1.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
2.
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia
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The Spouse also assists the Prime Minister in welcoming foreign dignitaries to Parliament House and the official residences. Lucy Turnbull is the spouse of the incumbent Prime Minister of Australia, the current spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia is Lucy Turnbull, who assumed the role when her husband became the Prime Minister of Australia on 15 September 2015. The Prime Ministers spouse has no official duties, some earlier spouses stayed mainly at home and took little part in public life. However, most recent Prime Ministers spouses have been involved in charities or community organisations, working to raise awareness, funds. Others were initially preoccupied with rearing children, most notably Dame Enid Lyons, in 1943, four years after her husbands death in office, she was the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. She was a minister in the Menzies Government from 1949 to 1951. Lucy Turnbull was appointed an Officer before her husband became Prime Minister, tamie Fraser was the first spouse of a Prime Minister to be provided with an official secretary for dealing with her correspondence. First Lady Spouse of the Governor-General of Australia Langmore, Diane, Prime Ministers Wives, The Public and Private Lives of Ten Australian Women. Mrs Prime Minister—Public Image, Private Lives
3.
Kew, Victoria
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Kew is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia,6 km east from Melbournes Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Boroondara, at the 2011 Census, Kew had a population of 23,876. Kew used to be a city in its own right, but in 1994 the cities of Kew, Hawthorn and Camberwell were amalgamated to form the City of Boroondara. The suburb borders the Yarra River to the west and north, with Hawthorn to its south, prior to the establishment of Melbourne, the area was inhabited by the Wurundjeri peoples. In the 1840s European settlers named it the Parish of Boroondara – meaning a place of shade in the Woiwurrung language. In 1838 Dight travelled down the Yarra from Heidelberg and decided to locate a mill on a site adjacent to the falls. John Hodgson established a run at Studley Park, on the eastern bank of the Yarra River. Studley House, also known as Burke Hall, built in 1857, was named after Hodgsons birthplace of Studley, Yorkshire, the house was built in the Victorian Period Italianate Revival style. Modifications were made to the house in 1875 and 1919, the house was also owned by former bookmaker, ALP lobbyist, influential Irish-Catholic and millionaire, John Wren and was donated to Xavier College by the land developer T. M. Burke. It illustrates the importance of a residence in indicating success and status in nineteenth, the nearby Villa Alba, built before 1863, is open to the public. In 1851, Crown land sales occurred in the area, one of the purchasers, Nicholas Fenwick, subdivided his land and named the region Kew, based on the thought that Kew in England was near Richmond. He also notably named its streets after British statesmen, the area quickly became a sought-after suburb for the well-to-do in Melbourne. The commercial precinct known as Kew Junction began to shape in the 1850s. The Kew Hotel opened in 1855, the Prospect Hill Hotel in 1857, the Council Hotel about 1860, the Clifton in 1869, in 1856 a site was reserved for a mental asylum next to the river. By 1871 Kew Lunatic Asylum, now known as Willsmere Estate, was completed, the Kew Cottages for children were added in 1887. The hospital was built despite objections by residents and the Kew Borough Council, Kew Cottages and Willsmere Hospital are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Various churches opened in the 1850s, with the first school opened by the Anglican Church in 1856, in 1875 Sacred Heart Primary School was opened. More private schools were opened in 1878, including Ruyton Girls School, other private schools soon followed, including Methodist Ladies College in 1882, Genazzano FCJ College in 1889, Trinity Grammar School in 1903, and Carey Baptist Grammar School in 1923
4.
Victoria (Australia)
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Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
5.
