1.
Preston Guild Hall
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Preston Guild Hall is an entertainment venue in Preston, Lancashire, England. It was built to replace the towns Public Hall, intended to be ready for the Preston Guild of 1972, the complex has two performance venues, the Grand Hall which holds 2,034 people and the Charter Theatre which holds 780 people. There is direct access, via subway and bridge, from the adjacent Preston bus station. Artists that have performed at the venue include Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and it also hosted the UK Snooker Championship for many years. Until July 2014, it was owned by Preston City Council and it was then sold to local businessman Simon Rigby, who has promised to spend £1m to renovate the venue
2.
Preston, Lancashire
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Preston /ˈprɛstən/ is a city and the administrative centre of Lancashire, England. The district obtained city status in 2002, becoming Englands 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth IIs reign, Preston has a population of 114,300, the City of Preston district 132,000 and the Preston Built-up Area 313,322. The Preston Travel To Work Area, in 2011, had a population of 420,661 compared to 354,000 in the previous census. Preston and its area have provided evidence of ancient Roman activity. The Angles established Preston, its name is derived from the Old English meaning priests settlement, in the Middle Ages, Preston was a parish and township in the hundred of Amounderness and was granted a Guild Merchant charter in 1179, giving it the status of a market town. Textiles have been produced since the century when locally produced wool was woven in peoples houses. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped develop the industry, in the early-18th century, Edmund Calamy described Preston as a pretty town with an abundance of gentry in it, commonly called Proud Preston. Sir Richard Arkwright, inventor of the frame, was born in the town. The most rapid period of growth and development coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing, Preston was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, becoming a densely populated engineering centre, with large industrial plants. Preston is recorded in the Domesday Book as Prestune in 1086, various other spellings occur in early documents, Prestonam, Prestone, Prestona, Presteton, and Prestun. The modern spelling occurs in 1094,1176,1196,1212 and 1332, the towns name is derived from Old English Presta and Tun, the Tun of the Presta. During the Roman period, Roman roads passed close to what is now the centre of Preston. For example, the road from Luguvalium to Mamucium crossed the River Ribble at Walton-le-Dale, 3⁄4 mile southeast of the centre of Preston, at Withy Trees,1 1⁄2 miles north of Preston, the road crossed another Roman road from Bremetennacum to the coast. An explanation of the origin of the name is that the Priests Town refers to a set up by St Wilfrid near the Ribbles lowest ford. This idea is supported by the similarity of the Paschal lamb on Prestons crest with that on St Wilfrids, when first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, Preston was already the most important town in Amounderness. When assessed for tax purposes in 1218 –19 it was the wealthiest town in the whole county and it is the only Guild still celebrated in the UK. Before 1328 a celebration had been held on an irregular basis, after this, there were breaks in the pattern for various reasons, but an unbroken series were held from 1542 to 1922. A full 400 year sequence was frustrated by the cancellation of the 1942 Guild due to World War II, the expression every Preston Guild, meaning very infrequently, has passed into fairly common use, especially in Lancashire
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
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
5.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
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Ronald Antonio OSullivan, OBE is an English professional snooker and pool player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sports history and he is noted for his rapid playing style, mercurial temperament, and his ambivalent relationship with the sport, from which he has taken prolonged sabbaticals and repeatedly threatened to retire. Ronnie is based at the Legends Snooker Academy in Leytonstone, England, a childhood snooker prodigy, OSullivan made his first century break at age 10, and his first maximum break at age 15. He turned professional in 1992, at the age of 16 and he is also the youngest player to have won the Masters, having captured his first title in 1995 at the age of 19 years and 69 days. His record in Triple Crown events now stands at five World Championship, a record seven Masters, OSullivan has held the world number one ranking on multiple occasions, most recently during the 2009/2010 season. His other achievements include ten Premier League titles and winning the Nations Cup with England in 2000, known as a prolific break-builder, OSullivan holds the record for the most competitive century breaks with 868. OSullivans achievements in snooker began at an early age and he made his first century break at the age of 10, completed his first total clearance at age 12, and became British Under-16 Champion at age 13. He made his debut in The Thames Snooker Classic when he was 14. He compiled his first maximum break in the final of the 1991 British Amateur Championships at age 15 and he turned professional in 1992, aged 16. OSullivan began the 1992/1993 season by winning 74 of his first 76 professional matches, including a streak of 38 successive victories. At the qualifying stage of the Grand Prix he defeated Jason Curtis 5–0 in a time of 43 minutes 36 seconds, after this Alan Hughes gave him the nickname The Rocket. In September 1992, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player ever to qualify for the World Championship. He made his Crucible debut on 18 April 1993 at the age of 17 years and 134 days and he lost 7–10 to Alan McManus in the first round. OSullivan was named the WPBSAs Young Player of the Year for 1993, in the 1993/1994 season OSullivan defeated Hendry 10–6 in the final of the UK Championship to win his first ranking title. At the age of 17 years and 358 days he became the youngest ever winner of a ranking tournament. He faced Hendry again in the final of the European Open and he won his second ranking title at the British Open by defeating James Wattana 9–4 in the final. He reached the round of the World Championship but lost 3–13 against John Parrott. Having started the season ranked number 57 in the world, he ended it ranked number 9 and he captured his first Masters title by defeating John Higgins 9–3 in the final, becoming the youngest player ever to win the tournament at the age of 19 years and 69 days
6.
Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points, a match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames. In the 1870s, billiards was a sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Ooty, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid, the word snooker was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and it is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and attain multi-million-pound career earnings, the sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the half of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, one such variation originated at the officers mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jabalpur in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured balls. The name instantly stuck with the players, in 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of Sporting Life which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the inventor in a letter to The Field published on 19 March 1938,63 years after the fact. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed, in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official. Davis won every championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played, in 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus to try to improve the games popularity by adding two extra colours. The TV series became a success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two
7.
Venue Cymru
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Venue Cymru is a theatre, conference centre and arena in Llandudno, Conwy county borough, North Wales. Formerly known as the Aberconwy Centre and the North Wales Theatre and Conference Centre, is now an arts, conference. Venue Cymru has a theatre, conference centre, and arena, the site lies at the edge of Tyn-y-ffrith, the house in the sheep pasture. The first theatre at the site was the Victoria Palace, which opened in July 1894 and it was intended to be a temporary building, and it was designed as a 1, 150-seat concert hall for Jules Rivière and his 42-musician orchestra. Rivière had previously performed at the Pier Pavilion before he fell out with the Llandudno Pier Company, Victoria Palace attracted eminent visiting soloists including Sir Charles and Lady Hallé who in 1894 gave a piano and violin recital with Rivières orchestra. The Victoria Palace was the first part of a project that would have seen the construction of a pier. The theatre was renamed to Rivières Concert Hall. In 1900 it was renamed to the Llandudno Opera House and it hosted the Carl Rosa Opera Company. It was renamed to the Hippodrome, and was used as a roller-skating rink, the theatre was purchased by Will Catlin on 3 June 1916. It was renamed as the Arcadia, the theatre had 1,147 seats, and was one of six theatres in Llandudno to last for many years. It was the home of Catlins Peirrots and Catlins Showtime, ken Dodd was a regular performer. The Arcadia provided 1,147 seats in the auditorium and was the last of Llandudno’s many theatres and it was the home of Will Catlins Pierrots, which eventually became presented as Catlins Follies with an all star cast. Catlins Follies survived the death in 1953 of Will Catlin. The shows continued until 1968, when Llandudno Urban Council purchased the theatre, the Arcadia continued as a summer theatre under local authority ownership until 1993. It closed on 22 June 1994, and was derelict for the next decade, the Aberconwy Centre opened to the west of the Arcadia theatre in 1982. The conference venue had space for over 1,000 conference attendees and it also featured squash courts, sun beds and badminton courts. The Centre was redeveloped in 1994, and it was renamed to the North Wales Theatre and it hosted a 1, 500-seat auditorium/theatre, as well as a 700 square metres conference hall with capacity for 800 seated, or 1,000 standing, people. In July 2005 the Arcadia theatre was demolished to make way for an atrium and meeting and conference rooms adjoining with the North Wales Theatre, the building was also extended to the west
8.
Llandudno
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Llandudno is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community, which includes Penrhyn Bay, the towns name is derived from its patron saint, Saint Tudno. Llandudno, Queen of the Welsh Resorts, a title first applied as early as 1864, is now the largest seaside resort in Wales, historically a part of Caernarfonshire, Llandudno was formerly in the district of Aberconwy within Gwynedd. The origins in recorded history are with the Manor of Gogarth conveyed by King Edward I to Annan, the manor comprised three townships, Y Gogarth in the south-west, Y Cyngreawdr in the north and Yr Wyddfid in the south-east. Home to several herds of wild Kashmiri goats originally descended from several goats given by Queen Victoria to Lord Mostyn. The summit of the Great Orme stands at 679 feet, the Summit Hotel, now a tourist attraction, was once the home of world middleweight champion boxer Randolph Turpin. A haven for flora and fauna with some species such as peregrine falcons. This great limestone headland has many attractions including the Great Orme Tramway, by 1847 the town had grown to a thousand people, served by the new church of St George, built in 1840. The great majority of the men worked in the mines, with others employed in fishing. In 1848, Owen Williams, an architect and surveyor from Liverpool and these were enthusiastically pursued by Lord Mostyn. The influence of the Mostyn Estate and its agents over the years was paramount in the development of Llandudno, especially after the appointment of George Felton as surveyor, between 1857 and 1877 much of central Llandudno was developed under Feltons supervision. Felton also undertook architectural design work, including the design and execution of Holy Trinity Church in Mostyn Street, the town is just off the North Wales Coast railway line which was opened as the Chester and Holyhead Railway in 1848. It became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1859, Llandudno was specifically built as a mid-Victorian era holiday destination and is served by a branch railway line opened in 1858 from Llandudno Junction with stations at Deganwy and Llandudno. Great Orme Tramway The Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Electric Railway operated a tramway service between Llandudno and Rhos-on-Sea from 1907 and extended to Colwyn Bay in 1908. Modern Llandudno takes its name from the ancient parish of Saint Tudno but also encompasses several neighbouring townships and districts including Craig-y-Don, Llanrhos, also nearby is the small town and marina of Deganwy and these last four are in the traditional parish of Llanrhos. The ancient geographical boundaries of the Llandudno area are complex, today, Deganwy and Llandudno Junction are part of the town community of Conwy even though they are across the river and only linked to Conwy by a causeway and bridge. A beach of sand, shingle and rock curves two miles between the headlands of the Great Orme and the Little Orme, for most of the length of Llandudnos North Shore there is a wide curving Victorian promenade. The road, collectively known as The Parade, has a different name for each block and it is on these parades, near the centre of the bay is the Venue Cymru
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Llandudno
Ding Junhui