and it was used for handball preliminaries and modern pentathlon fencing during the Olympic Games, and for goalball during the Paralympic Games. The handball mens quarter-finals, all semi-finals and both finals were held at the larger Basketball Arena, the Copper Box was praised for its loud, exciting atmosphere during handball games. For the Paralympics goalball events the crowd in the Box must be quiet, the venue has been adapted into a multi-sport arena for community use, athlete training and major events. On 8 August 2012, it was announced that British Basketball League side London Lions would re-locate to the Copper Box for the 2013–14 season. The Lions played their first game at the Copper Box on 14 August 2013 in front of a sell-out crowd, the Copper Box hosted the London Grand Prix Badminton in 2013 from 1 October until the finals on 6 October. The London Grand Prix forms part of the Badminton World Federations BWF Gold series, the venue played host to the Netball Superleague Grand Final on 25 April 2015 which saw the Surrey Storm win their first ever Netball Superleague title, defeating the Hertfordshire Mavericks, 56–39. The Wheelchair Rugby event at the 2014 Invictus Games was held at the venue in September 2014, London GD Handball Club, one of the oldest Handball clubs in the country, will use the venue for its home matches. The floor was damaged during a mass fitness event in January 2014. Counter-Strike, Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros, melee DreamHack London 2015 will take place at the Copper Box on September 19–20. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park website Gym and fitness centre website London 2012 Olympics profile Make Architects website