Gold Coast, Queensland
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Gold Coast is a coastal city in the Australian state of Queensland, approximately 66 kilometres south-southeast of the state capital Brisbane and immediately north of the border with New South Wales. With a census-estimated 2016 population of 638,090, The Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, making it the largest non-capital city, the first settlement in what is now South East Queensland was as a penal colony at Redcliffe. The Gold Coast region remained uninhabited by Europeans until 1823 when explorer John Oxley landed at Mermaid Beach. The hinterlands red cedar supply attracted people to the area in the mid-19th century, later in 1875, Southport was surveyed and established and grew a reputation as a secluded holiday destination for wealthy Brisbane residents. The Gold Coast region grew significantly after the establishment of the Surfers Paradise hotel in the late 1920s and it is also the major film production hub for Queensland. Gold Coast will host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, lieutenant James Cook became the first European to note the region when he sailed along the coast on 16 May 1770 in the HM Bark Endeavour. Captain Matthew Flinders, an explorer charting the continent north from the colony of New South Wales, escaped convicts from the Moreton Bay penal settlement hid in the region. The region remained uninhabited by Europeans until 1823 when explorer John Oxley landed at Mermaid Beach. The hinterlands red cedar supply attracted people to the area in the mid-19th century, a number of small townships developed along coast and in the hinterland. The western suburb of Nerang was surveyed and established as a base for the industry, by 1873, the town reserve of Burleigh Heads had also been surveyed and successful land sales had taken place. Southport quickly grew a reputation as a holiday destination for wealthy Brisbane residents. Gold Coast was originally known as the South Coast, however, inflated prices for real estate and other goods and services led to the nickname of Gold Coast from 1950. South Coast locals initially considered the name Gold Coast derogatory, however, soon the Gold Coast simply became a convenient way to refer to the holiday strip from Southport to Coolangatta. As the tourism grew into the 1950s, local businesses began to adopt the term in their names. The area was proclaimed a city less than one year later, in 2007, Gold Coast overtook the population of Newcastle, New South Wales to become the sixth largest city in Australia and the largest non-capital city. The Gold Coast is approximately covered by forests of various types. This includes small patches of near-pristine ancient rainforest, mangrove-covered islands, of the plantation pine forests that were planted in the 1950s and 1960s, when commercial forest planting for tax minimisation was encouraged by the Commonwealth government, tiny remnants remain. Gold Coast City lies in the southeast corner of Queensland, to the south of Brisbane, the Albert River separates Gold Coast from Logan City, a suburban area of Brisbane
6.
Queensland
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Queensland is the second-largest and third-most-populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west, to the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. Queensland has a population of 4,750,500, concentrated along the coast, the state is the worlds sixth largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 km2. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australias third largest city, often referred to as the Sunshine State, Queensland is home to 10 of Australias 30 largest cities and is the nations third largest economy. Tourism in the state, fuelled largely by its tropical climate, is a major industry. Queensland was first inhabited by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, the first European to land in Queensland was Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606, who explored the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula near present-day Weipa. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. The colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney, New South Wales at that time included all of what is now Queensland, Queensland was explored in subsequent decades until the establishment of a penal colony at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Penal transportation ceased in 1839 and free settlement was allowed from 1842, the state was named in honour of Queen Victoria, who on 6 June 1859 signed Letters Patent separating the colony from New South Wales. The 6th of June is now celebrated statewide as Queensland Day. Queensland achieved statehood with the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, the history of Queensland spans thousands of years, encompassing both a lengthy indigenous presence, as well as the eventful times of post-European settlement. The north-eastern Australian region was explored by Dutch, Spanish and French navigators before being encountered by Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, the Australian Labor Party has its origin as a formal organisation in Queensland and the town of Barcaldine is the symbolic birthplace of the party. June 2009 marked the 150th anniversary of its creation as a colony from New South Wales. The Aboriginal occupation of Queensland is thought to predate 50,000 BC, likely via boat or land bridge across Torres Strait, during the last ice age Queenslands landscape became more arid and largely desolate, making food and other supplies scarce. This led to the worlds first seed-grinding technology, warming again made the land hospitable, which brought high rainfall along the eastern coast, stimulating the growth of the states tropical rainforests. In February 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed near the site of what is now Weipa and this was the first recorded landing of a European in Australia, and it also marked the first reported contact between European and Aboriginal Australian people. The region was explored by French and Spanish explorers prior to the arrival of Lieutenant James Cook in 1770. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of the United Kingdom on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming Eastern Australia, including Queensland, the Aboriginal population declined significantly after a smallpox epidemic during the late 18th century
7.
Harold Holt
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Harold Edward Holt, CH, was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 to 1967. He was born in Stanmore, New South Wales and won a scholarship to law at the University of Melbourne. Holt went into business as a solicitor, during which time he joined the United Australia Party, in 1935, aged just 27, he was elected for Fawkner. As Minister for Immigration, Holt was responsible for the relaxation of the White Australia policy and he controversially expanded Australias involvement in the Vietnam War, with the slogan All the way with LBJ. Born in Stanmore, New South Wales on 5 August 1908, Holt was the son of Thomas. He and his brother Cliff, spent their life in Sydney. In 1918, Thomas Holt divorced Olive and went to work with the Hugh D. McIntosh and he became the Tivoli-J C Williamson representative in London and New York. Meanwhile, he enrolled his sons as boarders at Wesley College in Melbourne, in 1924, when Holt was sixteen, his mother died and he did not attend her funeral. A formative event was his performance at his schools annual Speech Night in December 1926. None of his family were present, and he never forgot the loneliness he felt that night, Holt won a scholarship to Queens College at the University of Melbourne and began his law degree in 1927. He excelled in areas of university life – he won College Blues for cricket and Australian rules football, as well as the College Oratory. A member of the Melbourne Inter-University Debating team and the United Australia Organisation A Grade debating team, Holt graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1930. His father, based in London at the time, wanted him to further his studies in Britain, instead, in 1933, Holt went into sole practice as a solicitor. He later entered into a partnership, which became the firm of Holt, Graham & Newman, while at university, Holt had met Zara Kate Dickins. In 1934 they were contemplating marriage, but, after a quarrel, Zara travelled overseas, meeting Captain James Fell, a British Army officer stationed in India, whom she married in March 1935. Her first son Nicholas was born in 1937, followed by twin boys Sam and Andrew, author Tom Frame has suggested that Holt was the father of the twins. Zara and Fell subsequently divorced, and she married Holt in 1946, although they remained married until Holts death in 1967, Zara later commented that Holt had had a number of extramarital affairs. Meanwhile, Thomas Holt married Lola Thring, the daughter of his business partner F. W. Thring, while developing his legal practice, Holt was drawn to politics and joined the Prahran branch of the United Australia Party in 1933
8.
Prime Minister of Australia
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The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of the Crown, the leader of the Cabinet, the office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia and exists only through longstanding political convention and tradition. Despite this, in practice it is the most powerful position in Australia. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia, almost always and according to convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party or largest party in a coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. However, there is no requirement that the prime minister sit in the House of Representatives. The only case where a member of the Senate was appointed minister was John Gorton. Malcolm Turnbull has held the office of Prime Minister since 15 September 2015, the Prime Minister and Treasurer are traditionally members of the House, but the Constitution does not have such a requirement. Before being sworn in as a Minister of the Crown, a person must first be sworn in as a member of the Federal Executive Council if they are not already a member. Membership of the Federal Executive Council entitles the member to the style of The Honourable for life, the senior members of the Executive Council constitute the Cabinet of Australia. The Prime Minister is, like ministers, normally sworn in by the Governor-General. When defeated in an election, or on resigning, the Prime Minister is said to hand in the commission, in the event of a Prime Minister dying in office, or becoming incapacitated, the Governor-General can terminate the commission. Despite the importance of the office of minister, the Constitution does not mention the office by name. The conventions of the Westminster system were thought to be entrenched in Australia by the authors of the Constitution that it was deemed unnecessary to detail them. The formal title of the portfolio has always been simply Prime Minister, except for the period of the Fourth Deakin Ministry, Page was the leader of the smaller party in the governing coalition, the Country Party. He held the office for three weeks until the UAP elected a new leader, Robert Menzies, in August 1941 Menzies resigned as prime minister. In July 1945 John Curtin died suddenly and his deputy, Frank Forde, was sworn in the next day as prime minister, although the Labor Party had not had an opportunity to meet and elect a new leader. Forde served for eight days until Ben Chifley was elected leader, Chifley was then sworn in, replacing Forde, who became Australias shortest-serving prime minister. Harold Holt disappeared while swimming on 17 December 1967 and was declared presumed dead on 19 December, the governor-general, Lord Casey, commissioned the Leader of the Country Party, John McEwen, to form a government until the Liberal Party elected a new leader
9.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
10.
Roy Grounds
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Sir Roy Burman Grounds was one of Australias leading architects of the modern movement. Born in Melbourne, Grounds was educated at Scotch College and then the University of Melbourne, on his return to Australia, Grounds went into partnership with Geoffrey Mewton, and they introduced the international style to Melbourne. Grounds ended this partnership in 1936 and travelled in England until 1939, Grounds practised by himself between 1939 and 1942 and designed a series of houses and flats which established his reputation. After the war, Grounds was involved in setting up the curriculum for the School of Architecture at Melbourne University and he resumed his architectural practice and became interested in formal, geometrically based designs. When Grounds, Frederick Romberg and Robin Boyd formed their partnership in 1953 all were established in Victoria. Each brought substantial work to the practice and the firm became very successful, Grounds first large commission was for the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra. The construction of its reinforced concrete dome was a technical achievement. Opened in 1959, it won the Meritorious Architecture Award of the Canberra Area Committee of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, the Academy building also led to other work in Canberra, initially for the firm and later Grounds himself. Grounds opened a Canberra office in the Forrest Townhouses, which he partly financed, in 1959 the firm was awarded the commission to design the National Gallery of Victoria and Arts Centre, with Grounds named in the contract as the architect in charge. When Boyd and Romberg were mildly critical of the geometric designs that Grounds showed them. In 1962 Grounds left the partnership, taking the commission with him, under a building committee chaired by the philanthropist Ken Myer, he devoted the next twenty years of his life to the completion of the Arts Centre. His longest-serving architectural associates throughout this period, which included Monash Universitys Robert Blackwood Hall, were Alan Nelson, Fritz Suendermann, Lou Gerhardt and Allan Stillman. While the Gallery was brought in on time and budget, the complicated Yarra River site for the Concert Hall and Theatre Complex resulted in building delays, Grounds showed Queen Elizabeth II the massive excavations shortly before his death. Much of the interior designs were completed by John Truscott. Grounds was awarded the RAIA Gold Medal in 1968 and knighted in 1969, in 1969 he was elected a life fellow of the RAIA. One of his last great design successes was Hobarts iconic 18-story octagonal tower that is the part of the Wrest Point Hotel Casino complex. He died in Melbourne in 1981, in 2010, an original Grounds plan for a library was completed at the Moorilla Estate and entrance for the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania
11.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom. The prime minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party, the office is one of the Great Offices of State. The current prime minister, Theresa May, leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed by the Queen on 13 July 2016. The position of Prime Minister was not created, it evolved slowly and erratically over three hundred years due to acts of Parliament, political developments, and accidents of history. The office is therefore best understood from a historical perspective, the origins of the position are found in constitutional changes that occurred during the Revolutionary Settlement and the resulting shift of political power from the Sovereign to Parliament. The political position of Prime Minister was enhanced by the development of political parties, the introduction of mass communication. By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged, prior to 1902, the prime minister sometimes came from the House of Lords, provided that his government could form a majority in the Commons. However as the power of the aristocracy waned during the 19th century the convention developed that the Prime Minister should always sit in the lower house. As leader of the House of Commons, the Prime Ministers authority was further enhanced by the Parliament Act of 1911 which marginalised the influence of the House of Lords in the law-making process. The Prime Minister is ex officio also First Lord of the Treasury, certain privileges, such as residency of 10 Downing Street, are accorded to Prime Ministers by virtue of their position as First Lord of the Treasury. As the Head of Her Majestys Government the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, in addition the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons. As such the incumbent wields both legislative and executive powers, under the British system there is a unity of powers rather than separation. In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister guides the process with the goal of enacting the legislative agenda of their political party. The Prime Minister also acts as the face and voice of Her Majestys Government. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, in 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs, In this country we live. Our constitutional practices do not derive their validity and sanction from any Bill which has received the assent of the King, Lords. They rest on usage, custom, convention, often of slow growth in their early stages, not always uniform, the relationships between the Prime Minister and the Sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the Prime Ministers executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still vested in the Sovereign
12.
Harold Wilson
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, in 1969 Wilson sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 general election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 general election resulted in a hung parliament. A period of crisis was now beginning to hit most Western countries. He took little action to pursue the Labour Party constitutions stated dedication to such nationalisation, Labour Party historians see his years in office as lost opportunities for major reforms. However, in keeping with the mood of the 1960s his government sponsored liberal changes in a number of social areas and his stated ambition of substantially improving Britains long-term economic performance remained largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second government 1974–76 and accomplished little as the split over Europe. Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and he came from a political family, his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage, and her brother, when Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He was a supporter of his football club, Huddersfield Town. Wilson won a scholarship to attend Royds Hall Grammar School, his grammar school in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. In December 1930, his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and he moved to Spital on the Wirral, Cheshire in order to do so. Wilson was educated in the Sixth Form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, at Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by G. D. H. Cole. He graduated in PPE with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper in the examinations. Biographer Roy Jenkins says, Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, and no one else. What he was superb at was the assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind. He continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford dons of the century at the age of 21 and he was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College
